€ il*1^ '** f^ t 86^ M2H6 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. Shelf ...iv]_2.bg UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. HOWARD ••■^' -AND 51? WILSON pOLC OLONYl^OMPANY MflDERfl, 523 MONTGOMERY ST. |^ljf/^ YOSEMITE HOTEL BLDG. SAN FRANCISCO \Vl\ MADERA \ '^ff.H' A'' i" ■0' .5^ -p / r?-' (,' t-^"- FROM THE PRESS OF THE BANCROFT COMPANjY SAN FRANCISCO ) These pen-pictures of the fair and grand O, reader and friend, I bring to thee ; Things in our far away summer land, That trends to shore of the western sea. — " Sunset Land," hy Katharine S. Nichols, San Francisco HOWARD & WILSON COLONY COMPANY Forty years ago the great Daniel Webster said that California was nothing but a vast desert, of no value to the United States. This year she has sent train-load after train-load of peaches, pears, plums, prunes, sCpricots, nectarines, grapes and raisins to supply the great nation of fruit-eaters the United States is fast becoming. A few years ago Fresno County was the most deserted part of the old-time desert, — its very center, — where the only crops were horned toads, jack-rabbits and sage brush. But presto, change! LIFE-GIVING WATER FROM THE MOUNTAINS ! Somebody brought water in a canal down from the snow-clad mountains; and here are some of the Wonderful results from little five, ten and twenty acre lots of the old desert-land, plus climate, water, cultivation, brains — and pleasant homes. HOWARD & WILSON COLONY COMPANY FRESNO COUNTY AS IT IS NOW-A WONDERFUL GARDEN- Barley . Wheat . Corn Oats Hay Flour . Millstuffs Cattle and Calves Hogs . Horses Sheep . Hides . SAGE BRUSH -THE FIRST SETTLER WITH HIS AXE dried green ns . FRESNO AS IT USED TO BE-A DESERT -SHIPMENTS OF 1890 Lbs. 11,620,190 196,(563,015 156,650 105,790 776,000 3,823,700 2,012,945 7,930,000 380,000 940,000 15,740,000 476,055 5,582,035 7,490.135 7,943,575 ai, 791, 618 1,111,000 6,405,100 1,392,65J 2,295.703 163,440 28,524,525 321.070 11,315,250 15,756,380 10,607,350 4,637,150 228,650 3,181,710 273,000 637,790 4,146,400 18,208,125 Wool Frui Frui Raisi Brandy Wine Vegetables Nursery Stock Honey Lumber, etc. . Doors, Sash, etc. Wood Coal Stone Gravel and Sand Ore Brick Agricultural Implements, etc. Machinery, etc. Empty Packages Miscellaneous EXPORTS FROM FRESNO COUNTY, 1890 394,607,190 In considering the immense total representing the year's products of Fresno County, it should be borne in mind that all this region was considered a hopeless, irreclaimable desert twenty years ago. Seventeen years ago the magic work of water was begun ; and the real development has been made in the last five or six years. What changes will be wrought in the next twenty years ? No man can tell and none can foresee. It will be sure to double and quadruple the value of lands, that is certain. Assessed Valuation of Fresno County, 1891. Assessed Valuation of Fresno County, 1881, .1:40,000,000 7,533,327 That is, the people of the county are more than thirty million dollars richer than ten years ago. HOWARD & WILSON COLONY COMPANY WHAT Mr. and Mrs. JONES WROTE HOME ABOUT The Wonderful results in money, health and comfort realized from small fruit ranches and raisin vineyards in Fresno County began some time ago to interest Eastern people, even many who could not at present leave their homes or business to come out here. Jones and his wife, near Fresno, writing back to relatives in various Eastern States how they now rode in a two-horse covered buggy instead of the old hobble-de-hoy farm wagon; had servants in the kitchen and barn and a piano in the parlor, instead of doing all the work themselves; how they did'nt have a mortgage growing faster than the crops; and how they ate fruit every month in the year instead of hog and hominy all the time, — soon began to get letters from Kansas, Illinois and Vermont asking if Smith, Brown and Thompson couldn't send out some money and be pa3ang up and planting a similar prop- erty. At first the pioneer, Jones, could buy some ad- joining or near-by property for each of his Eastern friends, but good land was constantly arising in value and getting scarcer, so that the best land even two or three miles away from Fresno is now held at $500 an acre unim- proved, and only alkali or other poor land can now be bought near that town at low figures. "Jones" was not one man only. There were a hundred of them scattered all around Fresno a few years ago, and when the Smiths, Browns and Thompsons came too they were several thou- sand strong; and they filled up the country all around Jones so he couldn't point out good bargains any more close at hand. So one such "Jones" still receiving many letters of inquiry for small tracts of good land cheap, desiring to accommodate his Eastern friends by making them rich (and to add a little to his own Peaches Three Inches Through. Peach Tree Twice as Tall a; Man and Bearing Fruit at a Year and a Half after Planting. HOWARD &, WILSON COLONY COMPANY rapidly growing pile, by the way), secured a large tract near Madera, in Fresno County, which, subdivided into small tracts, found a ready sale on installments to Eastern investors of small means. Encouraged by this success, other large tracts have been subdivided and are being rapidly sold ; so that now near Madera about seven hundred families of other Smiths, Browns and Thompsons, as aforesaid, — mostly Eastern famihes, — are paying for planting vines and fruit trees for future homes or pro6t, and by this colony system are relieved of the necessit}^ of living on their places until of profitable bearing age. Several thousand acres are now thus being planted and cultivated about Madera ; and it is said that never before in the history of any California town has so much surrounding land been put under intense cultivation in so short a time, the effect of which on the general prosperity it is hard to estimate. 