The herald., 1897-04-28

but now lack the cheap labor necessar!
TO make it a commercial success. Look
ing back twenty years at the oranges we
had. who dare say that we cannot yet
raise almost anything in perfection and
plenty? Sour dry and spongy, it seemed
ridiculous to hope that we could ever
raise an orange fit to eat. We took good
care to eat very few of them ourselves,
and when we told the stranger they were
good it was hard to keep from laughing.
We really believed at that time and
many years later that it was impossible
TO raise a decent lemon in California
From the fact that the seeding was bit
ter, we almost concluded that the lemon,
as a lemon, was failure here, and there
was not enough of other varieties then
growing to make many question the as
sertion. This theory was borne out by
the bitterness of the lines. The seed
ling. too, was big, puffy and dry, and
there was nothing in sight to raise
suspicion that the lemon could be any
thing else, while the dryness and spong-
mess of the oranges confirmed this view
When the writer first came here he
bought two lemons-about all he could
carry with comfort-and took them to
his room at the hotel, thinking that one
would make enough lemonade for two.
Trial proved that the two hardly made
enough for one. and it was very thin
oI, ir.H r.
Gus lemonade.
After we found that a good lemon
could be grown here. how many years
was it before we learned it could be
cured? And how many have yet learned
to do it in way that insures continu-
ance of the demand in the market 20
which it is sent?
Considering how long ago we knew
we could raise a good grape, what is
more remarkable than the time it took
us to learn that we could make a good
raisin? Nothing. perhaps, unless it is
the time it took us to find out that We
could produce a good prune years after
it was known that plums would grow
to perfection.
Perhaps nothing is so strange as the
time it took to learn that we could raise
good celery. For many years the best
we could raise was vile, and most of us
believed it was impossible to do any
better. Until very recent time it was
almost a maxim that we could not raise
celery. Now we are raising the best in
the world and getting the highest price
in the market. And it is not at all cer-
tain or probable that the growth of good
celery is limited to the peat beds. But
if it is we have enough of them to fur
nish the United States for century to
come.
It has been much the same with many
other things-chickens as we'll as vege-
tables-while up to a very recent date
it was firmly believed impossible to cure
good bacon here. And hundreds have
made failure of curing corned beef for
want of little knowledge in selecting
water and salt.
known instances in a long list, that
should make us very cautious about say
ing what we can or cannot do. Tobacco
has been a failure many a time, but it
will grow and grow larger and faster
than in any other country. 1t may
merely need holding down with poorer
soil or some other condition. Such is the
case with the sweet potato, which will
not be mealy and dry in rich soil. The
highest priced ones in the New York
market are grown on sand poorer by fa-'
The failures that have been made of to-
bacco are failures only in quality ana
most of them in the curing but they do
not compare with the failures in orange
growing or a score of other things that
we have now made success of. The
only way to learn what we have is to
continue as we have begun keep trying
and trying on a small scale, with care,
until the secret is won. But even then
failure in any one locality does not mean
failure in another, even with the same
climate and soil. For though two soil:
look alike, they may be totally different
in effect upon some product where flavor
is everything. We see this in the case
of oranges and some other fruits, and
it is liable to change results materially
with anything.