102 



Gross receipts 

 Freight paid - 

 Cartage paid . 



$283,033 80 

 6,002 35 

 67,254 40 



$675,864 40 



Commissions paid 



Gross charges 



356,289 55 



Total net returns 



$319,574 85 



This shows the net average per pound realized to the grower in this State 

 to be 2.8 cents. If we knew precisely what to deduct as the cost of pro- 

 duction, boxing, and delivering to the Union, we would know what this 

 green fruit yielded per pound as net profit to the grower. In 1886 the net 

 profit to the grower through the Union, was 2.41 cents per pound, and for 

 1887 it is estimated at about 2.25 cents per pound net to the grower. By 

 strong support of this Union, and by gradual increase of shipments, the 

 cost of sale will be reduced materially, which will add to net result. 



Trees in full bearing will average one hundred and fifty pounds each, or 

 fifteen thousand to the acre. This fruit at Union rates for 1887 would yield 

 net $420 per acre. Pruning, cultivating, thinning, picking, boxing, and 

 delivering to the Union, I cannot figure beyond $120 per acre, leaving 

 balance net over all to grower $300. 



As an orchardist myself, looking forward to the time when my invest- 

 ment will yield me a steady and fair income, I promise myself, as I promise 

 others, that $100 per acre as a net return is good enough, and can, in my 

 opinion, be safely relied upon, always presupposing the best and most in- 

 telligent cultivation, handling, and marketing. 



The constancy of our fruit crop, and the early yield, and the early fruit- 

 age of new orchards, and the long life of our trees, are all well understood, 

 and are advantages which we enjoy over any other region of the United 

 States. That we can raise fruit in large quantities, and of exceptional 

 quality, no longer admits of a doubt. The kinds of fruit we grow greatly 

 » strengthens our case. In no State of this Union, and in no country in all 

 Europe or elsewhere, of which I have any knowledge, is so great a range 

 of fruit produced as in California. Oranges, olives, lemons, limes, plums, 

 prunes, figs, grapes, and nuts of all kinds, apricots, peaches, nectarines, 

 pears, cherries, apples, all the small fruits; indeed every fruit known to 

 commerce, save only a few exclusively tropical fruits, not much known to 

 us, are here produced. All varieties of all zones seem to flourish here, 

 regardless of characteristics in their native habitat. These are prodigious 

 advantages; they are beyond computation in money value; they come of 

 our climate, our ocean and mountain influences, and our soil. 



Our best wheat lands produce from one half to two thirds of a ton of 

 marketable wheat per acre. In fruit, these same lands will produce from 

 five to fifteen tons of green fruit to the acre. Looking towards the market 

 for wheat and fruit as it now exists, I believe that fruit will yield more net 

 profit per pound to the grower than wheat. 



There being no longer any dispute about our raising almost all known 

 fruits of the earth in large quantities, the great question, as in wheat grow- 

 ing, is the market. 



Here, as in other departments of investigation on this subject, we lack 

 data. This country imported in the year 1886-7 of fruits and nuts $20,- 

 608,480. I am not able to inform you whence all these fruits came, or what 

 kinds of fruits they were. It may be stated generally, however, that they 

 were chiefly the fruits and nuts grown in our California orchards. We 

 have then this field for operations. As showing increased consumption the 

 imports of fruits for 1887 exceeded imports for 1886 by over $3,000,000. 



