Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-03-26
free Planting.

1
anything like SO many trees as during
this Spring. The finer varieties of peaches
for canning, Bartlett pears, apricots,
prunes and fine varieties of apples are
the favorite lines, particularly on land
that cannot be irrigated. These trees do
better in the long run, and bear firmer,
finer favored fruit without irrigation
than with it.
The planting of orange trees has been |
resumed on gigantic scale. Every tree
that could be obtained from any source
has been secured and put into the
ground. These trees imperatively re-
ouire irrigation. 1t may be that this is
INDUCED in generally on too liberal a
scale, but artificial application of water
once or twice during our long dry sum-
mer is an exigent part of the
programme of successful orange culture.
Those who have proper soil, good
climate and plenty of water, can make
no mistake in planting orange trees.
The mistake is, where these elements
are found, to devote the ground to any
less remunerative purpose, as there is no
horticultural proposition that pays to the
extent that orange growing does. Mr..
A. B. Chapman is on record as saying
that land suitable in all respects to this
industry in small subdivisions of five
acres can be made to pay $500 per
acre and upwards, and that such land
| in the raw state, with a well-establiehed
water right, is worth 50 900 per acre.
Walnut trees is another line being set
out in great numbers this year. These
trees, at the age of ten years, will yield
crops worth $500 per acre. There per-
haps never before this season were set
one-tifth as many trees as are being put
out this year. Mr.. Russell Heath,
of Carpenters, Santa Barbara coun-
| ty, is one of the most ex-
| pert horticulturists in the country on
this tree. He is reported as discarding
his soft she'll varieties and replacing
them with the hard shell kind. He has
invented washing machine in which he
elaborateiy cleans the nuts by means Of
warm water, after which he dries them
in trays. By this process he makes the
nuts of a fine white color, spotless and
with high polish. The soft shell nuts
will not stand this treatment we'll, hence
he prefers the hard shell kind.
AS the only advantage ever claimed
for the softshell walnut is the facility OF
cracking them. there is no solid reason
why the change should not be made.
Not drop OF water penetrates the shells
of the hard variety, and the kernel is as
sound as if the nuts never went into the
water. Another thing Mr.. Heath has
found out is that by keeping his trees in
nursery until they are five years old, he
does not lose the use of land nor
spend a fortune on cultivation before
his orchard comes in bearing. He cuts
the tap root well down in the ground be-
fore the time of transplanting and two
| branches have started when they are
set in their place in the orchard. He
| thus starts. out with quite tree in a Wig
orous state Of development, and in few
years they are bearing paying crops.
Gophers are the only pests that trouble
the walnut tree. 1t needs but small part
of the cultivation for orange trees and
pays royal income.
AS showing the large paintings of trees
the following from a letter in an ex-
change, and relating to the Placentia
district in this county, will be Of interest.
Ghe settlement is not large one, yet it
will be seen that a great many orange
and walnut trees are being planted: J.
W. Hinton is setting 500 orange trees
on portion of the Shanklin
ranch known as Richlands. Little
field & Goldthwaite are planting
several hundred walnut trees. On the
Gilman place 1000 orange trees are
being get. W. NJ. McFadden is planting
l 200 orange trees, and John Wagner
1000 OF the same trees.
This is only a specimen of what
is going on all over this section.
Mr.. Titus, whose orange grove
was, for years, among the most
profitable in the San Gabriel Valley, al
though he has sold the greater portion
of his place, is still a granger.
He has a large tract just north
of his old home place, and he
does not propose to let it lie fallow. He is
setting it to solway peaches, from which
in three years he will gather crop
worth about 5000 an acre. He and the
others who are engaged in this business
are right. For it is to this section the
population of all the States must look for
their fruit supplies.
There is one fruit which is still too
much neglected. That is the fig. The
proper varieties of this, next to the
orange tree, will pay the largest profits
known to fruit-growers. AS California |
ought to shut out by a homegrown
product the French prune, 80 she should |
shut out the Smyrna fig. We can make
better prunes than France and better figs
than Smyrna.