502 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 
tremes, under the judgment of the expert, but unperceived to a surpris- 
ing degree by the taste of the public in the general market. The oranges 
grown in some of the sheltered valleys of the Coast Range, and on the 
red soils of the Foot Hills, as far north as Butte County, often success- 
fully dispute the precedence of the preduct of Los Angeles and San 
Bernardino. 
In view of the short time within which this industry has developed, 
and of the multitude of nationalities which have taken part therein, itis © 
not surprising that many important questions relating to it should still 
remain unsettled, and that the best regular routine for the several dis- 
tricts, or even for general practice, should as yet not have been estab- 
lished. Too many different varieties, whose adaptation to the local and 
general climate is undetermined, fill the orchards, and give rise to im- 
mense quantities of unmarketable fruit, that ultimately fall to the share 
of cattle and hogs. The high price of labor and of transportation from 
remote districts condemns another large part to a similar fate, especially 
in favorable seasons, when the local market soon becomes glutted with 
fruit unable to bear shipment to the East. Curiously enough, even at 
such times, the prices of fruit to the consumer are generally higher than 
is the case at corresponding times in the Western States, showing irref- 
ragably that the cost of production is higher, and consequently that 
only fruit of high quality can bear exportation. Inattention to this 
point has rendered unprofitable, or worse, many of the refrigerator-car 
shipments heretofore made, and the same want of proper care in assort- 
ing the various qualities is one of the chief canses of frequent business 
failures of those supplying the markets of San Francisco. This practice, 
however, is fast being improved upon, and the disposal of the surplus 
fruit by drying is beginning to relieve, to a very great extent, the glut that 
has often depressed prices below the paying point. The exportation of 
dried fruits of all kinds is doubtless destined to become one of the most 
important branches of agricultural industry in the State, both en account 
of quality and of the natural facilities for the drying process offered by 
the dry summer air. It is found to be absolutely necessary to exclude 
in the drying operations all access of insects, which otherwise lay their 
eggs on the fruit and spoil it within a year. This is now very generally 
and effectually accomplished by the use of the best drying apparatus, not 
uncommonly in co-operative factories erected by companies or granges. 
The quality of the prunes, plums, apricots, pears, &c., cured by some of 
these establishments is not behind the best of the kind imported from 
France and Italy, but as yet the neatness and convenience of the pack- 
ages 1s not so generally what would be necessary to render them equally 
attractive to the purchaser. 
While the orange, lemon, lime, and other sub-tropical fruits are more 
or less in cultivation up ‘to the northern third of the State, they form the 
specialty of Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and adjoining counties, where 
also the pineapple, banana, guava, and other more strictly tropical fruits 
are mainly under trial. Ina meastire, what has been said above of the 
more northern fruits applies here also. While much fruit of the highest 
quality is produced, much also is still in the experimental stage, and some 
very poor lots are occasionally thrown upon the market. The subject 
has lately, however, been earnestly taken in hand by the young but 
proportionally energetic Horticultural Society of South California, in 
which a number of the most intelligent men have combined to determine 
in the shortest possible time, by systematic experiments, discussion, and 
scientific investigation, in connection with the agricultural department 
of the university, the practically important questions relating to this 
