THE FRUIT INDUSTRY IN CALIFORNIA. 211 



Yield of 700- Acre Orchard. 



Pounds. 



Apricots 339,411 



Peaches 2,115,314 



Nectarines 210,518 



Pears 280,124 



Plums 4,705 



Prunes 22,283 



Total 2,972,335 



This is a well-authenticated yield of nearly 3,000,000 pounds 

 from the orchard, or, to be more exact, within a fraction of 4,246 

 pounds to the acre. This fruit was sold for $84,365.61, or $120 per 

 acre, gross receipts. The annual product of the 1,200 acres of vines 

 and trees upon this ranch is confidently expected to be 10,000,000 

 pounds of fresh fruit when every acre comes into bearing, and 

 that is practicable under first-class management. Ignorance or 

 neglect would ruin both orchard and vineyard, however, in less 

 than three years. The average yield per acre, as previously shown, 

 is only 1,200 pounds, but here is a tract of 700 acres, not in full 

 bearing, that gives three and a half times as much. By obtaining 

 the highest possible price, the estimated possible sale of about $45 

 per acre (when the yield was 1,500 pounds) has been raised in this 

 case to $120 per acre. Should the whole 1,200 acres ultimately 

 yield 10,000,000 pounds, the average per acre will be more than 

 four tons of green fruit, the increase being largely in the item of 

 grapes. Four tons per acre, at a uniform price of one cent a pound, 

 would yield $80, as against the average value of the State crop at 

 that price, $12 per acre. 



If the 200,000 acres of deciduous fruits in the State could be 

 made to yield at the rate of this irrigated San Joaquin Valley 

 orchard, the product would now be about 850,000,000 pounds of 

 fresh fruit. The same acreage in full bearing at the expected 

 average would reach the enormous yield of 1,660,000,000 pounds. 

 If the semitropic fruits and vineyards could be depended upon 

 to yield in like proportion, it is safe to say that the fruit supply 

 of the world would be more than provided for, and the transpor- 

 tation facilities of the great railroad lines would be overburdened. 

 But horticulture, like agriculture, is subject to drawbacks and 

 limitations. Orchards and vineyards, exactly the same as corn 

 fields and wheat fields, give only a low general average. The in- 

 dustry of fruit-growing is established upon a solid foundation and 

 is very prosperous, but the whole yield of the State can never be 

 made proportionate to the yield obtained under exceptional cir- 

 cumstances. 



The acreage and yield of the orchards and vineyards have now 

 been ascertained. The cash value of the total output can not be 



