SEMI- TROPIC CA LI FOHEIA 
jjocficulfttcc. 
THE LOOM OP LIFE. 
"All day, all night, I can hear the jar 
Of tint loom of life, atul near ami inr 
li thrills with in deep and mulllcd sound, 
As the tireless wheel* y always round. 
ln Hie light of day and midnight'* gloom. 
The Wheel* life I urn In* rally and lute. 
And the loom is wound in tlm warp of (ate. 
Click I cljck! there's a thread of lovo wove In, 
C'lirkl click! another or wrung und sin; 
What u checkered thine will this llfo be 
When we see It unrolled in (ilorailyl 
Time, with u lace like mystery, 
And hand* ns busy ns baud* cun be, 
8 iU at the loom wllh Its warp miUprcuil, 
To tuileh in its meshes each glancing tlira.nl 
When shall this wonderful treb boiloniv? 
Inn thousand yearn, perhaps, or one; 
Or to morrow. Who knowclh t Not you or 1, 
Hut the wheels turn on mid the shuttles fly. 
Alt, sad-eyed weaver, llto yean* are alow! 
fliit each one is nearer ihoeml, I know; 
And sonic day the lust thread will lie woven in, 
God grant it be love instead of sin. 
Arc we spinners of wool for this life web. ray * 
I>o we furnish the weaver n thread each day f 
It were better by far, my Mend, to spin 
A beautiful thread Hum a thread of sin. 1 
— irerfr.i Jin ml. 
WILL ORANGE CULTURE PAY? 
This is a question of great importance to 
Southern California. The time was when 
an orango orchard in full hearing was even 
mote sure than a bank in declaring divi¬ 
dends. Dividends not nf five or six per 
cent, but dividends which at once made 
tlm fortunate possessor independent. Uut 
with this industry the former bright 
promises can hardly be realized now. ft i„ 
useless to disguise the real truth nf the 
"latter. Some may wish that wo had said 
nothing on ,his submet, but why deceive 
ourselves, our neighbors, and our friends.'' 
I Im truth is what the rending public want, 
not theories dressed up in tinn words and 
elaborate phrases. When we had but few 
orchards m bearing tlm demand gave us 
good prices, but. during tho last throe 
seasons there has b*..n very little profit in 
tlm business, save to a few of tho old 
orchards which had already established a 
reputation. These of course removed tlm 
first intention from dealers, and have eon- 
tinned to bn moderately reinunoratiu*, 
wlnle tbo younger orchards have had the 
disadvantage of seeking tlmir own markets, 
and the moro huccomM ones have returned 
many a ready dollar to tlm pocket of the 
glower, I„ writing about this industry If 
■* but just to speak of the many vicissi¬ 
tudes winch linvo attended it, arid it »dl 
i»iip< „r to the intelligent reader at once 
that the ..range In., paused through a trying 
ordeal during ,1m |„* t three year, and U..Y 
still be looked upon with much favor when 
certain condition, are complied will, 
beg... our retrospect we w f|| maiion ,)„ 
unusually cold winters of ’78—79 and ’7S1-K0. 
which killed thousand, of trees in nursery, 
und beside, killing many in orchard form, 
chilled all more or loss, and tlm result each 
year was a small crop and much inferior 
fruit. 
Of course tunn Itaft mi power over the 
elements, lie is forced to take the so,son, 
a* they eo»u\ and to do tho best, lie esn 
with them. \\'« learn from men who Imve 
resided Imro for twenty-five or thirty 
years that those winters were the exception 
and not the rule, consequently wo have 
every reason to expect coming Season* to 
lie inure favorable to tlm industry. Again, 
in tho spring of '.SO many now orchards, 
CBinn into hearing ami the blossoming was 
very promising, but the summer was uool, 
fro»t came just as tliu fruit was beginning 
to turn yellow, and tlm crop „f '80-81, 
though wry large, has nOthrmighl as much 
coin into this section a, was Imped for. 
We must nay, however, that the growers 
are in a large degree responsible for tins 
result. Mad they gone through their 
orchards After the fruit hail aot last spring 
and thinned out freedy, allowing each tree 
according to age to bear from three to five 
hundred only, they would have less in 
number to lie sure, but that loss would 
have been nions than balanced by the 
superior quality of the fruit. So much for 
one neglect of the grower, and now we will 
speak of another practice oven more inju¬ 
rious to the industry than all others com¬ 
bined, and that is the gathering time. It is 
a lact that as a rule- the orange in Southern 
California doea not ripen before tho limt of 
March or the first of April, and wo k 
must often please the eye in order to read, 
! the stomach, and in this age of friendly 
rivalry in order to be successful we must 
be original, wide awake, active, ever striv¬ 
ing to excel and aiming to lead rather than 
to be led. 
