Los Angeles herald., 1891-08-23
Typical Facts About South
ern California Farms.
The Latest Information About
Ranch Matters.
Interesting Facts About Lemon Cul-
ture and Profit.
The Question About Grape Pickers AT
Fresno New Fodder Plant.
Notes on Various
Matters.

The apricot crop is over, and peaches
are beginning to get ripe, says the Po-
mona Progress. What is to be done
with them? is the question. The buyers
do not feel authorized in paying what
the growers consider fair price for the
crop, and the latter are not willing to
sell at what the buyers are offering. A
fruit dealer said the other day, 'Peaches
are either up or down." according to the
crop east and elsewhere. This year they
seem to be decidedly down, so large is
the supply east and so cheap is the green
fruit on the market there now. When
fifteen-pound basket of nice peaches
can be bought in Chicago for ten cents,
as they can now, peaches are cheap.
Every fruit-grower realizes now pretty
fully what an outrage it is that our can
merry is not running to handle the crop
and put it in shape for the market. If
it is not operated by another year there
is little doubt but that another will be
built.
A WINTER MARKET GARDEN.
The four counties of Southern Cali
fornia-Los Angeles, San Bernardino,
San Diego and Orange-have this year
produced for shipment to the east A.
900 carloads of potatoes, worth 5000 a
carload, or q total of $500, 900, says the
San Diego Union. These figures GER
tainly justify the claim of the humble
potato to front rank in the industries
of Southern California, if not the state
as a whole. 1t has been demonstrated
that these southern four counties can
compete with the most favored regions
of the southern states in supplying the
northeastern markets with winter po-
tatoes and with other early vegetables.
With the aid of fast freight, fair rates
and non-freezing storage cars, Southern
California will soon be recognized rs the
winter market garden of the United
States as well as the national orchard.
HINTS ON PRUNING.
correspondent of the Irrigation Age
says:
81 train my fruit trees to low heads /;
therefore, in order to head tree low
with beautiful and symmetrical head,
l begin the training when it is very
young. First year from bud or graft |
train to single whip or stem, and after
bugs start, at one year old, procure a
wooden cloth in hand with which / rub
off all buds to eighteen or twenty inches
from the ground, then cut back to five
or six strong healthy buds, going over
nv plantation two or three times during
the growing season, with the woolen
cloth, and rub off all the superfuous
buds that have started upon the trunks
of young trees. BY careful observ-
ance, at the end of two years, We
have beautiful, well-branched tree
with four to six uniform branches. Alter
this my system is to remove all super
fluous twigs and branches, and not to
let the interior of the head get so thick
as to obstruct the full admission OF
light or air, and if the tree is OF a
towering habit, / prune to the outer
bud in cutting back, in order to in
cline the tree to more spreading habit.
On the other hand, if the tree is of a
spreading habit, l prune to the inner
bud, so that the tree may be inclined
to grow more compact, as this class of
tree will, after fruiting, be inclined to
spread full we'll.
LEMON CULTURE.
With reference to lemon culture in
Southern California we will say that the
principal efforts have been made in San
Diego and San Bernardino counties. al
though Los Angeles county produces
quite crop, says the CitrOgraph. The
principal difficulty has been in curing
American ingenuity and perseverance is
solving that problem, however, and we
may look during the next ten years fol
as big lemon planting craze as we have
witnessed during the last ten years in
orange planting.
There is no doubt that lemons will
pay as we'll as oranges; some think that
they will pay better, and that it will be
harder to overstock the markets. This
is true, provided we successfully pick
our lemons at the proper time and sc
cure them that they can be stored uI
against the warm season-the time wheI
lemons are most in demand. This, oul
growers emphatically assert, they
can do.
AS to varieties OF lemons for planting
thus far there seems to be three tha
are far in the lead: The Lisbon, the
Eureka and the Villa Franco, the plan
tations being in the order named
Paintings OF Villa Franca have mainly
highly recommended by Florida grow
ers, but the experiments made in South
ern California have not been conducted
long enough to be conclusive as to it
superiority over either of the others
The Eureka is superior lemon, but it!
scanty foliage seems to be detrimen
back from the coast.
FRESNO GRAPE PICKERs.
Fresno has more Chinese today thar
ever before, says the Expositor. The,
are coming at from one to six carloads
day from San Francisco, Sacramento
and Los Angeles. They are coming t.
pick grapes. A gentleman yesterda,
made tour of Chinatown, and esti
mated that there are from 5000 t.
5000 Chinese there.
They expect to secure contracts fol
picking grapes at exorbitant figures
Grape men would do we'll to 60 slow il
closing contracts. Labor can be had TO
less than $l.75 day. The Chinese ar
not worth it.
Men started today to the mountain
to secure the services of a thousand In
dams to put in the vineyards. The In
dams make better grape-pickers thar
the Chinese, and they can be had muci
cheaper than $1.75.
Men who have grapes to pick shoult
hold off and see if the Chinese canno
hp dianansed with They have com,