i8 



PACFIC TREE AND VINE 



PACIFIC TREE AND VINE 



NINETEENTH YEAR. 



Tlie exponent nf the fruit growing, 

 farming, stockraising, poultry keeping, 

 and lionie making interests of tlie Pacific 

 Coast. 



Issued Monthly by the 



Palo Alto Publishing Company 



rROPRIETORS. 



Parkinson Block, - - I'ulo Alto. Cal- 

 18 South Market St.. - - San Jose. 



Address all eonimunieiaiolis and remittan- 

 ces to 



PACIFIC TREE AND VINE. 



PALO ALTO SAN JOSE CALIFOkNIA 



FAYETTE MITCHELTREE. ■ - - Editor 

 JOHN ISAAC, - - Associate Editor 



CONTRIBUTORS ; 



Franklin Highborn James Hague 



J C Williams B. T. McBain 



Edward Ehrhorn 



Subscription Price. One Year 



50c. 



Correspondence solicited on all matters 

 of interest pertaining to farm life or de- 

 velopment of the resources of this coast. 



Pacific Tree and Vine is published 

 monthly; subicribers not receiving their 

 paper promjitly should uive notice so 

 that the cause may be ascertained. 



Renewaij?. — The date printed with 

 your name on the paper or wrapper 

 should show to what time your sub- 

 scription is paid. Thus Jan 03 indicates 

 that payment has been received up to 

 January 1, IOCS; Feb 03 up to February 

 1, 1903; and so on. Some time is required 

 after receipt of money before the date, 

 which serves as a receipt, can be changed. 

 If you find or believe an error has been 

 made in the date notify this office at 

 once. 



DISCONTINUANCES. — A Subscriber wish- 

 ing to stop his paper must notify the 

 publisher ami pay up all arrears, other- 

 wise he is responsible as long as the 

 paper is sent. 



Change of Address. — A subscriber 

 wishing to have his address changed 

 should give both the old and tlie new- 

 address. 



ii;i;i;t-ary, iocs. 



Read the special offer to Tree 

 AND Vine siibscriber.s. 



Since the last issue of the I'.xci- 

 eicTkek .\ni) Vine the editor has 

 received some hmulrecls of letters 

 from subscribers expressing their 

 approval of Ihei-liange to a monthly 

 aud offering words of praise for the 



paper in its new form. Such 

 thoughtfulness on the part of our 

 readers is deeply appreciated, and 

 we wish to extend through this 

 column the thanks that would be 

 offered by personal letter were our 

 well-wishers less in number. 



From all parts of the State re- 

 ports reach us that pruning and 

 spraying are well advanced and that 

 the winter work in the orchards is 

 nearly over. These reports, too, 

 are to the effect that with all varie- 

 ties of fruit the blossom buds are 

 swelling and are unusually thick, 

 and if the unexpected and the un- 

 forseen does not happen, we shall 

 have an almost phenomenal fruit 

 crop. 



In the industrial progress made 

 by the United States during recent 

 years there has been no more con- 

 spicuous feature than the growth 

 of agriculture The amount of fixed 

 capital invested in agriculture is 

 about $20,000,000,000, or four times 

 that invested in manufactures. 

 More than half of the people ot the 

 United States live on farms, and 

 more than a third of all the people 

 engaged in gainful occupations work 

 on farms. In one year the products 

 of American farms have reached an 

 aggregate value of nearly $5,000,- 

 000,000. 



Most of the subscribers to the 

 Pacific Tree and Vine have 

 taken advantage of our offer in last 

 month's issue, and have paid in the 

 fifty cents that settles the old ac- 

 count and gives them the paper 

 without extra charge for the year 

 nineteen hundred and three. A 

 few, however, have failed to re- 

 spond, and to these we will say 

 that it is necessary to remit at once 

 if this extraordinary offer is to be 

 taken advantage of A glance at 

 this issue will show it to be even 

 better than the last: it will be con- 

 stantly improved throughout the 

 year, and you cannot alTord to let go 

 l)y the chance of clearing up the 

 back account aud procuring the 



paper for the year just entered upon. 

 It is only the small matter of send- 

 ing fifty cents. Do you not think 

 it-worth while to attend to it? 



There is a strong movement in 

 favor of the protection of beneficial 

 birds in progress in many of the 

 States, and it is already having 

 good effect. If the farmers and 

 fruit-grows realized how much they 

 owe to the labors of their bird 

 friends in destroying iniurious in- 

 sects, there would be in every State 

 a law in their favor stronger than 

 any game law and every agricultur- 

 ist would constitute himself a com- 

 mittee of one to enforce it 



There is no need to urge upon 

 the dairyman the advantage of pig 

 raising Cows and pigs are the 

 natural complements of each other 

 under our present system. With 

 the establishment of central cream- 

 eries, the manufacture of butter on 

 a large scale, and the increased de- 

 mand for milk, the farmer who for- 

 merly kept a few cows now finds it 

 profitable to keep many, and with 

 the new process of skimming by 

 separators he is left with a large 

 quantity of sweet skim milk. Pigs 

 and shoats will thri\-e on this as on 

 no other class of food, and if in con- 

 junction with both the farmer has a 

 good alfalfa field he has a sure and 

 certain means of income that even 

 hard times cannot much effect. 



December was an unusually 

 cold month in all parts of the State, 

 and January has tint so far been a 

 warm one Killing frosts have not 

 been reported from any sections, 

 and while this is true our fruit 

 growers have cause to feel thankful 

 for a cool December and January. 

 Very frequeuth January is a warm 

 month; so warm that the sap com- 

 mences to flow in the trees, fruit 

 buds swell, and many trees are 

 forced into blossom, only to be 

 caught by later frosts, and a large 

 portion, and sometimes the whole 

 crop of fruit on such trees is de- 

 stroyed. In other cases the sap is 



