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PROCEEDINGS

OF THE

THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’
CONVENTION

OF THE

STATE OF CALIFORNIA,

HELD UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE STATE COMMISSION OF HORTI-
CULTURE, AT WATSONVILLE, DECEMBER 7, 8, 9 AND 10, 1909.

W. W. SHANNON, : ; : 5 SUPERINTENDENT STATE PRINTING

CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE

MAIN OFFICE:
CAPITOL BUILDING, SACRAMENTO, CAL.
x W. JEFFREY, Commissioner
O. E. BREMNER, Secretary
MISS A. G. BIRD, Clerk
GEORGE COMPERE, Special Field Agent

E. J. BRANIGAN, Field Agent

QUARANTINE DIVISION :

Room 11, Ferry Buripine, SAN FRANCISCO.

DUDLEY MOULTON, Deputy Commissioner
WILLIAM WOOD, Inspector

B. B. WHITNEY, Assistant Inspector

STATE INSECTARY :
CaPIToL Park, SACRAMENTO.
E. K. CARNES, Superintendent

FREDERICK MASKEW, Assistant Superintendent

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CONTENTS.

FIRS DAY.
Morning Session, Tuesday, December 7, 9:30 A. M.

Evening Session, 8 P. M.
RECEPTION TO DELEGATES OF CONVENTION.

PAGE.
ADDRESS OF WELCOME. Dr. P. K. WATTERS, Mayor of Watsonville..... é
meee ONS. Hon. J. N. Gruvett, Governor of California..............-... 8
ADDRESS. Hon. Warren Porter, Lieutenant Governor of California...... 0
OPENING ADDRESS. J. W. Jerrrey, State Commissioner of Horticulture... 11
Afternoon Session, 1:30 P. M.
SeErorNrMENT OF OFFICERS AND COMMITTERS.................. 21
SOUTHERN OREGON APPLE GROWERS—Rogues” in Name Only. WM.
nT ORTON., COTCSOM..~ 5.2). < bivin wince p wie « O'd eis we lee a 'eeles sinue ete all
APPLES ON OUR MENU. Mrs. JOSEPHINE RopGErRS, Watsonville......... 25
THE APPLE IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. FREDERICK MASKEw, Long
cece Sea k's ig cla-civ sls tind Ale a 0.0 (ee ale 0p cteld.s wieg's ele e oye 27
meee ter APPLE GO TO THE MOUNTAIN? Prof. BE. J. Wickson,
IE I oe Ed OS ee ee eee 32
Evening Session, 8 P. M.
THE NEW HORTICULTURAL LAW. J. W. JEFFREY, Sacramento........ 45
THE HXAMINATION REQUIREMENTS OF THE NEW LAW. O. E. .
BEEMNER, Sacramento .........-..- 62. cece eee cee tte teens 47
DISCUSSION OF TOPICS OF INTEREST TO HORTICULTURAL COM-
MISSIONERS. Conducted by C. H. RopGrers, Watsonville.............. 49
SECOND DAY.
Morning Session, Wednesday, December 8, 9:30 A. M.
THE ALMOND COMMERCIALLY CONSIDERED. J. P. DArcirz, Acampo 64
CITRUS CULTURE IN THE NORTH. Prof. EtMorre CuHass, Fair Oaks.... 72
eee CN USTRY. : W. Il. Newcomsp, Sebastopol. .:.......0....5.. Fagi
THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS IN FIG CULTURE. W. T. Swrncte and
aC PUNT CR finn. Ganka leh santana Baek Os. dd be 20s caleidin Wie oe gees SO
Afternoon Session, 1:30 P. M.
COOPERATION FOR THE BENEFIT: OF THE PRODUCER. GEo. W.
0 ETI, SSMRET ELTA ic aT ea Se a ie pane ate ome peiewtae 92
merortl OF THH CALIFORNIA FRUIT DISTRIBUTORS. F. B. Mc-
TL SSS GTRS SEE EL RP CES A So NG ae le Ae icin ct oe ec a ee ee era aa 97
~A GROWER’S MARKETING AGENCY. W. C. WALKER, Sacramento..... 102
REPORT OF THE FRUIT GROWERS’ COMMITTEE ON FREIGHT
See er). SS TEPEPEING) SACEAMCIILOM 6s 5 ole eienc ae «aid sig wale sce cele ts fb wixta 108

6 CONTENTS.

THIRD DAY.
Morning Session, Thursday, December 9, 9:30 A. M.

PAGE.

INSECT PESTS AND DISEASES OF THE APPLE. W. H. VOLcK, Wat-
SOMVille | esse bi ww oie sees wos ace laced oe Soe tare tals athe a ite aetna 121
AFTER FRUIT PRODUCTION, WHAT? JouHn P. IgisH, San Franeisco... 133
FIGHTING FROST’. - “Prof: ALEx. McApin, San Francisees. oe 139
SULPHURING FRUITS. -A._K.. Berees, San Prancisee. oe 143

Afternoon Session.
FIELD DAY, EXCURSION THROUGH PAJARO VALLEY.

Evening Session, 8 P. M.

INSECT PESTS AS THEY RELATE TO RURAL HYGIENE, WITH
SPECIAL REFERENCE TO CONTROL. Prof. W. B. HERMs, Berkeley 160

PLANTING GOOD HEALTH - ON THE FARM. Dr. W. F. Snow, Sacra-
MOM TO sobs Sede Wie eb olan te 0) bie vel wee: we altel Ohio) se, tore le ete nS nnee 168

FOURTH DAY.
Morning Session, Friday, December 10, 9:30 A. M.

PRECOOLING OF FRUIT. Gro. D. KeLtocG, Neweastie.: o-eeee ae 175
GRAPE TRANSPORTATION AND STORAGE. Prof. A. V. STUBENRAUCH,
Berkeley. ..063 os 0k ce se ob 0 eo albveie eee ae wees eee yo ies eee ene 179
THE HORTICULTURAL WORK AT THE UNIVERSITY FARM. Prof.
B: S. Brown, Berkeley os... oc. ss... ose De Cee ee = 192

Afternoon Session, 1:30 P. M..

BETTER STATE ROADS. NATHANTEL ELLERY, Sacramento............. 197
SOME OBSERVED CHANGES IN FRUIT TYPES. FRANK FEMMONS,
ANWahnGO oe nse clare cela a os eke wn ec ww 6 tiene we See ee ae 203
EUCALYPTUS COMMERCIALLY CONSIDERED. G. B. LULL, Sacramento 206
REPORT OF RESOLUTIONS COMMITTEE: .... . 2.252) oe © 210

EN DIBX. oie cle ge She eg a ie oie ewe ore = eee, ee eee rrr te > a: Glee

PROCEEDINGS

OF THE

THIRTY-SIXTH CONVENTION OF THE CALIFORNIA
STATE FRUIT GROWERS,

HELD UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE

STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE, AT WATSONVILLE,
DECEMBER 7, 8, 9 AND 10, 1909.

Tursspay, December 7, 1909.

Pursuant to eall, the Convention met in the Christian Church, Wat-
sonville, Cal., at 9.30 o’clock A. M.

The meeting was called to order by President J. W. Jeffrey, State
Commissioner of Horticulture, Mr. O. E. Bremner acting as Secretary.

The Convention was opened with an invocation by Rey. D. T. Stafford,
pastor of the Christian Church.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. We will now listen to the address of welcome
by Mayor Watters. I have pleasure in introducing Dr. P. K. Watters,
Mayor of Watsonville. (Applause. )

ADDRESS OF WELCOME.
By Dr. P. K. WATTERS, Mayor of Watsonville.

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, Fruit Growers of the State of
California: It is my pleasure as mayor of this city, to welcome you.
Not only is it my pleasure, but every citizen of Watsonville extends to
you a hearty welcome. Representing, as you do, one of the greatest
industries of this State, and coming, as you do, from every county,
every district of this State, I hope that you were selected to represent
this business according to your peculiar instinct for this. The fruit
industry of this State is one of the first, one of the greatest, one of the
most important of all the great industries of the State, and to you,
gentlemen, into whose hands the care, the fostering, the upbuilding
of this industry is confided, rests its case, whether it be adversity or
prosperity.

This beautiful valley of ours, which you have chosen for your conven-
tion, the unchallenged home of the bellflower and the pippin, the place
where the rose ever blooms and the geranium never dies, was not a
thing of chance. God made it possible, but man did the work, and until
God made man with sufficient brain and brawn to pull and grub the
willows, with energy enough for the present and with that faith, hope,
and confidence for the future, this valley did not represent the appear-
ance that it does to-day. Yet the greatest age that this world has ever

8 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

known enlists her greatest product, her strongest force, man, at the head
of her ever advancing army, in a contest not for twenty rounds nor
forty rounds, but a finish fight, a contest not one of the sword or powder
or bullet, not one of suffering, pain, and sorrow, but a contest that
brings forth the higher, nobler principles of humanity. This is the
contest, gentlemen, in which you are enlisted, and the time of service
will expire when the curtain falls.

I am more particularly impressed with the dignity, with the high
standing of this convention when I notice the names of the prominent
men throughout the State, among which is one that I remember in my
early boyhood days—I don’t know that he is here—but away beyond
the Rocky Mountains, beyond the once Great American Desert. in a
httle town in Iowa, it was a household name; a man whose family did
more for the protection of the interests of the State University of Iowa —
than any other, and I want to tell you, gentlemen, if you have many
men of the stamp and character of John P. Irish, as I knew him, the
fruit industry of this State is in good hands.

In looking after the different interests, the different worms and
moths, the microbes that infest the fruit, while I am not prepared to
advise you or make any recommendations, I would suggest that you
look after that little commercial bug that will bore in through the box
and the wrappings, and all after you have it ready for its distribution,
and kill the industry.

Now, gentlemen, Governor Gillett is here and will address you. Again
I wish to thank you and extend to you the courtesy of this entire city.
(Applause. )

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. In behalf of the convention, we thank
the mayor for his pleasant words and hearty greeting at this time.
Without further remarks, as the next speaker is capable of making
remarks for himself, I have the pleasure now of introducing to this
convention the chief executive of this State, Governor J. N. Gillett.
(Applause. )

ADDRESS OF GOVERNOR J. N. GILLETT.

Mr. Jeffrey, Fellow Citizens: J am pleased to be with you here on this
occasion, although I am suffering from a cold. The last time I had the
honor of being present at a convention of this kind was in Marysville.
I regret that I have not in the mean time had the pleasure of attending
other places where you have convened. é

It is well that the fruit-growers of California, representing all kinds
and characters of fruit, should gather together frequently and discuss
the great questions which are continually arising and confronting the
horticulturists and viticulturists of California. California is just com-
mencing—has hardly started in the growing of the fruits which will be
consumed by the entire world. If you take this great big world of ours
and divide it into an immense farm—which it is—you will find that in
the south would be the field devoted to cotton ; in the northern part of the
Mississippi Valley and through Canada and those high plateaus would
be the fields devoted to grain, and other parts and sections of the world
are devoted to pasturage, but in all the world California would be the

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 9

orchard. We have the soil, the climate, the favorable conditions to
produce in this section of the world the best fruit that can be produced
anywhere, and questions will arise which are very important. We can
not grow the fruit without a struggle against nature and against the
pests. We can not grow fruit successfully unless we have organized
together for the purpose of getting it into the market to the best
advantage, and you can not raise fruit successfully and feed this
country and Europe unless you have good transportation, both in the
ears which you use and the rates which you have to pay. So, the ques-
tion of fighting the pests, the question of forming associations to market
the product, the question of getting good and cheap transportation, are
the great questions that the people of this State engaged in fruit raising
will be confronted with, and you must settle them.

I don’t know whether any of you have visited the insectary built a
short time ago in your Capitol grounds at Sacramento; if you have not,
come there and see the work being done by the Horticultural Commis-
sion, the study being made there every day by those in charge, discover-
ing the insect that will destroy the pests that infest our orchards. It
is a most interesting study; it is growing all the time and should have
the hearty support, as I suppose it has, of all the fruit growers of this
State.

Another thing which I am satisfied you are all thinking about. It is
very important that there should be an association by which the fruit
of California can be intelligently handled and marketed. You can not
take your fruit and dump it in the East and expect to realize much if it
goes there by chance. You have got to handle it carefully ; you have got
to control the market; you have got to work with each other and not
one against another. (Applause.) That seems to be the modern wav
of doing business. If you were in the shingle business in Humboldt
County you would do it; if you went into the copper business you would
do it; if you went into mining you would do it; if you were operating
railroads you would do it; and I know of no reason why the farmers of
the country that are producing the product that makes great wealth
should not realize this great principle of business and get together and
handle the product, and not see it wasted after it leaves your hands and
is put on board the ears.

Another thing of great importance, which I keep driving at con-
tinually and all the time and never stop, would be the question of
transportation. I would insist to the companies that are coming to
California with their roads and making wealth here, that they should
provide you people with the very best cars that can be manufactured
for the purpose of safely and carefully carrying your fruits to the
markets of the world, and I would keep after them continually until I
got a rate which is fair and just. I think this question will be settled
largely when the Panama Canal is constructed. I believe there will be
a change at that time largely in the way of doing business between this
section of the coast and the East. When we can bring from Europe or
from the Atlantic coast large ships, land them here in Monterey Bay,
in San Francisco Bay, in San Diego and.San Pedro—in fact, in all the
ports along our coast, and received from your hands the dried fruits
which you can produce here and take them and deliver them in the

10 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

East or across the ocean in Europe, we will have solved then, to a great
extent, the problem of transportation; and particularly in the south.
you will find your railroad facilities better, cars will come faster and
rates will be cheaper, because this, to my mind, is going to settle to a
creat extent the rates of transportation to the Hast.

I was told yesterday by J. O. Hayes of San Jose that they raised this
year in Santa Clara County eighty million pounds of prunes. Sixty
million have been ordered from Europe, showing that there is a great
market growing for our dried fruits; it is a market that will be brought
closer to us when this canal is completed.

There is another question, too, which seems to me an important one—
it may not seem so important to some—they say it is a sort of hobby of
mine, but I believe it is one of the most important questions in this
State, considering the fruit we handle, and that is the construction of
good smooth highways over which you can transport your fruit and get
it to market in good condition. (Applause.) If there is a State in
the Union where the people in the rural districts can be so much bene-
fited by good roads, it is California. Our fruit is easily injured. If we
have it injured in any particular, that is used as an excuse to cut down
the price of it, but if you can draw two tons where you are now drawing
one, with the same motive power; if you can make four miles where you
are now making two; if you can get your fruit to the places where it
is to be packed or whence it is to be shipped, in good condition, free
from dust and not jammed or bruised, we will save thousands of dollars
annually to the people of this State engaged in raising fruit.

I did not come here to make much of a talk, but I am glad to be with
you. I know that the fruit industry of California is our great interest,
and is becoming greater every day. I want to see our citizens do every-
thing they can to encourage our horticultural and viticultural colleges
that we are building, so that we may educate our people and educate
our boys to go into the country and take advantage of the rich soil and
the fine opportunities that our State offers to us. California is a place
where the people can live happily in the country. California is a place
where we can be prosperous in the country, and we want to do all we
can to attract the attention of our people from our cities out into our
valley—a valley hke the Pajaro Valley, a valley lke the Salinas Val-
ley, valleys that he north and south of us, with their rich soil, the
abundance of water, the great possibilities to build up in this State the
class of people you always find engaged in raising fruit and in that
high class of farming. That is what California needs—a population
in the rural districts—and I believe our fruit farms, where the man
with a small acreage can bring up his family, offer the best inducements
to this end, and their intelligent cultivation will tend in the future to
bring into our valleys the kind of people desired. We want legislation
for the purpose of protecting the interests of our horticulturists and
of our viticulturists. We want the legislation which will enable our
commissioners to see that nothing gets into the State which is going to
be injurious to this great industry. We must be awake all the time; we
must be watchful continually, because there is placed in your hands one
of the great industries of the State, and an industry which will continue
to grow greater and greater as the population of the State increases and
as the population of the whole country increases, because California, as

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. ital

I stated in the beginning, is the orchard of America, and from our soils
and from our climate will go forth those things which the people enjoy
as luxuries, and which they will purchase from us in abundance if we
ean get the right kind of article to them. (Applause.)

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. The Governor’s remarks are certainly
appreciated by all. They are as broad as his office itself, which means
as broad as the State. Now, I will ask Lieutenant Governor Porter to
come forward and say a few kindly words of welcome to the delegates
and to his own people. (Applause. ) .

ADDRESS OF LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR WARREN PORTER.

Mr. Chairman, Governor Gillett, and Members of this Association:
I think that, in behalf of the people of Watsonville and the members of
the Orchard Association, I can say that they are delighted and pleased
to have Governor Gillett pay an official visit to this valley, of which we
are all so proud and the products of which speak particularly for them-
selves. Governor Gillett and Mr. Jeffrey have covered the ground very
thoroughly in regard to why you are here and what you expect to accom-
plish. We have amongst us here in Watsonville a man who is working
along the lines in a quiet way, unassuming, accomplishing a great deal
for this State. I refer to Professor Volek, who has been amongst us
since 1904, and probably has done as much as any man in California to
combat the pests that beset our fruits, and I thought it was opportune
here at this time to refer to him, because he is an exceedingly modest
man; but it is those men who, in their quiet way, pursuing their course,
accomplish a great deal. Mr. Volek started in an humble way, worked
himself through the University, and after receiving that education from
the great State of California, now is attempting to return to them some
of the benefits that he has derived in a very material way, not only help-
ing all horticultural interests in this valley, but going abroad through-
out the State; and we who are here in the Pajaro Valley feel exceedingly
proud that we have a man lke that amongst us who is accomplishing so
much good for the entire State. And, in conclusion, I will also say again
that we are delighted, not only to have all delegates here with us, but,
as I said before, to have Governor Gillett, who is heartily in sympathy
with everything that is for the upbuilding of California and for good
citizenship. (Applause.)

President Jeffrey then read his address, as follows:

ADDRESS.

By J. W. JErFREY, State Commissioner of Horticulture.

Another year has passed since our last conference was held, and the
oldtime organization which for more than a quarter of a century has
marked time to the progress of horticulture is again in session to dis-
cuss matters of interest to the great industry with which its members
are associated. The year just closing has been a season of great pros-
perity to the State at large, and has witnessed the forwarding of many
splendid enterprises of a public character and the inauguration of many
new ones all to the final benefit of the fortunate people who have found

Wy PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

a habitation in this delightful part of the Pacific coast. Many of our
horticultural industries have been most prosperous, also, and yet others
have experienced great depression. Broadly speaking, the outlook for
the new year is very promising, and with a fair settlement of the many
grave problems that are before the farmers of the State for solution the
next few years should see remarkable and permanent improvement in
the conditions that surround the business of fruit growing.

