The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-01-30
Oranges Piled Upon Oranges in
Columns, Pyramids and
Arches.
AIR FILLED WITH FRAGRANCE.
Beautiful Display of Other Fruits.
Low Railroad RateS-MuSic
and Dancing.


night Sonoma County invites all Cali
tornia, Sunnyside and the favored spots of
the south especially to show cause why
she (Sonoma County, shall not be known
hereafter as the place peculiar to the
orange and lemon.
To be sure, this challenge has been
posted up quite long while, but tonight,
at Cloverdale, the county has set forth her
proofs, and declares that by them she will
insist upon her claim until some other
shall show better-not in the quantity of
her product, be it understood, for she has
not long turned her thoughts that way,
but in the high average of what she has
produced.
The annual exhibition of the Cloverdale
Citrus Fair Association was formally
opened tonight, and will remain open
until Friday night, possibly until Satur-
day. and, if there be any citizen of this
great State or any representative body
from any ambitious citrus-growing COM
munity who may be disposed to take issue
in this matter, this is the time, here the
place. To facilitate the matter the rail-
road rates have been made especially low.
The great pavilion where the fair is
being held is at this writing crowded with
people, the Cloverdale band has Just burst
into an inspiring air as though joining the
people in their applause at the close of
Professor E. w. Davis address, which sig
nalized the opening of the fair for 1896.
Oranges are piled upon oranges in coll
umns, pyramids and arches. Orange ex-
hibits flank orange exhibits in every
direction, relieved by exhibits of lemons,
olives. nuts prunes, figs and the infinite
variety of citrus and allied fruits. The
crowds in attendance find them on the
right and the left, in front and behind
them. And the air is fragrant and deli
cious with the commingled aroma.
And the odd part of it is that one man
in this crowd carries in his pocket written
orders for more than all the product of
this county and the three adjoining coun-
ties in these several lines.
So it is not to induce purchasers or aid
sales that this exhibition is being held, for
the sales were secured before the fair was
planned. 1t is simply the pride of the
natives in their own-the things they have
mplished. They build pyramids and
triumphal arches in oranges because they
can't very well help it. The oranges
themselves suggest such things. They
like to handle and smell them, and they
are certain that many other people from
less favored places would want to do the
same. So they heap them together in
prodigal profusion and start the band
playing and secure reduced railroad rate
and then stand around and take delight in
the results.
Tomorrow they have set apart to bestow
rewards upon those among them who have
L1k4o J. Il.
the night following, all Cloverdale and the
surrounding country will go to dancing on
the wide floor of the pavilion above the
fair.
The exhibits this year are very properly
a matter of pride. They astonish unfa-
miliar visitors, very many of whom have
not learned to what perfection the orange
and lemon grows at days journey north
of San Francisco. The exhibits brought
together under the roof of the pavilion by
the Fair Association are only a small part
OF what these visitors are treated to. For
the orchards Immediately in and about
Cloverdale are, this 29th DAY of January,
so laden with oranges and lemons that the
careful grower has supplied another forest
of props for the limbs "A complete ex-
hibit of oranges is credited to one man
the secretary of the association-measur-
ing 1917 inches in circumference, and
there is a single orange that measures 14N
inches.
1t is generally admitted that the fair is
dated too early by two or three weeks.
Many of the exhibits show fruit of the
finest quality that is still somewhat green,
and shows further possibilities as to size.
There was some misunderstanding also
as to the date of opening, both with the
general public and the exhibitors. As
result many of the exhibits even tonight
require a finishing touch or two. The cut
rates on the road do not go into effect
until tomorrow, so that the attendance to-
night was almost entirely of CIoverdale's
own people. Tomorrow, however, big
delegations are expected and promised
from Santa Rosa, Healdsburg and other
points along the line, as well as smaller
representations from places further away.
This fair is an exclusively Sonoma
County institution. No man living be-
yond its boundary can lay claim to any
part of the credit for the very handsome
showing made. 1t is the direct work of
the Cloverdale Citrus Fair Association,
which this year has incorporated with
capital stock of $4,000. The purpose is to
encourage the cultivation of citrus fruits
within the geologic and climatic belt which
has its center here and extends through
two adjoining counties, and which, it has
Champagne Imports in 1895.
According to Customs Statistics G. III.
Mumm's Extra Dry aggregate 79,O49 cases,
or 45, ,125 cases more than of any other
brand. By chemical analysis of Professor
r. Ogden Doremus, Mumm's Extra Dry is