The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1891-05-15
THE POOR MANS PARADISE.


When the Secretary Of Agriculture gave
this name to California on his recent visit
to the Coast he probably referred rather to
the future than to the present. From vari-
Gus causes this State has not thus far been
been a paradise for poor farmers; here and
there, few such persons have acquired a
competency by the cultivation of fruit and
grapes; but as a rule, the chief gains result
ing from the culture of the earth have been
reaped by the owners of large estates. Fol-
lowing the example of the owners of the old
Spanish grants, our landowners have each
aimed at acquiring barOnial domains. Some
of them have done well, others not so well.
AS 4 rule ranches of 5000 acres and over re-
quire such executive ability to manage that
few of them pay even a moderate interest
on their assumed value il an advance in
price was not anticipated. This is an evil
which it is hoped will cure itself in time
As great landowners get into debt or die
their broad estates come into the market
and go in search Of purchasers on more
moderate terms. When this takes place the
farmer may find paradise in California.
In the meantime, the paradise will acquire
new attractions if Mr.. Rusk's suggestions in
regard to the cure of fruit diseases are
acted upOn. No one who has not studied
the subject realizes the injury that is done
to our fruit every year by the ravages OF ln-
sects. 1t perhaps would not be an eXag-
geratiOn to say that, one year with an
other. the pests take One-tenth of the crop.
What with the phyllOxera and the Los
Angeles grape disease, the white scale,
the red scale ana the black scale, and the
scores of other insects which prey upon
fruit, considerable quantity is destroyed.
The frSt-named pest, which has proved in
eradic2ble in France, together with low
prices, keeps down the wine product of this
State to the figures of eight or ten years ago.
The scale interferes with our orange crop,
and other pests are causing disappointment
to growers of other fruits.
All these diseases are probably durable
The white scale has been nearly eradicated
by the Australian beetle, and it only re-
mains to discover an equally potent remedy
for other pests. 1t is not even certain that
American ingenuity may not some day de-
wise n means of getting rid Of the phylloX-
era. 1t is agreeable to learn from Mr.. Rusk
that the chronological bureau of his depart
ment Is SedulOusly engaged in studying the
problem how to eradicate these and other
noxiOus insects No less is due to the i'm
pUTtance of the industry. Horticulture in
this State, and indeed throughout the world
generally, is in the condition in which by
giene was found by the founders of modern
pathology. In the old days, when a man
took cholera, he died; when he took con-
sumption, he died; when he took yellow
fever, he died; when a child took scarlet
fever, it died. Now, doctors have studied
these maladjes, and the proportion of cases
which are cured is larger than those which
terminate fatally. Why cannot we do as
much for the diseases which attack the Or
chard and vineyard? Iii matter Of study,
ingenuity and labor.
Mr.. Rusk was Informed at the Land Office
that over One-haf the area OF the State, or
81, 600 acres, are still open to settle
ment. So large portion of the area Of
California is still unsuryeyed that neither
the Land Office nor any other authority can
say precisely how many acres of arabic
land are open to settlement. lie would
have expressed his thought more accurately
if he had said that less than one-fifth Of the
area Of the State-say 100000 acres-is
now under cultivation. -Four fifths are
mountain, lake, broken sierra land, swamp,
pied for various reasons. OF the latter there
is enough TO afford homes for several mill
ions of people. But it will not contain
suitable population until il comes to a
forced sale aud the great estates are divided
up into farms of such size that single
family can handle them. How prosperous
these deserted ranches may then become
the past is there to teach. Twenty years
ago man died in San Francisco and his
estate was considered insOlyent He owned
several thousand acres of land in the San
Joaquin Valley. but this vas not cOnsid-
cred worth much. 1t CHANGED that his
widow was a woman OF indomtabIe energy
and masculine vigoT; she resolved to plant
these valueless acres in wheat, and went to
work, to the amusement of her neighbOrs.
The despised land yielded forty to forty
five bushels 10 the acre. She cultivated it,
dyked the streams and cropped more land
every year. Whereby it comes now that
this lady is worth over a million. and her
wheat commands the highest price in the
market