The herald., 1897-10-10


dino is at present, touching the Land
scape here and there with the high lights
of progress and reform and then throw
Ing on the canvas a shadow or two t.
make the picture complete. 1t has been
customary for writers on Southern Cali
fornia to bring out all the good points,
leaving the others unheralded. calling
forth the truthful remark, "the half has
not been told' followed by the equally
trite saying, "ard it never will be-
San Bernardino has been given the
eobriquet of THE Imperial County"
from its vast proportions, its immense
wealth and variety of minerals, its
choice orange, lemon and deciduous
fruit orchards, its lofty mountain range.
its lakes and streams and Incompatible
artesian belt. furnishing untold wealth
of water for domestic and irrigating pur-
poses and electrical development, COM
bining within its borders the possibiii-
ty for almost every known product and
industry making it veritably self
supporting empire in its own right Nor
In climate is it behind any known section
of the globe, for its varied qualities, its
healthfulness and adaptability to the
pleasures anu W anus VI ltS lima
Does a physician wish to send patient
to a spot where the temperature is hot
and dry, the invalid can bask op the
plains where the mercury stands a 12o
degrees at midnight; or, if seeking a
cool summer temperature and fraezins
in winter, the long range of mountains.
that bisects the county furnishs eli
mate that would delight a dweller in
Canada or the British northwest. Yet
while one revels in such surroundings
in midwirter, only few miles away the
ripening oranges and wealth of roses
and other flowers. bossoming in the
open air, give another phase of the
wonderful climate. 1t is said that a
clergyman in the east sent his two sons
to this county for the winter, one of
whom took fancy to work up among
the SHOWS, while the other was engaged
In an orange grove; yet they were bu.
twenty miles apart as the crow flies.
Both wrote home at the same time
Christmas-and while ore told of his
surroundings among flowers and riper-
ing oranges the other wrote of the depth
of snow and the thermometer below
zero. On receiving the letters the good
old father groaned in spirit TO think
that his sons should have turned out to
be such liars as the result of residence
in San Bernardino, for their letters were
both mailed from the same Office. Yet
both adhered strictly to the truth and
each told Of the country as he saw it.
There is an "off side" even to the tenn
perature, and every summer lives are
lost, overcome by the heat, not through
the eastern "sunstroke," for that ir
reality is unknown here, but through eX
haustion on the hot plains in summer,
crossing them in goins to mines with
out a bountiful supply of water and
through ignorance, usually, of the
amount of heat encountered al that time
of the year. During the winter the
plains are easily Travelled, but in sum-
mer extra precaution is necessary or the
life will pay the penalty of the neglect.
On the noun tains the summers are de-
lightfully cool, and in the valley on the
western and southern slope the tenn
perature Is much more agreeable in
summer than at the east If it is some
times hotter it is not the oppressive heat
that prevails throughout the east dur
Ing the summer months.
San Bernardino county has been noted
for its oranges and other fruits, the in
come from which is many millions Of
dollars annually. The oranges of High
land and Redlands take the lead of the
world in that fruit, with Ontario a close
second and Rialto coming along a a
rapid pace for a youngster, while in
lemons Ontario seems to be peculiarly
.
this fruit leads any other section OF
Southern California Of its size and age.
Cucamonga and Brookside are noted for
their wine grapes, while Etiwanda is
becoming famous for the quality of its
raisins. Along the foothills the apricot,
peach, prune and pear are favorites,
and higher up, in the Yucaipe valley and
other mountain side sections, the apple
and cherry are grown, of quality un-
surpassed by the best Michigan or east
ern fruit, and in quantities that show
how rich and prolific Is the soil of the
mountain sides and valleys.
Yet the fruit raising is not all smooth
sailing The orchardist cannot sit down
fold his hands, light his pipe or cigar
and with daily paper in hand, watch
lie lIull 6ION, llPcl anu So ~ iioi nc =
without a little care and work on hi;
part The climate is of the best, the
soil, with an occa sional supply of fertii-
izer, is able to do its part. the water when
rightly applied will do its duty, vet
success in raising fruit, even in San
Bernardino county. depends upon
eternal vigilance and the best of care
and forethought. Even with all these
failure may come. The cold frosty all
of the mountain range, twenty miles
away. may break loose from its sur
roundings and have a sort of a Wal
purgis Nights revel among the orange
groves in midwinter, destroying in a
night the labor and care of season
Or in the mountain valleys the same
may occur in the late spring, with the
deciduous trees loaded with buds, bios
SONS or young fruit, and the tree tha.
would otherwise furnish a wagonload OF
apples may not have a solitary one tc
repay the care and attention bestow ed
upon it, This is the dark background
of the picture, rendering, however. al
the more brillinat the tights thrown upor
1t at other times and seasons, giving just
enough diversity and uncertainty to the
business to make it interesting and at
tractive. for with perfect success every
year 1t would become monotonous and q
flat and overs tocked market would fol.
low.
There are in the county at the pres.
ent time 10000 acres of orchard to which
large additions are made with each re-
curing season for planting. In citrus
trees at the last assessment it was COM
puted that there were 1.750, 900, of which
about 100000 were in bearing, and about