The Arizona champion., 1884-03-01
ORANGES IN CALIFORNIA.

Orun4e trees Wcfe hiht Pidutsu III Sh- iiornia about 1920, by Franciscan friars, at the old San Gabrial Mission of Los Angeles county. Many of these old trees still bear excellent fruit San Gabriel is now the chief orange center of California, having probably half the bearing trees in the State. In this local- ity the orchards have often netted $500 per acre annually. In 1884, when the trees at San Gabriel had just begun bear. ing, Don Louis Vignes took young trees from there and started the second Cal ifornia orange orchard at the city of Los Angeles. Seven years later William Wolfskil planted a second orchard at Los Angeles. His neighbors rdicnled him, telling him he would get no fruit during his life time, but he lived to en- joy his oranges for twenty years, and they often gave him an income of thousand dollars an acre. His last crop, on about twenty-eight acres, sold on the trees for S25 ,000. The earliest orchards, however, contained but few trees each, and were enclosed by adobe walls to prevent injury from the herds of wild cattle.
 From 1857 to 1862 orange growing was greatly checked by the insects, which caused almost total failure. But in 1862 this pest abated and there was a good crop. There was then in the whole State about 2,500 trees, over two-thirds of which were in the Wofskill orchard. From 1870 to 1880 much excitement ex- isted in Southern California over orange culture, and every man who could se- cure an acre planted it with these trees, expecting to realize fortune. The best fruit sold for about $40 per ,000, and down to $20 for poorer qualities. The present price in San Francisco is about $15 per 1000, but at this rate a we'll established orange orchard is very prof table, and much to be desired by those wishing to secure comfortable com petence.
 In 1879 fifteen car loads were sent from Los Angeles to Utah, and from that date Salt Lake City has continued to be a good market for California oranges. Since 1862 their culture has been much extended. The Surveyor-General re- ported 250, ,000 bearing trees in 1880 i; an1 there are probably three or four times as many not yielding fruit, the total number of trees being estimated at one million. San Francisco uses over twelve million oranges annually, of which over half are from home orchards, five millions being still imported from Tahiti and Mexico. The entire crop of this State for the season of l8S1-2 was twenty millions. A great annual in crease is generally anticipated during the next decade.
 As California oranges come in market after those from Florida, there is no more competition in the Western States, and little danger of over-production. The various railroads have of late fla vored the growers by reducing freight to certain points, especially in Arizona, in whose hot, dry climate this fruit is most welcome. Though mainly grown in the irrigable district of the southern part of the State, orange trees are planted and flourish throughout the Sac amento Valley, and even at an elevation of 1000 feet on the Sierra Nevada foot hills the fruit ripens earlier than in Southern California.
 Sixty to one hundred trees occupy an acre; when full grown they are from twenty to twenty-five feet high and shade circle fifteen to twenty feet in diameter. The orchards are generally irrigated every six weeks, and ploughed after each watering to prevent baking, Bearing begins from the fifth to the eighth year after planting; in ten years about ,000 oranges per tree are picked and in fifteen years about 2,000. The fruit is often sold on the trees, the buy CTS doing the picking, packing and ship ping. Ripening continues from Decem- Der to April, but the hardest lasts nearly all the year, since many leave the ripe i fruit on the trees several months, think ing the flavor is thus improved. Cali fornia oranges, having drier skins than those grown in other climates, are well adapted for export. Eight boxes sent from Los Angeles to London in 1875 arrived in the most perfect condition, not one being lost by decay.
 In planting orchards in southern Cal ifornia seedlings and buildings are used. The former are now in disfavor, as the product is small every alternate year, and the thick thorns often injure the fruit when swayed by winds. Budded trees grow less tall, have very few thorns, and their moro open branches facilitate gathering the crop.--M. F.. Bamford, in American Agriculturist,