Los Angeles herald., 1890-08-27
PROSPERITY ON PRODUCTION.-LoS AN
GELES AT THE GATEWAY
OF PROGRESS.

No more satisfactory movement OF
development has ever been recorded in
California or elsewhere than that which
is now in progress in the southern por-
tion of this State. There has really been
nothing at all comparable to it in the
past. We are not nQy alluding to any
feverish or speculative operations i'll
real estate, but have our eyes fixed sole
ly upon production. We have frequent
ly shown that higher prices prevail now
for good fruit lands than existed in the
highest period of the boom.
That this is natural outcome of the
favorable conditions existing in Los
Angeles, San Bernardino and adjoining
counties, for the cultivation of the fruits
of the temperate and semi-tropical zones,
will be disputed by few persons who know
the facts. Take, for instance, compara-
lively new regions, such as Ontario and
Redlands. Mr.. Holmes, of the former
place, during the current year, sold the
fruit off of seven acres set out in French
prunes for $4,000, on the trees. By TAX
ing the crop to the Pomona canneries-
it amounted to sixty tons for the seven
acres-he could have realized 5000 more.
This is one instance out of hundreds,
and they range from the foothills OF the
Duarte and Azusa to those of Redland,
Lugonia and score of other well-known
regions.
What are lands worth that yield a
return of $3.50 an acre? We accept these
figures for our argument because they
are really the mean CT results attained
in horticulture this year in the extreme
southern counties, many instances
occurring tolour recollection where as
high as 5000, $500 and $1,000 an acre
were realized.
In February OF the current year the
st. Louis Globe Democrat sent a numer-
GUS corps of reporters throughout the
great valley of the Missouri to inter
rOgate the farmers as to the profits of
farming in that region. AS a result,
that journal published what would have
made good sized duodecimo volume.
Many man who had farm of 800 acres
said that he could barely keep body and
soul together at the existing prices for
hogs and corn, and that with the work
of his own hands and those of his family
thrown in. The latest intelligence from
extensive sections of Kansas and Iowa,
j sthat the farmer cannot count upon a
return of more than $3.50 an acre gross
from his land. This is no fancy picture.
It is a true statement OF hard, Grad.
grind facts.
If it be difficult to calculate the value
of an acre of land which yields $3.50 in
French prunes, it is not at all hard to
estimate that of an acre which, after
grinding labor, yields only $3.50 an acre.
While the former proposition is an in
soluble one, the latter presents no
obstacle. Such lands are simply worth
less, and no man of sense should waste
his time or fritter away his labor upon
them even if he has to give them away.
That the present prosperity of our
horticulturists will continue, need not
be doubted. We have published statis-
tics giving the facts as to the orange
production of Florida, which show that
the limited area in the United States
adapted to the production of the citrus
family is imperatively needed now, and
that its utmost capacity will pc taxed
in the near future. As to the decidu-
GUS fruits, the peach is even dying out
in Delaware and New Jersey and other
hitherto congenial sections. In such a
state as Missouri, for instance, where
the peach was once cultivated with par
tial success, it has almost totally dis
appeared. 1t has long since ceased to
be looked upon as source of profit.
This is largely the case with all the
Rocky Mountain states. Plums have
long since ceased to be practical pro-
position anywhere in the east, the
partially ripened fruit dropping to the
ground through the ravages OF parasites.
As to apricots and nectarines, they are
not even heard of in the east, and the
regions of Europe in which they can be
grown are exceedingly limited. And 80