Morning journal and courier., 1885-01-03
WINTER IN CALIFORNIA.
How it Differs From Winter in New
 England.

England.
 From the San Francisco Bulletin
 After Thanksgiving, winter. In the At 1antic States, east of the Hudson, good sleighing is expected at this date. Here nothing more than a few white frosts indi- cate that winter has come. There have been frosts in the lowlands during the past week. Last night the frost crept up on the hillsides little. The crystals lay on the plank sidewalks in the suburban towns and sparkled the rays of the rising sun touched them. For moment or two there were millions of diamonds, then small drops of water and then nothing But the frost makes crisp mornings, and coal or wood fire most enjoyable morning and evening" the wood fire especially. Moreover, the frosts help to color the foliage, although in this country the deciduous trees drop the greater part of their foliage before the frosts come. The soft naples, elms, white birches and locust trees, which have been naturalized here, for the most part, have cast their leaves. Yet the naples take on a wealth of color before the leaves fall; so the frost does not do all the colorlng. Even the eucalyptus, which casts It's leaves at midsummer, and continues dropping them until late in autumn, has wealth ot color which is hardly noticed. The coniferous trees prevail so largely in California that the high colors of deciduous trees which grow on the hillsides and mountain slopes of east ern States are rarely seen here. Yet in every dell, after the first frosts have come in this latitude, one may find patches of color sha- ding off from gold to scarlet, with a great many subdued tones, which artists, who are good colorists, do not fail to notice. The frs and the pines clothe many of the mountains l in eternal green. When they are bare they | are as desolate as in Spain until the vernal season sets in.
 The first rains have already come. But ] the winter rains have not yet appeared. 1 There is sort of hush between the autumn | and winter If one goes to the wood he will 1 hear hardly any other sound than that ot the harsh and obstreperous bluejay. Here and | there will be tapping on the trunks, and | an occasional squirrel descends to see what | provision in the way of acorns there may yet | be left on the ground. In the open, where | the ground is soft, there are the tracks O. the | sneaking coyote. Even owls cease ln meas l ure to boot in the winter season, and the mournful sound of doves has already ceased l A great silence has fallen upon the woods | There is hardly a singing bird. The Ennets in the suburban gardens, which two months l ago were so active in feasting on the ripe fruit, beginning even earlier with cherries | and continuing until the last ripe pear had disappeared, nave become SllenI alSo. INC more songs and no more depredations, fol the good reason that there is nothing to steal, and the pairing season has not begun | The white frosts are the fitting introduction | of winter. They precede the heavier rains
 The trade winds have died out They vii not prevail in this latitude before the middle | of next May Some are unkind enough t say that it is pity that they should eve prevail. But these winds are the Lordi scavengers, sent up az 80 many messenger f1om the salt ocean to deliver the city iron plaques and pestilence, San Francisco has not been clean city from the day of its foundation, There is Oriental dirt and Occi dental dirt. It has come to be a foreign city l Merchandise fills the sidewalks and in many places crowds the pedestrian into the street Offal is thrown there. The ak months trad
 winds of summer and the six months rail are the two sanitary agents which keep watcl and ward over the city. The most danger
 ous weeks of the year, oA the score of health
 are those when neither the trade winds no
 the rains prevail The winter season being less pronounced in this latitude, there is less disposition to store up anything. All th
 season is open, and even now the bees ar
 making honey are going out to rob othe
 hives. For in this State even the bee
 have caught the spirit of the monopolist
 They get part of their honey honestly
 and, as to tha rest, they do not scruple t. get it dishonestly.