6 HOWARD & WILSON COLONY COMPANY Many of the purchasers in the foregoing colony tracts, and many residents of Madera, have desired to buy small tracts nearer the town for future residence, and buy of owners having an unincumbered title. In answer to this demand THE) HOWARD & WILSON COLONY COMPANY Have surveyed into five-acre lots, as shown in the maps on pages 8 and 9, 880 acres, nearer town than any other colony lots heretofore offered, and within a short time have sold a large part of the first 48 lots, and have planted others for future purchasers* UNDER THEIR OWN VINE AND FIG TREE,'' IN CALIFORNIA A RESPONSIBLE CONCERN [From the Daily Morning Call, San Francisco, March 22, 1891.] * * * " Messrs. W. H. Howard, of San Mateo, and R. M. Wilson, of Newman, both gentlemen of large means, have incorporated as the Howard & Wilson Colony Company (office 523 Montgomery street, San Francisco), for the purpose of buying large tracts and offering them on these easy terms in small tracts— and are indirectly benefit- ing the -whole State by thus using their ample capital — for which, by the way, they are only charging (j per cent, interest on deferred payments, and that not in advance. Their liberality deserves the support of all who prefer dealing with responsible principals rather than with irresponsible speculators." * * * * The price of the remaining unsold lots in the first three blocks offered has been raised 20 per cent., to take effect July 1st, 1891. See map on page 9. HOWARD & WILSON COLONY COMPANY 7 Xhe Howard & l^ilson Colony Company OWN the land tbey ofTer for sale: and tliose i^lio pay money on account of land or improvements are therefore safe. The title of these properties is abso- lutely unimpeachahle, toeing: United States Patent. Hach subdivision >vill toe deeded when paid for, and may toe paid for at any time. Attorney's certificate of title free to each touyer. Xhis land is all under the system of the llladera Canal and Irrig^ation Company, and perpetual w^ater ris^hts §:o w^ith the land, and it is tout i>^ to 3 miles from Itladera. 3IADEKA is located on the main line of the Southern Pacific Railroad, twenty- three miles north of Fresno City. It has to-day over 1200 population, double what it had a year or so ago, and more in fact than the city of Fresno had in 1880, which now has over 12,()0J. A larg-e and handsome school building, three churches, a bank, two newspapers, and a flume 57,^4 miles long, for floating lumber down from the mountains right to the center of the town, for building, etc., commend themselves to every thinking man. And Fresno is one of the most famous counties in California for fruit aud raisins. Our land is the nearest to Madera of any subdivision of colony lands. The extension of Yosemite Avenue, a beautiful highway one hundred feet wide and bordered by trees, runs through the entire tract. This avenue is itself the extension of the principal street of Madera, and is the county road to Firebaugh's Ferry, on the west side of the San Joaquin river, a point already reached by the West Side Division of the Southern Pacific Railroad. The soil is a deep, rich loam especially adapted to fruit cul- ture of all kinds, very easy of cultivation at all seasons of the year, warm and friable. The water rights go with the land without charge, except an annual rental of one dollar per year per acre. Each block of lots is surrounded by forty or sixty foot avenues, which will be set out in shade trees, — each lot fronting on an avenue. To suit the popular demand for income-paying country homes, it has been divided into five-acre tracts ; and of course one person can secure two or more tracts, or two or more persons can join in purchasing and planting one. Ten acres are. however, more economically managed than five, when they come into bearing, and are more profitable, requir- ing but one set of buildings, tools and teams. In a colony planted O < in CO a> :- o < o 00 00 e -I ^ ITT I ^1 I ^1 ^ 9 §^ i^ r^ I 3^ §^ I ^ N S ^ § ^ •^l ilM §1 ^^^- & IR¥ ii< 1^ ^1 ^ri — ||0o Be ^^^h II ^l§^ ^1^ ^\^ 1^^ i|4^-^ Oi 10 HOWARD & WILSON COLONY COMPANY a year ago lots sold readily at a premium of thirty-three per cent, above cost a few months after planting. [From the Madera Mercury, Jan. 3, 1891.) NEW COI^pNY. ANOTHER LARGE AND FERTILE TRACT DIVIDED— BUT 1% MILES FROM TOWN--THE HOWARD & WILSON TRACT OF 2,200 ACRES TO BE PLACED ON THE MARKET— WORK BEGUN. The rapid development that has taken place in and around Madera during the" year just closed, the many and valuable improvements made, the increase in the acreage of land cultivated, particularly in regard to grape and fruit culture, and the large and f - -r-r - "- -tx^;s^^^^^gpg| ■^^■H '2^w» H^^ ..jV ^ '"^"^ - -- 1^ T- - , >'■.