SB .6^ ■'* s o ' '^ . C / 1 o . » - - t o .0- FRUIT FARMING FOR PROFIT CALIFORNIA. Nature in Sancal Creek, Rancho Canada de los Alisos. Frontispiece. FEUIT PAEMING FOE PEOFIT IN CALIFOENIA DWIGHT WHITING El Toro, Orange Co., California SiE Fkedeeicz Leighton says : — ** They rest on tlie bosom of Nature where safety is.'* LONDON GRIFFITH FAERAN & CO. NEWBERY HOUSE, 39, CHARING CROSS ROAD 1893 ^^^^ IThe riaUs nf travAation and of reprodvxiion are reserred.] I I • INTRODUCTION. I LEFT Boston, Mass., as a boy, in 1870, to regain tlie health which I had lost through overwork, travelling and hunting in the Western States, chiefly in California, and in so doing regained my health. After a year or two I went to Britain and Europe, thence to South America. In 1872 and 1873 to Central America and Mexico. Subsequently to North Africa, the Orient, India in 1874 and 1875, back to the United States of America, thence to South Africa, 1877, 1878, 1879. Therefore it must be conceded that I know many countries, and when I say that I have chosen Orange County, California, for a home, it must carry weight. In 1884 I purchased eight thousand five hundred acres (8500) intending to plant at once. Business took me back East, and it was not until 1888 that I was able to return to California, when I commenced planting. The result I place before you. Having so many acres, I have been led to adopt the following scheme to further develope my Eanche, at the same time to surround myself with solid social ties, otherwise I would never dream of parting with my " Home Eanche," of the Eancho Canada de Los Alisos," when it has just arrived at its highly productive and interesting stage. Believe me that there is a charm in tilling the soil 6 I ntr eduction. which is so kindly, in watching the trees develope and bear ; the care of them imparts a happiness and con- tentment, and the seqnel is health. Moreover, the life is one of skill and judgment, and not, as is often supposed, one of toil entirely ; the day's routine is more varied than any other business, and who shall say that the son of the soil is not more manly than one who toils in the confined area of a city ? With these words I conclude, asking you to peruse these pages, hoping they may help many young men to independence, and many a parent to be glad that they embraced this opportunity. Names of large landowners, neighbours of Mr. Whiting, to whom they have lent their names as references : — Mr. EiCHARD O'Neil, Santa Margarita Eancho, 275,000 Don Marco Foester, San Juan Capistrano, 24,000 Mr. L. F. MouLTON, Eancho Neguel, El Toro, 26,000 Mr. James Irvine, San Joaquin Eanche, Tustin, 102,000 acres. Madam Modjeska, El Toro, 2500 acres. DwiGHT WniTiNa, El Toro, Orange Co., California. acres. acres. acres. CONTENTS. PAGE Introductory Letter. By Mr. Whiting . 5 Prospectus 9 ArfLDAViT OF Title , . U Word to Parents, G-uardians, and Emigrants 17 20 Objections and Answers 26 A Newspaper Clipping address ld to Ctnics, Grum- blers, General Failures 29 Letters from Various Sources .... 31 Chapter on Climate of El Toro .... 42 What the JSTewspapers say about Fruit Growing its Profits AND 53 Game, Sport, in Orange County. By Couint Jaro Schmidt von 90 Miscellaneous Information 94 Marketing Californian Fruits. By W. M. Mills Calif ornian Magazine, October, 1892 , in 99 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Map or South Calipoenia 5 Nature iu Sancal Creek, Eancho Canada de Los Alisos Frontispiece Bananas round a Chicken House on Mr. Whiting's Eanche 16 The Story-house, designated as ''Mr. Keating's House," on Mr. Whiting's Ranche .... 18 A Six-year-old Prune Tree with Crop jast maturiag . 22 Facsimile of Bishop's Letter 30 — 31 Grlimpse of Prune Orchard as seen through the semi- tropic vegetation of Terrace Garden of Mr. Whiting's BuDgalo^^ ......... 40 Mr. Whiting's Pour-year-old bearing Bartlett Pear Trees 46 No. 1. General Yiew, looking North ; shows part Pour- year-old Prune Orchard, bearing ; houses on slight elevation, and Creek amongst huge Sycamores on right . . . . . . . . . .49 A Six-year-old Prune Grove . . . . . . 56 South-west View of Mr. Whiting's Bungalow. Reversing Yiew of No. 1 ........ 61 St. George's Episcopal Church, El Toro, California . 64 Mr. Whiting's Four-year-old Apricot Trees bearing . 74 Sycamores (Los Alisos), Rancho Caiiada de Los Alisos . 79 General Yiew, Mr. Whiting's House and Terrace Garden, from Prune Orchard. (Front space reserved for melons, &c.) ......... 84 California Southern or Santa Fe Railroad Depot, El Toro 97 Yiew of some Stables and Barns on Mr. Whiting's Ranche 108 ORANGE COUNTY CO-OPERATIYE ORCHARDS, EL TORO, CALIFORNIA. Object.— The object of the owner and vendor, Mr. Dwight Whiting, is to place on the market, amongst a certain cla^s of Intending Emigrants five hundred and sixty (560) acres, being what is known as his Home Eanche," part of the Eancho Canada de Los Alisos,"the whole consisting of 8500 acres, with a view of ultimately colonizing the remainder of his Eanche. This is the primary cause of such a splendid offer, and which offer carries with it sufficient proof of its high class yalue as an inyestment, apart from the other con- sideration of a good opening for young men contem- plating emigration. Mr. "Whiting places a yalue on the whole fiye hundi'ed and sixty (560) acres, covering real and personal property and improvements hereinafter enumerated, of one hundi'ed thousand dollars, and proposes to issue this amount in forty shares of two thousand five hundi'ed dollars (S2500), or five hundi'ed and sixteen £ sterling (£516) each, of which he will sell thirty shares, and retain ten shares. Each share will represent an undivided one-fortieth interest of the whole amount. It can be put to the votes of the share- 10 Fruit Farming for Profit in California. holders on arriving in California whether they wish to incorporate the concern as a company. The owner is willing to do what the majority of shareholders decide upon subject to his management for two years. Dividend declared and made payable on the first day of January each year, to take advantage of high market for grain and hay about Christmas. The property bears the expense as follows : — About one hundred acres bearing prune orchards, at $500 per acre Four hundred and fifty acres including ten acres bear- ing apricots and pears and 16 acres orchards, set out to walnuts, pecans, Japanese ches!nuts and mixed fruits; at about $87 per acre Live stock— 1 imported shire stallion j 12 improved breed colts j 1 Jersey bull; 6 teams; 7 cows and 2 calves ; 2 pairs carriage horses ; poultry Dwellings, buildings, waggons, implements, tools; harness, kitchen furniture, water system, fencing, tanks, etc. $100,000 $:o,ooo 40,000 3,000 7,000 The implements on the estate are quite sufiicient to carry on all farm operations. Teams are mostly brood mares. Mr. Whiting has chosen to under rather than over estimate in all his figures. Take, for instance, the 460 acres now bearing land, priced at $87 per acre. This is generally valued at $100 in the country around. Again, in estimate of grove, Mr. Whiting puts down 100 acres as in orchard, whereas there are 10 acres more in bearing apricots and pears, and other 16 (sixteen) in peaches, chestnuts and walnuts, which said 26 acres are worth $200 to $250 an acre. But these really are Fruit Farming for Profit in California, 1 1 enumerated in and valued with the 460 acres at $87, which proves the estimated purchase price to be low at Mr. Whiting's figures. The fruit industry in California will receive a great impetus the moment the Nicaragua Canal is completed, as freights will be lowered and new markets opened up. Intention. — The main idea of Mr. Whiting is to sell the shares to young gentlemen, at once making them interested working shareholders, who will during the first two years be taught how to manage a farm in all branches, fruit-growing, drying, budding, grafting, nursery business, blacksmithing, carpentering, pruning, stock raising, grain growing and haymaking. The old way was for parents to pay a premium of £100 to £150 a year for one or two years to have their sons taught or not taught as the case might be. Here Mr. Whiting makes them profit by their own work from the start. A second idea being, if gentlemen with families wish to become purchasers of shares, they can rent a house plot from the owners at a nominal rent and erect thereon suitable cottages for themselves, which they can sell or remove whenever they wish, the owners of the Eanche simply reserving the right to become first purchasers at cost price. Any shareholder not wish- ing to take his share of work during the first year shall furnish competent substitute when the Eanche absolutely needs it, to be at the discretion of the manager. The families of shareholders, after owners themselves, shall always have preference of fruit picking and pack- ing, at regular contract pjices. One of the main objects of buying out this Home Eanche of 560 acres 12 Fruit Farming for Profit in California. as a co-operative enterprise is to provide knowledge and experience for those who later on may wish to purchase land in this desirable locality. As Mr. "Whiting ultimately intends to part with a major portion of his estate, he will undertake to sell land at §87 per acre for first year, and §100 per acre for next two years, in order of application. Mr. Whiting will undertake guidance of the Eanche for the first two years, to ensure the business being carried on in the same way, and to the best advantage of both shareholders and himself, during which time he must have absolute control guaranteed him of all workings of the Eanche, and, where necessary, hiring of skilled labour and salaries, and all interested must sign an agreement to this effect. Mr. Whiting draws no salary during these two years. This plan will be necessary to arrive at best results in the present scheme and the ultimate colonization of Mr. Whiting's adjoining lands. At the end of two years Mr. W^hiting offers to con- tinue the management or supervision, if so desired by shareholders, at 82 00 a month, or Mr. Whiting will elect someone to act as assistant manager under his direction, when he will thus supervise for 8150 a month, the sub-manager getting about §75 a month. Shareholders residing in the Eanche houses will pay four dollars a week for their food ; any profits accruing will be turned into the general funds. AVashing and medical attendance to be paid for as extras. Students who are competent and wishful will be able to earn salaries at current rates at the expiration of one year ; thus those of the shareholders who really Fruit Farming for Profit in California, 1 3 are determined to get on will have steady work, their endeavours at once drawing wages and dividend, form- ing the most advantageous co-operative scheme ever yet introduced. Object. — The object of this Co-operative Ranching Company is, — Firstly, the production of green and dried fruits and nuts. Secondly, raising hay and grain. Thirdly, ,, live stock. Fourthly, „ nursery stock. Fifthly, „ dairy produce and poultry. Remakks. — Each of these minor branches is made to fit in and to be subservient to the primary object. To this end a number of acres will be planted out to the most desirable trees every year, thus bringing a quantity of hay and grain lands into high-class orchards. We may say here that all the 560 acres are the choicest valley lands. Mr. AVhiting had deter- mined to add to his prune orchard, and plant out a number of almonds this winter, 1892-1893, but has decided not to have it done in his absence, as too great care cannot be used. Quite a source of income can be derived from raising nursery stock, and this is being done now ; over a ton of peach pits are being put in for nursery stock on which to bud almonds, prunes, peaches, and apricots. This can be done in a corner of the Eanche, and a profit of 850 per thousand trees realized. The Soil is all of the best quality valley land, and has been grazed on for years by sheep, adding untold wealth to the land. The character of the soil is alluvial, and rich 14 Fruit Farming for Profit in California, in all plant foods ; tlie sheep have added ammoniates. Tlie soil never bakes, but working np very fine, retains all the winter moisture in the highest degree possible. Water. — For domestic, garden, nursery, and live stock, water is piped (gravity flow) from a pure spring some three miles up the valley on Mr. Whiting's Eanche. This perpetual water right goes with the place. Wells of good water can be got in the valley at from fifteen to forty feet deep. Fences. — All in good condition. Taxes. — On Eanche between $150 and $250 per annum. Poll Tax on all males over eighteen, $2 per annum. Eoad Tax, $3 per adult male per annum, which latter can be worked out. Title, — Perfect, abstract of which is affixed here. OFFICE OF THE OEANGE COUNTY ABSTEACT COMPANY. Santa Ana, California, Oct. 29th, 1892, 9 a.m. From examination of the records of Los xingeles County, California, in the offices of the County Ee- corder, County Clerk, County Auditor, and County Tax Collector thereof, and the records of Orange County, California, in the corresponding offices thereof, con- cerning the title to that certain real property in the County of Orange, formerly a portion of Los Angeles County, State of California, hereinafter described, the Orange County Abstract Company hereby certifies that the title thereto is now vested in Fmii Farming for Profit in California. 15 DWIGHT WhITIXG as his separate property and estate, • Free of all Incumbrances, Except a Lease dated January, 2nd, 1889, given by Dwigbt Whiting to G. "NT. Lang, of a portion of tlie property hereinafter described. This Lease expires January 1st, 1894, and the Lessor has privilege of terminating said Lease at any time by giving thirty days' written notice to Lessee. Descpjptigx. Lot One (1) of the Eanche Canada- de los Alisos, containing 558^"^^^ acres, according to a map of said Eanche showing survey and subdivision by J. M. Baldwin and G. Bridger in June, 1876 ; said map being of record in Book Three (3; on page Two hun- dred and ninety (290; of Miscellaneous Records of Los Angeles County, California. In Witness whereof the Orange County xVbstract Company has caused this Certificate of Title to be duly signed by its Secretary, and its Corporate Seal to be affixed the day and year above written. Orange County Abstract Company, By (Sgd.) Feed'k. Stephexs, Secretary. Signed, Feed'k. Stephens, Searcher. SEAL. State of California, s s. County of Orange. 1 6 Fruit Farming for Profit in California, On tiis 29tli day of October, in the year One tlion- sand eiglit hundred and ninety-two, before me, C. W. Hnraphreys, a Notary Public in and for said Orange County, duly commissioned and sworn, personally ap- peared Frederick Stephens, known to me to be the Secretary of the Corporation described in, and who executed the within and annexed Certificate of Title, and acknowledged to me that such Corporation executed the same. In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my Official Seal, at my office in the said County of Orange, the day and year in this Certificate first above written. (Sgd.) C. W. HUMPHEEYS, Notary Public in and for said Orange County. Peesonal Lite Stock of I^^ditiduals. — Must pay pasturage at fixed local rates. Ponies can be bought for 840 to §70, suitable for rough usage under saddle. Fruit Farviin^ for Profit in California, 17 A WOED TO PAEEXTS AXD GUAEDLIXS AXD EMiaEAXTS. The. advantage of such an opening, set fortli in tlie accompanying pages, is obvious. Here, for a sum far less than is often given outright to boys inexperienced in the ways of other lands and people, they become possessed, or their parents or guardians for them, of an interest in a good fruit and grain Eanche, where the produce can be sold on the spot for cash, as buyers far and wide know of the superior quality of our non- irrigated fruit, and where during the first year they can learn everything necessary to run a Eanche of their o^vn, and after that period, those who have proved themselves capable may earn money with their investment in sight to spur them to their highest endeavours. Here is a home assured them, amono; congenial companions, away from all worldly tempta- tion, and instead of, as is so often the case, their payiv g £120 to £150 a year to persons who don't care whether they learn how to saddle a horse, or where even this little thing is done for them, and they ride out with gloves and immaculate shoes, they simply pay for their board, and any profit left over they receive in dividends. The earnest boys soon would be able to make money in this select home, apart from Jividvrnds, and all will be encouraged to do so. With their own interest so 1 8 Emit Farming for Profit in California. well in siglit we feel sure tliat all will respond and become useful to tliemselves, helping to swell tlieir dividends all the time. "WTiilst not aiming to make this an Episcopal Colony, we have it as our dearest wish that many Churchmen respond. Mr. and Mrs. Whiting have erected a chapel at El Toro, dedicated last November by Bishop Xichols. of the Diocese of California, who has given Mr. Whiting a general letter to the Bishops, Clergy and laity in England. Eev. G-eorge Eobinson, late Chaplain of the Huguenot Hospital, London, England, is Eector here. We desire to draw the attention of our readers to the letters relating' to the climate, soil, and orchard. Mr. Whiting has illustrated this pamphlet with photogravures, only those two, showing six year old trees, not being of his Eanche. There is no place where wines and spirits are sold within nine miles. There is no need of pistols or revolvers. We refer sportsmen to a letter by Count Jaro von Schmidt, a resident of this county. For recreation there will be a library of standard and agricultural works, billiard-room, tennis court, cricket, trout and sea fishing, boating and bathing, as there are two watering-places within nine miles of El Toro. A separate room will be provided for each pupil stockholder, if wished, which he will have to keep tidy himself. Bedding and tovrels to be found by indi- viduals, which are about as cheap here as in England. Fruit Farming for Profit in California, 19 Whilst it is not the idea or contention to have any invalids as co-operators^ it may be well to draw atten- tion to the fact that the healthfulness is so great and climatic conditions so favourable to life, that Mr. Whiting would not have the slightest hesitation in advising parents to send to this valley young men, who, though not very robust, will here grow healthy and strong. Eailroad station, post-office, and church are within quarter of a mile of Eanch'e houses. This valley is not too low lying, as can be gathered from the railroad elevations. Starting at sea level at San Juan by-the-Sea, rising gently for eight miles, dropping slowly into this valley, which has an elevation of 450 feet, rising gently out of the valley say thirty-five or forty feet ; it then gradually descends until Santa Ana, thirteen miles away, is arrived at, 150 feet above the sea. Thus it will be seen, that though there is a valley depression much favouring this Eanche, the altitude insures the most favourable conditions of climate. At the head of this valley, hidden in the Santiago Canon, a valley of the Trabuco mountain (5700 feet) which overlooks El Toro, lies a modern Ardeii," the property of Madam Modjeska, who comes to this county nearly every summer, and thus re- cuperates her health and strength. For ordinary wear Clothes such as are required for English summer are best. Working clothes better bought here. B 2 20 Fruit Farming for Profit in California. ESTIMATED INCOME OF EANCHE FEOM ALL SOURCES. Basis for 1893. 