80 PROCEEDINGS OF TWENTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS' CONVENTION. 



it on the day she learns to understand it. If we could keep the women in 

 the country, it is probable the men would be found there oftener. The 

 projects you have introduced to us under this International Agricul- 

 tural and Horticultural Union are vast, and their possible utility 

 incontestable." 



Meanwhile those who desire to register names and industrial interests 

 will please send to Mrs. Emma Shafter-Howard, corresponding secre- 

 tary, 1206 Alice Street, Oakland. 



EANCHO DEL FUEETE, AND ITS LESSONS. 



By MRS. JOHN S. DORE, of Fresno. 



The first thing learned from the purchase of this ranch of two hun- 

 dred and twenty acres was the importance of water. This lesson the 

 padres tried to teach by example. You never find an old mission on a 

 dry hillside, but their American successors have had to learn that land 

 in Southern California without a good water right is of very little value. 

 Another thing also learned was that water is an expensive thing to go 

 after or to develop, so that the first thing for an intending purchaser to 

 look out for is to see that the water is already on the land, that it is 

 abundant, and that the title is unassailable. 



Next in importance to the choice of land with water comes the 

 selection of suitable products. Here the custom of the neighborhood is 

 of great assistance. If the soil is good for trees, then what shall be 

 done to supply interest and tax money while the trees are growing? If 

 the trees are far enough apart and the land heavy enough, the choice of 

 crops to be planted between the rows; if not, how much land must 

 "be set apart for these requirements? All this has to be gone into very 

 carefully. 



On the ranch from which these lessons were learned pampas grass, 

 pop corn, and alfalfa were the temporary crops to be depended upon for 

 living expenses while the walnut trees were young. And it proved that 

 pampas grass paid well and soon, but was hard on the soil; while 

 alfalfa was of direct benefit and enriched the land. 



The benefits of this experience of course are for women exclusively^ 

 since they are the only ones who admit they need it. But this attitude 

 of humbleness in a woman is sometimes of advantage. When she goes 

 forth in a rural community to make inquiries from her neighbors she 

 will find that they often tell her the truth about what she wants to 

 know. Whereas the man new at ranching will nearly always assume 

 that he knows it all, by intuition no doubt. This attitude gives great 