-;'. , '^H HOWARD & WILSON COLONY LAND WHEN FIRST PLOWED, Feby 16, 1891 desirable additions to our population, are all due in no small measure to the colonization enterprizes inaugurated here, and the able and well-directed efforts of their promoters. The reporter is informed of a step in this direction of a very important character made the present week. Messrs. Howard & Wilson, the owners of 2,200 acres of fine fruit lands situated some two miles from this place, decided upon placing their lands on the market, and perfected all necessary arrangements for that purpose. The owners have not disposed of the lands, but will handle the property themselves; and as it is without the slightest incumbrance or cloud of title, every person will enjoy the satisfaction that he enters upon no risk in becoming a purchaser. R. M. Wilson, one of the owners of the ranch, will remain in Madera and act as superintendentof the colony. A tract of 880 acres, two miles from town, will be the first to be placed on the market. This it is proposed to at once inclose with a rabbit-proof fence, and plow and plant the land. This work will be prosecuted with great vigor, and HOWARD & WILSON COLONY COMPANY 11 will require the employment of a large number of hands. A steam plow will be set to work, and the soil speedily put in condition for the production of crops this season. The land will be divided into tracts of 5 acres and multiples of 5 acres ; so a purchaser is at liberty to select as little or as much as he desires. He is also free to decide upon exactly what kind of fruits he shall plant. Persons will be given the opportunity of acquiring title at once by full cash payment; to make payments on installment; to cultivate the land themselves, or have it cultivated by the colony under agreement. Such terms are not offered by every colony and further show the advantages of dealing with the owners of the lands themselves. The energy with which the colony was organized, and the business-like manner in which its affairs are being prosecuted, presages well for the future. The extent of the tract, the fertility of the soil, its proximity to transportation facilities, are additional points in its favor; and there can be no hesitancy in pronouncing it the most important enterprise CULTIVATING YOUNG ORCHARD Jboi n-M.^icu- rhotographed April 30, 1891 of the character ever inaugurated in Fresno county. In fact, it is so near this town that many of our business men will doubtless invest, as the location is desirable for residence purposes as well as fruit culture; and some of the colony lands are likely at some day to become a part of the City of Madera. Even some of the residents of this town itself will be surprised at the showing that Madera makes in the building line for the last three mouths of 1890. The total expendi- tures for such improvements will exceed $iO,OOD; and it is a steady growth, without the tendency to a boom excitement. The exports of the city of Fresno are several times larger than those of Stockton, though its imports are less. The freight receipts at the railroad company's office here amounted to :f60,000 a month for the year 1890. The ticket sales amount to $160,000 pr more. I -J TERMS AND PROPOSITIONS From the fact that we own the laud we are in position to make almost any kind of terms to suit individual circumstances. Among several propo- sitions we offer, the three following have proved the most popular, viz : Our Home Builders' Proposition Our Kodak Proposit ion Our Definite Semi-Annual CasH Proposition OUR HOME BUII^DERS' PROPOSITION We want Settlers on our land, and to those who come to make improvements themselves in good faiih, we offer to sell twenty acres of'ricli land (worth $2500 now, and increasing rapidly), for only $500 down, with () per cent, interest on the balance at the end of each year. No Furtber Payments on Principal until the fourth, fifth and sixth years, when, if the right trees or vines are planted, and proper care taken, the crops should make the payments. Under this proposition we require satis- factory improvements of either t>uilding:s, trees or vines, to be put on the land, to the amount of $40 per acre ($800 on 20 acres), during the first year, and half as much each following year, until paid up. A man's O^wn time spent in cultivating the property may be reckoned in if satisfactory results are shown. And there is plenty of work in the vicinity for those who wish to work for others while their trees and vines are growing. _.., It is also practicable ] for a farmer in ttie Hast to come to Madera at any time between Novem- ber and April, select a tract, plow, plant and cultivate it, and in fact do during tbe winter months about all the w^ork of the first year, and then get back East in time to do all the work of the Eastern farm between April and November. This is the orchard from which Geo Studor, of Cherry ave., Fresno, got from 128 White Adriatic Fig Trees crops as fol- lows : In 188>^, Third summer after planting, ijilT-' In 1889, Fourth " " 3ti4 In 1890, Fifth " " 6U0 Wouldn't you like ten acres of fig every y«ar? )a.viii,i; at t^u^ rate, and iiuieasin^ PEACH ORCHARD BEARING 180 Lbs. PER TREE AT 4 YEARS OLD. AFTER HEAVY THINNING ISOl'w '■•:crr'^ r, -:--: *i-- (;n .