Los Angeles herald., 1910-02-27
fAPPLE ORCHARDS
VALUABLE ASSETS
GRATIFYING PROGRESS MADE
IN TWO YEARS
Deciduous Fruits Can Be Produced
with Big Profit-Southern
California Not One.
Crop Country
by JOHN ID. REAVIS,

Director in Beaumont Land and Water Go.
There is a strongly rooted belief,
both in and out Of this state, that
Southern California is one-crop
country, and that the orange is our
only important horticultural asset.
This has resulted in neglect of the
cultivation of deciduous fruits to the
extent that most of the apples, cher
ries and pears consumed in the Los
Angeles market are now shipped IN
from the northern part of California
as well as from many other outside
| states.
Just this condition was presented
when the writer and his associates
=. commenced the development OF the
beaumont valley and started the de-
tciduous fruit revival that in two years
ihas grown to great proportions ana Is
now attracting widespread attention.
IJnuuestionably the feature of TINS
new development has been the apple
a staple fruit that UP to recent times
has been considered a rank outsider
among the products of southern Cdli
fornia and that at the same time Is
the acknowledged aristocrat of the de-
ciduous world as the orange Is su-
preme in the citrus class.
At the outset of our campaign tnG
unfavorable conception fruit men nlu
gained toward apple-growlng IN Soutn-
ern California was hard to overcome
and our initial progress in getting or
chards started was accompanied ny
hard work and much persuasion.
Increase of Orchard Area
Today the area set to young apple
orchards has reached approximately
1000 acres and by spring it is believed
that this amount will be doubled, when
taken in conjunction with the recent
and contemplated paintings OF cper-
ries. pears, peaches, almonds, aprlcots
and other deciduous products
Most of these young orchards oc-
cupy a territory that up to few
wears ago was a series of vast, dry
farmed grain fields, extending IN
practically unbroken chain from the
beaumont townsite to the foothills OF
the San Bernardino mountains TO the
north Now this great estate IS rlp
boned with streets that subd1Vlde IL
into hundreds of five and ten-acre
tracts. each supplied with irrigation
and domestic water by water sys-
tenn comprising nearly forty miles OF
steel and cement pipes and represent
ing an outlay on our part OF over
100000.
The elevation of these lands ranges
from 260O feeet to 5000 feet above sea
level. and the soil, which is sandy
loan, is singularly free from hardpan,
alkali and adobe. Underlaid in most
part by a clay subsoil, the land IS
particularly adapted to apple and
fruit culture, for it is retentlVe OF
moisture and easily cultivated.
Moisture conditions are made almost
ideal for apples, through the. heavy
rainfall. that averages about twenty
inches, and the regular and consider
able snowfall, which this year has eX-
eeeded twelve inches.
Apples Are Favorites
IF ;s To the snow and sharp accom-
panying frosts that Beaumont owes its
adaptability for apple growing, for
from these scources come the thrift
of the trees, iuiciness of the fruit, deep
coloring of the skin and fine texture
of the meat of the body.
q This combination of qualities also
has given the apples of Beaumont ana
vicinity a recognized standing i'll the
los Angeles market and enabled our
growers to get the same level of prices
as the best Colorado, oregon and
washington brands command This
season the orchardists in and near
Beaumont received $45 ton on the
trees, and the prevailing prices in Los
Angeles run from $1,75 to $2.25 a box
for the best fruit, which is better than
oranges often bring in New York and
other distant markets.
II is in the realm of acre yield and
profits that apple growing i'll our dis
trict is particularly interesting, and a
few concrete examples may prove edi-
flying. Isaac Ford, who has ranch
at Oak Glen, nine miles north of Beau
mont is said to have received $4,000
from two acres of Rome Beauty ap-
pies. Charles Lukens told the writer
that he took $4,000 from ten acres of
different varieties, while A. A. Warren
is said to have received $4,000 from
seven acres of old trees in single
season. Joseph Wiltshire, Harriet Will
shire and other Oak Glen orchardists
have had proportionately heavy crops,
and II. c. Flick, whose ranch is in
Edgar canyon, not only made a phe-
nomenal crop return this year. but
grew apples of such fine quality that
n box presented to President Taft by
the writer drew forth the highest
praise from the chief executive.
Standard Varieties
No branch of Beaumont apple devel-
opment has received more painstaking
care than the selection of the varie-
ties best suited to soil and climatic
conditions, as well as market require
ments. These tests have resulted in
establishing as the standards such va
rieties as the delicious King David
Early Champion, Staman Winesap and
Rome Beauty. Most of these are now
while the Rome Beauty is an old fash
ioned and somewhat outclassed tree, it
has proved a prolific bearer and big
money maker Most of the trees are
being shipped in from the Stark,
Fancher Creek and other outside nurs-
cries, and three nursery firms are now
constantly employed in setting and
cultivating the young trees. The pre-
vailing price for the stock is 20 to 30
cents a tree, but in most cases the
nurserymen take contracts to plant.
cultivate and irrigate at rs cents to
81 a tree for two years care. This is
proving a great boon to the growth of
the fruit industry. for the contract
system enables the nonresident owners
to get an orchard started.
Another feature of apple growing
that is worthy of mention is the re-
lation of supply and demand. In this
particular apples seem to have the ad
vantage over any other product, for
not only is the local demand far in
excess of the supply but similar con-
ditions exist throughout the United
States. Last year the apple crop of the
country at large was 100000 boxes
short, while here at home the total
output was only about 200 boxes as
against demand in Los Angeles alone
of $4,000 boxes. No danger of over
production is revealed by these figures,
and in fact it is a question whether
the planting of 5000 additional acres
of trees would furnish an adequate
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