56 PROCEEDINGS' OF NINETEENTH FRUIT GROWERS' CONVENTION. 



that the economy and energy of the California rancher would let his crop 

 rot on the ground, but that the cost of sale and delivery would equal 

 any price obtainable. The reduction of 33^ per cent in the average 

 price from any former year would place all but the best in size and 

 quality of our product below the cost of production. 



While in this may be seen the fate of those who have unwisely selected 

 soil and locality for growing prunes, so also arises the hope for him who 

 knowingly or by chance is secure from frost, storm, hardpan, clay, deep 

 gravel, adobe, and washed or weak soil. When the market price of 

 prunes shall have reached 3 cents for what is known to the trade as the 

 " four sizes," the producer who, under average conditions, can raise no 

 larger than 90-100's, even though of the best quality, may as well cease 

 his efforts. It will not pay. Land that, under ordinary conditions of 

 warmth and moisture, will not produce a large crop of 70-80's average 

 is not and will not be profitable in the production of prunes at reduced 

 prices, or in general competition attendant on a surplus, however small . 

 Nothing but the "pinch" of conditions as they force themselves into 

 control will teach the lesson we here try to impart. 



Whence Comes the Trouble. — The prune itself is by no means at fault. 

 It can be raised on the Pacific Coast in all its varied species, and with 

 that degree of perfection which will challenge comparison from any source. 

 It has, from different localities here, all the possible degrees of sugar, 

 acid, texture, and size, and may be brought into favorable competition 

 with any country in questions of quality. Where, then, does any cloud 

 appear? The answer must be from over-production, or under-consump- 

 tion, or bad methods in marketing. 



It is not believed by your speaker that we do now or that we shall 

 grow more prunes with our present acreage than our country alone should 

 consume. Their delicious and healthful qualities should so commend 

 them that a threefold increase of consumption should quickly come, and 

 surely present prices cannot be in the way. 



Unwise Extension. — Taking into consideration the foreign product, it 

 is believed our efforts at production have been too earnest and rapid. 

 It has not been so much a matter of growth, as of " boom." We find in 

 the business not the usual and customary tillers of the soil, but in haste, 

 almost mad, the lawyer, doctor, minister, judge, banker, merchant, miner, 

 capitalist, manufacturer, professor, teacher, clerk, mechanic, male, female, 

 and "mixed"; and syndicates, including all kinds, as well as corpora- 

 tions, have planted tree and vine, and await their fortune. All these 

 classes are more or less speculative, and believe themselves in nearly 

 every case wiser and sharper than their fellows. The result is, and will 

 be, a larger and more rapid increase of production than there is provision 

 for distribution and consumption, and the result already is, and will be, 

 a chaos and misfortune which will have no remedy, except in the severe 

 and sore trials of all engaged in the industry. When these have been 

 severe and harsh and sufficiently continued, then will come a unity of 

 effort, purpose, and plan so strong as to lift us above our groveling and 

 mean self, and prosperity will immediately follow. Are these state- 

 ments too strong or untrue? 



The Lessons of this Year. — The conditions of the present season largely 

 prove what is coming. W e did not have a large crop. Taken as a whole, 



