93 



California is sending apples to Australia, China, Japan, and other places, 

 also canned fruit to the East. Great Britain, and Europe, also to other for- 

 eign countries. For some of our canned fruits, as well as dried, we have 

 the world for a market. Only a few years ago Wood head & Gay had a 

 few barrels of foreign grapes sent to Los Angeles. These grapes were put 

 up in ground cork, and were sold at 30 to 50 cents per pound in January 

 and February. Now we raise better grapes, and instead of sending to 

 Europe for grapes for winter use, we will supply that demand in the United 

 States, as well as other places. It is hard to say what new processes there 

 will be to utilize our fruit. From June. 1SS4. to June, 1885, there were 

 about $20,000,000 paid for imported fruits that California can produce and 

 will prod ace in time. California canneries this last year turned out about 

 one million cans of goods; and, as I have already said, two thousand five 

 hundred carloads of fruit were sent East. Is this not a good showing? 

 There were imported into the United States in 1884, seven million nine 

 hundred and forty-five thousand nine hundred and seventy-seven pounds 

 of figs, fifty-seven million pounds of French prunes, four million seven 

 hundred and thirty-two thousand two hundred and sixty-nine pounds of 

 almonds, fifty-three million seven hundred and two thousand two hundred 

 and twenty pounds of raisins: oranges and lemons, eighteen thousand six 

 hundred and twenty-six carloads: preserved fruits, two hundred and forty- 

 four carloads; olive oil. two hundred and forty-four carloads: and other 

 fruits, six hundred and thirty-six carloads. If we could produce this 

 fruit it would take two fruit trains each day in the year, Sundays excepted, 

 with forty-two cars to each train, to take this amount East. Now, there is 

 no question but what California can produce these fruits. Let me say, in 

 conclusion, that the fruit industry of California is not even in its infancy. 

 Within the next ten or twenty years this industry will assume proportions 

 that will astonish the most sanguine. The orcharclist will be more than 

 rewarded, and the railroad companies will be taxed to their utmost capacity 

 to convey the vast quantities of fruit East. 



People that are engaged in or expect to embark in the fruit industry 

 should not expect such large returns. If horticulturists can make $100 per 

 acre net profits, they should be satisfied. Let us contrast the profits of 

 farmers with fruit growers. If the farmer raises two thousand pounds of 

 wheat or barley and secures 1-J cents per pound, he is doing well, and goes 

 home with his $30. and out of it he has $20 net profit; but the fact is, the 

 farmer does not get that average at all, considering the failures and partial 

 failures he has. If the orchardist has an orchard of one hundred trees per 

 acre, after they are eight years old he may reasonably expect two hundred 

 pounds to the tree, which would make twenty thousand pounds. At f cent 

 a pound he would realize $150 an acre. This is a low estimate. The 

 products of the orchard are almost a sure crop, especially if the orchard is 

 composed of four or five kinds, say apples, pears, plums, peaches, and 

 apricots. 



