i8 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
ON THE PACIFIC SLOPE. 
Fruit Culture in tSe Garden Country of America— 
Over-production of Stock by Amateur Nurserymen 
—Erroneous Ideas Regarding Eastern Trees. 
On the evening- of December 8th, last, I pulled out of 
my fair home city, Rochester, N. Y., for a trip to the far 
West. My object was to become more familiar with the 
Pacific Coast people and country. Doubtless, most of 
the readers are perfectly familiar with the country, 
people and nursery trade east of the Rockies, and perhaps 
many are more familiar even with the Pacific Slope. My 
few weeks’ travel at this season of the year could not 
afford an opportunity of judging correctly the real merits 
of the various sections. However, I may speak of what 
I have seen, and how I have been impressed. 
New Mexico is favored in many parts with a delightful 
climate and rich soil, well adapted to fruit growing. 
Apples, peaches, pears, plums, grapes, and small fruits 
do well, but the country will never be developed or 
improved until the Mexicans are driven out by the enter¬ 
prising Americans. Irrigation, of course, is necessary, 
but there are thousands of acres in easy access to water, 
and sometime that country will be a great fruit producing 
region. The entire country about Santa Fe is settled by 
Mexicans, who live in their adobe houses, and are of no 
more use to a country than the Indian. At and about 
Albuquerque an eastern market gardener with a few 
acres of Avell cultivated ground may be seen. He makes 
the earth produce the best of everything. At such a place 
it is not necessary to inquire : ‘ ‘ What manner of man is 
he ” He is known by the way he keeps his grounds. 
He is an eastern bred man. He also has a splendid 
young orchard, and everything is well cared for. He is 
rolling in wealth compared with what he would be had 
he remained where he was born. It was early spring 
when I was there and the green vegetables had a partic¬ 
ular attraction for me, Garden truck is marketed the 
whole year round. Arizona is yet only a wild grazing 
country, but I understand much valuable land for orange 
growing is rapidly being taken up, and no doubt within a 
few years many fine oranges will be grown in Arizona. 
Of course the nurserymen, or even the nursery agent, is 
but little known in either New Mexico or Arizona, the 
country being too new for successful work there. But in 
the next state west, California, the nurserymen have 
been getting in their work. Everybody with an acre of 
ground is planting it with trees. This evidently has been 
so for the past few years, and no matter what variety, so 
long as it was an orange, fig, lemon, English walnut, 
olive or almond, it was all right, and as a result there are 
many naturally poor varieties of fruit in bearing. There 
has been such a demand for good trees, and this is partic¬ 
ularly true of oranges, that the nurserymen having first- 
class Navel trees for sale are reaping a harvest. From 
$ioo to $125 per hundred is considered a fair price now. 
Next season they may not be worth half so much. The 
market is easily “bulled” or “beared.” There is, of 
course, only a limited demand, and it is easy to glut the 
market. For instance, everybody sees there is a good 
margin in raising oranges at $1.00 per tree, and, as a 
result, broken-down lawyers, ministers, doctors and 
others plant some seeds and go into the nursery busi¬ 
ness. They have an idea it requires no experience and 
real knowledge to make money in growing orange trees 
for sale, and as a result there are hundreds of these little 
so-called nurseries, and by the time they have their trees 
ready for sale, they are at a loss to know what to do with 
them. Everybody has trees for sale, and they cannot 
dispose of them for what it cost to grow them, unless 
there is a great demand, as is the case this year. The 
trouble is they don’t understand their business, and start 
into growing when trees are high, thinking they will 
always be so. During such years of overproduction of 
cheap trees it makes it hard for the established nursery¬ 
man to maintain fair prices for good trees. I was very 
favorably impressed with the Riverside country for orange 
and lemon growing. The groves were actually breaking 
with their golden fruit ; every little twig and limb was 
covered. A great many fine, big Navel oranges are grown 
there.. The groves along either side of Magnolia avenue 
for miles were very attractive. I rode across the country 
between Riverside and Los Angeles, a distance of about 
seventy-five miles, which is the garden spot of California. 
The climate is charming. On the way I picked oranges, 
lemons, some figs and olives, and quantities of tea roses, 
calla lilies, violets, and many other flowers. The day 
before Christmas I made myself comfortable in the middle 
of a big strawberry patch, where grew the largest and 
best strawberries I ever ate. It may be of interest to 
know whether strawberries pay. Well, the owner of this 
patch pointed out to me a piece of two and one-half acres 
just across the way, in full-bearing strawberries, which he 
said he had just rented up to July i, 1893, and for which 
he paid in gold $250, or a rental of $100 per acre for six 
months. A farm within a stone’s throw containing 80 
acres, ordinary buildings, about 70 acres of which was an 
orange grove, six or seven years old, had just been sold 
for $75,000. The raisin industry is also important, and 
much money is being made in all lines of fruit raising. 
Up in this Northwest -country, apples, pears, prunes, 
peaches, and all small fruits may be grown successfully. 
As yet, fruit raising is in a very crude state. Many of the 
orchards have been badly neglected, and all sorts of 
insect pests encouraged. A fruit pest bill, which passed 
the legislature of Oregon this month, provides for a 
thorough-quarantine against imported trees infected with 
any kind of pests. Also, a bill will doubtless be passed 
empowering a fruit inspector to take the necessary steps 
to thoroughly cleanse the trees of pests already here. 
