The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1896-11-14

thirty-six hours they could be taken out
well colored. believe your lemons coulG
be handled to advantage in the same
way OF course you are compelled t
be governed more by the market, but
have never yet in my experience seer
a whole season pass without some OPP.
portunity at some time to secure high
prices on lemons. However, if that time
comes to you in the latter part of the
season it necessarily requires you tc
hold and cure your fruit at your end o.
the line in order to take advantage Of
high markets.
, July, in the east. is usually looked upon
as being the high point" for lemons
but of course this is also governed by the
weather During the past season
placed some fifty boxes of California
lemons in storage in this city and watch
ed them very closely held them here
for at least two months and found they
were standing up remarkably well
However, when they did start to go they
fell off very rapidly. by wet rot. This
/ was hardly fair test, as satisfied my
4 self afterwards that the cellar in which
they were stored was too damp and too
much moisture was the cause of their
| falling off. Experience teaches me that
1t is the best policy to place perishable
article in the market as soon as possible
! after it has been packed. Fruit. like
! else, lldS d lllllll " lbo ia t0i a
! life. When that period is passed there
! is nothing to hold it up.
: l have more confidence in the advisa-
bility of raising lemons in the United
States than in any other one article in
the fruit line.
The average in time will show salts
| factory results. I am satisfied that as
! the California lemon is becoming better
known in the east it is meeting with ia
| h nd hi ShnI1d in
! contact with the foreign product where
there is superabundance of the latter,
results might be disastrous.
T. F. HIGGINS
! The subject of Flowing VS.. Cultiva-
I ton was treated by DR.. John Needham.
| Prof. A. j. Cook of Pomona college
read a paper or
NEW FRUITS FROM OUR INSTI-
TUTE WORK
1t has been my happy privilege to be
connected with the farmers institute
movement intimately in five of the
| states where that work has attained the
most marked success. From the time of
| the Inauguration of the institutes in
| Michigan, 1875, to the time that left the
state to come to my adopted home,
| Southern California, 1898, l was one OF
| the conductors of the annual institutes,
| For two winters l was engaged by that
| wonderful organizer the late Mr.. w. II.
Morrison of Wisconsin. who was father
| of the farmers institute enterprise OF
| that state. to aid in this university ex-
| tension work in the Badger state. For
| two winters l was employed to work in
| New York with such men as Woodward,
| the. Powells and Curtiss. One winter
| worked with Chamberlain and Bonham
| in the great state of Ohio. Thus had
an admirable opportunity to study the
! methods of each and all of these states.
! When 1 was employed to supervise the
| farmers Institutes of Southern Califor-
MIA l desired to incorporate all that was
| good in the states of the east and to
| build on to these other important fea-
| lures that hard thought and study might
suggest.
While in Michigan we conceived the
| idea of annual farmers institutes in
each county. although the state agricul-
=, tural college under whose auspices the
| institutes were held conducted only six
| in the year. Thus at each institute un-
| der my charge the last three years was
| in Michigan we endeavored to organize
an annual institute which should be
held independent of aid from the state
| In the preliminary meeting to arrange
for the institute urged the Importance
| of such action, and at the institutes such
| action was secured.
During the last few years farmers
clubs have become quite general in sew
eral of the states. In many cases the &c
clubs have become very influential.
| Their work and reputation not infre-
| quently has become recognized through
| out the state. and often beyond state
| lines. The valuable work and influence
of these clubs is multiplex in character.
| They create a wholesome social atmos-
! phere; replace suspicion in the commun
/ ity with confidence; do much to secure
| neatness and adornment in all the pre-
cincts of the home; tend to make the
best methods of culture and manage
ment the universal method in all the
region: work powerfully to stimulate
| thought, study and a better power of ex-
| preston among all the members of the
| club; may have mighty influence to
discover unjust laws and evils of legis-
! lation, and work successfully to change
| them. l believe rs the result of study
| that such clubs may become one of the
most powerful agents for good in our
| country. Association is one of the most
desirable consummations to be effected
| in our agricultural economy. Yet farm
| ers from their isolation and necessarily
retired lives are suspicious, even of each
| other, and slow to organize associations
| The club will do more than any other one
! thing to effect change in this respect.
Thus it was that when l was asked to
direct the farmers institute of Southern
California that l conceived the plan to
make each institute the parent of one OF
more live. influential farmers clubs. Sc
| far as I know no state institute before
ours has attempted this work. In the
two years which have elapsed about
| twenty such clubs have been success
fully organized. and many of them are
| now doing most effective service. South
ern California has much to boast of in
way of scenery, climate and fertility
and productiveness of her soil: yet be-
lieve her greatest superiority consists
in the culture, ability and intelligence
of her rural population. believe it will
be hard to estimate the good that may
come to us if live, wide awake club be
organized and wisely conducted in each
neighborhood. If the farmers institutes
continue is they have been going for the
past two years we shall soon see the
ample fruits of these organizations in all
our rural districts.
But believe we are not yet at the end
of the good work and influence of our
farmers Institutes.
l believe that there are two more en-
terprises that we may now undertake
which can be made of great service in
promoting a higher and better system OF
agricultural practice in our beloved
Southern California. The first can be
organized in the institutes and carried
out much easier and quicker through the
influence of the clubs. l refer to a farm
home reading circle. Such circles are
already in operation in several states
In q oil hoy 4