Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-23


come into the land Of big farms. which ron
have read about. There are ten farms n
MERGED county having an area OF more than
e2.ooo acres each. and the largest. Including
224 O00 acres. belongs to Henry Miller. the
San F; -.olsco meat magnate, formerly Of
the firm Of Miller q Lux He owns moro
land than any other citizen Of the United
neary s q Il /. sG in n the o
days. before the railroads were built Il was
said that Miller & Lux could drive their cat
tie from one end OF the state to the other
land. This was not quite true. II was an
exaggeration. But 1t was true that they
could feed their cattle in their own corrais
all the way between Bakersfield and San
Francisco. and they own enormous tracts
now up to this day. their ranches being not
more than twenty or twenty-five miles
apart
Miller & Lux began the butcher business
In a small way in San Francisco in 1867.
and gradually established chain Of meat
markets in the new cities that sprung up
and in the mining camps. The difficulty OF
getting beef and mutton compelled them to
raise their own cattle and sheep, which re-
qufred much land. but doubled their profits.
They acquired thousands of acres Of pas
ture and water rights in different parts Of
the state: convenient to their markets and
built their own slaughter houses. SO that
they were entirely Independent, and enjoyed
very profitable monopoly.
Miller & Lux are the meat trust of the
dSiltS Quasi tOOdy. me packers OF CnlCa.
go, Kansas City and other eastern points
have never been able to depose them. They
raise their own beef and mutton on their
own ranches, kill 1t in their own slaughter
and they not only have 100000 acres OF
land. but have hundreds Of thousands of
cattle and sheep and employ fifteen or
twenty thousand men.
San Joaquin's Great Grain Field.
The San Joaquin is the great grain field
of California. and has produced enormous
crops: but the land has become too valuable
for wheat and barley, and Is now being cut
up into small ranches and offered for sale
from $o5 to $50 for irrigated land There
are many big irrigating projects for the
valley, with headquarters at Stockton, Ma
dera, MERGED and other railroad points, but
greater part Of it Is of rich soil and only
waits for purchasers to be cut up into fruit
orchards and vegetable gardens. One irri-
cation system on Kings river. supplies $780,
wv acres OF land. and negotiations are now
under way for the development Of tract
OF 1000 acres, which will be sold at prices
ranging from $50 to $50 an acre.
They call the country around Stockton
THE California Netherlands" because of
the dykes and canals, but 1t is much richer
than Holland and produces more valuable
results. The whole kingdom of Holland
would be lost If somebody should drop IL
into the San Joaquin valley. and it would
amaze the sturdy yeomen of the land of
the Wooden Shoe IL they could see how the
farming here is carried on by steam and
machinery. You can from the car win
dows on the Sante Fe road a 2OOOO-acre
patch Of potatoes. belonging to the Middle
River Navigation and Canal Company All
years crop will average 300 bushels to the
acre and in spots will run as high as 600
bushels to the acre
The same firm has 1900 acres in aspara-
ovr1c atd ,tttC fIn q
a dozen canneries. The choicest stalks are
packed in glass jars and the inferior grades
In tins. They will probably ship half a
million cases from each Of their canneries
this year. Each case contains twenty-four
two-pound packages. The Chinese grower
gets from two to four cents a pound, ac-
cording to size and quality. 1t costs him
about $50 an acre to raise and harvest his
asparagus. but after the second year of
cutting. If he cultirates it properly, he will
get from 5000 to 1000 pounds to an acre.
The same roots will produce asparagus
from twelve to fifteen years in succession
without replanting, but 1t requires three
years for the plants to mature. The third
year the grower can cut about 1000 pounds
per acre between February Is and June Is,
which are the limits of the season The
fourth year each acre will yield about 1000
pounds, the fifth about 5000 pounds. and
so on until the tenth year. when the roots
begin to lose their vitality and the product
falls off.
Asparagus requires a great deal Of atten-
ton. The roots are transplanted from a
propagating garden in rows ten feet apart,
and two rows of potatoes are generally
planted In between. During the first year
the soil Is very carefully cultivated. The
second year it is cultivated still more care
fully, while the roots are gaining strength.
beans are usually planted between the
rows of asparagus in that year. Tho
third year the farmer heaps the earth
around his beds with an iron-shod wooden
Iva L. ~
q ridge about three feet high. When the
heads of asparagus appear on the surface
Cinnamon go up and down the rows with
long bladed knives with square ends, sharp
ened like chtsel, and cut them seven or
eight inches below the surface. holding the
tip with the other hand. Each stalk Is
carefully laid into basket, and, as fast
as one is filed, boy carries 1t to a cart
which hauls it to the cannery, where 1t
is boiled in distilled water and packed In
Theoretically sealed glass Jars or tin cans
within two hours after being taken from
the ground. This year the Middle River
Navigation and Canal Company expect to
cut 800 tons of asparagus, and they are
extending their beds as fast as they can
get the labor, which is very scarce and
expensive. Next year they will have sew
erai thousand acres producing, and expect
crop of more than a thousand tons
Stockton the capital Of San Joaquin
county. is rich. lively town OF nearly
$1,000 inhabitants. with a semi-tropical air.
The business blocks and residences indicate
wealth and prosperity, and the streets,
parks and private grounds are filled with a
profusion of shade trees, palms, bananas
and Towering shrubs There is a good deal
OF manufacturing here, with oil for fuel
and electric power, generated power in the
mountains forty-fve miles away. The out
put of the factories last year was more
than $14.0o0,000. Two railroads run through
the city. the Southern Pacific and the Santa
Fe, and numerous steamship lines for
Stockton is al the head OF tidewater navi-
CATION on the bay of San Francisco.