The record-union., 1891-09-11

Ing VOL. lie states, with apparent gratl-
fication, that 100000 bushels of various
Valley. For several years thereafter
committees appointed by the society
travelled over the State inspecting the
farms, reporting on the modes Of culture
and kind of crops, and encouraging the
owners to plant fruit trees.
E. L. Beard, in a report in 1854, prophe-
sizes, like seer, that California in few
figs, raisins, oranges, lemons, prunes and
nuts than the present import of these ar
ticles in the United States, amounting to
81, 900 ,000" The committee reports in
1859 that John Wolfskill had 800 trees,
and six apricot trees which yielded 1000
pounds, which sold for seventy five
cents per pound. John Bidwell had ], 200
trees.
In 1855 the value of land, excluding
some of the mining counties which did
not report the value of land, was Sl3,2SS,-
500, and improvements S6,S91 ,269. In
1890 the assessed value of farming land
was S3SS, 440,05S, and of Improvements
So, ,951 ,420.
In 1866 twenty-eight counties reported
800, ll2 trees. In 1890 there were reported
by the Assessors 15. .000, 900 fruit trees and
10000 acres of grapes From General
Chipman's report to the State Board of
Trade we learn that there was exported
from this State in 1890, 255, ,495. oil pounds
of deciduous fruit, green and dried 6S,-
419, ,320 pounds of citrus fruit, and u ,6l0,-
23S bushels of wheat, the total value OF
which, to the producer, was $50, lS5, ,0CO.
The work to accomplish this result has
been executed within the past twenty
years.
Nor has the society confined itself
to the interest of the farmer alone.
1t has devoted much of its efforts
toward the encouragement Of live
stock breeding. The exhibition of fine
stock at each fair has testified to the
superior excellence of our climate for
| fine stock breeding. The prizes which
have been offered by the society have en-
gagged an interest in the breeding of the
horse which is eXcellcd in no part of the
Union. To-day California is recognized
in the East as region for the production
of the finest and best types of all classes
of horses. The trial on the turf is only
an incident to the struggle for SUI
premacy. The increased excellence Of all
classes of horses is the outgr0wth Of the
| enthusiasm engendered by the exhibition
ON the race course. Up 10 1891 California
produced Of trotters the fastest yearling,
the fastest 2-year-old, 3-year and 4-year-
| old horses in the United States. OF the
thoroughbreds, Rintax and Raveloe, for
3-year-olds held the fastest records for
| one mile, and Salvador made the fastest
! time on record for one mile. The fastest
| 2-year-old record is held by four Cali
fornia horses. II price be the test of ex-
| cellence we may say that six California
| bred horses sold for prices ranging from
| SIS, 600 to 500, 600 each. l am indebted for
these figures to a compilation by the
! Breeder and Sportsman. And ROW Direct,
| in 2:O6. breaks the worlds record for both
trotters and PAGERS.
| Compare the exhibition of 1855 with
this Of 1891. Compare the 2,0O0,00O bush
| els of wheat with the 80, ,600, 900 OF to-day,
view the two seeding peaches OF Coloma,
Especial objects of wonderment," with
! the extensive and bewildering display of
| fruit in this Pavilion, and you will begin
! to have an adequate appreciation OF the
| strides which California has made in ma
! terial progress, and the position which
rural Industries occupy in the vocations
of the State.
The State Agricultural Society takes a
| pardonable pride in having been one OF
! the prime factors in the promotion Of this
| great work. The annual fairs have been
a stimulus TO enterprise, have encouraged
a generous rivalry between different sec
tions of the State. suggested experiments
and fostered pride among horticulturists
of their vocation which the skill
conditions, so necessary for sue
cess, lit it almost into the domain
| ofan art. Strike out the history Of this
| society and you will eliminate one Of the
| most brilliant pages from the records OF
! this State-a page replete with evidences
| of untiring energy, OF unselflsh devotion
! on the part of the members to the inter
! ests Of the State; of far-reaching purposes
accomplished, and of personal sacrifices
of time and money for the advancement
| of the cause of agriculture; a page which
tells in glowing lines the progress of the
| State and the transition from the pastoral
period to the agricultural era; to the cul-
| tivation of the soil, in which men have
always found the most contentment, the
highest happiness and the widest field for
| a high civilization.
This State is destined to be the foremost
/ State in the Union in the production of
the fruits of the temperate and sub-tropi-
cal climes. All things conspire to favor
such a result, Our winterless climate
| renders possible operations that cannot
be undertaken in any known part of the
| habitable globe. The instinct for the pos
session of land is strong in the breast of
| the Californian. We are distinctly q
home-loying people. The large profits
which have heretofore been realized
| from fruit growing have stimulated in all
classes of people the desire 10 possess a
| home. The merchant, realizing the un-
certainties of his business and iamenting
the long hours of absence from the bosom
| of his family, which success exacts, looks
| forward to the period of repose upon his
country home. The mechanic, in the
| dull and monotonous routine OF
| low of cattle and inhaleS the odor OF
| the bursting apple bloom. The
limitation of his trade forbids the hope
| that he shall ever be master of his own
time, and he strains every nerve to hasten
the day when the possession of farm
shall give him the GLORIOUS privilege of
being independent" 1t is one Of the glo-
ries of this state that such hopes can be
realized, that there is yet land for the
landless, and that the future profits of
horticulture are certainly assured.
There is a danger which i foresee at
tending this enthusiasm. Accustomed as
we have been to the Congressional limita-
ton of farm of 160 acres, it seems in
credible that less area is sufficient for
the maintenance of a family when de-
voted TO fruit culture. The desire to pos
sess land and the ambition to engage in
large enterprises forestalls the judgment
and deadens the ear to the voice of pru-
dence. l notice tendency to enlarge the
area of individual ownership of orchards
and vineyards. The press gives currency
to the report that such man has the
largest vineyard in the world and another
the largest orchard. This fiatters the
owners vanity, but misleads the poorer
man. l think it is acknowledged that
forty acres of fruit is sufficient to engage
the skill and industry of any man. From
the proceeds be may maintain his family,
educate his children and even live in lux
ury. The man who is planting or has
planted his hundreds of acres in fruit is
not a horticulturist in the true meaning
of the word, He is simply gambler for
quantity and not for quality, and SO far
as he sacrifices the highest excellence of
product for tons of fruit, he is detri-
ment TO the State. If California shall
hold the place she now occupies in the
market it will be by the productions of
| the Orcha rfiisf of fayy acrao