Los Angeles daily herald., 1890-02-02
Increase of Orange Production.
Notwithstanding the drawbacks whicl

Increase of Orange Production.
Notwithstanding the drawbacks which
our orange growers have had to contend
with from the scale, the crop this year
has been large in quantity and fine in
quality. A few months ago everybody
predicted that the output this year would
be far less than that of any previous
year. 1t was supposed that the ravagea
of the scale had been so great and go
widespread that the effect would be
markedly perceptible when we came
to ship the seasons crop. Yet
what is the fact? The shipments for the
season will exceed by over one thousand
carloads those of any previous year. And
this has been tie case in spite of the fact
that some of our most famous grow
ers in San Gabriel valley have produced
hardly any marketable crop at all on &C.
count of the scale. While all these trees
are now free from the pest and in vigor-
GUS health, yet the yedolia came too late
to save this years crop. Next year the
San Gabriel orchards will return to their
normal yield, and add their important
quota to the orange production of the
section.
The astonishing result OF this years
yield of oranges, is due to The fact that a
great many new orchards, planted out
several years ago, came into bearing.
The number Of trees that have reached
this stage the present season must have
been far greater than any one had
dreamed. of, or the crop could not have
reached the formidable proportions re-
corded. From this time on, new orchards
will come into bearing all over the south
ern section of the State, and we may look
for very rapid increase in the yield.
But the present year will mark an era
in the planting out of orange trees. 1t is
estimated that not less than million
young trees will be planted in the five
southern counties this season. If only
fifty per cent. of these reach maturity,
the addition to our power of
production will be prodigious.
In one small district alone-Pomona-
over one hundred thousand trees have
been imported from Florida, and all cur
home nurseries are multiplying their
stock at an unprecedented rate.
There is no danger that this profitable
business will be overdone. Our oranges
reach the Eastern markets at time
when they have the field almost to them
selves. The Florida crop is about ex-
hausted when the Southern California
crop puts in its appearance, and conss-
quently the prices now obtained by our
growers will be maintained. No doubt
consumers will pay less for their citrus
fruit few years hence than they do now.
But the reduction will not come out of
the pockets of the planters; the rates OF
transportation will come down, and the
enormous profits of the middlemen will
be forced below what they now are. The
priceo paid for oranges on the trees this
year have been satisfactory. These
prices represent return to the orange
grower which pays him handsomely.
Indeed there are few growths the soil
can be put to that will pay better than
the orange tree. The planter can count
upon from $100 to 5000 net returns from
every acre, and We know of nothing that
will pay better than we'll
kept orange orchard. If an indus
trious man with thirty or forty acres
planted to oranges will carefully cul-
tivate his soil and keep his trees free
from vermin, he can run these figures
up to far higher notch. Mr.. A. B.
Chapman, of San Gabriel, made the ex.
pertinent one year of paying his personal
attention to five selected acres of orange
trees. He fertilized the ground with
bone dust, kept the trees clear of all
pests, irrigated them according to the
best methods, and gave them the utmost
care possible in every respect. What
was the result? He realized from the
oranges produced from those five acres
that year a net profit OF $500 per acre
This proves very eonclusively the value
of small orange orchards under the careful
cultivation of individuals over the large
plantations; and it ought to be taken as
q demonstrated proposition that the man
who will plant out twenty or thirty acres
to orange trees, and give them his undi-
vided attention, is the man who will in a
few years have competency. There ia
the opportunity for thousands of heads
of families to place themselves in this
advantageous position in this county.
In A cnnVaraafinn with Mr. HAnrv