The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-09-30
FULL OF PRIMES.
$2O,OOO,OOO Invested in the Prune
Industry in California,

The growth of the prune industry in
California is one of the marvels of the
state, says the Los Angeles special to
the New York Sun. Along with its
monster rose bushes, enormous trees.
towering mountains, fields of wheat of
thousands of acres each big hotels. and
monstrouS sea fish, it has by far the
greatest prune orchards in the world.
While prune orchards of ten and
twelve acres in France and Italy are
considered large, there are a dozen in
the Santa Clara and Sacramento val
leys that comprise more than 12O acres
each and 10000 trees. One or two
cover 500 acres and comprise SO. 900
trees. Several individuals and firms
have each more than $10O, 900 invested
IN prune orchards in Central Califor-
MA In 1880 there were less than 1000
acres of prune orchards in California.
When the census was taken in 1890 if
was found there were $4,000 acres and
100000 Drune trees planted. That
year there was a dearth of fruit in
the Eastern states caused by blasting
frosts late in the spring and there
never was such a season of money
making among the fruit growers of
California
Hundreds of growers in 1890 sold
prunes on the trees for $50 a ton. A
dozen men made $4,000 clear that year
from ten acre orchards of prunes, and
men who got $4,000 from such orchards
were common That condition of the
market and the Mckinley tariff law.
which put an extra duty on French and
Turkish prunes in the same year. gave
a phenomenal boom for the prunes.
In the following winter and spring
more than $4,000 acres were planted
in fruit, and in 1892 some 49, 900 more
acres were planted. The Los Angeles
Times recently estimated that there
are now $4,000 acres of bearing prune
orchards in this state, where they
were 1000 seventeen years ago. Be
sides this there are about $4,000 acres
yet to come into bearing. Last year
the product of prunes in California
was $1,000 tons, and but for the frosts
which damaged the crop last April
when the trees were in full bloom the
total product would probably be more
than 10000 tons this summer The
Los Angeles Times reckons that about
s20,OO0000 is invested in the prune in
dustry. That estimate includes the
value of land, trees, irrigation systems,
tools, packing houses and harvesting
devices.
This is the noon of the prune harvest
in California, and although the crop is
a short one. the daily scenes in the
great prune orchards are lively and in
teISSIl1S. MANY tHousdIiuS VI men,
women and children throughout the
valley, or Central or Southern Cali
fcrnia, are busy in the prune orchards
and at the fruit packing houses. A
prune orchard in itself is one of the
most beautiful things in horticulture
The thousands of trees are planted in
long rows, in such symmetry that one
may look in any direction among them
and the alignment is perfect The
ground is soft and even. and years of
cultivation and care have made it so
smooth that not a pebble or a clod,
may be seen anywhere. The sweet
scent of the ripened fruit, the music Of
the birds, the laughter and songs of
the workers, all combine to make
harvest scene in an extensive prune
orchard mixture of romance and
commercial thrift.