Los Angeles herald., 1891-01-10

| "
Paradise-Improved and Unimproved
Land Assuming Remarkable Values
Tho Orange Growers Ideal Life.
Pasadena letter in the New York
Times: The orange crop is the item o.
Importance in all the varied products ol
California. Cotton is king in the gull
states, grain in some of the inter-oceanit
sections, but in California of the south
the orange is king, and is increasing its
power and influence day by day. There
is something singularly seductive in this
fruit. 1t woos men on to incontinent
investments in places where the orange
should be a stranger, hence we need not
be surprised to find that in the various
orange centers OF the southwest lands
well adapted for the purpose have as
sumed remarkable values, and an orange
boom has taken the place of the real
estate craze that is now only memory.
The boom" in real estate was ephem-
eral; it took wings and departed, and
again the people, now numbering thous-
ands where there had been hundreds, be-
gan to look about for producers of
wealth. New transportation facilities
had been added, and it was soon seen
that good orange crop was equivalent
to SO much cash, and an orange boom
began Lands adapted to the purpose
were in great demand, and hundreds of
groves changed hands. The neglected
tree took on new interest. Real estate
dealers and boom-time capitalists could
be seen following the plow or making
irrigating bitches, poorer, perhaps, but
happier men.
The effect was marvellous. Fine groves
appeared all over the country land was
sold by the acre for what it would pro-
duce, and to men who proposed to live
by and on it.; young trees were set out
by the thousand, and small fortunes
were made by the owners Of choice nur-
sery stock. In the meantime the white
scale was routed by parasite discovered
in Australia, and everything seemed to
be going the way OF the orange men.
And this is the condition of affairs to-
day from Riverside to Pasadena. New
orange groves are being planted, and the
crop is the largest in the history Of the
state and will amount, in all, to over
5000 carloads of fruit, which will nearly
all be sent to Chicago, New York. Boston
and Philadelphia.
The towns from Pasadena to Riverside
now present most attractive spectacle.
The trees are full of golden fruit, while
many bear both green and ripe fruit and
blossoms. Already the picker is at
work, and while this article is being
read the work is begun in earnest. In
the large groves the growers often ship
the fruit themselves and make their own
terms, but in the greater number oi
cases the small growers sell their oranges
on the trees directly to packers and thus
run absolutely no risk. When the grove
is large one this means fortune with
very small outlay. Thus, one grower
sold his crop on the trees for $40, 600.
His expenses during the year for the
care of the grove had been less than
$1,000. Such figures are attractive and
draw men on, but in this instance the
grove was an old and very large one,
producing oranges that brought fancy
price.
The packers and shippers, of whom
there are several firms, 60 the rounds OF
the groves before picking and make con-
tracts for the fruit, common way being
so much per box as soon as the fruit is
ripe. In the latter part of December or
January the gang of pickers 60 the
rounds. They come in big wagons piled
with orange boxes, and among them are
Americans, Mexicans, Indians and 9TH
ers, armed with knives, scissors, and
various patent contrivances for detach-
ing the orange from the trees without
injuring the skin. Into the grove they
drive, and soon each tree has its ladder,
and the picking begins. Some of the
men have gunny sack or bag tied
about them, while others hold canvas
funnel into which the oranges are
dropped, and so find their way into the
box at the other end.
The oranges are piled UP in big golden
heaps and go through several hands.
They are first cleaned, the black dust
and scale being wiped away, then pol
ished, and after being assorted in sizes
are finally wrapped and laid away in the
boxes ready for shipment. In the San
Gabriel valley the oranges are often
partly covered with black smut, which
readily comes off, while in Riverside the
fruit is rich in color and perfectly clean.
In flavor there is little or no difference.
As fast as the boxes are filed they are
taken away and forwarded to the east,
WucIc ILcy uuu tlltlT way LO UIl6 CaDlo
perhaps ten days after they leave the
tree.
| There is naturally much competition
and rivalry between the fruit from Cali
fornia and Florida, and each has it's ad-
mirers. In the competitive contest at
New Orleans the Southern California
orange took the prize over all others for
size, beauty and flavor, hence the South
ern Californials feel that they have rea-
son for their claims.
Riverside, one Of the pioneer orange
growing localities, makes perhaps the
finest display of bearing groves, and
every year nearly million dollars is
deposited in the city banks, the results
of orange sales. The growth of the or
ange interest there is shown by the fol.
lowing: In 1660-'81 Riverside sold
5000 boxes in 1882, $4,000; in 1888
1850; in 1884, 10000; in 1885, 1885,.
800; in 1886, 122 800; in 1887, 222, 900
in 1888, 100000. The crop this year is
estimated at 100000 boxes-a figure
which is suggestive OF success in this
particular branch of citrus fruit raising
This case of the town OF Riverside
we'll illustrates how little Southern Cal
| e.. - L., u u - r