■'■:■■ 1 OS trees filial- !«:1SS. so pti acre. ORCHARD AND VINEYARD AT 4 Years Old jUOW 1<>L1CK ir PAYS! John Richie, of Cherry Ave., Fresno, says: " My vines paid as follows in 1890- " 4 acres of vines (Jd summer after planting vine cuttings) - - * ^oo Off 1 acre of vines (2d summer after planting rooted vines) - - ioo 00 » acres of vines (M summer after planting rooted vines) - - loOQ Oo " 14 HOWARD & WILSON COLONY COMPANY OUR "KODAK PROPOSITION" ("You push the button and we will do the rest,") I Offers a chance to own a fruit ranch, and have it planted to order and cultivated in first class shape by responsible parties, while the owner continues earning at his or her present home until the ranch comes into bearing and returns money enough to pay off the Eastern mortgage ^.if there is one), and to pay the owner's way " out ot the snowy East," and give a large income and a pleasant winter home in the mild climate of California for future years HERE IS A TEN YEARS' ESTIMATE For 10 acres of rich land in full bearing, with a perpetual water right — land to be plantec,-_ in the fall of 1891, or January, 1892: YEAR PAY OUT RECEIVE 1891, Outlay $312.50, Income Nothing 1892, Outlay 368.75, Income Nothing C From this deduct the cost of planting and culti- 1893, Outlay 350 00, Income $ £00.00 J vating for the first three years, to be taken out of 1894, Outlay 331.25, Income 1000.00 1 the crops by the Company at actual cost, not to ( exceed $90 per acre and 8% interest, say $1000.00. 1895, Outlay Nothing, Income 1000.001 1896, Outlay Nothing, Income 1250.00 I 1897, Outlay Nothing, Income 1250.00 | Deduct from the income each year the cost of 1898, Outlay Nothing, Income 1500.00 ^planting and cultivating at about $25 per acre for 1899, Outlay Nothing, Income 15U0.00 I the 10 acres, unless owner does his own cultivating. 1900, Outlay Nothing, Income 1500.00 | 1901, Outlay Nothing, Income 1500.00J TEN YEARS' Outlay $1363.50, Income $11,000 (Twenty acres, twice as much, or 5 acres, one-half) OUR DEFINITE SEMI-ANNUAL CASH PROPOSITION Viz: For Ten Semi-Annual Payments of $12.50 per acre each on the land. with interest at 6 4 on the balance due from time to time, and six semi-annual payments o) $12.50 each on planting: and cultivation, the Howard & Wilson Colony Company will plant, cultivate and care for, for three years, in first-class shape, raisins, prunes, pears, peaches, nectarines, apricots or figs, at option of purchaser as to kind and variety : and pay over to the purchaser all the income from the crops, and deliver the property in bearing condition at the end of the three years, subject only to the installments still due. Or, for Six Semi-Annual Cash Payments of S"^0.54 per acre on the land, with pay ments for interest and cultivation the same as above stated, the whole property would be paid for and turned over, free of incumbrance, at the end of three years. This leaves the purchaser free to engage others in the vicinity to continue the culti- vation and harvesting (perhaps cheaper), or to do it himself, or make a new bargain with this Company. Lei lis hear from you, with names of fn ends likely to be interested. HOWARD & WILSON COLONY CO. R. M. Wilson Geo. H. Howard F. M. Pickering President Vice-President Secretary 523 Montgomery Street, San Francisco HOWARD & WILSON COLONY COMPANY 15 From the Fresno County newspapers and from interviews with fruit growers personally, we could fill a dozen books with illustrations of results from actual experience, like the following, to show that the foregoing estimate is not only very reasonable but far below what is often gained from A 1 soil, caie, and location for marketing, but from fear of tiring our readers will give but a few pages. Hundreds could be printed just as good, and in exceutioual cases, better. VINEYARD OF E. H. COX, MADERA-View taken in May, 1891 " Mr. E. H. Cox, accountant for the Madera Flume and Trading Company, at Madera, realized in 1890 the sum of ^760 from sixty acres of vines, two miles west of Madera. This vineyard was barely eighteen irionths old. All the work was contracted for by Mr. Cox without loss of lime to him. He still retained his position with his company, earned his regular salary, and by putting a small portion of it into his sixty-acre vineyard, secured a beautiful and profitable property." Robert Boot is a Marylander. who came to California and Fresno county via New Zealand. He was induced to come to Fresno in 1880 by representations made to him by friends expressly to engage in the culture of raisins. He purchased the twenty acres on which he now lives, situated on the corner of Orange and Jefferson Avenues, in Wash- ington Colony, paying for the same thirty-five dollars an acre. He has ten acres in vines eight years olrt and six acres four years old— all of the muscat variety. He has one acre and a quarter in apricots, and a few Zinfandel grape vines. Since his mus- cat vines began bearing, he has realized each year an average of S300 per acre net. This season (1890) he sold his raisins in the sweat-box to Meade & Co., and his dried apricots and grapes to the Curtis Fruit Company, realizing for his crop, ^3,546 — the product of eighteen acres. " Our land here in Washington Colony is mostly of the white ash character. They say it is not as valuable as the red soil lands, but it is good enough for me." Mr. Boot has an elegant home on his place; and, after a few years of toil and anxiety, he is now fixed to enjoy life. He commenced his labors with just enough money to pay for his land and provide himself with a team of horses and implements. His profits are now sufficient to pay 10:^ interest on 5830,000, or JSl.OOO per acre; (original cost thirty-five dollars per acre) and this is the case v,ith all who have purchased colony properly in good soil, and cultivated it intelligently. 