FRUIT REPORTS. 
245 
Oranges were planted in Butte county as early as 1855, but it was many 
years ere the fruit was considered anything more than a curiosity. In the 
latter part of 1885 and in the spring of 1886, efforts were made to plant orange 
trees upon a commercial scale. A company was formed in Oroville and 
twenty acres of oranges set out in the spring of 1888. From that time on- 
ward orange planting continued active, and today there are several thousand 
acres of orange trees in Butte county alone. Many of these trees are yet 
young, but the older trees now coming into bearing will yield this season 
fully 200 car loads of fruit. 
The orange has done exceedingly well in the foot-hills of Placer and large 
shipments are being made from Auburn and other Placer towns. 
In Yuba county the orange thrives well and one of the finest groves is in 
the open Sacramento Yalley miles from the foot-hills. 
In nearly all parts of this valley as in Glenn, Colusa, Yolo, Tehama, Sutter 
and Sacramento counties the orange and lemon do finely and in the future 
thousands of car loads of these fruits will be shipped from this part of the 
State. The orange gains its greatest perfection in the low foot-hills of the 
Sierras at an altitude of from 200 to 700 feet. Here the lemon grows luxur- 
iantly although no large lemon orchards have been planted. 
The orange is colored enough for successful shipment by the middle of 
November and by Thanksgiving large shipments are made. The steady 
and long continued heat of the summer and fall gives sweetness and earliness 
to this fruit and thus enables growers to obtain the cream of the market as 
to price. 
The great northern markets are open to growers in this part of California 
while shipments are made east during the holidays in large quantities. 
The orange requires much care, thorough tillage, plenty of manure and an 
abundance of water. If the tree is neglected, the fruit is valueless. Those 
who have grown oranges for. several years are the most enthusiastic advo- 
cates of orange production and orange planting that can be found in this 
section. This indicates that to them the fruit has been profitable. No effort is 
being made by land owners to boom this industry, no advertising is being 
done to attract attention. The fruit is increasing each year and the ship- 
ments are multiplying. Within a few years at longest this part of California 
will force itself into prominent recognition as a great citrus region. 
The olive in that part of California lying north of Stockton is destined 
to become a great industry. It is recognized by all that in the southern 
portion of the State this tree does exceedingly well, but it is not known that 
throughout the Sacramento Yalley and its adjacent foot-hills up to an altitude 
of 1,500 feet that this tree grows rapidly and bears heavily. We have seen 
olive trees so loaded down with fruit that the branches drooped to the ground 
like a weeping willow. The tree is hardier than the orange, but the fruit 
is less so. An olive tree will bear several degrees more cold than the orange 
or lemon, but the ripening olive is injured more severely by the frost than 
either the orange or lemon fruit. 
The olive grows in every county in Northern California with two or three 
exceptions. It does well in the low flat lands of the Sacramento and San 
Joaquin Yalleys and thrives luxuriantly in the foot-hills of both the Sierras 
and the Coast Range. 
Large quantities of the Mission olive are pickled but the Picholine is too 
small for profitable pickling and these two varieties constitute most of the 
olives heretofore planted. 