50 tons hay Barley Corn Pasturage on stnbble 10,000 prnne trees, 50 lb at 1 c. 500 apricots, 200 lbs. at 2 c. . 500 pears, 50 c. per tree . Stallions' service outside Eanche Miscellaneous sales . Increase value on 12 yearling colts . Increase in number colts 10 ... . Nursery stock say . Sales wood Poultry, eggs, and turkeys 500 1750 250 250 5000 $10 a ton low. This value repre- sents \ crop for use of land. Price prunes ave- raged $40 per ton for last three years — on trees. 1000 250 250 Minimum. 100 250 250 200 50 700 Fruit Farming for Profit in California, 2i Milk and bntter . . 300 Hogs .... 250 4 calves increase . . 50 Eent of 1^ story dwelling honse by Mr. Keating 300 81L700 Less depreciation on dead capital, §7000 10 per cent. . . .700 811,000 Basis of Estoiates fob 1894. No. of trees. 10,000 prune trees at 81 per tree . . . 10,000 500 apricot trees, at 83 per tree . . . 1500 5 pear trees, at 81 per -•ee .... 500 larmed by selves . 5500 850 acres = 1 ton per acre ; grain at 820 per ton shows §7000 gross for grain. Seeding costs §1 an acre, balance labour less tban 50 e. an acre. Mr. Keating, an elderly gentleman, desires to rent this house for a term of years, with the con- sent of shareholders, at this fi^-ure. 22 Fruit Farming for Profit in California. Straw .... ICO Straw sells $4 to $6 per ton baled. Yield will be 300 tons minimum on 350 acres. Pasturage on stubble . 200 Increase on value of stock 225 Increase on stock numbers 250 Stallion - service outside Eanche ... 300 Miscellaneous sales . . 100 Nursery stock . . . 300 Sales, wood ... 50 Poultry, eggs, and turkey 700 Hogs .... 250 Eent of house, Mr. Keating 300 $20,275 = gross earnings. Allow 20 per cent, off for working expenses and depreciation of dead capital, viz. houses, fences, implements, &c 4055 $16,220 = net earnings. The above figures on fruit represent value on trees. From 40 to 70 per cent., according to personal success and markets, may be added to these figures by drying fruit on Eanche. For future profits after 1894 we call your attention to what others have made on prunes to be seen amongst the newspaper clippings. s a. o C/2 Fruit Farming for Profit in California, 23 EXPENSE SHEET. 1893. All expenses of running the Eanche will be met by Mr. Wbiting personally, other than pupils' board afore- mentioned. 1894. For requirements of this year we refer you to Income sheet, when it will be noticed that 20 per cent, is deducted from gross receipts. Of this 20 per cent. $700 being 10 per cent, on $7000 dead capital^ invested in houses, fences, implements, &c., the balance, $3355, I believe, will be more than ample to run the Eanche. 24 Fruit Farming for Profit i7i California, CLIMATE OF EL TOEO. Califoexiaxs have long ceased to be surprised at any of the phases of climate the State presents, but the foreigner is surprised when told that this district, which in a short time is destined to make a world-wide repu- tatic n for its green and dried fruit shipments, has a better average climate than any other portion of the State But so it is. Common-sense explanation of the fact that El Toro and Los Alisos Yalley has a climate unsurpassed in the world for fruit growing may be interesting, but it requires too much space to be dealt with here. Ocean currents and other causes, however much discussed, are not so convincing as the plain matter-of-fact figures supplied by public reports. All civilized nations publish meteorological observa- tions, and it is from these of our own and other governments that this table is compiled : — Places. Mean per 5 ear. Mean for Winter. Mean for Coldest Month. 60-05 46-07 45 00 58-03 4502 43-02 62-06 49-0) 47-04 5803 40 02 43 02 64-08 61-12 57-02 El Toro, Orange Co., Cai 55*6 54-00 51-05 There can be no escaping these facts, and no attempt Fruit Fariuiiig for Profit in California, 25 to discredit this table lias ever been made. It speaks for itself. Here is a climate that the orcharclist can- not find equalled in the world ; and now that it is at last understood, it means that where a few years ago was a sheep range, there will be a prosperous, wealthy com- munity, surrounded by hundreds of acres of orchards whose products shall make the name of Los Alisos Yalley known throughout the land as a synonym for good fruit growing. But there are more figures, and these must convince the most sceptical, audit shows El Toro's advantages of climate in a striking manner. Towis. Avera^-e Winter Tempera- ra.e Average spring Tempera- ture. Arerage Saniiner Temp -ra- f^-e. Average- A-a:umn Tem. era- ture. Average Annnal Tempera- ture. Eeddicg . . 47-8 61-1 81-0 6r3 63-S 36-66 Sacramento . 57" 5 71-7 61-c eo-2 19-94 y a p i . . . . 48-9 576 69-6 59-1 59-3 23-36 Santa Barbara 54-3 59-4 67-7 63-1 6M 16-92 Los Angeles . 53-6 58-4 67-8 62-7 60-6 17-64 San Diego . . 54-6 581 66-8 62 6 60-5 11-01 Coltjn . . 520 62 7 78-3 65-3 64-6 9-81 El Turo . . . 55-3 57-6 70-8 62-9 55-6 lS-9 The peculiar quality of the air in and about El Toro is worth much for curing and drying figs, prunes, plums, apricots and other fruits. All these can be cured naturally, and without the expense of artificially heated drying houses. Its climate, as well as soil, had much to do with its original purchase by Mr. "Whiting, who, being a sufterer from bronchial-asthma, found this to be the only place in the world where he could breathe freely. 26 Fruit Fanning for Profit in California. FEUIT EANCHINa IN CALIFOENIA, OE "OBJECTIONS" AND ANSWEES. To fhe Editor of Weekly Times. Sir, — If you think it wortli while to insert the following few facts abont California, which are the 'Hruth and nothing but the truthj" it may cause many young Englishmen to pause before leaving in many cases good appointments in the old country and coming out here to try their fortunes at fruit ranching. In the first place, the industry in most places (except in a few excep- tional cases) is wholly overdone, and the profits, in the millions of pamphlets which are distributed, are placed, to say the least, at figures which are realizable once in 10,000 oases. Labour is excessively dear, and, when it comes to a ranche where it is forced to have outside help, in most cases it is best to be the hired man in preference to the owner. Another drawback is, that the Britisher out here is at a great disadv^antage ; he gets no assistance, is looked on rather as an interloper by his American neighbours, and fair sport for all they can get out of him. Young fellows with good constitutions and used to manual labour may be able to withstand the intense heat and malaria of the interior valleys where the raisin industry is mostly carried on ; I say intense heat and malaria, because that is never men- tioned in Calif ornian reports, and so I think it well to dispel the illusion that all the State is so healthy, because it is not. Along the coast, and in many of the valleys near the same, the climate is as perfect as it can be, and life made as pleasant as it can, when one has some money over and above what his ranche may bring him ; but when he has to depend solely on the latter, and fondly believes he is going to make a small fortune, he will find that a Californian fruit ranche is hardly the thing. I have been out here a year, been in every valley where fruit is the industry, have worked on ranches, and have lived on in the Fruit Fanning for Profit in California. 27 hope of finding somethiag whereby I can make a little over and above a living, but I am at last obliged to say that the fruit in- dustry, as depicted by Californian Boards of Trade, etc., is a totally different thing to the reality. I do not wish to dishearten young fellows like myself from coming here, to see, anyhow; bat I willingly give my year's experience to any fellow-countryman for what it is worth. Hoping you may think this worth while iaserting in your paper in as prominent a place as you think proper, Believe me yours truly, A. G. C. San Jose, Aug. 30th. Messrs. Barmby and TVadham, replying to the condemnation of fruit ranching in California by ''A. G. C," say they agree with him on these two points: — That Californian Boards of Trade and Californian agents undoubtedly exaggerate and mislead in their pamphlets; that young fellows should not leave good appoint- ments in England to seek their fortunes in California. But, though unscrupulous and profit-seeking agents and sanguine settler-seeking Boards of Trade do paint the picture all too rosy, it does not follow that it is not rosy at all. And though there are thousands of lucky young men with good appointments in England, how many thousands are without appointments, and without brains to fill them were the appointments offered ? Not that we claim that fruit farming is a pursuit to be learnt in a moment, or unnecessary to be learnt at all. Indeed, one great source of disappointment lies in the prevailing idea that any one can grow fruit in California, and young Englishmen who have never done a stroke of honest work in their lives sail gaily for this promised land with the idea that they have only to place their trees in the ground, sit by while they grow, and triumphantly gather a fortune from them. Though recognizing that we should be comparative failures on an English farm, we felt that we should be invaluable on a Cali- fornian one, and we find that such is the idea of most young English gentlemen. We have now learnt that Californian fruit farming is a very skilful and delicate affair indeed, and thus we always advise those going out to fruit farm to for once put aside 28 Fruit Fanning for Profit in California. the EngHshman's confidence in his own infallibility, and either start his farm nnder an expert's superintendence, or have it started fv r him. We cannot agree with the assertion that the Britisher in California is looked upon as an interloper and fair sport for all that can be got out of him." This may be so in individual cases, when said Britisher is conspicuously insular and ostentatiously critical (as some, alas ! are rather prone to be) ; but our ex- perience tends to show that a hearty welcome is generally forthcoming to those who are willing to shelve home- fostered prejudices \ in fact, well-bred Englishmen are in demand. Fruit Farming for Profit in California, 29 A XEWSPAPEE CLIPPING ADDEESSED TO CYXICS, GEUMBLEES, GEXEEAL FAILUEES. The world around, you will meet the above described, and tbe only thing is to plod along and pass them by. They soon find their level, for they are of no nse in this busy world. But now and again they make themselves heard, a last spasm, as it were, before they return, like the proverbial bad '' copper." This is what the San Francisco Chronicle says in reference to a spasm of failure " that some poor man who thought he knew everj-thing, has given vent to : — " The London Times has published a letter from San Jose, California, in which the writer states that the fruit industry has been wholly overdone in California. VTe can hardly single him out for censure, because he is merely repeating the stories which are set afloat by men who are apprehensive that too great a development will ruin the industry. But, somehow or other, it continues to expand, and the fruit grower is constantly finding new markets for his products, and is prospering in spite of the pessimistic declaration that the fruit business is being overdone. As for his charge that ' an Englishman is at a disadvantage, and is looked upon as an interloper by his American neighbours/ 30 F}uit Farviing for Profit in California, that is all bosli. xin Engiislimaii in America, if lie minds liis own business, and does not attempt to treat his neighbours with scorn because they happen to be Americans, is as well treated, as much respected, and enjoys every right and privilege enjoyed by other Californians." As one who has travelled generally through the Colonies and the United States of America, and havino; met many such failures,'' I proclaim it their own fault in every instance that they do not get on — for I am convinced that there are many more openings to success in the United States of America than in old crowded England. ^^^'^ ^wii^^ ^^^c^ ■ ^ ^ Jr^jt. ^^^^^ .cs:-.^ [ Fruit Fanning for Profit in California. 3 1 LETTEES OF COMMENDATION. Los AxGELOs, California. Oztoher Viih, 1892. To WHOM IT MAY CONCERN : We, tlie undersigned, are personally acquainted with Mr. Dwight Whitingj of El Toro, and know him to be a large land- owner, a successful orchardist, and a responsible gentleman. Geo. H. Bonebrake, Pres., Los Angelos National Bank. J. M. Elliot, Pres., First National Bank of Los Angeles. Farmers and Merchants, Bank of Los Angeles. Herman W. Hellman, Vice-President. A. D. Childress, Pres., The City Bank. L. K. Breed, Pres., South California National Bank. J. F. Sartori, Security Savings Bank and Trust Company. Geo. L. Arnold, The University Bank of Los Angeles. J. Franken field. Pres., California Bank. K. CoHN & Co., Commission Merchants. J. H. Braly, Cashier, Savings Bank, South California. J. F. MouLTON, Esq., Second Assistant Cashier, The Bank of California, San Francisco. SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA RAILWAY COMPANT. Los Angeles, OcIoIqt 31s^, 1892. To WHOM IT may Concern : From the railway, Mr. Whiting's fruit trees greet the 32 Fruit Farming for Profit in California, traveller's eye as an orcliard of great beauty, and is one of the most noted land- marks that we have near our lines. The Los Alisos Valley is fast coming to the front as an impor- tant point for fruit and grain shipping, and its present and future seems to be an assured fact. Its climate, soil, and p >s- sibilities should invite intending emigrants to live in this pleasant valley. At our station (El Toro) the shipping facilities are as good as at any point along the line of this railway. K. H. Wade, General Manager. SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA RAILWAY COMPANY. L(xnd (xndu Claim Department. Room 87, Phillips Block, Los A^'GELEs, California. Octoher rstJi, 1892. To THE General Public and Intending Settlers : This is to certify that El Toro and vicinity (The Los Alisos Valley), for soil and climate, is one of the most favoured spots in South California. The orchards of Mr. Whiting and others are conclusive to this point. It is a valley of peaceful quiet and prosperous homes. Very respectfully, A. G. Maginnis, Land and Claim Agent. SUPERIOR COURT, DEPARMENT 6. Los Angeles, California. Octoher 18th, 1892. J, W. McKinley, Judge. T. H. Ward, Clerk. To WHOM IT MAY CoNCER'T : I have known Mr. D wight Whiting, of El Toro, intimately for the past nine years, during six years of which time he was a client of mine. Fruit Farming for Profit in California. 33 He is a straiglitforward and honourable gentleman, whose in- tegrity is above qnestion. I commend him and his word to the public. J. W. McKlNLEY. AXAHEIM, Ooio'ber Will, 1892. My dear Sik : The elevation, combined with the salnbrions even climate and pure water of your home Eanche, at El Tore make it a very de- sirable place to live in, and one of the best for those suffering from throat or lung troubles, or run down from overwork. In jour own case you know your asthma keeps you from living elsewhere. J. H. BULLARD, M.D. Mr. Dwight WhitiDg. El Toro. Anaheim, California. OdoUr 1892. To WHOM IT MAY CONCERN : I have known the Ranche called The Canada de los Alisos for the last thirty years, and have frequently visited the same. After Mr. Whiting bought the Eanche, he planted a great number of fruit trees, all of which grew most luxuriously. I must say that I never have seen such a large body of trees grow so evenly and so finely in such a short time, and, what is most wonder - ful, without irrigation. This shows that the land must be of the best alluvial soil, which is not only very rich and retains moisture well, but is of the most valuable soils for all kinds of fruit trees. Bananas, roses, in fact everything planted shows an immense healthy growth. The whole place, including the live stock, shows that Mr. Whiting is an excellent manager, and good judge of soil. A. Langenberger. C 34 Fmit Farming for Profit in California. COMMERCIAL BANK OF SANTA ANA. Santa Ana, California. Ociohev UtJi, 1892. To WHOM IT MAY CONCERN : Mr. Dwight Whiting of El Toro is well known in this coun- try as a reliable and successful Orchardist, one has only to fee his property to realize what this means. Everything pertaining to his home place is of the highest order. N, Palmer, President. B. G. Balcom, Cashier. BANK OF ANAHEIM. Anaheim, California. October I3th, 1892. To WHOM IT MAY CONCERN : Mr. Dwight Whiting of El Toro, in this Orange County, is known by all to be a reliable and industrious citizen. His farm- ing operations speak for themselves. Plez James, President. COLLINS FRUIT COMPANY, Packers and Shippers of Sunset Brand California Fruits y Nuts and Produce. Santa Ana, California, September Uth, 1892. Mr. Dwight Whiting, Dear Sir : I take pleasure in saying I have seen and carefully exa- mined your prune apricot and pear orchard, and am free to say you have the finest orchard for the age in Southern California. The trees are in a healthy, thrifty condition, have been well taken care Fruit Farming for Profit in California, 35 of, are of the very best varieties for profit, and will undoubtedly produce in a few years an enormous amount of fine fruit. The soil is of good quality and seems to be well adapted to the growing of deciduous fruits. We bought your apricots this last season of 1S92, and they were the finest we had from any source. I would be proud to be the possessor of your orchard. Yours truly, C. C. Collins, President Collins Fruit Company. Office of ASSESSOR OF ORAXGE COUNTY. Santa Ana, California, September Srdy 1892. I know the four-year old orchard of Mr. D wight Whiting, siruated near El Toro, and can truthfully say there is none finer in Orange County. Jacob Eoss, AsHcssor. Office of HORTICULTURAL COMMISSIOXERS, ORAXGE COUXTY. Santa Ana, California, September lOth, 1892. I have inspected Mr. Dwight Whiting's prune, pear, and apricot orchards, planted in December, 1888, and know them to be healthy and free from insect pests. The soil is of best quality, the trees are thrifty, and its future prospects are of the best. I. X. Raffeett, Inspector and Secretary of Horticultural Commissioners. c 2 36 Fruit FarmiJig for Profit in California. Office of SCHOOL BOARD OF ORANGE COUNTY. Santa Ana, California, September Uli, 1893. From a carefal inspection of El Toro School District and its surronndings I am thoroughly convinced, that as regard location and healthfulness, it is one of the best in Orange Coantj, Its school facilities are excellent. Respectfully, J. P. Greeley, Superintendent of Schools. Santa Ana, California, Septemler 1th, 1892. Dear Sir : I am well acquainted with your four-years-old prune orchard, and consider the same to be as healthy and thrifty as any in Orange County. The soil is first-class and suitable for any grain or fruit farming. Yours respectfully, Geo. E. Freeman, Justice of the Peace. Mr. D wight Whiting, El Toro. Santa Ana, California, Septemler m, 1892. Dear Sir : While visiting your El Toro Ranche a short time since I was struck with its admirable location. The adjacent mountains form a fitting background for the beautiful valley below. The valley itself is one of the most pleasant and healthful in Southern California. Almost in sight of the coast extremes of temperature are unknown. While the moisture of the ground is considerable, as your Fruit Fanning for Profit in California. 