Greenbrier independent. [volume] (Lewisburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1980, 1897-09-02


remembered Jerusale The
GREENBRIER INDEPENDENT Is a
weekly visitor at his home. He
told me that the INDEPENDENT was
founded and first edited by Gran
vile Alderson-not by Col. B. F.
Harlow, as 1 had always supposed.
l stood by the grave of w. &. Coff-
man, who died here less than year
before. l always like to hunt up the
graves of West Virginia's dead in
far-away lands. Some years ago
at Crockett, Texas, 1 stood beside
the grave of young Lively, of Mon
roe. little dreamed that should
soon be on the brink of the grave,
or that should ever see any of his
people in West Virginia. But
within within two months was
stopping with his sister, Mrs. Ar
mott, of Trout Valley. Wherever
my bones may rest, should like to
know that some wandering boy from
the valley of the Greenbrier would
occasionally stand by my grave and
read the epitaph over my head.
1t was then very dry and dusty in
southern California, for it was now
August, and no rain had fallen since
April. But the first Sunday after !
came it clouded up and thundered
tremendously. Enough rain fell to
partially lay the dust. A man Sit
ting under tree in his yard, three
miles away, was killed by lightning.
But this was most remarkable
freak of the weather. There were
no further signs of rain until Just a
week before the election. Then Gar
Reed came and brought with him
that day FIVE inches of rain fall in
something over twelve hours
Within ten days all the little hills
were clapping their hands and re-
joicing together and were as green
as the West Virginia hills in May.
During the wet season here, there
will be two or three days of rain,
and then two or three weeks of
bright, cloudless skies. You want
some fire during cloudy or rainy
weather or in sunless room, but
you never want fire in q room
where the sun streams in several
hours a day. A day or two after a
rain the roads are better than they
were before, and hundreds Of wheel
men are out threading the country.
But even In this wa-m, sunny CLINE
people contract consumption. A
California consumptive goes to Ari-
zona or New Mexico to recover.
Without irrigation, we can grow
wheat and barley in the valleys and
foothills, and corn among the sand
hills near the coast where the fogs
are frequent and dense. 1t seems
strange to see good corn where not
a drop of rain has fallen for weeks
before the corn was planted till
weeks after it has been cut, but yet
this i5 the case. Under irrigation,
the country from the mountains to
the sea is vast orchard with here
and there green alfalfa fields from
which are cut from six to eight crops
Of good hay each year. Orange
groves are the more numerous and
most profitable. To cultivate ten
acres of oranges takes as much time
and labor as 10 cultivate ten acres of
corn in West Virginia. Water in
California is not free, and a fruit
grower must pay for all his ranch
gets during the summer, and he
must take it when his turn comes, if
this be on Sunday or at midnight
Working on ranch here is harder,
dustier and dirtier work than in
West Virginia. Here we don't hear
farm" but only ranch" Per-
haps ten acres is the ordinary size
of fruit ranch, though / have rid
den through grain ranch of 10000
acres.
When l came apricots were just
done, but figs were coming in, and
soon the ground under prune trees
was black with prunes. Prunes are
allowed to ripen and fall, and are
then gathered off the ground. Soon
we had peaches enormous peach
nectarines. plums, pears, pomegran-
ates, etc. You will not like fresh
figs when you first taste them any
better than you first liked oysters,
but you will soon become as fond of
figs as of oysters.
You must be careful in eating figs to
pull all the peeling off, for it will
smart your mouth and make your
lips very sore. During November
and December dried figs hanging on
the tree are about all the fruit you
can forage. About Christmas the
oranges begin to ripen, and If you
have several varieties, you may
have oranges ripening until mid
summer. Last August / pulled ma.
vel oranges off the tree where they
had been hanging ripe for six
months. They are, perhaps, not 50
good after hanging so long. Olives
ripen about February. Loquots,
cherries, ETC., are ripening in May.
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