10 HOWARD & WILSON COLONY COMPANY E. J. Baber, manager of the Eisen Vineyard, near Fresno city, said that sixteen acres of muscat grapes in that vineyard produced in 1890 forty-five tons of raisins, vs'hich sold for $127.50 per ton, or $5,787.50 for sixteen acres, a gross return of nearly 5S360 per acre. H. E. Cook, of Oleander, Fresno county, has seventy acres in vines about six j-ears old. The gross receipts for the seventy acres last year (1890) were JS17,750, or S353 per acre. A. C. Bryan, of Oleander, said: " Peaches are the most profitable, and I consider the lemon clingstone the best variet3^ It is a sure bearer iu this country, comes into the market in the middle of August, and is good for either canning, drying, or shipping. In ordinary years they will yield ^300 an acre gross, the trees being from six to eight years old. This having been an exceptional year, the profits were greater. I intend planting twenty acres more in peaches this winter, French prunes are very profitable. From ahout two-thirtls of an acre I received iSSOO net. I take extraordinary care of the trees, thinning out by hand and spraying in winter. White nectarines come after prunes in value.'" D. W. Lewis, whose place is near Malaga, is an authority in all that pertains to fruit- growing. He believes the most profitable varieties to be Bartlett pears and peaches. CALIFORNIA PEACH GROWING ILLUSTRATED-No. 1 IRRIGATING PEACH ORCHARD JUST PLANTED, IN THE HOWARD & WILSON COLONY " This season I harvested from thirty-live acres of six-year old IJartlett pears. some twenty car loads, which I shipped east. I also shipped '22,U00 pounds of dried pears, receiving fifteen cents a pound for them,' whicli brought me in about !liS5,500. Oranges grow as well in our foothills as anywhere on the Coast. Of the nut trees I think the pecans will do well on the river bottom lands of this county; and Italian chestnuts will also thrive here." Theodore Minturn says: " Of the cost of caring for five acres ol almonds on his Chow- chilla estate, he kept a careful record. Every hour's work of plowing, cultivating, 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 alter ever\' pos.sible charge against these five acres had been allowed for, there remained a clear profit of SS135 per acre." HOWARD & WILSON COLONY COMPANY 1 F. R. Storie of Washington Colony also considers peaches the most profitable variet}-. " My gross receipts from four acres of peaches amounted to *>1,031. Among pears I consider Bartletts the best variety ; Irom an acre and a half of young trees I took off .fl2o worth of fruit. Nectarines are a very good crop, bearing and paying well. I have netted HOC) an acre on this fruit. Apricots pay from ,|12:) to $150. French prunes do very well here; and from four and a lialf acres of this fruit I received Jgll.OOO. With a judicious selection of fruit trees there is as much money in fruit as in raisins." James Conn, living on Elm Avenue in Fresno Colony, has a forty-acre tract in fruit and raisin grapes, which yielded him Ui.'>00 this season. He says: "I raise peaches, apricots, pears, and nectarines, having about twelve acres in orchard. On the whole, I consider peaches the most profitable fruit. My apricots this year netted me $250 an acre. In ordinary years I get from |150 to $203 from them. Peaches pay me about the same. The demand for nectarines has been very active; and I got $300 an acre for them CALIFORNIA PEACH GROWING ILLUSTRATED-No. 2 5-ACRE PEACH ORCHARD AT ONE MONTH OLD, HOWARD & WILSON COLONY this season. Last year I received $200. I consider them a very profitable crop. A few years ago you would hardly buy them. I have some young Bartletts which paid me $100 net per acre. From twelve acres of orchard I sold $4,000 worth of fruit this season. My raisin vines paid me S335 an acre gross this season, and ^200 last. Of course I bestow the utmost care on mj' trees, and am of the opinion that an orchard, if properly cared for, will pay fully as well as a raisin vineyard." " The reader may form his own conclusion from these interviews. The great advan- tage a fruit-grower has over the raisin-man is, that he has a longer time in which to operate. He may employ labor at the beginning of the season, and keep it until the end. If he dries his fruit he will sack it, saving the great expense of packing. Then the cost of orchard labor is less than vineyard labor; and there is no damage from autumn rains to be feared. It is evident that the surest way to succeed in this industry is to plant such 18 HOWARD & WILSON COLONY COMPANY varieties of fruit as are regular and heavy bearers, and for which there is the most demand, paying due attention to the quality of the soil and other conditions. The future ol this industry is excellent. The demand for California fruit in the East is continually on the increase; and fair prices may always be reasonably expected. Our fruit is larger than the Eastern and equal to it in flavor, and generally commands a higher price on account of its fine appearance. Nowhere in this state can be raised better fruit than right here in Fresno County. Our peaches and pears compare favorably with any grown in California, and it is so with other fruit. No iruit has a more delicious flavor than that raised in our hill country; while the fruit grown in the valleys is unex- celled for size and appearance. Those who engage in this industry, bringing intelligence and energy to bear upon the work, are certain to acquire an independence in a short time."