To a large portion of the people of California these conventions speak
with authority, for they are composed of authorized representatives of
the interest to which the State owes so much for her fame and material
advancement. As the public comes to realize more fully that here
assemble delegates with no individual interests to promote, free to speak
and with courage to act, the influence of these conferences will be yet
more potent in helping to shape the policies of state and foster the
common weal.

That there are many new questions awaiting solution at the hands of
such assemblages as this was brought most forcibly to the front by the
experiences of the last two months in the Sacramento Valley. Since the
first of October I have had the honor of presiding over four convyen-
tions, with an attendance in total of over one thousand growers, meeting
in all-day sessions to determine what should be done to improve the
eonditions of more than one of our important fruit industries, and
within the next few months as many more of these great conferences
will be held as the time of your State horticultural officials can com-
mand. It was a revelation to me to see how these large communities of
orchardists have attended so carefully to individual duties and allowed
large abuses and difficulties to fasten themselves upon the business with-
out attempting to dislodge the troubles by puble effort. But since the
holding of a series of these meetings, we can confidently expect that
this or similar plans of considering the business problems of fruit
crowing has received an impetus that will carry the work to many other
parts of the State, for this new movement has given vitality and force
to the idea of overcoming difficulties by codperation. So far every fac-
tion and element has joined without cross-purpose or friction, and, with
one exception, by unanimous vote. As I may become somewhat pessi-
mistic later on, I mention this spirit of unanimity as of the highest
importance in the settlement of the vexed questions that may confront
the fruit-farmers of the State.

In looking over the work attempted by these Sacramento Valley
conferences one is astonished to see how the delegates avoided the specu-
lative and cultural problems connected with fruit growing. Every
moment of these day-long sessions was devoted to the business difficul-
ties which had come to the surface so plainly the past season. The
lesson I draw from this is that our State conventions should devote more
of their energies to the solution of the economic problems that confront
them, and that less attention be given to the mere increasing of fruit
tonnage. I know that a State-wide convention like this must handle
more general questions than the redemption of a market lost through
wormy peaches. It must handle themes of interest to all. But there is
no lack of large subjects for consideration and advancement by our
present meeting. The interests of every commercial fruit producer in
the State are involved in the farm-labor question; we should promote

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. a

the safeguarding of our trees from the further invasion of insect pests
and plant diseases, by the thorough enforcement of the horticultural
laws: freight rates upon fruits and prompt, efficient transportation ;
the improvement of our State markets and the search for every possible
consumer in our eastern markets, through the most effective methods
of codperation and distribution that can be devised. and not the least
of the questions that should be discussed is a general propaganda
against the promotion of land schemes all over the State by syndicated
orchards and vineyards planted for the sole purpose of selling the land.
Our convention might also profitably consider tariffs, taxation of tree
and vine, National quarantine against pests, noxious weeds, fruit sul-
phuring, standardization of all kinds of fruits and the proper and
effective branding thereof. In fact, the range of subjects that is now
engaging the field of horticulture is so great that we can not go amiss
for something worthy of debate and determination at these sessions,
and I earnestly hope our committee on resolutions will draw up a clear
and forceful declaration upon every issue which its members deem
important, and that the convention will pass upon the result after due
discussion and voice its sentiments with courage and precision.

FARM LABOR.

These topics remind us in looking them over how easy it is to suggest
subjects. and how difficult it is to bring them to a conclusion. The farm-
labor problem, for example, is one of the most exasperating, and yet I
have been asked to discuss it here. It is with great reluctance that
I undertake to do so, for it is a tangle of social, political, industrial and
racial elements. It is like the rainbow colors revolving upon a disk.
You can make the color white, or any shade into black, or every color
its own, by the way you turn the circular plate. I am not sure that this
comparison is good, for there are many growers here who have been
trying for years to make the labor question show white. and are con-
vineed that it will require a different revolution from any that has been
tried to make it show up in anything but somber hue. But to me the
lights and shadows of this issue are sufficiently bewildering even if we
could bring it down to the economics of the farm alone. And when the
farm-help question is carried into sand-lot discussion, into argument
sociological, ethnological, and everything but simply logical, a Phila-
delphia lawyer could not untangle the skein. But we will leave the
agitators to explain how they can reconcile the dominance of the Pacific
by America, with the policy of excluding the Asiatic from all reciprocal
advantage, and look for a moment to the domestic features of the hired-
help problem.

With the exception of pruning and one or two other items of orchard
practice the scarcity of farm labor is felt altogether at harvest time.
Fruit growing has not been a growth in California altogether if we con-
sider the building up of correlative enterprises along with it in the rural
districts, such as manufacturing, mercantile, and other subsidiaries.
On the contrary, fruit production has become, in many lines, an accre-
tion of large enterprises but little dependent upon each other in hus-
bandry and dependent upon labor in large quantities but a portion of
the time. If horticulture had been a steady. slow development, as was
agriculture east of the Mississippi we would have been far behind our

14 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

present achievement, but there would be no labor question. If, in look-
ing down closely into this industry, we find that it could not have been
developed in any other way, and that it must be continued along the
lines of large individual holdings, instead of being eut up into multi-
tudes of very small farms dependent less and less upon hired help—if
large capital is to be essential to our continued progress in fruit pro-
duction, then we must look to the cheapest and most effective peripa-
tetic labor that can be procured. Whether it be through large or small
farms that California is to continue advancement I am sure that the
subject of itinerant labor will always be with us in a great degree.
For even upon the small fruit farm one man can grow as much fruit
as ten men can harvest, and the question would be only solved to a
degree, at best. In fact, one can not be sure of anything at this time
upon the vexatious question of farm labor, except that it must be finally
worked out upon economic lines. Whether that will come through the
reduction of each horticultural enterprise to what one man can handle
with the hired labor that can be had locally upon a year-long basis, as
is done now in many of the citrus centers; whether these economics
will come through the cooperation of both large and small enterprises
in the same sections and the same lines; whether it will come through
the absorption of small enterprises by the great with the ability to
handle labor on the contract plan, or whether there is a good solution
awaiting the genius of the fruit grower that will develop and protect
our greatest soil industry without disturbing the freedom of each indi-
vidual to farm just as much or as little land as he may wish—these are
points upon which our delegates should shed all the light possible, for
I am sure that the farm-labor problem is so great and so complicated
that nothing but a far sight into the future will ever set it on the way
of economic solution. At any rate I can see the futility of trying to
adjust this difficulty without a concurrence of all the suffering enter-
prises in the State. A furtive effort here and there will avail nothing.

COMMUNITY COOPERATION.

The farm-help problem is not the only one that should be treated
upon the plan of broad endeavor. We find questions of paramount
issue appearing every day, that can be handled only through general
and authorized agencies. I was impressed with this lack of accredited
responsibility during the session of congress at Washington last winter,
in the contest over duties on imported grapes. A large body of New
York fruit importers moved upon Washington with the determina-
tion to have the duties lessened, or removed altogether. A few of the
California grape growers became alive to the danger, but they were
without a trades representative at Washington and everywhere else.
Appeals were made to the Governor, to the Lieutenant Governor, and
to both branches of the State legislature to offset the work of the
importers. Fortunately, an efficient California congressman had stood
into the breach, and prevented the removal of the tariff. But I can
not forget how.helpless the grape shippers were, for they had failed to
provide an effective authority in their own ranks who could bring every
force to bear to prevent adverse action. Not so with the citrus fruit
men, for their representatives were on the ground to look after their
business, and gave all possible aid to the grape growers. I am aware

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 15

that a few small aggregations of growers have made some provision to
centralize their demands and efforts, but the fact remains that nearly
every large interest depends upon chance or the most inadequate effort
to promote the general welfare of its business. The apple growers, the
erape shippers, the growers and shippers of deciduous fruits, the prune
and the raisin men and the dried fruit interests should each have a
league or a protective committee of some kind authorized and supported
for the purpose of handling every proposition that has a general bear-
ing upon the prosperity of the business, and to whom all could look in
times of danger, or in the promotion of any measure of benefit to the
whole industry. I earnestly recommend that this convention take up
this matter of trades representatives, and urge every industry to make
provision for the handling of its difficulties through some plan that will
bring its every element into harmonious and effective action in the
promotion of all its trade interests, and in protection from its. perils.

OVERPRODUCTION OF FRUITS.

Again we are confronted with the ery of overproduction of orchard
and vineyard commodities. We are told that thousands of carloads of
erapes and peaches were grown this season and sold without one cent
of profit to the producers. And itis true. The dire prediction is made,
also, that the next few years will witness an avalanche of table grapes,
for example, that will literally swamp markets now burdened with all
they can bear. We are informed that one county is overflowing with
seedless raisins upon which not even a bid has been received, much less
asale made. And this is true, also, for I had it from one of the heaviest
erowers in the county. How many tons of other raisins and of prunes
remain unsold we shall have to leave with those versed in pessimistic
figures. Even if I had the figures I would not dare to quote the tonnage
of dried fruits and other fruits that never is, but always to be sold at
profitable prices. Men have told me how many acres of Tokays they
did not gather last fall, but I do not wish to dwell on these evidences
of overproduction, for one can make himself an outcast in this way if
the so-called land boomers and boosters find him out. But if you will ,
not tell it abroad I will say to you that overproduction is a grim reality
in this State in every line of fruit that is produced largely of inferior
quality, or that is held for speculation when fair prices have been
offered, or has not been provided with adequate means of distribution.
These saving clauses make me an optimist in fact, even while setting
before you the facts that under our present system of farm leasing and
other poor methods of fruit growing, and the practice of holding large
quantities of products by the growers for speculative purposes, and the
practice of sending everything into the markets, and the general failure
of giving the fruits broad and effective distribution, we have a sur-
plusage. I say that in lines where these failures have occurred the
outlook for profitable returns never before looked so hopeless. Of
course, these growers are attempting to do an honest and straightfor-
ward business, and do not expect the profit that would accrue if they
were to pull up their orchards and plant the land to eucalyptus or
ginseng. But they see that their methods have not been the best, and
one can not be pessimistic, or be overcome with the nightmare of over-
production, when he sees these growers engaging themselves in revolu-
tionizing their methods in every possible way.

16 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

Then, let us all face this issue like men and women deyoted to the
permanent upbuildinge of our greatest and most distinctive industry.
The real issue is not overproduction as much as it is under-consumption
of our orchard products. That is to say, there is yet room for all the
first-class fruits—first-class not only in quality, but in ability to hold
up well while being offered at retail. This brings to consideration the
fact that California has gone head over heels into too many fruit enter-
prises, without: proper reckoning with the market day; instead of
establishing these enterprises by unfolding them in a natural way the
State has inflated them, too often, into the full-blown achievement of
production, without businesslike provision for selling the output, or
even offering it in a way to prevent congestion. We are not here to
join in the mad chorus of promoters that has so long glorified Cali-
fornia horticulture without a grain of caution or a mite of common
sense. The members of this convention are neither fogies nor faddists
nor men given to bloviation for the sole purpose of stimulating activities
in real estate. They will voice hopeful, inspiring sentiment concerning
the present and the future of California horticulture, outspeaking with
the optimism of faith the confidence of power and the courage of
understanding. But they are endowed with the wisdom to condemn
the foolishness and shun the danger of blindly grinding out increasing
tonnage of both inferior and superior fruits without thought of the
future. If I do not mistake the spirit of this conference of fruit men
it will reaffirm the doctrine of ‘‘California fruit for the world,’’ and
at the same time refuse to sanction the horticulture of the ‘* Hurrah’’
kind that is now menacing the very life of several of our most cherished
enterprises ; if I do not mistake the attitude of this convention upon the
subject of overproduction, it will neither color its action to suit the
exigencies of land sales nor encourage any doubt as to the future that
is not justified by the experiences of the past; and if I do not miseall
the courage and independence here represented, this assemblage will
resolve with unmistakable emphasis upon the folly of trying to build
a great and permanent industry without giving attention to the
foundations upon which it must rest. I hold these ideas with confidence
and serenity, notwithstanding the grave crises we are facing, for I have
seen within the last few weeks convincing evidence that the fruit men
of the north are not afraid to face the truth with open minds, and are
not afraid of their own conclusions.

STANDARDIZING FRUITS.

One of the corner stones of a successful and permanent business is
the recognition of the interests of its customers. Whole communities
of orchardists are preparing to recognize this principle in greater faith-
fulness than ever before, and in looking into the causes that may have
violated this tenet it is not surprising that the growers of good fruit
are realizing that their strongest business opponents are the growers
cf poor fruit. This feeling has given life and vitality to a series of
remarkable meetings of late, and in which the sentiment to this effect
was unanimous. It is encouraging to the fruit business that growers
and shippers not only realize this, but are working out plans to escape
from this deadly internal peril. Suppose we could at one stroke reform
the conditions of farm labor, idealize our selling facilities, provide

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 1/4

broad distribution for all our products, and remove all adverse elements
from the business of fruit growing except those of dishonest packing
and branding. We should have still to face a most formidable peril,
and one that would finally cause the downfall of our greatest soil enter-
prise. So great is the movement toward community uprightness in
packing and branding our orchard products that it is unnecessary to
state in detail the abuses against which is now mobilizing this great
force of reformation. Nor can I trace how gradually and through
the stress of bitter experience the orchardists are coming to the conclu-
sion that fruit growing is a business as well as an occupation; that
sense and discrimination in marketing are as essential as success in the
production of superior fruit and greater tonnage. Nor is it necessary
to remind this intelligent audience that the new movement of business
introspection is a part of the great moral uplift in business throughout
the country. It is sufficient that this movement to standardize and
honestly brand our fruit products has its foundation in commercial
common sense, and its hope in the declaration of our leading growers
that an enemy is in their own camp wearing the livery of horticulture
and producing qualities of fruit and enforcing methods of packing that
has imperiled the whole business.

LAND BOOMING.

In discussing the economics of horticulture I have held that sufficient
attention is not given to the more obscure influences that have an
adverse effect upon fruit growing. Yet, for the very reason that an
element is insidious, it may be the most dangerous. I am aware that I
am now coming upon dangerous ground, for, unfortunately, there is
no clear-cut line between legitimate and fraudulent land booming.
Some land schemes are neither honest nor bogus, but in effect are cer-
tainly not for the best interests of the State. If they could all be made
absolutely fair. or absolutely dishonest, or half straight and the other
class crooked, there would be less trouble, for the law would handle the
latter, and the public could masticate the former without distress. It
is the insidious class that is dangerous. Few will allow themselves to
be bitten by a rattler, but no one pays much attention to the bite of a
mosquito. So it is that our growers will fight bhghts, and scales, and
worms, and yet pay no attention to certain influences at work much '
more destructively than insect pests. Suppose one could segregate the
acreage of orchards and vineyards now being hopelessly and indiffer-
ently farmed and tally it all on one sheet. It would be a vast com-
munity of alleged growers who had been induced to go into the business
through roseate promise and extravagant claim, largely the victims of
their own inadvertence and the disinterested promotion of the land
seller. Hundreds of promoters are engaged in sugar-coating poor land
with grapes, and oiling inferior soil with eucalyptus to make them
swallow easily to the investor. This insidious practice is permeating
many of our frwit industries, and it makes honest and efficient fruit
erowing realize that there is something wrong with it, but as yet it
seems to have failed to locate the obscure point of infection.

lf you think the virus of land speculation is not poisoning the horti-
cultural interests of the State, go to some prominent section given to

2—FGC

18 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

the growing of table grapes and there make a few observations. I was
told last Friday by a grower who is now in this audience that scores of
men in one locality had been bankrupted through purchasing land
previously stubbled over with indifferent grape cuttings just to sell the
land, and at exhorbitant prices. I know of one tract of several hundred
acres of sand syndicated to prunes, olives, and peaches and sold at
fancy prices just because the trees were there, keeping the purchasers
for years between hope and despair until the sheriff kindly intervened.
I was called upon some time ago to make a report upon 2,000 acres of
land set out to deciduous fruits by a syndicate and sold at $375 an acre.
It finally failed altogether, with a loss of half a million dollars to the
investors. And yet these half-fraudulent and most always ill-considered
ventures are profitable to the promoters, however much they hammer
down the reputation of the State as a good place for investment and
congest the fruit markets with an added burden of inferior products.

But we can not take away the right of an American citizen to be
swindled, or to plunge into something he knows nothing about. and
under conditions with which he is altogether unfamiliar. So we can
~ not expect the public to come to the rescue on account of the suffering
investors. But the public should concern itself with the real menace
of this class of land booming, for it is the fruit-growing public that is
in danger. It is the men who have put their money, their brains, and
the very heritage of their children into the fruit business who are
coming to suffer most acutely from this unnatural and stimulated
system of land selling. The outlook is for continued exploitation, and
more and more low-grade fruit, and greater market depression,
increased uncertainty in land values and damage to all the interests of
the Commonwealth, whether directly or indirectly connected with the
cultivation of the soil. J leave this topic to the earnest consideration of
the convention, with the hope that every friend of the real and per-
manent development of our State will discourage every form of pro-
motion which is in fact retrogression.

In leaving to your judgment the introduction of any other subjects
that may seem of moment to the members of this conference, and in
the work altogether of the week I hope that every delegate will feel that
this is his convention and take a lively part in the diseussion. I have
not by any means exhausted the list of pertinent questions that might
with profit be considered. I thank you for your attention at this time,
and trust to be able with your assistance to make the convention a
SUCCESS.

