tjgg CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



enterprises should arise to consume it at prices to pay something 

 more than cost of handling. Refuse fresh fruits of all kinds, and 

 especially refuse dried fruits have nutritive value which should not 

 be lost. A statement of the value of various fruits as compared 

 with various cattle foods has been prepared by Prof. M. E. Jaffa, 

 of the University Experiment Station, in the adjacent table. 



A good average of the pitted fresh fruits is represented by 

 prunes. Using the equivalents in the table below for computation, 

 it appears that if wheat bran costs $15 per ton, fresh prunes would 

 be worth as a substitute $3 per ton; likewise, if cottonseed meal is 

 selling for $21 per ton, the prune value would be about $2.75. At 

 the market price of oat hay, the figure for fresh prunes should be 

 nearly $3 per ton. 



The dried fruits naturally rank far above the fresh material as 

 stock feed. Of the dried fruits represented in the table, raisins 

 lead in food value; containing one and one-fourth to one and one- 

 half times the nutritive ingredients of alfalfa and oat hays, respec- 

 tively; 100 pounds of the fruit being practically equal to the same 

 quantity of grain, but to only eighty-two and fifty-nine pounds 

 respectively of rice bran and cottonseed meal. 



Dried apricots rank slightly lower than raisins, because they 

 contain more water. Apricots are, however, of equal value as a 

 feeding stuff with wheat bran and almond hulls about half as much 

 as alfalfa hay, bran or middlings. 



Concerning the feeding of raisins to hogs, the following state- 

 ments are made : "With raisins selling at 2^ cents per pound 

 they are much cheaper food for hogs than corn or barley. Raisins 

 give the hog a hard sweet meat and are much sought after by the 

 butchers. Care must, however, be exercised in feeding raisins to 

 hogs, as they are full of sugar, and consequently too rich when fed 

 alone. They heat the animal up so that the hogs lose flesh and 

 will kill the little pigs of a farrowing sow. For fall and winter 

 feeding, pumpkins, citrons and alfalfa are the best feed to give the 

 hogs in conjunction with the raisins, but in the spring a change is 

 found very beneficial. 



"Many people feeding raisins to hogs are not having the success 

 they should because they overfeed their porkers. A pound of 

 raisins a day is ample to start in with. After the system of the 

 hog has become accustomed to the raisins the amount can be in- 

 creased so that the last three weeks each hog should get about 

 four pounds of raisins a day. The last ten days, when the finishing 

 touches are being put on, the hogs should be allowed all they can 

 get." 



Wine grapes rich in sugar have been cheaply dried on the 

 ground and used to advantage for hog feed. One grower says 

 that in 1908 failing to get $6 per ton for his grapes, he dried them 



