July 



THE POMOLOGIST. 



87 



For the Western Pomologist. 



Among the California Vineyards. 



Dai,., ) 

 3, 1870. f 



A Sic Hundred Acre Vineyard — Varieties of 

 Grapes — Price of Wines — Price of Labor — In-i- 

 gatiun o/iSoil, 



Los Angeles, Cai... 

 June 3, 



Friend Statmajj. — Since writing you 

 from San Diego, I have seen more of tlie 

 country. My son autl myself took the stage 

 at that place and ci\me here by the way of 

 Anaheim, the beautiful little paradise that 

 we read so much abuut in our Horticultural 

 Journals. It is 115 miles north of tan Diego, 

 12 miles from the sea shore, and 20 miles 

 south-east of this place — the city of Augels. 

 Anaheim is the Gorman colony who settled 

 in a little desert for the purpose of growing 

 grapes and making wine. Their whole pur- 

 chase of land was 800 acres, now mostly cov- 

 ered with bearing vines 5 to 10 years old, as 

 near as I could ascertain. There is 6 of the 

 800 acres in grapes. Thej- appear to be in- 

 dustrious but generally with not very flatter- 

 ing hopes for the future. They make some 

 wine there, but are generally too poor to 

 hold lit long enough to realize a fair price. 

 It is mostly sold as soon as pressed from the 

 grape to San Francisco merchants for 25 

 cents per gallon — the merchants furnishing 

 the pipes. I can now buy any of their two 

 year old wine at 40 cents per gaUon at their 

 cellars. It is much better than any of the 

 California wine I ever tasted in the States. 

 Wine growing could not be made to pay 

 here with the price of labor in the States. 

 The Anaheim Germans work like slaves 

 themselves, and hire California Indians at 

 50 cents a day, use no stakes, or trellises, 

 plant usually 8 by 8, and cultivate with the 

 plow. Their locality is a very singular one. 

 It appears to be almost a sand-bar in the 

 Santa Anna river. The soil looks very 

 much like the light floating sand on the bars 

 in the Missouri river. Scarcely two feet 

 above the bed of the now dry river. The 

 water which is used for irrigation is taken 

 out of the river some ten or twelve miles 

 above. The vineyards are flooded two 

 or three times in the forepart of the season, 

 then left to ripen up the crop without fur- 

 ther irrigation. Water is plenty at a depth 

 of three feet from the surface through a very 

 loose sand, apparently as poor as any other 

 sand bar. Their vineyards are now divided 

 into 201^ acre lots, and are each enclosed 

 with a sort of willow hedge, and are thought 

 to be worth from eight to twelve thousand 

 dollars each. The grapes are now in full 

 blossom, do not appear near as early as with 

 us. The variety mostly cultivated for wine 

 is the Mission grape. Foreign grapes are 

 grown some, but not profitably for the want 

 of a market. Apples and peaches are not 

 leaved out yet, though some of them are 

 blossoming, and some have apples and peach- 

 es half grown without a leaf on the trees. 



That is the c;ise all over this southern C(mn- 

 try. Nothing but oranges, grapes, figs, and 

 english walnuts appear to succeed well, tlio' 

 many other fruits are cultivated for au ex- 

 periment. Nothing in either Anaheim or 

 Los Angeles has paid as well as a good apple 

 orchard in Missouri or Kansas. 



It is thought that oranges and the English 

 walnut will pay at this place. Yesterday I 

 visited many of the orange orchards. I 

 found none that had paid over ten dollars to 

 tlie tree at fifteen to eighteen years old. 

 They do not give a crop until twelve years 

 old. There is now about six thousand in 

 and about Los Angeles that are in, and are 

 coming into bearing. It is thought here 

 that there is some eighty thousand trees 

 planted out altogether. Including those not 

 yet in bearing. The very best men who 

 work them only get one dollar per day. 

 They all have to be irrigated three or four 

 times a year, and kept as clean as a garden 

 bed. 



Lemons of a poor quality arc grown here ; 

 also, limes and olives to a small extent. None 

 of these fruits, however, are so good as the 

 Florida semi-tropical fruits — thicker skinned 

 and less flavor. 



Anaheim has on the whole tract about 

 eight hundred or a thousand inhabitants. 

