32-1 Transactions op the 



but will be contained in one fourth the bulk, and go to any market for 

 one fourth the freight. 



The prospect of profit and independence to small land owners, which 

 this invention opens up, ought greatly to increase the attractions of Cali- 

 fornia to the immigrant. The climate and soil of this State are favor- 

 able beyond that of any part of the world to the production of the 

 fruits and vegetables suitable to treatment by it. The apparatus is so 

 simple that unskilled labor — that of boys and girls — can be advantage- 

 ously employed by it. Where an evaporator and the necessary build- 

 ing are beyond the means of a single farmer, an association of a i'ew 

 could command the necessary funds, and the profits would amply repay 

 all concerned from the very commencement of the enterprise 



"There are thousands of acres of land in California where all the con- 

 ditions are favorable for the production, in the greatest abundance and 

 perfection, of the finer varieties of fruits, such as prunes, plums, apricots, 

 and raisin grapes — fruits which cannot be successfully raised east of the 

 Rocky Mountains, and for which there is, and always will be, an unlim- 

 ited demand; and, to show the. profit of the culture of such commercial 

 fruits in connection with the Alden process of preservation, we respect- 

 fully submit the following estimate: Take the prune, for example. At 

 fourteen feet apart, two hundred and twenty-two trees may be planted 

 to the acre. The writer has seen trees, of the Petite Pruns d'Agen (an 

 excellent) variety, five years old from the bud, bear two hundred pounds 

 to the tree. These prunes can be made into an article far superior to 

 any imported prunes, at a cost not exceeding three cents per pound. 

 This would give fifteen thousand two hundred pounds to the acre, of 

 preserved prunes, which, at twenty cents per pound, Avould give three 

 thousand and forty dollars per acre, or about fourteen dollars per tree. 

 Deduct from this the cost of curing, three cents per pound, or four hun- 

 dred and fifty-six dollars for the product of one acre, and you have two 

 thousand five hundred and eighty dollars net, less the cost of raising. 

 Those who consider these estimates too high may reduce them one half, 

 and still it will leave a handsome return for the labor and capital in- 

 vested. " 



At present the United States pays millions of dollars annually to for- 

 eign countries for canned fruits and vegetables, to meet wants which, 

 with proper enterprise, we ought to be able to suppl} r ourselves, leaving 

 a large balance for export. With the amount of our national indebted- 

 ness abroad in the shape of interest on bonds and railroad securities, 

 every industry which fosters home production and helps to diminish the 

 specie export, is a direct gain to the country — and more especially where 

 it offers such great rewards to those engaged in it as the one which is 

 the subject of our remarks. 



