The Press., 1884-01-03
LETTER FROM CALIFORNIA.

l
 Allow me, kind readers, to introduce you
 to Los Angeles, county of Southern Cali
 fornia, which if not now will right speedily
 become the garden of the world,
 The county has sea-coast line of 1O0
 miles, and contains 1000, 900 of acres, two
 thirds mountain ,and one third fillable land,
 Los Angeles valley has an area of sixty
 miles in length by thirty in width, and is
 900 feet above the sea level contains three
 rivers the Los Angeles, the SantaAna, ,and the San Gabriel. The land slopes to the
 southwest. The Sierra M dre, the San
 BerDardino, and the Temescal mountain
 ranges, which bound the valley, present
 the most striking and picturesque scenery
 At the present time the peaks of the Sierra
 Madre, ,espf cially "Old Baldv" and s'Sugar Loaf, !" which are nearly 10000 feet above SC level, are covered with snow; and when the admirer of the great and grand stands in the valley, beholding those awe inspir- ing, majestic, and imposing heads, which th~ last rays of the setting sun are gliding, and at the same time sees around him the dark, rich green orange groves laden with golden fruit, and feels the soft evening breeze which stirs the aroma of every rose, and hears the tireless birds singing their vesp IS. he finds reproduction of the original garden of Eden, or if not the orig inal, i; may well stand ,r the mod l of a Paradise regain. d" Frank Pixley, the editor of the San Francisco Argonaut, said, "Aft-r the Creator had made the rest of the world and had gathered the experience of all his efforts, He said to himself. T will now Illustrate the crowning glory of my labors with the production of perfect spot. aud thus it was for such a purpose he made California. And this is substan- tially the view that the most enthusiastic Californians take of their state.
 They re lily look upon it as the nearest approach to a Paradise to be found upon this or any other continent, The great wond r is that people have not thronged here before. The palm, orange tree, and vineyards left on the old mission sites have b en in themselves mu but el queat iu- vitations for new people to come. Now industries are rapidly widening, The four chief industries, ranged according to their relative importalc- are fruif, grain, wool, stoc> and dairy.
 The leading position which the fruit in- terest will ultimately take has been reached oily in this country. The fruit harvest is unintelmitt' all tho year round. In re- gard to some of the crops learn the fol lowing!
 The main orange crop ripens from Jun uary to May, though oranges hang on the trees all the year. The lemon, lime and citron rip n and hng like the orange. Aprlcots, pears, peaches, nectari nes, straw berries, curra its aLd figs are most plenti ful in June, but last through July and August, aad even later. Grapes begin ill July and last till January. s .ptemb-r is the b-st month of all, having grapes. peaches, ponle egranates, English walnuts, almonds, and second crop of figs From lite in August till Christmas the vintage does not cease
 Tn. statistics of fruits, grain, wool, houey, etc., read more like fancy than ike fact, ald are not readily believed by our eastern friends. Perhaps the b st "ay to eompr. heLd them fully, and be thoroughly convinced of the t, uth is not to allow distance or even glass to be be- tween the eyes and the laud which pro- duces them. Come, buy and eat of the fruits in this garden of Eden, but hot without money aid without price.
 Prominent among the mlnor industries is honey making. Owing to grea varie- ty of flowers, especially aromatic sages. | the honey is said to have delicious taste. 1 The crop for 1881 in the four sou h-rn coulti s, Was estimat' q at three millions f poH4,as, The lee raAche, are usuall, ll oalons or at the foot-hil Last w. d. | 'tsday party of us took our ref led ex- cursion b ,skets and drove into San Auto
 10 canon, the distance of twelve mil from home. When ne"rilg the foothills we came to an adobe house and bee ranch. Curious to know how many hives there might be, we inquired of the bright faced youth who peered out from the pa- t rnal roof. He replt that there were three hundr, in that ranch. but they had 1 two more ralches with three hundred more 1 in each. We pass q oti ,er villages of tiny, color q hiv-s winch looked to us like gay 1 Lllllputlan encampments. It was too 1 much honey for us.
 Rldllg into the canon we encountered a l sheph I'd and his flock of five thousand 1 sheep, but as the Spaniard could speak no l English we gained no information on tue 1 wool question. Farther on we invaded a l camp of Chinamen. who at that tim were seated arou-. a pan of ce of prodi gious l size, ud;with bowl aLd isk in hand were fasl dispos'ng of the esculent grain. - On our It turn from the canon our atten- | ion was c,lled to the maay varieties of ! cac us. One kid covered acres of ground' | 8 leaf of which kid have seen struggling 1 to live in som- wi dow in the East. It IS l as nuisa ice he,e There were 1 no cacti that reached the h. .ight of 80 feet as d those e saw il Ar zona.
 We picked lupi a4d vening prim. roses, such as we picked i. Connecticut ill June. Su1 flow CTS grow wild aud al con- 5 d red stylish for p rlor d corat,on. ; l
 A copious shower visi ed us Wednesday | nght, a4d now tue valley is be utifully l dr ssed ln her new garme t of green.
 We hear som thing about "Merrv Christmas . but the season is so unnatural to us that i IS only by force that we be- lieve that Happy New Year" is close at hand. EMMA A. LEE.