Fruit-Growing in California. 



53 T 



materially lengthening the season during which fresh fruits 

 of many kinds may be marketed at moderate prices. Not- 

 withstanding this competition and the fall in prices, prune- 

 growing in the Pacific North-West still yields a fair re- 

 muneration to the grower, and it is anticipated that, by 

 attention to quality and packing, the market for the evapo- 

 rated fruit will continue to increase. 



[Prunes and Prune Culture in Western Europe. — U.S. Department of Agriculture, 

 Division of Pomology, Bulletin No. 10.] 



Fruit- Growing in California. 



The fruit industry of California may be said to have ori- 

 ginated in the fruit trees planted by the Franciscan monks 

 during the establishment of their missions in the district, 

 but the industry did not attain any great importance until 

 the gold excitement of 1849, when growers made consider- 

 able profits in selling their produce at the exorbitant prices 

 which then prevailed. 



At the present day there is hardly a section of the State 

 in which there may not be found large orchards devoted to 

 one or more of the many varieties of fruit trees. The high 

 mountain valleys are adapted, both as regards climate and 

 soil, to the raising of the hardy northern varieties of fruits, 

 and between these and the low valleys of the south may be 

 found conditions suited to the production of nearly all kinds 

 of fruit known to commerce. 



In 1900 there were in the State 16,193,000 fruit-bearing 

 trees, and 13,209,000 non-bearing, or 29,402,000 trees alto- 

 gether, covering an area of 452,000 acres. 



Of the total number of trees, 8,073,000 were prune trees, 

 5, 522, co 3 peach, 3,652,000 orange, 2,745,000 apricot, and 

 2,163,000 olive trees, requiring 117,000 acres of ground for 

 the prune trees, 8o,odo acres for the peach trees, 53,000 for 

 the orange trees, 40,000 for the apricot trees, and 45,000 

 acres for the olive trees. In addition, there were 157,000 

 acres devoted to the cultivation of grapes. 



Carriage of fruit from California forms an important 

 item in the annual tonnage of the transcontinental railroads 



mm 2 



