The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1898-01-02
The Sunset Land 81 Fruit and Flowers &


California, infinitely described all tna'
he saw but made no mention OF agri-
culture. From this it has been inferred
that previous to the Aemrican occupa-
ton agriculture was not carried on ano
that the fertility of the soil was not un-
Iderstood. This was not so. The padres
had first taught the Indians how to IT.
rigate and as early as 1881 the RECORDS
show that the yield of maize, wheat ano
barley ranged from so to $50 bushels pei
acre. In that year, and of these cereals
the yield for the state was 6225 tons
Hemp was raised to supply cordage
and the fax grown was satisfactory, but
there was no market. The olive and the
vine yielded their product, and raisins
were made, but as the sheep were raised
mainly for the tallow. the wool was
unfit for expectation.
| After the American occupation the
thousands of people that rushed into
the state we're more intent upon getting
| rich quiO xly at the mines and then re-
turning east, than they were upon fol-
lowing agricultural pursuits and deter
mining to make their permanent home
in California. With labor at 500 and
seed at Is cents pound agriculture was
as much OF gamble as mining. But,
nevertheless, the thousands of miners
had to be fed and the growing of grain
and all kinds of market truck went on
apace. In 1863 the legislature under
took to encourage the development of
agriculture by offering substantial
bounties for the production upon a COM
mercial scale of various articles. The
following partial list of articles, for the
production of which a bounty was Of
fered, illustrates in what directions the
public mind was running So years ago:
"For the production of the first 100 bags
of 100 pounds each of sorghum sugar. $500;
the first two bags of beet sugar. $500; the
first two bags of cane sugar, $500; first 200
bales of hemp. $1,000; first 1000 bales of to-
bacco. $1,000; first 1000 bales hops, $1,000; first
10 acres of cotton, $1,000; first 10 bales raw
silk. $4,000, ETC., etc."
A subsequent act reduced the quaint
tiles required to one-half or one-fourth.
in some instances, of these amounts.
The same year the first 100 bales of to-
bacco were produced, and Matthew KEEL
Ter, of one of the southern counties, won
the premium of $4,000 for the first 100
acres of cotton" Concerning this
bounty the following from an address
delivered that fall at the state fair by
Thomas Starr King will be Of interest:
mo 500. 900 can be SO wisely spent" said
he, "as those which shall show that all
the premiums for agricultural and manu-
featuring products offered by the last
legislature are won. Those dollars will
be not spent, but planted. to spring up a
hundred fold. Heaven has ten the day when
the warrant shall be drawn on the treas
ury for every cent, of that noble bounty.
Hemp we shall need soon. 1 trust. for
consumption in high places The queenly
flax we need to dethrone King Cotton and
give us a clean linen civilization. Silk from
our own looms we pray for, to make us
more Independent of foreign mills. Native
sugar we want, to Sweeten the cup or our
immense national prosperity that is near
at hand. Good wine of our own vintage
shall be poured into the goblets that will
pledge the restored old flag on all the infect
ed districts of the rebellion. Cotton from
free labor we long to see floating onto the
markets of Europe, as the sign and guar
anty Of an America homogeneous in Its
policy henceforth and forever. And then
we shall be ready to select some good Cal
ifornia tobacco and offer. under the Stars
and Stripes, to smoke the pipe OF peace
with all the world"
Unfortunately the words were not pro-
phetic. Tobacco could be raised but not
cured. The fall in the price Of cotton
at the close of the war caused its growth
to be neglected. OF the products enum-
Grated in the lengthy schedule, beet
sugar, hops and linseed oil are the only
ones firmly established. From the first
great interest had been taken in fruit
culture and in that same year of 1863
the assessors of the several counties re-
ported 4,669,09 treeS-including 30,o69
orange, $3.50 lemon, 1896 olive and 374,-
124 mulberry-of the several varieties of
fruit, and 22,4O25S0 grape vines Great
things were expected from silk, hence
the large number of mulberry trees.
The vines were mostly of the mission
variety and later were to a large extent
grubbed up and European varieties
planted out. The raisin industry first
was developed on a commercial basis
in Yolo and Suffer counties, but since
then the main production has been in
the San Joaquin valley with Fresno as
it's center.
On the rich lands Of the Sacramento
river the deciduous fruit industry had
it's rise, and the dried-fruit trade de-
veloped in the Santa Clara valley while
in later years the citrus fruit trade is
working its way from the southern
counties along the warm foothills of
the Sierra.
In Southern California all these
branches of the fruit industry converge
While citrus fruits were the mainstay
of the country for a time, deciduous
fruits, the growing Of raisin grapes the