Evening journal., 1900-03-21
A BIG ORANGE CROP
CALIFORNIA WILL THIS YEAR
BREAK HER RECORD.

IFS Of an Orange croVs-Ths Fear
CT Jack Frost.
These afe the liveliest days OF the
year in the southern California val.
leys where oranges are grown. The
orange groves are noisy With hun
dreds or men and boys picking the
golden fruit the packing houses are
ns uusy as the proverbial beehive
with thousands OF men. women, boys
ana giis packing .e fruit In boxes,
aud the shippers are full OF business
nll day long. he yield OF oranges this
season Is between $4,000 and l4,5OO
rar.unds or between 4.2O0.0O0 and A.
lup.uDO boxes. here has never before
hc,li such yield OF oranges In CALI
iJinm Last year the crop was about
1000 ca.ieads. and the year before Il
was 5000 carloads. The prices. too.
nrc the lest in len years
IN q 3 neral way the pre- sent orange
rlon Is worth 10 the growers about
'4,tOOhOO, The railload companies
Will get about S2.uu0 .OOO for hauling
ihp product to market and tie ship
liei9, who are practically spectators
IN oranges. may make tens of thou
nanCs ot dollars more from the out.
pui of the sensOn. These are wonder
inl figures when one considers that
ten or twelve years ago. orange grow
ing Ia California was In It's infancy.
The Increase In the duty on foreign
oranges has helped the Ca lfornlans
Amazingly. and the ruin of the llorl
do groves by freezing IN December
fonr years ago has left the California
growers with little competition In the
| United states. Groves that VIII Yield
their owners net profit OF $3.50 an
acre this season are common. Here
and there are older groves hearing su-
| pcrlOr .ruit which viii Yield their
owners $500 and $3.50 an acre clear
profit But the growers have had their
share OF hard times and discourage
ments In the winter OF lS92-03, when
/ the yield was unusually heavy and
The fruit in hne condition, there were
no buyers OF shippers. and crop,
/ which ordinarily would have sold for
| $1,000 600. brought less than half the
expense OF transporting Il 20 the East
ern markets. Many growers became
lnsolvent through their losses that
yenr. and as many more put mortgag
es on their property and hoped for
better days In S95 the crop was Wis
licd by frosts. and In a few hours one
January night. $1,000, 900 worth OF
oranges were made unstable
The magnitude of the orange Indus
try surprises most Fasteners in Call-
fornla for the first time. The Los An
gcles Express recently estimated the
total capital Invested In orange grow
ing In this State at S44OO0,O The
Industry Is almost wholly confined to
the seven souihern-m0st counties OF
! A D III. Co..
Bernardlno. Orange. San Diego Santa
Barbara and Ventura and in these the
orange groves comprise an area of AS
AOO acres The number OF orange
trees now In hearing In southern Cal
ifOrnla Is put at 20I2fOO and the
numhor Of non-hearing trees is placed
at ,22T. 300 With the same produc-
iivenesa. when the latter come TO
hcnrinE thu annual crop VIII he up.
ward OF 2I.O0O carloads and at prices
i, Ike those Of this season. the Callfor-
mans viii sell their products for some
= thing like SiO,000.O00
The orange harvesting season be-
gins I'm early December. II reaches its
high water mark about the middle OF
! February. and continues until June. A
few weeks previous 20 the picking
I. time the wholesale shippers 80 the
rounds OF the groves. Experts some.
I. times guess within 100 boxes of what
, a tcn-acre grove VIII yield. Some buy
. ers have arrangements from year 10
year with the growers, while most or
the producers prefer to make new
contracts each season. The agent in
a spects the groves and offers so much
: n box or so much for the fruit on
, trees and here the responsibility OF
7 the owner ceases The shipper puts
/ his pickcrs and packers at work. The
Q grower receives his check and anOth.
ar year is beguO.
AT the orange picking time the coun
try Is a marvel to the Fastener
While standing among the oranges
. the picker looks away over grove az
o ser grove. fields of flowers. acres OF
golden eschOltzlas. patches Of wild
s daisies, bluebells and yellow ylolets
= and finally the eye rests on the Sierrl
l. Nfadres. twenty or thirty miles away
,the garden wall of this Hesperldes
8 HIS nostrlls inhale the odor of th'
: I orange blossom. while his eyes see thl
a snOwbanks Of winter on the grea
o peaks. The orchard picker, however
has no time to spend on the aesthetic
a of the subject. he is picking agains
q time and an East Is waiting.
Almost the only danger the orang
: ,rower has 10 fear Is a visit by Jacl
/ rost True, the emeteorologicalreco
of southern California for thirty-sevei
@ wears show no time when the temper
: atui,e has gone below % above zero
!. and Il is only once or twice in eleve
= wears that the mercury In orang
y groves has reached that point. Th
= fickllslf period of the winter, so far a
Il frost Is concerned. Is during the latte
mart of December and the early par
!. af JanuAry But so far this seaso
g The mercury has rot been below 3
~ ana that once was for a half-hour jus
" nj daybreak last month. The orane
ls win bear tive or six degrees of fros
ol II for n very short duration; but
such temperature continues for seve
al hours. OF occurs several nights
succession. The fruit win be injurel
and Young nursery stock afectei
sr though the trees may not suffe
'Tbere is no absolutely frostless local
N e,-. ms the two past seasons have den
Cns,rated-N. Y. Sun.