Pleasantville weekly press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1890-1911, 1897-01-20
LETTER FROM CALIFORNIA.
A Journey Across the Continent
by a PIeasantv11le Citizen.

A Journey Across the Continent
By a PIeasantville Citizen.
California was once the home of pre-
historic rare, who have left evidence in
ancient ruins, of their architectural and
engineering and they were super
ceded by the n who gave no history
of his ancestors. The Spanish came and
partly civilized the native tribes, and
named the mountains. rivers and towns.
They were followed by the Yankee, who
curbed the national "swap" with Chi
nese immigration laws. The advent of
the Yankee begins in the middle forties,
and after the discovery of gold by Fran
cisco Lopez, As the gold fields devel-
Oped, farming interests followed and
California leads in agricultural aud min
eral wealth. Irrigation to California is
making her greater than her mineral
wealth, and water is becoming King.
The arid desert wastes, where sage and
cactus grew, are now by the aid of irri-
CATION producing enormous crops. By
careful experiments perfection seems to
have been realized. An amount Ofwater
once used for one acre is now sufficient
for 20 acres. From to 8 crops of alfalfa
is made in a season, by irrigating once
after each cutting. The amount of
water to be used depends upon the soil
and kinds of crops raised, For orchards
3 to flows are required. The water is
allowed to run from "a to 4S hours un-
til the ground is thoroughly soaked,
when the cnltivator is started and tine
ground kept pulverized until irrigation
is again deemed necessary. Irrigation
for grain is never resorted to. For
wheat or barley the farmers plough in
December, SOW in January, and harvest
in May, the Winter rain being sufficient
for these crops. Corn is irrigated ip<l
some localities, and in otb&
without irrigation. On ia
2 or 3 crops are frequently 4 G
ernating barley, hay, corn,
other crops, There are sanoS,n'
around Los Angeles that havU Leen
cropped for more than half century
without any apparent diminution of
fertility. In Los Angeles County So
tons of pumpkins were raised on two
acres without irrigation. Strawberries
from 3 acres sold during the seasons of
'95, and '96 for $2400. Watermelons
2 acres first crop sold for $275 and
$1,000, has been realized from one acre
of oranges. These are exceptions but
show what can be done. Farm land eau
be bought from SO to $400 per acre, ac-
cording to locality and water supply.
Weeds, like the crops, thrive and become
prominent if not tsubdued. Strawberries,
new potatoes, green peas, beans, celery,
lettuce, rhubarb, spinach, green corn,
tomatoes and onions can be had every
month in the year. In the chamber of
commerce where the finest products of
Southern California are on exhibition,
| saw a pumpkin that weighed $50
pounds, a cltron, over 100 pounds, and
a sweet potato that weighed IL pounds
and 10 ounces. There were some other
products which | measured as follows.
a ounce inches in diameter, q pear 5
inches in diameter and inches long;
corn ear II inches long and 3A inches in
diameter; potato 10 inches long; onion
A.. inches in diameter: orauge inches
in diameter and inches long; corn stalk
IA feet high; sweet potato 26 inches
long and 5H inches in diameter; Japan
ese persimmons "a inches in diameter;
and a pear 4 inches in diameter and 81
inches long.
The wonderful production of the soil
in this climate has been heralded in pub
lications throughout the East, and some
may wonder why the pumpkin stopped
at $50 pounds where the season is con-
tinuous; but vegetation has limit here
as elsewhere. In the mountains, on the
plains and by the seaside, some game ex-
lists and the markets are well supplied.
The sportsman might shoot bears, coy
otes, mountain lions, hare, rabbits, wild
cats, quail, plover, wild geese, swan,
brant, sand hill crane, mallard, canvas
backs, red-heads, widgens, teal, sprig-
tails, spOOn-bills, brown curlews, down.
witches, robin, snipe, sandpipers, and
variety of snipe. From Los Angeles to
the sea by trolley or steam road is IL
miles, where in the bays and seas, fish,
crabs and Holsters and other shell fish
are found. We see fish in the market
that we are not familiar with. The
crabs md Holsters differ iroHf ours. -Fhe
Holsters have no large claws. The crabs
are similar to the sand crabs on our
beaches, but much larger, measuring 8
inches across the shell. There is nearly
as much meat in leg as there is in one
of our big blue crabs and it is just as
tender and sweet. Oysters are small, q
silver dollar covers Que. The best oys-
ters come from the East. | may give
the bay business more in detail in my
next letter. Petroleum is no new thing
in Southern California, and Indications
of oil in Los Angeles City caused citi-
zen to bore for oil two years ago in his
yard. His neighbors laughed at him. He-
bored away and "struck it rich,' and
now there is row OF oil derricks nearly
a mile long, 500 oil wells in operation,
yielding from to 20 barrels a day. 1t
is worth 81. 90 per barrel and is used for
fuel. Three barrels are considered equal
to ton Of coal. 1t is no uncommon
thing to see and sometimes 5 wells on
a lot 5Ox150 feet, with thin, tall, black,
greasy derricks, located in the front
yards of cottages surrounded by orange
trees.
Los Angeles, Colorado, Jan. 13, 1896.
A. LAKE.