Morning journal and courier., 1890-10-08
CALIFORNIA FRUIT.
Large Quantities Shipped to the East
 Its Flavor.

.ktS FlavOrs
 PASADENA, Cal, Sept. 24. To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
 A recent editorial writer in one of tho New York daily papers, commenting on the great scarcity of eastern fruit through out the present season, takes occasion to make few derogatory remarks in regard to that which comes from California, and while he is willing to allow that it surpass- es the eastern article in size, form and color, he insists that it is very deficient in flavor and odor, that it is good only to look at, but not fit to eat; that it is entire ly insipid, excepting only the plums, and that they are so sour as to ber inedible, be- ing, as he expresses it, only fit for the un- tutored Californians.
 Untutored Californians is especially good, considering that native Californians are rarely found in these rts, and that only a very small proportion of the inhab- itants were born here, but that the people have come within the past few years from every state in the union, and from every country under the sun, and that they are some of them in all probability y-ola -asigh- bors and schoolmates. of the aforesaid scribe, and are all fully as competent to judge between good and bad as any pres ent dweller in Gotham, who may have lately landed from Greenland or Iceland.
 Of course there are two or more ways of looking at everything, and the old illustra- ton of the two knights of King Arthur's time, who fell into a dispute as to whether a certain article of bric-a-brac set up by the roadside was made of gold or silver, and who nearly chopped each other into mince meat just because they looked at it from different points of view, may well apply in this case, and while owing to the great distance between us and the city of New York, we are unable to say exactly what has been imposed upon the unfortu- nate newspaper man, 1t is evident from the tone of his article that it must have been something pretty bad, and SO he has our sympathy, but if in the course of his travels he should even visit this part of the country he would undoubtedly expeIi- ence change of mind, and anathematiZe, not the California fruit, but more likely the street peddler who sold him fruit grown on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius and called it the real California article We hope some day to see him, and others who decry our good things, here on thi, coast and furnished with an abundant supply of this delicious fruit, it would b, a real pleasure to see them smile.
 But still there may be some truth il what he says, and of course we do no certainly know to the contrary, for frui which is picked here green, and jolted in freight car for more than three thousand miles may easily lose what good flavor i 1 originally had, and arrive in the city O Gotham on bad terms with everything an, everybody; if it is so, why then so mucl the worse for the Gothamites.
 But we who live here never complain 0 the quality or flavor of the fruit whicl grows here, and in all probability tha which is fully ripened on the tree unde the rays of a sun which shines day afte day from sky without cloud, is yer different from that which is sold as Cali fornia fruit on the streets of the easter cities.
 The great demand for it this season Ina caused land which is known as acreag property that is to say farming or ranc landD to increase good deal in value, an much of it has been sold lately at price which to an eastern farmer would seel wildly extravagant, and while the lant holders here are more afraid of boom than they are of rattlesnakes, still they d not seem averse to making good trade { lucrative prices whenever opportunity O fers.
 Fruit trees come into bearing in thrt years and upwards, according to variet. and while the crop is much more certai than it can ever be at the east, owing the absence of frost, and for various othe reasons, yet it seems as if it must be diff cult to make income enough from the Ian to cover the interest and taxes on the e, tremely high prices which are frequent paid.
 One serious difficulty and great draw back to the progress and development c this section of the country is the usuriou rate of interest which prevails; froI eight to ten per cent. is usual and con mon, and it is frequently more; this pre vents many men of small means fror buying land and becoming fruit grower: for those who are only able to pay in par for their farms soon find that they canno make both ends meet, and so the land oi ten reverts to the original owners, greatl to their benefit, for the temporary owner or holders have generally made improve ments which increase it's value, but fo which they get no pay, the net returns | the small operators being not unusual loss and Encouragement.
 All this will no doubt be improved upol in time as capital becomes more plent and investments more secure, and it seem reasonable to think that California Mil surely become a great fruit growing re zion, with large exports to. other places. T F. B.