THE CONQUEST OF ARID AMERICA 



bear fruit throughout the lower valleys, the area in 

 which it can successfully be cultivated for commercial 

 purposes is rather severely restricted. To grow a few 

 orange-trees within the shelter of the house, and to pro- 

 duce sufficient fruit for home purposes, is one thing ; 

 to grow thousands of acres of oranges fit for the market, 

 and thus develop a genuine citrus district, is entirely 

 different. There is a well-recognized thermal belt in 

 the foothills of the Sierras, bordering the San Joaquin 

 and Sacramento valleys, but the conditions of the coun- 

 try as a whole, with reference to this subject, have 

 turned out to be very different from what they were 

 supposed to be when Mr. JSTordhoff wrote his books. In 

 southern California his predictions in regard to orange 

 culture have been largely realized, but even there it has 

 been discovered that the field is limited. 



The author was not unnaturally led into the error 

 of saying that " the seasons are a little later in the 

 North" than in the South. The contrary is the case, 

 strange as it may seem, for it is the northern fruit dis- 

 tricts which send the earliest products to market. This 

 is true of both deciduous and citrus fruits. In the case 

 of the latter the difference is very striking, as the 

 northern oranges are ready for the Thanksgiving mar- 

 ket, while comparatively little of the southern crop is 

 available for Christmas purposes. Both the raisin uml 

 the prune industries were beginning to assume import- 

 ance in 1873. Mr. Nordhoff quoted raisins at " two dol- 

 lars per box of twenty-five pounds," and added : " I judge 

 from the testimony of different persons that at seven 

 cents per pound raisins will pay the farmer very well." 

 To-day they are quite content to obtain three cents. 1 1" 



126 