We have fared along with this address with commendable patience
on your part, I am sure. This afternoon the program will be con-
tinued, and in presenting it after this morning’s exercises I am
reminded of an early incident in my career. Thirty years ago I was
the oldest of an alleged choir of four brothers and five sisters, and we
sometimes attempted to sing in public, because, perhaps, we lived in a
tolerant neighborhood. At a Sunday-school picnic one time, after my
choir had sung for these patient farmers, as long as the Mayor, the
Governor, Lieutenant Governor and I have talked to you to-day, the
Sunday-school superintendent stepped forward to introduce the string
band of three pieces from a neighboring farm. ‘“‘Gentlemen and
Ladies,’’ he said, ‘‘we have had the singing, now we will have some
music.’’ This afternoon the real music of the convention will begin—

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 19

the music of experience, and discussion, and endeavor, to promote by
every means the best fruits, the best markets, and the best of every-
thine that may advance the resources of the best State of all of Uncle
Sam’s great domain. Again I thank you. (Applause. )

MR. BERWICK. I would like to employ a few minutes now, if the
convention would be pleased to hear me, as my time here is very limited.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. We will be pleased to hear from you.
Mr. Berwick. You are an honored member of this convention and have
been for years. (Applause. )

MR. BERWICK. Governor Gillett, Mr. President, Mr. Porter, and
Gentlemen of the Convention: I am sure you are all pleased and unite
with me in thanking the Watsonville people, including Lieutenant Goy-
ernor Porter, for their kindly reception here this morning. I know,
also, you will concur with me in thanking Governor Gillett for his good
suggestions made to us this morning, and also Mr. Jeffrey. I want to
‘remark on one thing Governor Gillett has said, that the Panama Canal
is one great hope of the fruit growers. You may recall that for many
years I had the honor of being chairman of your canal committee. In
: fact, I believe I was all sorts of a crank—among others, a canal crank.
IT am glad now to be officially justified, and to know that the canal is
largely the hope of California. I am glad to hear, through Mr. Jef-
frey, that this convention as a whole is not here to discuss simall ques-
tions, but economics is one of the great things we are here to talk over.
T have been talking over economics on behalf of you fruit growers for a
good many years. You may recall, in Los Angeles, about five and a
half years ago, you growers kindly put me at the head of what we call
the Postal Progress League of California. It was one important effort
toward solving the transportation problem. You know other countries
have a very efficient postal service that carries parcels of all kinds of
things through the mails and assists very much in distributing large
quantities of produce. A man from Japan the other day told me: ‘‘In
Japan I had butter sent 700 miles at a charge of 25 cents for a ten-
pound package.’’ A lady told me about two days ago: ‘‘I was living
in England, a little way from London. I had oysters sent me through
the mail.’’ You can have all sorts of things sent by mail there and dis-
tributed very economically to consumers. One of your great problems
is economie distribution, to get as directly as possible to those who con-
sume your products. The parcels post is one of these agencies. In
England one house of seedsmen sent out 70,000 packages in two days.
You can see the extent to which they avail themselves there of parcels
post. If you are a farmer you can have the mail cart stop at your gate,
on your giving due notice, and take your products from your gate to
distribute all over England, at very low rates. Germany has the same
agency; even Japan has the same agency. |

For five and one half years, as some of you know, I have been working
to influence politics here that we may have congress give us the same
agency. It depends entirely on congress. The President has no power,
the Postmaster General has no power to alter the rates, but congress
has. But, as you know, gentlemen, unfortunately the machine largely
dominates politics and the transportation companies largely dominate
the machine. There is one way of getting this thing, and one only,

20 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

that is, for you people to make your voice heard with no uncertain
sound as to what your wishes are.

I had a lesson some years ago at Stanford University. I was one
who spent a week there some years ago, a week to fruit growers they
gave us when the university opened. I was a tenderfoot about college
yells—I had been in the backwoods most all my life. I was sitting in
the Encina dining hall and I was electrified by the shock of hearing
something like this: ‘‘ WE-WANT-OUR-PUDDING!’’ Do you know what
happened? What do you think happened? The boys got their pud-
ding. Now. when you want parcels post badly enough to halloa together :
‘“ WE-WANT-A-PARCELS-POST,’’ you will get it. We meet here, have been
doing so for twenty-five years past—I have—and I recall in Los Angeles
in one of the earlier conventions I moved some resolution. Mr. A. R.
Sprague, whom many of you know, said: ‘‘ What is the use of passing
resolutions, anyhow? They don’t amount to anything.’’ I recall I
replied in some lines of Lowell. I said: ‘“‘My friends, you can’t put
less value on these things than I do. I will give you a quotation from
Lowell. It is in the Yankee dialect, something lke this:

‘*So they meet in convention and git up hooraws,

An’ tramp through the mud for the good of the cause:

An’ think that they’re kinder fullin’ the prophecies,

Wen they’re only just changin’ the holders of offices.

Where A sot before B’s now comf’ably seated,

One humbug’s victorious and t’others defeated ;

Each honorable doughface gits just wat he axes,

An’ the peepil their annooal sof’ sawder an’ taxes.’ ”

Now, gentlemen, I am here to-day to tell you this. We can’t often get

a chance to do anything at Washington. Most of you know Mr. John S.
Dore of Fresno. He is a good, sterling man. He writes me he is willing
to go to Washington, he and his wife, and settle down there for the
session and fight for parcels post for you, if you will just pay their
railway fares; he will do the rest. J want you to think it over. If you
want something done, now is the chance to do it. I have been trying to
do all I can.. I have a letter in my pocket now from the Postmaster
General’s secretary saying when Mr. Hitchcock gets through his week’s
work on his report he will take up parcels post, but he will take it up
a great deal more vigorously if all you people shout. If you want an
easy way of regulating transportation there is no better way than by
demanding the parcels post. Now, I don’t mean to stay here—I have
got another engagement—through this whole convention; that is why
I came on this morning, through the kind permission of the authorities.
but I will appoint Mr. Charles Rodgers, Mr. A. N. Judd, and Mr. B. E.
Hutchinson of Fresno to receive any contributions you want to give to
send Mr. Dore on to Washington. If you think it is worth while. do
so; I know how the fruit growers are usually: when it comes to paying
down their cash they are not exceeding rapid; but I understand in
Watsonville you growers are all bankers as well as farmers, and so
I appeal to you to help yourselves. Heaven helps those that help
themselves. Now get it, and hustle and help yourselves. I thank you.
(Applause. )

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. I thank Mr. Berwick very much for his
talk. We will now adjourn until afternoon.

A recess was here taken until 1.30 o’clock P. Mo.

en

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 21

AFTERNOON SESSION.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. If there is no objection to the regular
order that has prevailed in these conventions for a generation, I will
now announce the vice-presidents and the two committees which we
have always had. The vice-presidents will be C. H. Rodgers, represent-
ing the fruit growers of Pajaro Valley, and E. J. Wickson, representing
the Agricultural College of this State. The Committee on the Presi-
dent’s Address will be G. P. Rixford, representing the United States
Agricultural service, and Roy K. Bishop of Orange County, one of the
horticultural commissioners of the State. The Committee on Resolu-
tions will consist of George D. Kellogg of Neweastle, A. N. Judd of Wat-
sonville, and J. P. Dargitz of Acampo. Mr. Kellogg is a fruit-grower
and shipper. Mr. Judd is too well known to need any introduction to
this community or to the members of this convention. He always
attends, and he will do his work on this committee. Mr. Dargitz is the
secretary of the California Fruit Growers’ Exchange, resides at Acampo
and a fruit gower at that place. The first paper on the program this
afternoon is ‘‘Southern Oregon Apple Growers—Rogues in Name
Only,’’ by Mr. William M. Holmes, a prominent apple grower of the
Rogue River country and a resident of Medford. Mr. Holmes has writ-
ten me that he was called on a water lawsuit occupying yesterday and
to-day, but he has sent his paper and it will be read to you and subject
for discussion the same as if he were here. The secretary will now read
the paper.

SECRETARY BREMNER. I might say that this gentleman has
two boxes of apples here, showing their standardization and uniformity
of pack, which are down at the Board of Trade rooms, where you can
see them.

SOUTHERN OREGON APPLE GROWERS—‘‘ROGUES”’ IN NAME
ONLY.
By Wo. M. HotmeEs, Medford, Oregon.

It is a somewhat significant fact that the Rogue River Valley in
Oregon, where the writer has resided for the past twenty-six years, owes
its present position in the world’s fruit trade largely to the good judg-
ment and horticultural knowledge of a veteran in horticulture from the
State of Illinois. There is no better illustration. than his experience
furnishes that methods of culture and selection of varieties must con-
form to local conditions. From the day when Hon. J. H. Stewart, now
deceased, first saw upon the banquet tables of the Pioneer Association,
assembled in annual reunion at Jacksonville, Oregon, a finer display of
prime apples than he had ever seen at a state fair in the Mississippi
Valley, he became a staunch advocate of commercial fruit culture in
southern Oregon. Urging upon his neighbors in the early eighties, before
as yet the transportation was provided, the necessity of preparing
to supply the Eastern demand for such choice fruit, he himself planted
more than one hundred acres of apples and pears, fortunately including

pip PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

a good proportion of yellow Newtown pippins and Bartlett pears. Un-
fortunately, as usually happens when horticulture is in the experi-
mental stage in a new district, many varieties were set which later
proved not to be good commercial kinds, although yielding good crops.
At that time there were many small family orchards scattered through
the valley, affording a demonstration of what varieties were best
adapted to the soil and conditions. A favorite among the early settlers,
and found everywhere throughout the valley, was the Esopus Spitzen-
burg. Prior to the advent of the railroad, there were practically no
fruit pests. The codling moth did not make its appearance until about
1890, closely followed by the San Jose scale. With the scale, those
thrifty old family orchards became a matter of history. ‘No effort was
made to save them, and for a time even the commercial orchards seemed
to be doomed. When the first salt-lime-and-sulphur formula was intro-
duced, even applied with the crude man-power sprayers then on the
market, it was apparent that science had triumphed over the pest. When
gasoline power was used, and the first gasoline engine used for this pur-
pose was equipped and used in a Rogue River apple orchard, very effect-
ive work was done in spraying, and each year has seen an advance in
methods and a wonderful growth in acreage of orchards in the valley.
until to-day there are no less than fifty thousand aeres of apples and
pears planted and approaching maturity in the valley.

To-day the major portion of the apple trees planted each year in this
district are of the yellow Newtown and Spitzenburg varieties. Since
the first shipments were made directly from the grower to the dis-
tributing firms in London, the English trade has shown a decided pref-
erence for the Newtowns from this valley, and since the year 1900, when
the grower first came in direct touch with the market here, the price
has been uniformly good, car consignments frequently averaging three
dollars per fifty-pound box, free on cars at shipping station. Until
within three vears there was the same effort made by the grower to excel
in size of individual Newtown Pippins that still distinguishes the
demands of the American red apple trade. It became evident, however.
that the more conservative Englishman finds the four-tier, or 128 to the
box, size more to his hking than the abnormally large apples, and that
is the type most sought for at present. The tree is hardy, vigorous,
and very productive in this section, and the smaller sizes being most in
demand, the labor and expense of thinning the fruit of this variety is
reduced to the minimum. The tree is allowed to bear to the limit, and
in case of an unusually dry summer, if water is available, two moderate
irrigatings are given the trees. Irrigation is not here considered essen-
tial, and yet all concede that it adds immensely to the yield of all apple
trees, especially those over fifteen years of age. It will be resorted to
much more in future than in the past, for as yet the bulk of the
orchards in the valley are young. .

Oregon prides herself especially upon her “‘red’’ apples. And yet the
best of all the red apples, and the one best adapted to Oregon conditions.
the Spitzenburg, has not proven nearly so profitable as the Newtown in
the orchards of southern Oregon. Nor can it adapt itself so well to all
soils, ranging from the voleanic ash to the black adobe, in all of which
the Newtown thrives. When the conditions of soil are just right for
the Spitzenburg, however, that blend of alluvium or sediment soil with

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 223

the wash from the foothills, on which was produced the car lot of
Spitzenburgs which in November last won the capital prize at the Spo-
kane apple show, no other district on earth can surpass the Rogue River
Valley in its production. The orchard which this year won for its
owner the crown of an ‘‘ Apple King,’’ has produced car after car of
just ‘as fine apples in the past, but awaited the sagacity of the man who
knows and the man who had the enterprise to enter the contest to win
plaudits from ocean to ocean. Through the medium of the writer, the
present owners purchased this orchard in 1906, men entirely without
experience in horticulture, and it is sufficient to say that they have
deserved all the success they have obtained in winning this world’s
prize, for they have applied good, hard business sense to the manage-
ment of their orchard, and there is no better in the best district in the
Northwest.

The close student of the markets knows that in the immediate future
other varieties of apples will be planted largely in the Rogue River
Valley, although to-day even the residents find it difficult to procure the
Rome Beauties, the White Winter Pearmains, Yellow Bellefieurs, Jona- —
thans, and Ortley Pippins, which once filled their cellars for winter
supply. Of these, the Rome Beauty and the Ortley will unquestion-
ably be planted in a commercial way, on account of their uniformly
high quality and productiveness. The Jonathan and the Stayman
Winesap will also divide honors with the Spitzenburg for both are pro-
ductive, yery precocious in bearing, and much hardier than the Spitz.
It is even predicted that in certain locations in a few years blocks of
Ben Davis will be set, for that old standby is holding its own in pro-
ductiveness, and with all its inferior quality, there are orchards in the
Rogue River Valley of this fruit which are almost as good yielders in
dollars as the choicer fruits.

In setting an apple orchard in this valley it is the uniform practice
to use yearling nursery steck, and many prefer the medium sizes to the
overgrown stock which was once in greatest demand. It is preferable
to set on land which has been in cultivation for some years, and many
of the most fiourishing young orchards are growing on land which had
been ‘‘farmed to death’’ in the days of wheat production. While the
apple itself is a shallow-rooted tree, it finds the elements it wants in the
subsoil below the level robbed in grain culture through former years.
Thorough preparation of the soil, often with subsoiling at least the tree-
row. is practiced and after setting the land between the rows of trees
is either cultivated with spring-tooth harrows, extension tools and weed-
cutters, or planted to corn, potatoes or other hoed crops, and at times
set to berries. Berries, however, require irrigation to be successfully
handled, and our growers do not, as a rule, approve of irrigation for
young trees, at least not until they have grown for some years with sur-
face cultivation. The idea is that the roots of the young trees will
extend further into the subsoil without irrigation, which may or may
not be the case. Corn is the great ‘‘expense crop’’ grown between
young trees in this valley. Other varieties come into bearing younger.
but if an expense crop is produced on Newtown or Spitzenburg trees
the sixth year in this valley, the grower is well satisfied. Many are
now resorting to peach tree fillers, to expedite returns from the orchard,
and this course is now considered good management, as conditions for

24 « PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

peach culture are very good also in this valley. The markets, too. are
accommodating, the northwest coast cities growing rapidly, and the
product of the different varieties of peaches produced here coming to
maturity after the California crop and in advance of the Columbia
peach districts. It is customary to remove these peach tree fillers at
about the tenth year. Some are setting them in the apple tree-row one
way only; some in the center of the square. Of course, it adds greatly
to the labor of cultivation. 3

While it is true that with the scale and the codling moth to combat,
the southern Oregon orchardist can always keep busy. yet it is also
true that, aside from these two foes, apple culture in this valley is beset
with less trials than in almost any other district. Young trees are
afflicted with green aphis, but the tobacco mixtures are found very effi-
cacious, and fortunately there is but little trouble with the woolly aphis.
Anthracnose at one time caused some solicitude, but Bordeaux applied
before the leaves drop and again later in the season not only acts as a
preventive, but effects a cure if the trouble is not of long standing.
Apple scab is not a menace, the long dry summers protecting from this
foe to the yellow apple. Some varieties of the apple are rather sus-
ceptible to the pear blight, but with ordinary caution it is handled suc-
cessfully.

The class of men who are devoting their energies to apple culture in
this section is perhaps the best guarantee we have of its continued suc-
cess. There are probably two thirds of the men engaged in horticulture
in the Rogue River Valley who have retired from active business or pro-
fessional life, drawn back to the soil by that agrarian movement which
bids fair to reverse the current from the farm to the city; and but very
few orchards in this valley are in the hands of tenants. There are far
too many large holdings in the valley, inviting labor troubles in the
future. Thus far, the output of the orchards has been easily handled,
but each year for several years to come should double the number of
cars shipped, and it is foreseen now that the surest provision against
labor scarcity will arise from the small land holder with surplus teams
and help within his own family. Many of the large orchardists at this
time are enabled to compass their field work in due season by offering
especial inducements to neighboring men, with teams and equipment,
and this phase of the business affords the man with a family of growing
boys the opportunity to develop his own small orchard and obtain the
wherewithal to live and improve his tract with surplus work for others,
at very remunerative figures.

The regularity of crop production is here remarkable. Four times
within the last ten years good apple crops have obtained high prices,
owing to the short crops in the Eastern States. This has much to do
with the immense returns obtained by our orchardists each year. Late
spring frosts cause some damage, but with commendable system. and
with the assistance of the government pathologist now stationed at Med-
ford, during the last season telephone alarms were sounded on critical
nights, and orchard heaters and small piles of hight, dry wood, ignited
with kerosene, saved the crop on low ground and demonstrated the pos-
sibility of thus saving the crop every year. This work was really with-
out the province of the pathologist, but at the solicitation of our horti-
culturists, and with the consent of the weather bureau officials. Mr.

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. a5

O'Gara very accommodatingly placed his knowledge at the disposal of
the growers.

The matter of standardizing the pack of the valley has received much
attention during the past year, and through the different associations
of growers, it is a certainty that within another year this valley will be
distinguished by as uniform pack and thorough business marketing of
of our product as now characterize any other district. Each year it
becomes more apparent that quality and uniformity alone will bring
the largest returns. (Applause. )

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. I would lke for the delegates to jot
down any point in any of these papers that you wish to discuss after-
wards. You will be given the opportunity now to discuss this paper, if
you wish, for a short time, but at the end of the session we should have
these matters thoroughly discussed. This paper just read is a very
valuable paper from an Oregon standpoint. Mr. Holmes was an old
friend of mine. I have not seen him in thirty-five years and I hoped
to have seen him to-day, but I have had correspondence with him and
know that he is succeeding in the same things in which you are suc-
ceeding here in Watsonville. I now have the pleasure of calling upon
Mrs. Josephine Rodgers of Watsonville, who will speak on ‘‘ Apples on
Our Menu.’ (Applause. )

MRS. RODGERS. Wr. Jeffrey, Governor Gillett, Ladies and Genitle-
men of this Convention: I think on this occasion I can fully sympathize
with men that have been called to address our women’s conventions. In
this case women are in a minority in the audience as well as on the
program.

APPLES ON OUR MENU.

By Mrs. F. J. Ropcers, Watsonville.