37 flourishing orcliard proves, and, bj the way, yonr Frencli prune trees are not excelled in the State. The atmosphere is so dry that malaria cannot exist. Those snfTering from chronic affections, where an even climate is desirable, can find no more desirable place than the xiliso Valley. Yours truly, C. D. Ball, M.D. Mr. Dwight Whiting, El Toro, Office of WHITE AND HANKEY, FRUIT JOBBERS, &o. Santa Ana Calif, Septemier 5th, 1892. We the undersigned desire to state that we have seen Dwight Whiting's four-year old prune orchard at El Toro, and know it to be one of the finest in the State. White and Han key, Fruit Jobbers and Commission Merchants, Office, 411, North Main Street. ORANGE COUNTY. Santa Ana, California, September 7th, 1892. I, the undersigned, know the orchard owned by Dwight Whiting at El Toro, Orange County, California, to be as good and thrifty a }Oung orchard as there is in the county. Joseph Yoch, CLaiiman of Beard of Supervisors. 38 Fruit Fanning for Profit in California. SUPEKIOR COUHT OF OEANGE COUNTY. Santa Ana, California, October I2th, 1892. To WHOM IT MAY CONCERN : Being advised that Mr. Dwiglit Whiting intends to colonize a portion of his Ranche, I cheerfully certify that it is well and popularly known as a tract where successful farming and fruit- raising is carried on, and in my judgment merits high praise. As to its orchards, buildings, live-stock, and soil, there are none better. It is convenient to markets, and to the Southern California Railway, and also near the Ocean, and these make the location desirable to those who would make pleasant homes in successful pursuits. J. W. Towner, Judge of the Superior Court. ORANGE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA. Santa Ana, October nth, 1892. To Investors and to whom it may Concern: I have but recently made a visit to the home Ranche of Mr, Dwight Whiting, situated at El Toro in the Los Alisos Valley in this county, and it is with pleasure that I can testify as to its appearance and promise. The place shows the best of care, and the soil appears to be the most fertile. The orchard of prunes, pears, and apricots, is in the best of order, with no weeds visible, nor do I know of a better pruned or cultivated orchard in Southern California, or one of greater promise. It would be very hard to estimate its present or future value in dollars, and if I were the owner of it I would be loth to part with it at any price. The orchard can be enlarged to many times its present size, as there are plenty of acres of the same quality of soil about it. The houses, barns and buildings upon the place are convenient and comfortable, a characteristic not always seen on Ranches in Western America; while the climate which pervades all this section is the best that the world affords. Nor do I hesitate for a moment in recommending the Ranche of Mr. Whiting for Fruit Farming for Profit in California. 39 horticulture to aDjone who desires to enter that line of agri- culture. F. W. Sanborx, District Attorney. Department Xo. 2. SUPERIOE COUET, LOS ANGELES COUNTY. Los Angeles, California, Octoler 20th, 1892. W. H. Clark, Judge. To WHOM IT MAY CONCERN : I personally know Mr. Dwight Whiticg, of El Toro, Orange County, California, and Lave visited his Fruit Farm " in that township. His large orchard shows care and attention, and will, I think, prove a great snccegs, and a source of revenue to its fortunate owner. Mr. Whiting I know to be a responsible man, and a good and industrious citizen, ^Y. n. Clark. SAN JUAN COMPANY. Special Brand- — ■Virgin Olive Oil — Glace Fruits — Sweet Pickle, Figs, Apricot and Fig Jams, &c. A. Belyohj), President . Agents— 'S. K. Aeltsby Co., J. Clakke, Vics-President. New Yo:k, Chicago, and 'Frisco. J. L. Tkuslgw. Treai^vi\r. E. P. HoxLE, Manager and Secretary. San Juan, Capisteano, Califoenia, Sejjtembcr 13th, L892. Deab Me. Whiting : You have asked me to pass a word on your Eanche and fruit. The Ranche is one of the most pleasing horticultural features between SanDiego and Los Angeles — as all who travel by the Santa FeEailroad can testify. I write about the fruit with pleasure, and hope it may do you service. From m.y standpoint, as a con- fcerver of fruits, and an actual user of your products (apricotf) I am in a position to speak authoritatively. For several years I have 40 Fruit Farming for Profit in California. given up using any fruits tliat have heen ir rigated. Wlien put in the kettles, these irrigated fruits break to pieces, or require so much cooking as to turn them dark, with consequent loss of flavour. For three seasons we have sent as far as Lakeside El Cajon Valley, about seventy-fire miles away, to a Mr, W. H. Ferry, to get his non-irrigated figs. This because our fig trees don't yield suflaciently yet. Your own friends can testify what our apricot jam was like from your fruit. I think we shipped, for you, to Sussex, England, Paris, Boston, &c., &o. And so it will be with your other fruits. They stand shipment better 100 per cent, than the watery fruits. The product of such farms as yours will always bring a better price than irrigated fruits. One other point, and a valuable one, your Eanche costs 50 per cent, less to work than irrigated farms, because every time we irrigate we have to work our land, and the same with other irrigated Ranches. There are trees which must be watered in this country, viz. the citrus family, &o., deciduous — no ! Hoping these remarks may be of service to you, I am, yours truly, E. Petrie Hoyle. X B. — I have lived in New Zealand, South Africa, Texas, and have yet to find a better climate or life more easy than in Orange County, California. DwiGHT Whiting, Esq., El Tore, California. SANTA FE ROUTE. OJice of Passenger and Traffic Manager, Chicago, III., JSovemher 2ndj 18£2. To WHOM IT MAY CONCERN : The bearer, Mr. E. P. Hoyle, is connected with and represents the interests of Mr. Whiting, a large land-owner in El Toro Valley in Southern California. He has credentials that should be entirely satisfactory to anybody with whom he may have to deal in connection with the business which he has in hand, but I de« Fruit Fanning for Profit in California, 41 sire to supplement the same to the extent of stating that I know him personally and also know the property that he represents, and that I know of no more desirable locality for anyone to settle in who may be interested in fruit farming, whether for pleasure or pro6t, and sincerely recommend him and his scheme to anyone interested in the matters he has to present. W. F. White, General Manager. N.B. — Mr. Hoyle has power of attorney from Mr. Whiting. OKAXGE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA. Capistrano, September 23//i, 1892. To WHOM IT MAY CoXCERN : I have been acquainted with Mr. D wight Whiting of El Toro, Orange County, California, for about twelve years, and can vouch for his character and high standing in this community. I have also known the property owned by him in the Rancho Canada do Los Alisos for twenty-five years. A portion of the lot numbered One of the subdivision of the above-named Ranche, which lot contains 558 acres, has been farmed by Mr. Whiting for four or five years, about 120 acres being planted with fruit trees, and his success as a horticulturist has been a subject of general remark in the county. The quality of the soil is excellent, and is especially adapted to the growth of all kinds of deciduous fruits. An important line of railway runs through the property, which is located within about eight miles of the ocean, the climate being as healthful and pleasant as the most favourably located section of Southern California. 42 Fruit Fanning for Profit in California. EL TOEO. A L-^nd of Beauty and Great ProdactiTeness - The D wiorht Whiting Eanche- — One of the Finest Ranches in Southern California — A Large and Flourishing Orchard Grown without Irrigation — A Brief Description of the Los Alisos Valley — Possibilities of this Section as a Fruit Producing Country — A Description of the "\Yhitiug Home Place — Some ( Li Landmarks of the Missionary Fathers — £1 Toro and its Advantages. (From Dcdly Blade, of September 8th.) A PJDE of twenty minutes, yesterday, over the line of the Sante Fe, brought a representative of the Blade to El Toro, a little village in the centre of Los Alisos valley, one of the most picturesque sections of Southern California, Near El Toro. a distance of only 1000 feet from the depot, is the home of 3Ir. D^vight Whiting, and the knight of the quill made a bee-line for that gentleman's residence, knowing that there he would be royally entertained. Fortunate in finding ]\Ir. "Whiting at home, he was soon enjoying his hospitality. Mr. "Whiting's Pianche consists of 8500 acres, and comprises almost all kinds of soil, from the rich, alluvial valley to the rocky, barren mountains ; but most of the land owned by Mr. Whiting is susceptible of cultivation, for out of the whole tract but 20U0 acres are in the hills. The farmhouse, or bungalow, occupied by the owner of the Eanche, is a one-story frame building, covering a Fruit Fanning for Profit in California. 43 large area of ground ; and while not really pleasing to tlie eye, from an architectural point of view, is convincing to the mind that the house was built for comfort. The structure contains fourteen rooms besides a bath, and water is piped to all parts of the house. The fur- nishings are elegant, and ease and comfort can be enjoyed to the fullest measure within the walls of the Whiting farmhouse. In the sitting-room stands the family clock, an immense mechanical contrivance, ticking the hours of the day away, the mellow tones of which, as it rings out the hours, are pleasant to hear. In the corner is the old fireplace, around which the whole family may gather, while they watch the immense log burning into ashes and listen to the stories told on a winter's evening. Large Turkish couches are scattered here and there, and all that taste and refinement could suggest are found here. On the east and south sides of the house and extend- ing half around, is a broad veranda, and creeping up over its walls are trailing vines of ivy and honeysuckle, whilst easy wicker chairs and settees are placed upon the piazza, temptingly inviting the visitor to rest and view the landscape o'er from this j)lace of vantage. The offer is too alluring to refuse, and so we sink into a mammoth wicker chair and cast our eyes over the country spread out before us. The view afforded is at once pleasing to the eye and mind, and we soon lose ourselves in day-dreaming of the beauties and productiveness of this glorious sunset land. An invitation extended by Mr. Whiting to accompany 44 Fruit Fanning for Profit in California. him on a tour of inspection of tlie farm is accepted witli alacrity, and so, following the gentleman, we soon find onrself in a new and well-constructed ten-room cottage, a short distance from the farmhouse, and but recently completed. The dwelling is situated on a little eminence, and is furnished with every modern convenience. A telephone connects the two houses, and thus the occupants communicate with each other at will. This dwelling, too, has a broad veranda, ex- tending around the south and east portions, and from this point the city of Santa Ana can be seen almost any clear day. Surrounding both houses are beautiful flower gardens, and the pretty coloured flowers are now in full bloom. Overhanging the farmhouse are grand old pepper and gum-trees affording a most grateful shade ; and here, in the quiet of country life, listening to the songs of birds, breathing God's pure, fresh air, heavily laden with the perfume of most beautiful flowers, has Mr. Whiting selected his home place. From the dwelling houses we proceeded to the barn, a well-constructed building filled with hay and grain. The barn is divided into three compartments— a carriage house, in which is kept some very fine vehicles ; a hay department, filled with hay, and a carpenter's shop with blacksmith's shop adjacent. There is also a stable, and two grain warehouses are well filled with golden grain. In a little corral, off from the main barn, is kept Jumbo, a fine, large, roan Percheron stallion, weighing 1600 pounds. He is a beautiful specimen of horseflesh, and Mr. Whiting is justly proud of him. The gentleman takes a great pride in Fmit Fanning for Profit in California. 45 the raising of fine horses, and lias on his Eanche some of the best stock we have ever seen. He now has twelve or fourteen fine, large brood mares, weighing from 1300 to 1600 pounds, and half-a-dozen geldings and saddle horses. He drives a fine, large, chestnut- sorrel mare that trots along at the rate of a mile every three or four minutes easily, and is a grand specimen of horseflesh. Around the barnyard struts the stately gobbler, and by his side quacks- the snow-white duck, while hundreds of chickens can be seen all about us. Houdans are principally raised by Mr. Whiting, and the poultry department of this Eanche is of no small importance. Water is piped to the houses, barns and other build- ings from a never-failing spring, which is located in the foothills three miles from the house. The water is pure, sparkling and cold, and an abundant supply can be had for all purposes. By the side of the barn grows a row of stately banana trees, their giant leaves rustling in the wind and showing that in this land of sunshine tropical fruits will flourish and grow to perfection. But little attention is j)aid to the raising of cows or butter-making, but on the Eanche we found half a dozen Shorthorn and Jersey cows — all of the best grade. A Jersey bull is also kept here. Mr. Whiting's chief pride is his orchard, and well may he feel proud of it, for probably in all Southern California there cannot be found its superior. Just a little below the house the rows of prune trees commence, and they stretch away to the south for half a mile, and to the west for at least a quarter of a mile. There can- 46 Fruit Farming for Profit iji California, not be found in all this great State— famous for its orcliards — a more healthy, better kept one than that owned by Mr, AYhiting ; and be it remembered, that in this country, vrhere irrigation is thought to be so necessary to the successful o-rowino- of fruits, the owner of this orchard has proven, beyond peradventure of a doubt, that irrigation is not necessary, for he uses no artificial means to water his fruit trees, depending only upon the rains sent down from heaven and thorough cultivation to reach the high state of perfection that his orchard has attained. Xot a tree but that looks the picture of health, and the orchard, which will have been set out four years in December, is evidence of what this land will do. The orchard consists of 100 acres of Freiich prunes, ten acres of apricots, five acres of Bartlett pears, ten acres of chestnuts and pecans, ten acres of soft shell walnuts, five or six acres of an assorted family orchard, and an acre nursery of nut-bearing trees. Even this year the trees bore a very fine crop con- sidering their age, and from now on the income from this orchard will be extremely remunerative and highly gratifying. That walnut trees will grow without irriga- tion is demonstrated by the results obtained by Mr. "Whiting, for his ten acre walnut grove looks most flourishino'. In a few more vears this orchard will be yielding an immense income, and it is now the pride of Orange county. Getting into a buggy, we drive along beside the rows of graceful fruit trees up to the top of a little hill, south of the farm-houses and orchard. Eeaching the eminence, and casting our eyes back over the country Fruit Farming for Profit in California, 47 we have just driven througli, tlie view is cliarming. At our feet is a cornfield, whose stalks are rustling in tlie gentle breezes ; a little further on, and the orchard, whose trees are still clothed in their leafy dress of green, stretches away for a half mile northward ; the farm-houses, embowered in a grove of trees, and surrounded by beau.tiful gardens, invite to rest the tired traveller ; and a little further on can be seen the railroad track, the steel rails glistening in the sunlight, and marking out the pathway over which the iron horse speeds, uniting in bonds of friendship, communi- cation, and commerce neighbouring towns, cities, and states. Near by is the pretty little church with its spire pointing heavenward, and showing that in this land of beauty, where God has done so much. His great goodness is not forgotten, but, on the contrary, that His praises are sung and His goodness glorified in this little house erected to His service. In the distance towers the grand old mountains, in whose canyons the wild deer frolic in their native ranges— and all in all the view is grand and beautiful. We drive on through a large grain-field, and pause for a moment under a giant sycamore tree, and in front of an ice cold spring that, could it speak, would tell a tale of great interest. It would tell us how the now deserted^ almost forgotten, little wooden box wdiich is sunk in the earth, and which holds its now black and muddy waters, was placed there many years ago by the early residents of this country. It could tell with what pleasure the weary traveller hailed the sight of the old sycamore trees, for under their grateful shade they knew they could rest, and quench their thirst with 48 F] icit Farming for Profit in California. the cool waters from tliis very spring. It would tell of how the stages of the overland line, which in early days ran from San Francisco to St. Louis, would stop here to water the horses at this spring, and for the passengers also to quench their thirst. Now the old stage line has been superseded by the railroads, and this spring, then so highly prized, is neglected and unused. A little further on, and we cross Los Alisos creek, whose banks are fringed with sycamore trees, and whose waters flow along the eastern boundary line of the Eanche. This creek is one of the principal water-ways of the county. It was on its banks, and near the S23ring just mentioned, that the missionary fathers burned the lime used for constructing the old mission at Capis- trano. The old kiln still stands, and the wood used for kindling the fires was gotten near by. Many an old legend could be told of this historic place, but the sur- vivors of these early days are few now, most of them having passed into the great unknown. Our drive is continued on through the fields, and no other stop is made until the house of the foreman, situated on the eastern edge of the orchard, and in the midst of a grove of sycamore trees, is reached. The building is a comfortable structure consisting of six rooms, and is most conveniently arranged. We drive along again, and over to an adobe build- ing, which was built over one hundred years ago. It was erected for a former owner of the Eanche — Don Juan Serano — and surrounding it are giant pear, apricot, and olive trees planted more than a century ago by the early settlers and still bearing large crops. Frtlit Farming for Profit in California, 49 Further up the mountain side we drive, and turning our eyes southward the broad expanse of waters can be seen^ and the Pacific Ocean stretches out before our gaze, its blue surface finally seeming to unite in a band of azure blue with the cloudless sky above. The valley of the Los xllisos, in which this Eanche is situated, is a beautiful and fertile part of Orange county ; and the home-place of Mr. Whiting, consisting of five hundred and fifty acres, is made up of the most fertile j)art of this valley. • One year the farming land is planted to corn, producing from seventy-five to one hundred bushels to the acre, and the next year it is planted to barley, producing from twenty-five to thirty centals per acre. There are thousands of cords of wood upon the Eanche enough for all time ; and game, sucli as quail and doves, and geese, ducks and swan, abound in their season. Of course the climate in this part of the State is too well known to make it necessary to say aught of praise for the climate of the Los Alisos valley. Situated as it is but seven miles from the Pacific Ocean, the sea breezes temper the heat of summer and the cold of winter, and the climate is as near perfection as one could desire. Tennis and croquet grounds are found near the farm- house, and every convenience looking to the comfort and pleasure of its dwellers is furnished. The Pianche is well fenced and cross-fenced, and every improvement made has been of a permanent character. Near the house is a half-acre vegetable garden, and as this Eanche is in the thermal belt, vegetables can be 50 Fruit Farjjiijig for Profit iji California. raised all tlirougli the year, so that green peas and tomatoes are enjoyed in the midst of our Californian winters, which, of course, would hardly be called winters, in comparison with the rigorous seasons of other countries. As the shadows of evening had already commenced to fall over the earth we returned to the farmhouse, and upon the broad verandah listened to many in- teresting stories told us by the owner of the Eanche. The farmhouses arc only one thousand feet from the station at El Toro. where telegraphic communication can be had with all points of the outside world. ScVcral ':^ai::s i:as- through this place every day, so that transportation facilities are unsurpassed. A daily mail is received, and "Wells. Fargo and Co, have an agent here, and a general merchandise store enables the farnirrs to do th-ir trading in El Toro. A grammar „r:. 