The Newtown bee., 1895-03-29

| north of the American River. Thous- , ands of acres are set to citrus and decid-
 uous fruits. This company's fruit land | is beautifully located on an elevated | rolling plateau. Our drives through 1t 1 gave us the first grand view of Caiifor- l mia fruit culture. Oranges ripen month
 earlier here than in the south. On our
 morning trip here we visited the Natona Winery, which is the second largest in
 the state, containing 100000 gallons. The
 whole county for long distance is occu- | pied with the vine, which is set in rows ! as straight as an arrow, as far as one can see. Vines are kept trimmed with two | eyes to the stump, so all one sees is the stump standing two or three feet high, which grow to one foot or more in diam eter. Most of the work in California is done by Chinese. After trimming vines are loaded onto iron wagons and burnt thereon as they go along through the vineyards. Along the American west of Sacramento and the Sacramento south of the city all the deciduous except the ap- pie and all the citrus and semi tropical fruits are grown to perfection. We met many enthusiastic growers ot them. The month earlier ripenipg of the fruits gives growers a deciden advantage over South ern California. South of Sacramento for
 40 miles in the rich bottom lands of Sac ramento river, on either side as far as one
 can see, is practically one vast orchard,
 with river frontage nearly the whole distance. These are mostly deciduous fruits. The oldest orchards in the state
 are mostly in hands of original owners,
 or their heirs, and are not for sale. 1
 think, all things considered, the Oran-
 gerale Go. are offering the best induce ments to settlers, hold their citrus fruit land two years set at $200 per acre as rule and in best locations appreciates in
 value each year after planting to oranges
 or lemons $100 per acre. Trees of all
 kinds grow very rapidly. The wealth of
 the soil is immense, some claim practi-
 caily inexhaustabl with irrigation, as
 that furnishes plant food. Soil varies
 from two or three to eight and 12 feet
 deep, usually six to 10 feet. Trees grow
 rapidly, bear immensely. Oranges are usually set 20 feet, making over 100 trees to the acre. Some begin to fruit at three
 years. Saw many three year old grove
 with considerable fruit, at five years best
 groves yield two boxes, six and seven
 year groves are selling at $400 to $500
 per acre on the trees. Most of the fruits
 are sold on the trees, 10 and F year old
 groves were selling at 5000 per acre. Land upon which they are grown is all irrigated once month through the grow
 ing season, and is usually valued accord
 ing to the age of the trees from setting,
 say two years set $200 or $500, five to eight years set 5000 to $500 and from that up to large figures for groves of 10 or more years setting. One can only &C., count for the great yield of all of Cali fOrnia products through the great adapt ability of soil and climate to their quick est and best development. The yield of oranges and lemons is immense. Trees usually producing about as many boxes as the number of years they have been set, after the first six or eight years. 4emons continue to bloom and ripen during the whole year. All of Califor- mia farming is intense. Not all of her fruit lands require irrigation, especially the deciduous fruits. For instance those in the American and Sacramento river districts. Such lands are held at much more reasonable prices, as irrigation plants are very expensive and usually add nearly Sl00 per acre to the cost of the land. Sale of such carries with it & perpetual right to necessary water, which is expressed in inches. One can readily see that a fruit grower on irrigated land has about as sure thing for crop as it is possible. not being dependant upon rain fall. There are irrigation dams in Cali fornia which are said to hold two years supply of water, which in all human probability will never be called for, as the Sierras, with their large deposits of winter snows furnish an abundance. visited several of the largest irrigation plants, of which l may mention later. In some localities the orange and lemon rank first as the most profitable crop, all things considered, in others the vine, and in many the deciduous fruits. The l English walnut grows to large size, IS l set about 40 feet apart but is a heavy 1 yielder, producing in several cases noted | as much as $20 per tree. This, the al mond. prune, fig, peach, cherry, apricot, l etc., are extensively cultivated in Ameri l can and Sacramento river districts, as l also are grapes. There are fewer croak- l CTS in California than any place 1 have | seen. Many ladies are running ranches l successfully and while very few could l succeed at farming here, the peculiar | conditions existing make it possible l there. The planting is a very simple l process, as also cultivation. The irrigation 1 is also simple matter. Nearly all fruit l products are sold to responsible fruit l companies and as the Chinese make the 1 best of help, good help is muchmore cas- fly obtained there than East. The states l population is nearly one quarter Chinese. ! They are a quiet, law abiding people. l good laborers, but make no improve ments anywhere and send all their money ! home to China, so they, while being good workmen, are impoverishing the eoun- try. Many object. to them on that ac-
 count. About one thrd of San Francis co.'s population Is Chinese. They have had an unusually wet season this winter, raining considerable for several days af- ter we arrived, but we had fine weather after that, much of the low lands along the river being submerged. As we pro- ceeded we found towns and villages flood | ed. A large part of the country for miles below Sacramento was under water. EJames c. Johnson.