The Somerset reporter., 1906-04-12
Seen on Pacific Coast

Ter nave Deen passing tue winter IN Oail-
fornia and we are sure the description
of orange culture and other matters,
which Mr. Miller has had an excellent
opportunity to observe, will be of inter-
est to our readers.
Los Angeles, Cal, March %, 1905.
Dear Sisters and Brothers at home:-
had nearly forgotten that promised
to write you again in regard to the crops
of this country, particularly the orange
and lemon crop as We left the orange
belt nearly four weeks ago. But this
week we returned again for day to our
lrst stopping place, Ontario, to say
goodbye to some dear friends there.
Ontario is In the orange section and /
think have ridden for ten miles through
continuous orange groves in this town
There are as many as five or six packery
houses, each employing from 80 to lOO
hands | was surprised at the amount
of work that had TO be put on this fruit
TO prepare IL for market, and don't be-
lieye any one who has never seen an
orange grove full of fruit can appreciate
what beautiful sight it is. The trees
do not bear as our apple trees do here,
now and then a tree without any fruit,
| but every tree seems to have all the bur
den of fruit it can carry, and some groves
bear so heavy that il 10 necessary to
prop every tree. One of the conditions
of bountful crop Is thorough cultiva-
tion, an other fertilization, and Lastly irri-
CATION.
To get at the expense of caring for
grove of ten acres, | have made careful
NHT. ENY.. 10 agW
hundred dollars in some fertilizer and
from I've TO ak hundred dollars for irriga-
tion. and the work of a good man and
horse with plow and harrow, or eultiya
tor nearly the entire season | know
of several groves of ten acres that have
received such attention where the owner
has been offered $1,000 for his crop on
the trees, and from the trees TO the con-
sumer there is lot of work to do
| First of course comes the picking This
of course has to be done entirely by
hand, and each orange has to be clipped
off the tree with shears made for the
purpose The picker carries bag slung
round ON his left side holding about one
half bushel, the mouth propped open,
the picker taking the orange in his left
hand and clipping with hisright. These
oranges are put into boxes THAT hold
about one bushel'' of uniform size and
shape. They pay from 212 to cents
per box for picking and a good hand
will pick from 80 to 100 boxes in day.
Tipping the oranges off leaves little
| stem And this stem is guarantee
that the orange is all right, for there are
many oranges that drop off from some
cause. And oranges that drop of are
not considered good or of any use.
After picking, these oranges are haul
ed to tho factory or packery, and as they
come to the paokery there is sort of a
smut on them, so they are poured into
large vat OF water and in this vat are
large brushes moving slowly and gently
around which washes and cleans the
fruit without bruisiug it For they have
to use the same care in regard to bruis-
ing that we do with the apples We
handle and expect to get fancy prices
tor; from these vats they are taken out
| by carriers to the roof Of the building ON
racks to thoroughly dry, thea they are
run slowly and carefully back into the
building and run over form that sorts
them into the different SIZES, and this
contrivance sorts them great deal more
evenly than it could possibly be done by
hand and IN this way they get what they
call their counts, 80 many counts to the
box, when they are at last cleaned and
sorted, then girls take them aud put on
the papers and pack them in the boxes,
and you would hardly think it possible
for this wrapping and packing to be
done 80 rapidly, surely the hand is
quicker than the eye All the way
along IL an orange is seen that is in any
way deformed or imperfect 1t is thrown
| So, IN o,,n nd on La ar ahOnf ALL
the oranges on the market in these cities
and can be bought for from to 10cts.
per dozen. One of the most ingenious
| features about 1t all is the making of the
boxes which is done entirely by machn-
cry. or course the boards are all cut
the right size and shape and then are
fed into this machine and on the other
side comes out the box made aud nailed
all pei feet and every one alike; this ma
chine will turn out from $500 to 1000
boxes in 10 hours.
These paokeries are always built by
the side of some r X. track 80 as to
save trucksge 800 boxes are packed in
common car, no box to touch another
and some packeries will turn out and
7 cars in q day The way of handling
the lemons Ia entirely different of which
Ii will tell you at another time. To
make this q good paying crop the raiser
should get s1 per box for oranges AT
this time the crop ia about half picked,
and the trees are in full bloom. lts
pretty sight to see tree hanging full of
yellow fruit and at the same time cover
cd with lovely white blossoms. | had
intended to include IN this letter de-
scription of the growing of Alfalfa, and
barley which Ia really the great grain
crop of this country Willsay, however,
that the barley Is nearly all headed.
The first cutting of Alfalfa is nearly all
in, potatoes are from one to two feet
high, and all garden vegetables are an
old story on the market, strawberries
are plenty at 15c per box, good Eastern
apples are two for nickel nearly twice
the price of oranges Milk sells at 1Oc
per qt and butter fancy at 35c pound.
All meats are less than at home and
groceries are no higher than mt home.
Barley or alfalfa hay Is about Is dollars
per ton, oats and all kinds of feed just
about compare with our owu prices.
We leave here tomorrow on our way TO
San Franc 500 from which place we shall
start on our homeward way little
later we shall be glad to see all our dear
friends again.
Fraternally Yours,
G. DAVIS MILLER
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