Los Angeles herald., 1908-06-07

Allowing for the fact that all our
leading staples of orchard and field,
ranch and garden are exotic to our
SOIL and allowing that their production
in the main is only possible by the
artificial application of water, often Sc
cured at great effort and expense; and
allowing that under these somewhat
anomalous circumstances the horticul-
tural production of the state has grown
to the enormous sum of nearly $200, ,000,-
900, the rural economies of California
can be regarded only in the light of the
most marvellous exploitation In soil
products of this or any other time. For
nearly half a century 1t has been my
good fortune not only to see this de-
velopment, but, in small way l have
been part and parcel of it, contributing
something toward it's fruition from a
packers and shippers point of view,
rather than from that of a grower.
History Made Rapidly
Obviously, horticulturally California
has made history rapidly; indeed, so
much so that all of us, in the strenuous
experience of our own affairs, have
quite lost sight of the many important
things that have happened in the past
forty years; an correspondingly 1 am
of the conviction that but few of us
realize what the future will unfold. 1
know 1t Is so in my case. Why, 1t
seems but yesterday that the shipments
of a few carloads of citrus fruits to
eastern markets was heralded as an
event; yet today we are less surprised
at the statement that $4,000 carloads go
forth, valued at something like $19,000,-
900. In 1877 l was in a small way. as
things go now, shipping fIuit and mid
winter vegetables north per steamer to
San Francisco, the only market avail
able. We used to hear then of Fresno
only as a spot on the map; now that
town turns s2S,0oO,0O0 worth of soil
products year. Riverside in those
days was unknown; our oranges and
lemons came from a few groves in the
San Gabriel valley and from what Is
now a portion of Los Angeles. The
walnut, the olive, the fig and many
other products were only cultivated
spasmodically, where now they are as
much a feature of the landscape and
the market place as wheat or corn is In
the Mississippi valley. Indeed, horti-
culture has crowded all other activities
to the wall in this state, and by reason
of values has for fully twenty years
been recognized as our basic industry,
affording, not only a living to thou
sands of our citizens, but also COM
petence.
To enumerate even casually the his
tory of this development is impossible
in short newspaper article. And while
the enterprise of our people has been
the cause, nevertheless it would not
have been possible but for superior nat
ural advantages. Given a soil and eli
mate which are superior to none, 1t
only remained to create our marvellous
system of irrigation to make possible
a horticulture the like of which the
world has never seen; an industry al
f4xNxacs
with the geographical area of the state
scarcely scratched. Prior to the advent
of the Anglo-Saxon the country was
practically a wilderness; now 1t is the
seat of the most profitable soil produc-
tion known to man. Its benefits, not
only in pecuniary sense, but in the
light of higher civilization and pa
triotic citizenship, are incalculable 1
doubt If there is anywhere a commu-
nifty Of soil tillers that possesses the in
telligence and moral fiber which so
thoroughly individualizes the man be-
hind the plow in Southern California.
But the most phenomenal fact in con-
nection with our industry is it's optim-
ism. Many of us are apt to think that
the business will be overdone, because
we, here and there. learn of loss on
crop. Again, we are apt to believe
that land values are beyond the poor
mans purse, and hence opportunity is
closed to the man with only brain and
Drawn as his capital. Sheer nonsense.
New Districts Exploited
Why, within the past six or seven
years the Imperial and Coachella val
leys have been exploited, and now their
output In live stock, fruits, vegetables.
cereals, alfalfa and garden truck runs
into the millions. Thousands of acres
have been subjected to the plow by
sturdy men and women who had their
pile to make" and have made it. The
output of that Imperial region has been
about as follows: Barley. $450,000; hogs,
$200. 900; cattle, $S5O,000; dairy cows and
products, $325, 200; cantaloupes, $225. 1000.
Deciduous fruits and grapes will soon