Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1888-05-04
CORRESPONDENCE.
so TTIfERN C1LTFORNI1.
Personal Impressions of the Country
the Climate aud the People,

/ THE ITALY OF AMERtCA'-THE FACTS ~
REG NRD TO THE REAL ESTATE BOOM A
DESCRIPTION or PASADENA, TOGETHER
WITH srNDRY PERSONAL ITEMS.
PASADENA, Cal, April 49, 1888
Dear Phpntr Having told how we
reached this land of sunshine, it is proba
bly, expected that | shall give my impress
sions of the country In doing this l can
as yet only speak from absolute knowledge
of the region Immediately south Of the
| Sierra Madre mountains, extending from
| Los Angeles and Pasadena on the west to
Ontario on the east, and mostly embraced
| in the San Gabriel valley This region
comprising a tract some 80 miles in length
| by Is or 20 in width from its proximity to
the mountains, whence an abundant water
supply is obtained is probably fully equal,
/ if not superior, in its natural advantages to
any other part Of Southern California
And as | see it today it is really a fine re
gion Of country, a most magnificent region,
worthy to be called, as it sometimes is, the
Italy Of America. 1t must be, Of course,
that during the dry season lasting from
.
hills and meadows now green with barley,
clover and alfalfa, or brilliant with wild
flowers are brown and parched, the land
scape is much less attractive to the eye than
now but during the winter months, after
the first soaking rains Of the wet season
have fallen, and later on, when the increas-
ing warmth Of the suns rays calls out the
orderly succession Of flowers, foliage aud
fruits in their wonderful beauty and varie-
tv, then Southern California is "A lovely
| country doubt if the world affords a
| lOvelier. | felt confident before coming
out here that the boom which has brought
such an increase Of population and such a
stream Of visitors during the past two or
three years could not have been worked
up and continued without pretty good ba
. SIS but did not expect to find 50 few dis
comforts in living here, nor so good state
Of society. The reason Of this is not far 10
seek, however since a large proportion Of
the people coming here are Of the more
wealthy and intelligent class, including both
those who came for sanatory reasons aud
those who merely preferred living in IA
southern climate
As real estate speculation the boom
is now practically dead 1t simply died "A
] q
to say nothing of other sections hereabOuts,
was cut up into town lots and put upon the
market, cities were mapped out, and land,
sold and re-soll at a big advance until they
reached point beyond which sane people
would not 20. The consequence is, those
who own them now are either holding them
at a loss or selling at a sacrifice, and the
real estate agents are getting out of the
business am told that in Los Angeles the
number Of real estate agents Is only one
third what it was two months ago. Last
year everybody went wild with the specu-
lative mania. Now they have come to their
senses and are casting about to see what
they can do in the way Of developing the
country, introducing manufacturing enter
prises, and adorning and beautifying their
homes The eXorbitant price of lumber
-$32 per VI for rough, aud $40 for finishing
in addition TO the high cost of land. still
operates to deter many people Of moderate
means from putting up houses who other
wise would do so but a war has been de
clared against the lumber monopoly. which,
aided by natural causes. cannot fail 10 in
augurate a change for the better ere long
and | see no reason why the present com
parative dullness hereabouts will not be sue
ceeded by a steady, healthy growth in bust
ness and population. great many people
have been expecting to see the speculating
mania end in great financial crash. Quite
likely some failures will result before mat
ters right themselves but do not antici
pate very much Of an avalanche. The fact
Is, there is 50 much wealth here so much
enterprise, and the country possesses such
genuine attractions and capabilities, that
business and the development Of the coun
try cannot long remain at a stand still, if i
ever quite reaches that point. Rapid as has
been the increase of population within the
last three or four years, and much as has
been accomplished 1t has been a mere toe
ginning. The present generation Of Cali
fornIans will not live to see the capabilities
of their state exhausted nor the influx OF
population arrested. or | am no prophet
The real estate agents and speculator,
have got ahead Of time-that is ell. One
mistake they made, however, in cutting VI
so large proportion Of the land into build
ing lots but this mistake was natural un
der the circumstances, and can be corrected
where need be. find it to be fact that
for agricultural purposes a lO-acre tract i,
as large as most men care TO handle, and a
man with 20 acres Of good fruit land on hi,
hands Is in the same position as that of q
Vermont farmer irving TO manage 700 ol
300 acres. For unimproved farming land'
the price demanded varies from $3.50 t
800 an acre for orchard lands in bearing
from $1,000 to S25O0, the price depending
ON kind and variety Of fruit, location, etc
These prices at first seem enormously high
but when It is understood that they not only
include the land, but water for irrigation
and also what these lands and orchards are
capable of producing, the prices asked dc
not seem so exorbitant Orange trees ar,
i - 4
way. thus allowing for los trees to the acre
Budded trees begin to bear the fourth ol
fifth year, when six or eight feet high, but
do not attain full size and bearing until /;
or 10 years old consequently there ar,
very few full grown trees to be found il
the orchards of this state. But the half
grown trees, il we'll cared for. often beal
great crops, necesstating the thinning o
fruit and propping of trees A young farm
er, formerly clerk in a Springfield, Mass
store tells me that he sold his first crop th
year from an acre of young trees for $500, OF
the trees. For half grown trees of the bes
varieties $1,000 per acre is not an eXtraor
diuary return, while root and other crop
are grown between the rows. Washington
navel and blood oranges sell for 50 to 81
box on the trees from this prices run dowl
on the various sorts and grades to Sl.jO ,
box for common seedlings The gruwe
usually sells his crop ON the trees, and thu
avoids all further care and risk, as bOXins
for shipment is best performed by workmeI
skilled in the art. The fruit is of SLOW
growth. The trees are just now coming
into blossom, though they have been on tn,
verge of it for month and the fruit vii
not be ready to begin picking till next Jan
uary or February then only the matur
fruit will I've picked, and the remainder viii
continue the ripening process until the bios
SONS have appeared for the next crop, an,
, even until June or July The trees as the
now appear with "A minglng of bud, bios
som, aud fruit in all stages of growth, ami,
the deep evergreen foliage, are captivating
/ sight to the uuaccustomed eye, while the al
is fairly laden with the fragrance. Tn
lemon is also an evergreen tree. For cul
ture it has the advantage of the orange ant
most other fruit trees in being in fruitag
the year round, for which reason, as well a
its greater immunity from disease, man
orchardists prefer it. The lime and oliv
are also evergreen trees and 1t is the fol-
age of these four sorts of fruit trees, adde
to that of the towering eucalyptus an
graceful pepper-the two most prevalen
/ ornamental trees cultivated-and the indig
a enous live oak, that adds so much 10 tn
, verdure of the landscape during the winte
/ months, Besides the above fruits, peaches
! apricots grapes, English walnuts, prunes
figs, pomegranates Japanese persimmon'
= strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, an
other fruits are successfully grown IN thi
region OF these much the largest acreag
r. is devoted to grapes, single fields often con
, prisiug hundreds of acres.
The unusually severe frosts of the pas
, winter had a damaging effect upon banan
, plants which have not yet recovered froI
+ the shock The winter supply of straw
a berries was also cut off and the rose bushe