in our favor. Then, too, our working season is much longer, and we are 

 blessed with an entire immunity from blight, the curculio and other insects. 

 As the business of raising and curing such fruits is both respectable and profi- 

 table, we cannot too often urge people to plant largely o^ \h.Q finer varieties, such 

 as plums, prunes, figs, peaches, apricots, raisin grapes and Zante currants. 

 There is no danger of overstocking the market with such articles, when pro- 

 perly cured and put in attractive packages. With the exception of peaches, 

 none of the fruits named can be successfully raised East of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains, and even the peach tree is a more regular and certain bearer in Califor- 

 nia than in Deleware, which is at present the great peach orchard of the United 

 States, and produced in the past season 10,000,000 baskets of peaches of thirty 

 pounds each, which, at twenty-five cents per basket, would amount to $2,500,- 

 ooo. There is not here the market for fresh fruits that exists and is within 

 reach of the Deleware orchardist, but Philadelphia and New York can be sup- 

 plied with Alden peaches as cheaply from California as from Deleware. Nice 

 Alden peaches are in demand in the Eastern markets at from thirty-five to fifty 

 cents per pound, currency. 



Can these fruits be raised here with profit at one cent per pound ? We think 

 so, and offer the following as the reason for our faith : one hundred and thirty 

 trees to the acre, and one hundred pounds of fruit to the tree, is a low estimate, 

 and vet in will yield $130 per acre, at one cent per pound. And if the curing 

 factory is located in, or near the orchard, there will be no outlay for boxes, 

 freio'ht, insurance and commissions, nor can there be any loss from waste. 

 These fruits — take the prune for example, which yields one pound from three — 

 can be cured at an expense, for labor, fuel, boxes, etc., of three cents per 

 pound, making the total cost of Alden prunes, which are infinitely superior to 

 the imported article, six cents per pound. These prunes could then be af- 

 forded at ten cents per pound, which would be within the means of the poorer 

 classes. This estimate would leave a handsome profit for the grower, the manu- 

 facturer and the merchant. At present the factories pay two and a half cents 

 for the prunes and plums, and sell them at from eighteen to thirty cents per 

 pound. The present great drawback is that these finer varieties of fruits are 

 not yet raised in as large quantities as could be desired. According to the 

 Survevor General's report, there were over a million and a half of apple, 

 and only twenty-two thousand prune trees in the State in 1874. Farmers are 

 satisfied with one-half to one cent per pound for their apples, and we predict 

 that the time will come when they will sell their prunes, etc., for one cent per 

 pound, or less, and then make more money than can be realized from wheat 

 or stock raisin-^. A prune tree will not bear as many pounds as an apple tree, 

 but an acre will carry more trees of the varieties above named than of apple trees, 

 and the result in weight is about the same, while in point of commercial value 

 the difference is vastly in favor of the plums, prunes, etc. 



The first, simplest and best method of disposing of the fruit crop is to sell 

 on the (^round, receive your check and draw your money daily, or, at longest, 

 weekly. A sure thing is the best thing for the grower. By adopting the Alden 



