14 LIFE ZONES AND CROP ZONES. 



DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURE IN CALIFORNIA. 



The history of the development of agriculture in California affords 

 an excellent example of the changes in staple i)roducts that come 

 with increased knowledge as to the fitness of jjarticular areas for par- 

 ticular crops. In the early days California was distinctly a grazing 

 State, and hides and wool were the chief exports. Then wheat came 

 to the front, and soon formed the staj)le product. Later it was learned 

 that large areas were particularly well suited to the needs of fruits, 

 and the fruit industry rapidly grew, until at the present time it 

 exceeds even the wheat crop in money value. But the fruits from 

 which so large a revenue is now derived are only in part those first 

 introduced. Fifteen years ago wine grapes were i^erhaps the most 

 important fruit; now they are of secondarj^ consequence. For a time 

 deciduous fruits were the principal ones deemed worthy of attention ; 

 now citrus fruits are of even greater value, the output of oranges and 

 lemons in 1806 being 3,780,000 boxes. Almonds, walnuts, olives, and 

 raisins have also come to be important crops. Twenty-five years ago 

 all our raisins were imjiorted; now California produces annually from 

 90,000,000 to 100,000,000 pounds. 



The development of the prune industry is instructive as an illus- 

 tration of a common class of cases where products worth liundreds of 

 thousands of dollars annually to a single State have been introduced 

 by chance rather than as a result of scientific study. The first prune 

 cuttings are said to have been brought from Fi-ance, along with cut- 

 tings of grapes and other fruits, by a Frenchman who settled at San 

 Jose about the end of 1856. For some j^ears little was thought of this 

 introduction, and it was not until 1880 and 1881 that serious attention 

 was given the cultivation of prunes. But from 1893 until the present 

 year the annual output in dry fruit has ranged from 44,780,000 to 

 64,500,000 pounds. 1 



It is hard to resist the temptation to dwell on the marvelous expan- 

 sion of the fruit industry that has taken place in California since the 

 climatic adaptations of her various agricultural belts began to be 

 understot)d ; but for present iiurposes a statement of the exi)orts of a 

 few of her many i^roducts for the year 1895 will suffice to give a fair 

 idea of the magnitude tliis industry has attained. In 18!»5 C'alifornia 

 shipped 6,625 carloads of fresli deciduous fruits; dried fruits, 6,132 

 carloads; raisins, 4,638 carloads; canned fruits, 3,129 carloads; citrus 

 fruits (mainly oranges), 11,582 carloads;- nuts, 1,333 carloads; wine 

 and brandy, 8,056 carloads.^ 



' Statistics from California Fruit Grower. 



'Figures from Fifth Biennial Rept. California State Board of Agriculture, 1896. 



^From California State Board of Trade. 