There is no fruit which has so many legends associated with it, or so
much mythical history connected with it as the apple. It being such a
common fruit, few people stop to consider its food and medicinal value.
It is an excellent brain food, because it contains more phosphoric acid
in easily digested shape than any other fruit known. Eaten raw, there
is no better stimulant for the sluggish liver, as an apple or two eaten
before going to bed will often be more effectual than the use of drugs.
It helps the kidney secretions, and prevents calculous growth. It obvi-
ates indigestion, unites surplus acids of the stomach, disinfects the
mouth, and is one of the best preventives of diseases of the throat. It
also promotes sound and healthy sleep.

It is a welcome visitor to the housewife, epicure, and invalid, and
erieves no one unless it is the doctor. No doubt this old saying is
familiar to you all:

““An apple a day
Will keep the doctor away ;

An apple at night
Puts the doctor to flight.”

Aside from its splendid medicinal values it is one of the best antidotes
known for the thirst and craving of persons addicted to the use of
alcoholic stimulants.

Books have been written on the curse of drink and its cure; institu-
tions have been founded for the recovery of the inebriate; different

26 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

kinds of drugs and patent medicines have been placed on the market;
much money has been spent seeking cures, and persons will suffer all
their lives from this habit, when this simplest and most inexpensive of
all cures lies within their reach. No man or woman who likes fruit has
an appetite for drink and vice versa. The two tastes are at enmity with
one another, and can not live in the same constitution. One will destroy
the other.

The necessity of fruit all the year around as part of the daily diet is
generally acknowledged, and among fruits the apple heads the list, and
hence should occupy a prominent place on our daily menus.

The different ways in which the apple may be served are almost with-
out number, though the ordinary cook has on her list just about three—
apple sauce, baked apples, and apple pies. While these are delicious,
the housekeeper should guard against monotony of diet. The manner
of cooking and serving the same thing makes a wonderful difference.
With the apple fresh, canned, or dried, the housewife finds a splendid
addition to her supply closet, and may prepare at any season on short
notice many delectable dishes. Among the most attractive delicacies
obtained from this fruit are jellies and preserves, whose flavors vary
according to the apple used.

If still further variation in flavor is desired, it may be obtained by
the addition of other fruit juices or flavoring compounds; and what
nicer accompaniment to hot biscuit, griddle cakes, waffles, etc., and also
what more appetizing accessory to the school lunch or picnic basket. In
erystallized form it makes a nice addition to the bon-bon box. Apple
juice appears for table and cooking purposes in the form of cider, and
vinegar, and in this connection it is gratifying to note that since the
enforcement of the pure food law we can obtain these articles unadul-
terated. Of course, everybody enjoys cider as a beverage. Cider also is
a very necessary ingredient in making the best quality of mince meat
and apple butter.

For salad dressings and various sauces for fish, meats, and vegetables,
some acid is desirable, and nothing is better than pure cider vinegar.

The different menus require the preparation of the apple in various
ways. A delicious breakfast dish to be served with the cooked cereal,
or alone, consists of the apple baked, or pared and sliced, sprinkled
with fine sugar and dressed with cream.

The apple fritter, a general favorite, may be served either for break-
fast, luncheon, or as an entrée. Fried apples served with pork chops or
sausages are a Suitable cold weather diet.

What cook would think of serving roast goose or a roast of pork with-
out apples prepared in some way, usually as a sauce or baked? What
can take the place of the old standard American apple pie, baked with
two crusts, or the English tart, with one crust only, and that on top?

If the cook wishes to please the appetites of men, the dessert that
delights the heart as well as the stomach, is a pudding, and lo! the num-
ber that can be evolved from the apple—boiled, steamed, and baked.
Probably one of the simplest and easiest to make consists of bread or
eracker crumbs arranged alternately with sliced apples, and seasoned
with butter, sugar and spices, then baked—“‘ Brown Betty’’ by name.

Then we have dried apple duff, which in pioneer days was a favorite
dessert with the miners; roly-poly, boiled or steamed apple dumplings,

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 27

and the apple suet pudding, which should find a place on our menu
oftener than it does during the cold weather. Puddings made of corn-
meal and apples, rice, tapioca, or sago and apples, with various flavor-
ings, are exceedingly nutritious and at the same time inexpensive.

As for cakes, we have the well-known Dutch apple cake; also the

farmers’ fruit cake, which has for one of its main ingredients, dried
apples, and is a good substitute for the more expensive fruit cake.
A preparation of grated apples, egg, and flavoring makes a most
delicious filling for layer cakes. With apples, a splendid short cake can
also be made. It is only of late years that the apple has been used to
any extent in the making of salads; combined with nuts and celery in
various proportions and served with the usual dressings, it has become
very popular.

With this brief outline and considering the occasion, further detail is
deemed unnecessary. Suffice it to say, however, that the various recipes
for this fruit are so numerous that it could appear on our menu in a
new form each day throughout the year. (Applause.)

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. Is there any discussion at this time on
Mrs. Rodgers’ paper?

MR. DARGITZ. Mr. Chairman, just one word. As a physician, I
used to wonder just what made people say that apples were golden in the
morning, silver at noon and lead at night. It has been my practice all
my life, when I could get good apples, to eat two or three apples every
night before I went to bed, and they never hurt me. You can look at
me if you want proof.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. Now, we have apples in southern Cal-
fornia. Perhaps some of you are not aware that we have one of the
largest orchards in the State there. We will hear from Mr. Frederick
Maskew, the Assistant Superintendent of the State Insectary, who is
next on the program with a paper on ‘‘The Apple in Southern Cali-
fornia.’’ (Applause. )

THE APPLE IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
By FREDERICK Maskew, Long Beach.

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: As the program sets forth, I

am to talk to you about the apple in southern California. To the best
of my knowledge and individual experience, the apple proceeds along
about the same lines in the direction of its final resting place in south-
ern California as elsewhere, to wit: pies, sauces, dumplings, dessert, and
many other of those delectable delicacies that Mrs. Rodgers has just
told you about.
_ Southern Californians maybe orange growers, but they are apple
_ eaters, and possess in a marked degree that fondness for good apples
which is characteristic of the entire American people. I am telling this
for the benefit of the visitors who are present. The apple growers of
this valley, judging from the amount of fruit they send down each sea-
son, know that their apples meet with the same royal reception in south-
ern California as elsewhere. . |

What I had in mind when I prepared this paper was the apple
orchards of Los Angeles County. Of these, their history and behavior,

28 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

I have accurate, first-hand knowledge, and I had thought perhaps a
relation of the lessons drawn from an extensive study of the conditions
obtaining there might prove of value to prospective planters of com-
mercial apple orchards, desirous of extending the industry into new
and untried regions.

I have attempted to confine my statements to-day to a few of the
fundamental principles underlying successful apple orcharding in any
country, preferring to leave the details to some more able pen than
mine.

With a very few exceptions, the older apple orchards of Los Angeles
County, ranging in extent from 1 to 10 acres, are merely an incident
to the general business of agriculture, and as such have passed through
all the vicissitudes common to such an arrangement. <A careful study of
these orchards shows clearly that the conditions found there are by no
means due to fundamental causes, such as soil, moisture, or climate;
they are simply the logical accompaniments of lack of knowledge of
suitable varieties and poor methods of management. Especially is this
so in the selection of varieties.

The condition of most of the fruit found in the earlier planted
orchards was due entirely to lack of this knowledge of varieties suited to
the local environment. The soil was suited to the requirements of apple
trees. Governed by this fact, the planters of these orchards, without
any local precedent to guide them, selected the varieties from the knowl-
edge they possessed of their behavior in other parts of the country,
failing to recognize the truth of the fact that rarely indeed does a
variety maintain for itself the excellence that has gained for it a repu-
tation when removed from the immediate locality in which it first
attracted attention. The result of this was, that while the trees made
all the growth desirable, the size, shape, color, flavor, quality, habit of
bearing, and time of ripening of the fruit by the most of the varieties
planted, was so modified as to be in some instances almost unrecogniz-
able. One of our best pomologists has set forth the axiom that speciali-
zation in varieties can never precede; it must always follow the
extension of horticultural centers. Yet it is fully recognized that special-
ization in varieties is the custom of the period. and to it can be traced
the reputation and financial success of the famous apple-growing sec-
tions of the world.

A full realization of the truth of these two fundamentals is what
makes it so difficult to furnish reliable suggestions in relation to the
varieties suited to new territories. Apple trees will grow and thrive in
a great variety of soils; in fact. the apple is preéminently the fruit of
the masses, and in consonance with this Nature has endowed the apple
tree with a greater power of adaptability than that of any other fruit
tree known to horticulture. Notwithstanding all this, those desirous
of extending the industry—and they are legion—must keep in mind the
fact that it is the quality of the fruit more than the growth of the tree
that makes the reputation of the locality and the fortune of the planter.
The best we can do on this point is to generalize, and at the same time
emphasize the point that those desirous of planting commercial apple
orchards in untried regions should take pains to thoroughly familiarize
themselves with the behavior of the varieties growing in apple sections
having climatic conditions similar to the one in which they propose to

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT- GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 20

plant. both through their own observation and -extensive consultation
with successful orchardists.

There is no feature of commercial apple orcharding that should be
given more serious consideration than the selection of the permanent
varieties.

One of the most prominent features in these orchards that have been
under consideration in this paper was their tendency to produce large
crops of fruit. In many of them there were almost as many different
varieties as there were individual trees. Still the full-bearing habit was
universal. Out of this infinity of varieties came two that were para-
mount to all others, the White Winter Pearmain and the Yellow Belle-
fleur. These, in common with the others, produced good full crops of
fruit. and the fruit possessed a good market value. Close observers scon
commenced to realize that these varieties could be grown at a profit, and
with a view to enhancing these profits commenced to plant out orchards
composed entirely of one or the other of these two varieties, especially
was this so of the White Winter Pearmain.

Thus commenced what may be considered the second period of apple
orcharding in that region. The young trees in these orchards grew
with all the customary vigor of the White Winter Pearmain, but they
failed to set a crop of fruit. Season after season. when the Pearmain
trees in the older orchards of mixed varieties were breaking down under
their load of fruit, the younger orchards set in solid blocks of one
variety were not producing a box to the tree.

I have in mind a number of these orchards and their owners, with
both of which I was intimately acquainted at that time. Without tak-
ing up your time in going into details, I will state that these conditions
brought those who were vitally interested in this matter face to face
with the question of cross-pollination and its bearing upon the produc-
tion of fruit in commercial apple orchards.

The many influences that enter into the normal failure of the fruit
blossoms to set, such as heavy wood growth in the voung trees, the
attack of insects and fungi on the blossoms, frost, rain, and other unfa-
vorable weather during blooming season were all given careful consid-
eration during the investigation that was made of this problem by @
numbers of the leading apple growers of that section. Many arguments.
many of them very ingenious. were made pro and con as to the value cr
even the desirability of cross-pollination. It was, however, clearly rec-
ognized that self-sterility is not a constant character with any variety.
The same variety may be self-sterile in one place and nearly self-fertile
in another. The adaptation of a variety to soil and climate has much to
do with its self-fertility. It would be fallacious to attempt to separate
apple trees into two definite classes, the self-fertile and the self-sterile.
All this goes to show that the problem is as much a study of conditions
as of varieties, and that we can never be perfectly sure that any variety
will be self-fertile in a new region. Planting for cross-pollination pur-
poses as a matter of insurance in fruit production is now becoming a
general orchard practice.

The practical bearing of the problem is this. There are certain varie-
ties of apples that. due to their profitableness. we wish to grow largely
for the general market. but we find that they can not be depended upon
to produce full crops when planted alone. They need the pollen of

30 - PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

other varieties to make them fruitful. Then we must plant other varie-
ties near them as pollinizers.

Having determined upon the variety to be grown for a general crop,
the most important point in the selection of the pollinizer is that the
two shall blossom at the same time. The only way in which a pollinizer
can be of service in promoting fruitfulness in the variety planted for
the general crop is by supplying it with pollen. This means that the
pistils of one variety must be ready to receive the pollen when the
stamens of the other are ripe; this is only possible when both varieties
bloom simultaneously.

The comparative blooming of varieties is something of a loeal prob-
lem. Difference of location, altitude, soil and weather, govern the time
of appearance of the blossoms, but a series of observations made by the
writer tends to show that while the date of blossoming may be hastened
or retarded by local conditions, the comparative time is approximately
the same for different varieties in localities having similar conditions of
soil and climate.

The variety to be used as a pollinizer is, of course, governed by the
variety to be planted for the main crop. This question haying been
decided, the next question is to know how many trees will be necessary
to pollinate the self-sterile variety. This brings us back, in so far as
my knowledge extends, to the apple orchards of Los Angeles County.

Out of the failures, disappointments, and difficulties of the two
periods of apple growing just described came the apple orchards of
to-day. A study of these will show that the owners are beginning to pay
more attention to some of the finer problems of apple culture, such as the
relation of varieties to pollination, their susceptibility to disease, the
individuality of trees, a better class of nursery stock, and the question of
selecting the buds and scions for propagating purposes. In these young
apple orchards can be seen on every hand the principles of selection,
planting, and pruning advocated by Wickson, Powell, and others,
applied all unconsciously, perhaps, of their origin by the workers, but in
evidence, nevertheless, to the close observer.

Such an orchard is the one owned by Mr. Cudahy at Florence. Here
there are 30,000 apple trees in one block. ‘To insure fruitfulness in
this orchard, one row of pollinizers was planted to each eight rows of
the varieties considered best adapted to the location of market demands.
The pollinizers were planted in straight rows to facilitate harvesting.
Fall Pippin was used principally as a pollinizer for the White Winter
Pearmain, and in some instances Yellow Newtown Pippin for the Yel-
low Bellefleurs. I was in this orchard about fourteen months ago, and
from my own observation, as also the statements of the superintendent,
this arrangement had proved satisfactory from the standpoint of the
production of fruit.

In the effort made by the apple growers of the region we have been
considering this afternoon to take advantage of all the lessons learned
from the two preceding periods of the industry, great attention was
paid to the question of the quality of nursery stock. A bud on a whole
root was considered the standard of excellence, and it was soon learned
that a more uniform stand of symmetrical trees could be obtained by
planting those with a straight whip-like top of one year’s growth than
from those that had been grown the second year in nursery rows. The

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. al

conditions that resulted in this decision were found to be as follows: In
well-grown one-year-old wood:every eye or bud is strong and perfect,
and ean be depended upon to grow when the young tree is cut back to
the desired height, thus insuring a sufficient number of shoots from
which to select those that are to form the new and permanent head of
the tree. In two years on older wood these buds have performed their
proper functions in the production of either shoots or leaves and can
not be depended upon to put out uniformly. It was found that trees
grown the second year in nursery rows had invariably been branched
too high to meet the accepted standard of height in that locality, and
when these were cut back below the point at which they had been
branched, they were almost invariably put out from a bud just above
the ground.

In following up this matter of nursery stock further, it was found
that there were still other factors to be considered. In almost every
apple orchard, even in those in which the general growth had been
satisfactorily and fairly uniform, there was found to be a distinct indi-
viduality in the trees of the same variety. Regular bearers, erratic
bearers, shy bearers. The foliage differed, too. I have seen a Yellow
Bellefleur, one out of fifty, carrying rich, green leaves throughout the
season, when the foliage of the remainder was brown and withered from
the attack of mildew, and this not only for one season, but for several
consecutive seasons.

It was claimed at the time that these conditions were the logical
results of the indiscriminate cutting of buds for propagating purposes,
especially so of cutting buds and scions from nursery stock from young’
trees that had not had an opportunity to develop any characteristics
whatever, either good, bad or indifferent.

If the laws of heredity hold good in the vegetable kingdom, and the
history of horticulture will justify us in concluding that they do, the
character of resistance of foliage and habits of bearing can be trans-
mitted through the buds. It is well at this point to make the distinction
between a type and a character. No amount of care in selection will
transmit a type. A type is the result of environment, a character the
result of heredity.

In the effort to transmit desirable characters through propagating
wood, it is well to remember that the individuality of an apple tree
can not be determined by the observations of a single season. It must
show persistent good behavior for several seasons, and must be accu-
rately watched and compared with other similar trees before we can
obtain a correct estimate of its habits. Many causes tend to produce
heavy bearing, high color, or large size for a season or two, but when
a tree under average orchard conditions shows that its habits of bear-
ing and health of foliage are stable, then there can be little question
about the transmission of its characters through its buds, and the
annual crop of buds from such a tree should be worth more money for
propagating purposes than the market value of its fruit.

In the consummation of this ideal of having the good habits of the
apple trees universal throughout the orchard the initial step must be
taken by the planter. He must create the demand for pedigreed stock
and must be prepared to pay accordingly. A propagator of apple trees
ean cut 1,000 buds in the nursery rows in less time that he can ten from

374 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

an individual tree. In all lines of business, time costs money, but the
cost of nursery stock, if the quality is there, should be the least of factors
that enter into a long-time investment like an apple orchard.

And now, for especial benefit of those who propose to extend the
apple industry into new regions, the lessons drawn from a prolonged
study of the apple orchards of Los Angeles County, concerning the lay-
ing of the foundation of a commercial apple orchard, may be recapitu-
lated as follows:

Study well the local conditions before selecting the permanent
varieties.

Insure fruitfulness in large blocks of one variety of apple trees by
planting pollinizers among them.

Look into the origin of the propagating wood used before buying
nursery stock.

There is nothing in all of what has just been said that is new. No
one knows that better than I do. In apple orcharding, as in every other
phase of horticulture, the state of knowledge is far, far in advance of
the state of practice. These truths have been set forth time and time
again by such masters of the science as Waite, Wickson, Powell.
Fletcher, and others. All the good that I could hope to come from
this paper les in the fact that the report of this convention will be
widely circulated, and some future planter of a commercial apple or-
chard may perhaps have his memory refreshed upon these points before
he plants his orchard rather than after the loss of many years and
much money. (Applause. )

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. I don’t feel like allowing Mr. Maskew to
belittle his own achievements in this line. While he may not have told
us anything new in apple growing, everything that he has told us he
has lived himself. He is an apple grower and a student of apple ecul-
ture, and while he may not have told us anything new, he has told us
things that he has realized by actual contact with the apple trees them-
selves and their environment and everything connected with apple
crowing. We have heard a gentleman referred to rather indirectly.
rather obscurely, in Mr. Maskew’s paper. Now we have that gentleman
here to present to you his views in person, and it is now time to intro-
duce him. Professor Wickson will please come forward: ‘‘Must the
Apple Go to the Mountain?’’ (Applause.)

