The San Francisco call., 1904-09-18
Jury LAVISH !.
IN ITS PRAISE
Awarding Committee Highly
Pleased by Visit to San
Francisco Exhibit at Fair
PUZZLED BY THE DATES
Visitors Gaze With Awe on
Specimens of the Tropical
Fruit Grown in California
PUZZLED BY THE DATES
BY PAUL EDWARDS.

GALL BUREAU, WORLDS -FA1R,
ST. LOUIS, Sept. 1.-THE jury that
is to award the prizes for the Model
Street exhibits has made its call at the
San Francisco building. The gentle
men who called were Frank LIE Rond
McVey, professor of political economy
at the University of Minnesota; E. 7.
Routzahn, field secretary Of the Civil
Cooperation Society of Chicago, and
the Mayor of a German city. These
gentlemen spent two hours in looking
over the exhibits. and at their request
Commissioner Erwin gave one of his
illustrated lectures on California and
San Francisco. They all openly ex-
pressed their appreciation of exhibits
and lecture.
In speaking to Commissioner Err
win about the San Francisco exhibit
Richmond C. Hill. editor Of the
Twentieth Century" Buffalo, said:
You are following out my ideas
exactly. l endeavored to have Buff
falo adopt such a plan, but without
success. believe there is no better,
way to present the advantages of a
city or to awaken the interest of
strangers In it. and I am delighted to
see what success you are making
of it,
N. Walter Macintyre, editor of the
II shall certainly say a good word
for San Francisco in my paper, and
especially of the splendid method
she has adopted to put before the
| people her claims to greatness and her
wonderful possibilities"
William Crittenden, the young man
who won the Rhodes scholarship at
| the University of California, is here
on his way to Oxford. He met three
1 Nf fS foII ND p oh 0Tf
| Waring, clerk at the California
building; Frank Mcconnell. clerk at
the Alaska building, and o. F. Snedi-
gar. who came here for the Olympic
games. Crittenden was the guest Of
/ honor at q dinner at which the four
gathered. They will soon be widely
separated, for Waring goes to Chi
cago to study law, Mcconnell to Har-
| yard to take a law course and Snedl-
! gar will remain in California
| Clusters of dates are evidently not
| a familiar sight to people from most
| parts of the world, judging by the In
| terest aroused by some fine ones dis
played in Jars by Commissioner Jop-
| lin of Orange County. There is prob
ably more inquiry as to what they
are than there is regarding any other
unusual product shown by California.
| Commissioner Joplin has to answer
more questions concerning them than
any other product he has on exhibi-
ton and there are fewer dates grown
| In Orange County than anything else.
| The punches are usually mistaken for
| olives, though a great many think
| they are grapes and some even tmag-
| Inc they are peanuts.
There are two exhibits of dates, one
| cluster being shown by T. A. Gates
and his daughter, Mrs. n. z. Towne
| of Santa Ana, and the other by j. j.
Everhardy of Anaheim. The date in
| dustry is not a very important one in
Orange. Each of these gentlemen
has one palm and there are a few
more scattered throughout Southern
| California. The industry has never
| thrived because 1t takes fifteen years
! for the palm to come into bearing and
besides there is an uncertainty as to
whether the dates will ripen rapidly.
| They usually fall off the side of the
| cluster not exposed to the sun in the
parts of Southern California where
! trees now exist. Mr.. Gates managed
! to get some good ones from his tree
| during the Chicago fair. He sent them
| to that exposition and naturally got
| a gold medal for the best American
! dates.
| The Government is now experiment.
| ing with the date palm at Mecca, on
the Colorado desert. 1t has planted f1f-
| teen acres to the palm and expects
good results, as the climate on the
desert is just suited to the growing Of
the date.
Orange has three novel exhibits not
duplicated by any other county. One
of these is some alligator pears-the
aguacate. They were taken from the
one tree in Orange County. 1t stands
| in the public park at Santa Ana. The
pears are of commercial size and are
! said to be of excellent flavor, showing
| that they can be successfully grown in
! Southern California. Another of the
trio of novel exhibits is the cherie-
moyer, or custard apple, indigenous to
| Chile and Peru. This exhibit is made
by C. r. Courtney. The few he grows
sell in Los Angeles for from 80 to 20
/ cents each. There is also a branch of
nutmeg tree showing many fully de-
veloped nutmegs. The tree from which
II was taken grows in the front yard of
w. H. Burnham, in Orange. Here are
| three industries undeveloDed that are
| open to the California grower.