The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1895-12-27
LAND DEVELOPMENT

Improvement Of Small Tracts by the Incom-
ing Popuiation-Chino Sales
Sales of ranch land in tracts of hum
dreds or thousands of acres, bought for
purposes of subdivision and resale, which
used to be so frequently mentioned, have
become thing of the past, and it is rare
that saIes of interest by reason of the area
of land involved are chronIcled. Even
when large tracts are bought it is usually
with the intention on the part of the pur-
chaser to improve and develop, rather than
to subdivide and put on the market in
small tracts. The small farmer is coming
instead of the speculatOr, and though his
operations individually are not at all in
clined to furnish sensational news, col
lectively he is changing thu face of the
country and the local methods of doing
business.
During the year now almost past very
few land sales of great magnitude have
been made; yet more land heretofore ly-
more acres heretofore devoted to barley
have been set out to trees, more orchards
of nondescript trees have b5en rooted up
and the land devoted to vegetables and
small fruits than In any other year since
the county was organized. Farms on the
outskirts of the city have been given up to
the needs of the increasing urban popula-
lation, but the agricultural lands surround
ing the city have been taken up, and there
is an overwhelming circles of farms and
gardens surrounding each of the smaller
towns in the county.
Though the public hardly recognizes the
fact, the effect upon the market is marked
along certain lines of production. For in.
stance, eggs and poultry were high all
through the summer months, and are
cheaper now than Los Angeles housekeep.
ers ever found those products at Christmas
time During the summer the local sup.
ply kept out shipments from the east, and
prices were set by the demand here and
the supplies to be obtained from the neigh
boring ranches, for it pays to import east
ern eggs and poultry only when the price
is high enough to guarantee against loss by
the spelling of a carload en- route. Heavy
supplies of poultry were brought in during
the holidays, and the bringing of few car.
loads of turkeys from the east knocked the
bottom out of prices for day or two, to re-
cover as promptly with the exhaustion OF
imported stock. AS a matter of fact the
average price of these products has not
varied greatly, the local supply having in
creased sufficiently to keep the market
steady through the year. to the benefit of
everybody concerned, except the eastern
poultry raiser.
A fair illustration of the line of develop
ment now manifesting itself is the sale of
lands of the Chino ranch lands. Under the
system adopted by the company lands are
offered for sale. for cash or on time, and
are also rented to men who will work them
for portion of the proceeds. For some
years the lands have been cultivated in
large part by renters. During the twelve
months many of these renters have bought
the land they worked, the sales thus made
aggregating 1850 acres, in tracts varying
from 10 to 100 acres, by far the larger
proportion, of course, being comparatively
small tracts. The price paid for the land
has averaged $50 per acre, and the total
amount of sales aggregates 1925 900.
That the price is not excessive is shown by
the fact that all the sales have been made
to actual settlers. and in all except five
ers, and were therefore competent 20 judge
of the returns to be obtained from the cui-
tivation of the land.
There is no other section where so COM
plete statistics can be obtained as from
Chino, but there are various other sections
where development is equally, or even
more distinctly, marked. The selling of
portions of the larger holdings throughout
the Cahuenga valley, in the Monte Vista
section. in the Glendale and Eagle Rock
districts, in the neighborhood of Downey
and Clearwater, in the Pomona region and
the Puente foothills, has fairly transformed
those several sections and brought an inn
mense aggregate area under good cultiqa-
ton. These farmers of small tracts are
almost universally prosperous and only
sufficiently discontinued to lead them to
stronger effort toward developing the land
to it's highest productiveness.