AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES 171 



very best was being incubated by the judges, exhibi- 

 tors were too nervous to sleep and the whole com- 

 munity was expectant. The question of the best 

 orange was decided by side-tracking all seedlings and 

 proclaiming the sovereignty of the Eiverside navel, 

 which subsequently took a broader name. The de- 

 cision on lemons was not so easy. They were all 

 considered sour enough but the question was which 

 one would not go bitter. Therefore, lemonades were 

 made of all separately to see how they would taste 

 the morning after, all samples being securely locked 

 up so that no exhibitor might be tempted to come 

 in the night and give doses of quinine to all his rivals. 

 These early citrus fairs were well-springs of en- 

 thusiasm and of optimism but they also taught close 

 discrimination and loyalty to correct standards of 

 judgment. 



Similar in influence to the early citrus fairs in 

 southern California were the "Fruit-Growers' Con- 

 ventions" which dealt chiefly with deciduous fruits, 

 the first of which was held in 1881 and the fifty-third 

 in 1920. These popular assemblies have convened 

 once or twice a year in all parts of the State. They 

 have been unique in their character and most effec- 

 tive in their work and many of the great successes 

 of special fruit-growers' organizations in regulating 

 production, protection, transportation and distribu- 

 tion have followed from the initiative at these great 

 conventions. No other agency or institution com- 

 pares with them in work done for the promotion of 

 the fruit industry and the prosperity of producers. 



