CALIFORNIA AND WESTERING SUN 311 



not produced in quantities sufficient to indicate that 

 it might become a profitable crop. There are in 

 California large bodies of land, adobe and alkali 

 and those where the hardpan is near the surface, 

 which are not well adapted to the crops now 

 raised upon them but upon which rice may be 

 grown very profitably. In 1914, 16,000 acres 

 produced 8,528 tons which were sold at an average 

 price of forty dollars per ton. 



Last year California shipped out of the State 

 45,000 cars of oranges, each carrying about 400 

 boxes, and produced 65,000 carloads of raisins of 

 all kinds. Then there are the almonds, and Eng- 

 lish walnuts and olives and melons besides. 

 And that reminds me of a story which aptly 

 illustrates the abundance of melons in some 

 localities. A ranchman had a big crop and 

 the price did not warrant him in hauling it 

 to market. There was an Indian Reservation not 

 far away on the edge of the Desert and it is well 

 known that Indians are very fond of melons. The 

 farmer let it be known that any Indian could have 

 all the melons he could haul up a little hill just 

 outside the house gate, for two dollars, but if the 

 wagon stalled the price would be three dollars. 

 Soon there was a procession of wagons coming to 



