The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1897-10-07
ALIFoRNlA FREAKS.


asked about vegetable, mOnstrositie0
he refreshed his memory for a moment
and then continued: .sOf course, you
have heard Of the big grape vine at
Santa Barbara, which covers an area Of
three acres of land. Then there is the
monster rose bush at Santa Rosa. I
remember, when boy,. I marYeled at
the size Of this floral plant. Itgrew to
an enormous height, and completely
covered the house where it greW. Dur
ing my lifetime here in California I
have hand led squashes running all the
way FROM so to 500 pounds each. Wa
termelons Il have seen weighing from
IS to 100 pounds. Beets are frequently
known On this coast Weighing all tho
way from 10 e rs pounds: I remem-
Der one beet raised at San Rafael which
weighed about SO pounds. Last fall I
saw three onions, the aggregate weight
Of which was nearly five pounds. In
the Pomona valley Ihaye known onions
weighing from ~ to ;2,11ss pounds, To-
mato vines frequently grow ten or
twelve feet across, and I&haye often
seen radishes that looked like big tur-
:nips."'. : = z : +
& How about potatoes?''
y, '''Welll, have observed specimens OF
the Humboldt county potato which
weighed from three to: four pounds. It is
not at all unusual to see cabbage weigh
ing from IS TO rs pounls, Some years
ago q. Mr., Fox, who. lived down in tbs
Santa Cruz mountains, raised a carrot
Of the white Belgian variety which
weighed about 20 pounds. It was the
biggest carrot on record. In the way
of fruits we have raised ON this coast
enormous peaches and pears. The
largest pears that come to the San
Francisco market, of course, are what
they call pound pears, but I have seen
them weighing 21s pounds"
At a recent convention of fruit grow
ers held in Pomona E. P. Fowler, Of
Paradise valley, exhibited a remarka-
BILE assortment of deformed and alb
normal oranges. One of these deform-
tiles looked for all the world like a pair
of Jenness Miller's patent leglets. At
the same convention a farmer named
F. >Cchulenberg, of Claremont, exhibit
ed a variety of strawberries known as
the Triumph lie ,Grande," measuring
three inches in diameter.
| At Kelsey's orchard, near Santa Bar
bara, is a remarkable plum tree, known
as the Japan plum, which was planted
in 1876. The fruit is heart-shaped and
of rich yellow color. The plums
from this tree are frequently from
O.; {.> To-, - IS
Probably there is not spot in Cali
fornia more prolific of enormous vege-
table growth than Santa Rosa. Here
is located the mammoth rose tree al
ready mentioned. There are score of
dwellings in the vicinity completely
embowered with roses, while fuchias
| are trained like vines.
In Los Angeles H, L. Baker, of Union
street, displays rose bush which has
reached height Of :16 feet. Grated
| upon IT'S branches are ~ varieties of
roses. The parent stalk is IL years of
| age. The stalk, few inches above the
ground is five inches in circumference.
S. H., of Ontario, recently discovered
a wonderful freak of nature in the
shape of monstrous apple blossom ON
one of the trees in his orchard. The
blossom, which resembled a large
sized rose, measured 91% inches in cir
conference and is what may be called
a second-crop blossoms. An ordinary
| apple blossom contains five petals,
| while this one has 30 or 40. The big
grape vine at Monticello, near Santa
Barbara, is famous. The vine was
planted about 40 years ago. The
grapes are of the Mission variety The
parent stalk is 46 inches in circumfer-
ence one foot from the ground. Where
it commences to branch, three feet
from the ground, it's circumference is
GO inches. The vine yielded AZ tons Of
grapes in single season. The vine
covers an area of 100 by 80 feet. Some
years ago a photographer, in looking
about the golden state for views, came
across a giant cactus near Los Angeles,
the trunk of which was six feet four
inches in circumference. He also
found in the same vicinity pampas
plumes growing to the height of ten
feet.
Az IOOulS t1<1 SLdCO DOdrU VI
trade in San Francisco some remarka-
BILE products of California soil are on
exhibition. Last year, when the sea-
son was well advanced, pumpkins
weighing 267 pounds were upon ex-
hibition there. There were also cab
bages weighing IS pounds, onions that
tipped the scales at five pounds, and
huge sweet potato, raised near Santa
Ana, that weighed IS pounds. Apples
weighing 20 ounces are frequently on
exhibition, and five-gallon glass jar
contains eight pears, the weight of
which is 80 1-3 pounds. These eight
pears completely fill the fve-gallon
jar. Towering plants grow to enor-
nous size in all parts of the state. Flor
lists say they have seen lilies in Califor-
MIA IA feet high, while geraniums that
look like trees are common.-Washing
ton Star. ,-,"
Reflections Of q splnster!!
A man whom dog will trust is never
wholly bad.
Woman has three weapons fattery,
food and Irritation.
At 20 men love woman; at 80, wom-
an; at 40, women. n
A woman who can keep her lover as
friend never believes in his love. -. !,
~ =