Los Angeles daily herald., 1875-01-01
The San Gabriel Valley.

The following article OH grape grow
ing and wine making in the neighbor-
hood of the San Gabriel Mission will
be acceptable to all interested in these
great departments of our agricultural
industries. 1t was kindly prepared for
the HERALD by DR.. J. DeBarth Shorb,
Of the wine mandatory of B. d.
Wilson & Co. The statements of wine
and brandy manufactured are approx
imated, but the figures are, if any
way wrong, uader the actual mark:
LAKE VINEYARD, Dec. 80, 1871.
EDITOR HERALD: Your letter of
inquiry duly received. AS | have had
no opportunity of making inquiries of
my neighbors, can but give you an
approximate statement of the amount
of wine and brandy manufactured in
this district.
Mr. Eaton should have made at least
fifteen to twenty thousand gallons of
wine and from five hundred to one
thousand gallons brandy.
Mr.. Rose has turned his attention of
late years more to brandy than wine
making. His product in gallons this
year was ten thousand gallons brandy
and | suppose about twenty thousand
gallons wine.
Gen. Stoneman makes about twenty
thousand gallons wine and probably
about two thousand gallons brandy.
Our own product (B. d. Wilson q
Co.'S this year was about seventy-five
! han nd ,xyin n nd a hnnt fnIlr
thousand gallons brandy.
The writer, who for several years
bought nearly all the grapes grown in
this section, and who kept an accurate
account of the yield in pounds from
the different vineyards, has placed
the yield on vines of eight years old
and upwards at about eight pounds to
the vine, or about 5000 pounds to the
acre. Grapes grown in this valley
command always $40 per ton. In
some of the northern counties the cul-
tivation of vineyards is let out on
contract by owners living in the cities
or away from their vineyards for $23
to $25 per acre. This amonnt calls for
the pruning, cultivation, picking and
delivering. At these figures hand
some net income of from $50 to $50
per acre is realized to the owner.
l believe that Los Angeles valley is
better adapted to the growth of the
grape and the production of high grade
wines than any other portion of the
State, and ultimately this will be real
lied the world over.
a large accession has been added to
our population during the last eight
| nyI ink nf hot nj u q .
of people that can make any country
less blest than our own "blossom as
the rose.n | refer to the settlers on
the San Pasqual, generally known as
! the Indiana colonists. They have now
about twenty-five families settled on
the property, and are making good,
substantial improvements and getting
ready for vigorous work in planting
vines and trees this coming season.
Immediately around the mission, a
marked improvement is everywhere
manifest, and on all the properties of
the San Gabriel ridge proper new
houses, larger orchards, greater vine
yards, the expenditure of large sums
of money in piping water and building
reservoirs is the order of the day.
| must claim for our own valley, the
San Gabriel, all the attractions and
advantages that belong to Los Ange-
les valley; they exist here in greater
state of perfection than elsewhere. In
fact, nature has done n1o orc for this re-
gion, L believe, than any other portion
of the world.
We have a soil that is practically in
exhaustible wherever irrigation is
possible. / have seen full, generous
crops growing on grounds near the Old
Mission Church that reliable men tell
ME have been Cropped " twice year
for over century and not one ounce
of fertilizing matter has ever been
used. Our water is of the purest kind,
and an abundance oft, and when prop
erly cared for and economically used
and distributed, we have sufficient for
all this section. The oranges and
lemons grown here are worth ON the
San Francisco market from So to SIS
more thousand on account of their
superior size, brightness and flavor
than those fruits grown elsewhere.