The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1909-03-19
STORY OF ORANGE
IMMENSELY OF CROP UNKNOWN
TO THE UNINITIATED.
No Fruit Has Such Fast Told on the
Appetites of the People,; the Pro-
duct of California and How 1t Is
Gathered; Amounts to Millions of
Dollars Annually.
TBy f. A. FL

| the orange and lemon industry is mar
velous; in fact it is almost beyond com
prenension. There never was a time
when a single product of the farm has
been advertised SO extensively as oran-
ges. There is perhaps no section OF
the United States that has been SC
well advertised as California; and when
one hears of California instantly oran-
ges flash to the mind. The two are
as closely associated as when the name
! of Lincoln is uttered instantly arise
| pictures of the Civil war. The reason
is that there is no fruit barring the
apple, that has so fast hold on oul
appetite as the orange. Large golden
sweet. luscious fruit-the very thought
of it makes ones mouth water. Twenty
years ago when the writer as kid
/ first associated himself with the firm
with which he is still engaged there
were few oranges shipped from Cali
fornia except seedlings. When car of
Navals did arrive it was divided among
all the commission men i'll Minneapolis.
The price being so much higher than
the Seeding that no one house cared
to handle a single car. Today the
seeding rarity and the Naval by
its superior quality and flavor has been
pushing the seeding farther and farther
into the back ground. So that a seed
ling is only used when all other oran-
ges are out of the market. Now that
we have the Naval oranges with us
let us find out something about it.
The home of the Naval is situated
about eighty miles from the Pacific
ocean III one of the most beautiful
valleys in the state of California 1t
is surrounded by range of foot hills
rising up to five thousand feet high
The climate is ideal in every way for
fruit raising. The Inside Track rail
road traverses this valley in a circle a
distance of $50 miles. In this ride one
passes through this orange growing val
ley. passing through its principal towns
and cities viz: San Galbrel. Pomona,
San Bernandino, Riverside, Cotton,
Bloomington High Grove, Ventura. Whit
tier Redlands, Calvina. Watsonville and
Porterville, the two latter towns being
named after gentlemen who are known
in Mankato.
In this valley there are 6.OO0,OOO
orange trees and 100000 lemon trees,
beside other fruits the annua- value of
which is $40,O00,O0O. From Redlands
last year there were shipped $500 ears
valued at $2,000.0OO. At Pomona there
are sixteen different packing houses
employing thousands of helpers These
packing houses have Il floor space from
$4,000 to $4,000 feet with a capacity of
5000 boxes daily or $4,000 boxes or
700 cars annually. The sixteen houses
shipped $500 ears of citrus fruit. From
Whittier a rather small place there were
shipped in 1906, $50 cars of oranges
and $50 ears of lemons valued at ST.
100000. This will give one fair idea
of what the annual output must be
from this entire valley. As we said in
the beginning it is almost incompre-
hensibe
Back in the gold fever time the name
OF California was associated with gold.
Today the state is famous on account
of its orange and lemon groves and
other fruits. To one who has lived
the greater part of ones life in the
north central portion of our country
1t must seem like a dream of paradise
when one can in a few days be trans
ferred from billiards and snow drifts
to the sunny valley where the gold
Ell oranges grow. Right now is the
time when oranges are at their best
and have reached maturity. 1t is the
time of the year when the system
Graves something in the nature of a
tonic, and the orange is being recooniz
ed as the natural elixer for this parti-
cular season. The cultivation of the
orange has made wonderful strides. In
1879 the first orange grove was planted
Ill Ventura county, Today the orange
groves cover almost the entire valley
east of Los Angeles. And the industry
Is growing all the time. 1t is almost
impossible to supply the demand. Every
day there are solid train loads of from
$3.50 cars each leaving different ship
ping points along the Inside Track
railroad bearing the fruit to all parts
of the earth. There are large mum
bers OF cars of this fruit being shipped
INTO Minnesota. Last week a solid
train continuing 30 cars went through
Mankato enroute to the Twin Cities.
And right in Mankato there are more
oranges sold than ever before and of
the very best quality. So when orange
week begins the local grocers and fruit
stores will be well supplied with the
fruit that made California famous.
The usual way the oranges are hand. |
led is this: Each packing house mas
its field men that go out and make
contracts with the orange growers
while the fruit is still on the tree
When the fruit comes to maturity or is
ready for picking the shipper puts his
force of pickers out in the orchards. |
who gather the oranges into field boxes.
Instead of shaking the branches with a |
rake as some of our local apple grow |
ers do, the pickers are generally divided
into groups A certain number pick |
those oranges that can conveniently be
reached from the ground while the
other set work on platform and pick !
5he tops. Each orange is cut from the |
rec and nlacpd in fold boyps Thav