 Lon Angeles, including the city and about 

 four miles square, a population of about 

 eight thousand. Ihe balance of the county 

 is unoccupied, and held by large ranch own- 

 ers, who depend on their grazing in ordinary 

 seasons. This season nearly all their herds 

 are driven to the mountains, where, as the 

 snow melts, the grass grows. There are 

 many droves of horses yet here that can be 

 bought for six dollars a head, averaging the 

 herd through — such horses as would bring 

 about sixty to eighty dollars in Kansas. I 

 could not advise any of my Kansas friends to 

 come to this country with the expectation of 

 bettering themselves in anything but climate. 

 As a fruit country, generally, Kansas is far 

 superior to this. Here only certain varieties 

 grow, in certain localities, while in Kansas 

 we grow almost all kinds except the tropical 

 fruits. 



Wm. Tanner. 



Remarks. — This very interesting and sat^ 

 isfactory letter from Mr. Tanner, of Leaven- 

 worth, Kansas, will be read with interest by 

 horticulturists. Mr. Tanner is not only a 

 thorougli horticulturist, but one of the most 

 accurate observers we have. He is a cool, 

 calm, and deliberate person ; spent some time 

 in California years ago, before fruit-growing 

 had made any sensation there, and had great 

 faith in that country from the mildness and 

 regularity of the climate. But this present 

 visit has fully changed his mind. In a pri- 

 vate conversation since his return, he says 

 the country has been very much overrated, 

 particularly in fruit-growing. — [AssT. Ed. 



For the Western PomoloeiBt. 



Fruit Prospects -Miama Black Cap. 



Friend Miller: — We have had a de- 

 lightful season for work here, but is just 

 now a little too dry, yet we have small 

 showers about once a week. 



Our general fruit pi-ospects are by no 

 means flattering. The apple crop is almost 

 a failure. The warm weather of the fore 

 part of April served to advance the fruit 

 buds so that the severe freezing which fol 

 lowed cut ofl' almost our entire crop of 

 apples, pears, cherries, and plums. Peaches 

 f.ired better than most oth r standard vari- 

 eties of fruits, .so that where there are trees, 

 there will be a moderate crop of them. The 

 late blooming varieties of apples have, of 

 course, fared better than those that came out 

 early, but as we have liad a greater profusion 

 of insect enemies (worms) than usual, there 

 will not be much more than a suffleient crop 

 for t!t£>n. The "end" worm, (leaf roller" 

 has become one of our worst pests here, as 

 they frequently destroy almost the entire 

 new growth, during the month of May, on 

 large, as well as small trees. There are sev- 

 eral kinds of these worms, but the most 

 common kind is a small white worm with a 

 black head; and how to head him oflf eflect- 

 ually, has become a serious question for 

 consideration ; but as tliis pest ascends the 

 trees from the ground, on the first appear- 

 ance of leaves, I think the same remedy as 

 for canker worm is the only one that will do 

 any good. 



Strawberries, where the vines had winter 

 protection, are bearing quite well; and 

 raspberries (my Miama Black Caps) promise 

 the most abundant j'ield I ever knew — in 

 fact they are already bending under their load 

 of fruit; and this, together with my present 

 prospect for tuns of grapes, compensates me, 

 in some measure, for mj' losses in other direc- 

 tions. In fact, grape vines are generally as 

 full of bloom as they can " stick." 



The great advantage to be derived from 

 having a variety of kinds, of both standard 

 and small fruits, can be more readily seen 

 this season than usual, for there was scarcely 

 ever a season known where an entire failure 

 occurred. Ira Phillips. 



Keosauqua,, Iowa, May 30, 1870. 



Remarks. — We find the Leaf Roller more 

 plentiful about here than in former seasons. 

 We think this insect may be controlled 

 without much trouble, by picking ofl" and 

 crushing the twisted leaves. The rolling up 

 of the leaves is done by the full grown 

 worm, and if picked when the process is 

 going on, the worm may be " nabbed " and 

 destroyed. This pest of tlie orchard should 

 not be tolerated when it citn be so easily 

 kept in subjection. We profess to know but 

 very little about the habits of this insect. — 

 Cannot some of our correspondents tell 

 something about it ? 



