The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-02-29
3 I. " Enley

VI Y
tBy J.. W. Foley.)
Los Angeles, Cal. Feb. 2S.-When
1t comes to putting the best foot OF
this section foremost. the residents of
southern California are in a class by
themselves. They are all special rep
resentaiiNes of the department of i'm
migration. / am inclined to think
that even my friend Commissioner
Giitrcath would hear with d great joy
the manner in which these enthusi-
astic sons of California boost for their
section OF the world. To them there
is no place in the United States but
California. They sing its praises day
and night as long as they are awake.
They wonder why the rest of the PEG.
pie of the United States do not i'm
mediatelE abandon what they have
elsewhere OF transport it here and be.
gin life anew. They talk in gor.
eeous and high flown language of the
climate, the soil. the hills. the valleys.
the trees. the landscapes, the oranges
the bungalows the flowers n all the
things. natural and artificial that go
to complete this advance edition of
paradise as they see it. II you ask
II it gets warm in the summer, they
tell you that it does not-that this is
one OF the few countries where it is
- 'i- SAiIIliIiSI tiltIl IL Is III llC
winter. AS usual We have struck UNI
usual weather here. You may have
noticed that wherever you go. the us
ual thing You strike is unusual wealth
er. Up at Seattle and Portland a few
Years | struck n of those I'M
usual spells of weather. and every
body in the native son class told me
they had had nothing like it for ff-
teen years. Now down here they say
they have not had a winter like this
lor thirtN-hNe years. 1t is just like
mo to he always striking an unusual
condition of that kind.
The drouth here this winter is a Sc
rlous thing in hat section which is
given over to the raising of barley,
wheat. forage crops and the like. It
has not rained now for seven weeks
that know of. and the crops that
depend on the winter rainfall are suf-
1erinE as much as evcr crops in the
northwest do when there is a pro-
lnnged drouth in tho hot days of July.
Inc barley that is raised here is raised
MS a forage crop and upon it there is
n great cal of dependence for feed
Tor cattle n sheep. The hay crop
is also badly hit. and there is and
VIII nc a serious time among the herds
nt cattle and bands Of sheep for feed.
II newspapers here make no men,
ton Of the dry weather except in a
casual way. The newspapers Of this
section are once. forever and indis-
soiubly sworn to say nothing that
shall in any way affect the genera
pubic opinion of southern California.
lheN put the loud pedal on the OK
irene cold of h frozen middle west,
but not a word about the extreme
drouth Of this section. l think they
are also members of the California
General State immigration ~associa-
ton.
They tell a story that is Illustrative
OF lnls California boosting spirit that
man died II among strangers.
Among those who wandered in to the
funeral services was Il Californian.
After the minister had said what he
could of the dead man. which was
little. he asked if anybody in the con-
~sregation felt like saying anythin~.
hoping that some friend might be i'm
spired to tell of his good Qualities.
Nobody stirred. and after a few min
utes the California man rose and said.
brethren. If none of you feel like
saying anything and you will give me
your attention for a few minutes.
would like to say a few words-re.
gardins the beauties of southern Cali
!ornla. The spirit OF boosting, you see.
/. irrepressible. ~
This stretch of LAND about here be-
tween the ocean and the ranges Of
little mountains back twenty or TWEEN
tS-hve miles is an uneven and htllv
eSnanse OF light and sandy soil, at
Dhieh a resident Of that black loaned
RED river valley would sniff in dis
gust If it were offered to him as asri-
cultural land. There is little here in
the way of purely natural beauty and
the traveller who looks for the dense
woods and superb foliage OF the east
ern states would look in vain. There
are no trees natural to this section
but a few groves Of live oaks. This
IS an attractive tree and greatly priced
TOR its spreading shade and natural
beauty. They are to be found along
the arroyos and water courses and are
valued at $500 each on building sites,
for their addition to the beauty of the
building spot. Other than this, the
trees here consist of the acacias. a
rather pretty tree, small, and covered
with a handsome yellow spray of
blossoms the eucalyptus. which is a
rapid grower imported from Austria
liza, with a peculiar bark tina is al
ways ragged and shedding from the
trunk. and a foliage that clusters
close about the trunk n is not at
an beautiful. in my eyes; the olive is
a rather attractive tree. not large, but
with a soft green foliage and a syrn-
metrical spread of branch and leaf;
the pepper tree. which resembles
somewhat the willow. with a rather
thin foliage covered with clusters of
red pods. whose pungent odor gives
the tree Its name: a road flanked with
pepper trees is an attractive sight, but
the pepper this winter has suffered
both from frost and drouth and is
not up to standard; then there are
many varieties of tropical and semi
tropical trees n shrubs, none of
them large. The palm grows to a con.
siderable size, and produces a date
that however does not mature and
this country produces no edible dates.
But The palm tree impresses the tray
eler from the northern climates more
perhaps than n other variety of tree
and 1ourishes here in a dozen yarie-
ties. With one or two exceptions the
trees here are evergreen, and there
is none of the gorgeous russell and
yellow of the fall season that we have
in the northern ATTITUDES.
But again we have the advantage
OF this all-the-year-around-summer
All of the tropical inc se~mi-tropical
shrubs, palms. trees and bushes have
been brought here and stuck into this
soil and they grow-rapidly and lux
uriantlH. So that in a few years what
was a desert stretch of sandy hill be.
comes a mass Of foliage and flower
Ing shrubs. Instead Of three month
Of growth each year We have twelve.
| Sn five voorS have mill - .L -