PROFESSOR WICKSON. Your Excellency, Mr. Commissioner,
Ladies and Gentlemen: I have swallowed a good deal of this December
weather and am not quite sure whether I can make myself understood.
However, the paper is very Saee and for that reason I will undertake
to read it myself.

MUST THE APPLE GO TO THE MOUNTAIN?

By E. J. Wickson, of the University of California.

Must, or will the apple go to the mountain? I ask the question with-
out expectation or intention of answering it. It is a very old question.
Ever since the apple did so ill in the Garden of Eden, down in the rich
valley, and escaped the penalty of its offense upon the summit of Mt.
Ararat, mankind has been discussing the question: ‘‘ At what elevation

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 33

may the apple be expected to do its best?’’ At this late day we could,
perhaps, ignore the question were it not the fact that never before in
the history of the human race has it assumed such great commercial
importance as it presents to-day in this newest of all civilized lands, the
Pacifie coast of the United States. With us it is not merely a question
of a few trees or a few hundred trees as an annex to general farming;
it concerns itself with the development of important parts of states or
even of whole states; of thousands of people, and of millions of dollars.
Thus, a very old question now assumes such new phases that it may
require years of study and experience to answer it from these new
points of view.

Are elevated regions entitled to the distinction which they are now
claiming as alone suited to the production of winter apples of the high-
est finish and beauty, and the most perfect keeping qualities, and will
the fruit continue to command the lofty prices which it is now receiving
after traversing a quarter to a third of the world’s circumference to
reach the world’s great markets? This is a question involving pomol-
ogy, commerce, and finance, and in the sciences and arts of these three
great branches of human activity favorable demonstrations must come
to justify claims which are now being made, in some parts of the coast,
that a thousand dollars per acre can be supported as a reasonable valua-
tion for good apple land and five thousand per acre is not unreason-
able to claim as the value of a thrifty young bearing orchard. Will
all these favorable demonstrations be attained? It would manifestly
require the most piercing analytic insight and the most clear and accurate
prophetic foresight to submit an answer which could be accepted as con-
elusive. Nevertheless, it is a question which every commercial apple
grower should ponder and upon which he should watch for every ray
of light which can be drawn from observation and experience. I have
no thought of penetrating the depths of the problem, but rather to
indicate a few features of the environment of the question by way of
which, perhaps, the ultimate determination may be approached.

It must be conceded that the mountain apple is superior to the valley
apple in beauty and finish, in texture and in keeping quality, when it
has been well grown under conditions which enable the favoring fea-
tures of the elevation to do their best work. Taking the apple to the
mountain does not imply that the elevation will do the rest. Every
principle of good culture and every recourse of protection must be as
assiduously applied—possibly even more so—to attain the best com-
mercial results. But this superiority of the maintain apple is not a
recent discovery, nor are the conditions which impart it at all restricted
to the parts of the coast which are now making greatest claims to them
as a distinctive natural endowment. The grand beauty and keeping
quality of California mountain apples were demonstrated very soon after
the American occupation and before any commercial greatness in our
fruit products was thought of. The fact was thrown in the world’s eye
at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876. A systematic
demonstration was made at the New Orleans Exposition of 1885, where
apples grown at elevations from two to four thousand feet in different
parts of California were shown in June of the following year in com-
petition with the fruit grown in the mountains of Arkansas and Mis-

3—FGC

34 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION,

sourl and the few specimens remained in a good show condition, while
the fruit upon the competing plates was replaced several times. This test
was accidental, in a way, because the California exhibitor had no reserve
stock to replace with and was forced to let his first specimens stand up
against all comers, and their behavior was a revelation to all beholders.
California made the record then for the superior quality of winter
apples grown at elevations in a semiarid climate, and the question which
has recently arisen as to whether California can grow as good apples as
the northern states of the coast which have similar climatie characters
should be reversed. Can they grow as good apples of that class as we?

On the commercial side they have passed us, and they have advan-
tages which must not be minimized. They are entitled to credit for the
grand achievements they have attained, even if the caleulations they
are making upon the basis of such achievements should prove exagger-
ated. They have decided advantages in transportation ; they are almost
out of sight of us in the important matter of growers’ organizations for
standardization and handling of fruit as applied to the apple; they are
concentrating upon a single fruit and upon a very few best varieties,
as we are doing with the orange, but we can not compare with their con-
centrated and systematic werk in connection with any other fruit which
we grow. We must do this with all commercial fruits if our production
is to be increased. But yviving them this credit and thanking them also
for the confidence and buoyancy which their distinguished successes will
contribute to the spirit and development of all the fruit interests of
the coast, we must claim that they have demonstrated nothing dis-
tinctive in natural adaptations beyond what California elevations pos-
sess. The high valleys of Lake, Mendocino, and Humboldt comprise
half a dozen districts like Hood River. The Shasta region has all the
variations in altitude and exposure which has eastern Washington from
Wenatchee to Walla Walla and from North Yakima to Spokane, and
Mt. Shasta is higher and can shake biting breezes from his shoulders
which will bring just as bright a red to the cheek of the apple and just
as deep a blue to the nose of the grower as any-of the northern snow-
clads can produce. There are also high valleys in the central region
and in the mountains of southern California, where the “‘warm days
and cool nights,’’ which our northern friends are claiming monopoly
of, are the regular thing during the growing season and where the
winter is marked by heavy rains and snow flurries which are just as cold
and wet as theirs. But I fear that running along this line I am almost
conceding that the apple must go to the mountain in California, as they
claim elsewhere. I am not ready to do that, though I do insist if that
be the ultimate decision California will still be in the apple business
with two long mountain ranges and several short ones.

It is worthy of note that the present fame of Oregon and Washing-
ton in apple growing is no part of the traditionary fame of the Oregon
apple which has been handed down from ’49 and the spring of ’50.
The Oregon apple which the California pioneers worshiped and were dis-
posed to give the horticultural birthright of California for a mess of the
sauce of it, was not a mountain apple at all. It was grown in the lower
levels of the Willamette Valley, and, perhaps, on the lowlands of the
Puyallup and in other coast regions adjacent, and its fame came, not
from comparison with either California coast or California mountain

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 35

apples, but with apples grown in the low foothills and near the rivers
of the great valley where the first mines were. and where nothing but
an early apple for immediate use is worth growing even to this day.
When the coast apples of Oregon and California are compared, there
may be no particular difference in the fruit perhaps. but California
has the coast apple business developed to a volume of prime clean fruit
and breadth of trade which have made the State famous, both at the
East and abroad. And this California coast valley fruit will always
be in demand for distinctive trade and particular markets, perhaps,
providing large groups of Californians work together for the develop-
ment of culture, protection, and marketing, as the people of the Pajaro
Valley have done during the last decade. It is likely that they will
meet new difficulties as they have met and vanquished the old ones.
The new problems will probably include those of a different nature,
and they may be largely pomological and commercial. I suggest a few
simply to indicate my meaning.

First—The Pajaro Valley bellefleur is a demonstration that an apple
which is notable everywhere for being very exacting in requirements
for success does find in the Watsonville district conditions which bring
the fruit to a degree of perfection which is rarely, if ever, attained
elsewhere. It is altogether probable that there are other varieties
which will exhibit similar content and display other characters and
commercial suitability and attractiveness. The value of the bellefleur
was, I presume, demonstrated through the chance planting of it by
the pioneer orchardists of the valley. There should be provided in the
valley a means for testing out all old varieties which have not been
tried, and all promising varieties under competent pomological obser-
vation and comparison. |

Second—There are other varieties which attain acceptable characters
and local desirability in the main, but disclose some defects: which hmit
their value. This may be due to some requirement for full develop-
ment which the local conditions do not include or to some peculiar
behavior of the type which has been thus far prevalent. In either case,
the effort to retain the variety but to find a more suitable type should
be systematically made. This, too, is a matter for close pomological
study and comparison, and it is analogous to the effort which is being
made in southern California for the discovery or development of supe-
rior types of the Navel orange.

Third—There should be close study made of the relative effects of
all cultural operations and all treatments for prevalent pests and
diseases upon the thrift of the tree or upon the duration of its effect-
lve growing period, or to discover unforseen influences which any
cultural or protective policy may exert upon the character of the fruit.
Some very startling claims in this line have been recently made in
distant places. Whether they are true or not they furnish a suggestion
that all cultural operations might be looked into lest they might have
some relations to obscure defects of various kinds.

It is not necessary to multiply suggestions of this kind. They are
not new. They have been freely discussed by Watsonville growers,
both individually and in the Orchardists’ Association, and are, I
believe, generally approved. I mention them for two purposes: first,
to add what emphasis I can to the importance of the work; second,

36 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

to assure you that such work commands the keenest interest among
the pomologists of the University, and they are eager to codperate
with the growers and with the competent men whom the counties of
Santa Cruz and Monterey have already in joint service for the promo-
tion of the apple industry. It is, however, really a State service and
should be provided for by the legislature as such. To attain results
this work should be amply provided for through a period of many
years. Probably your two counties and your liberal individuals and
associations have done more for the protection of the apple than all
the rest of the State combined, and all the State has benefited by your
work. It is time the State took up apple work as a special effort in its
own behalf, and this convention should express itself clearly in this line.

As to my first question, then, ‘‘ Must the apple go to the Mountain ?’’
although I disclaim the ability to finally answer it, I expect a negative
reply for these reasons:

First—Though some apples may have to go to considerable elevations
for the best development. other apples both for pomological and com-
mercial development must be grown under the distinctive advantages
of the coast valleys. All apple literature and all common experience
show that different varieties of apples require different conditions for
their best development and the trade requires that such special adap-
tation be discovered and regulate the activities of planters. There is
every reason, therefore, to think that there may be apples of every
season of ripening which suit our valleys better than higher elevations
anywhere.

Second—The present disposition of apple planters is to grow long-
keeping winter varieties to secure the manifest advantages of such fruit
for long distance marketing. This special attention to one phase of
apple growing should convey the suggestion that more should be done
to develop.markets for summer, fall and early winter varieties for all
of which California has distinctively adapted districts and can market
such fruit everywhere west of the Rocky Mountains and south of the
Arctic Circle, while locally grown apples over this vast area are still
in the bullet or baseball phases of growth. This is a field of production
which must be distributed through the interior valley and foothills
and the coast valleys, according to the special growing conditions which
are found in each of these situations. Every advance in the settlement
and development of the wintry districts of the Pacific Slope opens wider
the avenues for the employment of the unique advantages of early
orowth which a relatively small area of the slope possesses.

Third—Not only the nearer markets, which are thus expanding, but
the more distant countries around the Pacific border, and especially,
perhaps, those southern regions which will come into neighborly rela-
tions with us through the Panama Canal, and along all the currents of
transportation which it will set in motion there will be new demands
for apples during all the months before the latest keepers mature.
This is a field in which there will be practically no competition with
California valleys, and no matter what is done with winter apples here
or elsewhere, this opportunity will remain open to us. (Applause.)

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. We have some time now for discussion.
There has been considerable said this afternoon about type, about stand-
ardizing apple trees or getting pedigree stock. If that is good doctrine

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 37

to preach in the apple industry, it is also good in other industries. I
would like to have some discussion on that one point, and I would lke
for Mr. John Markley to come forward and say a few words, if he will,
on that point. Mr. Markley is one of the old members of this conven-
tion. He was active twenty-five years ago in the work and 1s active now.
I have the pleasure of introducing to you Mr. Markley.

MR. MARKLEY. Ladies and Gentlemen: I am afraid I have got
myself into a position where I can’t do you any good. The horticultural
commissioners the other day held a meeting up in my neighborhood, in
Sutter County, and, more to fill up than anything else, we brought up
the question of the advantages of pedigreed stock, and I gave my. per-
sonal experiences in pedigreed stock. I said that I found when I went
to the race course I was considered a fool if I bet on anything in a
trotting race without it had a pedigree; that when a man went to raise
hogs he first had a pedigree; in the dairy business was first a pedigree
and then the individual animal. In Sonoma County I had a prune
orchard and there was one spot of very rich land overflowed with sand
which gave it a fine mulch. There were over 100 trees there which
would bear from 200 to 400 pounds apiece. There was one tree on the
ranch—l had 12,000 trees—that from which for thirteen years I never
picked more than 20 pounds a year, whilst others bore all the time.
The boys on the ranch called it the bastard. I examined the orchard
pretty carefully and I found that I had a great many bastards. After
awhile, looking around on the other side, I found I had a few trees and
they grew of different shape from the others and bore wonderful crops
of prunes. I kept a record of these trees for four years, and if all my
orchard had borne as those did I would have had about double the
quantity of fruit. The appheation I wanted to make was, where I live
we raise a great many Thompson’s Seedless grapes and they are shy
bearers sometimes, or very erratic in bearing. About three years ago a
man in great pride showed me a vine that had a great many grapes on it,
and I kept on looking and he said, ‘‘ What are you looking for?’’ I said,
‘IT find nine vines here. Either one of these has as much vigor as this
one that has a crop on it and if these vines all over the vineyard had as
much on it would make you rich.’’ He said, ‘“‘I am afraid it might
bear them to death.’’ I said, ‘‘I don’t think it will, but if it does you
can afford to let them die.’’ Mr. Frank Swett told me that prior to
picking the grapes in his vineyard he went up there with a brush and
a paint pot and marked the vines with a stroke up and down that had a
large crop on them and the next year he did the same thing and the
next year again, just before the picking. He says, ‘‘ Whenever I have
a vine with three marks on it I know it has borne a heavy crop three
years in succession. My vineyard will average about six tons and these
pedigreed vines about ten.’’ That makes quite a difference. I went
there to buy cuttings. He says, ‘‘Oh, I have sold all the cuttings.’’ I
was buying cuttings for two dollars a thousand; I went there to pay
him ten dollars a thousand for his pedigreed cuttings, but I could not
get them. He had sold out. I believe it is very beneficial, and I believe
that if somebody in this State would start a nursery and grow pedi-
greed stock and guarantee it, it would do the State a great good; and I

PR D a3 -GROWERS’ CoO? ‘
38 OCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION

don’t know why they could not grow pedigreed stock as well as any-
thing else. That is about all I have to say.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. How are you going to get the vast ma-
jority of tree planters to pay the price?

MR. MARKLEY. I don’t think it would cost much more. I have
sold trees a little, and I don’t know why it would cost me any more to
raise a tree from a pedigreed tree than any other.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. A nurseryman must be paid a price for
_ that skill. How are you going to get the average grower to support him
in that work?

MR. MARKLEY. The average fruit-grower is as intelligent as the
average horse-grower. They have been educated up to that. I believe
you could educate them up to it. (Applause. )

MR. DARGITZ. Mr. Chairman, I believe that I would like to add a
point toward the question that the Chairman has just raised about the
expense of getting pedigreed stock in this way. I think the customary
price for budding that nurserymen pay the orchardists who cut them ~
for them is something like $2.50 for a thousand buds. Take it for
eranted that the thousand buds will produce 500 trees—I think it
ought to do that—that makes about one half cent per tree per bud.
Suppose that for these pedigreed buds the nurseryman had to pay ten
dollars per thousand buds; I think he could get them for that, and
on the same ratio of production it would make the buds for his trees
cost two cents per tree instead of one half cent. The added expense,
therefore, is only one and one half cents per tree, and if there is any
nurseryman that can’t stand an average of one and one half cents for
producing trees that will outrank all other nursery trees produced, let
him add a cent and a half or even three cents to the price of his trees,
and he will have no trouble to sell them. providing he can convince the
buyer that he is giving him just this kind of stock. It is a fact that can
not be successfully disputed that in any orchard and any variety of
trees, with the same care, from the same nursery and the same time of
budding and all, there will be a difference among those trees in the
productiveness. There will be also a difference in the quality of the
fruit. You will find trees here and there in the orchard that will pro-
duce more fruit and better fruit than their neighbors, the other trees
alongside of them that have had an equally good chance. Now then.
if we want to bring up the productiveness of our orchards, doesn’t it
stand to reason that those trees should be marked just as indicated and

that the buds for propagation should be taken from those identical
marked trees? If we will do that we will build up the productiveness
of our orchards. The same principle prevails exactly that prevails
among animals, and where is the man who is going into the stock busi-
ness to grow cattle or horses or hogs or sheep. if he followed out the hit-
and-miss, haphazard manner of selecting his breeding stock that we fol-
low in selecting our stock in planting orchards, would not come to grief
very promptly? If he did not he would deserve to. There is no oppor-
tunity for success in the stock business unless a man uses exceedingly
oreat care in the selection of his breeders, and there is no reason why we
should expect great results, satisfactory results in the development of
our orchards and the productiveness of our orchards unless we use the
same good common sense in the selection of the buds for the propagation

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 39

of our trees. It is a point that needs emphasis, and it must have it.
( Applause. )

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. I would like to call Mr. Dargitz’ atten-
tion to the fact that he only spoke of the grafting or budding of the
trees. In propagating pedigreed stock you should, perhaps, pay as
much attention to the root part of the proposition as to the scion or bud,
consequently it would add more than three cents to the expense. Most
nurserymen make an ordinary length of seedling root to produce three
or four roots for grafting. It is much more expensive to produce a tree
on a whole root, which ought to be done if you are going to put a pedi-
greed top on it. Another thing, the nurseryman, if you deal with a
nurseryman, ought to be well paid for the honesty and skill in pro- —
ducing a pedigreed tree, because he is giving you a start that even your
grandchildren may enjoy in gathering the fruit from those trees.

MR. DARGITZ. Mr. Chairman, I don’t believe that any nursery-~
man in the State of California would want to come out and openly
announce to the public that he was progagating trees, pedigreed or
otherwise, from piece roots. I think he would like to have it under-
stood that he is using whole roots and the best roots.

