The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1896-04-24
IBlH SIHHY CALIFORNIA.
A. 6. Clement Writes Another Interesting
Letter on the Pacific Slope Country.
Fruit Raising, lis Advantages and Dis
advantages-The Sugar Beet as
a Growing Crop.

Growing crop
Editor REPUBLIC;
CHINO, Gala, april 10 When I wrote
you last it was raining and before the
storm wss over it turned to snow. Here
at our place it did not lay on the
ground at all but four miles north OF
us it was ons inch deep, and the noun
tains we're all white and remained SO
for several days. I think it has been
known to snow here once before in Is
years. We have had considerable frost
here this spring which is said to be
very unusual SO late in the season.
Seine nay have the same idea that We
had before coming here that a frest
ruined the orange crop but that is not
the case. UnIessi il freezes hard enough
to penetrate the inside of the orange it
does no particular harm. In some To-
calities it froze some Of the fruit and
that was rushed off to market so if any
one has been eating dry oranges they
may know the cause. 1t is said the
only frostless belt in this state is be-
tween Los Angeles and the ocean, a
distance of Is miles, and that is only a
few miles wide. At the retail stores
here fruit is not very much cheaper
than it is in Goodland, but one can buy
direct from the producer very cheap
or they can buy at the packing houses
oranges that have some slight defect
like bruise that does not hurt them
to use here but they would not do to
ship. One can get such from ten cents
per bushei down to nothing and wagon
loads of them are fed to hogs and many
go to waste. Still orange raising is
profitable as a rule. know man that
last year from 60 trees sold over three
hundred dollars worth. That is at the
rate of over six hundred dollars per
acre.
There are several reasons for failures
here in raising fruit, one is in trying
to raise kind that is not adapted to
the soil. For example, good orange
land will not raise good apricots, "vice
versa" Then there is a great differ
enee in the quality of all kinds of fruit
If one gets poor trees in the start he is
sure to fail. Olives are raised here
quite extensively and there are two
kinds and the trees seem to be alike.
If one gets the poor kind be is ont sew
sral years time, some money and prob
ably disguised with the business, Olive
trees grow successfully without any
irrigation while oranges require more
water. They say there is danger of
getting them to vet so the rule is when
you can run a hoe handle down in the
ground the length of it they are wet
enough. The soil here is not all alike
as in Sherman county, Kansas, but it
varies and in a very short distance.
Sugar beets are coming on nicely,
some are thinning them out and others
are planting and will continue the bal
anee of this month anyway. It is lots
of work to prepare the ground ready
for the seed. First it has to be plowed
deep and then worked with different
implements until it is thoroughly pull
Yerized. The planting is done with a
two-hOrse planter that plants four rows
at once eighteen inches apart. The
seed is dropped very thick in the rows
so as to be sure of a full stand and
then they are thinned out to about six
inches apart in the row. Large beets
are not desirable as they are apt to
give a low per cent of sugar, from three
to five pounds being the most desirable
size. The cultiyBting is done with one
horse and the cultivator follows the
planter four rows at once. They have
two kinds of seed, one adapted to dry
and the other to wet land. The sugar
company furnish the seed and contract
for the beets. They also have an ex-
pert to tell when the beets are ripe and
how many tons per day one can deliver.
In my next viii tell you the balance
Of the beet business, the capacity of
of the factory and how protection
works, and may take in the oil works,
Yours very truly,
A. o. CLEMENT.