— Fresno Expositor, January^ i8gi. PEACH GROWING ILLUSTRATED-No. 3 PEACH ORCHARD AT ONE YEAR OLD R. Roberts, Madera— Photographed Feb. 16, 1891 I From the Fresno Republican, January 9, 1891. J TALK WITH VINEYAKDISTS IN THE COL- ONIES—UNIFORMLY SUCCESSFUL— LAND THAT IS EARNING TEN PER CENT. ON A THOUSAND DOLLARS AN ACRE AND NOT FOR SALE The almost uniform success of people who have located in Fresno County, in the vineyard business, notably in the neighborhood of Fresno City, is unpar- alleled in the history of the world. It does not require a farmer's experi- ence to become successful in fruit-raising in California. Many of the most successful vine- yardists have come from active business careers in large cities; and men who have grown wealthy in raisin and fruit-growing represent all profes- sions and callings. As an indication of what men have accomplished, the following interesting interviews with vineyardists are selected at random from among half a hundred. They will show what pluck, faith and work can do here: A NEW YORK MANUFACTURER AS A VINEYARDIST "Yes,"' said John D. Gray, who is largely interested in the neighborhood of Sanger, five miles from which place he has a large vineyard, to a Reputlican reporter, some time ago, " raisin-growing pays; and the beauty of it is that any man can engage in it. There's no mystery about the business. Any man willing to work, exercising common sense in the selection of his land, and with capital of from $2,000 to $5,000, can succeed here. HOWARD & WILSON COLONY COMPANY 19 " I was a shoe manufacturer in Central New York, and came here thoroughly green in the work. I had no previous experience whatever. I have 64 acres in vines. A year ago last April I got through planting. That made my vines eighteen months old in October. I realized as follows per acre this year : Raisins, $29.72; dried grapes, $8 60; total returns per acre, $38, o2. " Nearly forty dollars an acre from vines only eighteen months old I consider very good. I have since put in one hundred more, and this season I planted ninety more, i propose to set out more vines, so that I have over three hundred acres now. I came out CALIFORNIA PEACH GROWING ILLUSTRATED-No. 4 This Orchard was planted in April, 1890, and when this view was taken, April 30th, 1891, the trees were bearing fruit— though not ripe— within thirteen months after planting. here for my health, and engaged in the vineyard business rather than be idle, with the result that I have recovered my health, and am on a way to make more money out of my ranch than I ever thought of making in my manufacturing business. What I have done others can do." DOESN'T WANT TO SELL Mr. C. C. Smith, who owns forty acres on the corner of East and Lincoln avenues, in Wa.shington Colony, was found shoving a plane in his workshop. " Mr. Smith, please tell me when you came to Fresno county, and where you came from, and what brought you here." '• I am a New Yorker, and an old pioneer of California. I came to Fresno in 1880, settling on this forty-acre lot in 1881. I paid |2,oOU for the forty acres, on which there were twenty acres in muscat vines one year old. I have now thirty acres in vines, the latter being now five years old and in good bearing. I do not see the use of giving the public 20 HOWARD & WILSON COLONY COMPANY the facts in regard to the crops produced yearly from vines, and the amount« realized for they will not believe. I don't blame people for doubting, and even scoflfino- at the facts. I vsrould be just like them if I were not compelled to believe by experience' "I have realized two and a quarter toiLS iier acre" of raisins on an average for the past four years, and have netted SS175 per acre, I had fortj'-five tons of raisins this year, which I .sold for $120 per ton in the sweat-box " I do not care to sell my property. I consider it worth $.35,000; and I know it is since it produces sufficient to pay interest on $40,000. The fact is, I consider all good raisin land worth, to one who takes srood care of it, $1,00J per acre. That is my experience." Mr. Smith came to this country a poor man. He had been a large dealer in sheep and met with a misfortune in Stanislaus county. He is now in good circumstances, has a splendid home, enjoys its comforts, and is on good terms with himself and his neighbors. CALIFORNIA PEACH GROWING ILLUSTRATED-No. 5 (The view of an orchard in full bearing at four years old, which would naturally come here, may be found on page 11. In its place we therefore give) !!1?KTTEK THAX A PHOTOGKATH !! A New York Financial View. [Special to the San Francisco Examiner.] New York, July 19, '91. — Con.sidering the abundance and variety of Southern and Eastern fruit^ow arriving. Coast shipments make good competition in general trade. Fortunately we are well equipped with sales places. Sellers are confident that all good stock of the week will be profitable to owners. The California Fruit Union sold fourteen cars at auction: Peaches, $1.60@3.00 per box; late Yellow Apricots, 90c@ 11.85; Bartlett Pears, ?2.40(ft!2.85; Figs, U -00® 3. 