MR. HICKMAN. I-would like to say that pedigreed stock is a great
thing in every industry, whether it be stock raising or what not. But
there is another feature, the place to put the pedigreed stock, which,
according to my observation, is very sadly neglected. I can show you,
almost within sight of this very building, places where thousands of
good trees have been thrown away, simply by planting where they
never should have been planted; places that are noted as raising very
fine fruit have thrown away something more than half their capital
very much more, and even after the trees are planted, the care they
receive is not ‘“‘pedigreed’’ care. Even the best of pedigreed stock will
starve to death; and, though I am not a horticultural commissioner at
present, I may be some time, and I think it should be one of the duties
of a horticultural commissioner to protect, so far as it les in his power,
the tree playter from his own ignorance. I have been just as ignorant
as others in this. I have paid dearly for my experience. I know what
it means to have pedigreed stock. J have seen Newtown trees producing
four or five boxes of choice fruit and right beside them trees that would
produce ten boxes of worthless fruit, year after year, and, as far as it
laid in my power, I have made the changes and used pedigreed scions
and so on. But going right through the same orchard, I find there are
other conditions besides the pedigree or the stock or the scion that cut
fully as great a figure. A year ago we had a very heavy rainstorm, and
I, in common with most other unprepared orchardists, found a great
many gullies washed in my orchard, and here and there were little ridges
of rock, which showed that there were basins that needed draining. I
was wondering for some time why certain trees did practically nothing.
I can show you trees within fifty feet of each other on the same hill slope.
every other condition apparently identical—the trees were identical
when taken from the nursery row—and within three years’ time one
tree is ten times as large as another, not only in one place but in dozens.
It is a hill orchard and in sandy land. These are conditions worth
looking into, and it seems to me they should be emphasized in the
reports of our conventions.

40 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. What if we could estimate in dollars
and cents the millions that have been lost in California by planting
poorly pedigreed stock? You would find that the amount of money
made altogether in fruit growing has not been nearly as much as the
loss in planting in this manner. About 110 years ago a remarkable
horse came into Vermont, afterward known as Justin Morgan. For
years and years the strain was kept pure, and then it was neglected for
fifty or seventy-five years. Now both the United States Government
and the State of New York are spending thousands of dollars to restore
the purity of the Morgan blood. That ought to be done with horticul-
tural products. If we have a Spitzenburg, let us keep it pure. If we
have a bellflower, let us keep it from turning into a grindstone; let us
keep it elongated. It ought to be one of the duties of this convention,
and every other fruit-growers’ convention, to encourage a few nursery-
men who are willing to put their capital into this business to raise trees,
and instead of paying 15 to 20 cents for a deciduous tree, pays 35 cents
for it, and it will be like getting money from home when the orchards
come to bear.

MR. BERWICK. Regarding that first paper, you were this morning
deploring the misleading statements that go out from California regard-
ing our orchards and vineyards. If I remember rightly, that paper
speaks of a very encouraging price of three dollars per box, f. 0. b. I
don’t know if any Watsonville grower expects or gets three dollars a
box, f. o. b., or if there be an Oregon grower here who gets, on an
average, one season with another, three dollars a box, f. 0. b. I think
we would like to hear from him. I would like to ask Mr. Rodgers or
Mr. Judd what is the average f. o. b. price in Watsonville? Does it
approach anything near three dollars a box?

MR. RODGERS. An average would be 90 cents to one dollar a box.

MR. BERWICK. Every season?

MR. RODGERS. Yes, sir. Sometimes it averages 10 or 15 cents
more, sometimes a little less, depending on the world’s supply.

MR. BERWICK. I believe the price this season in Covent Garden
is $2.05 a box—I got a telegram a few days ago. I don’t see how they
can get three dollars in Oregon when they are sold in Covent Garden
for $2.05. There is another point, referring to Professor Wickson’s
paper. He says, ‘‘ Will the apple go to the Mountain?’’ When I think
of the Pajaro Valley and the Santa Cruz Mountains I don’t think the
Pajaro Valley apple will go to the mountain. I have been on the moun-
tains, and I don’t even find the Santa Clara prune going to the
mountains and making anything but bankruptcy for the growers. (Ap-
plause. )

MR. RIXFORD. I would like to ask a question. This discussion has
‘been exceedingly interesting, and I would like to know if there is any
one present that can tell us anything about the influence of the stock
on the grafting of these pedigreed trees?

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. I can answer very easily, because I am
in a position to call out any one to respond. Mr. Femmons is called on
for that answer.

MR. FEMMONS. I can’t answer from any scientific standpoint,
nor can I answer from any economic standpoint; I can only answer
from the standpoint of actual observation in the orchard; that is where

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 4]

I get it from him. In grapevines, strawberries, berries of all kinds, small
fruits, we can keep up a pedigreed stock almost absolutely. There are
little influences quite frequently that we can not quite overcome, but
when it comes to grafting or budding orange trees, for example, there
are problems or influences coming in to contend with that are almost
insurmountable. Sometimes we will succeed. At other times, under
apparently the same identical conditions, as far as we can see, we will
fail; why, I am not going to answer. I can give you an illustration.
I have done a good deal of top-grafting in my orchard. I started
out, away up in the mountains, to try and demonstrate the apples that
would succeed there in that location best. I made many mistakes,
like a great many other people, and I found it out, but by experiment-
ing I found apples that pleased me, and my idea was, those trees that
did not please me, did not produce fruit to satisfy me, to top-graft
them, and I chose a few, and my grafting has been by carefully select-
ing the scions from the trees that pleased me most, that bore the finest
fruit, made the finest crops. That far we can go, and when you come to
put them into the other stocks, whether it is a small nursery stock or in
a bearing tree, we scarcely know what we are going to get, that is, for
quality. It is claimed that the stock does not influence the scion to any
creat extent, but in many cases I know it influences the scion to a very
ereat extent. For instance, I have a neighbor living within three or
four miles of me who had one of the earliest orchards in that northern
region, early in the sixties. At that time our nurseries had almost every
variety that you could get, and, as it happened, there were a great many
of the old grindstones planted in that orchard, the American Pippin.
After they were thirty years old it was found they were of no value,
and he happened to find a very fine strain of the Ben Davis apple. It
pleased him—and, by the way, the Ben Davis can grow up in those
mountains to perfection. He got some scions and had his trees top-
erafted. When they came into bearing they were neither grindstone
nor Ben Davis nor anything else; they were a complete blending all
over, with the prominent bright stripe of the Ben Davis; they were only
medium in size and were perfectly worthless. That was the best illus-
tration of that one thing that I have seen. How we are going to over-
come those things I don’t know, I don’t propose to answer. We have
got to contend with those outside influences, and how they come in I
leave it to your scientific friends to find out. (Applause. )

MR. NEWCOMB. Mr. Chairman, I would like to say just a word
in defense of the Oregon apple grower and the prices they are obtain-
ing. Last year the apple growers at Hood River marketed 300 cars of
apples. There were 75 cars, or 25 per cent, that brought these fancy
prices—$2.25, $1.75, and $1.50. Mind you, they were the very cream
of the crop. We only hear of the best. Portland got all of their
inferior apples; they use that for a dumping ground; but by careful
selection they do obtain these prices.

MR. HOTLE. The firm of Hunt, Hatch & Co. of San Francisco
bought one carload of their fancy apples; they paid $2.25 f. o. b. there,
but, as Mr. Newcomb says, they were the best.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. The average Hood River apple this year
brought from $1.45 to $2.15 up to $2.25 per box. I never knew the
Ben Davis grew to perfection anywhere, but I will take Mr. Femmons’

42 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

word for that. Now, with regard to the discussion of stock, that is the
most profitable thing we have undertaken here. The presumption is in
favor of Mr. Femmons’ idea that the root of the tree has very little
influence on the quality.

MR. FEMMONS. Often, not always.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. How can we keep the purity if the root
of the apple tree had a very serious influence on the fruit? We would
not have any Spitzenburgs for 115 years; the Northern Spy would not
retain its individuality, and the Newtown Pippin would not retain its
individuality. But the root of an apple tree, of course, or any other
tree, will have a great influence on the pedigree and bearing qualities
and the appearance of the ripening fruit itself. I don’t think it has a
great deal of influence on the inherent qualities of the fruit that have
been stamped into that Spitzenburg apple over in the old countries, for
instance, for hundreds of ages. We don’t know how it got there any
more than we know how the best horse ever raised on earth appeared
in Vermont, how the navel orange ever came to perfection away down
in Brazil without anybody knowing where it originated, and I don’t
believe our scientific men will ever find out, but we ought to bring our
discussion to bear upon dragooning some half dozen nurserymen to
raise pedigreed trees. In Oregon I have seen the growers in the Rogue
River country amputate an apple tree, a Ben Davis, about six inches in
diameter, which some of the older orchards had matured, and at the
next station above Medford, put in a little scion about as big as your
finger, cover it with wax, and in three or four years that was an apple
tree as perfect as ever grown from a nursery tree. There is a place
where the ability to build up apple trees is certainly remarkable. You
could not do that in Los Angeles County; you might in this county.
but the Rogue River people and the Hood River people should not have
the credit that we get down here, because nature does many things there
it does not here. One thing is, it gives them a regular supply of mois-
ture and it throws the leaves off at the proper time, and makes them
stay off until the proper time in the spring. You never see apple trees
in bloom in the winter, and all those things make it a typical apple
country, similar to this section.

MR. MASKEW. I have been trying to make progress along these
lines for a great many years. The consensus of opinion seems to be this
afternoon that pedigreed stock is desirable. The consensus of opinion
seems also to be that it must start with the nurseryman. These are
nearly all apple growers here, and I would like to ask, if a man to-mor-
row desired to purchase from you pedigreed stock, is there a man in
this audience would give him a guaranteed pedigree?

MR. FEMMONS. Yes.

MR. BERWICK. What do you call a guaranteed pedigree?

MR. MASKEW. A record of the bearing ability and the fertility
for a period of, say, four years—longer, if possible—a record of what
that tree had produced-and a record of its character. Could any man
furnish that and say, ‘‘I have got a record of it for four years. This
tree has done so and so for four years.’’ How is the nurseryman going
to commence this if we don’t have the tree for him to draw upon? If
have tried to do this for vears, and in a small way I have satisfied
myself it can be done. To begin with, we must have the trees to get

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 45

the buds from. Now, Mr. Chairman, if you can devise a ways and
means of starting this, it will bea step in advance. We talk this over
all the time and every year we have no trees to get them from.

MR. BERWICK. Mr. Chairman, I want to answer that challenge
more or less. I have a pear tree over fifty years old, a Winter Nelis
pear tree. That tree has averaged half a ton of pears every year for
the last fifteen years. I will take $50 a thousand for buds off that tree.

MR. MASKEW. Now, who has a pippin or a bellflower that he can
give a pedigree on?

MR. FEMMONS. As I said in my first remarks, and I would hke to

make it a little more explicit, in answering the question whether I
could give the pedigree of stock—and it would be apple stock—I could
not give the annual yield, but it is this way. For instance, within the
last ten years I have grafted over a hundred trees in my orchard to
what is known as the Delicious, and if you will just excuse me one
moment I want to make this addition to what I said a moment ago.
Many varieties of apples are susceptible of influence from a. stock.
There are many other varieties that show but very little influence at
any time. There are a few varieties, though, that I am sure are very
susceptible to it. Now, to come back. I have grafted there a hundred
trees to the Delicious. That stock I had from the original tree that
erew near Des Moines, in Iowa, and I have grafted every one of my
trees from the original tree that I grew at home, which I consider yet
to be about as fine as any that I have ever seen. From that one tree I
have propagated over a hundred trees. A few out of that hundred,
for the past four or five years that I have been watching them, certainly
erew superior fruit even to my own original tree. They are brighter in
color, they are better in form, they are certainly more juicy and are a
finer apple in every way—a few of them there. The most of those trees
I can scarcely discover any change in any of their characteristics and
yet every tree has its individuality. You can see it in growth, in form
of fruit, its character in every way. just as I would come up to any of
you and see the character in your face. You can go up to your trees
and make neighbors of them, as every one should, take them into your
arms, talk to them—well. I got off my subject. Some of those trees
propagated from my original Delicious tree are dull in color, they are
very elongated, they are poor in quality. The tree the stock was put on
seems to be just as vigorous, just as full of life, and why there is that
difference I can’t tell. That is what J want to get at. As far as
nurserymen are concerned, a good conscientious nurseryman. that will
use every endeavor to propagate the best trees ought to have a dollar
for every tree he propagates, and no one ought to begrudge double,
treble—aye, ten times the price the nurserymen are getting to-day.
It is money in your pocket, and it is the only salvation for California
fruit growers, to get down to the very best stock, of every variety, of
every kind of fruit that is grown here. With that there can be no
_ possible end to the development.

MR. RIXFORD. Before the gentleman sits down I want to ask him
if these young trees that he worked from were all of the same variety—
I mean the stocks.

MR. FEMMONS. They were aiferent varieties, some of them York
imperial, and different varieties.

44 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

MR. HICKMAN. There are so many problems that the whole session
might well be taken up with the consideration of this alone. Mr. Jef-
frey mentioned the Northern Spy a while ago and called to mind a row
of Northern Spy I have. They have reached their majority. They are
twenty-one years old, and no two show the same characteristics. But
every year some branches of one or two trees will bear profusely, the
other branches will bear nothing. This year there were scattered apples
all through and one limb was breaking with apples, and fine Northern
Spys, too. And all around the city are such kind of trees as the old
gardeners knew. For instance, the Black Detroit is one that is so
changed, the Ben Davis, the Baldwin, the White Winter Pearmain and
the Bellflower. With the exception of two White Pearmain trees, all
the other White Pearmain trees are overladen every year with apples,
have to be thinned very greatly. Why those Northern Spys should
produce so little fruit is one of the problems that I can’t perceive any
cause for, because the other trees in the vicinity, none of them, are
troubled in that way. Sundry limbs from year to year bore profusely
to the point of breaking.

MR. BERWICK. I want to make a confession, gentlemen. I told
you the truth but not the whole truth about the Oregon apples. They
do fetch a very great price up there sometimes. I was in Covent
Garden, London, about five years ago, in the office of Martin, Jacobs
& Co., whom you may know, some of you, as being the largest salesmen
- there, and Mr. Jacobs was comparing for my benefit the sales of the
Oregon fruit with the Pajaro Valley fruit, and it did read very much
to California’s disadvantage. It was a year of poor yield and poor
crop in Pajaro Valley and in Monterey County generally, and the
figures his clerk read me from their books ran as high as 27 shillings
per box for Oregon fruit and only about 13 shillings per box for Cali-
fornia fruit; so I believe that some years, for first-class apples, Oregon
may get three dollars per box f. 0. b. What I object to is that highest
figure going out as though it was the average price for the Oregon
apple. It is misleading to the Eastern or any other tenderfoot.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. Is there anything further before we
* adjourn?

MR. BERWICK. I would like to hear from the Governor. (Ap-
plause. )

GOVERNOR GILLETT. I haven’t anything more to say than I
said this morning, except that I have been exceedingly interested in
what I have heard discussed this afternoon. I wish that I could remain
with you during the whole convention. It is just such conventions as
these that are important to the fruit interests of California, and I
know that when men engaged in the business, like you are, meet and
discuss these matters, it 1s going to be for the benefit of the entire
State. I thank you for the reception you have given me to-day and
regret that I have got to leave to-night, and I wish for this convention
every success, and for all others that follow hereafter. It is the growth.
of our State we are after, the development of our valleys, the increase
of our population, and it is the growing of fruit at good prices that is
going to cause the prosperity we desire. (Applause. )

A recess was here taken until 8 o’clock P. mM.

PROCEEDINGS OF. THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 45

EVENING SESSION.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. The first item of the program to-night
is the ‘‘New Horticultural Law.’’ I will not speak to you very long
because I occupied three quarters of an hour of your time to-day, but
in order to follow up later in the evening with some very strong expres-
sions on the new horticultural law, it might be profitable to give a little
review of this enactment as it now stands on our statute books.

About five or six years ago, perhaps, at the Santa Rosa convention,
there seemed to be a desire to reform the county horticultural law.
This law, as you all understand, the old law and the new, are optional
laws. The plan can not be adopted in any county without the initiative
of twenty-five freeholders and fruit growers. At the Santa Rosa con-
vention it was discussed and at every convention following until the
present. At one of these conventions, the one preceding the one at
Hanford, a committee of fruit growers and commissioners was appointed
to recommend a new law. This new law was formulated and presented
at the Hanford convention, that is, the convention that was held three
years ago, just preceding the assembling of the legislature of 1907.
The bill was presented to the proper committees, it was passed through
the senate without any opposition and brought to the second reading in
the other house. There was supposed to be no opposition to what the
fruit growers had prepared when, very suddenly, a telegram came to
perhaps the leader on the floor in the assembly to kill this law. I
believe it took nine votes to do it, if I remember, the way they had noses
counted; at any rate, this single telegram killed the law, as the saying
is, as dead as a door nail. The result was that our lower house of the
legislature failed to act at all, although the bill had passed the senate,
and we supposed it was what the fruit growers wanted and what they
were going to get. This left the matter just as it was. By the time
another year had rolled around there had been more agitation on this
matter, and it resulted in the appointment at Marysville of a committee
of five growers. I was authorized, that being the first convention I
held, to appoint a committee of five fruit growers and those interested
in horticultural matters to formulate a new law. This committee was
composed of Mr. Briggs. of the State Board of Trade, of Judge Shields
of Sacramento, Mr. Overall of Visalia, Mr. Mills of Riverside, and
Mr. A. G. Kendall of San Bernardino, all men deeply interested. The
bill was presented in due form. The committee had two meetings at
Sacramento; I was made an honorary member of the committee, and
we discussed all the principal points of the bill, and it was presented
at the last legislature. This time the fruit growers had spoken so
clearly on this matter and the reformation of the law was so necessary
that there seemed to be no opposition to the law anywhere. We got the
bill through the senate without any trouble—it was not in the perfect
form that we wanted it, but we got it through, and it stuck in the
assembly. While it was sticking in the assembly we soon found the
reason. Two men came up from Los Angeles and began to count noses.
I was one of the first men they visited in Sacramento, and they said
they had the Governor with them, the Governor was opposed to the

46 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

amendment of the law, and we could not get ten votes in the assembly
if it came to a show-down, and one of the assemblymen even threatened
the support to the State Horticultural Commissioner’s office if the bill
was insisted upon. The gentlemen who came up from Los Angeles
soon found that public sentiment was so strong against killing the bill
again that while they could not possibly prevent the passage of this
law, they could so modify it that it would not be acceptable to the com-
mittee of five who had formulated the bill. Without making the story
any longer, the bill was passed just as Judge Shields had written it,
with the exception of one clause, and that was the clause providing for
a deputy or two deputy county commissioners to be appointed by the
commissioner himself and providing the supervisors were willing to
have deputies. Now the law states that there has to be an examination
in every county, and that examination is held in the same way that a
teacher’s examination is held. The Governor, under the provisions of
this law. appointed a commission of three examiners, of which Mr.
Garey of Los Angeles, Mr. E. B. Collier of Riverside, and Mr. Carnes,
of the State Insectary, are the members. This committee has held
examinations in Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside, and Orange
counties in the south, and in Placer, Nevada, Butte, Yuba, Sutter,
Kings, Tulare, and Fresno, in the order in which J have named them,
making twelve counties, or one third of the counties in the State,
approximately, that now have county horticultural commissioners.
These twelve examinations have been held and most of the appointments
have been made, or several of them, at least; the supervisors have
twenty days after the certificates of examination are received in which
to make the appointments. Now they are being made in the different
counties. Monday, I think, the Nevada people chose their commissioner.

