Connecticut western news., 1885-03-11
CALIFORNIA.
AS Seen by @ Former ReatdeAt of Canaan, wh0 spent Two Years
 AM she Golden State.
CHAPTER III.


 and examine some of the country seen from the capitol tower.
 Going west from Sacrameoto we find ourselves in fine, level plain, covered with fine farms. Most of them have good substantial residences on them, and sometimes very elegant and costly ones, surrounded by semi-tropical trees and plants. Here you will see tall, fine ly tapering trees with small, dark leaves and . whitlsh bark. The Eucalyptus or Australian blue gum, affords ire shade, and besides they are said to con- tain or emit medicinal properties, keep ing away the chills and fever in locali- ties subject to them. In the front yard' you will see beautiful rose bushes of al colors, olianders and huge centur. plants, and short, stubby fan palms. During the rainy season the ground is literally covered with flowers of all col ors, shapes ard sizes, from the little pink fillaree to great straw flowers as large as small sunAowers, which ripen, d V ont and stay perfect till the raj. come again.
 Here you will begin to see another California institution, the wind-mills. They are used to pump water to suppl. tae houses and stock and the orchards . ,d vineyards also the garden, if ht c looses to have one-lnany, however. prefer to buy their vegetables of th' I allan gardeners, who make this then business.
 The orchards and vineyards with thei never failing crops have a "we hav' come to stay" look, which characterizes this section. The orchards contain young, thrifty trees, and in their season are well loaded with fruit. All tn, v andard varieties of apples and pear with peaches, piums, apricots, nectar ines, prunes and figs will be found here a'so the almond and English walnut Grapes of all kinds are plenty, but the m ,st common Is the Black Prince oI old Mission grape, from which the com mon red wine is made This grape has lone more damage to the people than .rge number of distilleries or brewerie would do. The cheapness of the win. cents per gallon) makes it common d ink and it's continued or excessive use brings on insanity. The insane asylum at Stockton is full all the time and tie physicians there attribute full seven tenths of the cases to the use of thi. wine. Could this old Mission grape b, all destroyed the state would be materi ally benefited thereby. The better varie- ties are the Malaga or white raisin grape, Tokay, Muskat and White Muskat. Gordo Blanco, Tokay Seedless, Sultana Zinfandel, and host of others.
 These vineyards are started from pieces of vine about 16 inches long. The vineyard is first laid out in squares eight feet apart, something as we mark out field for tobacco, and at the inter- section of each line you take one of these pieces and stick it in the ground deep enough to cover one joint of the vine; at this joint the roots form and grow. A small three-feet stick is next stuck close to the vine and the vine fastened to 1t so that the vine will grow straight. When the vine gets about two feet high the top is cut of and sealed over. Ev- cry spring they prune their vines, that is, cut of all the former years growth, then new shoots grow and on the new vines are the grapes. A stranger unac- customed to vineyards would hardly want to give five cents an acre for these bare, stuhby stalks, but let him wait and look again three months later and he will change his mind :; it is now one solid mass of leaves and grapes. There are some big stories in regard to the amount of grapes to the acre, some claiming as high as ninty tons, but we think forty tons to the acre Is a good deal nearer and abont the average for a full bearing vineyard. This, with grapes selling at two cents pound is quite an item.
 The raising of the raisin grape is now quite business in the state. The Ma laga's are the most used. They are al- lowed to fully ripen on the vines, then they are carefully picked and spread on clean boards in the sun to dry. When dry enough 80 you can pinch them flat without bursting them they are packed tight in boxes and are ready for sale.
 The White Smyrna fig is prepared in precisely the same way, though figs in California are mostly used to fatten hogs Speaking of grapes-we must give you a grape vine yarn; If the statement is nntrue you have it ss cheap as we got it); it is this: ''The largest grape vine. in CaliforniA covered about one acre of {, land and bore crop of 12,0O0 pounds of grapes a year. It was 4i feet in cir conference and six feet high before branching out. It was dug up and talk en to the Centennial exhibition in 1876. :" Some of our readers may have seen it there, but ss we were not present at the exhibition we could not youch for the truth of the statement. All along the river bottom lands wild grapes grow and in some places it is impossible to get through without 8 sharp axe. The grapes are small and sour, but are all consumed by the myriads of small hirda that inhabit the state