The record-union., 1891-01-19
AT TIE CITRUS FAIR.
Governor Markham Declares It the
Finest He Ever Witnessed.
An Object Lesson in Citrus Culture
That Cannot Fail of Good
Results to Come.

When Governor Markham had taken
good look at the magnificent display at
the Citrus Fair in Marysville on Saturday,
he was called on for few remarks and
spoke as follows:
Mr.. President, ladies and gentlemen: /
thank you for your very kind greeting,
and assure you that / am greatly pleased
TO meet you, l enjoyed my railroad ride
TO this place very much, and the drlVe
about your beautiful city exceedingly
we'll And am happy to say that / am
greatly pleased with what / have seen in
this building. The only thing l have to
object to is the request made to me by
President Rideout for speech. L have
not been well, and am scarcely in condi-
ton for speaking. But l am glad OF the
opportunity to meet you. 1t was my lot
to locate in Southern California, where
the people embarked largely in orange
culture a considerable number of years
ago. Many of their early experiments
were unsatisfactory, and their experience
has been gained at large cost, while
building up and perfecting their citrus
industry. 1t is your good fortune to be
able to avail yourselves of their stores of
experience, particularly in relation to the
choice of varieties. And / am pleased to
see in your exhibition to-day that you are
awake to that fact, and have excellent
varieties of shipping fruit under cultiya-
ton.
l have attended many fairs in Southern
California and also in other States. And
some of them were very large and fine,
including the California exposition at
New Orleans. i am free to say that this
is the finest, most artistic and most at
tractive of any that have ever witnessed
in my life. Great applause.
If it were possible to transport to some
Eastern city this great exhibition, just as
we behold it here, in all its surprising
loveliness, it would fill the people with
such desire to live where such fruit is
grown that you would not be able TO find
acres enough to supply the demand.
Hong applause.l
1t has been said that you could not
grow citrus fruits in this part of the State.
That is just as foolish as some Of the
things that have been said against South
ern California. Let any one see this dis
play and he would stop talking nonsense
OF that sort.
The persons who arranged this diplay
should be artists. l shall advise my
friends in Southern California to get the
benefit of the creative skill of the de-
signers who have wrought out such forms
OF beauty in this hall. 1t is the finest
work of decoration that l have ever seen.
And from the general appearance OF the
fruit would infer that it is equal TO any
that can be raised in the State. / can say,
from the bottom OF my heart, that l hope
you may succeed in this field of citrus
culture. [Applause.l
1t is this kind OF an exhibition that
best advertises our State. The exhibit of
our oranges at New Orleans was the turn
ing point in favor Of California as an
orange-growing State. We beat Florida
in that competition, and, though the Flor
ida men made unfounded assertions that
the decision was purchased, the quality
of the fruit told the story of the
correctness of the decision. The
California fruit is superior to that
of Florida, and the latter cannot
compete with it on equal terms in any
market. My children are better judges
of oranges than I am, for they are con-
stantly eating them from our orchard at
home; sometimes TO the extent of half a
dozen to dozen day, for they are fond
that they would not touch Florida
oranges, Nothing could be more con-
vincing to my mind that our oranges are
superior.
When I first went to Washington
found no California oranges there. l
asked q fruit dealer why he did not keep
them, and he said that they were no good;
that he could not sell them, and so forth.
] happened to receive a box or two of
oranges from California about that time,
and the dealer pronounced the fruit very
fine. I telegraphed for d carload, and
every box of the fruit was sold within
four hours after .its arrival. That shows
what demand is created for our oranges
wherever they become known. They
should be allowed to mature before they
are shipped.
That is the way to keep up their repu-
tation. for they have the ability to stand
shipment in mature state. Let our
oranges go to the East late in the spring,
when the Florida fruit is out of the way.
l am sorry that l did not know that
would be expected to speak, so that /
might better have arranged my thoughts,
but | have told you frankly what l be-
Ieve, and you can mentally clothe it in
words to suit yourselves. [Great ap-