THE SAKDINK I.NIH'STKY. 



The sardine Industry has been for the last 

 forty or fifty years one of the most important 

 of the west of France, furnishing employ- 

 ment to a large fleet of fishing vessel* and 

 supporting many thousand fishermen and 

 their families, fcixty years ago it was at its 

 best, And the fish wore so numerous during 

 the season that it was found necessary to 

 reinforce the regular fishermen with laborers 

 from the neighboring portions of Brittany. 

 Wages were good and everybody was pros- 

 perous and happy. For some years past the 

 annual supply has been becoming more and 

 more irregular, causing great anxiety among 

 the population hitherto supported by this 

 means, attracting the attention of scientists 

 and inducing the French Government to 

 appoint a commission to examine into the 

 subject. The question which is first natur- 

 ally asked is, whence did the sardine come, 

 and why have its visits of late years been so 

 irregular? Some writers have designated 

 that part ol the ocean called the Met' dr's 6'ar- 

 gassss, while others have thought that it 

 occupied, when not seen, parts of the deep 

 sea bouom nearer to the coast of Europe. 

 On these points there is a wide difference of 

 opinion. The only fact lhat seems to be ; 

 clcai y established is that in the spring it 

 ascei ds al'>nK the European coast, following 

 the current, or rather meeting the current 

 of th<> Gulf stream, passing beyond its mild 

 waters that have a temperature of 14 or 

 15 degrees centigrade In May and June. ' 

 Since the chanse has occurred it has stopped 

 farther south, compelling those fishermen 

 who had a sufficient amount of enterprise to 

 go to seek it ou the coast of Portugal or 

 of Africa, where it can be nad at a low 

 price but of inferior quality. But the 

 affairs of those who havo been depending i 

 on tho catch have been constantly going 

 from bad to worse. Sailors out o'f employ- | 

 ment have been compelled to seek other 

 means of existence, packers have been 

 ruined, six or seven out of every ten doing 

 an exceedingly bad business, if not failing 

 entirely. Some sardines are still caught, 

 but the greatly diminished quantity has 

 caused widespread disaster among both 

 working and commercial classes. 



CAUSES OF DISAPPEARANCE. 



The gradual disappearance of the fish is 

 attributed to the fickleness of the Gulf 

 stream, a succefslou of severe winters and 

 the inundations ot the Loire, which pour 

 every year into tho bay of Uiscfty a vast 

 volume of water, coining from the snowy 

 heights of the revenues and Alps. The 

 dredge, which came into more general use 

 when the diminution began, in order to 

 seek the sardine lu ii proper haunts nearer 

 the bottom of tho sea, has destroyed the 

 small Crustacea, all kinds of marine vege- 

 tation and (he fish spawn, so that when it 

 comes In favored years it finds its favorite 

 places ot resort ravaged and uninhabitable. 

 The dredzes having been reduced to fish 

 for shrimps have also nearly destroys:! tills 

 little marine delicacy, which is considered 

 another disaster (or the Breton coast, it not 

 for tbo country. Efforts are being made by 

 some public-spirited individuals to Inter- 

 dict the use ol the dredge in certain places 

 and thus try to remedy an evil that can no 

 longer be prevented. Should mild winters 

 be the rule for some years to come, and 

 should the Gull stream dispense its former 

 warmth along the French coast, the fish 

 may return and the sardine industry may 

 possibly recover its once prosperous condi- 

 tion. 



METHODS OF CUBING. 



The misfortunes of France in respect to 

 the sardine, as well as the olive and the 

 vine, may be the opportunity of California. 

