Fniits, Vegetables and General Interests, 19 



owing to the late frosts in some districts, and rains during the 

 blossoming time. The leadmg canners became convinced that 

 this was a mistake, and so the}' contracted in many cases to de- 

 liver enormous quantities of fruit at a low price. When the 

 situation was understood — a failure of the eastern peach crop, 

 and a great demand for all kinds of California fruit — the can- 

 ners hastened to secure contracts with the growers before prices 

 went up. They failed in most cases, and the unprecedented 

 profits made in 1890 in California fruit were made by the spec- 

 ulators who bought ' long ' on canned goods, and by the actual 

 growers of the fruits. One result of this state of affairs will 

 probably be a 'close combination' of all the California can- 

 neries. 



''The profits of fruit growers have been in many cases so 

 great as to pa}' for the land three times over. The local news- 

 papers of the state are crowded with well authenticated illus- 

 trations of the possibilities of California fruit growing. I will 

 give a few of these which I have myself investigated and can 

 vouch for as in every respect reliable : 



*'The Oak Shade Fruit Company, of Davisville, shipped 

 seventy-five car loads of Bartlett pears to eastern markets, 

 and their entire fruit crop was 150 cars. This includes almonds, 

 raisins, prunes, etc. The profit from these was a total of 

 $30,000 from 360 acres, or eight per cent, on an investment 

 reckoned at $1,000 per acre. Ernest Dewey, of Pomona, re- 

 ports as follows : ' Golden cling peaches, 10 acres, seven years 

 old, produced forty-seven tons green, sold dried for $4,800; 

 cost of production, $243.70 ; net profit, $4,556.30. Soil, sandy 

 loam, not irrigated.' E. P. Naylor, of Los Angeles, says: 

 ' Fifteen acres of six year old prunes produced 149 tons ; sold 

 for $7,450 ; cost of production, $527 ; net profit, $6,923. Soil, 

 loam with some sand, irrigated one inch per ten acres.' The 

 dried prunes from ninety-seven trees on W. A. Gibson's place 

 near Calistoga, sold for v^537. The number of trees above 

 mentioned is a little less than prune-growers set on an acre of 

 ground. W. M. Baker, manager of the Colfax Mountain Fruit 

 Company, says that he has peach trees two years old on his 

 place at Landor, Nevada County, many of which yielded $1 

 per tree and some $5 per tree. A Woodland grower says : 

 * I would rather cultivate prunes than anything that grows. In 

 1889 I dried 15,000 pounds of prunes, my own and wdiat I 



