Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-02-05
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1889.
Future Developments.

Z
Future Developments.
The great demand of the hour in Los
Angeles is the dev elopment of the many
and rich resources of the section. But
the merest beginnings have been made
in this line in any of the numerous
branches of the programme. We have
here, to be sure, city OF nearly 100000
inhabitants, and the county contains
close to $4,000 souls. There are al
ready large number of towns, some Of
which have made great strides, reaching
at the moment the status Of quite
respectable cities. These towns are all
the nuclei of cities yet to be, opulent,
populous and prosperous. Our own
metropolis of the South, the city of Los
Angeles, will be some day place Of
transcendent beauty, of large proportions
and prosperous beyond the average of
American cities. 1t is our firm belief
that if our people are true to themselves
and to their opportunities, in less than
five years there will be a quarter of a
million people here, and at the end of q
decade, or say at the end of the century,
we will see nearly twice as large muni-
cipality within the bounds of Los Ange-
les city. 1t will be city solidly built,
and possessing all the beauty that the
art of architecture in its modern
developments can bestow on it. 1t will
be the model city of the continent, and it's
homes will be marked with an elegance
not easily found elsewhere.
But at this juncture the need is in two
lines of development. The first is the
most important, with the promise of the
quickest returns for the most moderate
outlay, in the line 'of agricultural indus
tries, including in the term fruit-growing
and wine making. There probably
never before was a section of such
resources found in precisely the
same predicament as this is now.
Los Angeles county contains at least
2,00O,0 900 acres of the most fertile lands
on earth. The rich soils of this section
under the peculiarly benefcent climate
which overspreads them will produce a
larger variety OF crops and larger bar
vests of each than any similar area in
the world. Yet SO little developed are
these resources that we find butter,
cheese, eggs, pork, hams, lard, mutton,
beef, vegetables, poultry and even fruit
imported to supply the wants of the
population. Our alfalfa meadows liter
ally discount many tim es anything be-
meath the skies for grazing or fodder
purposes. Cows will give more milk
off them and animal will make
more butchers meat off them
than on any other pastures
or feed known to man. Our natural
grasses are the most prolific and the most
nutritious of any portion of the good
green earth. Yet we are importing our
butter, eggs, poultry and meat. Hogs
literally revel in an alfalfa meadow, vet
We rely on Chicago for our hams. Sheep
will take flesh at a marvellous rate on |
them, yet Arizona sends us our mutton. |
Poultry fourishes in patch of alfalfa,
yet Kansas plains supply us with eggs
and broilers. These meadows are
green, and luxuriantly so, all the
year round, yet we let farmers
on frozen, wind-swept prairie
1000 miles away grow rich by selling us
the things we ought to grow here.
On our mesa lands the grains yield as
large returns as any lands in the Union.
Yet Stockton sells us flour. Barley and
hops grow here side by side. The State
Of California last year produced $4,000
bales of hops from 4,417 acres of land.
Los Angeles county had fifteen of these
acres, and produced 1874 bales. There
ought to have been 500 acres of hops
produced in this county, and 10000 bales
ought to have been our crop. From this
county the whole area, of $50 miles
north of here, 100 miles south
'f us, and 1000 to the east
ward ought to be supplied with
beer. Here are all the factors in the
problem from which to produce this re- {
'ult. All we lack is business thrift and
enterprise. With lands that pro-
luce forty bushels of wheat to
he acre, we are eating Stock Il
ON -four. The low lands of Los i:
Angeles yield crops of corn running at
lightly bushels and more to the acre. t
We ought to ship from here twenty
argoes of this cereal year. On the t
,eat lands below Anaheim and Santa G
Ina, tobacco will grow as prolifcly as
n the best farms of the South. The
ther day over 100 families of {
Alsatians landed in New York. They |
ome for the purpose of going down to f
florida to purchase each forty acres of i
md on which to grow tobacco. They c
ould just as we'll have been brought to 8
os Angeles, where, on richer lands, +