208 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



especial importance in Sacramento, Yolo, Placer, Santa Cruz, 

 Santa Clara, Solano, and Los Angeles, in which counties more 

 than half the table grapes are found. Two counties of the San 

 Joaquin Valley, Fresno and Tulare, have planted five eighths of 

 the total raisin-grape area of the State. Three wine counties 

 Sonoma, Napa, and Santa Clara contain five ninths of the total 

 wine-grape area. 



In round numbers, then, the fruit and vine acreage of Cali- 

 fornia in October, 1893, is as follows : 



Citrus and semitropic 95,000 



Deciduous fruits 200,000 



Nut-bearing trees 25,000 



Grapes 191,933 



Small fruits 5,081 



Total 517,014 



Having ascertained the total acreage, the approximate number 

 of fruit-bearing plants of the kinds tabulated can be readily found. 

 Orchardists set trees at different distances apart according to the 

 soil and the variety: 12'X12', 15'xlo', 18'X18', and 20' X 20' can 

 be found within a mile of each other. Walnuts and other strong 

 growing trees are often set 30' X 30', with cultivated crops planted 

 between for 'a few years. The above systems of planting give 

 respectively the following number of trees to the acre : 302, 193, 

 134, 108, and 48. Of course, there are many other planting dis- 

 tances in general use. The ordinary rule of multiplying the 

 acreage by 100 has never seemed to me sufficiently accurate, 

 and I should choose 150 as more nearly representative of the 

 orchards of to-day. Grapevines are planted 4'X6' in the case 

 of some varieties, and 4' X 8', 6' X 6', and 8' X 8' in ordinar y vine- 

 yards. These distances give the following numbers of plants to 

 the acre: 1,815, 1,361, 1,210, and 680; about 1,200 is probably a 

 fair average. 



Tabulated, with a fair allowance for the acreage planted in the 

 spring of 1893, the sum of the whole matter is as follows : 



Number of trees on 320,000 acres 48,000,000 



Number of vines, etc., on 200,000 acres 240,000,000 



Trees and vines of the plant of 1893 (about) 7,500,000 



Total number of plants (about) 295,500,000 



The reader must remember that every one of these plants, 

 excepting vines grown from cuttings, has been propagated in a 

 nursery, set out by hand with more or less carefulness, and pruned 

 and cultivated. About sixty per cent of the fruit trees are now 

 in partial or full bearing; in the vineyards the proportion is 

 probably somewhat greater. 



