New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-05-18

California is of recent settlement as COM
pared with Louisiana. She is not blessed
with soil or climate superior to our own
and yet she is far ahead of Us in all the
elements that make up rich and pros
porous State. She resembles us in one
particular, that while we have cotton and
sugar as a regular source of industry, her
people rely upon the gold mines as the
certain and leading industry of the State
And yet California, from the earliest period
of her settlement, refused to be made the
pack horse of the gold mines. 1t was not
enough to take out the crop of gold if it
was to be sent abroad for necessaries and
luxuries, so the people decided at once
that they would diversity their industry
in such way that the money which they
made at mining might be kept in the
State to enrich the community. Wheat
raising was the first step to stop the intro
duction of flour from the East and from
South America. In two years the crops
were so abundant that -four was exported
to Australia. Irish potatoes were raised
in such profusion that they did not pay
for transporting them to market
Having succeeded in supplying herself
with bread and vegetables it next became
a necessity to cultivate domestic fruits,
because the people could not afford to
no re nd Iol1 g.
peaches, apples and pears. The men
who had farmed wheat and vegetables
until the price was reduced so low that
fortunes could not be realized from that
branch of industry, turned their atten-
ton to the nursery and cultivated fruit,
flowers and grapes. To-day California is
better supplied with these articles than
we are, and while she sends flour to
England she also sends pears, apples and
grapes to US. Her last movement is in |
favor of the cultivation Of nuts, and in |
this department California will soon be
offering to supply us with almonds,
chestnuts and walnuts cheaper than We
can get them elsewhere. A single |
orchard of three hundred acres
has been planted in almonds, five hun
dred walnut trees were set out three
weeks ago in the San Jose valley, and a
party is preparing to transplant grove
Of chestnut trees from the east to Sinoma
valley. Figs already abound in Ell Do
RADIO. The people who indulge in this
and varied industry intend to
send as little money abroad as possible.
Oranges are a success in California
Peaches and apples grow there in perfec-
ion The Pacific railroad allows of their
being sent to the East without delay and
at trifing cost.
Are we duly sensible of the tremendous
Importance of this tireless activity? If
We appreciated our own advantages it
would at once occur to us that the privi-
ege of supplying the Mississippi
7alley with fruits and nuts be-
ongs to Louisiana. Our soil and
climate are wonderfully adapted to the
,rowth Of all the articles we have as
ribbed to the Californians, and yet, in
tead of cultivating these sources of
wealth, we are tamely and lazily allowing
'ur offshoot beyond the Rocky Mountains
o tap our market, and even to sell to us
What we might easily raise at home We
AVE all the requisites of soil and climate
or producing everything that California
but we decline to use our own
dvantages
This is not the first instance in which
he South, with all her boosted intelli-
'ence, has allowed herself to be the pro-
lucer of a fleece which other people
heared. The North has kept us
alslng cotton and sugar which she
and made a profit
rom. Even our own corn had to be
rought from the West, while our supe-
ior ability plodded along after a cotton !
low, only to sell the product at a loss
Then the year was out. But then we 6