'r rnblic schord is maintained, and the school luii:n:^ i. of th. mos^ sub^antial schoul buildings in the eonniy. Thirty-live pupils attend, and the school is in a most tlourishing condition. There is also a neat Episcopal Church, presided over by Rev. G-corge Eobinson. late of London. England, but now of Tustin and El Toro. The little town is growing, and many new homes have been built there in recent vears. Amono' those now living in this section and cultivating farms are : — L. H. Colemam L. K. Scott. A. HealeyfL. Stephens. Mrs. N. Long. J. W. Thompson. AVm. 3IcKinzie. iMr. L)e Long. Arthur Scott. Chas. Salter. Eugene Salter, and others. S. H. Cope (formerly of England: has recently erected a neat S3000 house on the bungalow style. Fruit Farming for Profit in California. 5 1 There is every reason to believe that in a short time El Toro will be a place of considerable importance. Back of and surrounding it is a country famous for its productiveness, and only waiting for the hand of man to cultivate its now untilled acres. There is a suffi- ciency of water for all purposes ; the climate is unex- celled ; the surroundings are pleasant, and communica- tion with the great trade centres excellent. There is no reason why the Los Alisos valley will not, in a few years, be a veritable garden of Eden. Mr. Whiting, in his orchard, has proven that fruit will grow here to perfection without irrigation, which is certainly proof enough that the soil is productive. In a short time orchards will be found on every hand, for there is great profit in the cultivation of fruit. Barley, corn, wheat and oats can be raised with profit, for the soil produces large crops of all. Nuts of all kinds can be produced here, too, and the best of all without irrigation. In company with Mr. Whiting we drive down from the farmhouse to the station, and the whistling of the approaching train tells us to bid our agreeable host good-bye ; and as we climb aboard the train and seat ourself comfortably in the car, we know that our day has been pleasantly spent; and we realize that Mr. Whiting has one of the best Eanches in California, and that El Toro and Orange county have a bright future ahead. A "Beet Sugar Factory, There are a number of enterprising citizens of Santa Ana and vicinity who are determined to secure a beet D 2 52 F licit Farming for Profit in California. sugar factory for this place if possible, and are using their best endeavours to further that end. The plan they suggest is to form a joint stock company with capital sufficient to start the enterprise ; also a beet producers' company. The capital stock company to re- ceive a fair rate of interest, and the producers' company to receive a reasonable compensation for their beet pro- duction. The profits, if any, from the enterprise to be divided between the capital invested and the producers. The object of the projectors is to start the enterprise as cheaply as possible, and build up as prosperity and success demand. The idea is a good one, and practicable on its face, and all it wants is push. Fmit Fanning for Profit in California. 53 WHAT THE NEWSPAPERS SAY ABOUT FEUIT GEOWING AND ITS PEOFITS. While we believe the profits appearing in the fol- lowing items to be true reports in every instance, we do not wish to infer that they are enjoyed by all orchardists ; but having been done by growers in all corners of California, we argue that they can be done again by others v/ho try : — PnuxES. [July qnotatior, 1892^ A number of prune growers have told us this week that unless they get §35 a ton for their fruit they will dry their own crop, for prunes are the easiest fruit we have to dry and pack for market. Several growers will hold for §38 a ton, because they have had letters from prune growers in Northern California who have contracted to sell at that price. — Pomona Progress. [Angust quotations, 1S92. Prices still CUmhing, The prices on deciduous fruits still continue to climb up the scale in a manner pleasing for the fruit grower to contemplate. The cannery and evaporator at On- tario are contracting for peaches at §30 a ton, and there 54 . Fi'iiit Fanning for Profit iit California, is a lively demand for prunes at $40 and $45 a ton. Son:e of tlie growers are holding out for $50, and it is reported that as high as $52 has already been offered for a few choice lots. The market for raisins also promises to be good; h\ cents is already offered for sultanas.- — PA oenix, ViSALiA Prune Crop. — C. J. Berry, in Visalia Times : — Last year our prune crop was not so large as it had been in previous years, but it was good enough to pay a profit of $300 or $400 per acre, even at the low price of fruit. This year the crop is simply im- mense. In the older orchards, trees seven years old will average 700 lbs. of fruit to the tree. It will be safe to make the statement that some of the trees will yield 1000 and up to 1200 lbs. At the present price of prunes, there are 900 trees on the Briggs' orchard, situated near the city, that will yield the owner at least $9000. The orchard is under the supervision of M. J. Eouse, who was the manager in 1890, when one prune tree yielded 1102 lbs. I wish to say right here that Mr. Piouse's ideas of pruning a tree and mine coincide. Orchardists cannot pay too much attention to their pruning, as on it depends to a great extent its crop. The entire crop of fruit of this orchard is simply immense. One would scarcely be believed if he were to tell the bare truth. To an amateur fruit grower any large statement is accepted, but to a practical fruit grower the production of the fruit- trees of our Visalia district is phenomenal. I'll venture the statement there is one Moorkark apricot tree on the Briggs' orchard that will yield one ton of fruit. Following is the affidavit of Mr. Clarke, supple- Fruit Farming for Frofit in California. 5 5 mented by that of Messrs. Harrell, Giddings, and Thomas, viz. : — State of California, County of Tulare. C. W. Clarke, having duly sworn, deposes and says : My name is C. AV. Clarke ; I reside in the city of Sacra- mento, California. I have resided there for the forty years past. That on the 1st day of September, 1890, in company with several other gentlemen, I went to the Briggs' orchard, situate on sec. 9, t 19 s, r 25e, M. D. B. and M., about four miles south-east from Visalia, Tulare county, California ; that while there we had gathered the product of one tree of the French prune variety, which said tree is six years old ; that from said tree I saw gathered, cleaned, and weighed 1102 lbs. of prunes, and I am confident that many other trees in same orchard, of same variety and age, will produce as many, if not more, pounds of prunes than the one whose product I saw gathered and weighed. C. W. Clarke. Sworn and subscribed to before me, this 2nd day of September, 1890. G. A. BOTSFORD, Notary Public. State of California, County of Tulare. Jasper Harrell, President of Harrell and Son's Bank, Visalia, C. J. Giddings, cashier of Bank of Visalia, I. H. Thomas, member of the State Board of Horticul- 56 Fruit Fanning for Profit in California. ture, being duly sworn each for himself, says : I have read the affidavit of C. W. Clarke, hereto attached, I was present with said C. W. Clarke at said Briggs' orchard at the time product of said French prune tree was gathered, cleaned, and weighed, and know of my own knowledge that all statements made in said affidavit of said C. W. Clarke are true. Jaspeh Haerell, C. J. GiDDINGS, I. H. Thomas. Sworn and subscribed to before me this 2nd day of September, 1890. G. A. B3TSFonD, Notary Public, It is announced by the Selma Enterprise that Mr. T. F. Newell, one mile from that place, realized last year $800 from less than two acres of prunes. Mr. Newell has a large apple orchard, whose crop for the present season has been contracted to a dealer at one cent per lb., insuring a return of $3 to $3.50 from each tree. Favourable Feports from tlie Prune Orchards — A Great Yield, The reports from the prune orchards are coming in fast, now that the harvesting of the crop is well under way. Many deciduous fruit experts who have visited Pomona Valley say that nowhere in Santa Clara Valley (near San Jose) is there such good land for the produc- tion of the prune as in the Pomona Valley, and this Fruit Farming for Profit hi California. 57 year's crop again demonstrates the large profits there are in growing prunes. There are several hundred acres of French prune orchards in this place that have borne this season crops worth over §230 an acre, and there are a large number of orchards that have pro- duced fruit which has sold at the rate of §280 this season, when the crop is not unusually large either. We hear of some prune orchards that run from §325 to §350 an acre. Eli W. Keller has sold the crop from his French (or petite) prune orchard of six acres for §2450. Louis Keller has gathered §5 worth of fruit from many a tree in his orchard, which is of ten acres, and is seven years old. He got §1900 for his crop in the orchard when it was but five years old. The Fill- more orchard, south of this city, has produced a prune crop that has sold for §375 an acre this month, and it is only eight years old. There are quite a number of prune orchards in Pomona Valley that have paid for themselves, and all the care upon them from their start to bearing age by the crops they have borne in 1890 and 1892. The Packard prune orchard yielded fruit worth §345 an acre in 1890, and a crop worth about §450 an acre this year. Mr. Packard says he would rather have 75 acres of good prune trees than 100 acres of oranges. There is more clear money for him in his prune trees than in his oranges. — Pomona Progress. Three of the largest prune producers in California have combined to form a company, with a capital of half a million dollars, to cultivate about 710 acres of prunes. — Fruit Trade Journal^ London, England, The Howe prune orchard of ten acres has produced a crop that has sold for §3700 this year. It is eight 58 Fniit Farming for Profit in California. years old. Two years ago it bore a crop tliat netted the owner §294 an acre. — Sana Blade, The Egan prune orchard on Fifth Street is eight years okl. It has netted its owner this year $456 an acre. It paid §318 an acre in 1890, and §20 D an acre last year. H. J. St. John's orchard in the Kingsley tract has brought its owner nine and one-third tons of fruit per acre. The fruit was sold at §53 a ton on the trees, and Mr. St. John's profits from his property is §466 an acre. He is a greater believer in prunes as a source of profit to the orchardist than in oranges. The three-acre peach orchard on the old Sherman place was bought last September for §950 cash down. The crop from the property this year has brought in §516. Mr. Allen, the new owner, says he has owned farm property in four States in the East during the past twenty-six years, and never had such a good pay- ing piece of land before. Captain J. S. Garcia has a prune orchard of five acres that will bring him the nice little sum of §2000 this year. He has be?n offered §50 a ton for the crop, and a very conservative estimate is eight tons to the acre ; that means §400 an acre, which is as good as oranges. Several other prune orchards in Ontario will make nearly as good a sho^Ymg— Ontario Record. Laege Yield of Prunes. — Yisalia Delta : Several persons from Visalia and elsewhere went to the Brigg5 orchard to witness the harvesting of the crop of some nine-year-old prune trees, and. those who were present will sign an affidavit setting forth the facts. After arriving at the orchard three trees of the French- Fruit Farming for Profit in California, 59 prune variety, near togatlier, were selected. Some of the fruit had fallen and was gathered in boxes, and then the trees were shaken, the fruit cleaned of twigs and leaves and placed in boxes to be weighed. The first tree shaken yielded 812 pounds, but a considerable amount was left on the tree. The next tree bore 984 pounds, and the third 1017. One large limb of the last tree, heavily laden with fruit, had been taken away. The total product of the three harvested amountel to 2813 pounds, and the average was 937'66 pounds. With 64 trees to the acre this would give a yield of 60,910 pounds, or 30| tons. As 2*65 "pounds of fresh prunes are required to make one pound dried, one acre would produce 23,362 pounds ready for market, and at 11 cents per pound, the present selling price, the gross value of the yield of a single acre would reach the enormous sum of 82569.82; at 2i cents per pound on the ground, for which they could be sold to-day, the price of an acre's product would be §1522.75. In the Briggs orchard there are 12 acres of prune trees of different ages, and several experienced orchardists esti- mate the average yield at 600 pounds per tree. There are 64 trees to each acre, which would make 38,4C0 pounds to the acre, the value, which at 2\ cents per pound on the ground — the price at which prunes are now selling here — would be 8960 per acre, a net profit (after allowing for every possible expense and loss) of more than 8900 per acre. If dried at the orchard ami sold, the value of the crop per acre would he 81593.90, and for the twelve acres the enormous sum 0/ 819^126. 8'J would he realized. 6o Fntit Farming for Profit in California. Reports from tlce Fruit Growers. The 23ears from the Larkin place north of town were sent east in the green-fruit shipments. The 107 trees, six years old, on one acre yielded six and one half tons of pears, that brought a net return of S318. The prune orchard, of five acres on the old Sallee place, has produced over thirty-three tons of fruit this season, and sold for 850 a ton. A cheque for S16871ast week was the result of the sale of the prunes. The Muir place has yielded eighteen tons of prunes from 300 trees — or three acres — this year. The crop was dried and sold for 81135, and the clear profit of the little orchard is put at 81016 for the past year. Mr. Miller reports that from 250 peach-trees of the Golden Cling variety, seven years old, he shipped in the green-fruit shipments to Chicago 38,270 pounds, or over nineteen tons. He got three cents a pound for his fruit in Chicago, and the net proceeds of his two and one half acres is 8956.75. The property was bought in 1889 for 8870. It has brought its present owner 81490 in the past three years. There are many prune trees in the Keller prune orchard that have yielded over 200 pounds each, or a crop worth between 85 and 86 a tree. One acre of six- year-old prune trees was bought in connection with other real estate, by John E. Whitney, for 8450 last vear. The trees have been literally loaded down with fruit this season. All the prunes have been gathered and dried by Mr. AYhitney and his family. The dried crop was sold on Saturday at ten cents a pound, and a cheque for §487 is expected daily. That's the way some people get rich. P. J. Dreher has sold 8150 worth of fruit from sixty- Fruit Farming for Profit iti California. 