PROCEEDINGS OP NINETEENTH FRUIT GROWERS' CONVENTION. 69 



attention and daily labor which we cannot afford to give. In this way 

 they put them into boxes, which are sold at enormous prices, but the 

 clusters and layers that we put up are as fine as any in the world. I 

 do not know any reason why there should be any opposition to the 

 American raisin. 



Mr. Berwick: I do not think the prejudice exists in England. I get 

 letters occasionally from there, in which they speak highly of California 

 fruit, so I do not think the fact of our fruit competing with others cuts 

 any figure in this argument. What I want to say is this: Supposing 

 the Nicaragua Canal were built, how would that affect raisins? 



Mr. Fowler: I was going to say, if you once get it built, it will cut 

 some figure. 



Mr. Berwick: It rests with you to get that thing done. The English 

 Government, sir, would have built that canal fifty years ago. Let me 

 say another thing. Why don't you advocate the building of that canal by 

 this Government? If the English Government can maintain magnificent 

 irrigation works in India, why can't this Government do so? Can you 

 do what they can do? I believe you can. I have been thirty years in 

 this country, and I believe there are as good men in this country as in 

 any country on earth. I am able to get cooking raisins in London at 4 

 cents a pound, so I am informed by a gentleman whose wife has bought 

 them there. 



Mr. Fowler: That is, 3-crown and 4-crown raisins. 



Mr. Berwick: You say you could make money at 3 cents? 



Mr. Fowler: We could. 



Mr. Berwick: I am a little surprised that gentlemen in the raisin 

 business do not know the price of raisins in what they deem to be the 

 leading fruit market of the world. I will get the information in a very 

 few weeks, and you may have it, if it is of any use to you then. I have 

 correspondents there, and will keep you informed occasionally. 



Judge Aiken: I have heard Mr. Fowler lay down the law on the raisin 

 industry with a great deal of interest. Undoubtedly the trouble at Fresno 

 was that it was too rich, and that it flowed too generously with milk 

 and honey; but I am afraid you have not diversified your industries 

 enough. Go into the older fruit sections, like the Napa and Santa Clara 

 Valleys, you find the prune and other trees growing, and you will find in 

 these older fruit regions that, where once grew the peach and apricot 

 they are now growing, maybe, the apple and the prune. I had an 

 orchard of 2,000 apple trees that we had spent years to bring into bearing. 

 I was advised to dig up and burn that orchard. I did so, and planted 

 it in prunes, which are now bearing heavily. I have never made a mis- 

 take that I did not seek to rectify it at the earliest possible opportunity. 

 I think there is a bright future for Fresno and her industries. I believe 

 that each section of the State has soil adapted to some one industry, but 

 it is very questionable whether the prune industry would be a success 

 without much care and labor. Probably one half of the prune trees 

 do not become profitable, through no fault of the owner or cultivator, 

 however. Sometimes the soil has not been properly selected; sometimes 

 the frost came too early, and sometimes the bleak north winds arise to 

 hurt the prunes; and so it is, we have to contend with Nature in every 

 section of the world in the effort to raise fruit profitably. 



Mr. Fowler: In discussing the question of packing rotten goods, I 

 spoke particularly of the years 1890 and 1891, when we had those heavy 



