Middletown transcript., 1893-05-27
TELLS A STORY OF CALIFORNIA
FRUIT CULTURE
ON A SIDE-HILL RANCH
with a ..view''--The Confessions Of
a Reformed Editor Who Wanted
to be a ssTIller of the soil'-A
Small Chapter Out of His Book of
knowledge.


thus far have hesitated to do so Th
world is just as well off without the in
formation can give in the field OF hortI
cultural literature, and it is not pleasan
for man to confess that he has ever failet
in anything he has ever tried his hand at
but at last have decided that my exper
ience may be lesson to other newspaper
men who have formed the common notion
that tilling the soil is an easy path t
wealth and luxury. Therefore l will
hurriedly give small chapter out of my
book of knowledge gained on California
side-hiIl ranch.
bought the place chiefly because it had
"view." did not think at the time that
there was any income from view" butt
seemed to me that it would not wear me
out so soon looking at my hired man work
if had view on the ranch. That settled
it and l bought place with a view. l
bought it of a pioneer. The California
pioneer is usually severely practical
man, who, if he ever gets to Paradise and is
permitted to see the golden streets, will
want to stake off claim" sink shaft
and work it for all there is in it. Therefore,
the pioneer is not the sort of man to set
much value on view" so he didn't
charge me cent extra for it,
He also threw in ghost, dog and a
hive of bees,
did not hear about the ghost until had
moved into the house. Then l heard
about il from neighb0r. 1t was the ghost
of an old woman who wandered about the
place at midnighttrying to attract attention.
She was reported to be particularly lively
on stormy nights, and to be in the habit of
trying to amuse the occupants of the house
by making unearthly noises and humping
up and down the stairways in a very lively
way for ghost of her years.
If had had any choice in the matter
would have preferred to have about the
house young woman ghost to an old one,
but as | did lot have to pay anything
extra for the ghost, and it cost nothing to
feed it, did not complain, but said / would
try to get along with it peacably, il it did
not try TO sing.
occupied the house nearly year and
never saw or heard the ghost. am per-
suaded that it must have moved out when
moved in. | was a little disappointed,
because this was the only ghost ever felt
any ownership in. but as it was said to be
a seventy year old ghost, it was high time
for il TO reiire from active business anyway.
The bees were not so easy to get rid
of as was the ghost. They were too |
sociab!e and full of fun. and as there was
not room for them and the rest of us on |
the fifty acre ranch. | gave man two
dollars to take them over into the adjoin- |
ing county.
My nearest neighbor had what is known
in California as '.cow ranch" He made |
as much as fifteen or twenty pounds of |
butter week from the product of thirty |
COWS, and yet he was not happy. His |
cows lived chiefly ON climate and hope. At
that time of year there was nothing green
in California, except the owner of my
ranch and the moss on my north roof.
Therefore had much trouble in keeping
those cows off my ranch. They used to
climb over the fence before was up in the
morning and try TO go up the rain con-
ductor after the moss For while this
was amusing, but in time it got 10 be
monotonous, and later ON it was even
painful.
also had some chickens which I bought
of the pioneer. They were of the usual
California variety, which runs largely to
aol~ o,,l r.
once familiar with the Delaware and Eas-
tern Shore chicken, the California sort is
simply mockery. After trying to eat one
/ left the chickenhouse door wide open,
hoping that wild cat would find his way
in, but he never did. If there were any
wild cats around they had no doubt tried
California chicken before, and then re-
formed.
The first winter l spent in California was
an exceptional one, but it was not so ex-
ceptional as the second. aalf the season
my ranch was too wet to work and the
other half it was too dry. My hired man
said my soil was easy to work if one could
catch it just at the right time. | asked
him how long the right time" would
continue when we struck it, and he said
he guessed about fifteen minutes.
kept hired man because I had not
been taught to plow when was young, and
besides, l did not consider the occupation
a healthy one, anyhow.
My ranch was hillside ranch and though
l had bought it partly for my health, soon
learned that the exercise connected with
cuItivating it was entirely too violent for
my quiet temperament. l sat under an
apple tree and watched the hired man do
it. When needed more exercise badly
went and drove my neighbor's cows out
did not grow great deal that season,
because, as / before stated, it was an ex-
ceptional year. But l could always buy
vegetables dow in the town, 50 we did
not suffer for farm products In June 1
found large crop of squirrels sitting
round the back end of my ranch, waiting
for my apricots and peaches to grow
little bigger. For some time they had
been coming in fr>m the surrounding
country to see how my crop was coming on
As the crop wasn't quite ready to pick they
decided to dig holes under the trees and
wait for it. They wanted the entire crop,
but strongly objected to that arrange
Inent, and they finally decided, though
Fery reluctantly. to take me into partner
ship. They took two-thirds and gave me
Dne-third.
I sold enough fruit to pay my hired man
his wages and the tax on my dog, which
was considered good by most everybody,
that being an '.off year." and was gen.r; .