14 



THE OEANGE; 



detail of the industry. They have studied 

 the requirements of their trees; have in- 

 formed themselves of the most scientific 

 methods of propagation; have introduced, 

 by budding, the choicest known varieties; 

 have mastered the problem of insect pests; 

 have established markets, and are work- 

 ing to gain a reputation for their fruit. In 

 those points to which they have earnestly 

 and systematically devoted themselves, it 

 is doubtful whether they are excelled by 

 any orange - producing country in the 

 \vorld. 



In two essentials, however, they are 

 still lacking : 1st manuring the soil; 

 2nd preparing and packing the fruit.* 

 But a reading, thoughtful, progressive 

 people will not take long to discover and 

 remedy their lapses. 



Compared with horticulture as pursued 

 in other portions of the United States, our 

 t-ection occupies a leading position. The 

 system of seeding an orchard to grass or 

 clover, or the lack of system in allowing 

 the ground to grow up with weeds which 

 one sees so generally followed in other 

 States in not in vogue among our culti- 

 vators. On the contrary, the finest tilth 

 and the utmost freedom from weeds and 

 grasses is maintained, both in citrus and 

 deciduous orchards. It would not be a 

 difficult matter to snow hundreds of fruit 

 farms, varying in size from ten to fifty 

 acres, which are as carefully tended as the 

 finest flower garden. 



Some people of poetical temperament 

 eom plain of the absence of greensward 

 in our orange groves, declaring that only 

 this is lacking to complete the romance of 

 the situation. But in this day and age 

 romance is obliged to retire before utility. 

 Scientific culture demands that soil de- 

 voted to trees shall not be exhausted by 

 other vegetable growth; also that the sur- 

 face of the ground be at all times finely 

 pulverir.ed in order to retard evaporation. 

 Our system of fruit growing conforms to 

 these requirements. 



For a time I refer to the period between 

 1870 and 1880 citrus culture presented 

 here the spectacle of a great industry run 



*XOTK I ghould make an exception in Riverside, 

 where the packing In doue in a systematic aud thor- 

 ough manner. 



mad. In a preceding chapter I referred 

 to the furor for planting which then exist- 

 ed, and I also alluded briefly to some of 

 the disastrous results which followed. 

 Those years inculcated .some useful les- 

 sons. They taught us that well established 

 precedents *and natural conditions can 

 not be ignored and defied. They taught 

 that success is attainable only by working 

 with Nature, not against her. 



And now, chastened, humbled, pun- 

 ished for our previous thoughtlessness 

 and wrong-dohiK, and likewise rewarded 

 for carefulness and right-doing, wo pro- 

 ceed with more confidence and more in- 

 tegrity of purpose than ever before. With 

 precedents well established,aud authentic 

 information disseminated on every ques- 

 tionable point, a man who takes pains to 

 inform himself may now attain success in 

 orange culture as surety as the sea captain 

 who consults the chart may make his 

 port. Of course, unforsccn accidents may 

 happen to either captain or orange-grower, 

 but of the two the "land-lubber" enjoys 

 the greater immunity. 



The report of the Surveyor-General of 

 California for the fiscal year 1881-2 gives 

 the following statistics: 



Number of Number of 



Benriug Bearing 

 Lemon Trees. Orange Trees. 



I/os Angeles county 48,350 450,125 



San Bernardino 3,749 15,435 



San Diego 1,257 3,390 



Santa Barbara 1,840 612 



Santa Clara 547 1,635 



Sonoma 1,893 3,927 



Ventura 1,000 200 



Yolo 1,300 



Butte 2,400 2,960 



Scattering 1,01)4 



Total 62,130 484,227 



It was estimated that the number of 

 trees not yet in bearing (which did not 

 figure in the Assessor's reports) was three 

 times the number of those in bearing, so 

 that the grand total of orange trees in the 

 State could not have been far from two 

 millions. 



Reports for the year 1882-3 are not avail- 

 able for an}- of the counties except Lo.s 

 Angeles. The Assessor of that county re- 

 turns this year 526,640 bearing orange 

 trees and 50,565 bearing lemon trees. 



The entire crop of the State was, in the 



