Los Angeles herald., 1892-12-12
AMID ORANGE ORCHARDS.
A HERALD REPORTERS RAMBLES
ABOUT SAN GABRIEL VALLEY.
How the Trees Look and How They Are
Bearing-What Practical Orchard
ist Thinks of the Market
of Next Year.

1eSIeTuhy I1EhALD repoIIeT speut
the morning ct the Baldwin stables
with Mr.. Woods, the studmaster, who
showed him 2S very handsome wean-
lings by the Emperor of Norfolk, best s.
year.old OF 1883; Verano, one of the
crack 2-year- olds of 1854; Rutherford.
now fast waning into the sere and
yellow leaf; and Gano, the great 2-year-
Id of 1888, whose victory in the Eclipse
stakes at Baltimore caused an examina-
tion of his mouth, in the belief that he
was year older. After hearty din
ner came a stroll down into the cold or
chard" lying south of the lake, in COM
pany with Mr.. Falyey, the farm super
iutendent.
Such sight as it was to look on
either side for half mile and nothing
but an unbroken vista OF green and
gold. The trees were heavily laden and
shored up with poles in every imagin-
able direction to keep the limbs from
breaking. The fruit was unusually
large, the recent rain having materially
added to their growth. The reporter
asked:
"What do you think of the estimates
OF the Los Angeles commission mer-
chants that the crop of the six southern
counties will 90 TO 1000 carloads ?"
81 was at first incined to regard it as
excessive" said Mr.. Falvey, "for some
men let their enthusiasm run away with
their judgment in matters OF this sort !;
but if the crop is as large elsewhere as
here, in proportion to the acreage, that
is not an eXtravagant guess"
"The GlendoTa papers and others pub
lished aJ the head of the valley seemed
10 think that it WIGS; and that 5000 car
loads was nearer true estimate" said
the reporter.
They are as much under it as you, or
your friend who gave you those figures,
is above it. There certainly cannot be
any auch discrepancy" replied Mr.. Fal-
yey. Il sometimes think some people
merely judge one year by the one that
precedes it,
What makes you think 1000 fair
estimate if all the rest OF the district is
like Los Angeles and Orange countiea p"
queried the scribe.
because of the increased acreage in
oranges, for one thing" said the super
intendent, land for the reason that the
bush System adds very largely to the
product of young trees"
"What is the bush system ?" asked
the reporter.
1t 10 the new method of cultivation,
by which the lower limbs, instead of
being turned up to height OF five or
six feet, are allowed to grow perfectly
natural and drop on the ground. This
practically makes the orange bush in
stead of tree, but it has two-fold ad-
vantage. In the first place, it makes
less wood and more fruit. 1t shades the
ground about the trees, and enables
them to get along with lees water dur
ing the dry season; and again, when it
comes to plowing your orchard, which
you must do three or four times in the
season If you expect any results from it
whatever, your careless plowman will
not be able to get near enough to the
roots OF the trees to do any real damage. I"
"And what does all this 90 to estab-
lish, Mr.. Falvey?" asked the penciler.
"lt goes to establish the fact, sir, that
under the bush system OF cultivation a
young trees product is increased at least
| Is per cent. In other words those lower
| limbs that were, in former years, Topped
off to height of at least 55 inches, now
bear from two to three boxes annually
Oh trees IndC are over seVeu years Olu,
thus greatly increasing the product OF
all the young orchards. Our trees on
the east side of the railway track are
nearly Elk years old. By the time they
are eight, they will be yielding as much
as 10-year-old trees would have yielded
by the old system of pruning"
"Do you use msnures on these trees,
and il so, what sort of manureH H'
II should say we did, and lots OF it.
Even III midsummer when our brood
mares and colts are turned out on the
grass and never fed or bedded from one
month to another we have, even then,
40 to so head Of working horses and
mules under cover. Now. in addition to
them, we are feeding so brood mares,
6 stations, II yearlings and 2S weau-
lings. That ma4es l26 head in all,
and every bit of manure that comes
from them goes into theHe orchards.
Oranges are very exhaustive crop and
the trees age prematurelv. That mer-
chant told you correct, the other day,
when he said there were orchards and
orchards. Some men give them proper
attention, while others grow their trees
in happy, CO. lucky style. People who
don't manure their orchards, won't have
any orchards 10 manure, the first thing
they know. 1t is like any other kind of
business-if not worth attending to, it
is not worth having.