6i five Salway peacli trees, but four years old, on his place north of town. We hear of many orchards here of French prunes that have yielded a crop worth 8200 an acre this season, and of a number that have brought their owners over §250 net per acre. Several orchards of Golden Cling peaches have brought their owners about 8275 an acre this year, and one or two have brought over §325 an acre. — Losa Times. The money there is in prune growing by careful and industrious orchardists, is only just beginnirg to be realized by many of our landowners. In the settlement of an estate in San Jose last week, an overseer of a Eanche testified that the fifty acres of French prunes on the estate had yielded a profit of about §180,000 in twenty years, or an average of §180 an acre every year since the trees were four vears old. Durino' the past eight years — since American prunes have forced the foreign product out of the market — the fifty acres have never brought less than §-125 an acre, and some- times nearly §600 an acre. — San Francisco Weekly Chronicle, Wealth in Prunes, Another year has rolled around and added yet an- other proof that California is a paradise for the intel- ligent and industrious fruit grower. In this year of 1892 we see what many of us have been arguing for ten or a dozen years — that a handsome fortune can be made in a decade from 80 or even 40 acres of prunes, and big money can be had from 10 and 15 acre prune orchards. I propose in this communication to prove 62 Fniit Farming for Profit in California, that any enterprising man with, fair capital can bring wealth to his family exchequer from an acreage of French prunes. Firstly, the trees must be grafted or budded on plum stock, and be one or two years old — I prefer one-year- old tree">. They must be planted about 25 feet apart, requiring 100 trees per acre. Good trees ought to be had for 20 cent,:, apiece, or by the thousand for 15 cents. The holes must be dug from two to three feet square, according to the nature of the soil. The fourth season after planting, and even the third if your trees have been well taken care of, you will obtain about 10 pounds of prunes to each tree, enough to initiate yourself in the drying business. The fifth year you will get about 60 pounds to each tree ; the sixth year 120 pounds or more to the tree. After that your trees are in full bearing, producing, according to location and care, from 150 to 300 pounds to the tree. Do not pick the prunes by hand, as they do not ripen all at the same time, but in about three weeks. Begin to shake your trees towards the 1st of August, then every week after, and at the fourth time pick them clean. Now for drying. The only apparatus needed is an iron kettle holding from 25 to 50 gallons of water. To each twenty gallons of water add one pound of the best American concentrated lye ; have the water boil- ing, then take a wire basket of some kind — the home made one will do best — put twenty pounds of green prunes in your basket, dip them in the boiling kettle, let them remain there about one minute, or till you perceive that the skin of your prunes are cracked all Fruit Farming for Profit in California. 63 over ; tlien take them out and lay them on a tray, and in a week or ten days, according to the heat of the sun, your prunes will be dried enough to put them loose in any kind of boxes holding fifty to seventy-five pounds. The trays can be made very cheaply (about ten cents each) with four sawed redwood shakes three feet long, nailed on a very primitive frame by anybody who ever used a saw and hammer. Now when your prunes are all dried and you want to give them the finishing gloss for the market, do as fol- lows : Fill your kettle again with water, but this time no lye is wanted, and when the water is boiling steep your prunes in it in your wire basket for about a minute till every prune is quite hot, then expose them to the sun for that day, and the next morning you can pack them in boxes or sacks as you prefer. This last steep- ing will make your prunes very clear and glossy, and will kill every insect and eftectually destroy their eggs. Profit The fifth year you will have lOOO trees bearing at least 60 pounds each, or 30 tons, equal to 10 tons dried, worth 10 cents per pound, or S200 per ton . . . . ,2000 If yon deduct 10 per cent, for labour, you will hare a balance of S1800 net, paying for the whole of the in- vestment and S300 profit left. _TiiAJMxth year you will have 60 tons of green fruit, or 20 tons of dried prunes, worth ....... 4000 64 Fruit Fanning for Profit in California. % The seventli year yonr trees will be in full bearing, and will yield each year from 150 to 200, or even 300 pounds to the tree. Each tree will bring yon about $5 net • each year or for the orchard 5000 It does not take miicli perception to see tliat on an outlay of not more than $2760, a person can have an easy income of $5000 in 10 years' time. I don't know of any better and easier way of insuring a large income. I have made these figures with care and prudencp on the basis of financial results from the profits of my own seven-acre prune orchard, and from the figures given me by four of the most careful fruit growers in Pomona Valley. — (E. C. Thurman, for Rural Oalifornian.) Almonds. An Ojnnion on our Almonds, California orchard productions are constantly forging ahead and beating the imported article in the leading markets of the world. First the California raisin, then the prune, peach and walnut. Now the almond is crowding the foreign article for supremacy, as is wit- nessed by the following correspondence addressed to Mr. E. E. Pierson of Banning: — ''Dear Sir, — Our ex- perience with California almonds is very satisfactory ; i Fruit Farming for Profit in California, 65 in comparison with the Spanish or Tarragona almonds we deem them better meats, smoother skin and often brighter shells. They are growing in favonr with con- sumers. EespectfuUy, Sprague, Warner and Co." This is one of the largest produce houses in the East, and its opinion, based purely upon an unsentimental commercial basis, is of more than passing moment. The almond is probably still in the experimental stage in California. Still enough has been learned re- garding situation that it does best on bench or hillside lands free from fogs, and more or less protected from direct winds. Mr. A. T. Hatch, of Suison Valley, the largest almond planter in the State, says that the almond will not grow in the water, nor do well in a heavy, poorly drained place, but will flourish and pro- duce good crops on soils that are too light or dry to grow peaches, apricots, nectarines, or similar pulpy fruit. Almonds will make better returns from leaner lands than any other crops, except it may be vines, olives or figs." J. M. Blanchard sends in some Sunland almonds, taken from a tree eight years old from the seed, from which he has sold this year sixty-two pounds of nuts, netting him 89*30. At this rate an acre of trees would yield §900. California cannot be excelled for raising almonds. And for quick returns, and a crop easily, quickly, and inexpensively grown, the almond is the one above all others. It is the most easily cared for of any kind of nut or fruit-bearing tree. It is extremely hardy, and the tree needs little or no pruning. The crop may be gathered leisurely. There need be no hurry to gather E 66 Fniit Fanning for Profit in California, it witliirL a certain time, like there is for fruit. It re- quires no experience or practice to harvest the crop, for there is no science needed such as there is in handling- fruit. We can get our almonds into the Eastern markets so much earlier than the importers that we have the great advantage over them of being able to supply the demand first, and consequently get better prices. That is one advantage over imported almonds which California hardly needs, for the new varieties of almonds now grown are so much larger and more beautifully shaped than the old varieties that our better-looking nuts sell for higher prices right alongside of the foreign article. The Ne Plus Ultra, California Paper Shell, I X L and the Nonpareil are the names of the better varieties. They commence bearing in three and four years. There is little or no labour attached to the harvesting of a crop of almonds ; and not only that, you can almost choose your own time about harvesting — any time after the nuts are ripe ; yet it is safer to gather them before any heavy rains come. It is liable to blacken them, and make it difficult to get them white again. California can grow almonds to greater profit than anything else. After the almonds are separated from the hulls, the nuts are bleached by sulphur fumes. The bleaching- house of Webster Treat is about 25 by 8 feet, and 4000 pounds are generally put in at one time and* exposed to the fumes of sulphur from four to ten hours, though the longer the nuts are bleached the whiter they become. Usually in bleaching soft-shells a little water is sprinkled over them before being put in the sulphur Fmit Fanning fo7^ Profit in California. 67 house, for tlie purpose of making them bleach whiter. Care should be taken not to pnt more sulphur in one pan of coals than will completely burn ; for if too much sulphur is put in at one time there will not be a complete combustion, and the soft-shells on being taken out will smell of the sulphur and the paper-shell kernels will taste of it. Mr. Webster Treat's bleaching-house is boarded with tongue and groove inside and out and roofed with well-laid shingles. A flue about 2 feet high is on the apex to help draft the sulphur fumes up and out. The floor is of 1 X 3 set up edgeways, three-eighths of an inch apart, or just wide enough to admit the sulphur fumes and yet near enough to prevent the nuts falling through. The floor is about two and a half feet above the ground, the lower space boarded up with tongue and groove and fitted with small doors every five feet to admit of placing the pans of burning sulphur underneath the floor. After being bleached the almonds are put into burlap sacks, which can be bought for about 7 cents and hold about 55 pounds of almonds. It costs about 2^ cents a pound to gather, hull, bleach, sack and haul a couple of miles and load on the cars. This is allowing a very liberal estimate of the cost, for a gentleman off*ered to gather, hull and bleach almonds for If cents per pound, and put them in sacks (I to furnish the sacks). A carload of almonds, as given by the Southern Pacific Company in 1891, is 15,000 pounds at |225 per carload and \\ cents for overweight ; this is the rate to Chicago, To New York the rate is about $260 per carload, with If cents for overweight. With a good machine to do the hulling and separating, the cost would be reduced E 2 68 Fruit Farming for Profit in California. to I of a cent per poundj whicli is a very liberal estimate. I do not know how long an almond tree will continue to live and bear, but its lifetime is tbree or four times longer than that of the peach tree. Percy Treat. Davisville, Cal, December 16th, 1891. Theodore Minturn says : " Of the cost of caring for five acres of almonds on his Chowchilla estate, he kept a careful record. Every hour's work of ploughing, culti- vating, pruning, picking, etc., was noted, and good prices charged in the account therefor. The almonds were of good quality. They found a ready market, as almonds always do ; and after every possible charge against these five acres had been allowed for, there remained a clear profit of §125 per acre." Mrs. Thurston having a Eanche in the Aliso Valley south of El Toro, reports that her almond trees average her (§10) ten dollars worth of almonds to each tree, and have done so for the last six years. The iVnderson Bros, at Davisville have an almond orchard of 55 acres (fifty-five), and last year the trees, three and four years old, netted them nearly five thousand dollars. This year the trees are much larger, and they estimate between ten and twelve thousand dollars worth of almonds. San Bicgo, E. E. Pierson of Banning, in Escondido Times : People who are making the almond pay and produce good regular crops plant different varieties together on Fruit Farming for Profit in California, 69 account of the cross fertilization of the bloom. The Lanquedoc, one of the early soft-shell nuts, never has done well in the State unless other kinds have been planted near it, when it has been made to produce a large crop. The almond prefers a loose, light, warm soil, and will make a failure on poorly drained, heavy land, but will make a good growth of wood. I have a young orchard here of almonds, only two years old, that will have more than enough fruit to pay for all care and cultivation this year." ' Apricots. Apricot Culture, This special industry is peculiarly adapted to Cali- fornia. No other country produces this fruit in such perfection as it is produced in this favoured sunset land. The tree is a strong and vigorous grower. It fruits early, and when properly managed yields abun- dant and regular crops of the very best flavour and quality. For the market, when fully ripe, in its green condition, it is an attractive, luscious, and desirable fruit. As a dried or evaporated fruit it is in great demand, and with no fear of over-production when sold at a reasonable price. When canned it maintains its best qualities in a remarkable degree, and will always be a desirable article in canned goods. We have the world for a market, and the larger the quan- tity properly prepared for market the greater will be the consumption, at a remunerative price to the pro- ducer. Eemunerative prices do not refer to the prices obtained during the season of 1890. Many orchardists 70 Fruit Farming for Profit in California, who were fortunate enoiio-li to own fuU-bearino- orchards during the season referred to secured prices so ample as to result in snug fortunes for one season's product. One cent per pound on the tree is a fair and remunera- tive price to the grower. At this figure they should reach the consumer at a price that would extend the consumption to a wonderful extent. Apricot culture can be consistently recommended to the new-comer who desires to plant for profit. The question of sufficient help to properly and indue season gather and prepare the crop for market is per- plexing, and quite difficult of solution. The tendency now is, and very properly so. to plant small orchards, and is a factor in solving the problem of help. Gene- rally speaking, a family can care for sufficient orchard in all its stages to make a good living and save some- thing for future emergencies. The time is near when school vacations will be so arranged as to admit of the employment of the children of the State during the fruitino' season of this and other desirable fruits. Children six years old and upwards can be profitably employed in the gathering, pitting, and the various branches of the harvesting of the crops. This State is essentially a fruit-producing country, and we must adapt ourselves to the situation in a practical manner without delay. During the AYorkVs Fair California's exhibit will bring our fruits and their superior excel- lence prominently before vast numbers of people, and the result no doubt will be the increase, in a short time, of our orchards to an unprecedented extent. AYe will come to be known as the fruit garden of the world, and California will eventually be one grand fruit orchard. Fruit Farming for Profit in California, 71 We will become noted for tlie size, flavour, and general superior excellence of our fruits, and tlie apricot in p articular. — ra I Ca lifo r nia . Thos. a. Garey. Before Pomological Society of Southern California. George W. Ford, of Santa Ana, has been buying dried apricots for Porter Bros. & Co., of San Francisco. He has so far purchased for this firm about $35,000 worth of this product in Orange county, the prices paid ranging from 10^ to 12^ cents per pound. Mr. Ford is one of the best posted men in the fruit business in this part of the State, and his estimate of the value of the crop is apt to be nearly correct. He says that the value of the apricot crop in Orange county will be about $300,000 this season, which is within itself a snug little sum to be put in circulation there. — Rural California. Eeturns from the apricot growers, who dried their own fruit this season, have begun to come in, says The Californian. The bulk of the dried fruit has been sold here during the past week at 12 and 12^ cents a pound. The Abelle orchard of 300 trees on three and one half acres of land yielded a crop of 22 tons that has sold for $905*62. The net profit from the sale was $812.50 or $249 an acre. The trees on the place are eight years old. Two years ago the same orchard yielded a crop that sold for $646 or $170 an acre. Mrs. Mary St. John tells us that she sold her dried apricots from 187 six-year-old trees (about an acre and a half; for 12 cents a pound, and received $259.20. She did her own fruit drying, except for 72 Fruit Farming for Profit in California, four boys and girls she hired, and her net returns from her little orchard are $243. — Rural California, M. B. Fassett, of the North Ontario Fruit Company, vouches for the statement that one Southern California fruit rancher sold his crop of Eoyal apricots this year from three acres, for between $1000 and $1100. That is nearly $400 per acre for apricots, and if anybody has a better showing we should like to hear from him. The price received was only a cent a pound, so that there must have been about 20 tons of fruit to the acre. — Rural Galifornia, The Ventura Free Press says : A. E. Newby of Ven- tura will make a small fortune this season out of apricots. It is said that he bought 2000 tons, for which he paid $15 per ton, or say $30,000. He will make 330 tons of dried fruit, worth $240 a ton. After making expenses he will, doubtless, clean up $30,000 to $40,000 out of the venture. Money in Fruit Growing. The Johnston apricot orchard on Crowe Avenue in this place yielded from $190 to $210 an acre this season. The Wilson apricot orchard of four acres near Lords- burg in this valley, had a crop of thirty nine tons that sold for $22 a ton at the depot. The cash returns from the fruit were $837, or $209 an acre. J. J. White, of this place got twenty two tons of apricots from his 200 trees on two acres, and sold to Sherman, Marr & Higgins for $20 a ton. A cheque for the crop from two acres for $440 would make our Eastern farmers' eyes stand wide open with surprise. Fntit Farming for Profit in California, 73 The Svenson apricot trees (100 of them) on the Kingsley tract bore the lightest crop of fruit ever known for them. Yet when the yield was dried it amounted to 1050 pounds. It sold for twelve and one half cents a pound, and a cheqne for 8131.25 was given for the acre's yield. E. B. McDill reports having taken about twenty- three tons of Moorpark apricots from two acres (200 trees, seven years old), this season. He dried his own fruit, and got 7643 pounds of dried fruit. He sold for twelve cents a pound, and after paying for labour in dry- ing and for hauling his fruit, his clear profit from the crop was S805.16. If one is properly prepared for it, it pays better to dry one's own fruit than to sell it green for others to dry. If I can get 2 cents a pound for my apricots delivered within two miles of my place, I will sell them green. Otherwise I will dry them. — D. Edson Smith, Fiural California . The report that 860 per ton is being obtained in cer- tain sections for apricots this season should remind orchardists that if apricot and peach growing are stuck to, the average profits will thoroughly justify the investment necessary. Even the orange and raisin here have their unfavourable seasons, and yet this has no tendency to discourage intelligent growers. The former disposition to drop a given line of horticulture every time another department has an unusually profitable season is now likely to influence people less than formerlv. The man who sticks," wins in the lono; run. — Fiver side Fress. We hear of a number of apricot orchards that have 74 Fi'uit Farming for Pi'ofit in California. yielded fruit from §160 to §170 an acre this season, over and above all expenses. We respectfully ask some of our super-sceptical farmer friends in the East, who smile at the idea of paying $300 or $400 an acre for a bearing apricot orchard, what they honestly believe such property is worth, reckoning the investment to bring 15 per cent, interest per year? — Progress. Two crop statements have just been filed at the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. One was from E. Bandle of Burbank, who had planted three acres of sandy loam with White Burbank potatoes. From this piece of land he harvested 900 sacks of potatoes, which he sold for $900. The cost of production $300, leaving a net profit of $600, or $200 to the acre. No irrigation was found necessary. Forty of these potatoes made one bushel. The second statement was from S. E. Thorp, of Ventura, who harvested forty acres of ten- year-old apricot trees. The total yield was 720,000 pounds, and he sold from this quantity sixty tons of dried fruit for $15,000. The land was of the same quality as the above. Mr. Grruenenwald, who lives north of town, sold $1300 worth of apricots from two and three quarter acres. Dr. G-reenleaf raised $1600 worth on a little less than four acres, and there are several other in- stances of remarkable yields. — Santa Ana Blade. A. L. Taylor reports that he has been offered 11 cents per pound for his dried apricots, but he is holding out for 12 cents. Another proof of the fact that it pays and pays big to dry your own fruit. — Santa Ana Blade. Mrs. A. H. Stutsman, who resides in the neighbour- hood of Tustin, and who owns a small fruit farm of Fruit Farming for Profit in California. 