48 



$3.50, pickers from $2 to $2.50, and fumigators from 25 to 50 cents per hour. 

 Ordinary labor is paid $1.50 to $2 per day. 



Orange trees which have been properly grown should yield 350 to 400 packed 

 boxes or a car per acre after twelve years old. Lemons will yield about one- 

 third to one-half more tonnage per acre than oranges. 



About 60 per cent of the fruit is sold through a very well organized co- 

 operative selling agency known as the California Fruit Growers' Exchange. 

 The grower buys stock in proportion to his acreage in a local packing-house 

 which is owned and operated by an association of growers. Several associations 

 together form a district exchange which orders cars, ships the fruit, and 

 distributes the returns. All of the district exchanges belong to the central 

 exchange which furnishes facilities for marketing the fruit in the shape 

 of bonded agents working under salary in the principal markets. The central 

 exchange also furnishes daily market reports and other information. Grower- 

 members are prohibited from selling and delivering fruit outside of the associ- 

 ation. Growers may withdraw from the association at the end of any year. 



There are about forty co-operative marketing associations outside of the 

 Exchange and a number of independent grower-shippers. Very little fruit is 

 shipped on consignment. 



Some persons have made fortunes in citrus fruit, while many others have 

 lost money. Others would have lost money had it not been for the timely 

 advance in the value of the land for residence or other purposes. 



Any person, however, with sufficient capital, a reasonable knowledge of 

 horticultural operations, and ordinarily good business judgment, who is indus- 

 trious and persevering, may expect to make a good profit by raising citrus 

 fruits, provided he or she pays attention to the following points: 



1. Select a location in a proved citrus district reasonably free from frosts 

 and winds and within hauling distance of a packing-house. 



2. Select a deep soil easy to work, fertile, well drained, and drive a good 

 bargain for it. 



3. Be sure of an ample supply of good water to which the land has an 

 inalienable right. For full bearing trees near the coast on a retentive soil 

 about l 1 ^ miners' inches of water is needed for ten acres. The same trees in 

 interior valleys and especially on gravelly soils need not less than three miners ' 

 inches to ten acres. When buying a young grove bear in mind that only a 

 small amount of water is needed for small trees and that some people develop 

 groves with insufficient water rights with the intention of selling to an inex- 

 perienced person at the critical time. Beware of a citrus development based 

 on surplus water. 



4. Secure good strong trees free from scale which have been propagated 

 from carefully selected buds of standard varieties. The standard varieties in 

 California are few in number. They are: Navel and Valencia oranges, Eureka 

 and Lisbon lemons, Marsh seedless pomelo, and Dancy tangerine. 



5. Plant the trees properly, using great care not to let the sun strike the 

 bare roots. Inexperienced planters should purchase balled trees, as there is less 

 danger of losing them during transplantation. 



6. Care for the trees personally and conscientiously in regard to cultivation, 

 irrigation, fertilization, and pruning. 



7. Prevent scale insects and diseases from gaining a foothold. Eemember 

 that the average cost of fumigation is $30 per acre every alternate year, and 



