Los Angeles herald., 1893-01-01
OF ORANGE CULTURE.
Some Facts and Figures in Regar,
to IT.

Some Facts and Figures in Regard
to 1t.
The following is taken from an excel
lent little work of the above title, by Mr..
A. G. Fish:
Careful investigations were made in
Los Angeles county.
January 13, 1890. Hon. II. H. Mark
ham wrote me:
Il sold the Navel oranges from one
acre of ground in South Pasadena this
year, 80 trees, four years old from plant
ing, for net profit of 1925.
January 20, 1890, A. G. Thompson OF
iDuarte wrote
81 have this year picked from 4.year
old Washington Navel buds two and
one-half boxes, and from 3 years old
as high as two boxes of fine oranges,
1875 to the box; but this is better than
the average to the stree. The highest
price realized this season was $3.50 per
box, and lowest SO per box.
II think lemons will pay equally az
well as oranges. They will average
80 a box the year round, and will
bear nearly twice the number of boxes
to the tree of equal age. The drawback
to the lemon business is that so few un-
derstand the proper method of curing
them"
George D. Whitcomb of Glendora,
Cal. writes:
"When | came here four years ago
most of the ground occupied by my
hudded orange grove of Navels. Meditef-
ranean Sweets and Malta Bloods was
covered with sagebrush and cactus.
Tue soil was of coarse, disintegrated
rock that looked to be OF little value.
The product of 1850 infant trees this
year is 4S0 boxes. Part of the oranges
cold as high as $5 per box in San Fran
cisco for the Christmas trade"
w. II. Young Of Duarte says:
"It is we'll to remember that but
small portion OF Southern California is
really the home of the orange. The
nearer you get to the foothills the more
delicate is the flavor and the finer the
color. My HOO budded trees will net
me this year 5000 per acre. l advise
planting the varieties that ripen as late
as April and May. The eastern market
is unlimited for such frpit at good
prices. Lemons are quite Us profitable
as oranges, but require more care in
marketing, as they must be cured.
Land suitable for orange or lemon
| u
provided there is a sufficient supply OF
water"
B Tallmadge of Pasadena writes:
Number of trees, Navel orange, 80 !;
age from planting, six years. The
trees were budded on three-year old
roots and transplanted when the bud
was one year old. The crop amounted
two years ago to 100 boxes at 1925 per
box; last year 100 boxes at $3.50 per
box. Iris years crop l estimate at 1S0
boxes at 50 so per box"
Mr.. Baldwin, owner of the famous
Santa Anita ranch, said to the writer
few days ago:
"I have farm of 100 acres of as fine
land as there is in Indiana, Go miles
they know how to do it, but l get more
clear money from one acre of my orange
orchard in the San Gabriel valley than
off my Indiana farm of 100 acres"
In August, 1887, we sent out little
book entitled Facts Concerning Southern
California, in which occurs the follow
ing language:
This region is discovery compared
with which the discovery of gold in 40
was of small account. In '49 the race
o. adventurous spirits was for wealth
only today there is race of the world
for wealth, plus health and homes. The
addition of these last two elements gives
permanence to the movement and lifts
1t far above the plane of an ordinary
boom, to the level of a discovery. There
is more in the untold wealth of the soil
OF Southern California than can be con.
densed into few sentences and crowded
into the pages of this little book, and
much more in the climate of this region
In it's connection with the topic of health
and homes than would fill book many
times larger than this.
"Give the foothill regions along the
mountains not too far from the ocean 10
years to grow under the planting and
training OF the people of wealth and cul-
ture who are sure to seek them for
homes, and the fruitage. flowers, ever
green trees under tropic sun, tempered
by ocean breeze, will produce some of
the loveliest spots on the green earth,
Aided by little engineering of man,
the talismanic waters may be sent over
the mesas, and the whole kingdom OF
Flora set in holiday attire 365 days in
the year. Where else can home, in such
scenic and all the year climatic surround
ings, be set with such perennial
beauty ?'
This rhetoric seems rosy, but five
years residence, with careful observa-
ton, justifes us in saying that lands
along the Cahuenga and Sierra Madre
foothills, in what is known as the
warm belt" from the westerly line of
the Jones & Baker ranch eastward, are
more valuable today for what they will
actually produce in the way of citrus
and deciduous fruits and early vegeta-
bles than the most sanguine thought
they were for town lots in 1887.
What has been and is now being done
on small area in the old settled por-
tions of Los Angeles, San Bernardino,
Ventura, Santa Barbara. Orange and
San Diego counties is sure to follow on
thousands of acres in this region which
are now under the dominion of the sake-
bush.
| Ruppv r0bag nHafu 81 To-