Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1922-03-15
Miss Mary Gaines Writes Very
Interesting Letter From
Boise, Idaho.
Dear Home People:

Boise, Idaho.
Dear Home People:
Spring has cone; it is in the air.
This morning as we came to work,
ga robin sat on a lifting spray" or a
robin sat on a spray lifting and tilt
ing; anyway, there was a robin, and
that is a sure sign of spring. The new
grass is beginning to peep up all over
the lawns, and a surer sign still, the
store windows are full of spring
clothes, and ladies are buying their
spring bonnets. The mountains,
around us on all sides, 7 still cover
ed with snow, making a picturesque
background; this snow will be here till
May or June, and for this reason, it
doesn't get very warm and springlike
here, as it does at home, till late in
May.
All of the farmers think that the
water supply will be plentiful for this
summers needs, due to the amount OF
SHOWS and rains Of this winter. The
bitches are full now, but are still
frozen over. The long, dry summer be-
gins about April, and the country, as
far as water is concerned, is absolute
ly dry till the first rains of October.
This water is carefully slowed up in
ponds or lakes and let into the bitches
as the crops demand it during the
summer. Bosses main supply is in
Arrowrock Lake on the Boise river
about ten miles north of the city. The
dam here, is the largest in the world,
and cost over s7,OoO,OOo. 'sprinklers
are kept busy, running all summer,
for watering lawns, gardens and even
the trees.
Boise lies in a very level valley
about fifty miles long and four miles
wide, with the hills on the east and
west, rising abruptly from the plain.
The hills on the west are called
Benches" and are three terraces
rising in succession above the city.
With their homes, lovely gardens, or
chards and farms, they remind n of
the Hanging Gardens of Babylon;
though, from the number of "Chink''
gardeners here, I think they were
built to please them instead of to
please a queen as were the famous
gardens of history. Beautiful roads
around these Benches, make delight
full auto drives, and during the sum-
mer, when a breeze is blowing, the
aromatic odor of the sage brush is
delightful.
The soil, in this valley, washed
down from the hills for generations
is very fertile; no fertilizer is neces-
sary and with little work the yield is
great. The land has been farmed a
comparatively short time, for Bosses
first resident made a home ip 1853,
and 1 suppose irrigation and farming
was begun since.
The principal crops are corn, grain,
alfalfa, potatoes, fruit and vegetables
of all kinds. Most of the gardening
and truck farming is done very sue
cessfully by Chinese. They work all
day and part of the night, growing
the vegetables and peddling them
from house to house. Most of. them
can and do save piles of money, for
they spend little for clothes, eat lit
tie, and live in dirty novels. The eel
cry and potatoes grown by them are
marvellous, and are much better than
that of American growers.
The fruit consists of grapes, cher
ries, peaches, prunes and many, many
apples. The orchards are very pretty
in the fall, when the trees are bending
with ruby apples and purple prunes or
plums. 1 think the fruit shown at the
State Fair, last fall, was prettier and
of larger size than I had ever seen.
This irrigated fruit, though, does not
have the flavor of our fruit. The flavor
of the peaches and melons is nothing
to compare with that of our Elbertas
and Georgia Rattlesnakes. l will write
more of farming and cattle in my next
letter.
Yesterday, being Washington's
birthday and a holiday, the teachers
OF the Veterans Bureau, ct al, went
out to dinner at The Owyhee, Bosses
SWEETEST hotel. This name, in the In
dian language means "Place of Wei
come" There are a number of Indian