This is a brief outline of the progress under this new law. It seems
to be a vast improvement over the old law. There are horticuitural
commissioners sitting before me to-night, and whom we hope to hear
from later in the evening, and fruit growers on all sides of me, who
have seen the defects of the old law. I know counties in the central
part of the State here which have excellent men serving as commis-
sioners without any encouragement from the supervisors, with but little
encouragement from the fruit growers, serving without pay, to protect
their counties from insect pests and diseases. There are other counties
in the State where men have sought the office and are holding it just
for the honor of being there and having position. There are other
counties in the State, especially one or two in the south, or were before
they made their changes there, that are holding this office to keep the
political machine intact, and so it goes all over the State. We believe
now that we have got on a better plane and we will have better results
under the new law which places all the responsibility in the hands of
one man. In Los Angeles County Mr. Meserve, an old official who has
held the office for years and a very capable man, is commissioner. They
have appointed two deputy commissioners in that county. In Riverside
County Mr. Cundiff has been appointed, in San Bernardino Mr. Pease,
in Orange County Mr. Roy Bishop. In San Bernardino County Mr.
Pease, a strong republican, an old army veteran—not an old one—has
received the appointment under a democratic board of supervisors.
Mr. Cundiff, I am sorry to say, is an old-time democrat. He is

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 47

appointed by the Riverside supervisors who are republican, all but one,
four out of five. In Orange County Mr. Bishop told me to-day there
were four republicans and one democrat on the board of supervisors.
They have appointed Mr. Bishop, a democrat, because he qualified for the
office e. Now, a democrat can find a bug just as easily as a republican, if
he knows how, and he ean treat it just as vi igorously as a republican,
if he knows how, and vice versa, and we wonder now why we have stood
by this old plan so long. In Los Angeles County the best commissioner
the county ever had—I was one myself for six years—was Mr. John
Seott, a democrat, serving under the interpretation of the old law that
the board of supervisors could appoint one man. Mr. Scott served four
years most acceptably and held office under a republican board of five,
but that was an accident. As soon as the machine found it out they
immediately read the law and saw that the Supervisors were obliged to
appoint three men and at that time Mr. Scott abdicated. The fruit
growers are to blame for allowing this thing to go on so long. Politics
ought to be kept out of the office. When I was appointed State Com-
missioner the understanding was that no politics should be allowed to
interfere with the office in any way. The Governor and all his friends
have stood by that understanding, and when I went to select my depu-
ties I had nobody to consult but myself. The consequence is I have
got four boys, Mr. Bremner, Mr. Maskew, Mr. Moulton and Mr. Carnes
who were appointed solely because of their ability.

There are some troubles coming up to-night to be discussed with
regard to the new law. In Yolo County, in Sutter County and in other
counties—in one county farther north—there are troubles that will
have to be discussed to-night and passed upon.

Now, I am going to quit talking to you within the next minute and
give you a chance to listen to Mr. Bremner and others—Mr. Moulton
will talk to you—and give you a chance to discuss the troubles that are
eoing to come up under the new law, and when we get ready to go to
that point we expect to see a difference of opinion; I hope there will be,
because I am not certain myself. Suppose there is only one man passes
the examination, which is the case in some of the counties right close to
Sacramento; one of the most able men in the county has passed the
examination and no other man got through. Under the law he is
obliged to be appointed. He will not agree to give up his own private
business, perhaps any considerable portion of it, at least, and attend
to the county’s business. The question will come up whether that man
should be appointed unless he will agree to make the county business
paramount to his own, and I hope when we get to it we will pass our
epinion on that feature of the new law. That is the only puzzling
thing now before the State Commissioner. You will see that it is going
to be a troublesome matter to handle. Now Mr. Bremner will address
you a few moments. (Applause.)

MR. BREMNER. Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Con-
vention: Perhaps there was something of a joker in this program. It
may be the subject of the examination was introduced so as to bring
out all the old commissioners, thinking, perhaps. I was going to tip off
the examination, that I had some underground telegraphic communica-
tion with the examiners, and would tell you all about the questions.
I hope I will tell you something that will be a benefit to you in taking

48 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

the examination, if you are intending to do so, and if you are not
intending I hope I may say something that will induce you to take this
examination in your county.

There is a reason for the committee who framed this law putting in
the clause that there should be an examination that would be a test of
the qualification of the men who wished to be prospective commissioners
of the counties. I believe that the reason for the qualification clause
hes in the commissioners, perhaps, themselves. We know that there
have been cases in California where men who have been appointed by
the sanction of the growers, perhaps, where they were permitted to
present only a very small bill to the board of supervisors, were only
allowed to spend a little time, a very few days in each month, perhaps
were often asked not to present a bill at all, or were appointed under a
guarantee to the board of supervisors that they would not present any
bills as horticultural commissioners. Other cases have arisen where
commissioners were unqualified. I recall a case where there was a
public assemblage and a commissioner of that section was present and,
wishing to impress the audience with his knowledge, he reached up on
the wall and pulled down a large crane fly. This fly looks like a great
big daddy-long-legs with wings. He dangled it in the air and said,
‘*That is the thing that makes the Hessian fly,’’ and he threw it on the
floor. Now, of course, the Hessian fly is a very minute fly. A man who
does not know the difference between a Hessian fly and a big crane fly
would not make a good commissioner, and it was with this idea in view
that this examining board have drawn up questions and presented them
to the applicants, to draw out whether they are, by their occupation,
by their study, by their experience, qualified to not only examine
incoming nursery stock in regard to its cleanliness, its freedom from
diseases, but also to advise growers intelligently as to the planting and
eare of their orchards and vineyards. The men who passed this exami-
nation prove that the examination is practical, and I think in saying
this I am comphmenting the Board of Horticultural Examiners, and
in complimenting them I am certainly complimenting Mr. Carnes, who
is most responsible, I understand, for the questions formulated. When
vou have considered the matter I think you will agree that the exami-
nation is practical, for in Los Angeles County eight men took the
examination and five passed. Of the five who passed four of them were
either commissioners or ex-commissioners and the other an inspector.
In San Bernardino County the man who passed the examination was an
ex-comimissioner ; the man in Riverside County was an ex-commissioner.
I might say, also, that I do not beleve that any of these commissioners
who passed this examination had ever been to any agricultural college
and taken a special course in pomology. They proved, however, that
they had been keeping pace with the times, that they had been taking
horticultural bulletins from the State University. from our own institu-
tion, and from the government, and that they had been studying these
things; that they were up in the practical knowledge and in the tech-
nical knowledge that fitted them for commissioners, and I think it is
a compliment to the commissioners of California when we see that these
men have been reappointed to their positions. This should be a stimulus
to the commissioners who have not yet taken the examinations in their
counties, to rub up a little bit and take these examinations; for I believe

°

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 49

that any commissioner in California who has been conscientious in his
work can pass these examinations as they have been given. I believe
that every commissioner should take them; that every inspector should
take them; and that representative growers, who have the interest of
their counties at heart, should also take them. They should take the
examination to see that it is practical, and that the men who pass that
examination are qualified to hold the office. The inspectors should take
the examination to prove to the commissioners who are going to appoint
them that that they have been keeping pace with the times and that
they are qualified, for it is on the inspectors of the county that the
bulk of the commission work falls.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. It has been intimated that the fruit
erowers of California do not understand the county horticultural law.
That is a mistake in some cases. In one particular case in which I
was officially concerned, after the State had spent $500 or $600 in
suppressing a very bad pest in a certain orchard, a pest that scared
the citrus growers all over the State nearly into spasms, and the bill
had been presented to this man for the work done in suppressing the
insect pest, he must have read the horticultural county commissioner
law, for he discovered that in that particular county there was no
horticultural law. He could buy out every man in this house, I don’t
eare how wealthy you are, and yet he refused to pay that bill. If we
had had the officials in that particular county which we will have under
the new law, this man would have paid the bill, and we must get com-
missioners that will do thorough work. Mr. Bremner was telling about
its being necessary to be thorough. You must know a bug when you
see it. Now, we have Mr. Rodgers of Watsonville, who will take charge
of the program for a few moments, and I hope you will support Mr.
Rodgers and help him out in his part of this evening’s entertainment.
(Applause. )

MR. RODGERS. Mr. Jeffrey, Ladies and Gentlemen: In picking
up the program the other day I was surprised to find my name appear-
ing therein under this head of ‘‘Discussion of Topics of Interest to
Horticultural Commissioners.’’ A few times in years past I have
received a letter from our State Commissioner asking that I contribute
something toward the program and hoping that I would not refuse, as
they were having difficulty in securing sufficient topics. But not so
with Commissioner Jeffrey. The methods employed by him remind
me of the methods pursued by an electric lineman. A short time ago
J had occasion to stretch some electric wires at my place and called in
the services of a lineman, and after getting the wires over the pulley,
he pulled for a time without succeeding in getting them tight suffi-
@iently to suit him and called on me and we both pulled, and with our
combined strength we still were not able to get the wires sufficiently
tight. He said, ‘‘ Well, now I will have to go and get my come-along.’’
That aroused my curiosity and I waited patiently until he could secure
his come-along. In due time he produced it, and it was a little device
which he could attach to any sized wire, and by the use of a pulley he
pulled the wire until it would vibrate like a fiddle string. Now, I think
our Commissioner, when he wishes to make out a program, sits in his

4-_FEC

50 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

office in his easy chair and throws out his come-alongs, and we have to
come. Now, taking the cue, I am going to call on a number of the
commissioners here to-night for several topics that have been suggested.
The first is the better organization of county commissioners. I am
going to ask Mr. S. A. Pease of San Bernardino to address us on that
topic. (Applause. )

MR. PEASE. Mr. Charman, Mr. Rodgers, Ladies and Gentlemen: IL
think in the discussion of this subject a good way to get at it would be to
20 back over some of the old methods that obtained in the early years.
Of course, the commission has not come to its present state of efficiency
by a single jump. We have gone by slow progress, the way most good
things go, and I will just quote some of the shortcomings of the com-
mission as I found it in 1896, when I was first appointed. I had been
an inspector for a time and was appointed to the office of horticultural
commissioner, and I went to San Bernardino and investigated the
doings that had been going on for the seven years previous to this. I
found at that time, there being a three-man commission, that they had
done as commissioners sometimes did in that day, had divided the
county into three separate districts. They were all citrus districts.
Each commissioner took his section, a third of the county. I found
further that in the operation of the horticultural commission each man
used a different method to accomplish his work in the county. Right
to start on, that did not appear to me as very good. My idea of the
work of the commission was that the commissioner should be posted on
his duties and that every part of the county should have the one best
method of controlling insect pests and caring for the trees. One of
the methods that I found and objected to at that time was that one
section of the commission was very arbitrary, and if people got in trees
and plants that showed they were not well posted as a commissioner
should be posted, and oftentimes, in treating trees that were shipped
in, if they had some little pest on them, they treated them with such
severity that it killed the trees. Of course, this brought the commission
into disrepute and a great many people were against the commission.
Another thing they did, they were not particular as to the time of the
year. At that time the San Jose scale was pretty bad, I think the
whole length of the State, on the deciduous trees. and had to be cared
for. They would wait until the trees were almost ready to blossom and
then would serve a notice on a man to clean up im ten days, and then
perhaps they would wait a month until the trees were in full bloom and
go around and find that some of the men had not sprayed their trees,
and they would order a man to spray his trees with salt, lime and sul-
phur and kill the whole crop of fruit. There was no method. The law
dictates plainly about how the work shall be done, and yet they used
to order their inspectors out and inspect all the nursery stock in the
country at their pleasure. If it was deciduous stock and when it was.
to be taken up the nurseryman would want the root imspected, they
would say, ‘‘ All right; we have inspected the stock once and we will
do this at your expense,’’ and charged him, instead of $2.50 a day, as
the law required—charged him 40 cents an hour. Well, you can imagine
the state of affairs when I went there. They had a paper that was run by
an organization. It was called a political paper, and, as was frequently
the case, they changed the editor of the paper, and it was customary

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. ae

at that time, after they had gotten the man installed thoroughly, to
wind up by saying, ‘‘Now, remember one thing; if you ever get short
of news you can always jump on to the horticultural commission,’’ and
they always proceeded to do so. As matters have progressed, we have
found a great many things that needed remedying; we made certain
rules for our inspectors. For instance, we told the inspectors that the
time to inspect is that time of the year when something is going to
follow. That means that the inspector is not to go out and inspect
simply for the purpose of drawing his pay, but when he inspects and
finds any pest it means that some disinfectant is to follow, either spray-
ing or fumigation. There are a great.many things that affect the com-
mission. I speak of these because the method that had been in opera-
tion before the time we went on brought the horticultural commission
into disrepute. Now we try to systematize everything, and we have
helps in every direction; we have the help of the University, we have
the help of the State Commission, and about three years ago we applied
to the Department of Agriculture, and they have sent a man who is
working now in the field for the purpose of systematizing the science of
fumigation in order that the work of fumigation may be perfected, that
is, that we may get the very best results from fumigation. For instance,
it has been customary in some portions of the south, as in our county,
for part of the people to employ the county to do the work. The
county will follow the methods which have been published in pamphlet
form and are available to anybody. Mr. Woglum has not the wide
scope of duties that the commission has, but his sole duty is to work on
the science of fumigation, that is, to overcome some of the difficulties
we have been having and to establish the correct dosage for the different
kinds of scales. All of these things are things that a commissioner
should know. This year we have been following him closely. We have
marked our tents with the Wheeler system, which is the system he has
been using. After the trees are marked, by looking at the figures on
the tent you can find the exact number of feet over it, and then by
using a tape line you get the circumference, and he has a table of
figures and that gives you the exact dosage you should use. The reason
why the commissioners should know these things is so they may avoid
things that bring unnecessary expense to the growers, such as contract
fumigation. To explain that, I will mention that in our county we have
an ordinance requiring contract fumigators to take out a license to
fumigate within the county, and these fumigators are obliged to make
a report to the horticultural commission every month. One of the con-
tractors has made two reports, and in this report he has put here the
owner’s name and the number of trees he has fumigated. Then he puts
on the other side the total number of pounds of cyanide that he used in
fumigating all those trees. By reducing those pounds to ounces and
dividing it by the number of trees it gives the average dosage that he
used on trees. The first report that he made showed that he used less
than four ounces to the tree, and such men as James Mills, who is try-
ing to do the work correctly, would use six ounces. The effect of that
would be, if Mr. Woglum is correct and it takes that dosage to kill a
certain kind of scale and a man attempts to kill them with one fourth
of the amount, that money is practically thrown away. He leaves the
bugs on every tree.

52 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

In the working of this new commission the responsibility is put on
one man. That man passes an examination to show that he is qualified
to do the work of the commissioner, and is held responsible, you might
say, for this amount of work. It is also intended to draw the commis-
sions closely together, and we expect the final result will be that the
commissioners will all work in more unison, that everybody will use the
one best method, and that they will work in conjunction with the State
Commissioner of Horticulture; that is, we will be like one body and do
the work with no friction or pulling apart. (Applause.)

MR. RODGERS. Mr. Hecke of Yolo County will next address you.

MR. HECKE. Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: I have not had
the advantage of having been a horticultural commissioner for many
years, in fact my appointment only dated from last year, yet at the same
time I have attended these horticultural conventions and have followed
with great interest the various things that they had to tell before we
succeeded in getting our new law passed by the legislature. I think
that this new law is decidedly a great advance over the old law. How it
is going to work out in the different counties remains to be seen. There
is no question in my mind but that in southern California it is exactly
the proper thing. Whether it is going to work out to the same full -
advantage in the north will have to be proven later on, but I think it
will. :

I have made a few short notes and I would like to speak some about
the way of bringing the horticultural commissioners into closer contact
with the State Commission. I think that our State Horticultural Com-
missioner, Mr. Jeffrey, has inaugurated a very good way of bringing
these together, and that is, to hold meetings in the different districts,
and thus get the growers in direct contact with the State Commission.
I think this is a very necessary thing to do for this reason, that so many
of the fruit growers do not have the time and have not been educated
to attend this State meeting, which occurs only once a year, but by the
State Commissioner coming to the different fruit districts and inducing
these growers to come to meetings, they will get gradually interested
in our work and we can get them to study these questions to better
advantage.

We have not had an examination in our county yet, but it is possible
that in the next few months an examination will be held there. From
what I have heard, I believe this new law provides for all contingencies,
and while it does not specifically say that the wheat question shall be
examined into. I presume it will be touched upon in the part which
says that the horticultural commissioner shall have practical knowledge
in pruning and horticultural work.

The fact that the horticultural commissioner must be a resident of
the county is a good feature. I think he should be vitally interested in
keeping insects or fungus pests out of the county. Furthermore, by
being interested in the county, he is not only the scientific bug hunter,
but he should also be the friend of the fruit growers, and in making
his tours around the country he should consult with them as to the best
methods of fighting the various insect pests. For instance, the spraying
for peach blight or for apricot fungus, which is practically the same,
must be done at the proper time of the vear or the results will be very

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 53

unsatisfactory. In our northern counties the complaint is often made
that the spraying is done at the wrong time of the year. Furthermore,
since this new law has passed and the relief for the horticultural com-
missioner has been raised, it will be possible for him to come in much
eloser contact with the State Horticultural Commissioner. I think the
county horticultural commissioner ought to be requested to make, not
only a yearly report, but to make his report monthly, and the same
monthly report should also be given to the supervisors of his county.

