The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1885-10-30
WINTER IN CALIFORNIA.
Tow 1t Differs from the Winter Weather In
New Englsad.


TOW 1t Differs from the Winter Weather in
New Englsad.
After Thanksgiving, winter. In the
Atlantic States, east of the Hudson,
good sleighing is expected at this date
! Here nothing more than few white
irosts indicate that winter has come.
There have been frosts in the lowlands
Turing the past week. Last night the
rost crept up on the hillsides little.
rhe crystals lay on the plank side
walks in the suburban towns, and
'parkled as the rays of the rising sun
;ouched them. For moment or two
here were millions of diamonds, then
,mall drops of water, and then moth
ng. But the frost makes crisp morn
ngs, and coal or wood fire most en-
Ioyable morning and evening-the
wood fire especially. Moreover, the
.rosts help to color the foliage, al
though in this country the deciduous
rees drop the greater part of their
foliage before the frosts come. The
soft naples, elms, white birches and
locust trees, which have been natural
zed here, for the most part, have cast
heir leaves. Yet the maple takes on
wealth of color before the leaves fall; /;
80 the frost does not do all the color
ing. Even the eucalyptus, which casts
its leaves at midsummer and continues
dropping them until late in autumn,
has a wealth of color which is hardly
noticed. The coniferous trees prevail
so largely in California that the high
eolors of deciduous trees which grow
n nd faf ell of
eastern states are rarely seen here.
Yet in every dell after the first frosts
have come in this latitude, one may
ind patches of color shading off from
gold to scarlet, with great many sub
dued tones, which artists, who are
good colorists, do not fail to notice.
The frs and the pines clothe many of
the mountains in eternal green. When
they are bare, they are as desolate as
in Spain until the vernaI season sets
in.
The first rains have already come.
But the winter rains have not yet ap-
peared. There is sort of hush be-
tween autumn and winter. If one
goes to the wood, he will hardly hear
any other sound than that of the
harsh and obstreperous blue-jay. Here
and there will be a tapping on the
trunks, and an occasional squirrel de-
sends 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 of
the sneaking coyote. Even owls cease
in a measure to hoot in the winter
season, and the mournful sound of
doves has altogether ceased. A great
silence has fallen upon the woods.
There is hardly singing bird. The
linnets in the suburban gardens, which
two months ago were so active in
feasting on the ripe fruit, beginning
with cherries, and continuing until the
last ripe pear had disappeared, have
become silent also. No more songs
and no more depredations, for the
good reason that there1s nothing to
steal, and the pairing season has not
begun. The white frosts are the fit
ting Introduction of winter. They
precede the heavier rains.
The trade winds have died out.
They will not prevail in this latitude
before the middle of next May. Some
are unkind enough to say that it is
pity that they should ever prevail.
But these winds are the Lords scav-
engers, sent up as so many messen-
gers from the salt ocean to deliver the
city from plaques and pestilence. San
Francisco has not been a clean city
from the day of its foundation. There
is Oriental dirt, and Occidental dirt
1t has come to be a foreign city.
fills the sidewalks, and
ip many places crowds the pee Lestrian
into the street. Offal is thrown there.
The six months trade winds of sum-
mer and the six months rain are the
two sanitary agents which keep watch
and ward over the city. Tie most
dangerous weeks of the year, on the
score of health, are those when neither
the trade winds nor the rains prevail.
The winter season being less pro-
nounced in this latitude, there is less
disposition to store up anything. All
he season is open, and even now the
bees are making honey, or are going
20 rob other hives. They get part
If their honey honestly, and, as to the
'est, they do not scruple to get it dis
honestly. San Francisco Bulletin.