Los Angeles daily herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1884-1890, 1889-09-24

mass OF data on the subject, whicl
shows that the average annual numbe
of clear days in ten years was 18O; fai
days, 1877, and the average annual mum
bet of cloudy days only 4S! Here W
have an average annual number of clea
days on which the sun shone brightl
or was only partially obscured of thre
hundred and seventeen! Mr.. Franklil
also makes the very important observs
ton that during the time of creates
heat in this locality the percentage O
moisture in the atmosphere is low, an,
medifies the temperature 80 that th,
heat is neither oppressive nor prostrat
ing-a truth which is illustrated by tn,
fact that labor in the open field is no
interrupted by the hottest weather. 1
is this delicious and uncomfortable
climate that turns towards us the ionpint
eyes of millions in other lands who
swelter under the summer heat of
brazsn sun and shiver in the hyperborear
rigors OF their cruel winters; and wher
the Knockers laugh at us for holding oul
land at so much per acre. and our climate
at 30 much more, | say to them "Laugt
away, but who would give two cents az
acre for the rich soil of the Mosquito
coast, where it rains 800 days out OF the
800, and strikes men dead with the fierce
rays of vertical sun on the other days
OF the year," If climate is not a factor
in the value of land in other countries, il
must be because they haven't got any
climate worth speaking of.
But the climate of Southern California
has positive and recognized value, moi
only in it's sanitary and esthetic effects,
but it has a value which is inestimable
upon the great laboratory of nature-the
chemicals of the soil. It distills into our
fruits the richest of juices, and swells
our vegetables into mammoth proper.
tions. The watermelon that tips the
scale at ITO pounds, no more surprises
us than the pumpkin that goes up to 200
Would such surface specimens of the
pompion species grow in an over-hot oi
an over-cold climate?
The Dakota blizzard that sweeps the
Northwest in winter, and the Bermuda
hurricane that devastates the Atlantic
Coast in summer, are powerful allies that
will aid us in making California, espe.
cialiy in it's more inviting sections, one
OF the most populous and prosperous
States in the Union. To be sure, we
have had some drawbacks here. We
have had boomerang booms and de-
structive bugs, but what are booms and
bugs to billiards. and Bermuda blows?
There is no doubt that the reaction
from the boom gave US severe trial !;
but we are getting over that, and will be
the better for the experience. But the
scale-bug, that was an unmixed evil.
1t was fearful visitation, and did more
harm to us than could the collapse of a
dozen booms. The leading industry of
this country was literally brought to
grief by the little pests, and we saw with
dismay orange groves that had yearly
shipped from forty to one hundred car
loads of fruit East, adding to our wealth
millions of dollars per annum, almost
entirely Invested of the power of bearing.
It was q sad sight to see the steady
spread of these pests and the impotency
Of mans efforts to stay their
iravages. But within the past few
months a brighter era has
Idawnsd upon the imperial industry.
The ved0lio cardinals has grappled with
the scale and not been found wanting.
This Australian parasite has tackled the
pest with a voracity that seems in
sstiable, and he has already, so to
cPO0A, AO6COAOO uo w U1O oUttU QUO UfttC
belIum, for he has so far destroyed the
enemy that the infested orange trees ara
again putting on a healthy hue and CIV
ing signs of rapid restoration to their
original beauty and vigor. Orchards
that were given up for lost are now
blushing forth in all their wonted sym
metry of form and verdancy of leaf. The
scale is conquered, and the vedoia ram
pant should be added to every orange
growers coat-of-arms. If my poetic
friend, Mr.. Kercheval, fails to apo.hee-
size in his best verse this brave little in
sect, his muse will prove an migrate.
In this connection we owe a
debt of gratitude greater than
we can repay to Hon. Frank Nc
Coppin, late Commissioner of the United
States to the Australian Elk position. The
chronological Bureau at Washington
could do nothing toward getting and
sending us colonies of this parasite from
the Antipodes for want of funds, and we
might have waited for Congressional
appropriation before we could have been
furnished with it, had not Mr.. McCoppin,
conscious of the value of time to us, set
apart several thousand dollars Of his own
special fund in order that we might be at
once supplied with the insect that has
saved the orange industry of this county
from destruction. Few officials would
have done that, and the rarity of the dis
play of so unsel6sh public virtue makes
it the more incumbent upon US to recog-
nize with gratitude the generous act.
The orange interest will once more as
sumo it's place at the very head of our
richest and choicest industries, and the
orchards that have been temporarily i'm
paired by a visitation as terrible as it was
sudden and unexpected, will return to
their normal productiveness and again
become source Of wealth and prosper
ity to our district. am assured on the
best authority that intending orchardists
may now plant out orange trees with 8
perfect reliance upon their future immu'
nifty from the ravages of the white scale
and take part in the golden profits that
await the intelligent prosecution Of thif
great industry.
It is source of no small degree O
pleasure for me to congratulate the peo
pie of this district upon their rapid re
covery from the reaction Of an unex
ampled realty imitation and from the raw
ages of visitation that threatened Il
seriously cripple one of their foremos
interests. All around us we see signs O
the better times coming. Out of the
boom craze the era of wisdom and good
sense is working salutary revival. In
stead of waiting to realize inflated pricel
for their land, the people have entered
energetically upon the work of produc
ton. Their property is given the only
legitimate increase in value it can havt
| u !