Lincoln County times. (Jerome, Idaho) 1911-1919, 1918-03-14
Letter from California


and very attractive. have been i'm
pressed with the fact that trees are
what make this country beautiful. |
We have driven several hundred |
miles by auto over Southern Califor-
mia, and as soon as we run into a dis
trict where there are no trees 1t has
barren appearance and one soon
loses interest There is great va
riety of trees grown; aside from the
fruit trees the principal shade tree
is the eucalyptus. 1t is the myrtle
family, an evergreen. understand
It was introduced here from Austral-
Ia. 1t is a quickgrowing semi-hard-
wood and SPLENDID for wind breaks.
There are a number of varieties, the
leaves from certain OF them are used
to make oil claimed to have certain
medicinal value.
While l have never. seen any OF
these trees grown in the latitude of
Southern Idaho l have seen other
myrtles, and would not be surprised
II they would do we'll with US. / am
going to bring home some OF them
and give them try at Jerome. This
leads me to call attention to tree
planting this spring. Don't let the
season go by without doing some
thing to Increase the attractiveness
OF your farm and home.
Aside from fruit one of the prin-
cipal crops grown here is beans. Cal
ifornia produces more beans than
any other state in the Union. They
are preparing the land now for this
crop.
was surprised to find so little al
falfa grown. 1t does not do nearly
SO well here as on the North Side. 1t
is now selling here for $2S a ton
Cattle. sheep and hogs do not do as
we'll here as with US. have seen but
few stock farms and the result Is
they spend a great deal for fertiliz-
| ers.
l spent a day In the San Fernando
valley. Land In this valley sells at
| $3.50 to $500 per acre. 1t is prin-
cipally a bean growing district. The
| per acre a year. over half OF II is for
water. So you see there is another
side to the story. i doubt II the av-
erage farmer out here can clean up
as much net money as in Southern
Idaho. There is a great deal Of small
truck farming, which of course is
very attractive.
/ notice much use OF the caterpil-
lar type OF tractor. in fact saw but
few horses at work in the fields.
We must take our hats of to the
good roads OF California. They have
hard surfaced roads most every.
where and regard them as a good
investment. Almost all the larger
farms use trucks. and with the good
roads are able to haul large loads
long distances. A large part OF the
local travel is by big auto stages
which carry about twenty people a:
we'll as light express. They average
III twenty-five miles an hour, including
stops. and you can go every hall
II hour or so. They certainly make
II use of these roads. suppose the bis
II crop OF California is sight seers. The,
II do all they can to attract people ant
make 1t pleasant for them while
II here.
III visited Camp Kearney near Sar
II Diego. where there are now $4,000
boys in training for the army; also
II the old Exposition grounds. where
II there are several thousand In train
II ing for the Navy; also the Aviation
II camp on North Island. My! what al
II inspiring and wonderful sight. How
proud felt. They we're fine 10
ii OF young men. To me the aviation
!, camp was the most wonderful. From
twenty to thirty machines in the al
all the time. flying over the city an,
harbor. The boys are fast learning
the trick OF 1t, and will soon b
| dropping "hell's fire and birthstone
| on the Germans. had "a chance t
look over one machine that had
narrow escape from dropping int
the bay. 1t landed Just on the wat
er's edge. Each student machin
has two seats, one for the studen
ond one for the teacher, one benin
the other; there is duplicate con
troll In front OF each seat. 1t a.
looked fairly simple. but require
much practice to become used to II
| We called on Johnnie" wv. T
Johnston) in San Francisco. II
looked fine in his sailor uniform an
was glad to see someone from home
There IL much would like to tel
you about. and may do so later.
I will be glad to be back on tn
:! Job again, and join with you In max
- ing 1918 the best yet on the Mort
Side.