St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1900-10-27
MARVELLOUS FRUIT FARMS.
4 Hundred Million Pounds . Year
Produced In California
Valley.

4 Hundred Million Pounds = year
Produced In California
Valley.
With striking unanimity the people
of California turned to the agricul-
tural, horticultural and climatic ad-
vantages of the state. In the southern
portion. the inhabitants entered ex-
tensively into the growing of oranges
and lemons. figs and kindred semi-tropi-
cal fruits. Oranges quickly became one
Of the distinctive products of Califor-
mia, enjoying wide marketing. much
fiattery and plenty of profit. writes
Arthur l. Street, in Ainslee's.
In the central valleys, the residents
learned to irrigate and to find arte-
sian wells, evolving the Wright law de-
fining riparian rights as the mining pc
riod has evolved the hydraulic and 9TH
er mining laws, and producing wells
flowing as high as, 2.5OO.Ooo gallons of
water daily. Here chiefly in the region
now known as Fresno, raisin grow
ing gradually developed until. in COM
bination with other sections of the
state. it has become almost as con-
spicuous a feature of CALIFORNIA; s
products as wine and oranges. the an
nual output running as high as $4,000
tons, or to the almost incredible sum
OF. 1OO. 600 900 pounds. sfH
Drying grapes for raisins was accom-
panied by drying prunes and picking
olives, and the picturesque and ro-
mantle aspect of the state was added
to by the fact that its rolling hills were
dotted with the trees whose wreaths
decked the brows of victors in the Ro-
man and Grecian circuses, and whose
wood is sought as memento of the
sacred scenes upon the Mount in Je-
rusalem. One county alone puts
out enough prunes to feed score of
states. while the general product of
California is gaining in celebrity al
most as rapidly as the raisins and the
wines.
In the foothills of the state where
formerly the hydraulic hose carried
away acres of rich soil, all the dec;Gu-
Gus fruits were found to acquire an ex-
ceptional sweetness and lusciousness.
In the meadow regions of the high
mountains on the fog-swept banks of
the coast counties were the dairy and
vegetable farms The canning indus
try became one of the stable occupa-
tions Of the people. By the beginning
of its fortieth year as state, Cali
fornia easily led America, if not the
world, in the amount of horticultural
output. as 30 years previously it had
led in the output of gold. At the ex-
piration of its forty-ffth year, Cali
fornia fruit, including the delicious figs
which formerly had been the exclusive
product of the Adriatic regions, had
settled themselves upon the stands of
public markets in all cities. At the
close to the fftieth year-the end of
the first half century-the states out
put Of wines, vegetables and fruit COM
bined amounted toss. 900 car loads an
nually. That would be enough to
stretch a highway of peaches. brandy
and canned pears and other fruit from
New York to Buffalo. Furthermore,
the fruit industry had grown SO impor-
tant as an economic factor in the,
the United States that the protest of
the Californians virtually defeated the
recently proposed reciprocity treaties
with France and Jamaica.
The exploiting of the fruit industry
completed the determination of the
general possibilities of the state. 1t
fixed its local characteristics, gave
towns and counties basis to work
upon, and rounded out the maturity of
the community. The interior took on
permanent strength. San Jose, in the
midst of the prupe belt, became rich
and lovely with homes and roses. Sac
the state capital, lying al
most at the junction of the two big
rivers draining the Sacramento and San
Joaquin valleys became the fruit ship
ping centers as well as the railroad
center Stockton became the center
of the grain and melon district. and one
of the principal points of trade with
the mountains. Los Angeles grew into
a sectional metropolis, with dozen or
more thrifty cities surrounding it.
Around San Francisco, as its popula-
tion Increased, the adjacent cities ac-
quired size, improved their streets and
assured the position of home and man.
cities. Oakland grew to a
of 10000. One of the char
of all the towns was the lib
erality of their construction. The
homes were surrounded with plenty
of garden room. The streets were made
wide. Modern improvements were in
troduced as rapidly as they could reach
the coast. San Jose was among the
first cities of the country to use the
high electric arc-light tower which was
popular not many years ago.