Los Angeles herald., 1909-07-25
IMPERIAL TURNS
TO THE ORANGE
STRONG COMPANY WILL PLANT
LARGE ACREAGE
CLIMATE AND SOIL SUIT CITRUS
CULTURE
Early RIpenng Of Fruit, Hot Weather
and Absence Of Fogs Encourage
Growers to Hope for
Success

Ell CENTRIC. July 23.--Ever since
the Imperial valley was opened to set
Element six years ago experiments have
been made with all kinds of crops and
fruit to determine what is best adapted
to that region. Naturally few orange
trees were among the first to be plant
ed, but with a conservatism born OF
experience, those making the expert
snents held down their enthusiasm over
the prospects until they could state
definite conslusions. That time has ar
rived, and the results have surpassed
the expectations of the most sangulne.
It seems that every drawback to or
ange growing In other sections has been
overcome by nature in this valley.
The soil is the very best, being COM
posed of silt deposited through count
less ages by the water coming down
from the fertile valleys of the Colorado
river. The depth of this soil is not yet
known. Behring'S have been made to
the depth of 700 feet without reaching
the bottom Besides this, silt is still
being carried down the Colorado river
and every time the land is irrigated a
layer of this fertilizer is deposited all
over the ground. This eliminates one
large item of expense which must be
counted on in other sections, the fer
tilizing 1t Is agreed that there Is no
other known valley on the globe Whlch
possesses the fertility of the Imperial
valley. with the possible exception of
the famed delta of the Nile in Egypt.
Climate Favorable to Oranges
The climate. which to some has
seemed a disadvantage on account OF
the heat is the thing which above all
others makes orange growing here a
much more profitable venture than
anywhere else Oranges ripen here
from four to six weeks earlier than
near the coast Navel oranges when
reach the market from the San Gabriel
valley about January l, are picked here
by November IS. and are much sWeeter
when picked than the former are at
much later date. These same condl-
lions of early ripen!ng and superior
sweetness are present in degree IN
the oranges raised in other extremely
warm places like some parts of the
San Joaquin valley and the arid spots
of Arizona but they reach maximum
here in the Imperial
Another thing the climate does for
Imperial is to prevent any scale or IN
sect pests which bother growers so
much in cooler sections. Not only do
these interfere with the formation of
perfect fruit, but the consequent neces-
sity for spraying, fumigating etc, con-
stitute a bill of expense which is a
large item in the cost Of production
nearly everywhere but here in I'M
perial valley.
The Joseph r. Lotus company an
nounced intentions of branching out in
orange growing, under the manage
ment of w. H. Kindig. After collect
ing all the data available concerning
citrus fruits in this valley, this com
pany has come to the conclusion that
orange groves here will pay much
greater net income than in the san
Gabriel valley.
Many of the reasons are already
known, the abundance of water, the
freedom from scale and insect pests,
the inexhaustible. fertile soil, and
greatest of all, the early ripening OF
the crop. But one other thing which
has not been given much consideration
is that oranges ripened here in the dry,
hot weather will keep much longer
under any conditions than those grown
where fogs are frequent.