 The lime is opportune for inquiring iulo 

 the sardine industry on the Pacific coast, 

 for determining the actual valua of tha 

 tpeyles c*uj;ut there, and il it lauoteuual 

 to tnoe round on thS French coast to see !( 

 tne latter cannot he planted there by the 

 Fish Commission. The sardine multi- 

 plies Indefinitely, and if the more delicate 

 species did not like to ascend the roast a* 

 fr as HumLoldt county, they might find 

 the milder waters of San Diego and San t 

 Barbara countijs just to their lilting Those 

 aneady caught on the coast of California 

 might be greatly Improved and rendered 

 more marketable by beinc properly cooked 

 Tha French method ia the ineinod pur t&- 

 (lir. Tba sardine is dipped into boiling 

 on cf the bast possible kind at tha earliest 

 possible moment after being taken out oi 



iO water. II It could be thrust alive inle 

 the oil It would be tenderer and lu taetr 

 more delicate. To secure the but resum 

 the fish F-hould not remain In toe boilina 

 oil an Instant longer than Is necessary to 

 cook it siifiisienily and the oil snould he 

 chenpj lu the caldron at Intervals. If tha 

 BSD. is too long cut of the weter before 

 ,b3iug cojlted it is tough and !><. Tha 

 bpanlsh sardines are not good lor several 

 m*d"J! ; Por quality of oil is commonly 

 us=d, the fish are ton long out of t,. water 



?&M! c S ok! ? E a "? '>" '" prohnulv lto an 

 inferior ty of species. Spanish s.MUios ara 

 mlf.rkble at ha.f the ,,ri, : ,ked for the 

 French The Italian sardines are lnf.rl.ir 



Sn, , ?h T!' C!l - """"^ D9tler In n ' 

 spiiish 1 he instrument i,d for dippiue 



, ivV! '" * mt ' *>!>' wlr. r!rnol 

 Hike tiia-e used In toauiug br> d having 



SiSSf ?,">, one " de IKl hnnd.cs on thS 

 other. When the r,,ok is opened as many 

 fU.h are laid ou a, it will hold. Itis th i 

 el i.;d, holdup them firmly in place wne 



S e r e "5 u l le or 'nl'"-' 'ho process gMt 

 he handle, and dip them lu .he Caldron, 

 .sing We Judgment *i to the lent-th of time 

 they sht.nl i remain there. The piming iu 

 cm or boxers ther r ,.,:tor is Mtnpit it.e cook- 

 ing to a turn being o! the eretust im- 

 portance. The b ,xe are of all Su.. and ia 

 orno ca<ss have iniiiuloui pat.i.ti which 

 make them easily opened, and lurrofore 

 .1 Ei-aully to ibt! convenience of -he con- 



A[ Pi .1 ^:-T! :,--r- 



'olives in the Foothill". 



correspondent of the Aub 

 Republican writes: 



"Very often we have heard it said that 

 it might result in failure to attempt to 

 grow olives high up in the foothills of 

 California, as there they would be too 1 

 far away from the sea; and in every 

 scientific treatise about olives, we find 

 that those trees like the vicinity of the 

 sea. In looking around over its native 

 places, there is not one farther away 

 from the sea than one hundred miles. 

 They are growing all along the coast of 

 the Mediterranean, but we do not find 

 them in the interior either of Spain, 

 Italy, Turkey, or Asia Minor. Near 

 Avignon (120 miles from the sea), the 

 olive is dwarfish, and a little further 

 north it cannot J>e found at all. Around 

 Bologna (hardly 100 miles from the 

 Adriatic and not much more from the 

 Tyrrhenic sea), there are no olives. 

 Thus it seems that those who think 

 olives will not thrive at a distance from 

 the sea are in the right. But why 

 would this be so? Even the closest 

 e:- animation could not prove that in the 

 air near the sea there is more salt or 

 moisture than in the air 100 miles dis- 

 tant. And still the fact that olives will 

 thrive in one place and not in the other 

 eniains. The explanation, however, 

 we think is plain and convincing. It is 

 that in the old world the continental 

 climate (hot summers, cold winters) is 

 changed in the sea climate (moderate 

 summers, moderate winters) only in the 

 nearest vicinity of the sea. In Bologna, 

 for instance, it is possible nearly every 

 winter to skate on ice for four of five 

 weeks. But in California we h ve sea 

 climate not only along the coast, we 

 have it also in the valleys and every- 

 where in the foothills up to an altitude 

 of 2500 feet; and therefore, though not 

 all, many varieties of the olive will do 

 well as high up as Colfax. The thrift of 

 the olive does not depend on the vicin- 

 ity of the sea, but on the temperature; 

 and this is a well-known fact, that 

 olhes cannot bear excessive heat or 

 severe cold, the extreme cold the har- 

 diest varieties can endure being 

 eighteen degrees." 



