The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1886-09-03
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
LUXURY OF LIFE IN THE LOTOS LAND OF
THE WEST.
Ten-Nile Avenues Bordered by Cypress, Mag
nOlia and Palm Trees-ROses Blooming the
Year Round-Car-Loads of Oranges and
j.. Lemons Prosperous Population.

mate on American soil go to Southern
California" said a friend before leaving
New York last month, "where roses
are In bloom the year round and where
picnics are never postponed on account
of the rain"
Acting under this advice I have been
spending the past three weeks in this
LotoS land of the West. 1 find, how
ever, that even LotoS lands are not
without their drawbacks. How would
you like living in q land where the flies
never cease tormenting you, summer
or winter; where frosty cold weather
never sends the blood leaping through
your veins like mad under it's spur,
and where you never see ice except in
an ieeman's cart? Fancy living in a
land where. after night has fallen, the
people never gather around an open
fireplace and watch the flames rushing
up the chimney from the blazing logs;
land in which there are no sleighing
parties and skating is unknown! Well,
ONE must not expect to find a perfect
climate in this world, for if it We're
possible some enterprising Yankee
would take up the land, found a colony
and name it Heaven" inside of year.
But to an Eastern man who has been
accustomed all his life to the cold
winters of the North and the eccen-
tricities of variable climate, Southern
California does seem veritable Para
disc. Here is land where fruit hangs
ON the trees all winter, where flowers
fill the air with their fragrance from
one years end to the ether, and where,
although the heat in the middle of the
day is quite intense, the nights are so
cool and refreshing that blankets are
in demand the year round
Riverside is the centre of the orange
and raisin producing district of Cali
fornia. 1t is the largest incorporated
town in the world, embracing as it does
fifty-four square miles of territory,
while its population is not over 5000
inhabitants. The town is hemmed in
on all sides by foot hills and mountains.
Standing upon the veranda of his cot
tage, the Riverside citizen can see the
towering peaks Of San Jacinto, San
Bernardino, Cucamonga, Temescal and
Old Greyback in the distance. The
land about him, strange to say, is some
times so level that he can look down
one avenue for five miles without
changing his position. The town is
full of incongruities Think of q place
with a population of only 5000 where
improved land cannot be purchased
for less than 81, 600 an acre, and unim-
proved land is hard to get at $500 per
acre; where there are avenues from
five to ten miles long, lined on either
side by stately cypress, pepper, encalyp-
tus, magnolia and palm trees, whose
branches almost lock together above
your head a town whose avenues and
streets outside of the business centre
are bordered with orange, lemon and
apricot orchards of from ten to twenty
five acres each, fronted by wonderful
flower gardens, cypress hedges and
foliage plants! You can drive for
hours along the streets and not find
any two ranches" as the people call
them, alike. The owners of some of
them have trained and trimmed their
cypress trees into beautiful and fam
tastic shapes, such as baskets, balls,
eggs, round columns with tluted capt.
tails, Masonic emblems, arches, arbors,
squares, pillars and monuments. GRAY
elled walks, spouting fountains and
artistically arranged beds of flowers
add greatly to the general effect.
With such grounds as have already
described you would expect to find
tasty country houses, displaying Ell
joyable architectural features, with
pretty stables and outbuildings. But
you will find nothing of the kind.
There are not more than half dozen
residences in town that cost $4,000. 1t
is easy to discover the cause of this
state of things. When the settlers
began to plant their orchards ten years
ago orange-growing in this part of the
country was an experiment, the result
of which no one could determine. The
men who came here to settle spent all
their money in buying land and in
starting their orchards, and SO gave
little thought or care to shelter. They
knew that for six or eight months in