PROCEEDINGS OF TWENTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS' CONVENTION. 129 



acre of drained peat lands at El Monte, is far below this mark. With- 

 out presenting too many facts that might require verification after 

 adjournment, we all will agree that the Navel orange tree is the most 

 magnificent feeder and producer, except the pomelo, of any orchard 

 tree. Consequently it requires a proportional amount of labor to supply 

 the food, keep the tree in health, and care for the product. 



My home is in the midst of an irrigation district of nearly 4,000 

 acres of bearing orange trees. On the south, and breaking away from 

 it like a step down from a great green wall, is a tract of 4,000 acres of 

 fine wheat land farmed by one rancher. By the use of a great, modern 

 traction engine this farmer expects to cultivate, seed, harvest, and 

 thresh the cereal crop of this tract, requiring the labor of four men 

 annually to do the work. A ten-acre orange grove requires the constant 

 labor of one man to irrigate, cultivate, harvest, and pack the crop that 

 is produced every year. Thus, the complement of the 4,000-acre tract 

 of orange trees is 400 men, as against 4 for the farm tract of equal area. 

 As the southern orange-grower has taken the contract to sell his own 

 fruit in cooperation with his associates, and makes big money by 

 attending to this business, as well as that of growing the fruit, it is safe 

 to say that 600 helpers are required in all the departments of the busi- 

 ness to care for the 4,000 acres of orange groves in question. From this 

 typical example of industrial California, and its contrast with plain 

 farming, one may understand the principal cause of the progress 

 Southern California has made in population and wealth during the last 

 decade. 



Without giving up my attempt to sketch the latest experiences in 

 orange culture, it may be stated that the south has practically settled 

 upon two varieties as the standards for general cultivation. The first 

 in importance is the Washington Navel. Public sentiment, both from 

 the growers' and from the consumers' standpoint, has always given this 

 orange the preference. The tendency of this variety to sport back to 

 worthlessness, and the consequent mistakes of the early propagators in 

 their selection of stock from which to grow trees, are the only valid 

 arguments that have ever been used against the general adoption of 

 this orange. Later years have shown that a typical tree once estab- 

 lished will always remain so, and that has thrown the burden of purity 

 of stock upon the nurserymen. Planters understand this so thoroughly 

 that they now spend more time in the selection of their nurserymen 

 than formerly, and the younger orchards are coming to maturity with a 

 minimum of "sports" and in many cases a full complement of typical 

 trees. Tens of thousands of dollars have been spent in budding-over 

 off-quality Washington Navel trees, but the progress of to-day recog- 

 nizes very little necessity of starting an orchard subject to this fault. 

 Perhaps these weaknesses in this variety have caused its utter failure in 



9 — F-GC 



