AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES 165 



Olivet, the grapes, pomegranates and figs of Eschol 

 and the oranges of the Hesperides being freely used 

 as the commonest missionary munitions to win Cali- 

 fornia's first war against barbarism. 



Another incentive was production for home supply 

 to exclude importations and to save the gold shipped 

 to various parts of the world to pay for food prod- 

 ucts. More specific reference to the efforts in fruit 

 production are interesting in this connection. The 

 ambition to produce a home supply of fruits arises 

 in all new countries. Most notable about California's 

 effort was the speed with which it was achieved. As 

 early as 1858 the danger of producing fresh fruit 

 beyond the requirement of local markets was pro- 

 claimed and it was realized a few years later. In 

 the early sixties planting was almost stopped, and, 

 in spite of this, the product was too large for profit. 

 Cheap fruit suggested canning and preserving, and 

 as early as 1868, canned fruit and vegetables rendered 

 the State independent of the eastern states and Eu- 

 rope, and shipments worth $650,000 were made to the 

 other parts of the coast and to the Orient. Dried 

 fruits of fine appearance were also being produced, 

 but eastern dried apples were hard to displace, a mil- 

 lion pounds a year being brought to California from 

 1863 to 1865. In 1866 it was recorded that "large 

 quantities of apples, pears, plums, peaches and nec- 

 tarines were dried for home consumption." In that 

 year also the California product of dried prunes was 

 estimated as about thirty-five tons weight and of 

 raisins about forty tons, which was about the begin- 



