THE RAISIN INDUSTRY. 201 



demonstrate it. Here and there we also see a lemon orchard with its 

 larger trees of a different green. A few years ago many lemon orchards 

 were dug up, as no one understood the secret of saving the lemons till 

 the warm season, when alone they can bring a good price. But at last 

 one of the growers wrung the secret from Nature, and now buys up all 

 the young lemons he can find and stores them away to be used from 

 six to ten months later, just when they are most in demand. In com- 

 pany with that courteous horticulturist, the editor of the Riverside 

 Press, E. W. Holmes, we visited this gentleman, G. W. Garcelon. To 

 him is due much credit for having discovered the process. He pre- 

 sented us with lemons of the small and proper size that had been 

 picked green eight months ago. They were equal to the best imported, 

 both as to smallness of size, acidity, thinness of skin and quality of 

 juice. These lemons bring now five dollars per box, at which price 

 lemon culture proves more profitable than that of the orange. 



The only variety that should be planted is the Lisbon lemon, the 

 Eureka having too bitter a peel, and the much recommended Villa 

 Franca being round and thus unacceptable. We passed several vine- 

 yards, the Muscat vines being large and the vineyards well kept. The 

 grapes are just ripening, but it will be some two weeks yet before they 

 are ready to cut. The only variety grown here is the Muscat of Alex- 

 andria, the real Gordo Blanco being unknown, or at least not generally 

 planted. 



The far-famed Magnolia avenue is near at hand. The center is occu- 

 pied by a continuous row of old pepper trees, with gracefully drooping 

 branches, under which the cars run. The outside rows are different in 

 various places, generally palms with alternating grevilleas, or gum or 

 pepper trees. The custom now is to replace the outside trees with 

 palms, and many of the stately gums are being cut away. Beyond the 

 sidewalks are the trimmed cypress hedges, and behind them orange 

 orchards, only interrupted by open lawns and gardens partially hiding 

 the tasty dwelling-houses of the horticulturists. All that we see, now 

 so luxuriant and beautiful, is the effect of water on the otherwise bar- 

 ren plains. Everything is irrigated several times a year by means of 

 flowing water brought from distant points, from the mountain canons, 

 or from the artesian wells in the ritfer bottom higher up, several miles 

 away. 



The canals are all on the highest ground, and are dug on technical 

 principles. There is no washing and no filling up, no broken-down 

 gates and overflowing and stagnant ponds. Some ditches are cemented, 

 and look magnificently clean, without any weeds or mud. The water 

 in them is like the water of a spring, clear and pellucid. In course of 

 time all the ditches will be cemented, the cost for doing the work being 

 paid for in a short time by the water saved and the absence of the 

 necessary cleaning out. 



Riverside is indeed to be envied its Chinatown. The latter was, 

 some years ago, moved a mile from town into a hollow, and now every 

 house there is surrounded by cypress hedges and windbreaks of cypress 

 and gum. Moreover, every house there is connected with the sewer- 

 age system, and the usual smell is not noticed on the outside. Indeed, 



