The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1882-04-01
CALIFORNIA.
The City of the Angeles--A Region OF Eter-
nal summer.-Its Orange Greves and Palm
Trees.-Ths Wonderful Eucalyptus--The Cac-
u--Tehachapf Pass--The MOjave Desert

The City Of the Angelss--A Region of Etsr
| nal Summer.-I Its Orange Groves and Pain
| Trees--The Wonderful Eucalyptus--The Gao
| ti..Tehschapi Pass--The Moiave Desert
At last we reached 1.-THE City of the Ange
les"-after winging our flight through the Los
Paradise o, the plains, the "Purgaori" of New
Mexico and the Inferno" of Arizona! The
Transformation, if may SO call 1t, was glori
Gus one to the pilgrim from the far east, who
left that land of snOw-clad and chilling blasts
robed in Its winter habilIments, TO find here
the balmiest of breeZes, perfuned with the fra
GRANGE OF orange groves and other tropica
flowers green fields and sunny landscapes
stretching away IN every direction, and trees
gorgeous with foliage and blossoms; while
the songs of birds, SO joyous to the ear of the
weary traveller after his long journey over the
dreary waste of plains and desert as to lead
him to suppose that he had just struck para
disc, And he was not mistaken for Los An.
geles is the Californians paradise, the most
delightful spot on the Pacific coast. Situated
in beautiful valley, In the midst of orange
groves the perfumes Of whose blossoms, min
gled with the fragrance of other tropical flow.
ers, are waited throughout its length and
breadth by gentle winds from the mountains
bounded on one side by the San Gabriel range
of the Sierra Nevadas, whose rugged sides and
snow capped peaks rise high towards the dome
of blue; on the other hand, shaded from the
piercing winds of the Pacific by low range
of hills, picturesque In their verdant loveliness
along whose sides and in the valleys between
blooms the orange groves, in the midst of
which may be seen the homes and ranches of
some of the wealthy CaliiOrnlans.
The city Of Los Angeles is what might be
termed ian unpresuming town" The streets
are broad-what there is of them--and cross
each other at all angles. 1t has some fine busl-
ness blocks and open magnificent business
houses. The residential portion of the city is
the most attractive; the yards, gardens and
doorways, with their tropical flowers, plants
and trees, are pleasing sights to the pilgrims
from the regions of the cast But the most
charming sight to the new conner Is his or her
first glimpse of an orange tree when in bios
SOM And what Is more fragrant than an or
ange blossom? especially at eve when the dews
of Heaven are falling and the air becomes
heavy with its perfume. You who have never
visited an orange grove, nor beheld the yellow
beauties clustering among the branches, can
form no conception of what 1t really Is. To
see the golden fruit swaying on the limbs or
peeping out from amid the green leaves; the
snOw-white blossoms as a contrast to both at.
fords sight not only pleasing to the eye but
touching to the heart, An orange tree in bios.
som is gorgeous sight; and to some each
blossom is transformed into little cupid,
plumed and armed, and holding high carnival
IN the tree top; while to others they are, by
some misordained conditions of nature, trans.
formed INTO little devils. Ii is said that many,
both old and young, have tainted at the sight
and perfume of this marital emblem; and in
Los Angeles when young man wants to have
a lady faint in his arms he takes her for a
drive through the orange groves.
Next to orange trees and their blossoms,
what surprises the visitor to Los Angeles and
vicinity, is TO see hedges of geraniums, some
of them larger than apple trees, and growing
wild! They need no care here but in some
places, and to great extent, are considered
nuisance.
THE WONDERFUL EUCALYPTUS,
or "blue gum tree, a tree that banisheS fever
and malaria, is conspicuous ornament in
this region. You see 1t everywhere and at
every turn towering upward tall and slim as a
bean pole, or like our poplars, and is about as
unornamentlve specimen as one can well
imagine. 1t is a fast growing tree and it Is
said that IN five or SIX years it will attain a
height of fifty feet Its leaves are of a blush
tlnge and have a peculiar odor, in which con-
slsts it chief virtue. In the process of growth
it transmits by natural chemistry the malaria
of the soil a, its roots, and gives forth through
its leaves aromatic exhalations. A tree that
discharges such useful functions can hardly
be looked upon as less than friend to the hu.
man race. And SO the eucalyptus is consid
cred here
In this part of California bananas grow lux
urlantly, ana OF all vegetables the banana Is
the most productive and most easily raised
AS there are many readers of the TRADER who
have enjoyed the delicious substance of na
mana without knowing what form it presents
during the primary stages of its growth, a
brief description may be interesting.
THE stem of the plant is not woody, but
consists of the iootstalks of the former leaves
wrapped around each other, and 1t rises to the
height of twelve or fifteen feet The leaves
are very large, of a round oval form, five or
SIN feet in length, and beautifully green in
color The middle rib of the leaf is tough and
strong, but the rest OF its substance Is thin and
delicate, and easily torn by the wind alone in
a direction at right angles with the rib.
ct ,,,, ,ol.s 81. "a. ,