75 mixed varieties, sold from 8i apricot trees $572.83 worth of dried fruit the past season. This is at the rate of §936.49 per acre. — Santa Ana Blade. Peaes and Otheb Feuit. D. W. Lewis, whose place is near Malaga, is an authority in all that pertains to fruit-growing. He believes the most profit^ible variety to be Bartlett pears. This season I harvested from thirty-five acres of six-year-old Bartlett pears, some twenty car loads, which I shipped East. I also shipped 22,000 pounds of dried pears, receiving fifteen cents a pound for them, which brought me in about §5500." F. E, Storie says: — ^'My gross receipts from four acres of peaches amounted to §1031. Among pears I consider Bartletts the best variety ; from an acre and a half of young trees I took off $125 worth of fruit. Nectarines are a very good crop, bearing and paying well. I have netted 8100 an acre on this fruit. Apri- cots pay from §125 to §150. French prunes do very well here ; and from four and a half acres of this fruit I received §1000. With a judicious selection of fruit trees there is much money in fruit." James Conn, living on Elm Avenue in Fresno Colony, has a forty-acre tract in fruit, which yielded him §6600 this season. He says : I raise peaches, apricots, pears^ and nectarines, having about twelve acres in orchard. My apricots this year netted me §250 an acre. In ordinary years I get from §150 to §200 fr om them. Peaches pay me about the same. The demand for 76 Fruit Farming for Profit i?i California, nectarines has been very active ; and I got §300 an acre for them this season. Last year I received §200. I consider them a very profitable crop. A few years ago yon would hardly bny them. I have some yonng Bartletts which paid me SI 00 net per acre. Prom twelve acres of orchard I sold §4000 worth of fruit this season. Walnuts. The first matter to be considered is soil. I think a deep alluvial deposit, with little or no alkali, is best adapted. It requires good drainage ; any sub-soil which is impervious to water being objectionable. Water standing around the tree roots is hurtful, causing sour sap and in time killing the tree ; it is especially so if impregnated with alkali or mineral salts. I con- sider a depth of less than 10 feet to water objection- able, from 12 to 14 is better. Our finest nuts are grown near the coast. In planting, trees should be put at least 50 feet apart, and I think 55 or even 60 is better. I have seen trees planted 40 feet apart, and after they had attained the age of about 20 years the branches overlapped to such an extent as to injure the fruitfulness of the tree, and it became necessary to remove some of them. I think soft shells might be planted 30 by 50 feet, and when they are abouf 16 years of age remove each alternate one, thus leaving the trees 50 by 60 feet apart. The soft shell commences to bear at five years, and from that time until 16 years of age a tree ought to produce a total of 1000 pounds of nuts, or the trees could be taken out at 12 years and transplanted to good advantage. Fniit Fanning for Profit in California, 77 As I have said the soft shells commence bearing at five years, at 10 years they are in full bearing, that is, the tree is fruited to its utmost capacity ; of course the tree keeps on growing for a number of years, and the larger the tree the more walnuts it will produce. I consider this by far the best variety, as the tree is thrifty, a good grower and bearer, fruit superior and commands a better price in market than the hard shell. The leaves also drop later— that makes gathering the crop more convenient, as the nuts are allowed to fall and are then picked from the ground. This year we sold soft shells at 8i cents, hard shells 7i cents, first grade. Paper shells sold for 8^ cents. Orange County, Anaheim Gazttle : The walnut industry bids fair in the coming time to be one of large magnitude in this section, where climatic conditions combine with soil characteristics to favour the best results in growing and marketing this profitable crop. Where we now ship out 125 or 130 tons annually, our exports are destined in a few years to be by the trainload. In the raising and marketing of this crop, we are second only to the Eivera section, admittedly the most extensive walnut-producing centre in the country. At the present time it is doubtful if the trees in bearing here will cover more than 150 acres, a great many aligning the streets and roads ; yet the acreage set out to young trees now rapidly approaching the bearing stage goes extensively into the thousands. Of the orchards at present return- ing handsome revenues, those of Mr. Stone at Fullerton, and Mr. G-ilman at Placentia, may be cited in evidence. 78 Fmit Fanning for Profit in California. The former gentleman has an orchard of 33 acres of magnificent young trees in bearing, which this year will produce 12 tons, valued at §1700. Mr. Gilman's crop amounts to 30 tons, and was sold a couple of weeks ago for $4200. The rest of the crop hereabouts comes from small orchards and from trees aligning the roadway, and will go probably to 125 or 130 tons all told. At 7 cents per pound, the crop will thus bring into this section the snug sum of $18,200. The output, moreover, is being increased constantly by the addition of young trees coming into bearing, and next year will un- doubtedly be much larger than this season. New orchards are being set out on an extensive scale, the total new area amounting to 2000 or 3000 acres. The big walnut grove below town, containing 600 acres, the largest walnut orchard, by the way, in the world, is coming on nicely, and will in a few years be good for several hundred tons of nuts. Mrs. Thurston, the oldest orchardist in Aliso Valley, ships about five tons of walnuts per annum from one acre of nuts, and grown without irrigation, Mr. Mendelson, of Capistrano, got $1700 off six acres soft shell walnuts, 9 or 10 years old, this year, 1892, " J. C. Sheppard, of FuUerton, has a walnut tree three years old from the seed, the trunk of which is now twenty-three inches in circumference. We would be pleased to hear from any one who can beat it." — Anaheim Gazette, That is easily done ! John Cubben who owns a splendid Eanche about 1^ miles south-east of the Santa Ana post-office, has a walnut tree three years old that measures 28 inches full in circumference, and has never been irrigated. Fniit Farming for Profit in California, 79 ^YHY CALIFOEXIA LEADS THE WOELD. The follo^Ying is an article on practical fruit-growing for the small farmer contributed to the S, F. Examiner by Professor B. M. Lelong, Chief Horticultural Officer of the State. Fruit-groivi/ig for Profit. Points for the Beginner — Yield and Profits hy the Acre. Bl/ Prof B. M. Belong, The great industry of California to-day, and one that in a few years, if it continues its present rate of growth, will overshadow all others, is fruit-growing. While fruit has been grown in the State for over a century past, having been introduced by the ^lission fathers as early as 1769, in the southern part of the State, and by the Eussian traders, early in the present century, in the northern portion, it is only during the past twenty years that we have made any rapid progress in this direction : but in that time California has forced her way ahead of all other States in the Union until she is to-day the orchard of the United States. With a continually widening market for our orchard products, with stories of fabulous returns from invest- ments in fruit farms, it is natural that much attention should be dii^ected to this branch of industry, and that people of small means desirous of making a home and 8o Fruit Farming for Profit in California. an income slionld seek for information in regard to it. For this class and for the benefit of the Eastern people desiring to locate in California it is purposed to present a series of papers on the fruit industry of California that may be a guide to them. Many of the pioneers who sought California in early days, allured by the prospects of sudden wealth in her mines, brought with them seeds, cuttings, cions or roots from their Eastern homes, and in the mining towns we find the oldest American orchards of the State. These were composed of the hardy fruits of the Eastern States, and many of them flourished in their new home. But the conditions of soil, climate and physical features of California are in so many ways contrary to those of the East that fruit culture in early days was largely ex- perimental, and many of the early orchardists paid dearly for their experience. The orchardist of to-day profits by their experience. He knows the rocks upon which they struck and can avoid them, and there is no reason why, with the experience of the past to guide him, if possessed of ordinary business judgment, the beginner in orchard work should not succeed. He must not, however, expect to clear from $300 to $1000 from his orchard in three or five years, or at all, for while the stories of large profits are true of favoured spots, it is not generally true of our fruit orchards, and the man who would make a success must make up his mind to receive a fair income for his outlay of money and labour. This he may depend upon, and it is more certain in fruit growing than in any other pursuit, but he has got to carry into it the business tact and judg- ment that win success in other lines. Fruit Fanning for Profit in California. 8 1 Tlie beginner will naturally ask, " Wliat assurance have I that my investment will be permanent as well as proritable ? What are the causes that make Cali- fornia superior to other States of the Union as a fruit- producer ? Will not other portions of the Union enter into competition with us and overstock the market and thus make my investment unprofitable and my labour a failure ? " These doubts will quickly disappear with a know- ledge of our advantages." These are the climate, geographical position and physical peculiarities. While descriptions of California's climate have become hackneyed, it is nevertheless the one great cause of our superiority as a fruit section, and our climate depends upon our geographical position. Lying in the direct course of the great Japanese current, which comes laden with the warmth of the tropics and flows along the greater length of our coast, California is never subject to those extremes of temperature so fatal to the more tender fruits in the Eastern States. The uniform dry weather in the picking season gives superior opportunities for picking and drying, enabling our fruit growers to cure their fruit in the open air at a minimum of cost. These are but a few of the reasons for our superiority as a fruit section. They are advan- tages possessed by no other State, and advantages which we can never lose. Our geographical position, too, gives us the world for a market, and while with the continually increasing population of the East we have a steadily increasing home market, we also ship large quantities of our fruit to Australia, China and Japan. With the United States and the rest of the 82 Fruit Farming for Profit in California. world for a market there is no danger of over- produc- tion. The most profitable varieties to plant depends largely upon location, quality of soil, nature of climate and the demand. The following table gives the average yield of green fruit, and the figures are rather under than over, of orchards in full bearing, together with prices paid in 1891, when they were exceptionally low, and for the present year when they are good. A careful estimate made by one of our leading orchardists is to the efi"ect that in a full-bearing orchard, properly cared for, the cost of drying fruit is 2^ cents per pound. This covers all expenses, and all amounts received for the finished product over this sum are clear profit. With these figures as a basis, the prospective grower can decide for himself what are the most profitable varieties for him : Acre. Prices per Ton— 1891. Prices per Ton- 1892. Vaeietiis. u 03 Tons \ Green. Dried. Green. Dried. Apples Apricots . Prunes . Pears Figs (white) . Peaches . Walnuts . Almonds . 4 5 6 5 8 5 \\ H $20@40 25@30 30 (§40 30 60 (§80 40(§50 $120 140(§160 100 (§150 IOC (§120 200(§240 iC0(§150 160@i80 160(§260 |30@50 40(§60 50(§60 40(a;50 60(^80 35(§40 $140@160 ^4^ (§300 180@200 140(§160 260^300 200 (§300 160@180 160 (§260 Orange^, budde^^, 108 boxes at $2 $216 OraDges, seeding, 216 boxes at $2 . . . . . 432 LemoES, budded, 540 boxes at |3 1620 Fridt Farming for Profit in California, 83 In drying it requires 7 pounds of green apples to make 1 pound of dried ; apricots, 4 to 1 ; prunes 2| to 1 ; pears 3 to 1 ; figs, 3 to 1 ; peaches, picked, 7 to 1 ; unpicked, 4 to 1. The figures here given are very conservative ; in many cases they are very largely exceeded. As to the kind of fruit that will return the greatest profit, it is safe to say that all kinds are profitable where proper judgment is exercised in their selection and care in their cultivation. A Small Eanche. Ever since his residence in Southern California, the editor has frequently received letters from old friends and strangers East, inquiring about Southern California and what one can do to make a living. Our usual answer in brief is, out of the soil/' but we turn such correspondence over to those that know more about it than we do. Recently, however, two men who happen to be wardens of Christ Church Parish have given us figures and shown us specimens which, for the benefit of Eastern readers, we print here. Major Eobert H. Nolton, the senior ivardeii, formerly a railroad man of Chicago, nine years ago purchased the Mountain View Orchard " at Vernondale, just on the southern boundary of the city, consisting of nineteen acres. It had been planted in fruit six or seven years before. He manages everything with railroad precision and neatness, and the following is the report from December, 1888, to December 1889 : f2 84 Fruit Fanning for Profit in Califor7tia, Income. 2,500 boxes oranges .S2,5C0 '""O 1,500 boxes lemons . 2,000 00 37,000 ponnds peaches 740 00 2,000 ponnds pears . 40 00 3,500 pounds apples . 70 CO 1,500 pounds bei ries . 120 00 1,000 pounds English walnuts . 80 00 500 pounds crab apples . . 10 00 400 pounds necta- rines . . 8 00 Gross .§5,913 00 Expenses. Two men employed . $711 CO Hay and grain for three horses . . . 267 50 Taxes . . . . 118 67 Family expenses, team supplies, and do- mestic . . . 1,710 00 Net income over all expenses . . . 3,072 83 §5,913 CO The family averages six. In this report no account is made of eggs, chickens and two cows, the retnrns being consumed. An alfalfa patch on the place main- tains two COWS. — Eev. Dr. Haskins, Editor Southern Calif ornian Churchman, Los Angeles. The Oltye. An olive orchard is a gold mine on the face of the earth." — Italian Froverh. Profits of Olive Culture'. — Mr. Kimball, the olive oil manufacturer, has stated that olive trees three years old will pay expenses ; that trees four and five years old will pay a handsome return ; that he bought olives at 85 cents per gallon as they were gathered from trees a few months over four years old, some of the trees yielding thirty gallons of oil ; that he paid one of his neighbours over 8200 per acre for his olives, the trees having been planted three years ago last March ; that he has picked eleven gallons from a tree four years and six months old from the cutting ; that he has taken twenty-three gallons from a tree less than six years Fruit Fanning for Profit in California. 85 old, and that lie lias liad one hundred and ninety-two gallons picked from a single tree at the old San Diego Mission. Mr. EUwood Coo23er, of Santa Barbara, tested one of his orchards seven years old from the cutting which yielded ten bottles of oil to the tree, large and small ; price of oil, 82 per bottle. The following is taken from Mr. Cooper's book on the olive : — Mr. Davis, who had charge of the San Diego Mission orchard, assnred me that he had gathered from the same tree two years in succession one hundred and fifty gallons of berries. At four years from the cutting I have gathered from some of the trees over two gallons of berries per tree, and at six years over thirty gallons of berries per tree from a few of the best trees. The oldest orchard being eight years old, I do not think I over-estimate it at over 40 gallons per tree for the best and fullest trees. An orchard bearino; uniformly the quantity as above would give the follow- ing result : — One hundred trees to the acre at 40 gallons each, 4000 gallons. One-fourth the quantity yearly would be a very profitable crop." Mr. B. B. Briggs, of La Cresenta, Canada, Los Angeles County, reports having a tree, eleven years old, that yielded 50 gallons last year. Mr. Cooper plants 20 feet apart, or 108 trees to the acre; at that rate an acre would yield 5400 gallons of pickled olives, worth at wholesale, in Los Angeles, 75 cents to Sl'OO per gallon. It requires about eight gallons of olives to make one gallon of oil. Age of Trees before coming info Bearing. — The late Governor Waterman stated to me that cuttings bore in 86 Fruit Fanning for Profit in California, three years on liis place a few miles north, of San Ber- nardino, and that the locality was the home of the olive. Several hundred one-year-old Nevadillo and Manza- nillo trees were planted in this vicinity three years ago, on rather dry, sandy land ; they have had no irrigation, but have made a fine growth, and are in bearing this year. The late Professor Klee had Nevadillo four years old in bearing last year in the Santa Cruz mountains. The San Juan Company of Capistrano have three- year-old trees bearing. No e':cj:>en8ive Macninery nor exjjerienced Workmen required to mc/he Oil and PicMes. A neighbour of mine who was wholly inexperienced in the business made the crop of 300 trees into oil and pickles ; the oil took the first premium at the Citrus Fair in Los Angeles ; the pickles sold for 75 cents to §1*25 per gallon wholesale in Los Angeles; the crop netted over S2000. The machinery used cost less than §100. • Numerous instances might be cited where the olive crop has been converted into oil and pickles by cheap and simple means by persons without previous ex- perience. Though oil and pickles may be made on the place where the fruit is grown by the average man at small cost for machinery, when olives are grown in sufficient quantities, persons will erect