The record-union., 1899-08-30

Red BluH News: Contractor r. h.
Bierce returned from a two months
stay in Vina on Wednesday, He has
been engaged in erecting a number of
buildings on the Dicus orchard about
eight miles from Vina. The new build
ings consist of two cutting sheds, one
24x70, the other 24x5O. a dozen sulphur
houses, protected by two large sheds
and two storerooms 24x4O Mr.. Bierce
tells us that person who does not ac-
tually know cannot imagine the i'm
mense quantity of fruit which is on the
trees in the orchards on Deer Creek.
They are all loaded with the finest
peaches in the county, generally as
large as a good-sized apple, and when
plucked will fill hundreds of cars of
fruit for the markets to which they will
be distributed
HIGHER FRUIT PRICES.
San Diego Union: Although this
years deciduous fruit crop is not as
large as that of last year, prices are
| ruling higher all along the line, atom
ing in a measure for the shortage The
Julian apple crop is expected to be
| light this year, the late frosts having
affected the trees. A conservative eSti-
mate places the yield at about one
third that of a good year. Several
years ago over 10000 boxes of apples
were shipped from that section. The
shortage in this line will not have a
tendency to raise prices very material
ly, however, for the reason that heavy
crops are reported farther north, and
the demand that cannot be supplied by
the Julian growers will be taken care
OF by northern orchardists. Apples
are already beginning to come in from
the back country but the shipments so
far have been very light.
The apricot crop has already disap-
peared, save for the dried and canned
products. The yield was considerably
lighter than last year. but the prices
were not so low. This year the aver
age price was from 11a to 3 cents a
pound, while last year the fruit sold
at l cent for several months. The dried
product is selling for as much as and
10 cents pound. Last years figures
were 3 and cents.
| Peaches also are not so plentiful as
| last season. The price for green fruit
h0vers around and 315 cents this sea-
| son; last year it was l and 2 cents
Dried peaches are beginning to come
in and are opening up from 512 to 615
cents against and cents last year
Berries of all kinds ranged high. The
| Lemon Grove strawberry crop was very
| light, owing to the shortage of water
and those who had any plants had
| good thing. Blackberries We're very
scarce this year. while last year there
was prolific yield. This year the
| average price of. berries was and 8
cents box, while some sold as high
| as IL cents. Last year berries could
be bought for 4 cents a box
The Bartlett pear crop will be about
| two-thirds that of last year San
Diego gets most of it's pears from Ell
Cajon and Mission Valley, and the
fruit is still coming in. The price this
year ranges from 11a to cents. Last
| year some pears We're sold for 1 cent
| This does not apply to the fruit which
| has begun to decay and which is sold
for almost any price to get rid of it.
Last Saturday several of the commits
sion men We're selling large boxes of
| the fruit for 10 cents. Pears, it must
be remembered, are very perishable and
cannot be held as long as many other
| kinds of fruit.
large quantity of grapes is coming
| in but the quality is not so good as last
| SCoA Ills 10 True OI DOIu the IdDI6
| and. raisin grapes and is due to the
shortage of water this summer The
| prices are about the same as this time
last year, ranging now from 2 to 21a
cents pound.
There was light crop of plums, but
the prices averaged good, the fruit SELL
| ing at 3 and cents against 2 and 3
| cents last year
/ h. u; u;
year than last" said one of the COM
mission men yesterday, they were not
as high as they should have been, con-
sidering the yield. Prices have to be
kept down in order to dispose of the
| fruit. There are many people who will
! buy if prices are low. but if they are
| high the people find they can do with
out fruit just as we'll as not With
some persons it is more of a luxury
than a necessity. So you see if we
want to sell perishable fruit we have to
make low price on it. or it will spoil
| on our hands,
A BIG WHEAT FIELD.
Red Bluff Sentinel: The largest
wheat field in the world is in Fresno
and MADEIRA Counties, and has just
been harvested. 1t covers $4,000 acres,
says the Examiner" and is owned and
superintended by one man, Clovis Cole.
There is a good-sized town in the field
called Clovis. The people measure the
field by miles, and travel half way
through it before they attempt to see
what is beyond its glittering golden
monotony.
Half hundred men and nearly $50
mules are employed in the harvesting
of the field. 1t would take one mar
80 years to plow and SOW it, if he
were to work in the primitive way our
fathers did, In a heavy" year the
Clovis ranch may yield enough grain
to fill nearly a million sacks. That
would feed with bread four cities the
size of San Jose for one year. An enor-
nous crop is being harvested there
now. Five immense harvesters are at
work Forty days will be. required for
the machines to cut the crop. Four
vast warehouses will hardly hold the
crop. The ranch runs on both sides of
the San Joaquin River, 5000 being on
the Fresno side, the remainder in Ma
dera County.
Clovis Cole is his own foreman, and
rides about among his men clad in
regular rancher style, with overallS
and cowhide boots. He roughs it with
his employees, and goes about his i'm
| mense ranch as unassumingly as If he
We're a mule driver at s. a day instead
/ of the wheat-growing king of the world
Mr.. Cole is 81 years old, is a son of eX-
| Mayor Cole of Fresno and has a wife
| and family.
William Helm has a large wheat