The San Francisco call., 1909-07-29
ALAMEDA APPLES
AT $50 A POUND
Remarkable Statistics in State
Agricultural Society's AM
nual Booklet
Secretary Now Exploiting Prune
Horse and Raisin Cow at
the Seattle Fair

Apples at $3.50 a pound; almonds at
40 cents a pound; oranges at So box.
No, this isn't Klondyke market
report. 1t comes from Alameda county
in the annual booklet of the state ag-
ricultural society compiled by Secre-
tary j. A. Filcher, and represents the
price per pound Alameda's apples al
monds and oranges brought the grow
ers
The statistical feature of the re-
port" writes Secretary Filcher with
some pride in his introduction, i'm
proves from year to year by reason of
the increased experience of county
statisticians."
What price an inexperienced county
statistician would put upon Alameda
apples is left to the imagination
| There has been a widely varying
| price of the apples product in the
| various counties during the last year,
according to the returns of the county
statistic makers.
WISE ALAMEDA ORCHARDISTS
| For instance, while Alameda county
apples sold for $3.50 a pound, up in
Lake county they brought only half a
cent Del Norte did better at. 25 cents,
while Humboldt fell down to mills
| In Amador. Calaveras, Glen and Las
| sen counties. the price was 2 cents.
And the innocent farmers of Contra
Costa asked only, 3 cents, when the
! sophisticated orchardists of Alameda,
| just across the line, drew down $3.50.
The statistics in Secretary Filcher's
instructive report deal with job lots.
Thus Alameda county produced in the
past year 1892 pounds of apples,
valued at $5S,123. A pound thus comes
| to $3.50 plus the price of a pound of
Lake county apples.
REASSURING TO INVESTORS
The new report is reassuring to in
vestors in that it proves the counties
are holding their own. The majority of
the county reports are verbatim repro
ductions from the report of 1905 Six
counties = Inyo. Alpine, Mariposa.
Plumas, San Luis Obispo and Tuolumne
ARE omitted entirely. but the secre-
tary says in his Introduction that the
supervisors have been lax in some in
stances. The Sierra statistician omitted
| the apple item entirely, when the re-
port of 1906 gives it a s2,230 crop.
"Sonoma county produces as much
poultry and eggs as the balance of the
state put together" says the report.
! Thus by adding up the poltry figures
of the various counties and making due
allowance for the counties omitted one
may easily learn. the egg production of
the Petaluma district.
FILCHER THOUSAND MILES AWAY
But where is Secretary Filcher?
| Stunning the applause of the state
| he has left his report behind and gone
to the Alaska Yukon exposition with
his fruit menagerie. Stick in hand. he
calls attention to the number of pieces
of fruit going into the prune horse and
saisin COW that embody the glories of
| Californa's fruitful acres. There is no
! faltering as to the number of prunes
/ that shape the proud steed, the punches
Of raisins that make the COW a thing OF
life. At the side of these edible statues
the pumpkin seed landscapes of Nebras-
ka seem almost commonplace.
Meanwhile the report tells that only
5000 acres were under cultivation in
] Ventura county the last year, against
115,4S2 acres in the report of 1906.
"sAN QUENTIN FERRY,
statement taken at random from
this official document, compiled at state
| expense, is that San Quentin and San
| Francisco are connected by ferry.
But the report, written by Secretary
| Filcher and indorsed by President B. F.
Rush. is not all dry statistics. 1t has
word pictures. The latter half of a SEN
tence dealing with Santa Cruz ends:
the broad amphitheatrical valley
OF Pajaro; the salt lagunas, picturesque
in configuration and surrounded by
parklike groves of live oak; the high
sandstone cliffs above the shore, the
magnificent ocean drives-all are mate
rails for pleasant investlga ton
The same may be said of Filchers re-
port.