manufacturing works and buy the crops as other fruit is bought by the canning companies. (Cooper.) The late Prof. AY. G. Klee, of the Experiment G-rounds Fi'liit Farming for Profit hi California, 8/ of the State University, at Berkeley, California, wrote : — " The olive will grow in a soil too dry even for a grape- vine, and too rocky for any other fruit tree ; the hills and mountain slopes not fit for the pasture of even a goat can be made to produce olives ; precisely such will produce the fruit much earlier than the rich valleys. It has often been said that the olive is the poor man's tree. That oil and pickles of the finest quality can be produced in this State cannot be questioned, as Ellwood Cooper, of Santa Barbara, has taken the prize at the Paris World's Fair." At a meeting of the State Board of Horticulture, Mr. Ellwood Cooper said : — I have growing on my place olive trees in black adobe, in deep bottom land, in sandy land made from the wash of the mountains, in stony hillsides, in adobe hillsides, and in table land where the subsoil is probably twenty feet deep, dark clav, and so far as I have known there is no difference in the bearing of these trees, or in the oil made. I plant twenty feet apart, and do not irrigate. As to profit, I am planting olives and no other fruit tree." The pickled olives brought to this country from Europe are put up green, and are fit to be used only as a condiment, while the more mature California pro- duct is a nourishing food much preferred to the foreign article, and growing in favour from year to year, the demand being greater than the supply, which is entirely exhausted in a few weeks after being put upon the home market. The Department of Agriculture at Washington a few years ago made chemical tests of sixty-six samples of imported olive oil, and not a single sample was found 88 Fruit Farviing for Profit ill California, to be pure ; one sample contained only fonr per cent, olive oil. There is no donbt tliat tlie olive tree will thrive and pay large profits on a great variety of onr cheap lands near the coast and inland, requiring bnt little irrigation, in many localities none : that the crop may be handled at a time when other fruits do not require attention, and by the average man. even without previous ex- perience, with cheap and simple apparatus ; that the home-grown pickles are better than the imported, aiid the home-made oil superior to the foreign, and if kept up to its present standard of puritv and excellence will have not only our own country but the world for a market. AYith these facts in view it is not strange that saga- cious and far-seeing men are beginning to engage in this profitable industry. Tlie Olive in Southern California. In establishing ]\Iissions in California, the Fathers also planted the olive — a variety knovm in Spain as the Cornicabra but here called the Mission) was set out. Considering the long years of neglect, these old groves, especially those at San Diego and San Fer- nando, are in a remarkable state of usefulness. Several years ago one of the trees at tlte San Ditgo 21is:io'Ji y 'elded 150 qa.llons of o/icos ; in Ftbruary, 1888, J. S. Harhison i^Janttd cuttinrjs obtained from them, and in 1890 one of the trees from tliose cuttings produced a gallon of olices. The oil trees at San Fernando were Fruit Farming for Profit in California, 89 cut clown near tlie ground several years ago, and tlie new trees from the stumps are bearing again. Olive-trees do not seem to thrive inland as well as near the coast. While the olive will thrive better under neglect than any other fruit tree^ it responds generously to good treatment. There are a number of olive groves in bearing near San Diego the product of which has been made into pickles, selling in the stores at §1.20 per gallon. Excellent pickled olives are made with this recipe : For six gallons of olives dis- solve one pound of Gr. T. Lewis' concentrated lye in six gallons of water, add four ^^ounds of salt, soak the berries in this mixture two days, then draw oif and replace it with same kind for two days longer, drawing the mixture off several times daily and pouring it over the olives. Kow draw of the mixture again and im- merse the olives in water from five to eight days, then draw off the water and put on a brine of three pounds of salt to six gallons of water for two days, or until the last trace of lye is gone. Finally, cover them with new brine of three pounds of salt to four and a half gallons of water. The ripe olives put up in this manner are far superior to those imported, which are prepared from the green fruit. The supply of the home product as yet is very limited. A little olive oil has been made here, and may be obtained at the stores at 75 cents per bottle of half-pint. Though made by inexperienced persons and by simple means, it is of excellent quality, one sample taking first premium at the Citrus Fair. The apparatus used for making it cost less than 8100. Owing to the purity of California oil, it promises to displace all other 90 Fruit Farming for Profit in California, brands when produced in sufficient quantity to supply the demand. — Rural California, On Mr. Whiting's Eanche there are a number of olive trees planted in 1808, and these never fail to bear an annual crop. Game. By Count Jaro von Schmidt One of the many attractions which Orange County offers to new- comers is certainly the remarkable abun- dance of all kinds of game, large and small. In the mountain districts even bear are occasionally met with. There we find the mountain lion, wild cat, lynx, fox, mink, martin, racoon, coyote, etc. Deer are quite numerous in secluded valleys. The smaller game is represented by hares, rabbits, cranes, herons, swans, geese, ducks, snipes, avosets, rails, curlews, ibis, plovers, gallinules, quails, doves, larks, etc. In the fall it is no uncommon sight to see a flock of wild swan (Cygnus Americanus), a magniHcent bird that is very seldom met with east of the Eocky Moun- tains. Upon the approach of winter they leave their Northern breeding places and wing their way toward the Sunny South. Five different species of geese make Orange County their winter home. Of these the large and small white goose is the most common, covering sometimes acres of land as thick as they can alight. Last season one man killed twenty geese with two barrels ; a boy from Ana- heim shot twenty-seven, and another from Tustin broke the record by killing twenty-nine with one discharge Fruit Farming for Profit in California, 91 of his gun. The black goose, or Canada honker (anas Canadensis), is also plentiful, and is considered the best for the table. The yellow-legged, or checker- breasted goose, and the Brant goose. The sandhill crane was very plentiful in former years, and did considerable damage in the barley fields : bnt since cultivation in Orange County has made such wonderful changes that most of the plains have been transformed into orange groves, orchards, and vineyards, the cranes have changed their winter quarters to the adjoining counties, which are in a less advanced state of cultivation. Almost all known varieties of wild fowl abound in everv lake, creek, or slouoh. The delicious canvas-back (anas valisneria}, the beautiful mallard (anas boschas), often in flocks of several hundreds, the pintail (anas acuta), the widgeon (anas Americana}, the gadwall (anas stapera), the dusky duck (anas obscura}, blue- winged teal (anas discors), the green-winged teal (anas crecca), the surf duck (anas perspicillata"*, the red- headed duck (anas ferina\. in flavour equal to the canvas- back, the buftel-headed duck or butterball (anas albeola), the shoveller (anas clypeata), etc., etc. ^lany of these varieties breed here in great numbers, and proper st^ps have been taken to protect them bv law during the breeding season, as the present game law gives them no protection whatever. I have bagged very often over one hundred ducks in one day — leaving for the shooting grounds after breakfast and returning before dark. Plovers and snipe are very plentiful, the former arriving in Orange County as early as September. Thev are excellent eatina*, and very tame birds, that 92 Fruit Fanning for Profit in California, can be slaugliterecl easily, even by inexperienced marks- men. The Englisli snipe (scolopal gallinags, or scopolax deliciata), the delight of the gourmand, is found in great numbers all over the artesian belt district of the county. Last season I bagged, near Westminster, seventy-one English snipe in one day. The curlew, the rabbit, and hare afford excellent sport the whole year round, and therefore give some amuse- ment to the sportsman, even during the summer months, or the close season.'^ The quail (the mountain and valley quail). The former, as their name indicates, frequent the mountain- ous part of the county, while the valley quail is found everywhere, and in large coveys, often as many as five and six hundred, are very pretty birds, and exceedingly gamey. The doves are found everywhere, in small and large flocks. They are very proliHc breeders, nesting three or four times a year, and are, as an article of food, almost preferable to the quail. Very encouraging for the future sportsman is the forming of hunting clubs in the county, whose object is, besides enforcing the game laws and making sugges- tions to the Legislature about protecting game by changing or shortening the shooting season, to introduce new varieties of valuable game birds. The lately formed San Joaquin Shooting Club will import, this coming spring, the Japanese pheasant (Phaseanus Calchicus). I think it further worth mentioning that coursing- after hares with greyhounds is very interesting and Fncit Farming for Profit in California, 93 exciting pastime in this county. Tlie Alamitos Eanclie is the best adapted for conrsing on account of its vast expanse of level country and the great number of hares found there. Our county offers, finally, a great inducement to the fisherman, as the mountain streams are literally filled with speckled trout, and as the south-west j)art of the county faces the Southern Pacit'C Ocean, it gives there- fore good and unlimited sport for trolling and still- water fishing. We may find places in the northern part of the State or in Oregon, AVashington, or British "Columbia, where there may be better shooting for bear, elk, or deer ; we may find better fishing on Lake Superior and its tributaries ; we may find, perhaps, better variety of game in Central Africa, but we will have to face either snow, rainstorms, and blizzards, or our lives will be endangered by the savage man and beast, and so we come at last to the conclusion, that there is no better place for the lover of sport than Orange County in California, where he can live in eternal sunshine and enjoy the pleasures of sport as well as the comforts of civilization and society. There is no better place than Orange County, the hunter's paradise. 94 Fruit Farming for Profit in California. MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. SwoEN Statement of Paige and Morton. To show that the tables published in this pamphlet are very con- servative, we hereby append the sworn statement of Paige and Morton, who owned an assorted orchard of 500 acres and a raisin vineyard of 800 acres. KlIfDS OF FeUITS. Age of Trees, 1890. Cost of Cultivat- ing and Handling. Gross Receipts per Acre. Net Profit per Acre. Apricots 5 % 132 $ 313 $ 211 Nectarines .... 5 132 400 268 Peaches 5 150 500 350 Yellow Egg Plnms 5 100 500 400 French Prnnes 5 120 720 600 Pears 6 65 502 427 Raisins 5 65 305 240 Solicitors Calif. Fruit Co., Head-oflSce, San Francisco. Money in Fruit. — James McPhersonof Garden Eanclie has three acres of Bartlett pear trees now eight years old. They were cut down when two years old by grass-hoppers, so bear no more than trees six or seven years old, yet last season he picked 15 tons from the tract, and this season 11 tons from the same. The fruit averaged him two cents a pound delivered here for shipment to the Marysville cannery. This would re- turn him this season $440 and last year $600, or $1040 Fruit Farming for Profit in California, 95 for the two years from three acres of land. This would amount to 8340 an acre for the two seasons, or 8170 an acre for each season. Last year his neighbour, Jas. Stevenson, obtained §65 from an acre and a quarter planted to pear trees, but this year he realized, by ship- ping to the cannery, $218, or abont §175 an acre. The Bartlett and all other varieties of pears do well in the foothills, and, as will be seen above, they are profitable crops to produce. — Rural Press, September 24th, 1892. The United States are sending out to Europe annually millions of dollars for lemons. It is doubtful if there is enough good lemon land in Southern California on which to raise enough lemons to supply the present and the ever increasing demand for that popular fruit. It is safe to predict, however, that within the next quarter of a century this south-western corner of Uncle Sam's dominion will receive many of the millions of money that are now being sent to Europe for lemons. — Rural California, KoTEs ON Roses. \Jjrown Vista,'] Just now when the public attention is being directed to roses, the following from the pen of Flora M. Kim- ball, which we find in an exchange, may be of general interest : — " I would not advise in this climate of uninterrupted sunshine the training of roses in tree shape. Lacking the shade afforded by low branches the stalk scalds and the growth is retarded. This is illustrated by high- 96 Fruit Fanning for Profit in. California, pruned fruit trees. All plants, and especially roses, thrive better when supported by trellis, sticks or wall. The La Marque is one of the most rapid climbers, does not rust or mildew, and is uniformly clean and healthy. If a person can care for but one, the La Marque is a flower garden in itself. It is said there is one in Orange that covers the entire front of a house, about 900 square feet. Here is an opportunity to circumvent the traffic in water. Two or three roses like La Marque, Marechal Niel or Eeeve d'Or will fill a place with beauty, and can be maintained with waste water from the kitchen." Tons of apples are now being shipped from West- minster and surrounding country. Our fruit industry is rapidly bringing this section to the front. It is becoming more widely known that our soil and climate are adapted to the production of the very finest of fruits. Also that our land is easily worked and is cheaper than anywhere else in Southern California. We predict that hundreds of home-seekers from the East will within the next few years locate in Orange County. — Santa Ana Blade. At Anaheim, in Orange County, the farmers, business men, capitalists, and land-holders have clubbed together to put a beet sugar factory in operation next year. The task of securing 3000 shares of stock has been finished, and 214 shares more than the requisite amount has been subscribed. Eichard Gird, whose sugar enterprise at Chino is proving so successful, is to be one of the directors ; and E. H. Dyer, of Alvarado, is a Fruit Farming for Profit in California, 97 shareholder. The plant will be of American make, from the works at Cleveland, where the Dyers are interested. El Toro. — From El Toro, stage connection is made with Laguna and Arch Beach, on the coast nine miles west. Arch Beach is destined to be one of California's most noted seaside resorts, though at present compara- tively little known. The shore line at this point is extremely rugged, something unusual on the California coast, and is a pleasing contrast to the long stretches of sandy beach to which one is accustomed. The action of the waves on the sandstone cliffs has worn immense caverns and arches, hence the name Arch Beach. The breaking of the surf over the rocks is a sight one never tires of. In the caves and among the rocks near shore are found great numbers of beautiful shells. The polishing of these shells and their manu- facture into various articles of use and ornament forms a growing industry. The fishing, too, is of the best. There is a small hotel here and several cottages owned principally by Eiverside and Santa Ana people, with whom Arch Beach is a summer home of unequalled attractions. In the mountain canons, east of El Toro, silver mining is carried on, the largest mine being that of the Santiago Canon Silver Mining Company, which employs about twenty-five men. This company is now putting in concentrating machinery. Bear, deer, and mountain lions are found in these mountains, and sportsmen are well rewarded. — Santa Fe Railroad PamjMet. G 98 Emit Farming for Profit in Californi.i. \Y, J. Hill yras in Santa Ana to-day. and informei ns tliat lie has liis tliresliino; outfit at vrork near El Toro. Thus far this season he has threshed 25.000 sacks of grain, and he thinks his season's work will reach 30,000 sacks,— B/^c/e. Fruit Farming for Profit in California. 