It seems very uesiraDie win" <"> . . ; 

 growers should become fully acquainted 

 with the predaeeous insects, which must 

 be considered their friends as 

 through their agency that all the worst 

 pests are kept, in check, and what natu- 

 ralists term the " balance of nature 

 preserved. Unfortunately, by the prop- 

 agation of certain trees, the food plants 

 of these insects, pests often increase to 

 an alarming extent, and generally so 

 fast that their enemies are tar from be- 

 ing able to cope with them. Such has 

 been the case in Calif brnm fur tl 

 few years, and without wa-lni. 

 spraying of the trees with anti- 

 dotes, many orchards would have 

 been totally destroyed. Gradu- 

 ally it seems, however, that the law ot 

 nature is asserting itself, and parasites 

 and predaceoua insects are making 

 their appearance in vast numbers. Ihe 

 Ichneumon flies are making war on the 

 scales and on many other Insects. O 

 the more conspicuous insects, the byr- 

 phus flies have been very numerous; 

 this season their green, blind arva 

 havine. apparently, totally annihilated 



thesis in tl,e '"urn orchards for- 

 mer lv badly infested, ihe l^v-bugs 

 bay.- kept them company, ana nave 

 niso destroyed vast numbers of woollj 

 aphis and' grain aphis; appearing in 

 manv instances, a- it seemed, in t 

 eleventh hour, just in time t<> save the 



-, mi U I iTIM 1 llll*t 



winger! fhes(< urys 



. 



n this line is the so-called ' 

 Sdy-bug," the Chi1ocor,i> CWi. whose 

 principal food is the various sca.e 



"some four weeks ago, when in the 

 town of Santa Cruz, 1 found the 



a feeding on the Olive sea e / a 

 ,,te P )on trees badly infested At 

 1 oa <iato< they were noticed by me, at 

 Mr Ycceo's place, feeding on sott 

 Ornive scale. However, the most stvik- 

 in" case presented to me was in tli 

 Willows, at San Jose, where Mr. JSew- 

 hall the nurseryman, directed my a 

 tention'to it. ' We found at an old 

 orchard five large pear trees, which, By 

 tho rough appearance of the bark, | 

 rlearly showed that they held been once 

 badlv' affected by scale in this case by 

 Aipuiwtiu pernkiotut. In patches 

 over the trunk could be seen the mature 

 Insect, with its black, shiny body and 

 two conspicuous red spots, an i numer- 

 ous pup:e still partly covered with the- 

 black, s,,ft spines of the larval slun. 

 So live scale could be found, and tn 

 two la-t years' growth was clean and 

 <iw)ot!i. 'It was stated tome thai the 

 , n-hard had not Vieen washed fur three 

 vear-- wliii-h seemed to point strongly 

 to the conclusion that at least the final 

 subjiifration <<i the seal" was due to the 

 Udy-bug. 



\notlier case in question, the orchard 

 of Mes-rs. Wintou and Webster, in 

 Castro valley, near Hay wards. Alameda 

 county. A'^iumber of plum trees wen 

 some 'years ago found to be badly n 

 tested with Asiii-littitus pCT-nictomw, am 

 from them spread to the ciirra;,: 

 close by, which previously were badly 

 infested with another species ol scale, 

 and by the united efforts of those pests 

 a good many were killed. The plum 

 tree-were sprayed with a strong solution 

 of lye which, although killing most 

 scales, did not kill them all. The cur- 

 rant bushes were not sprayed, but, 

 although showing by the thick coating 

 of dry scales that they bad been once 

 fearfully infested, no live scale eourd lie 

 seen on' them, while the trees were ab- 

 solutely clean. In looking around on 

 the trees 1 found a number of la 

 Chilocorui, as well as mature b. 

 and on the currant bushes I found .|Uite 

 a number. On the whole, all evidence 

 indicated that here als.i the lady-bugs 

 had been instrumentar'in killuig the j 

 scale bugs. 



THE OLIVE. 



An Excellent Fruit well Adapted to 

 the San Joaquin Valley. 



Method! of Propagating and Planting- 



Proper Temperature tor Cultivation 



Manner of Extracting the oil. 



_^ V /V^C-t/l'XL-'V^VCX-^ *- 



The olive is indigenous throughout 

 Southern Europe. In Spain, Greece, 

 Italy and the south of France, especially 

 on the shores of the Mediterranean, 

 it is successfully cultivated. Many 

 varieties have been produced from the 

 "European" olive. A temperate, equa- 

 ble climate is best adapted to the olive. 

 On the sea cast, which suits the olive 

 admirably, at a temperature of 52 

 degrees Fahrenheit, its buds form in 

 March, its blossoms in April, at 60 

 degrees Fahrenheit, and its fruit in 

 June, at 58 degrees Fahn icit. The 

 maximum cold that the stands 



without injury is 21 degrees rahrenheit. 

 Snow does not hurt these trees if it lasts 

 but two or three days at a time. Should 

 there be no rain during the months of 



