12 



THE OKANGE; 



wheat and barley without irrigation, and 

 during the past five years have averaged 

 good yields. Latterly it has been demon- 

 strated that the vine may also be grown 

 here without irrigation, and thousands of 

 acres, previously considered fit only for 

 grain, have been transformed into vine- 

 3^ards. For general farm products and 

 fruits, however, irrigation is necessary. 



Oranges are produced on the uplands 

 with varying results, which may be termed 

 good, bad and indifierent. In proximity 

 to the ocean, the orange tree does not 

 thrive. As the valley recedes, gaining 

 continually in altitude and modifjing the 

 sea breezes, the chances for successful or- 

 -ange culture increase. Two years ago it 

 would have been an act of treason for me 

 to say that the best flavored oranges could 

 not be grown in and about the city of Los 

 Angeles, twenty miles from the coast. 

 But it is even so. All unprejudiced ob- 

 servers, and some that are prejudiced, are 

 forced by the logic of market quotations 

 to acknowledge the fact. Last season Los 

 Angeles fruits were sold by our jobbing 



houses and hucksters at half, or less than 

 half, the prices commanded by the or- 

 anges of Pasadena and Duarte (mesas), 

 and of the far interior yalley of Riverside, 

 in San Bernardino county. 



I have said that the chances of success 

 in orange growing increase as the valleys 

 recede from the ocean. The favorable 

 conditions culminate in the high interior 

 irrigable valleys like that of Riverside, 

 where the soil is warm, and the weather 

 hotter in summer, and more tempered in 

 winter. The oranges of Riverside rate as 

 the finest grown in the State, and com- 

 mand the highest prices. The same fa- 

 vorable conditions are found on the mesas 

 which lie against the Sierra Madre moun- 

 tains on the south, southeast and south- 

 west. Here the atmosphere is warmer by 

 reason of the greater elevation, and the 

 earth absorbs heat both from the direct 

 rays of the sun and the refraction from 

 the mountain sides. This brings us to the 

 consideration of what I have termed the 

 third natural division of our country. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



THE MESAS. 



Less than twelve years have elapsed 

 since the settlement and improvement of 

 our mesas began. During the first half of 

 this time the general public looked ask- 

 ance at the few venturesome people who 

 had set out to demonstrate that these 

 lands were really arable. When success 

 was finally secured, the press took up the 

 matter and agitated it so persistently that 

 a general change of opinion was soon ef- 

 fected. 



That the advantages of the mesas for 

 fruit growing, and especially for orange 

 growing, were so tardily recognized is a 

 matter of wonder. A man with "half an 

 eye" should have observed their natural 

 adaptability to horticulture at the outset. 



The early settler in Los Angeles county 

 found the upper valleys mostly a treeless 

 and shrubless waste. The only vegeta- 

 tion there abounding was the alfilerilla, 

 that hardy cousin of the geranium, which 



matures its seed whether the stalk grows 

 to a height of three feet or a half inch — 

 thus allowing the utmost latitude for wet 

 and dry seasons, and perpetuating itself 

 where scarcely any other vegetation could 

 survive. This alfilerilla the early settler 

 found dried and matted upon the ground 

 a good half of the year. In marked con- 

 trast with the semi-sterility of the plain, 

 the foothills presented a perennial cover- 

 ing of verdure. There, through the long, 

 dry summer, the lupine and larkspur sent 

 up their spikes of bloom, and the sage 

 and grease- wood, the alder, white thorn 

 and buckthorn blossomed and matured 

 their seeds and fruit. In some localities, 

 too, there were vigorous growths of live- 

 oaks and sycamores. 



Now, what did the early settler do but 

 locate his farm upon the treeless and 

 shrubless plain, where he applied himself 

 to the raising of an orchard and vineyard 



