The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-10-15

Pacific Commercial Advertiser
ABOUT FRUIT.


The vast Importance of Embarrassing
to a country cannot be better illus
trated than by quoting some figures
of the overland shipments of green
and dried fruit from California. Dur
Ing 1884 the green fruit shipped by
rail to points outside Of the State
amounted TO 6,976,330 pounds; dried
fruit, S26,O5O pounds; raisins, $780,
$40 pounds; making total export by
rail OF $3.50. $50 pounds. The
year 1884 was short fruit
year in California. still this was
fair showing, more especially as the
fruit export by sea to Australia, Mex
leo and Central America was very
considerable. During 1885 the over
land fruit export has been enormous.
Green fruit was 81, 842, 76O pounds;
dried fruit, 1875, $50; raisins, so, 80;
total, 40, 469, $50 pounds. It will be
observed that with the exception of
raisins, the fruit shipments increased
about fivefOld. The grape crop in
California last season, especially in [
the raisin districts, was very short
ewing to unfaYorable weather, while
of other fruit there was a ''gIut' in
the local market. 1t may be worth
mention that the export of California
citrous fruit by rail this season
amounted to %, 1856, 600 pounds. The
figures have been furnished by Mr.
Towne, the general manager of the
Pacific Railroad systems. The rail-
road freight upon this years fruit ex-
port cannot fall short of half a million
dollars, as the charges on the ship
ments by passenger trains alone from
January to September footed 1902, s81.
The shipment by freight trains was
three times the bulk of the shipments
by fast passenger trains.
When it is considered that fifteen
years ago, in 1871, California only
shipped 1,ss2,2l0 pounds of green
fruit by rail, and that before the close
Of the present year it will ship full
35. 100000 pOunds-the figures above
quoted being for six months of actual
shipment only--one is able to grasp
the magnitude and importance of this
industry to the Golden State. 1t will /
be evident that fruit is far more 4
valuable product than gold; that it /
adds to the fixed wealth of the Conn
menwealth instead of proportionateiy |
diminishing it as the gold export did: |
and that il ties to the soil an indie /
pendent, law abiding, educated pop
ulation, with home responsibilities,
schools, churches aud all the sur
roundings of Christian civilization. /
And yet who would have thought /
such results possible thirty years ago? |
AT that time those who went to Cali
fornia thought it was only fit to run [
wild cattle over its great valleys apd .
who spoke of raising wheat on the
dry lands of California was rated a
Iunatic; yet California is to-day the
banner wheat State of the Union.
And so also of fruit, and the countless
variety of vegetable products which
now abound there. Yet California
will soon be ahead of the world as q
Embarrassing, wine and braudy-pro-
dncing country. And experience has
demonstrated that it does not want
half the water for irrigation that was
at one time deemed necessary, deep
ard thorough cultivation supplying
the place of irrigation to very great
extent.
THIS lesson should not be lOstupon
us in these Islands. 1t is taught US
by our nearest neighbors of Anglo
Saxon stock, and shows what can be
accomplished by Intelligent and per
sistent Industry. The people who did
this great work in California were not
MongoIians. They were free men
and women, imbued with the true
spirit of progress and animated with
the loftiest ambition. And the men
and women who are destined to do
work i'm Hawaii, if it is ever
TO be done, must be drawn from the
same source. The supply is availa-
BILE. 1t only needs to be judiciously
tapped to divert a sufficient stream