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CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



CALIFORNIA DRIED FRUIT INDUSTRY 



A special census of the fruit-preserving manufactures of the 

 United States in 1905 shows not only that California stands first 

 in the dried fruit industry, but that the product (excluding raisins) 

 was in that year valued at about fourteen million dollars and was 

 over eighty-eight per cent of the whole national product. An 

 adjacent tabulation compiled from the records of the California 

 State Board of Trade gives interesting details of this product for a 

 number of years. 



As suggested on page 21 it is the function of the sunshine and 

 dry air of California not only to bring vigorous growth to the tree 

 and vine and carry the fruit of both to fulness of size, beauty and 

 quality, but to continue its beneficent action until the fruit, which 

 is not required by the trade in fresh ripeness, is given imperishable 

 form, in which its beauty, flavors, aromas and nutritive qualities 

 remain available to delight and nourish mankind until the following 

 year's sunshine wins from the earth another supply of fresh ripe- 

 ness. There are many parts of the earth where good fruit is grown : 

 there are few where conditions producing such fruit continue to 

 accomplish its preservation, as they do in California, and this 

 climatic endowment of the State yields an annual income of some- 

 thing like twenty millions of dollars, as the years run. 



Product of California Cured Fruits in Tons 1900 to 1908. 



Year Peaches Apricots Apples 



Pears Plums Nee- Grapes Figs Prunes Raisins 

 tarines 



Totals... 147,960 102,538 25,050 24,215 11,320 2,576 3,064 27,735 568,000 447,417 

 Averages 16,440 11,393 2,772 2,691 1,257 286 341 3,082 63,111 49,735 



In connection with this notable factor of our horticultural en- 

 dowment, certain facts of its utilization and its significance should 

 be clearly understood not only by those who actually employ it in 

 their business, but by those who desire to properly appreciate the 

 industrial resources of the State. 



First. Cured fruits in California are a primary and not a second- 

 ary or by-product. It is true, of course, that curing fruit does, to 



