THE CONQUEST OF ARID AMERICA 



New York, the oranges having been shipped eastward, 

 and the manufactured product westward, at the cost of 

 two transcontinental freights. Imports are by no means 

 confined to things which require capital and machinery 

 for their manufacture. Chickens, turkeys, and eggs are 

 largely brought from outside. A single commission- 

 house in San Francisco imports five hundred thousand 

 chickens every year. Thus a good many thousands of 

 the new settlers can profitably be employed in feeding 

 much of the present population of the State, which in- 

 cludes a large proportion of those who are speculating on 

 wheat and fruit, sheep, cattle, and hogs. 



Having made perfectly sure of his living, and disposed 

 of his surplus for cash in the home market, the settlor 

 still has left a promising field in the list of things which 

 nine-tenths of the American people consume but cannot 

 produce. Among these products are oranges, lemons, 

 and limes. Florida competition in this line has been 

 temporarily destroyed, if not permanently injured. Mex- 

 ico is, perhaps, a rising competitor ; but there is little 

 reason to fear that California cannot hold its own against 

 all foreign producers. Even more promising is the olive- 

 culture ; for while the orange is an article of luxury, the 

 olive must ultimately become here as elsewhere an im- 

 portant article of food. Calif ornians are just beginning 

 to pickle the ripe olives. The difference between a green 

 olive and a ripe one is precisely the difference between a 

 green and a ripe apple. In Spain the people subsist 

 largely on olives but not on green ones. All who have 

 eaten the ripe fruit which is now being pickled in Cal- 

 ifornia will agree that it is conservative to say that 

 when the American public become acquainted with this 



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