Los Angeles herald., 1892-12-01


fruits, potatoes, cereals, corn and veget-
ables, while second bottoms and higher
lands where water could not be. secured
for irrigating, hence laid idle, now bloom
with verdure under the benign influence
of artesan wells. The barren mesas are
becoming transformed into olive and
prune orchards, the low sandy wastes
into groves of English walnuts, the
side Mills into vineyards while every
nook and corner is being utilized by one
speciality or another, for an exotic here
Immediately becomes indigenous. The
tall, smooth-limbed eucalyptus, the
acacia, the pepper and cork tree
line the driveways; arbor vitae and
other evergreens are formed into hedges,
and inside these elysian enclosures the
bright golden globe of the orange, the
obiong fruit of the lemon, the spreading
walnut, the smooth-leaved olive; and
the vines with their luscious punches of
purple fruits grow in luXuriance, while
among the whole are neat cottages sur
rounded by the broad-leaved banana,
feathry palms, and other tropical
plant life, and thousands OF bril-
liant hued flowers that seem to vie with
each other in luxuriance of growth and
color.
OVERCOMING BLIGHT AND SCALE.
But reverting to the blight and scale
OF vine and orange grove. The vista
ton Of these scourges here was but a
repetition of what comes to every local
ity in the universe where these fruits
are grown. There has never been found
yet preventive, although every arti-
fee has been brought to bear toward
controlling the scourge; and here, at
last, with prospects of success.
Fruit, however, is not the entire prod
uct of Orange county; hay. cereals, veg
etables of every description, are grown
with the most wonderful results; splen-
did nurseries furnish others than Orange
county growers with stock, and of guch
superiority as to be in general and in
creasing demand.
There is not month in the year that
ripening fruit may not be picked.
Strawberries ripen every month in the
year in the more favored places, such as
the peat lands, while peaches ripen
from spring to Christmas. Fresh vege-
tables are in market the year round and
are always cheap. The soils are SO rich
as to permit the planting of peanuts or
other small crops between the rows OF
walnuts or other trees without fear Of
exhaustion. In fact, their cultivation is
directly beneficial, in that the land is
for their benefit necessarily more thor
oughly irrigated and cultivated.
WALNUT GROWING.
1t may be of interest to prospective
walnut growers to reproduce the investi-
cations of prominent orchardists and
nurserymen regarding that important
commercial nut. Mr.. H. H. Snow,
large grower at Tustin, and Col. Geo. w.
Ford, owner OF the famous Santa Ana
nurseries, have made a special study of
walnuts, not only in theory but in sys
tematic and practical tests, in propagat-
ing stock and growing the nuts for mar
ket.
Walnuts are fast coming into favor as
crop in Southern California. They
are easily grown, easily cared for and
the crop is easily and readily marketed.
Indeed, welnuts are considerable por-
tion of the product OF many localities,
but not all soils are adapted to their
success-not as to the growth OF the
tree, but in their yield. Many fine.
thrifty orchards are barren of nuts, or
at best have but an Indifferent crop.
The soils in the lower valleys, when it
has been deposited by precipitation
decomposed vegetable matter, mineral
salts-indeed, such a combination as
only nature or her mountain valleys
may creste-that is the soil for wal
nuts.
The soft shell variety OF walnut,
known only few years, however, is
completely taking the place Of the origi-
nal English nut, it seems. Meesrs. Ford
and Snow are ita chiefest champions and
its earliest propagators. 1t certainly
has superior kernel, which is easily
extracted, while the shell is smooth and
thin and is, if anything, larger and GER
tainly more uniform in size than the old
varieties.
The soft shells originated in Santa
Barbara county. in Joseph Sexton's
orchard, as a seeding "sport." Sew
eral improvements have been made since
by California growers, the most import
ant one being by Colonel Ford of Santa
Ana, and popularly known as Ford's
improved soft shell. Walnuts are not
always true from their seed, and this
fact is best demonstrated by this very
sport, whose progeny often retrogrades
either to the hard, rough shell, or to the
small but toothsome paper shell. "How-
ever, one who is careful in selecting
young trees may readily secure true
stock" Colonel Ford explains, las the
harder shell varieties, while vigorous
indeed, the larger trees-will be in
clined to spread its limbs; has rougher
stock and darker bark. The paper
shells are always dwarfy, while the
true soft shell has smooth, with bright
bark; is vigorous in growth, and
straight, while the limbs are quite erect.
The soft shell is a sure bearer and yields
heavier than other Sorts" Messrs.
Snow and Adams of Tustin, Mendelson
and Bartlett of Capistrano and others in
the vicinity of Anaheim and Santa Ana
have noted this fact.
In Snow and Adams groves, Tustin,
where the trees of the hardshell variety
were Is years old, they had been thinned
out until they were over 80 feet apart,
still the branches intertwined, and next
year still another row will be taken out.
This grove produced an average of 450
pounds OF nuts to each tree, an increase
in the yield of the grove over the yield
of the year before they were thinned
out. Mr.. Snow believes the further
thinning will result in a still greater in
crease III the groves total yield, as the
increase on each tree will nearly double,
ii this theory proves true.
A softshell grove opposite, in the
same grounds, now II years old, is get
so feet apart, with trees in each square,