00; Fontainbleau Grapes, $1.85 for half-crates; Red Plums. $1.35@2.75; Hative, ^1.25@1.50; Tragedy Prunes, $2.35@2.80; German, ,n.90®2.£0; Soft Stock, 85c; Peach Plums, $1.15@2.n0. E. I^. Ooodsell sold seventeen carloads: Peaches, 85c.^2.85 per box; Apricots, 85cf*/$2.15; Peach Plums, $1.2,5r(' 2..50; Hative, $1.10(a 1.85; Bradshaws, .^1.2.5rrtl.40; Tragedy Prunes, $1.2.^@2.50; German, U.20ra2.t:0; Soft Stock, 85c@95c; Cherries, $1.55(«) 1.70; Bartletts, $2.20ffi:'8.05; Halves, $1.45. Some early Crawford Peaches make $4. Thirty-one carloads at auction in New York on one day, and in the middle of July of a year of abund- ant fruit crops in the States right about New York, is a pretty good answer to any fears of overproduction of California fruits. Peaches selling' at »1.«0 @ 3.00 rer 30-pound hox amid such competition, indicates a very favorable " New York Yiew.." And any one who can grasp this New York view of prices paid for Califor- nia fruil, together with the views of its early and heavy bearing, given on the preceding pages, and also the low price and remarkably easy terms offered on land by the Howard it Wilson Colony Company— we repeat, whoever can comprehend all these points must see that Fortunes are being made in raising California Fruits, such as Jlaisins, Figs, Pears, Plums. I'runes, I'eaches Apricots, Nectarines, etc., etc.. and in making bare land into bearing orchards or vineyards, paving an- nually 10 percent on U.OOO per acre, audit would be only a wise and prudent thing for one to do, if one now has health and income, to be putting .some of the income where it will " groAv while you sleep," in the shape of fruit trees and vines, and pay back a large income before one is old and feeble. Nowhere in California is greater security offered, or greater certainty of large profit on small tracts, than by this company. HOWARD & WILSON COLONY COMPANY 21 FKOM TWO-YEAR-OLD VINES -Paid »7,0OO -Wouldn't take »20,000! iC- K. Humphrey, who lives on Elm avenue, Fresno Colony, six years ago pur- chased forty acres which had been leveled ready lor cultivation, and the previous owner had erected a comfortable but small residence on the place. He paid 5S175 per acre for the property, and farmed it in wheat in 1886, cutting a large crop. In 18>7 he plowed under a very heavy volunteer crop of wheat, following this up with two deeper plowings; and in 1888 he planted twenty acres in cuttings of muscat vines. Last season, from this twenty acres of cuttings onlj' two years old, he sold the crop on the vines to the Griffin- Skelley Company, for $925— nearly $50 per acre. '• Now I have twenty acres in vines one year old; and I expect, if the season is favor- able, to realize from my raisin crop ^2,590 next year. I paid S7,000 for the forty acres; and ^20,000 would not buy it to-day. ]\rr. Humphrey is a native of New York, and settled in Fresno county as a rancher, but witnessing the almost fabulous results obtained from Iruit and raisin growing, con- cluded to embark in that line of industry. CALIFORNIA VINEYARD IN WINTER— Adjoining the Howard & Wilson Colony A FINANCIAL VIEW OF THE SMALL RANCH OWNER Mr. H. U. Coulson, President of the First National Bank of Fresno, expresses the following opinion, based upon long observation, as to the probabilities of success in small " I believe the raisin industry, taken as a who'.e, to be very profitable. Men have come here and succeeded on an amount of capital, personal ability and industry on which they Avould have starved elsewhere. I was born in New England and know well the typical farmer there, all his work and all his thrift; and I say such men expending the same work and displaying the same qualities as they do there, and withal barely scraping 9-; HOWARD & WILSON COLONY COMPANY a living together, must inevitably ill this industry grow rich. * * * I have yet to see the man who has come here industrious, intelligent and frugal and has failed. * * * I quite believe that a twenty-acre farm will support a family well. I look upon these twenty-acre men as the best kind of business clients. I think their accounts very safe accovmts, and try to sjet all of them I can. I do not think' rapidly as land has advanced, that it has reached its highest point yet. It is possible for a man to begin here with ifrOO or $600. When he has got his house, buildings and tools, he can get along till he has fruit. There always has been a demand for poultry and small produce; and there is every reason to think it will continue. The chickens are a positive advantage. At the first planting they destroy many insects. * * * •'I look upon the dried fruit farmer as the most independent business man in the State, because he can so easily carry on the production of his staple to the very end, a fact which must always serve as a check upon the packing companies. " After a newcomer has planted and cultivated until July, he can easily earn money among his longer-settled neighbors until the late autumn, and by so doing gets the very knowledge and experience he most needs, most assuredly without any loss of esteem and social standing." u.m t rvj^f^^*. •'.. v-'i ^,^- ^^-^..