The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1888-05-10
10 that wee an orange tree,
That busy plant
When l should always laden be,
And never want

magnificent tomato plants, which pro-
coed to set out. have usually no need
OF them, but the past winter was 30 Sc
we're that tomato vines were killed, and
apparently the seeds also, for they have
not come up as usual. In many of our
winters tomato vines go on glowing and
bearing, and with little care one may
have fresh tomatoes the year round.
Our conception of cold winter is some
what different from yours; tce call it Sc
we're when it nips our unsheltered toma.
toes.
Imagine yourself visiting here, and let
me take you where drove some East
ern friends the other day. We go to
Lugonia Park, where beautiful three
story house crowns a commanding
knoll. In front an orange grove fills the
two acres between the house and the
street; on the bluff, around the house,
fountains are playing and roses and all
kinds of ornamental plants are growing,
among others one hundred and fty diff
ferent varieties of chrysanthemums
The lady who set these out, Mrs. Cook,
is the same who canned for the Worlds
Exposition some years ago, one hundred
different kinds of Lugonia fruit !
These things, however, take time. A
naGG like Ibis GaRa29t Bsa created ed in Jl
pose the owner has been at work, to sur
round himself with these trees, shrubs,
flower beds and all this beauty Sir
months. Last October found not plant,
brick, stick or drop of water on that es-
tate; it was merely patch of desert,
with no inhabitants but rabbits. In a
short half-year all these Improvements
have been made and growth secured,
1t does not take long, in Southern Cali
fornia, to make yourself home.
Speaking of growths, have had some
experience attempting to raise trees in
New England and find they develop
rather faster here. Last June l set out
a row of eucalyptus trees to shade my
hen yard. They were tiny plants just
from the seed, and five inches high.
They have had no special care, but today
they are trees ten Jeet tall and fve inches
around the trunks! Not bad for ten
months
But we pursue our drive, and enter
the estate of gentleman who raises
olives. On either side OF his gateway
we observe a tall clump of bamboos.
How handy it must be, to have near
your house an assortment of choice fish.
poles and canes all ready to be cut No
ten dollar jOinted rod is better than one
of these bamboos.
Here we learn many curious facts
about olive culture. For example, the
trees are propagated not from seeds or
slips, but from pieces Of the wood. Sec
tions are cut from branches, four inches
long, no matter whether they have
"eyes' or not; and these being planted
like seeds terminate. The larger the
bits of wood, the sooner the resulting
trees OeBln 10 produce olives.
Much of the fruit is picked; the re-
mainder is pressed for oil. Real olive
oil. Real olive oil is not to be bought at
stores nowadays; cottonseed oil has
usurped its name. But 80 highly is gen.
uine olive oil priced, that all produc
ed in California is Immediately taken at
a high figure, at wholesale not less than
eight dollars gallon. 1t is likely that
before many years the olive will be con-
sidered quite as profitable as the orange;
and the demand is unlimited. The trees
begin to bear at six years old. and can
not say just when they leave off; but
olive trees are still bearing in Palestine
that are known to be over one thousand
years old. So if we go into olive culture
we will not worry about having to re-
plant too often
At the next place we enter, we find
rose tree, the trunk ten inches in diam
eter, and the branches supported by a
frame built around making a soft Of ar
Dor. On this single rose bush have been
budded tlOenty fUe uarieties of roses,
blooming as freely on a single stem as if
each had its separate stalk
After this we stop at the next resi-
dence to look at rose hedge. This con.
sists Of wire fence running along
front of a quarter of mile or so,twined
about which, and climbing through and
over it, are one hundred and twenty five
varieties OF this queen Of flowers
Things grow, in this country. AS we
drive back, not having gone in all more
than three miles, we pass through the
greatest marvel in the way of rapid
growth-ths village Of Redlands. A
train OF cars in unloading rails for sew
eral miles Of horse railroad now being
laid through the streets. Less than two
years ago there was net place of bust
ness in Redlands; now two railroads run
to it, every description OF business is
centered in il, and not in cheap wooden
shanties and "battlement fTonts' ike
many Western towns of niue broom
growth. On the contrary, there ia not
a wooden building, but only handsome
brick block, none less than two stories