The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-05-10
Agriculture
and
orticulture.

California and the Pacific Coast
states are noted for their wonderful
proouctlveness in agricultural and hor-
tlcuitural products. The following
items Will be interesting to all who care
TO know what is going on in the great
growing regions of the West:
A GOOD CANNING YEAR.
Marysville Appeal: The season OF
1879 Will easily be the star season for
the fruit and vegetable canneries OF
california, particularly for the estab-
Hshments of this section. Writing from
New York, Manager Baumgartner OF
the Marysville Fruit Packing Com
pany states in his letter that his bust
ness prospects are better than he ever
knew The orders he has already
booked will necessitate pack of at
least 100000 cases this summer. This
VIII mean an early start and a good
long run that insures five months
steady work for 600 or 700 people. IN
consequence there will be many outside
families located in Marysville during
the summer, with the attendant ben
efits to be derived by the merchants
and landlords. At present several men
are engaged getting the plant in readi-
ness for the seasons work. To insure
neatness and cleanliness there has been
visit from the painters, and the wood
work is in consequence spick and span.
There is talk of some changes in the
! cookroom new cooker of the end
4 less chain variety has been suggested
as an improvement over the old style.
/ but as yet no definite arrangements
/ have been made for it's installation.
/ Last years pack has been sold out,
| insuring plenty of warehouse space for
! the new pack. Monday the last of the
] sliced peaches, packed in one-half
pound tins especially for the Pullman
car service, were shipped out AS yet
no prices have been made by the can
ne,'ies for the new crop, or any of the
fruit been contracted for 1t is yet
too early for that Mr. Baumgartner
will give the matter his attention on
his return from the East the latter
part of May.
HARDY JAPANESE PLUMS.
Petaluma Argus: The Japanese
plums, which are proving of sucn
wide value in the warmer parts of Cali
fornia, where some of the European
varieties are disappointing, are also
showing a hardness under Eastern
freezing which is somewhat of a sur
ton says the Japanese and Oriental
varieties seem, so far as known, to
have suffered severely, yet some excep-
lions point to surprising results. Wick
son plums endured 20 degrees below
zero in Central New York, and viii
bear a crop. In Northern Georgia
where hundreds of thousands of peach
trees were killed to the ground and
are being cut down. the Abundance
plum in some favored localities went
through all right and will bear as
usual. In the vicinity of Petaluma all
varieties of plums do we'll. There is a
japanese plum, blood red to the pit
that is becoming quite popular here
1t is a liberal bearer and is good in
any shape. But for canning or eating
right from the tree, John Merritt raises
some Illinois wild plums that are best
of all. The size has been somewhat
improved by cultivation but the nat
ural wild flavor remains the same.
Any one from the wild and woolly
West" need not be told of the excel
lence of the wild yellow plum. This
is the home of the prune, but last
year they were smaller in some or
chards than usual, on account of the
drouth. 1t learned us a lesson, how
InOIOuQn
cultivation. We know of two men who
We're in prunes" last year near each
other and on the same kind of land.
One man plowed and narrowed his
trees but once. The other man
plowed his orchard three times and ran
cultivator through it as often as he
could see any weeds In the fall one
man had twice as many pounds per
acre, and sold his prunes for cents
pound more than the other received.
PAJARO'S FRUIT.
Pajaroan: Santa Cruz is one of Cal
ifornia's most prosperous fruit produc-
ing counties, but it is about the only
one which does not do a thing to pro-
tect its fruit interests. Other counties
have live horticultural commissions. and
they are worth many times their cost
Santa Cruz County needs such body
and the orchard interests deserve such
a measure of protection from the hands
of the Supervisors. Without a live
commission it will be almost impossible
to make a united fight against pests
and the pests must be fought if we ex-
pect to hold on to the market We have.
Orchardists of this valley are not
wasting much space ON trees of little
value from a commercial standpoint
There has been heavy thinning out Of
prune and pear trees, and a lot of cher
~ and off grade apple trees have been
removed to make room for the market
able varieties of apple trees. Orchard
planting in Pajaro Valley is based on
commercial demands. With organized
and persistent effort in fighting tree
pests the business will be further Inn
proved The removal of valueless trees
is a long step in the right direction
They will not return taxes to their
owners.
KILL BUGS WITH GAS.
Redlands Citrograph: The Maryland
Experiment Station has been expert
menting with hydrocyanic acid gas in
the fumigation of nursery stock The
station now recommends for each cubic
foot of space in the room, one-fourtf
of a gramme Of cyanide, three eighths
of gramme Of sulphuric acid, nine
s.xteenths of a gramme of water. Or
to a room containing 200 cubic feet oil
space, they would take two ounces Of
cyanide, ounces of sulphuric acid and
az ounces of water. The fumigation i:
continued for thirty minutes, when al
doors and openings are thrown oper
for at least ten minutes before the room
is entered. This process kills every
kind of scale and insect life and doe:
not injure the nursery stock in the least
POISON IN FRUIT BOXES.
DR.. w. H. Smith. in Les Angeles
Times" If the cnn sinners of fruit