The Somerset reporter., 1908-02-06

following interesting letter from our
esteemed townsman, Hon. D. H..
Bartlett, who, with his wife. Is pass
ing he winter in Southern California.
1t being our desire to keep the name
Of the recipient a secret We will men
tion no names farther than they ap-
pear In the letter:
l65 Marengo Ave,
Pasadena, Cal
Jan 22d. 1866
Ny Dear Old Frank.
/ have thought Of you a thou
sand times, | guess, since arriving
here in this little one horse town
which they call Pasadena, and / have
said TO myself. | must write to Frank
just the first chance | get. but every
day has sprung n new surprise and |
have been hustled away TO see some
new Wonder-first it's one thing and
then its another. I'm not sure but
they have got me TO the condition a
man is in when lost in the woods and
he wanders on in q circle until he is
found or perishes from starvation and
exhaustion. I'm not sure but they
are running me round over the same
ground and showing me the same
sights that were introd uced 10 my in
experienced eyes when ! first came
here three weeks ago. They tell me
it's all new territory and that it viii
take me all winter to take il IN.
can only say-either they are deceiy-
ing me or there IL a lot here 10 be
seen. | would like 10 write you all
about these things, but II would take
me long time and you all the bal
ance of the winter to read the letter,
and it will not do for me to take 70
much Of your time.
There 10 one thing, Frank, that !
never cease 10 regret and that il that
YOU and had not come out here 10
Pasadena or Los Angeles about the
year 1850 and got hold Of some Of
these corner lots that these natives
have squatted On instead of hanging
round tOrnville and Harmony, going
10 appleUees and hu-kings. riding out
TO Athens through the snow drifts Oh
cold nights. and unable To return un
til the next morning, with the ther
mometer AT 80 below. We got moth
my out Of the husklngs or the dance,
except the chance to hold fine
y
with some good looking one all night
and now we have TO wander about
Skowhegan and Pasadena on TO u,
while these fellows out here all are
riding in an automobile or on BIZ
cNcle over the finest and smoothest
streets you ever saw.
Well, Frank, ! went down to Los
Angeles and saw the Cages and the
T.
shape, and We were glad to see them,
and they said they were glad 10 see
us, and guess they were. They all
professed to be happy and contented,
and declared they did not want TO go
back to Maine to live, but when |
called to their minds the beauties
they had left behind in Maine-the
lovely kennebec tumbling down
through the gorge in Skowhegan; the
glories of skating on our frozen ponds
and rivers; the Siding down hill on
real snow for nothing, instead of
building a toDoggan slide where you
can run up aud down on trucks at
ten cents per head: the hitching up
of the horse into the sleigh and riding
out into the country, with hot brick
at your feet and a fur coat outside
all the clothes you can get on, 10 the
merry Jingle of the bells, | could SEE
signs OF their awakening and, !
thought, tears i'll their eyes. So I've
no doubt that some OF lnem will be
back to Skowhegan as soon as the
frost gets out OF the ground.
One man, whom | am sure Is very
honest man, told me today that not in
ten wears have they had SO hue
winter as this. Why, it is perfectly
unapproachable. We have not seen
rainy day since we arrived here in
Pasadena, four weeks ago last night.
Every day has been bright and sunny.
There have been three small rains in
the night during that time, and the
owners of acres are very anxious lest
no more rains fall, or lest they do
not have the usual amount of rain.
| went up to Redlands, last week, and
was gone three days. ! found a
beautiful country full of orange,
lemon and other trees, the orange
and lemon trees were full of fruit,
which they are now picking and
packing 1t is a beautiful sight TO
ride past and TO wander through the
orange groves, when in full bearing.
The leaves are deep green and the
foliage is dense, and the oranges look
like globes of gold hanging from the
branches. Where the orchards are
we'll kept up the branches will droop
to the ground with the weight of the
fruit. tell you it made me long TO
own some of this land ont here GOV
cred with oranges or lemon trees
but one would have to quite cover
the ground with silver dollars 10 be-
come the owner of some of the choic-
est lots; $4,000 or $1,000 per acre is not
an unusual price. Our Eastern farm.
ers could learn quite valuable les
son in studying the method which the
ranchers follow here in the cultlya-
tion of their orange and lemon
groves. The ground is kept as mel
low AZ the best kept garden you ever
saw. Nothing is allowed to grow in
1t after the third or fourth year. For
the first year or two small crops are
grown between the rows, but as soon
as the trees commence to bear fruit,
it is given up wholly to what il was
designed for, oranges, lemons, apri.
cots, walnuts, etc. The grounds are
arranged so as to be irrigated as often
as needful and after the water has
soaked into the ground SO that it will
not harden they put on their team
and the soil is thoroughly cultivated
and stirred and this is kept up
through the whole year. The more
enterprising of the owners enrich
their land with commercial fertilizers
twice and some three times each year
the lazy ones only once, and now
and then a hopeless sort of fellow
not at all, and their trees tell the
i.-.r 81 b. "a . hin nl1l