Los Angeles herald., 1891-04-29
A GRAND PROSPECT.

out ana take lo0k at Los Angeles
county just now if he desires to have all |
his misgivings removed. Never since
the American occupation has there been
a prospect Of such abundant or remu
nerative crops. From every quarter |
comes the same story of horticultural
and agricultural prosperity and abun-
dance. The wheat and barley is in cap
ital state, and this remark applies both
to the late and early sown. The yield
will be large, the quality good and the
prices bid fair to be more satisfactory
than they have been for years. Go
where one will, towards the sea or
towards the mountains, one is encoun-
tered on every hand by fields of waving
grain.
Tree planting this year has been very
extensive, and the newly set out plants
are thriving finely. Our nurserymen
have been far over-taxed in supplying
stock for this universal planting, and
extensive drafts have been made from
abroad. This is pleasant augury
for the future; but it is pleas
anter, by far, to note the splen-
did revival in orchards and vineyards
that were supposed to have been
lost. A visit to the orange orchards in the
Alhambra, the San Gabriel, Pasadena,
the Santa Anita and other sections to
the north and east, and even to those
in the immediate vicinity of Los An
geles towards the Vernon district and
the cid Los Angeles Cooperative Nurs-
cry, all show the same splendid and re-
assuring results. The scale-bug has been
almost wholly extirpated, the orchards
are being fertilized, and thus invigor-
ated, as they ought to have been long
ago, and the possession of good sized
grove in this county, and even in this
city, is again guarantee of fortune.
AS to the vineyards, the improvement
has been equally marked. The vine
pest is no longer the terror it was in the
years following the boom. New vine
yards show exceptionally fine growth,
and liberal manuring and care will do
for viticulture what it has already done
for the orange.
Notwithstanding these splendid and
apparent results, the croaker is still
abroad in the land. Like the voice of
the Whangdoodle mourning for her first
born, his plaintive croak still rises from
the metaphorical ponds of despond.
Confronted by the unquestionably re-
stored vitality of our orange groves
and vineyards, he changes front, and he
now announces that the business of
growing oranges will shortly be over
done. He is bound to take refuge in
something, and the most convenient re-
course lies in drawing a melancholy pic
ture of overproduction. He says that
oranges will soon be cheaper than pota-
toes, and that it will not pay to gather
them. This is on the most approved
principle of pessimism, and simply
shows that the modern Wonter Won
Twiller, or Wonter the Doubter, is very
unwilling to get into his hole, which
well-wishers of this section would like
to see him do and see the hole pulled In
after him. He does all this atrabilious
prophesying at a time when one year of
splendid prices for oranges has succeed
ed another. He croaks because it is an
of things, and he could not take san
guine view of affairs if he would. and
he would not if he could. His presence
in Los Angeles county is for the purpose
of acting as foil to the bright and san
guine spirits who here, as elsewhere,
develop country and make themselves
rich IN so doing.
The HERALD, on the other hand holds
that the production of oranges can never
be overdone. By the official statistics
of the italian government, there were
shipped, from the three principal ports
of Italy, during period of ten years, an
average OF $20,000,000 worth of Or
anges per annum. The demand for this
delicious fruit grows steadily. Where
one orange was eaten in the United
States ten years ago, ten are eaten now.
Where ten are eaten now, one hundred
will be eaten five years from now. The
success of the orange carnival at Chi
cago indicates that we are destined to
close out the Italian supply from the
markets of this country. Everything
conspires to show that the demand for
the citrus fruits is steadily expanding,
and the Italian government even ad-
mits that its only competitor in the sale
of oranges in the future will be
California. 1t dismisses Florida as a
sort of irridescent dream.
Surely, with a hundred other pros
pective sources of wealth, and schemes
of development backed by capitalists of
local, national and even international
standing, Angelefios may we'll exult
over their teeming fields and cleaning
orchards, and exclaim, from the fullness
of grateful hearts. Eureka" and re-
echo, as to all possible centers of happi-
ness and prosperity, as to the real one,
the refrain of one OF Moore's poems, sit
is here! 1t is here !"
---------------------
Turpy 10 q oraat ado in Coma ouortars