99 MARKETING CALIFOENIAN FEUITS. By ay. H. Mills. A'off. — This article was prepared for State Board of Trade. We beg to call your attention to a little article by tlie best posted man in California, taken from Cah'fornian Magazine, October, 1892. Among the many questions of vital interest wliich affect tlie horticulturist, the farmer, and the prosperity of California at large, none is more important than that relating to the marketing and distribution of fruits. The orchard and vineyard products of California, to reach consumers outside of our State, must travel an average distance of about two thousand five hundreil miles, and the best method of sending the fruit of Cali- fornia in its green form, directly to the consumer, de- serves careful consideration. The plan heretofore adopted followed the ordinary methods of commerce ; that is, the fruits have been shipped to the large com- mercial centres for distribution. Every commonwealth must have what is known to the political economist as a basis industry. Such an industry has its permanency in physical or climatic advantages. Pennsylvania may be used as an illustrfi- tion. Coal and iron constitute the basis of the indus- G 2 L.ofC. 100 Fruit Fanning for Profit in California, trial opulence of Pennsylvania. The products of these furnish a foundation of growth and prosperity upon which other industries stand as a superstructure. Coal and ii'on are found in large quantities in that State. They are found contiguous. Theii^ extraction is eco- nomic, and their relation to and interdependence upon each other furnish the opportunity of founding a great industrial empire upon them as a material basis. The commercial relation between all parts of the world grows constantly more intimate. "With that in- timacy the competition between climates and soils, and mines, in fact all elements of production, becomes more intense. The iron and coal mines of Pennsylvania and the resultant products of the labour founded upon these, added to the geographical position of Pennsylvania, enable that commonwealth to place the products of iron and coal in the markets of the United States advan- tao:eouslv. with reference to the connoetition oftered bv other localities. The Government has extended to the iron industry in the United States a vast subsidy in the way of protection. Thus the basis industry of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania is under the fostering care of the Government. The economic facts control- ling the product of iron and coal in the United States make Pennsylvania practically independent as to the effect of domestic competition. A protective tariff re- lating to iron and its products emphasizes that industry, and relieves its products from foreign comj)etition at least in the home market. ^ The superiority of advan- tage becomes a guaranty of permanency. The products of coal and iron in Pennsylvania confer upon the people of that commonwealth a purchasing capacity, and an Fi'uit Farming for Profit in California, loi accumulation of capital wliicli generates enterprise in infinite variety. Incidental to this great leading in- dustry, other industries become possible. But the industrial fabric, like all other structui^es, has its archi- tectural design, its foundation, and its superstructure. The extent to which the basis industry of a common- wealth is the source of all industrial prosperity is not apparent to casual observation, nor even to close analysis. An approximation of the extent to which all industries are dependent upon some great leading and standard industry can be reached by imagining, for illustration, that all the iron mills of Pennsvlvania and all the mines of that State were suddenlv eliminated from the industrial category. It is not difficult to imagine the disaster which would ensue. In fact, the statement that the whole industrial fabric would fall will be readily received. In the building of common- wealths we must observe the analogies of all great structures, and in building our California the question naturally arises : AYhat have we here possessing eco- nomic advantage in the intensified competition of pro - duction throughout the world, which constitutes at present, or will constitute in the future, a basis of our industrial system ? As already noted, the existence of such industries, or basis industry, with its wealth- generating power, will eventuate in enterprises as broad as the field of human activity. Mining for precious metals was the original and paramount industry of the State. It attracted the pioneer population, but coun- tries prolific of precious metals are proverbially poor. The production of a million or ten millions of gold and silver, as a result of mining, proclaims the impoverish- 102 Fruit Fanning for Profit in Calif or7iia, meiit of the mines to that extent. It indicates plainly that so much has been extracted and that that much less remains. Nor is it an industry which enhances skill or encourages the productive capacity of a people. On the other hand, the creation of ten millions in the way of agricultural product or manufactures discloses a capacity which of itself is a guaranty of a repetition of the annual product in an increasing ratio. The con- tinued production of wealth in the first instance is dependent upon the existence of precious metals. In the second instance, it shows a productive capacity inherent in the character and habits of the people pro- ducing it. Mines are easily exhausted by modern me'bhods of extracting ores, but skill, industry, intel- ligence and stability of character are inexhaustible, because they are elements capable of constant augmen- tation. An industrial prosperity founded upon fertility of soils, clemency of climate, the skill and intelligence of a people, the stability of personal character and government, may be depended upon, because all these things may have indefinite perpetuation. If upon such a basis, the mining for precious metals stands related as incidental, then it may be a valuable adjunct, sup- plementing symmetrical development. But to reverse this order, and found a commonwealth upon the ephe- merous industry of extracting precious metals, when, as indicated, the very prosecution of the industry is itself a process of impoverishment, offers no guaranty of stability. Mining for precious metals then cannot become the basis or standing industry in any country. Looking from this field of original enterprise to later industrial development in California, we find at last in Fruit Farming for Profit in California. 103 tlie fertility of our soils, and the expanded possibilities of oTir climate, tlie hopeful direction of permanent greatness. For the sake of perspicuity, let it be re- j)eated that the permanency of a basis industry is dependent upon conditions favourable to successfully meeting a competition offered by other countries. Viewing California from this standpoint, it becomes more apparent every day that horticulture is to become the great industry of this country, to which other in- dustries will become subordinate and incidental. All j)eople find it advantageous to buy . from abroad the articles which will be furnished more cheaply than pro- duced at home. Between individuals and common- wealths, the law of economic _ production enforces the policy of directing the individual and general productive activity into the mcst profitable channels. If the pro- ducts of our orchards and vineyards can be offered in Eastern markets, at rates which will justify their pur- chase by consumers, as against the production of like articles at home, our industry in this regard is perma- nent. The question of probability, as to whether California can become the orchard of the whole country, is answered by experience. The writer finds a prevalent opinion to exist, which is a matter of surprise, to the effect that California sells fruit to the East, because of earlier conditions. It is the commonly received opinion, that our fruits ripen at a different time, and that our sales to the East are made when the home product is unavailable. This is not true. The fruits of the East, when taken in their entire variety, ripen in the months of July, August, September, and October. Take the green-fruit ship- 104 Fruit Farming for Profit in California, ments of 1891 : We shipped from California, in the green-fruit form, three tliousand four hundred and twenty carloads to the Atlantic States, Middle States, "Western States, and the State of Colorado. Of this total shipment, two thousand eight hundred and ninety- three cars were sent forward in July, August, Septem- ber, and October, the four months covering the fruit harvest period of the East, leaving but five hundred and twenty- seven cars for the months of May, June, November, and December. It is significant that we shipped no fruit in the months of January, February, March, and April, and but twenty-two cars in May ; the first five months of the year, therefore, practically show no shipment. Our shipment begins in June, and more - than eighty j)er cent, of the entire shipment finds a market at the East, in the face of the domestic fruit production of those States. I have previously expressed the opinion that we had not placed our fruit within the reach of five millions of people. If this statement needs modifica- tion, it is in the direction of a reduction of the number. The early fruits reached the Eastern market at such rates as to make them luxuries. I have personally examined the market in the month of June, and found cherries selling at two dollars and fifty cents per box when thev were being; marketed in San Erancisco at thirty-five cents per box. I have information to day that California peaches are selling at seven cents a peach in New York, at the retail stands. It is not enough that our fruits are placed in the markets of the East ; they must be placed there at such rates as will enable the masses of people to consume them. Fruit Fa mil Jig for Profit in Calif or/na, 105 Considered in tliis liglit, we have not placed our fruit, on tlie averao-e, witliin tlie reach of one million of consnmers. I have also stated, from data atIucIi may not be dis- puted, that the orchards of California last year produced three hundi'ed thousand tons of green fruit, which was shipped in the various forms of dried, canned, and green fruit, and found market in the world. This statement will not be controverted, since it cannot be successfully. Within twenty years fruit shipment has grown to the enormous proportions herein indicated. The question we are considerino- is : How shall we so distribute the fruit as to bring it within the reach, physically and financially, of a larger number, of consumers ? And the fjuestion is one of simple proportion. If at the present prices, and with the present facilities for distribution, we have found a market for three huncbed thousand tons, and yet have placed the fruit, when the price is considered, within the reach of five millions of people, may we not hope to double the market when we bring- that product within the reach of twice that number, or treble it when we have reached three times that number ? The whole subject opens a wide field for contempla- tion, when we consider the leading factors of the problem. First, we have an unlimited capacity for the prodnction of fruit. Second, we have economic advan- tages in its production, which will enable us to ofter it to sixty-five million of Eastern consumers, at a price wliich will justify them in purchasing. Between the price paid to the grower, and the price paid by the consumer, there is a vast mardn. The commission io6 Fniit Farmmg for Profit in California, alone on tlie sale of our fruit is seven per cent., and that of itself constitutes a market-seeking fund, wkicli should incite distributors to tlie highest activity. The present method of distribution is costly to the consumer, and all high cost to the consumer means a small reward to the producer. The higher the price paid by the consumer, the less the producer will get. High prices discourage consumption, and enforce the condition of over-production. So far as relates to green fruit, the commodity is exceedingly perishable. Commercially considered, every cargo lost is charged to the suc- cessful venture. Further examination into the subject convinces me that much improvement has been made, over the former years, in the way of distribution. The more important intermediate stations are supplied with carload lots. But the general statement that the fruits are shipped in carload lots to the large commercial centres for distri- bution remains true. In the year 1891 we shipped to the Atlantic States nine hundred and nine carloads of fruit. There are but five places of consignment, as follows : New York, five hundred and thirty cars ; Boston, one hundred and twenty- one cars ; Philadelphia, eleven cars ; Baltimore, one car, and Buffalo, one car. Of these five cities, two receive one car each, and one, a city of a million of inhabitants, receives eleven cars. There is a growing market for fruit west of the Mis- souri Eiver. As an illustration, of the shipments of 1891, Butte, Montana, received forty-eight cars, and Denver, Colorado, one hundred and fifty cars. Can it be said of an enterprise that it has reached its full development, when a market is found in New York Fruit Farming for Profit .in California, 107 City for five hundred and thirty carloads of green fruit in the year, while in Philadelphia but eleven cars are used ? Philadelphia has at least one half the popula- tion of the City of New York, while the climatic and commercial conditions are completely analogous. But these nine hundred and nine carloads, shipped to these Eastern centres, pass through towns, villages and cities, whose population in the aggregate is equal to the population of the cities to which the fruit was con- signed. Briefly, then, what is proposed is a system of direct distribution. It is evident that the one thousand one hundred and forty-two carloads of green fruit shipped to Chicago were in part re shipped, and this is the feature to which objection is raised. If a carload of fruit was shipped to Chicago, and was subsequently re- shipped to Milwaukee or Indianapolis, an additional profit to the middle man ensued. Thus the fruit was burdened with a price that placed a limit upon its consumption. It will be gratifying to all Californians to know that the proposition of direct shipment to all the centres of the East, great and small, instead of shipping to commercial centres for secondary shipment, or redistribution, has met with concurrent favour at the hands of the press and those directly interested. The transportation companies of the country stand ready to second any improvement which may be devised or be sought to be applied by the consignors of the freight. The present facilities for freight shipments from the Pacific Coast to the Eastern States constitute the cheap- est service, when rate and speed are considered, that is performed by the railroads of the United States. This io8 Fruit Fanning for Profit in California, great concession to tliis indnstry by tie railroads of the country stands fully acknowledged by shippers engaged in this species of merchandising. The determination of methods of distribution of any species of merchandise does not lie with the carrier. It belongs to the shipper wholly. Fruits are shipped by order of the consignor, and are delivered to the consignee. The vast system of network of railroads, connected by the long distended lines which reach the Pacific Coast, stands ready to perform the carrying service, and has actually per- formed this service at the minimum cost of movement alone. A better system of distribution is, therefore, not obstructed either by the rate at which the fruits are carried, or by want of liberal facilities for the car- riage. Distribution is the office of merchandise. The problem to be solved is, therefore, mercantile, and its solution is with the merchants engaged in this great enterprise, and not with the carrier who carries the fruit to its proper consignment according to order. What is sought is a market commensurate with the possibilities of production in this State. The magnitude of the opportunity is appreciated only by those who have given the subject thoughtful attention. A single purchaser of dried fruit in the City of San Francisco purchased in the space of one month one million dollars worth of fruit, and even the recitation of this fact does not disclose fully the vast volume of business possible to that industry. The next consideration relates to the profit of fruit- growing. A profit equal to one dollar a tree, or half that sum, or a quarter that sum, will confer upon our commonwealth a profit far in excess of that attending Fruit Fanning for Profit in California, 109 auy otlier cultivation of tlie soil. We are enjoying in the current year the highest prosperity the fruit-growers have known, and yet the whole enterprise has made its way against continued predictions of over-production and ultimate failure. The magnitude of the opportunity also suggests at once the possibility of a special equipment and special treatment of the whole subject. We are in plain view of the ultimate possibilities of this industry, and the time has arrived when we may safely prepare to adopt such methods as to its commercial features as will take it out of the list of ordinary commercial transactions, and justify the inauguration of separate and special instrumentalities of distribution. In its practical aspect, the proposition demands the formation of a commercial company for the sale and distribution of the fruit. The auction method having proved successful, it is practicable to send to every town or city in the United States, where a market for a single car might be found, a carload of fruit, to be sold at auction ; and this fruit should be sent directly from the centres of distribution in California, and regardless of centres of distribution at the East, xis suiDplemental to this, it is competent, over Eastern lines, to distribute fruit in less than carload lots, over short distances of distribu- tion. Thus continuing the present method of sending all fruit to the great commercial centres of the country^ for which a market might be found, let it be sup- plemented by an organization which will establish agencies in every town or city that will take one or more carloads, and this be further supplemented by a distribution, in less than carload lots, through the in- 1 10 Fruit Fanning J or Profit in California. strumentalities of local railroads everywhere. Wlien that is accomplished, a process of the steady growth and expansion of the industry will have set up. It will haye become organic, and, obeying the law of all organism, will continnally grow. It will offer a com- petition to the growth of fruits in climates not favour- able to their production, which will eventually give us absolute control of the markets now being supplied by Eastern producers. This is true, because it is true in modern economic methods, that notwithstanding the distance intervening between points of production and consumption, every article is being produced in the soil and climate, and under the conditions most favourable to its production. It is absurd to suppose that this law of modern economics is not ecjually applicable to the production of fruit in California, when the favour- ing conditions in this State are understood, or when they are contrasted wdth the unfavourable conditions of other portions of this country. The very contrast closes the argument. General farming, however profitable, can never confer population. Whether true or false, it is a leading tradition of general farming in this State that its highest profit is derived from large aggregations of ownership. These large aggregations have taken place, and the tendency is constantly in the direction of still greater consolidation of ownership, and consequent de- population of the country. On the contrary, the in- dustries connected wdth the orchards, vineyards, and gardens of California have an inherent tendency of se- gregation. Ten acres of orchard, vineyard, or garden will afford profitable employment equal to that required Fruit Fannijig for Profit in California, 1 1 1 upon one thousand acres of ordinary wheat land in this State. The acquirement, then, by this commonwealth of a great substantial industrial foundation lies plainly in the direction of availing ourselves of the peculiar advantages of our climate. The absence of a cheap coal, that reservoir of mechanical power, forbids the hope of the establishment here of great manufacturing enterprises, with their attendant density of population. In fact, as already shown, the successful establishment of a basis industry will' eventually confer upon us manufacturing facilities and incidental enterprises in every direction, for, wherever a substantial ^industrial basis is established, diversity of profitable occupation arises as an inseparable incident of prosperity. Commerce is but an incident of industrial activity. The volume of commercial transactions, as relates to any people, is measured by their purchasing power, and the supreme source of wealth in any community is the productive capacity of its people. Horticulture, pro- secuted under the unrivalled advantages which attend it here, leaves us without a competitor. Upon this substantial and enduring basis the entire industrial structure will eventually rise. You will confer a favour on Mr. AYhitino' bv o-etting: as many friends as possible to read this book. lONDON : PEINTED BY GILBEKT AKD EIVINGTOX, LD., ST. JOHN'S HOUSE, CLEEKINWELL, E.C. Ill 1^ - '' ^y'. 'fe ■0* .< : f ^ <, >. "* \*J 0" ■ I ^ ^- -•- ^