THE KANSAS CHERRY. 81 



GREAT CHERRY ORCHARD. 



Probably there is no better-known ranch, and certainly there are 

 few larger, in the state of California, than that owned by the Meek 

 estate, says the San Francisco Wave. It is situated a little way out- 

 side the city of Oakland, and it covers a huge tract of land between 

 San Lorenzo and Haywards. It is spread over o300 acres of some 

 of the finest fruit-bearing country on the Pacific coast. A thousand 

 acres of this extent is in fruit, for the most part cherries. 



The ranch is owned and controlled by the two Meek brothers and 

 their sisters, how skilfully may be known from the fact that, in spite 

 •of hard times and a depressed market, there has never been a year 

 when it has not paid, and paid liberally. A full croj^ of cherries from 

 this wonderful orchard will bring its owners anywhere from $30,000 

 to $35,000. 



During the cherry-picking season a little army of pickers toil from 

 tree to tree, stripping the branches like a swarm of locusts. 



The sight is picturesque, for the pickers come by families and live 

 in the orchard, in a small village of tents. At the height of the sea- 

 son nearly 150 pickers are employed. They are of all ages and both 

 sexes, as the work is of such a nature that it can be performed as well 

 by women as by men — as well by a ten-year-old girl as by a grown 

 man. The pickers are, of course, boarded at the expense of the ranch, 

 and beside are paid from seventy-five cents to one dollar per day, so 

 that a wife and two or three children can make as much money during 

 the few weeks of the x)icking season as the head of the house can 

 earn during the entire year. 



After the picking, the cherries are taken over to the packing- house 

 and handled at once. The riper cherries are sorted out and put upon 

 local markets, while the more backward are shipped East. The force 

 of packers can disjDose of 420 boxes per day. Two thousand boxes go 

 to the car-load and must be hurried to their destination as speedily as 

 possible, for there is no fruit that loses its flavor quicker by over- 

 keeping than the cherry. For the same reason the boxes must be 

 rapidly marketed, for they will not keep many hours in the heat of 

 an Eastern summer. There are plenty of difficulties in the way of 

 getting the California cherry upon the dining table of the Eastern 

 consumer, but, with ordinary care and a fair season, the prices obtain- 

 able are not bad. In Chicago a ten-pound box of California cherries 

 can be made to bring a dollar, if properly handled, while in New 

 York, though the Eastern local market comes into competition, the 

 same quality will sometimes sell for twelve cents per pound. 



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