The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1896-04-26

| in bearing netted this season from 500
! to $500 an acre, according to the age
| of his orchard.
| Let me turn in here and show you
! the result of one experiment. In 1856
| twenty of US thought it worth while to
/ make a Test So we subscribed $1,000
| each. bought twenty acres and put II
under cultivation. The trees then cost
| from 81 20 81 80 each. To be frank with
you 1 may say that the hydraulic min
ing had stopped, business was dull and
| something had to be done. Before the
| 1st of January, this year, We had ship
ped $500 boxes of oranges. by actual
count 3409 900, and the net average was
| 50 80 a box
| AROUND OROVILLE.
The altitude of Oroville is only III
| feet. but in all directions the ground is
rolling like a prairie in Iowa, and the
fruit growing range is from lou to
800 feet as you get back into the
foothills This valley lies distant from
the ocean more than 100 miles. Pro
tecting walls environ it. shutting out
high winds and cold waves. There is
no time in winter when out-of-door
work cannot be done without discom-
fort
CHARMING DRIVE.
For an afternoon outing there is
nothing more charming in California
than a ten-mile drive southwark from
Oroville. Off to the right the green
level is broken by the Marysville Buttes,
| jagged, irregular piles of rock. The
roads are hard and smooth a day after
rain, and on either side for some dis
lance are numberless small mounds
which mark the surface diggings of
the flush days, when anybody could
scrape up a painful of shining sand.
| Now the herdsman watches his sheep
there. The first town, though all along
| the way is cheered by pretty cottages,
is Palermo called a colony. This is the
| heart of the orange industry of the
northern citrus belt. w. ]. Grier, of
the Palermo Land and Water Com
pany, was asked to guide the visitor to
| the ranches of special note.
NATURES ATTRACTIONS.
| The first of the attractions nature
! has so beautifully provided was a
| fifty-acre grove of live oaks, as restful
and beautiful a camping spot as one
could wish for. The next was the en-
| powered villa of r. c. Chambers,
wealthy mining man of Utah, whose
grove is in charge of w. w. Gillette
Manager Gillette came from Florida
where he had large experience in orange
culture While there he sold thousands
| of trees to planters in Southern and
| Northern California. He followed the
| trees, and with them he has remained
| to grow up with the country He is
also manager for Marcus Daily. the
noted horseman and owner of the Ana
| conda copper mine at Butte, Mont One
! of Mr. Days prizes is his eight-year-
| old orchard of 126 acres Across the
avenue is the well-tilled ten-acre grove
of Major William 3. Hooper, manager of
the Occidental Hotel, San Francisco.
| The trees We're a special order from
Florida. If required to give up one.
| the Occidental or the Washington ma
vel lot, there is doubt as to which it
would be.
FRANK COMPARISONS.
| The largest, if not the most highly
| cultivated, grove is that of the late
United States Senator George Hearst
| 1t is managed for the estate and is
one of the best paying properties The
tract, more than mile square, en-
braces 100 acres. In part and as a
whole, In landscape in bearing and in
| all that goes to make a country resi-
| dence ideal, this Hearst grove, resi-
| dence and surroundings are complete
| In the Santa Clara Valley, halfway
| from San Francisco to San Jose, there
are some sylvan homes that leave little
tC be desired, but there is no one of
them near Menlo Park and Palo Alto
| that offers such a combination of
! charms as this Hearst estate at Paler-
mo. There is nothing in extreme South
ern California with more money, acre
| Tor acre. Oranges occupy 30 acres
| some of the varieties being Parson
| brown, Malta blood, Jaffa and Tanger-
! Inc, the predominating one being Wash
| ington navel. The rest of the ranch
is devoted to prunes, plums, peaches,
! pears, almonds and cherries. The or
! ange grove was planted in 1889 from
! Florida stock, one and year-oId
| buds. Some of these trees this season
| have yielded from five to seven boxes
| and none of them are yet in full bear
| ing.
| PALERMO - FROST - TEMPERA-
TURE
True, frost that kills may some time
come to this Palermo colony but there
| is nothing to indicate that it has ever
touched its icy hand to the trees. and
there are lemons, palms, and other
semi-tropical growths that are very
sensitive to cold This is surprising,
when You remember the distance north
of Los Angeles, 600 miles. The facts
that stare one in the face are in appar-
ent denial of ocean currents and Their
NAL belts The average winter temper
allure of Palermo is - degrees, or nearly
three degrees lower than that of San
DiegQ The average all-the-year-
round temperature is GA degrees. or
six degrees higher than San Diego. The
| average seasonal rainfall is % inches.
or a trifle more than twice that of San
Diego. There is, nevertheless, a peculiar
dryneSS in the air that tends to cure
figs, prunes and raisin grapes natural
ly, so that artificially heated drying
houses may be dispensed with There
is no need to dwell on the soil; the crops
attest its fertility. Yes, a fertilizer is
used, after an analysis of the earth, for
the reason that each variety of fruit
thrives best everywhere in a soil speci
ally adapted to it. And so the fertilizer
supplies that particular want which
results are attained.
THE STATE BOARD OF TRADE.
The California State Board of Trade
is an organized body of some forty Dro-
gressive and representative men, who
are working with unity of purpose for
the general good. They draw no sala-