The record-union., 1896-06-11

ITelSnl ana other charges 10 distant
markets
A very large percentage of the
oranges being offered for sale in this
city are culls and absolutely worth
less, so far as table fruit is concerned.
San Francisco is selected by growers
of citrus as well as deciduouS fruits as
a general dumping ground. There
should be systematic effort on the
part of growers associations to rem
edy this short-sghted policy. People
become thoroughly Disguised with
fruit and use it very sparingly after
being swindled day after day and week
after week for three or four years. 1t
is almost impossible to secure in this
market a desirable package of fruit,
even from the most reputable dealers.
1t is rather diScouraging to the con-
sumner to find that in order to secure a
desirable package of fruit that a per-
sonal inspection must be made before
he dare take the chances of paying for
and having the fruit delivered. There
is something radically wrong in con-
nection with the fruit business, and we
are of the opinion that a vast amount
of time and money will be wasted by
those engaged in the fruit industry,
unless they start at once to correct
the evils mentioned above. The ques-
ton of marketing fruit at profitable
prices has been considered and dis
cussed for the past five or six years at
every meeting of fruit growers held in
the State, yet the most glaring defects
exist. This remedy for a poor market
and low prices is better fruit and fair
roo TIM
buy and eat it.-California Fruit
Grower.
BANTAMS FOR BROILERS.
Few people know that bantanis are
profitable from a practical point of
view, and this ignorance very often
leads parents to decide against furnish
ing their children with these attractive
and wholesome pets. 1t has been dem
onstrated by several series of expert
ments, both in England and America,
that they return a greater amount of
flesh and eggs, for the same weight of
food consumed, than any of the larger
breed of fowls. Several prominent
writer's, in commenting on this, state in
substance that since there is no gen.
eral market for small fowls and eggs,
these considerations would weigh only
with those who might wish to consume
the product in their own households.
We know for a fact, in several cases,
that bantam eggs are being sold for the
same price as ordinary fresh eggs, and
that as many as 100 white bantam
broilers have been disposed OF at one
time to French restaurants in this city,
and for nearly the price of other broil-
ers of the same age. Not every one
may accomplish such good results, for
the reason that they do not expend the
proper energy in finding a market for
their products, but the same might be
said of any breed Of fowls. The fact
remains that they are practically profit
able. By all means let the children
have bantams, if they prefer them
California Fruit Grower.
ABOUT THE CAMPHOR TREE.
Since the price Of camphor gum is
rapidly advancing, it might be we'll to
find out if California has not numerous
places in her broad domain where the
camphor tree would lc urish. The tree,
it is said, grows in poor, sandy ground,
but it is mistake to suppose that it
prefers poverty of soil, for it is as SEN
the orange. A soil that produces an
abundant growth of pine trees will be
the very best for the growth Of the cam
phor tree. The tree is as hardy as the
Wild gum tree, and even if cut down
by frost and cold will sprout again with
great vigor, and it grows even more
rapidly than the orange. The price of
camphor gum is now about sixty-five
cents a pound, and before long will
probably be worth 81. Professor H. G.
Hubbard in a recent lecture given be-
fore Horticultural Society in Florida,
states that 101 pounds of leaves of Flor
ida canphor will yield pound of crude
gum annually. The leaves may be cut
twice a year and the yield of gum in
creases as the trees grow older. The
tree makes a very dense head, and a
mature tree will contain 700 pounds of
leaves, Of which 300 pounds might be
safely cut or plucked without injury to
the tree.-California Fruit Grower.
CORN COB MAPLE SYRUP.
"A farmer of Lacon, ILL.,, has been
making maple syrup without the for
mality of collecting maple sap for the
purpose. Maple syrup has been made
III lilc liiOSl StllSIOuS qde1HlillcS 1IOIll
everything but sap from maple trees
since it first became a popular article of
consumption. In his endeavor to make
corn cobs useful for fodder, by boiling
them, he discovered in them a flavor
similar to that of maple syrup, and he
now produces that favorite article in
the following manner: Twelve clean
corn cobs are placed in a gallon of water
and boiled until soft Then the juice
is strained off the cobs and a gallon
Of dark brown sugar solution added.
This is boiled a little while, resulting
III fine quality of syrup hardly distin-
guishable from the maple product"
ONION CULTURE.
A bulletin from the United States De-
partment of Agriculture has the fol-
lowing general remarks on the culture
CT the onion:
There are few vegetable crops of
more Importance to the rural popula-
ton of the United States than the onion
crop. The relatively large prfits which
it is possible for the skillful grower to
obtain from limited area have rem
dered the cultivation of the bulb espe-
cially popular with those possessing
small tracts of land, while gardeners