The record-union., 1897-07-06

Annual Shipment of Fruits.
The State Board OF Trade souvenir
book, which has been carefully edlted
by William H Mills, Chairman OF the
Committee on Publication, is much the
best work of it's kind ever pubhshed
in this State It has been issued at
this time for the purpose of answering
inquiries which Will naturally ARISE IN
the minds of the vast number OF lntelll-
gent people who are at present visiting
the State. Among the numerous val
uable articles it contains IS the follow
ing from the pen of General n. p
Chapman, President of the State Board
OF Trade and Chairman Of the Commit
tee on Industrial Resources:
group of Eastern tourists gathered
In the exhibition-rooms of the State
Board of Trade, and seeking informa-
ton concerning the advantages of Cali
fornia, came to me as President of the
organization, asking questions so peril
nent and searching, that I have set
them down here, with my effort at an
swering, believing that the colloquy
thus reported may serve to benefit 9TH
er inquirers, as well as my fellow-citi-
zeIS OF Ca11Ofnla-
Question-We have come here to
learn something in a general way as
to California, with a view of future
residence in your State; will you help
us in our search for essential facts?
Answer.-Most cheerfully, so far as I
can, in the brief time I can give you.
Let US have a definition TO begin with.
The word resources" 1according to
Webster) means: Capabilities Of pro-
ducing wealth. or to supply necessary
wants; available means or capabilities
of any kind" Assuming this definition,
I will proceed. Our first and greatest
resource is our climate.
Q.-Hold, a moment. We have heard
a great deal about your climate, and it
is certainly a most delightful one, but
there are good climates elsewhere; how
do YOU make out this to be resource?
A-Pardon me- Your question i'm
plies that you have. in common with
many others, gained no conception of
the economic advantages of our climate.
You probably regard it, as most per-
sons do, merely as contributing to the
physical pleasures of living. Men must
admit that even this narrow view is
something. for if other advantages were
a home where there is least physical
discomfort. First, you must know the
extent of the country embraced within
the zones of substantially the same IA
vorable climatic influences I am
speaking from an economic standpoint
and not with reference to differences
in the matter of personal comfort. This
climate of which speak is found from
Co, ha n 10 a t1
on the North Pacific Coast, and to
Redding in Shasta County in the Sac
ramento Valley, and includes practically
every acre of land between the Sierra
Nevada and the Pacific Ocean, below
an altitude of from 1,500 to 1900 feet.
On the Atlantic Coast the parallels
would reach from Boston, Mass, to
Charleston, S. c. Latitude has but lit
tie to do with our climate. Along the
coast the temperature is less variable
and the extremes of heat and cold not
so great, especially the heat, as in the
interior valleys, but the temperature
rarely falls below freezing anywhere,
and then but a few degrees, and for a
day or two. The interior valleys are
warm in summer, and the compensation
lies in the greater range of products
and better facilities for curing the crops
than on the more humid and sometimes
fOggy. coast.
Q.-You don't mean to say you can
grow oranges and lemons and olives
and other semi-tropical fruits in these
northern latitudes, do you?
A.-Of course 1 do. Why should not
the same climatic conditions produce
like results? see that you have i'm
bibed the common misconception that
prevails in the East about Northern
California. Let me show you. Look
on the map of California hanging there
You see the town of Oroville, in Butte
County; it is 130 miles north of San
Francisco, and $50 miles north of San
Diego. Within radius of fifteen miles
around Oroville there are many acres
of orange and lemon groves in bearing
and producing as fine fruit as is grown
in the State Let me further illustrate
the climate by tree planting. In 1892
the State Board of Horticulture took a
census of the fruit trees planted in the
State up to that time. I Will take the
raiSin prune, olive and fig as illustra
tions. OF the S2222 acres of raisins
only 9,3S2 acres were in Southern Cali
fornia; the single county of Fresno, in
the San Joaquin Valley (pointing), had
nearly five times as many acres as all
Southern California Of the 9.22S acres
of almonds. T2S acres were in the south
OF the olives then planted, more than
half We're in Northern California. In
the same county of Butte there were
nearly as many acres as were in Santa
Barbara County, where Ellwood Cooper
has made the State famous by his olive
oil. Of the 49, 626 acres of prunes. A.,
392 acres We're in Northern California
and more than half the fig trees. I
mention this with no intention to make
invidous comparisons of sections. but
TO show that tree planting is evidence of
what have been telling you.
Owe have had the impression that
all the oranges We're grown in the
South, and all the prunes in Santa
Clara Valley, and all the raisins in
Fresno, and that your climate and soil
were not universally adapted to all
kinds of fruit. Is this not so?
A.-What 1 have just told you is evil
dence to the contrary. 1 will give you
table taken from my annual report of
fruit shipments of 1896, given from
terminal points. 1t Will show you
where the fruit came from, and I will
also give you the comparative ship
ments for the last seven consecutive
years. These tables viii illustrate the
growth of the industry in the State.
growth of the industry in the State.
CThe tables will be found in next col
umn)
Now I want you to bear in mind that
It is our climate that makes it possible