The herald., 1893-02-18
PREGNANT FACTS.


bole has been put at discount by a
prodigality Of development that accom-
plishes in decade what it takes GEN.
turies to achieve in Europe, and often
half century even ia the staid eastern
states. As case in point, take the
result OF the census OF 1890 in the city of
Los Angeles. Everybody admits that
this census was faulty in itself. 1t was
imperfectly taken, and it was taken at a
time when thousands of the people of
this city had hied themselves to seaside
and mountain resorts, many of them in
adjoining and some of them in distant
counties. Notwithstanding all this,
the II, 800 inhabitants which the census
OF 1880 gave the Angelic city were con-
verted into the 50,3S0 of Mr.. Porter's
census OF 1890.
Although the facts are as we have
stated, there are atrabilious people in
our midst who would like to throw a
sombre veil over future which is really
indescribably bright. Mr.. Dick Kerens
and the st. Louis capitalists who built the
Terminal railway paid visit to this Sec
tion about year ago, and they were in
expressibly charmed by what they saw.
When they got back to st. Louis Mr..
Kerens told newspaper reporter that
while it took dozens of acres in the east
ern states to furnish a single carload of
freight, there were many single acres in
Southern California that could load
three or four cars with their product in
a single year.
Mr.. Kerens was precisely right in this
statement. 1t looked like exsggeration,
but it was not so in any sense. Any OF
the farmers on irrigated lands can here
raise three crops of potatoes, csbbages
or cauliaowers, and the like garden
truck, every year. If the farmer
cares to be industrious he can raise
from three to four carloads of these
staples regularly annually. He can not
only raise an immense weight of these
staples, but he can produce many OF
them at times when they will appear in
the eastern markets as early vegetables.
This ia particularly true of potatoes,
tomatoes, peas and beans. The other
day the writer enjoyed the pleasure of
a conversation with ex-senator George
F. Edmunds. He mentioned the fact
to that distinguished gentleman that it
was perfectly feasible to arrange to ship
spring lamb and veal to the east in
time for the Christmas and New Years
festivities. "Why," said Mr.. Edmunds,
"ii you could produce twelve or four
teen pound lamb at the holiday tide in
New York. or Boston, or any of the
leading eastern cities, you would have
no difficulty whatsoever in getting $40
for it. The novelty would take our
people,"
Here is a point that will undoubtedly
attain a commercial status shortly.
There is some, though very little, danger
in shipping the citrus and other fruits
to the east in midwinter. In shipping
so'called spring lamb and veal there
would be none whatever. Both would
be improved by the cold storage trip
across the continent.
When Mr.. Kerens spoke about a single
acre producing two or three carloads
of freight in Southern California, he of
course had an eye on our orange and
lemon shipments. A single acre in
oranges of mature trees can be relied
upon for two carloads, and their pro-
ductive capacity increases with the
passing years. But in truck gardening,
with the ability, by the aid of irrigation,
to produce from three to four crops a
year, the outlook for transportation
companies is practically illimitable.
In the line of fattening hogs and in
dairy products there are no bounds to the
wealth that awaits our farmers. The
farmer in Orange county, New York,
Chester county, Pennsylvania, or in
the heart of the Blue Grass valley in
Kentucky, between his hay crop and
the aftermath, can look for from two to
two and a half tons of hay year. With
alfalfa as the staple, and irrigation as
the stimulus, the Los Angeles farmer
can get from eight to twelve tons OF green
feed yearly from his pastures. Ofcourae,
under such circumstances, eastern COM
petition in hog raising and butter and
cheese making is simply out of the
question.
In the foregoing we have given simply
hint of what lies ahead of the farmer
here. It is these possibilities that have
inspired SO many railways with the de-
termination to push into our phenom-
enal valley. Combined with a geo.
graphical situation not surpassed on the
American continent, and with variety
of production not rivaled on the foot
stool, we have here the conditions ol
rapid growth which will surpass any
thing in our past, brilliant as that has
been. On clear business principles,
and discounting anything that has even
an oblique reference to the travelling
valetudinary, the future of Los Angeles
is uncommonly bright. As it is so we
say 30.
The San Bernardino Courier, in the
following comments, reflects the general
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