St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-04-01
EXALTED ANO EXCITED
EKER 7HE GLORIOUS CLIMATE or
CALIFORNIA.
GARDEN SPOT OF AMERICA

Orange Raising Now Overdone--
Groves Can &c Purchased
From % to 80 Per Cent Less
Now Than Two Years Ago
The Culture Of the Lemon
Beautiful Flower Festivals.
Special to the Globe.
Los ANGELES. Cal. March 25.-There
has probably been more fine rhetoric
expended in writing about California
than about any other section of the
United States. And it is not strange
that this should be so. There is some
thing in the very atmosphere here
which inspires one to tlorid phraseology.
and, try as hard as you can, it is DIFF
ficult to avoid it. 1t is catching and
l am afraid have got it. This is why
have delayed until this letter to say
anything about the climate. L want 10
be truthful, at least from my own stand
point, and to be so l have been Obliged
towait until | recovered somewhat from
the eXaltation and excitement incident
to the sudden change from the frlgldlfy
of Minnesota winter to the balmy,
sun-emblazoned, fiower-bedecked land
of Southern California.
If they had nothing else here they
could boast of they have climate, and
they are proud of it, and mighty sensi-
tive OH that su bject, too. You may call
h,iv 2.
ter. but If You want to escape the APP
pellatiun renderfoot." be careful what
you say about the climate. A
local paper even went SO far
the other morning as 10 say that
the GROWERS who did not like this eli
mate had better move on. Their room
was much more desirable than their
there are over three hundred persons
here in Los Angeles engaged in the real
estate business. They call it real estate,
but
THEY SELL CLIMATE.
1t is said they will sell you an acre of
climate and throw In 25-fOot lot here
i'll the city. or if you desire to settle
In the country they can do even better
than that.
And what would this country be with
out climate! But climate alone was not
sufficient to develop the wonderful pro-
ductiveness of these fertile valleys. The
Almighty furnished land and climate at
the beginning of time, and has been
obliged to wait until near the close of
ninQfapnfh FIN
TO furnish the other essential clement
wafer. These elements combined have
made Southern California what it is to-
day, the garden spot of the United
States. A ten-acre farm in this country
means water for Irrigation; and the ex-
preston 'laEd and water" means al
ways water inseparaOly attached to the
land by deed or by the law, and
it is claimed where water is
thus supplied ten-acre farm Will
not only support family in
comfort. but if we'll managed will leave
. larger surplus than the ordinary
Eastern farmer OH 100 acres ever
dreamed of.
But it seems to me that the orange
business is being overdOne here. Plant
ing of orange groves has been going on
TO such an extent for the past twoor
three years. stimulated by the enormous
profits arising from the growing
OF this fruit at the prices which
have heretofore prevailed, that in
another year o, two the quantity of
oranges produced in this section Will he
many times multiplied. This has had a
tendency 10 decrease the value of the
ground planted 10 oranges, and many
persons who went heavily in debt under
the stimulus of prospective big profits
md themselves now, owing to the de-
pressed prices and the general financial
condition of The country,
IN STRAITENED CIRCUMSTANCES.
and groves can be bought now from %
to 30 per cent cheaper than the prices
prevailing a couple of years ago. The
cost of planting the trees is also much
less now than formerly. Orange trees
OF The size for planting cost two years
ago from 81. 80 to 81 each, which made
the cost of the first planting from 5000
to $3.50 per acre. l was told at
Redland few days ago that
trees can be bought in the nurseries
there at from 10 10 25 cents each, which
would reduce the cost for planting to
s25 TO $50 an acre, and in the same pro-
portion the value of the planted groves.
with the prospect that the price of
oranges must still further decline, there
seems to he no stimulus TO further
planting, even al these low prices for
the nursery trees.
am told that the lemon culture is
more profitable than that of oranges,
for the reason that the trees bear ali the
year. and there is less likelihood of
overstocklng the market. 1t is true
that the lemon requires much more
handling than the orange, as the former
has to be put through sweating process
of several months. and handled over
two or three times before boxing for
shipment. Yet with all that, box
of lemons can be produced for