Omaha daily bee., 1889-11-02
A GREAT ORCHARD.
Fifteen Hundred Acres Devoted to
Fruit Raising.

Fruit Raising.
California, famous for its gigantic
trees, its mammoth vegetables and its
fruits, boasts of the greatest orchard in
the world, says writer in the Ameri-
can Rural World. 1t lies in the open
valley of the Sacramento, in Butte
county, and covers two and half Sec
tions, or sou acres of land. It's owner,
General John Bidwell, is one of the
early pioneers, having crossed the
plains in 1S4l. He was an associate of
Sutter and Fremont, and his life in
those early times was replete with ad-
ventures among savage Indians and
wild beasts.
He has more than quarter section of
land, in fact, nearly 200 acres, planted
to peaches alone. He has over 100 acres
set to plums and prunes. The latter,
when dried, are superior to the finest
of the imported French pruncs, whlle
cludlpg the yellow egg, Washington, q,
Columbia. Ponds seeling, Goes golden
drop, Duane's purple, peach plum, and
still other varieties. Several thousand
pear trees Iorh a grand orchard in
themselves. While many varieties are
grown, yet the Bartlett leads all others.
The Seckel; Flemish beauty, and the
Kieffer are among the most profitable
varieties. There are some 5000 apple
trees, which include most of the stand
ard varieties. 1t is noticeable in this
warm climate that what are known as
| fall apples in the Atlantic states are
as winter apples there ripen earlyin the
| fall here.
The apricot orchard includes between
sixty and seventy acres, and the best
varieties only are set out.
There are 1857 cherry trees, and
| these make wonderful growth and
| bear prodigiously. One magnificent
| tree, Napoleon, measures sixty feet
high, seven and a half inches around
| its trunk, and bore IN one season ,750
| pounds of fine fruit. The cherries were
! picked and weighed under the most
| careful supervision, SO that no errors
| could occur. At the prevailing price
| this season this tree returned to its
| owner a greater profit than ten acres OF
| land planted to wheat.
| There are great numbers of almond,
| which reaches a state of high perfec-
| tion in this warm climate, many fig,
nectarIne, orange, olive, ounce, wal
| nut, chestnut, pecan and other kinds of
trees, but it would be useless to here
| specify the number of each.
| line vineyard cOVerS ZUU hCreS. anu
the varieties mostly grown are white
| muscat. which numbers 57,313 vines,
black Hamburg, flame and blue tokays,
emperor, rose of Peru, and black
| Morocco.
There are three large packing houses
for handling the fruit. Drlers are not
used, as, owing to the dry climate, the
fruit and raisins are all cured in the
sun. Immense quantities of the fruit
are canned, and for this purpose man.
moth building was constructed, where
200 persons are given employment.
During the rush Of the peach and april
cot season a much larger number is
added. TO pick, box and dry the fruits
in the orchard 800 men are employed,
so that this mammoth orchard alone
| gives labor to 500 persons.
| During the present season five car
loads of fresh, dried and canned fruits
were shipped daily. The soil is a rich
sandy loan, and the trees are grown
| without irrigation.