The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-02-27
LAND OF ORANGES
Citrus Fruit Industry of South
ern California.
Where Most of the Oranges of
the Country Grow.
VERY SMALL ACREAGE.
Not as Big as a Kansas Wheat
County.
Four Different Fruits Grow on
One Tree.
Where Land Is Worth a ThOus-
and Dollars an Acre.

riverside, Cal, Feb. 15.-ThiS is har-
vest time in southern California What
June and July are to the Kansas wheat
belt, January and February are to the
orange growers of southern California
While the rest of the country has been
shivering with the thermometer below
zero, this region has been working with
it's coat off to keep COOL and has been
enjoying the same sort of weather that
Kansas has in May and June sunshine
with occasional rainy days. That COM
prlSeS winter in southern California.
The mercury rarely goes below So de-
BrecS mere, even on the ch1llieSt nights,
and during the daytime it ranges from
so to so degrees. In the bottom of the
valleys there is sometimes a little frost,
but back few miles along the foot of
the mountains frost is almost unknown.
At the same time the nights are always
chilly and one needs a little fire to take
the chill off, and plenty of covers to
sleep under The coal trust hasn't much
or hold on southern California. In
most houses all the heat that is needed
comes from the kitchen stove or from
open CRATES.
California people say that winter
is now over and during February
spring weather may be looked for
Indeed, the grass began to start on the
mountains during the latter part of
January, but as nearly all vegetation
is green the year around the 1nd1Vld-
ual from the east does not discern the
difference between winter and spring.
The trees are as full of verdure in
January as in June; roses are in
bloom, and all sorts of flowers are seen
on every hand. In addition to the
orange trees, which are not only full
of leaves, but also of fruit. there are
great numbers of palms, eucalyptus
pepper trees, olives and a large num-
Der of other varieties of vegetation,
al of them as full of leaves as a Kan
sas cottonwood in June. Here and
there are some trees barren of leaves,
fruits as peaches, apricots, plums and
the like.
Riverside was built by oranges. So
was Redlands, and Highland, and Po-
mana, and a number of other southern
California towns. To be sure, the cli-
mate has attracted many people here,
but the natural wealth of the country
comes from oranges. Oranges are to
these towns what wheat is to Great
Bend and Lacrosse in western Kansas.
Nearly everybody is interested in the
crop in one way or another. The
orange brings millions of dollars into
these southern California valleys every
year, and. yet the entire orange acre
age of California probably would not
equal the size of half a, dozen Kansas
townships If it was all compact. This
seems all the more startling when it
is known that California produces at
least three-fourths of all the oranges
grown in the United States.
An acre of good California navels
will produce about a car load of fruit
If the trees are ten or fifteen years old.
So far this winter the profit on navels
has run from $500 to $500 a car.
Three hundred dollars a car is consid-
cred good profit for most fruit
Many groves do not produce half a
car of fruit, just as some Kansas
bushels of wheat per acre, and prob
ably the average is much less than a
carload per acre. carload per acre
would be about on a par with 25 bush
els of wheat per acre in Kansas. Some
groves do better than that just as
some wheat growers sometimes get 80
and 0 bushels of wheat per acre from
small fields. The yield depends on
three things-the character of the soil,
the cultivation and care aiven tn .
trees, and the age of the trees.
These figures apply to navel oranges.
Seedlings, the old kind of trees are
much alrger than the navels, but they
do not produce as well. nor does the
fruit bring as good a price in the mar
ket. The up-to-date orange grower
looks upon the old Seeding orange with
contempt, although some of the summer
which bring good price, are
by no means seedless.
The navel orange is peculiar to South
ern California. 1t does better in this
region than in Florida or elsewhere, vet
it came here by accident. Something
like twenty-five years ago an American
woman, visiting in Brazil, wrote to the
department of agriculture in Washing
ton about a freak orange tree there
which produced seedless oranges. The |
department of agriculture procured
some slips from the tree and started a |
few trees Two of them were sent to /
Southern California, where they grew
for a time as curiosties in the yard of |
the family to whom they were sent !
From those twotre started CALIFORNIA; |
navel orange industry, and today mil |
lions of dollars are invested in groves |
Of these trees. Those two original trees /
are still in the business. One of them |
stands at the head of Magnolia avenue, /
south of Riverside, and when President |
Roosevelt was in California two years |
ago he officiated in transplanting the |
other to the grounds of the Glenwood |
hotel here.
These navels are now taking the place |
Of the seedlings, which were originally |
grown. Most of the newer groves are
either navels or summer oranges The |
Seeding groves are being gradually cut |
off and budded to navels.
One peculiar thing about this orange |
is that if you don't like the /
fruit you are raising you can change |
your trees to something else. For in |
stance, if you have a lemon grove and |
would prefer oranges, you can cut off
the tree just above where the largest
branches start bud it to oranges, and |
thereafter it viii be an orange tree. 1t
takes three or four years for the |
branches to grow out into a large tree,
but it is much quicker than starting |
new tree Som etimes only part of
4 tree is budded. The orange branches |
will then produce oranges and the |
lemon branches lemons, both on the
same tree. There are instances of a
single tree bearing four different
fruits, oranges, lemons, tangerines and
grape fruit
The oranges begin to ripen in the |
fall and by December the picking has
commenced. One would naturally /