Los Angeles herald., 1890-05-12
OUT OF TOWN.
Correspondence From Sur
rounding Towns.
Recent Occurrences at San
Gabriel.
Agricultural Notes From Cahuenga
Valley.
Catalina Island News and Notes-Other
Items of an Interesting
Nature.

EDITORS HERALD We of the
Cahuenga district occupy vantage
ground of which it would be hard to find
the parallel anywhere, and therefore it
might be thought to be less useful as
rule to guide others. However, the soil
is rare combination of the most desir-
able constituents known to agricultur-
lists. Continued groupings by the most
wasteful of all sappers of soil, the
Chinese, have failed to exhaust it's fer
tility, and today the products are the
wonder of all beholders. But in ac-
counting for this universal fecundity,
most people fail to see it's main reason.
One of the reasons is the angle of inclin-
alton. During the winter the sun is so
far south as to send the rays so slant
ing that much of the virtue is lost.
Where the inclination is just right, so
that the sun strikes the ground perpen-
dicularly-or, in other words, the ground
and the ray form right angle-the ut
most ABSORPTION of the virtues of that
region within the knowledge of the
fully met as that mentioned, say space
of three miles in width by seven in
llngth, or twenty square miles approx
mately. Let anyone with an eye to the
aesthetic as well as the useful go on top
of Temple hill and look northwestward,
along the line of the Cahuenga foothills
toward Santa Monica, and if he has any
soul to stir with that just feeling which
a sight of such a combination of the use
full and beautiful should call forth, then
he must be thankful that his lot has been
cast here. AS the day gods rays adj
vance, all the corrugations of the
great butte that flank the pass
on the right seem to be puckered
into smiles to receive his kiss.
From morn till dewy eve the march OF
Sol is received and welcomed by these
convolutions or wrinkles in the face of
mother earth in a way to extract from
them the last atom of virtue. In this
way all the hours of sunlight are utilized
to the utmost. Not only the festive
tomato that we are accused OF growing,
at times, in useless quantities, but all
the solanum family riot in the luxurious
warmth. The Chill pepper, the egg
plant, potato and numerous wild species
find home here. This is one reason
why the seed must be renewed yearly.
The bees mix the pollen so that the fruit
of the tomato is soon dwarfed to the size
of the berries on the night shade, which
is of the same family. Let us mention,
by the way, that the night shade fruit
is very acceptible here at times, contain
ing a pleasant sub-acid that is not I'M
wholesome.
Now we must mention a circumstance
not as pleasant or desirable in regard to
the outcome of one crop that has been
L., s., 1,e,
here-the pea. A neighbor that had
been shipping peas to San Francisco
sent small lot to Chicago as an expert
Just $4.45. On the main crop he got
just enough to pay for the seed. The
consignee wrote that the peas came to
hand in bad order, but by sorting and
"facing up'' to make them look their
best he managed to sell them The
date Of receipt and that Of sale were the
same, showing that they were off like
"hot cakes" Comment is unnecessary.
You and 1, Mr.. Editor, little more
than a year ago, were feasting in this
caf1on (Laure) on cherries imported all
the way from Putah creek, while the
wild fruit was growing on the hillsides
all about u.s.
Is it not a wonder that our cheeks did
not blush for shame at the dereliction
They would if they had not been
bronzed by forty years contact with the
G. G. of G. Now, Mr.. Editor, let us go
to work manfully and take these wild
cherries walnuts ETC., and by root-graft-
ing produce variety of hardy and Wig
orous early-bearing fruit that will cap
ture the market So that we shall not
have to repeat the formula so often
heard of hereabouts, where we ship to
some festive commission man and
get no returns. "Take nothing from
nothing and nothing remains" Blessed
be nothing! F. M. SHAW.