The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1907-08-15
Del Monte, Cal, August !, 1875

DeLN EEL november 1, l5pO ana
August /, 1907, a period Of ten months,
there were shipped from Southern Cali
fornia about %, coo car loads of oranges,
lemons and grapefruit. This means,
in rounG numbers, ten million boxes,
which were sold in the East for about
$50, coo, eco, Of which amount packing
houses, railroads and dealers got $20,-
OG0, 0G0 and growers SO, coo. The
freight rate on fruit from Los Angeles
to New York about 3, $50 miles, is 81. 10
per hundred pounds, hut a portion of
the car is filed with ice, at the expense
of the shipper. This icing Of cars is
done SO Systematically and well that
there need not be q change Of more
than two degrees Of temperature in ten
days. From the whole State Of Cali
fornia, though mostly from the lower
half, during the same ten months, there
were shipped East 1000 car, loads of
other fruits than oranges and lemons,
5000 car loads Of vegetables. Owing
to the increased acreage and promise
of abundant crop, it is expected that
35, GOO car loads Of oranges and lemons
will be shipped East next season, be-
ginning with November.
There is something doing.on orange
and lemon trees all the year round.
While ripe fruit is being gathered, the
blossoms of another crop whiten the
trees, and before the last orange or
lemon is picked off, the small beginnings
of the reyt crop are 50 well defined that
the grower can tell whether on not to
expect a large or small one. The indi-
cations now are for a large crop. Trees
usually are planted twenty feet apart,
or one hundred to the acre. They are
trimmed so that the limbs will extend
out and down, rather than up in the air,
in order to get more sun and to have
the topmost branches in reach Of q
man standing on a step ladder The
lowest branches touch the ground al
most ana the general effect of an up-to-
date oranges or lemon tree is that of a
bush about twelve feet high by ten feet
in diameter Old-fashioned fruit trees
in California are ike old fruit trees, in
Maryland thick trunks and branches,
with plenty Of the latter and room fer
man to walk under them. Fruit, not
wood is what the modern orchardist
is after
The average rain fall of Southern
California, where oranges and lemons
grow best, is less than one-half nearer
one-third-of what it is in Maryland,
and it all comes in six months of the
years, November to May, as a rule.
Water, during the other six months
of the year, May to November, is sup
piled by irrigation. The mountains Of
Southern Californ q are very high
some as high as 1900 and 5000 feet
even up to sharp peaks, and, having
been burnt over often, are practically
treeless. The ranges are full of gorges
and valleys, known as canyons The
winter rains rush down these steep
mountain sides. through the canyons
and into the valleys losing themselves
in rivers or washes The latter is
the more appropriate name, rs the banks
are not well defined, the runs in differ
ent streams, varying in depth and
the channels changes constantly. Across
some of the gorges or canyons, dams
have been built and the water from
rains and melting snow is stored for
daily use in nearby towns and for irri-
cation purposes during the dry season.
Thus water is owned either by COM
panies who sell it to individuals or by
proprietor Of lands who have Joined to-
gether to build a dam to secure water
for their own premises. Most land IN
der civilizations in Southern California
has what are known as water rights.
and these pass, with the acreage, from
seller to buyer. Without water for ir-
rigation purposes, land is practically
valueless, and many people in the East
have been badly swindled by sellers of
so-called orange groves, truck farms
and dairy ranches, whose only crops are
cacti and sage brush, because no water
rights went with the land.
The most common irrigation ditch is
about ten inches wide and six inches
high, inside measurement. and is made
of stones or rocks, the INSIDE being fin
ished with smooth cement. Cheaper
bitches are made by mailing together
two six-inch boards In the form of the
letter V, and joining them end to end.
The most expensive bitches are made
of cement entirely or glazed pipe.
These bitches are run at right angles
to the slope Of the land to be irrigated
so that the water which is let out
from the sides of the bitches, can run
down hill. About two feet apart, on
the sides toward the down slope of the
lands, are one-inch holes, which can be
closed by little sliding tin covers work
ing in grooves. There is a ditch like