The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-10-18
A GREAT SHOWING,
The Enormous Demand for Cali
f0rnia Products.
Report Of the Agricultural Department for
October.
The Value Of Fruit Exports Estimated at
Si0,O0O00O-NeW and Permanent
Markets Established.
Special to THE MORNING CALL

WASHINGTON, Oct. 17.-The October crop
bulletin devotes more attention to California
than any other State in the Union. 1t says:
The past year has been prosperous to the
farmers of California, though the whole win
ter on the Pacific Coast was one of the most
severe ever known. The temperature was
very low, and the rain and snowfall was
excessive. In the valleys OF California
grain-soWing was interfered with, the seed
bed was cold, wet and heavy, and on large
areas the plant was drowned out by the
spring freShets and overfows. Barley, as
well as wheat, suffered from these unfayor-
able conditions.
The wheat fields of the State lie
mainly in the Sacramento and San Joaquin
valleys, and the conditions governing the
cultivation and growth Of cereals are rad-
cally different in each valley. The precipi-
tation in the Sacramento Valley is generally
abundant and the soil well able to with
stand drought, but it is peculiarly susceptible
to damage from excessive rains and resulting
floods. On the contrary, the fields OF the
San Joaquin are more liable to injury from
drought and are capable of outstanding
heavy precipitation with little damage,
and this adaptability to opposite
meteorological conditions in the two
grain ceuters renders fair crop
in one section or other almost a GER
taInty and the conditions OF the present
season, while materially damaging the out
put in the Sacramento Valley, insured good
results in the greater portion of the San
Joaquin. In Iulare ana Fresno counties
the yield is probably larger than last year,
while in other counties of large production
estimates of the crop range from 25 to 70
per cent of the previous product. The con-
sensus of local estimates might make the
crop of the State from 70 to 70 per cent of
that OF last year, though the department
will make no estimate until the close OF
the season.
Definite estimates of the barley product
are difficult to arrive at. Among arabic
crops ii is second only to wheat and its use
is so wide and varied that no record of crop
movement can be made. Large quantities
of this grain are now annually shipped from
the State, both to foreign ports and domestic
markets east Of the Rocky Mountains. 1t Is
a commerce carried on both by sea and by
rail, no less than y per cent OF the shipment
VI 1CcC-oJ utLuE ONCtlcitus ouiiuS tIIdt sCbi
the aggregate shipments amounted to
2,620,42o bushels, of which 1,294. 426 bushels
were to foreign countries and 1,926, COZ
bushels to domestic markets.
The average price Of No. feed barley in
the Sart-FFahciseo market, based upon
actual sales, was, for the year under consid-
Grafton, 70 30 cents per Genital. The crop of
the present year is short, being smaller pro-
portlonaly than that of wheat and the
effect of the reduced yield is already ap
81 X, 70 f-rntka tt..A
State and the increased market price Of the
product in San Francisco. The price OF No.
/ feed barley on October l, 1889, was 7212
cents per GENITAL, while at about the same
date the present season it was ST 81, having
nearly doubled in value.
In spite of the short wheat crop the price
of that cereal has not materially changed
during the past tw elve months, and in view
of the prospect of a shortened supply in the
worlds markets aud the certainty Of a
smaller product for this country, the failure
of prices TO respond is peculiar.
The most remarkable results of the year
have been in the fruit and vine industries of
the coast. The fruit crop was one OF only
medium production, beiug below the usual
average or standard both in quantity and
quality, the hard winter and wet spring be-
ing unfavOrable 10 full development. Un-
der ordinary conditions, 1t would have been
n year of Encouragement, but the practical
failure of all fruits east of the Rocky Noun
tains created such demand from the New
York markets and so advanced the prices
as to make it a season of uneXampled pros
perty To horticultural Interests
As soon as 1t was apparent that the fruit
cr"p of the East was a failure, early i'll the
year, shrewd dealers throughout the country
began to make arrangements to handle Cali
fornla products, and the overland ship
ments have been enormous. comprising the
choicest OF the States production. The
prices paid have been such as it might be
said growers nJ"er noped to realize. aud the
crop was large enough to give all who are
interested in the industry the benefit OF the
exceptional values.
The activity in fruit shipments extended
TO vine products and many carloads of Cali
fornla choice table grapes have reached
markets heretofore held exclusively by the
local product. thus creating taste and de-
mand which will continue hereafter, even
in less favorable years. The year has pre-
sented golden opportunity for dissemina-
tion throughout the country of practical
knowledge of the fruits of the Golden State,
and every advantage has been taken OF il.
A trade has been opened up which must
continue with mutual benefit to producers
and consumers of fine fruit, despite the dis
tanee and costly transportation.
The records of the total shipments to
points outside of the State are not yet re-
ceved, but San francisco authorities on the
fruit trade believe that it will be equal to
lOsoOo anu a. libSi al Co NOuIu
make the value Of these shipments perhaps
$10.000,0G0 Il value almost half as large as
that of the States expectation of wheat dur
ing 1889.
Peaches have brought growers $50 per
ton, with higher prices for choice varieties,
and all grades, as rule, have commanded
from double last years prices upward.
Wine grapes are bringing better values than
ever heretofore realized, the general pros
perity OF the year extending to all branches
of horticulture and wine-growing.
On the whole the year will go into history
as one of geI&ral prosperity Of the agricul-
fural intprl.SIs of Cnlifnrnia