PROCEEDINGS OF NINETEENTH FRUIT GROWERS' CONVENTION. 83 



NICARAGUA CANAL. 



Judge Aiken: The Committee on Resolutions, to which was referred 

 the resolution of Mr. Berwick on the Nicaragua Canal, desire to report 

 as follows: 



Your Committee on Resolutions respectfully report the following memorial to the 

 Congress of the United States, in favor of the Nicaragua Canal, and ask that, upon adop- 

 tion, copies be furnished the delegations in Congress from the Pacific Coast, by the y 

 Secretary of this convention, under the seal of the State Board of Horticulture, with a 

 request for favorable action thereon : 



The Honorable Senate and House of Representatives, in Congress Assembled: 



Your memorialists, the fruit-growers of California, in convention assembled in Sacra- 

 mento, respectfully represent that they are engaged in the growth and preservation for 

 market of fruit, nuts, prunes, raisins, and olives. That these great industries have been 

 successfully established and prosecuted, and have supplied the markets of the United 

 States for such products. That the profitable growth of this business on the Pacific 

 Coast demands better and cheaper facilities of transportation by sea and land than now 

 exists ; that the Nicaragua Canal would open the markets of the world to the products 

 of this coast, and bring prompt and permanent prosperity to all our industries. 



Your memorialists, therefore, respectfully represent that they favor the Nicaragua 

 Canal, and ask that it be made, owned, and controlled by the Government of the United 

 States in the interests of commerce 

 Respectfully submitted. 



W. H. AIKEN, 



R. D. STEPHENS, 



R. C. KELLS, 



B. E. HUTCHINGSON, 



P. J. SHIELDS, 



Committee. 



Mr. Berwick: I think we all realize fully the importance of this 

 canal business, and I ask you each and all to make a point by drawing 

 up a petition, and have it signed by your neighbors, and then yourselves 

 to submit it to your member of Congress. It will have a great effect, 

 and will insure prompt action. 



The memorial was then adopted. 



MECHANICAL APPLIANCES. 



Mr. W. G. Read: Under this head I would like to introduce the sub- 

 ject of hulling almonds by machinery. I have worked in this line for 

 some three or four years past, and I may say that I have a machine that 

 has worked very successfully within the last year, and I hope it will 

 interest all of you, as well as any one who is interested in the harvesting 

 and taking care of the fruits and nuts of this State. I first began in a 

 very crude way, and my first experiment was very unsatisfactory, but I 

 have continued until I can say now that I have reduced the cost of hull- 

 ing almonds at least 50 per cent under the old methods. Probably a 

 few extracts from some letters I have will convey a better idea of what it 

 is than what I can say to you about my machine. 



Mr. A. T.. Hatch, of Suisun, writes: "I am pleased with your huller; it is the first 

 machine for hulling almonds that I have been pleased with." 



General N. P. Chipman, of Red Bluff, writes: "I regard it as a labor-saving machine, 

 indispensable to the almond-grower, if he wishes to minimize the cost of hulling." 



Langford & Adams, of Acampo, write : " The huller has given good satisfaction, and 

 we can recommend it as a great saving in the harvesting of a crop of almonds." 



Webster Treat, of San Francisco, writes: "Any one who has almonds to hull cannot 

 make a mistake in buying one of your machines." 