Glancing into tho future we have mauv 
hopeful, Experience 
tca.-h 
,'tung 
from actual experience that ir improves by 
banging on the tree through May, June, 
and riven into July. Now. it in a practice 
with many to begin pieking as early as 
December, a time when tho fruit, 
although yellow, is not ripe, and i* 
so sour that it is In no degree palatable. 
This is thrown upon tho market, not only 
upon our home, but upon all the great ecu', 
tens within our reach, and you can easily 
imagine the result. Tlm fruit in sampled 
and nil unfavorable opinion is farmed, a 
prejudice spring* tip which tlm ripe, line 
flavored fruit of tlm proper picking ‘imo 
can hardly overcome. It in to bo htin.-d 
that the grower’s attention will be called to 
those facts, and that in the future he will 
look more to thinning >111! and will not put 
his oranges upon the market until they art¬ 
fully ripe. 
Tlioru an; some who cure lowly throw 
their orange, into I.oKl-s without ’the lir»t 
thought of aside Ling, and then wonder 
wlmn their- returns come why they reci/ivedj 
dy about half an much na their neighbor,! 
hosv fruit cut tbo true i* no better. 
Tho fruit on (/..■ hr. , mind you, we said | 
was no hotter, but how of it in the box. I 
Hi* neighbor assorted In* oranges with | 
great care, pul only the finest ones into tlm 
uaeil a wrapping of clean, bright 
paper mound each orange, ami not only 
gave belief fruit but pul it up in a 1* re 
attractive manner; who then Would wonder 
at tlm dillarenco between tho returns. You 
•II • .•Im.liln "d"’ 
furore 1 hat prevailed • few yean ago 
regarding putting out orango orchard* here, 
there sml everywhere has *ulwidvd. Other 
industries arc receiving nmra attention 
less orange planting is going on, and that 
only in localities which ore known to be 
best adapted to citrus culture. Thus whiln 
the demand will tncrea*® largely t-very 
year, tlm production will remain about tho 
same, and in * f«w years tin rr» «.f over¬ 
production will tint be heard. Another 
important factor which figure* in it .- iron- 
sidenitmn is the markets which tbo new 
railroads are opening to us. llj the Smith 
cm Pactfiu our oranges find l heir way into 
Arizona, Now Mexico, Text*. El Paso, ami 
the East. In a few months the Atlantic k 
Pacific will have reached this coast, then 
wo will have a competing line, and a good 
healthy competition will undoubtedly give 
u* freight rates which will help (aitimulila 
the industry. 
In thi» brief retrospect we believe that 
we hare noticed the more iuijKirtanl points 
bearing upon the subject. The prui and 
the cons, devoid of all coloring have coroe 
under our consideration, and in tho final 
Bumming up the general verdict will no 
do uut bn favorable to orango culture, when 
the conditions spoken of in this article 
receive the attention which their importance 
demand. 
This question should have been consul- 
nred earlier hi the season, but even now it 
is not too lain to advisu a little to the 
matter. In thn first place our coroaii-Mon 
houses are absorbing Urge quanUtjca at 
high prices in their trade with tho territo¬ 
ries and tho east. This demand, bow over, 
will accommodate only those living near 
tho shippers or near tlm line* of railroad 
reaching to tho aforesaid market*. 
Again, tho canning industry is assuming 
largo proportions ami thousands of tons 
will find ready sale and use in Orta di¬ 
rection. The new l.u* Angeles 1 arming 
factory starting up aero** the rtter is pre¬ 
paring to do buaitn-M in a very large st-ale 
ami will be a great institution for orchard- 
1 st* in this Immediate vicinity. )i proposes 
ly In can but also In run the AI den 
dryer in rwdrf to utilize over-ripe fruit*, or 
atiph a* will Hot do for canning, lull will be 
perfectly good far drying The tanning 
factory at Colton will drew largely from 
Iliverside, San liernardiuo sod other sec¬ 
tion* in the Colton circuit. Santa I tar bars 
also has its extensive factory, and beside* 
these throe Urge IneorpoiMto institution* 
there an* several small individual caublixh- 
"lent* tlirougliout Southern California, and 
every settlement, town and hamlet not 
