CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



statifs as a luxury to its proper recognition as a staple winter fruit 

 for dwellers in cold climates. For such use the agreeable acid and 

 sprightly flavor of the California fruit especially commend it. The 

 consumption of the fruit per capita, away from California, is still 

 small and will be greatly increased when people know better its 

 desirability and the reasonable prices at which it can be secured. 

 This wider distribution is to be confidently expected and the rapid 

 increase in population through the great West and North is each 

 year giving California growers nearer markets of growing con- 

 sumptive capacity. It will be of great advantage to the whole 

 country, as well as California, to have production steadily increased. 



Some considerations in this line are given to the closing pages 

 of Chapter VI. To fully appreciate the advantage of California in 

 supplying the whole northern half of the North American continent, 

 especially with early fruits and semi-tropical fruits, one should 

 calculate the exceedingly small area of suitable fruit land in Cali- 

 fornia as compared with the area of the half-continent indicated, 

 which is our logical consuming territory and in which development 

 and population are now increasing so rapidly. Take a map of the 

 continent, place your thumb over the area of California and gaze 

 at the uncovered area, north of the fortieth parallel, if you please, 

 and estimate the duty of California in coming decades. Millions 

 will multiply on the continent, but the safe area for tender fruits 

 will never increase an acre. From this point of view, it really 

 seems impossible for California to create an over-supply of fruits 

 which are distinctively her province to grow. There are likely to 

 be temporary surpluses and problems in distribution, but a general 

 over-supply seems unreasonable. 



The development of the orange industry in California to utilize 

 the splendid natural adaptations which have been discussed, to 

 make good the large investments which have been made, and to 

 afford a field for the profitable employment of the high quality of 

 American citizenship which has entered the list of producers, several 

 things are essential. First, the advancement of horticulture art and 

 science. Second, the maintenance for a time at least, of a sufficient 

 protective tariff, as has already been suggested. Third, the exten- 

 sion of co-operative handling and distribution of the product as now 

 embodied in the successful operation of the California Fruit 

 Growers' Exchange and its auxiliaries in all the producing districts. 

 Fourth, the application of the results of systematic and intelligent 

 inquiry and experiments into the durability of the fruit in transit as 

 affected by cultural and commercial practices, and the effective 

 advertisement of the desirability of oranges as food in parts of the 

 country which have largest consuming capacity. 



SOILS AND SITUATIONS FOR THE ORANGE 



While citrus conditions do exist through large areas of California, 



there is still danger of loss and disappointment through unwary 



individual investments and unwise locations of citrus colony 



nterprises. The tracts of land for orange planting even in a favor- 



