Los Angeles herald., 1890-07-16
A NEW LINZ OF DEVELOPMENT.

At last we are beginning to under
stand a few of the possibilities that
dwell in our fertile soil and matchless
climate. The citrus fruits have been
monopolizing all our attention, and yet
these are only one OF the many indus
tries in which wealth is to be found for
our farmers. Last spring strawberrie g
were sent by express as far east as Dem
yer, and money was made by the ven
ture. For many years early vegetable
have been sent from our foothills to San
Francisco, and dozen or 80 farmers
have amassed large money by this means.
The past season large trade was devel-
oped with the west from our new pota-
toes and cabbages. And these move
ments are opening the eyes of the most
purblind of US to the opportunities that
lie before us. Next season will see a
great movement in these lines with
many parallel ones added to the list.
The trouble now is that the expense
of shipping eats up most OF the profits.
It costs too much to ship by express to
do large business. The cost to the con-
sumner is too high. From March to June
we can send no end of berries and vege-
tables out of this section to all the coun-
try between Las Vegas and Chicago.
Potatoes and cabbages are only the least
profitable of these lines, and yet the
Chinese gardeners produced 5000 to $500
an acre out of these products last spring.
To these we can add strawberries, green
peas, spring lamb, grass butter, cauli
flower and tomatoes. All these can be
produced in abundance here from March
onward. They are not procurable any
where from Denver to Chicago and st.
Paul before the 1st of July. Here are
four whole months in which to carry on
this trade.
The railroads are alive to the import
ance of the matter, and propose to
afford every desirable means to carry on
this trade. Special trains will be made
up and sent through on passenger
schedule time. As one of the officials
said to the writer the other day, "We
will side-track passenger trains to let
fruit specials 60 through" The refrig-
orator cars Of the present time Swill
carry vegetables to Chicago as fresh as
when taken from the ground. In six
days they can be run into the depots in
Chicago. It will take only four days to
Denver. The charge will be, it is said,
$1.25 per hundredweight, or $25 per
ton. That is $3.50 for a carload OF ten
tons. To facilitate the matter more
mixed carloads will be allowed
to be sent out to small cities
where straight carload would glut the
market. In this way shippers will
be able to make up carload of oranges,
1 potatoes, caulihowers, etc., etc., in such
quantities as may suit the market at the
eastern objective point.
Now, let the farmers take hold of this
in time. Let them organize and attend
in season to procuring the completion Of
the programme on the part of the rail-
roads, and then let preparations be
made to plant the whole frostless belt of
the section to peas, tomatoes, early po-
tatoes and cauliaower. Asparagus is
another vegetable to add to the list. II
this is done, we will see boom all along
the foothills that will make hundreds of
farmers rich, and that will prove these
frostless' lands to be worth as many sill
yer dollars as it would require to cover
each acre.