Morning journal and courier., 1882-09-18

ries. California cherries and strawberries
 arrive in fine condition at Denver after a
 four days journey. Very striking, also, is
 the size to which fruit trees attain. The apricot grows to the dimensions of large eastern shade tree Phenomenal size and
 growth, indeed, are characteristics of all
 kinds of trees in this climate. The Austral-
 ian blue gum, or eucalyptus, shoots up twenty
 feet in single year.
 California apples are distinguished for
 extraordinary size and splendid color The most highly prized is the famous Bell Flow
 CT. They are grown successfully as far south as San Diego county, near the Mexican boz
 der; but it is in the hilly counties of the north, where the winters are colder, that they are juiciest and hardest. Bartlett pears have
 been remarkably prolific, and under the most
 favorable conditions have yielded net profit of $3, ,OO0 per acre in single season. The apricot has given some of the best results
 The delicate flavor of our apricot has made it very popular for table uses, as we'll as for canning and drying, and the crops being enormous and the prices good, 1t has been profitable fruit to grow. In 1879 twelve
 acre apricot orchard near San Francisco yielded 31O, 900 pounds of fruit that was sold at five cents a pound. This netted profit of $1 200 per acre. On the banks of the Sacramento, about twenty miles below the
 city of Sacramento, there are large num- Der of prolific peach ranches that in good years have produced P, 900 lbs. of fruit to the acre.
 valuable feature of fruit culture in this State is the long duration of the ripening stage. As far north as the fortieth degree of latitude apples and pears remain uninjured by frost until December. This is the month in which the orange becomes ,ipe, while the various species of the lemon family go through the ripening process between November and April, and will hang fully matured on the trees for nine months without deteriorating The cons- -quence is that fruit picking hardly ! ever comes to dead stop. Nearly all the year round there is fruit of kind to gather.
 The shipments of fresh fruit, much of it to the Eastern States, amounted in 1881 to To- OOO GOO pounds. Notwithstanding the high freight charges, it is an extremely prof. table business. The fresh fruit is shipped in refrigerator cars. In the moro distant coun- tries where fruit could not 80 easily be ship ped for sale in its natural condition and everywhere when the yield is so large that there is danger of glut of fresh fruit, dry ing is practi,ed on a large scale. The warm summers and dry air of the interior counties
 make it possible to dry fruit in the sun, and this method is employed almost exclusively for raisins, figs and prunes. Apples, pears, apricots and peaches, that must be cut in slices, usually dried in ovens. very cheap and excellent fruit-drying oven, that is much in use here, is light enough to be carried about the orchards and placed di-
 
 time and labor. There are large dealers in dried fruit who make it practice to buy up the entire produce of ranches as it hangs the trees, and have the fruit picked and dried on the spot by their own men.
 One of the most important of the indus- tries developed in this State has been the canning of fruit California canned fruit, while prized for it's size, color, freedom from worms, taste and flavor, can be sent abroad at lower prices as & rule, than that of South European countries. Only the canned april cots and nectarines of Portugal and France can be placed in the London market at lower prices than the same kind of fruit from this State.
 Canneries of if lit and vegetables have been established in all the important fruit dis tricts of this State. The produce thus put up in 1881 aggregated Il, 100000 cans, of which (, 6,O0O, ,0OO were fruits and berries in their natu, al form, 100000 were jellies and sauces, and f, 700, 900 kitchen vegetables, the last item including 5, ,0O0, 900 cans of tomatoes and 800, 900 of green peas. The San Fran cisco canneries put up 9,O0O,OOO cans and those of San Jose 2,000,O0O. Peaches, pears, apricots, plums and cherries are the fruits most used hers@for canning The apricot is regarded the most profitable Tho best peaches and apricots are obtained from the ranches along the Sacramento to and from the warm and sheltered fruit belt of Solano county, not far from this city, where large fruit ripens soonest, and therefore fetches the best prices The best piums come from Napa and Sonoma counties, and the best cherries from Alameda, across the bay from this city. The market prices in large quan- titles per dozen cans of 12 pounds each are for table fruit $1 S5 to $2 30; for pie fruit, $1.1O. The canneries pay for peaches, plums, apricots and pears $50 to $60 ton. Necta | rines, apples, muscatel grapes, strawberries, blackberries and raspberries arc canned to a knrt k1ov, nth fr,,ft Fhn hor raco oval sold mainly in the home markets
 The oldest and largest of our canneries is l that of the Cutting Packing company, which | has branch cannery at Santa Rosa, salmon on the north Pacific coast, and 1 agencies in St. Louis, Chicago, Cincinnati, l New York and London. This company put 1 up in 1881 3,3OO,OOO pounds of fruit, and ! :, 200, 900 pounds of vegetables. The can nery of King, Morse & Go. puts up an aver l age of 100, 900 cases of fruit, vegetables, and l dozen cans; that of A. Lusk & Co.,, 15O, 900 1 cases including 6O,O00 cases of tomatoes, l that wore raised on 400 acres of land at- l tached to the cannery the Banner Packing ! company, 10000 cases; the Standard, 6O,- l 900 to 100, 600. Code, Elicit & Co.,, filled | ]. 25O, ,OO0 cans in 1881, and the San Jose 1 Packing company, 1,45O, GOO. New canneries | are also erecting in the various fruit districts. One of the latest is at the Fresno Colony, in l the San Joaquin Valley, where fine apricots | are grown with the aid of artificial irrigation, | the right to which is sold by corporation to 1 the colonists at the rate of $20 to $50 an acre. Wherever canneries are established the fruit grower may count upon profit of at least $l00 to $200 an acre. These can ming factories have market in Europe for all the fruit they can export, and the demand for their wares is constantly increasing. Thousands of men, women and children find employment in them.
 The exports of the present year are likely to fall behind those of previous years, the fruit having ripened later than usual and so nearly at the same time that the canneries were unable to handle it to the best advan- tage This has caused rise in the prices.