^^-''^^^-x: FRUIT-DRYING BY THE ACRE WITHOUT COST HOWARD & WILSON COLONY COMPANY 23 RHASOXS FOR THE VAt,UE OF CAI.IFORNIA CI.IMAXE EUwood Cooper, President State Board of Horticulture, says: "The intrinsic value of this climate might, as is often slightingly remarked, be truly estimated by the acre, according to what crop the husbandman wishes to produce. The land is worth no more for the same quality' acre for acre, possibly, than it is in Illinois or New York; but when its products bring ten to a hundred times more eacli year in cash, and all on account of climate, is it not a reasonable conclusion that the acre in California is worth ten to a liundred times more than the acre in Illinois or New York? Therefore, the climate is worth the difference between the cash value of the California and Illinois or New York acre; which is largely in favor of California. This estimate is from a commercial standpoint; whereas, apart from the intrinsic value, there is a more important one of health, happiness, and a joyous exist- ence." DEI^ONSXRATED IN DOI.I.ARS From ''California Views, etc.," by W. R. Nutting: This is one point in which Calitoruia climate is worth dollars per acre over any other in the United States, for all the laugh at land-owners for asking high prices for it. Compare California and Delaware in the height ol the peach season, for instance, when there is liable to be a glut in the market. Assume in either case a crop of two hundred pounds per tree, and one hundred trees per acre,— twenty thousand pounds,— which is, we think, lower than the average for trees six years old or over, in California. The California man simply cuts his peaches in halves, spreads them on trays on the ground, as in the preceding plates, and lets the sunshine do the work; he does not even look at the sky or consult the barometer; for rain or fog are never expected in June, July, August, or September,— th« peach months. They are not even covered or taken up at night; and he does not touch them again for from three to ten days, when they will be found as dry and as bright in color as if cured in the best patent evaporator, and this without expense for care, fuel, repairs, or interest. The Delaware man cuts into quarters or eighths, and dries by machine, at a large expense for fuel, labor, and interest; and the chances are that he loses half his crop by rain before he can get them through the machine. Allowing half a cent per pound on the crop above estimated, for the extra expense and risk, the Californian's climate would he worth one hvmdred dollars per acre per year more than that of Delaware, — ten per cent interest on one thousand dollars. And this is not the whole of the extra value; for the California climate doubles the growth and pro- ductiv^eness of the trees, as well as the profits of harvesting the crop. And so Eastern farmers should not be disappointed when they come here and cannot get land in such a climate for twenty dollars per acre. 24 HOWARD & WILSON COLONY COMPANY James B. Hughes' place, Fresno: " I have eighty acres in ray place. Fifty-seven in bearing. This place is seven years old. I paid for it twenty dollars an acre when I bought. I ask $60,000 for it now. Crop last year brought me^fCoCO,— a little over that. This }-ear I sold my fruit on the trees and vines for $7,l'2.i, and the purchaser does all the work of picking and packing. A pretty good income from twenty-dollar land; is it not? Income is olf of fifty-seven acres. I have twenty acres of Muscat Grapes and ten acres of Zinfaudel. The latter brought two and a half cents per pound. These ten acres brought $1,125. Only eighty-two dollars expenses on me for plowing and cultivating. Income would be much larger if I had all Muscat Grapes." " Why do you sell your fruit on the trees instead of drying and packing yourself? " '■ I am a Californian, and a Californian gets too lazy and don't like to work all the year round." KAISTN GRAPES, WITH FIQS INTERSPERSED " Figs? Yes; I have about ten acres of this fruit, and they will do better than any- thing else. Particularly in alkali, where nothing else will .^row well. Thej- will bring me, if everything is favorable, they ought to bring me $150 an acre this year at six years old. They brought me )f55() last year clean money. I cut them back to get a big yiela of cuttings, and sold the cuttings off of them for $800, so they really brought me in |l, 100 to $1 500. I also huve some vines planted among ray figs, and they brought about ."fyOD last year.* My figs are of the White Adriatic variety. I intended to cut the vines out that are among the fig trees, but I don't think I will do so now. I ara four and a half railes from the Court-house. Received last year ten and a half cents for ray figs, boxed, F. O. B. cars here ready to go East. Average cost is three cents per pound to get them picked and boxed ready for market. /.