The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1892-08-18
CALIFORNIA faUrr.

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The fruit canning season opened .
few days ago. and the members Of the
new canning eonbine are cogit&tine
! over their prospects. A few facts ars
patent to all The fruit coop is iargs
and the quantity Of canned fruit put
up this year viii be larger than las'
year, IL the prices offered by canners
are sufficient to call il out.
By the time the whole fruit crop l.
picked. In the east and on this coast
iobbers viii be able TO reckon it up
with some approach TO accuracy and to
determine what they can afford fo pay
for canned fruit OF course there Is a
price at which they win take our whole
product People viii eat all the canned
frait that is offered IL il is cheap enough.
But when the markets are glutted con-
sumers grow fastidious
The competition which we are about
TO witness VIII rove beneficial II il
awakens our fri a.frowers to the knowi-
edge that the = ches grown In New
Jersey, Maryland and Delaware are ex-
cellent, and If our canned peaches are
to conquer the market of the great val
leys they must be at least equal IL not
better goods than the grocers of Chica-
go can get from New York or Philadel-
phia- 1t is wasting time and money TO
ship inferior goods
Of two fruits we have a practical
monopoly. One of these is apricots,
which are not grown in commercial
quantities in the east. In this state we
raise them in carload lots, and there
Is no fruit which Is more luscious OF
more wholesome when 1t Is properly
canned. Whether the business of can
ming them has reached perfection, or
whether, in consequence of the absence
of competition, it is carelessly conduct
ed, persons not In the trade are not
able to Judge.
But one thing experience teaches
when canned apricots are dear or are
inferior in quality people consume
canned peaches instead. 1t rests with
the Gamers to decide whether we shall
receive the full benefit Of a market of
which we now enjoy a monopoly.
The prune is another fruit in which
we have no eastern competition. 1t is
impossible to convert the eastern plum
into dried prune that will sell. Our
plums are naturally suited for drying.
Between the California prune and tho
German or French prune it is some
times hard to choose. The European
fruit has generally fine flavor, but the
California fruit is so much larger and
better looking that quite often it sells
for more money in New York and Chi
eago. The prune promises to be quite
as profitable fruit to raise in this state
as the apricot.
We shall this year have something
like 5000, 900 pounds of prunes avail,
able for export, which is equivalent to
%, 900, 900 pounds of plums; the prunes
are now worth about ten cents pound,
or two cents for the green fruit, but
California prunes were wanted last year
at fifteen cents at Chicago, and they
have sold as high as twenty cents. Very
few of our horticultural products sell
as high as this.
In fruit as in everything else, it is
quality that tells. 1t is the best goods
that bring in money; second class goods
frequently net loss. California is fit
ted to become the orchard of the world.
But it will not become so until human
ingenuity and human skill are enlisted
in helping nature. There is vague
idea, especially among newcomers to
this state, that fruit grows itself, and
that any man can be a fruit grower.
No person of common sense imagines
that he can make a boot without ap-
premiership, but there are lots of peo-
pie who imagine that they can become
successful horticulturists without study.
observation or labor.-San Francisco
Call.