Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-07-15
THE FRUIT GROWERS.
The Report of the Tenth
Annual Convention.
WHERE ORANGES DO GROW.
An Interesting Array of Facts and
Exhibits of the Real Citrus
Belt of California.
WHERE ORANGES DO GROW

Belt of California.
The report of the Tenth Annual Con-
vention of the Fruit Growers of California
as issued from the State Printing Office
at Sacramento is an octave volume of
more than 250 pages. 1t is fall of thought
full papers prepared by practical fruit
growers, from the standpoint of practical
experience on many of the branches Of
of the fruitgrowing industries of the
State. Insect pests are discussed at
great length, and the best methods Of
treating them are set forth. 1t is the inten-
ton of the HERALD to take this report up
from time to time and Gull from it the
most notable points in connection with
the topics treated. This one of fruit pests
will be one OF the earliest treated. Olive
culture is another subject carefully
treated in the volume under review. The
matter found here is full of
the most vital interest. The last
100 pages of the book are
taken up in setting forth reports from
prominent growers in all the counties of
the State. They are in alphabetic form,
and cover several places in each county.
These reports tell what fruits are grown
in the writer's district, what kinds grow.
best, and what he would recommend
planting more of in the given locality.
This portion of the volume is of the
greatest value to settlers, and to all who
desire to 60 into the fruit-growing bust.
ness in any part of the State. There is
one feature of these reports which it is
the intention to devote some attention to
here. Take the reports from Siskiyou to
San Diego, from the Sierras TO the sea
take them from Alameda to Yuba, that
is from A to lizard of the report, and
it will be found that there is little or no
difference as to the fruit products of Cal
ifornia-with one single exception. That
exception is the citrus family of fruits.
The northern press, the northern fruit
growers, nearly every man one meets
from the North will insist, will talk, get
angry and red in the face forcing upon
the hearer his oft-repeated yarn that all
parts of the State are equally suited to
the production of oranges; that Los An
geles has no advantage over Alameda,
Butte or Placer counties for this indus
try. All sorts of devices have been re-
sorted to to prove this allegation. Citrus
exhibits have been made at various
points, some of them in this State,
some OF them in the East,
and the claim has been set up on these
occasions that the fruit shown was all
grown in Butte, or Placer, or Yolo, or
some county in Northern California.
This city has been invaded by these ex-
hibits, and the facts proclaimed that the
fruit was from the orchards of the North
that untold acres of the finest orange
land in the State were to be had in these
districts for $25 to $50 per acre.
Now, here lies this report on the table.
1t is both comprehensive and exhaus-
i've. 1t covers many places in every
county in the State. 1t names in detail
the fruits generally produced there, and
gives list of those it would be we'll to
continue to plant. In every county pears,
apples, peaches, cherries, plums, prunes,
apriccts and berries are found to do we'll
and in most Of them it is recommended
to plant more Of nearly all these fruits.
Grapes grow in nearly all these counties,
the wine and table varieties taking the
lead. In few, raisin grapes cut an i'm
portant figure. In many of the counties
fig culture has been begun, and in most
of these an enlargement of the enter
prise is recommended. The walnut and
the olive are beginning to attract great
deal of attention in many parts of the State,
and the trees are reported to be doing
we'll in counties far to the North, in those
of the central belt of the State, as
well as in the extreme South. AL
monds are reported from many districts,
and this nut seems to thrive in nearly all
parts of the State where it has been cul-
tivated at all. The same is true of the
nectarine.
Now, turn to the list of counties, and
go through all the reports. In how many
of them is the orange, or the lemon
named? They are found in one Of the
first pages of this part of the report,
under the head of Butte county-one of
the far northern counties of the State
At place called Pentz, Mr.. J. Wood
names nearly all the varieties of oranges,
and of lemons, as among the "lesding
fruits grown" there. No other fruit
grower in his neighborhood seems to
know anything of this citrus culture.
Mr.. Birk, writing from Forbesto~n, in
the same county, says: We
are not in the citrus belt, and
for that reason oranges and lemons are
omitted" After this one instance
one turns page after page, and goes
through hundreds of reports, but the
word orange does not occur. Even ia
Fresno county no writer even names
the orange or lemon in his list. The
writer's OF Kern county know nothing of
oranges as an industry there. In the
reports from Tulare, it is said: "Oranges
and lemons thrive in sheltered places"
In this study Los Angeles county is the
first of the southern tier reached. The
first report encountered is from small
suburb of this city, the Alhambra. The
report says: "Of course orange growing
is our principal industry. 1t is twelve
years since the first orchards were
planted here. Over 100 carloads OF
citrus fruits were shipped from here last
season."
Speaking of what fruits to plant, the
writer says: 81 would recommend the
planting of oranges and lemons as the
most profitable crop" There are no less
than twelve reports from Los Angeles
county. In all of them the orange and
lemon are put first among ''the leading
fruits grown" in the district, excepting
one. In all but the said one it is recon-
mended first of all to plant more orange
and lemon trees. The one exception is
tho rapOrt of q writer in q district whara