Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-11
THE WAY TO MONTEREY
Delightful Country Found
North Of Santa Barbara.
RAISING THE BAMBOO
NOTES ON THE VALUE OF THE
EUCALYPTUS TREE.
Advantages for Residence Of the
Towns Along the California Coast
Opening Of a New Resort.

Opening of a New Resort.
BY WILLIAM f. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence of The Star and the Chicago
Record Herald.
MONTEREY, Cal, September !. 1905.
All the way northward from Santa Bar
| bara to San Francisco. at intervals OF q
| few miles, are lovely villages and towns,
| settled largely by eastern people; and sea-
side resorts whose foreground is the ocean
and whose background is ranges of mount
| aims, some of them rugged and rocky and
others draped in velvet nantes of green.
The valleys are occupied by great ranches,
| some of them having thousands of acres,
| upon which wheat and barley have recently
been harvested by steam, and fields of SUI
gar beets and beans which look as though
they have no limits. Upon the mountain
sides. which have taken on their autumn
cloaks of gray, are pastured herds of cattle
and sheep. with here and there a forest OF
titanic trees The foothills are covered
with orchards Of apples, plums. apricots,
prunes. pears, peaches, oranges, lemons,
olives and walnuts-each fruit having its
peculiar foliage and it's own shade of green.
The ranch houses and the residences In the
towns are surrounded by gardens OF fra
grant blossoms. perpetual carnfvals OF 1oW-
ers, a hundred varieties or palms, olean-
ders and geraniums. which grow like Viz
ginia creepers out here and hide walls and
roofs and any ruins there may be with
nantes of vivid scarlet
Mr.. Eaton. one Of the prominent resi-
dents OF Santa Barbara, and several other
amateur gardeners, have demonstrated the
possibility Of raising bamboo in this cli-
mate; and that adds another item to the
long list of sources of wealth that this state
enjoys. have often wondered why bam-
boo has not been raised in this country, for
you never see it outside of northern con-
servatories, while the gulf coast from In
dian river to the Rio Grande seems well
adapted for its cultivation, and 1t is one of
the most useful and valuable or trees In
Japan, China and India; in the Philippines
and the other East Indies, all the way
from the Straits Of Nagasaki to the Nile,
bamboo fourishes in a great variety OF cll-
mates, soils and temperatures, which are
similar to those Of our southern and west
ern states; while the people make use OF
the wood for every conceivable purpose.
They use it for food as well as furniture.
It supplies hundred wants. 1t has more
uses than the pine while we use 1t for fish
ing poles alone. If the bamboo could be
adapted and produced in this climate 1t
would be the most important contribution
to national wealth that could possibly be
made, except perhaps the spineless cactus
which Mr.. Burbank and other plant breed
ers are now producing with satisfactory
success.
Value of the Eucalyptus.
The eucalyptus tree is being grown here
for fuel as it is in Syria and other desert
REGIONS of the east. You will find groves of
eucalyptus in Australia, Egypt. Arabia,
India and other arid countries, where it is
raised for building material and for fuel.
In Damascus it has been cultivated by the
farmers for centuries like corn and beans;
a nd on lii tie wherever they can
find few feet of unoccupied space, around
their houses and stables. along the banks
OF irrigating bitches and streams, In
Swampy bottoms and on stony hillsideS, the
Arabs. Syrians and Turks grow the strong
tall, straight. slender popars and eucalyp-
tus for firewood, charcoal, and for poles 10
support the floors, roofs and partition walls
of their adobe houses. The trees are tail
enough to cut when they are three or four
years old. They grow about ten feet
year, and when thirty feet high the trunks
will be nine or ten inches III diameter
which is sufficient for building purposes and
fuel. The trees are cut very near to the
ground, and from the roots new trunks Will
i'm mediately sprout and reach maturity IN
another three or four years.
For fuel eucalyptus wood sells for 50 a
cord. 1t makes excellent cooking fire as
it burns quickly and steadily. Its combus-
ton is perfect and Its heat is intense: The
chemists say that one pound Of eucalyptus
is equal to four pounds of oak and nine
pounds of pine fuel The bark is used for
Oil and the leaves and roots for medicinal
purposes. The tree grows anywhere-in
swampy Dogs, in desert sands, and in the
gravel of the hillsides. and the farmers of
California are now planting 1t upon their
otherwise worthless land. There are alto
gether nearly 100 known species of the
eucalyptus, which are described in Bulletin
IS, recently publiched by the United States
bureau of forestry. This bulletin contains
instructions for the cultivation of the trees,
which should be carefully studied; and the
department will be glad to furnish them
upon application. In Australia the trees
are used for fence posts, railroad ties tele-
graph poles, trestles, piling and bridge
work as well as building material: and for
all other construction purposes where dura-
bility and great strength are required. In
California they have been used for fence
posts and for piling and ties, but oftentimes
have proved failures because the trees were
cut at the wrong time of year and were not
properly seasoned before being used. AS
consequence the ties checked so badly that
the spikes would not hold, and the posts
and pling decayed rapidly. If the trees are
cut and seasoned in proper manner, how
ever, they are almost as durable as cedar.
The best way to raise eucalyptus Is to
plant the seeds in boxes and put them I'M
der glass with the highest possible heat
In six or eight weeks the seedlings will be
large enough for transplanting out Of doors.
They are very tough, are almost entirely
free from disease, are not particular about
their surroundings, and will endure neglect
and bad treatment better than most plants.
"A nurSeryman IN southern California OS.
clares that he has transplanted 1900 trees
In a single afternoon and that 95 per cent
of them have survived and grown to ma
turity.
Sometimes the eucalyptus attains great
size. In 1862 the people Of Tasmania wish
ed to send native tree of largest size to
a London exposition. They found a euca-
lyptus 500 feet high-ffty feet shorter than
the Washington Monument and twenty feet
higher than the pyramid OF Cheops-but
no ship was able to carry It, In Tasmania
and other parts of Australasia eucalyptus
is used for shipbuilding bridge timbers. rail-
way viaducts, of great height, and for other
purposes for which steel is considered nee
essary in this country, but age and perfect
maturity are required to give 1t the tough
ness necessary for those purposes.
1t IS popular impression that the euca-
lyptus is a native Of Australia. but that is
scarcely probable. 1t Is found all over Gem
trail and South America, Asia. Africa and
southern Europe. In Spain il is called the
fever tree" and Is planted by the govern
ment in all malarial localities. 1t was in
iptn California hv T.