TWENTY-NINTH FRUIT-GROWERS' CONVENTION. 



9 



Consular Reports. — As requested by the fruit-growers in convention at 

 Los Angeles, I made arrangements with the Commercial Museum to 

 give me the consular reports as soon as received. I found that all of 

 the machinery for the circulation of these reports was in motion through 

 that body, and to establish an independent source would take time and 

 could not be completed for the then growing crops. These reports 

 require much time to get out and mail, there being a large number 

 sent out each time. We have been obliged to purchase not only a 

 mimeograph, but also an addressing machine, with the necessary appli- 

 ances, at a cost of over $150, and in addition, to get an assistant on 

 certain days, so as not to delay the mailing. The information can be con- 

 densed, and in some cases very important news can be cabled. But to 

 organize a complete system it will be necessary for me to visit Wash- 

 ington and arrange in person with the Secretary of State. This I hope 

 to do the coming year; in the meantime, however, we will send the 

 reports as received. 



Irrigation. — The Eleventh Annual Irrigation Congress, which was 

 held at Ogden, September 15tli-18th, was one of more than ordinary 

 interest to California, and was very largely attended by delegates from 

 this State. California is more deeply interested in the irrigation prob- 

 lem than any otlier section of the United States, and the fact that the 

 General Government has taken up the work of redeeming our arid 

 wastes, by bringing them under water, should receive attention from 

 this Convention, and we should, while expressing our gratitude for 

 small favors already received, place ourselves on record by demanding 

 from Congress such aid as will ultimately husband our entire water 

 supply and carry it to the lands where it will do the most good, thereby 

 providing homes for tens of thousands more people, and adding 

 millions to the wealth of our State and nation. 



In connection with this subject of irrigation, there is another question 

 which greatly interests the people of the San Joaquin Valley, and 

 especially those of Fresno, and that is the matter of drainage. These 

 two questions must go together; they are complements of each other, 

 for unless we have perfect drainage, irrigation will in time fill the soil 

 with water, and bring to the surface deleterious salts, which will prove 

 injurious to our trees and vines. This is a matter which I think prop- 

 erly comes before this Convention for consideration in connection 

 with the larger one of conserving and applying our water for irrigation. 



St. Louis Exposition. — In the coming spring there will open in St. 

 Louis the largest world's fair ever held in this or any other country. 

 At it will be gathered representatives from all the nations of the earth. 

 People will go there to be educated, and they will go there for business. 

 California has never been found lagging behind in events of this char- 



