Evening star., 1896-11-16
SHE BOSSES THE RANCH

California Woman wbo u.,s.
Walnuts and Fine Pan,pas Grnsx
From the New York Sun.
Mrs Harriet. W.. r. Strong is a ranch
woman of California, where the species
nourlshes. She is not, however, a horny
handed daughter of toll. On the contrary.
she is described as dainty, fragile. slrewd
caring, cordial, gentle-faced. Her step
Is quick; her voice low and musical. she
Is an accomplished lingufst, a musician. a
painter, the president of d fashionable club.
and her pampas plun1esi are he finest ir
the country -fc' 49, '''T'17'' =
Nobody would think of calling Mrs
Strong narrow or one-sided person. Yer
satility and walnuts are her strcr eest
points The former has expanded without
hindrance. The waInuts haven't done quite
so well as they might have If Mrs Strong
hadn't set out the pampas grass among
the trees, but she means to make that ali
right very soon. The p6npas plants viii
have to move, but they will be merely
transplanted.1 It IS a fact, without afty low
attempt at punning, that Mrs. Strong
plumes herself on her success IN thfs
branch of her ranching.
Mrs. Strong's husband died in 1888 and
his widow very quickly found that. her
agents were improving their exceptional Or
portunities for running the business into
the ground. This is a ve~y easy thing
to do with a ranch She decided, there
fore, to run it herself and as Is pener-
of business. she got herself we'll laughed
at for her notions, When. She spent $7OO
on pampas plants the men of the neigh
borhood were SO amused. that they psat in
the sun for hours together ,and had a
beautiful time telling each other what a
fool woman was when it came to busi-
ness st zr..~r> -
They don't do that now Mrs. Strong
harVests 100000 plumes from her twenty
eight acres and sells them for from Sl5
to $50 a thousand. This is in addition to
the walnuts, which are in the, same land
but have been. somewhat stunted by the
pampas. The plumes are gathered in Sep
tember, and the work has to be done
promptly. Sixty-five laborers- harvest the
twenty-eight acres The plume grows up
in long sheath. as an tear Of corn does,
and it must be cut before this sheath
opens,S lest the sun spoil the fronds:" The
plumes are first stripped and taken to
the drying place, If they are put out in
the evening theU aref white and ready to
be taken up by morning. Then they go
to the curing hdtse, where they are kept
In addition toIdhe spampas ,.grass whic h
is an excellent food for cattle, Mrs Strong
raises walnutss oranges olives and figs
She is president OF the American Walnut
Growers Asscci2tfoM1 She is interested in
irrigation and mininRr schemes and has re-
Gently patented reservoir system for i'm
pounding the debrfsisof hydraulic mining
She thinks 1t will settle matters salts
factorily both to minars and farmers She
has patented a process for damming I'D
and storing water foF irrigation, by using
the reversed arch. Furthermore she has
hobby. She dreams of founding an in
stitution where women may learn the prin-
ciples Of the sciences of business. She Is
now the president of a business league,
which she hopes to see grow until 1t full
fills her hopes. Altogether. Mrs. Strong ap-
Pacific slope as it has turned out for a
long time 'E-'ff >+'ft