Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-02-12
Vines, Trees, Etc.-The Outle~bs
for 1eRR.

Vines, Trees, EtCs-The Outl0oDS
TOR 1858.
EnToR HERALD 1t Is in order lust
nov to discuss with some care the
subject Of grape and tree culture.
With slight additions to ctr rainfall
the season of 1888 will be the most
favorable Of any for many years for
the propagation of vines and trees.
That of 1884 was uncommonly good,
but the excess and lateness of the
rains Enterfered seriously with the
work of the planting. The growth of
that year was something phenomenal
scarcely one in d handred of the cut
Ungs planted failed to grow, while
the increase in size was double that OF
common years. 1t may be long
time before the horticulturists will
have season SO favorable as the pres
ent will probsbly be. Besides, in
such a year as this orchards
and vineyards may be started
without irrigation and get one good
years growth on the dryest mesa
after which the fruit farmer has it in
his power to produce the finest and
most abundant crops by thorough
cultivation. There is at Pala, in San
Diego coGntv, five-acre orchard of
deciduous trees, the property of VIM.
Veal, planted in year of abundant
rainfall, and never irrigated, though
on the hardest, dryest graveily up
land, which may safely challenge
comparison in quality and abundance
of lruit, with any irrigated orchard in
Southern California. But it has al
ways been carefully cultivated, being
plowed and cross-plowed in winter or
early spring, and the surface stirred
with harrow or cultivator to the depth
of two inches once in two or
thr weeks during the whole
year. Experience proves that shallow
and frequent stirring of the surface
breaks the tops of the capillary tubes
by which moisture escapes from the
ground. This being 80, the area for
fruit and grape culture in California
may be vastly extended.
Now that the "boom" has got in its
work, and left many a fine vineyard
and orchard desolation, reconstruc-
tion will be in order. On arriving at
our present know ledge we have made
many experiments and many mis-
takes Tor examples we have learned
that citrus fruits succeed best on
warm, sandy and .gravelly uplands,
where Musca grapes will fail on ac-
count of co,tls,re, or dropping Of the
young fruit; that the prnne attains its
best results on heavy clay and loan
soils, which keep it from putting forth
its bloom in autumn, on
which the crop of the COM
ing year depends; apples, pears,
walnuts and Sultana grapes will
thrive best on our rich, moist lands,
that the Sultana will ripen its fruits
SO that it can with certainty be dried
and early ready for market, while the
Muscat will be a month later in get
ting the amount of sugar requisite for
raisins, too late for successful drying
in low and foggy localities. In such
places the Sultana will by the scale,
have its 80 per cent of sugar by the
1st of September, and be dried and
ready for market by the lst of
October, when Muscats will hardly
have attained "a per cent of sugar and
it willrequire at least two months to
dry sweat and box them. Muscats
make good brandy, and very large
part Of every crop in this vicinity goes
to the distillery at about $S per ton.
When
THE INTERNAL REVENUE LAW
Is repealed Southern, California will
make brandy on an extensive scale.
Its markets will be Europe, South
America and Mexico. The amount
consumed in Northern Europe is enor-
nous. Freight to Liverpool, Havre
and Bordeaux are less than one-half
the overland rates to New York. For
good brandy the European demand is
practically unlimited. True, the
brandy maker is entitled to rebate of
the revenue on shipment of his goods
abroad. Still, he is compelled to pay
for license to carry on his business,
and a United States tax on his distil-
lery, and red tape and Government
surveillance are a lion in his path at
every step. We can make better
brandy than the French, as our grapes
are richer in sugar. Most of theirs is
made from the .Folle Blanche" or
"Enrageat," which in the best seasons
at Bordeaux gets no more than
about per cent. When we learn
to use good grapes We will
make good brandy and find ready
market, whereas brandy made here
tofore of rotten Mission pomace has
given us an unsavory reputation
among consumers of the article. 1t is
a great mistake to suppose that
WINE MAKING
Has received a permanent check in
Southern California. True in 1886 the
Mission vine in Santa Ana valley suf-
fered from "sunstroke" and that vine
may be counted out. while nearly
every other kind shows not the
slightest sign ofthe visitation, for dis
ease it cannot be called. Malvoise,
Franken, Golden Ohasselas, Mataro.
Carignan, Tannat, st. Macaire and
Gros Mancin were more healthy and
vigorous than during the season of
1887 in vineyards where the Mission
had universally died.
California need not depend on the
United States for q market, but having
now all the choicest European grapes
and every possible variety OF soil, eli
mate and exposure, can rival the
best viutages Of France, Spain and
Italy. 1t can ship it's wines and
brandies as it ships it's wheat to Euro
pean markets, and leave the good
people of the States to solace them
selves with whisky and beer and
fight their battle against prohibition.
The present year will afford a fine
opportunity to substitute choice vines
for those that have proved worthless.
All the varieties of Southern Europe,
including those of Bordeaux, have
been fruited in the State and many of
the best in Southern California. The
writer has for the last three years
made wine from Carignan and
Mataro, the staple grapes of