The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1889-11-14
FROM SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.


Attitudes - Money IL Tight-Three AND
Three Hundred-PrOdigious Panes-Do'
ings of n Dull Year-A long Way to &
Brewery.
REDLANDs, CAL, Nov. 1, 1899.
Editor of the Bdnner;-One is apt to
get confused here about the seasons OF
the year. planted my peas last week
but neighbor told me his were two
inches high. However, they will be
ready to pick by February. Odd to be
planting In October for use in mid-win-
ter. Under this cloudless November
sky, with the genial sunshine making
life ioy, 1t may be Christmas or the
Fourth of July; your sensations do not
tell you which. =.
Yet summer and winter are quite I'M
like. Winters bring grass and wild
flowers where all was bare and brown ;
the deciduous trees shed their foliage
for a short rest, and the mountains put
on their crown of snow and look twice
as high as in summer. 1t is the first OF
November, but there is none OF the ira
ditional dreariness that attaches TO that
unpopular month. True, the peach and
apricot trees are beginning to shed their
leaves, the grape vines are despulieo OF
their generous clusters, and the straw
berries are a thing of the past. The
| fruit season is over. Yet on the trees
see plenty of winter pears, ounces and
pomegranates still ungathered; and yes
terday was shaking down apples by the
bag full, leaving the task half finished.
People are making jelly from the second
crop of grapes, all the better for this
purpose for being but half ripe, and
therefore tart.
A company of ladies and gentlemen
from New Haven are here on tour of
inspection. arriving in Redlands last
week. in their vestibule car attached to
Raymond excursion. They zee us at
the most unfavorable time Of year.
Fruits that are the glory of the summer
are mostly gone, and the oranges have
not assumed their winter gold; the &C.
cumulated dust of the summer covers
the brown landscape, and the grass and
flowers are in the future, as well as the
snow caps which a little later will set off
the mountains. Yet these sensible Yam
KEGS are delighted with all that they see,
declare that the half had not been told
them, and some Of them have already
decided to return and make their home
in Redlands. Just now they are gone on
a trip into the mountains to see the great
Bear Valley Lake that furnishes our wa
ter supply, and incidentally to enjoy the
wild and sublime scenery on the route,
which is like glimpse of Switzerland.
was up there last August, sailing on
the lake whose surface is six hundred
feet higher than the TIp-Top House on
Mt. Washington. There l Toasted on
trout and venison, and enjoyed view,
the more delightful because distant, of
unmistakable owbanks. love snow
a mile or 80 away, but not under foot.
do not expect to WELD snow-shovel
any more, No more of that fun for me,
thank you.
To return to the mountain trip: 1t
is over rude and steep trail, rising at
one point to an altitude of 1900 feet
above the sea, and the only means of
conveyance are donkeys, which if not
swift or beautiful, are sure-footed and
safe. The trip is exceedingly enjoyable
in summer, but at this season one runs
the risk of being "snowned in," and the
nights are cold.
know not what kind of times you
are having in Vermont, but here they
are decidedly "hard.' Everybody has
his property locked up in land, there is
no sale for anything, and money is
amazingly scarce. We are suf ring the
reaction from the boom we had two
years ago. Still, the price of land is
enormously high, measured by Eastern
standards. zee that you have many
good farms 10 Vermont for three dollars
au acre, improved, with orchards and
buildings, and offer special inducements
to anybody who will possess himself of
one of these ready-made homes. 1t
seems as though an average poor man
might better his circumstances immense
ly by taking one of these farms. But no
poor man need come here expecting to
get 80 cheap start in life. Land in
RedIauds to day, without buildings tr
improvements of any kind. cannot be
had for less than q hundred times the
Vermont figure. A poor man with lew
hundreds of dollars had better not cone
here expecting to live by farming; he 10
better off in Vermont. There f.! Mr.,
Editor, do not accuse me OF trying to
get your citizens to migrate y
But, you will say, what is the sense of
asking $500 or more for uDimproved
land ? Why, it is claimed that such is
its productive capacity that it IS better
worth $500 than the deserted farms are
worth SO, My neighbor has seventeen
and one-half acres in Muscat grapes, he
sold the raisins this year-there were
thirty-five tons--for 81 900. There is a
net profit OF 5000 an acre, and this is by
no means an exceptional case. II land
can be brought in four or five years TO
mn otnnh nFnHf n or Uhaf 10
worth At 10 per cent, the ordinary
interest, the product represents a land
value of $4,000 an acre; at per cent
which would be your way of reckoning,
the value would be $4,000. Is it any
wonder that 1t is held, in an unimproyed
State, at one-tenth of that figure? More.
over, oranges are considered much more
profitable than grapes.
OF course raisins and oranges may not
alwe VS. pay 80 well; there are contin-
gencies; but after after making due al
lowance, there seems to be reason for
putting a high valuation on land in San
Bernardino county. If half is true that
orange growers tell us, no fruit of the
soil was ever so profitable as oranges;
and the amount of first-class orange land
is comparatively small. In San Ber-
nardino county the grower does not have
to contend with scale bug smut, or frost
and for this reason more value attaches
to land than in less favored sections. !
ought to add, that when say that land
is held at $500, l mean where there are
social advantages. II one is willing to
go away from railroads, churches and
schools, he can buy good orange land at
a much lower figure, though not at 49,
Redlands is an ambitious little town
of 1900 people. 1t has just opened it's
first dry goods store, and the plate glass
in the show windows is larger than else
where in the county, il not in this end
Of the State. The panes measure each
eleven feet eight inches, by eight feet;
SO square feet to a pane. These great
sheets of glass were put in lately, during
the hard times. suppose If the times
were easy, the glass would have been
cut much bigger.
By the way, within the past twelve
months Redlands has expended in build
iDgs and improvements upwards Of one
hundred and forty thousand dollars.
This does not include hundreds of acres
set out to orchards, but only new build
ings Ohree churches among them) and
engagements Of old ones. This is pretty
fair for an off year like the present.
Hundreds of tons Of barley are shipped
from Redlands on the cars for Milwau
kee, to be converted Cor perverted) into
beer. 1t is curious that in America no.
body seems to eat barley; at any rate l
have never seen any barley flour; the
grain is fed to cattle. Yet in Europe all
classes make use of barley bread. 1t
makes variety; and there would be de-
cided economy in eating 1t, as the price
Of this grain at present is but half a