New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-03-27
AT A GREAT CITRUS FAIR.
SCENES IL THE EXHIBITION AT LOS An
GELES.

twice every year and the two occasions come ciooe
together The first, which is now in progress Is
the State Citrus Fair. The second occurs IN April
and is the Flower Festival. Both are unique |
affairs in their features typical of this land OF SUM-
flowers and fruits and Indicative Of the spirit OF
progress which anmates the people
These annual displays Of citrus fruit have the
support of generous appropriation from the
State for premiums. and receive the hearty sup
port Of orange-growers Individually, as well as the
concentrated efforts of different localities Inc
premiums which in cash, are wisely DIVIDED
into three classes set for individual displays
another lot for what is termed artistic designs
and a third division for the best display from
localities
The present disploy is certainly the finest that
ever has been made in any place 1t is gwen III
huge building almost as large the old-time
American Institute Hall In New-iork and 1t is
filed with all varieties Of oranges, lemons, lines,
citrons. shaddocks. singly in combination, and in
the wonderful affairs entered as artistic designs
These latter are certainly striking, and show
striving 10 achieve the beautiful though the funda-
mental principles Of art necessarily ignored
For example description of few Of these designs
will suffice indicating the amount Of labor, the
quantities of fruit and the desire to Impress seen
in them collectively. The most striking perhaTs
is the Traction car of Ontarios exhibit. That
thriving town has street railway extending from
the Southern Pacific Railway TO the base
OF the Sierra Madre Mountains, several
miles away The car is drawn by team
OF mules to the mountain end OF rhe line
and then the animals are put on platform at the
rear of the car the return trip being made entirely
by gravity as the road is down grade all the way
50 the mules comfortably ride back, while the
.t,a alyc IL
Gated in oranges, life-size." are the mules MS
far ne nossiblc in oranges The fruit is tackled
all over framework, and the result is horsecar
opnarcntlv made Of oranges. Another design is a
fac-simile of the county courthouse. which is
remarkably handsome building. This is done on
large scale the cocS-tower being twenty-four feet
hieh The design is composed Of oranges, lemons
lines and raisns, and represents the work OF the
ladies Annex OF the Chamber of Commerce
Putting aside the measures of expended labor ana
| largcness possibly the most satisfactory Of all
these exhibits is the model of the San GABRIEL
Mission This is made entirely Of the small,
fragrant Tangerine oranges and includes the grace
full befry and the bells Of the ancient ediflce, Ia
miliar to thousands of tourists who have visited
| that picturesque relic of bygone rule. Another
interesting feature is the exhibit from vernon
This shows the Of an orange from The time IL
| Is picked until it is comfortably packed In
fruit car ready TO begin its Journey to the snowy
| East. All made out Of oranges is miniature
| packing house Inside the trays. packer
| busy at a box, the grader wrapping paper-in
| fact all the paraphernala Of shipping house,
and nj the door. ready for the load, stands
! little fruit car. equipped with brake and wheels
! and platform. The upper San Gabriel
Valley ranches united a design which includes
! CleopatTa's Needle. the Pyramids and the Sphinx.
| The ohelisk is twenty-five feet high and the
| Great Pyramid rises fourteen feet. Santa Monia,
| the Coney Island of Los Angeles. has Cabin
| by the Sea and a stretch of beach. with boat
! loaded with oranges. Pasadena has It's show In
| the centre of the hall This consists Of tower
| all OF oranges forty-fve feet high. with lake
| covering n space of twenty-three feet The whole
| is surrounded by n fence Of lemons. But the
| biggest is the show made by Rcdlands, which
| took | could not tell how many thousand oranges
! in It's construction. II consists of an arch forty
! three feet long and eighteen feet high, with
| minarcts at each end Through this is seen a
| representation of the famous Bear Valley dam,
making faithful portrayal OF that immense pile
! Of masonry and the artificial lake it has created.
! san Diego County does not raise many oranges.
| but the locality devoted n carload Of tho precious
! lrua 10 n dessn of its much-cherShcd, but
| little used harbor. The bay is shown in detail,
| with beautiful Point Iona and the lighthouse.
| Two ships are standing out 10 sea. loaded with
| oranges.
| These exhibits from localities are by no means
| all the show. They are eQualcd in extent by num-
| bcrlcss individual entries Of fruit by growers,
embracing probably all the known varieties of
oranges and lemons and kindred products. Here
| are shown the finest specimens of Washington
| Narels, Malta Blood, Rio, Konah, Mandarin
| Tangcrine St Mlchaers, Mediterranean Sweets. in
fact. all the budded varieties and splendid seed
| ling oranges.
The effect on entering the hall is certainly inn
| prcssvclv beautiful 1t forms huge study of
| yellow effects. All tie eye can see is oranges,
flowers and people. The atmosphere is pregnant
with the fragrance Of fruit and blossom. The
constantly shifting mass Of humanity and the
strains of the music of an orchestra hidden be-
hind n screen of lowered fcstoons all serve to
make a delightful scene. which can be seen
| nowhere else in the world.
| This great orange show is wonderful in more
than one way. For instance, it shows the re
| productive power of this country. About four
| years ago an orange pest was introduced here on
trees brought from Australia. This was the white
or cottony cushion scale bug. In short dime
| the ravagcs Of this wrctchcd insect had brought
the orange growers face to face with the problem
Of how 10 save their orchards from ohtciation
| In 1888 the Department of Entomology at Wash
inCton awol1c To the seriousness Of the situation
and sent an expert to Australia to look for n
remedy. This man found 1t, in tie shape of II
parasite on the white scale. microscopcal little
insect called the vcdalia cardinotis This lIt!c
bug was treasured, colonies were located In
different orange gr0wing localities. and they were
distributed 10 orchardists as fast they propa
gated themselves They fell on the white scale,
and bored holes in the lattcrs back, and de-
posted their cggs in his inteiNal arrangements.
This was the proper place for the eggs for they
Matched more parasites, and at the same time
were tie death of the scale bug. The result is