The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1891-11-22


there was little. but of Eastern varieties If
grapes there was great showing of f9a
fruit. / saw better
EXHIBITION OF FRUIT
On Water street, Chicago, q few DAYS ia,er
My friend Mr.. Smith was with me aft thi.
fair, and went into raptureS over the fine
ness Of the fruit and the size of the vppsf-
ables. BE saw a beet that was labeled SIX
teen pounds, and said he didn't believe that
that was ever surpassed. 1 told him of one
that grew near my home that pushed itself
tuli three feet out of the ground and was
balf as large around as my body. The Door
man did not believe me any more than he
did when told him about the peaches. and
he began to look sad, but had concluded nv
this time that L was a pretty fair sort Of
fellow II did have a strong Imagination,
and said nothing.
little further ON he forgot his sorrow
ana began to enthuse over A. to NV ewes
very ordinary field pumpkin. and turnin1
70 me with triumphant look said that he
dld not believe California could beat that
Inc TACT OF the matter was that I had
hauled In loads of just such pumpkins. and
.nat any year c0tHd have shown several
twice as large. II you come to real nriza
pumpkins, 1t would have taken inst about
four of this to make one as large as 7 bava
seen, and l told my friend so. or course
this was not believed. and l suppose Mr.
Smith sun THINKS OF me as man who is
In Chicago, as L said, saw a yery fna
exhibit of fruit on South Water street, /
never saw as Impressive an exhibit of fruit
as what was there that day. OF course
San Francisco handles more fruit daily In
the height of the fruit season, but much of
1t goes direct to the Gamers, and the fruit
stores are scattered all over the city. These
firms Of Water street do little wholesaling
of California products. They do receive
consignments of native fruits, however. but
much Of their selling is oil u box at a time 10
CONSUMERS,
And so the fruit, even on good DAYS of sale
makes a splendid show, am told.
On the day that | w0s there a glut was inn
minent 1t was the height of the native
apple and grape season, ana Smock peaches
too, were in great plenty. Besides all this
there had been big lot of California grapeS
and peaches in that day, and all day the
piles Of fruit grew higher and higher on the
street, and the passage ways narrower ann
narrower, until it was very hard to ret
along at all.
And it was fine exhibit Barrels of larre
Michigan apples, pears and ounces; peck
baskets Of fair-sized peaches from the same
region, with tinted gauze tied over the ton In
give an engaging color land hide mperfer-
tlons) and native grapes done I'D the same
way beautiful California peaches, prunes
pears, grapes. and even persimmons: ba.
nanas and DIneapples from the tropics
Me0ffnT-
ranean region.
! cannot imagine what became of all tba
fruit Isaw that day extending from one emf
to the o;her of Water street, but few day.
later, when / was at South Haven. Mich in
the heart OF the Michigan peach region, The
growers were shipping in their graues and
peaches and getting good prices They told
some stories that were equal to CALIFORNIA;
best as to the profits per acre, or at least one
of them did.
One man, who certainly had a very fne
piece OF land, said lis peaches had brought
MIN In $500 per acre; that he had got from
fifteen to eighteen peck baskets from hi,
oldest trees, and that these had netted him
on the steamer landing 80 cents per basket
on the average. This would have made him
over $500 per acre, high price in Michigan,
but il did not correspond with his account
oil income on his orchard. |
INTERVIEWED HIS NEIGuBoR
On the subject, and he said it was not trua
that the man had been West the winter
before and learned to tell big stories. An
other nelghbOr said he did not believe II
could be true, and gave me the figures on
MS pr0htS on forty acres of by all odds the
best orchard l had seen outside OF Califor-
MIA. He had pears. apples and few cher
rles and plums, but mostly peaches On
this the net profits of the season he said
were $3.50. l imagine that this was nearer
the truth. for the orchard region showed no
SIeH VI great prOntS Oelng made from fruit
There are none of the expensive houses and
tne grounds that one sees in our best valleys.
and the people drive poor horses in poorer
rigs over very poor roads, and the price of
land shows that there is no bonanzl in fruit
growing. Land can be bought at from SIS
TO S1t0 for bare ground, and $50 to $3.50 Tor
planted orchard, the latter price in each
case being for land very near town.
Still, as far as my observations go, fruit
growing is good business along the lake in
Michigan. Land is cheap. labor is low
(only SIG to SIS month with board) and
there are great cities within easy reach on
every side. The trees suffer from few dis
eases. Scale is unknown and the yelows
has never got foothold there. Trees do
not grow as strongly as they do in our
State, but they do in time attain fair size.
They seldom miss crop, for the nearnpss
to the lake not only prevents injury to the
trees in the winter, but keeps the buds bacl,
in the spring, so that they are seldom caught
by late frost. The peaches are not as
large as ours, Smocks not often reaching
over two inches in diameter, and Salways
smaller, but they have small pits, and are
no doubt Of very good flavor. The growers
claim that they are superior to California
fruit, but those l tasted were not equal.
However, as they were the very last, and
out of season, | cannot consider that fair
test. 7 q suTXx