Now, another question which has been touched upon only mildly by
our Chairman is the fact that in some of the counties the board of super-
visors will be opposed to having a horticultural commissioner working all
the time. They will claim that there are some times of the year when
it is absolutely necessary that the horticultural commissioner should
be at work—for instance, during the time that the orchards should
be inspected for pests, or that the different nurseries will ship in their
products, and I rather anticipate some difficulties; for istance, in our
county, in getting the board of supervisors to let the horticultural com-
missioner put in all his time at the work. Now, is it practicable to
appoint a fruit grower who has the interest of this industry at heart
or will it be better to appoint some one else? This I would like to hear
a little more about. Mr. Jeffrey mentioned Yolo County, and I do not
know just exactly what he had in mind. I am from Yolo County, and
I don’t know how many growers there are that are going to take this
examination. I am going to be one of them, for the simple reason that
even if I am not appointed it will be of advantage to me to pass this
examination successfully. But, on the other hand, it may be possible
that outside of myself there will not be another candidate. Our county
does not belong to the great horticultural districts of California, outside
of the Winters district and some 600 or 700 acres around Woodland,
and there is very little interest manifested in horticulture. The main
occupation of our farmers is the raising of grain or dairying, the raising
of alfalfa.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. Mr. Hecke, isn’t it a fact that in your
county and in Tehama and all those counties the farmers are suffering
from weed pests?

MR. HECKE. Yes.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. Isn’t it a fact that the horticultural com-
missioners are authorized to exterminate weed pests?

MR. HECKE. Yes.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. Then why isn’t your county much inter-
ested in the enforcement of the law and why should your supervisors
not pay for the services of a man to exterminate weed pests as well as
fruit pests? I understand there are 17,000 acres in one farm in
Tehama County that has so much thistle in it they have abandoned it
and can not even pasture it. Colonel Irish is interested, because he has
land on the river and the seed is being thrown into it.

MR. HECKE. The Johnson grass is overrunning one very fertile
district. Under this new horticultural law I understand that the horti-
cultural commissioner will have more power than heretofore, and I
think under it he will be able to compel the board of supervisors to
grant the necessary aid to exterminate the weed.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. Your county is just as much interested
in the horticultural law, being an agricultural county, if you take the

54 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

weed pest into consideration, as it would be if it was purely a horti-
cultural county.

MR. HECKE. Yes, I believe it is.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. Then you certainly need a commissioner
there to give all his time to the work the same as in any other county.

MR. HECKE. Let us suppose that there is only one candidate who
presents himself for examination. Will it be possible for the board of
supervisors to go outside and appoint some one else just because this
one man will not be able to give his entire time to the horticultural
commissionership? Suppose he has not sufficient time at the critical
period to attend to it personally, but will have enough time to supervise
his deputy or the inspectors; is it in the law that the horticultural com-
missioner will have to absolutely give every working day during the
year, and perhaps his Sundays, to this particular work? I mention
this because you referred to it in your address when you commenced.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. As you seem to be asking me a question,
I would like to ask you if the law requires the sheriff to work every day
of the year? He is supposed to work every day in the year and transact
the business that he is responsible for.

MR. HECKE. Yes.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. If that takes 365 days, he has got to work
that number of days. If it takes a hundred days he gets the same
salary. The intent of the horticultural law is that the commissioner
should work every day in the year when in his judgment it is necessary ;
and when you think there are fine orchards in the Sacramento Valley
abandoned to-day because of the Johnson grass, it is time we were
waking up to the horticultural commission question, exterminate all
that grass and all pests, and the law intends him to judge how many
days he should put in, and the supervisors should pay the bill. That
is my interpretation of the law and the interpretation of men who know
much more than I do.

MR. HECKE. Of course, the executive ability of the horticultural
commissioners who would be able to look after the various interests
counts for a great deal. This question has simply come up because
there may be simply one candidate there who is ready to undertake that
examination. I thank you.

MR. COSTELLO. Mr. Chairman, the gentleman asked a question.
whether after he took the examination it would require an expert. I
would like to answer the gentleman.

MR. HECKE. That wasn’t exactly the gist of my question. I was
just asking whether at a certain time, if he were not able personally to
attend to the duties. he could appoint a deputy to attend to certain
parts of the business, the same as when Mr. Jeffrey has to go somewhere
he requests Mr. Bremner to go for him. There is a question whether
a man should be appointed who can not give every day during the year
to this particular work. I fully agree with you that after a man passes
that examination he should be fully able to attend to this.

MR. COSTELLO. I think the law states that where the applicants
take an examination, if they do nct find anybody that is qualified, that
passes this examination, then it reverts to the board of supervisors to
appoint six bona fide fruit growers. Out of the six bona fide fruit
growers they appoint one commissioner. That is the bone and sinew
of the county. They trust that one commissioner, and he tries to

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. ays)

qualify. Now, for instance, say one man would pass and he is the only
man in his county. He wants to be conscientious; he wants to make up
his mind whether he would make a good commissioner or not before he
takes the office. He may be a man that would harass the fruit growers,
throw them into convulsions. I had the same thing this year. A man
- came along and struck a little insignificant fly and he telegraphed to
Sacramento that the aleyrodes had appeared. When a commissioner
takes an examination he must intend to fulfill that job that he contracts
to do. He can’t go around trading horses, because it will take all his
time, and he will have to keep up with his job.

MR. RODGERS. Pardon me, Mr. Costello. Suppose that we carry
out the program as laid out and then we will discuss these matters.

MR. HECKE. Myr. Jeffrey, wouldn’t it be a good idea to discuss
this question ?

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. We are going to, after awhile, and then
Mr. Costello and everybody else will have an opportunity.

MR. RODGERS. Mr. R. P. Cundiff, ‘‘A More Uniform System of
Inspection, Particularly in Regard to Nurseries.’’ (Applause. )

MR. CUNDIFF. Jr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: I was cer-
tainly very much entertained and instructed with our very splendid
program this afternoon, and came here hoping that I would not be
called upon to attempt to address these people upon any subject, and
late this afternoon I had an intimation I would be called upon to say
something in regard to this question—a more uniform system of inspec-
tion. If we consider the vast amount of damage that the horticultural
and agricultural interests of this country sustain every year from
insect pests and diseases, and the further fact that the transmission of
nursery stock from one section to another is perhaps the greatest factor
in that dissemination, I think the subject that has been assigned to me
would cover a great deal more time than I would feel like giving it
this evening. I do not know whether this is supposed to apply to nur-
sery stock at its final point of destination or at the point of embarka-
tion or where it is shipped from. However, I think that the nursery
stock should be inspected carefully at both points, in the nursery or
before it is shipped, and again at the final point of destination, and
_ by the most expert men that we can get, men who are perfectly familar
with the different diseases and pests that they are liable to come in con-
tact with in examining this stock. It is a habit or custom in this
State—I believe it is not obligatory by any State law; it is simply a
matter of county ordinances—that the shipments of nursery stock all
over this State are usually inspected and accompanied by the horti-
eultural officer’s certificate at the point where it was examined. To
reéxamine it at the point of final destination does not imply any
criticism of the ability. integrity or honesty of the man who inspected
it in the first place. It may be that this stock has traveled a consider-
able distance, consumed a considerable time, and that there were insect
pests in the egg form or embryo form that it would be almost impossible
for any inspector to detect, that would develop in a form that would be,
perhaps, easy to detect them at the point of final destination or before
they were planted out.

I think I need but refer to the fact of the benefits of careful inspec-

56 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

tion of nursery stock and the work that has been done for years by our
State Commission. I think I am right in saying that not a single pest
in the State of California that we have to-day has been introduced
since the quarantine office was established at the port of San Fran-
cisco. Am I right in that, Mr. Jeffrey ?

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. I think so.

MR. CUNDIFF.: The only case is the introduction of the white fly.
That, as you know, broke out three years ago in three separate places
in this State, and be it said to the credit of the State Horticultural
Commission that there is not a case on record in any of the works on
entomology where a pest that was once established was ever eradicated
in the manner that this was. I understand that the pest has been abso-
lutely eradicated, or that they have been unable to discover any in any
of those three places, Oroville, Marysville, Bakersfield. The pests we
have in California were nearly all of them introduced pests—that is,
I am speaking of insect pests—and quite a good many of the diseases,
that came to us mostly in the form of nursery stock in the early days
before there was any legislation on the subject. In fact, California is
the pioneer, so far as I know, in beginning the inspection of nursery
stock as a method of protecting horticultural interests. I don’t think
there was ever any organized system in any other State until it was
inaugurated in this State. If the system that we now have could have
been inaugurated thirty years before it was, perhaps four fifths—yes,
I dare say, nine tenths—of the pests that are to-day costing many
thousands of dollars all over this State, and especially in our citrus
districts, could have been kept out of here. If one half of them could
have been kept out it would have paid the expenses of the State Horti-
cultural Commission for five hundred years, but, of course, that is
past history. We try to profit by the mistakes made in the past. The
pests that we have in the State were pretty well established before any
horticultural law was enacted. The value of a system of inspection is
that it prevents insect pests being carried in in their county shipments.
The closer that is done the better it is done, the less trouble we will have
from one county to another. Take the county I live in. We have
other counties adjoining us. They have certain kinds of scale pests
and mites that affect citrus stock that we have not in our county. We
simply examine everything coming into the county, and there are cer-
tain pests that we do not allow stock to come in from sections that are
liable to have those pests. Purple scale is one of the worst pests in the
citrus district. We do not allow it to come into Riverside County. If
stock comes in from a district known to be affected by purple seale, act-
ing under an ordinance, we simply give the shipper twenty-four hours
to remove it from the county. If at the end of that time it has not
been removed from the depot or express office, we take it out and
destroy it. We have in that way kept.our county free. I think San
Bernardino has pursued the same policy and is free from the pest,
although all the counties around us have it. I might say the same of
a number of other pests, they have simply been kept out by careful
inspection. Many counties have pests that the adjoining county has
not at all. There isn’t any reason why the adjoining county should be
visited by a misfortune that some other county has met. It ean only
be done by inspecting the nursery stock and looking carefully after it.

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. a7

Speaking of the inspection of nursery stock reminds me of the sub-
ject that was very prominently before the meeting this afternoon and
discussed very ably and entertainingly by so many of our growers
here, and that is the standardization of fruits. The inspection of nur-
sery stock is so closely interwoven with that subject that if we had
time we would like to discuss that matter. We frequently pass nursery
stock that I am ashamed to pass in our county, not only citrus but
deciduous of all kinds. Unless we can find insect pests or evident
disease we have to pass it, but it frequently is absolutely worthless. It
comes without proper root form, gnarled, crooked, and a grower that
is unfortunately enough to put that out will never reap any profit on
it. I don’t think it would be necessary to legislate, but I think the
nurseryman and the grower could get together and that we could soon
eliminate any such thing as seconds in nursery stock. A gentleman
came to me a couple of weeks ago, a newcomer, and he had bought a
tract of land and expected to put out a citrus orchard; I think it was
something like ninety acres. He said, ‘‘I have two propositions on set-
ting out my new purchase.’’ He gave me the name of the nurseryman
and the locality. He spoke of one which he called seconds, three
quarters of an inch through at so many inches from the ground. The
other was his first class and measured an inch to an inch and a quarter.
The price of one was 90 cents and the other $1.25. I said, ‘‘ You had
better pay two dollars and get first class than take the others at nothing.
When you take into consideration that it will take six to seven years to
bring even the best stock into profitable bearing, it will take double
that length of time to bring inferior stock, and you will never get the
benefit ef it. It will cost you just as much for an orchard with infe-
rior stock.’’ I think when we come to standardizing or improving the
quality of our fruit it must start right with the nursery. I believe that
is the place to start. (Applause. )

MR. RODGERS. Iam going to ask Mr. Dudley Moulton, quarantine
officer of our State, located at San Francisco, to address us on the better
interpretation of our quarantine laws.

MR. MOULTON. I will speak for just a few minutes on what I
think is the best interpretation of our quarantine laws. You under-
stand, of course, that the object of quarantine is to keep out from the
State injurious insects or pests and to keep injurious pests from being
transferred from one county to the other. The work of keeping injuri-
ous forms out of California comes directly to our State quarantine office
through shipments of stock from the East directly to the county com-
missioners, so that it very often happens that the county commissioner
is to act almost as the State quarantine officer would, and for that
reason it is very important that he be well informed on what insects
might be introduced that would be injurious. It has been said that if
a man were to begin when he was a boy and give five minutes every
day and night of his life to the study of a single insect, he would die
without having studied but a very small per cent of the insects that
are in existence. This simply emphasizes the fact that the field of
entomology is a very large one, and even when we are specially trained
or give up the most of our time to entomology we can not be informed
on all the insects that might be introduced, which would make it a very

58 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

hard matter for a local inspector, a county inspector, to know every
insect that comes into the county. In a number of cases I think the
county commissioner will find that if he does not know the insect he
may find on nursery trees or fruits or cuttings, he will have to refer it,
probably, to some one else. In San Francisco we find that most of our
stocks of fruits and trees that we have to deal with come from across
the water by boat, and they come in the shape of fruits, as pineapples
and bananas shipped in crates or express shipments or in hand plants.
I think, perhaps, one of the most important phases of our work in San
Francisco is to watch the hand plants or small lots of fruit that come
in through the passengers. As an illustration of this, about a month
ago a gentleman brought in half a dozen, or quite a few—there were
a dozen plants in the shipment, and on the under side of two or three
of the leaves on one plant—there must have been three dozen leaves
on the plant, but on the under side of two or three there was a little
colony of thrips, adults, both male and female, and the larve, a full
family. That could very easily have been passed over and it would
have established itself wherever the plant went, and if it happened that
the insect took more favorably to other plants, it might easily have
become a serious pest. The same is true of scale insects and some of
the larger insects, such as katydids or grasshoppers, that may lay
their eggs inside of the plants; you may have cuttings and the eggs
will be placed down inside of the plants so there is no mark placed on
the outside; they could be very easily passed there, and unless the
inspector is quite well acquainted with the different groups of insects
and their habits of depositing and habits of hiding, it will be quite
easy to pass them over. The quarantine of insects within the,State is
also a very important matter. Just last week I returned from a trip
through the Porterville, Lindsay, and Exeter orange section, on the
advice of Mr. Jeffrey especially. It was thought that the orchards in
that district were free from certain scale insects, the red, the yellow,
the purple, and the black scales, and we know that almost any one
of these forms or all of them are common throughout the orange sec-
tions in the south. After looking over the field I found that it was
true that the insects were not there, and the people of Porterville and
the whole section there are entitled to protection against these insects
that might be introduced on nursery stock from the southern part of
the State, or from any part of the State or from without the State.
The point is a very important one just now to the Tulare County
orchardists.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. I would like to emphasize one thing that
Mr. Moulton said about knowing pests. He went down to Tulare
County at my request the other day. There has been a long dispute
down there about whether Katy did or Katy didn’t. He is going to
bring you some oranges to-morrow to show you that Katy did. He will
show you oranges with great holes cut out of them, and they have got
a katydid brand there, where they separate thousands of oranges and >
eall them the katydid brand, because the katydid ate a little spot out
when it was as big as your thumb and now it is a blemish as big as a
quarter. Now, Mr. Moulton, or any good entomologist, could see those
oranges and tell those people just what had done that damage. This is
the reason that entomology is valuable, this is the reason your horticul-

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. a9

tural commissioners should know those things. Mr. Moulton has told
those people what has been doing this. The thrips is working on the
oranges also, and Mr. Moulton will show you to-morrow the difference
between the work of thrips and katydids.

MR. HICKMAN. My. Chairman, you spoke of the thistle in connec-
tion with your remarks to Mr. Hecke and speaking of that as'some-
thing the horticultural commissioner should look after. It probably
is hardly second to that of the entomological feature. It was my
fortune some twenty-nine years ago to find a single plant in the Salinas
Valley. That plant I know has spread down the river into the slough
and the afternoon winds blew it up to the mountains. That is making
a vast deal of trouble. I know one man in particular that it has cost
several thousand dollars. I suggested to him that he pull it up but he
paid no attention to it. In three or four years the plant had taken the
land. His pasture field is no good. He plowed it up; the rains came.
You know the result. That field now is several fields. That same thing
took place within five miles of where we are sitting now this last year.
It cost the county thousands of dollars to clear its roads. In that same
neighborhood in one particular place it had caused an erosion or wash-
ing out of the hillside, that you could drop this whole building in.
I noticed one field thirty-six years ago near San Juan where a stream
had brought down its detritus. I noticed that field every vear was
plowed and never raked. When it came to raking it they could not
drive a horse through it because of the needles on the thistles, until two
years ago that particular piece was cut up and put in the hands of a
gardener. That piece had always cost a great deal and returned
nothing. This last spring, in passing through a man’s orchard, he
said, “‘I can’t kill that thing out.’’ I said, ‘‘Why?’’ He said, “‘It
always grows as fast as I try to get rid of it and I plow before it goes
to seed, when it isn’t in blossom.’’ I picked up one and showed him
that it was already practically in seed and he had been really sowing
the seed of that plant every time he cultivated it.

Now, on the heavy lands of the Pajaro Valley this year, you notice
a plant that looks a good deal like lettuce. The plant in itself is per-
fectly harmless—that is, as regards any objectionable feature, but the
thing produces a seed and the more you undertake’ to cultivate it at
certain times the worse you spread it, and that thing takes the whole
field. There is only one way to do and that is to summer-fallow the
land or put in summer crop and keep it there a while.

As regards the thistle, every orchardist and every school child should
know that plant. The department at Washington sends out publica-
tions that illustrate it so that any one that is used to recognizing things
from illustration would know it. I did. In the alfalfa seed I planted
1 found the plant. I mowed the field, burned it, plowed it up; every-
thing that came up was cut and burned again, and so for three years.
That was the only thing that saved that particular case from spread-
ing. I might go on for hours with illustrations of this particular work.
Another thing. Last Saturday night we had quite a heavy rain and
yesterday. in passing a neighbor’s place, I saw that that rain had
washed off the whole surface of the ground for about twelve feet wide
as deep as he had plowed it. He had no business to plow the swale, in
the first place; in the next place he should have protected it. Some-

60 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

body ought to put a stop to it; there should be no such thing as a man
plowing up the natural waterways on the hillsides. They should have
a grass of some kind that would hold the soil, for a cover crop.

In connection with this, I passed to-day, coming in, a plant that has
been sold for years by florists as alibeya. I noticed in Riverside they
had it between the sidewalks and the curbstone. It looked like white
clover. <A friend called my attention to it in his yard and I said, ‘‘Step
out here on the hillside and you will see it growing.’’ Wherever the
land is moist enough that thing will hold your land, and you can get all
the pieces you want from several people here. There are thousands of
such things that are of interest, not only to orchardists, but to the
public generally. It is one side of the forestry subject. It is worth
while for every horticultural commissioner to be pretty well posted
in that.

MR. COSTELLO. If I am in order I would like to finish my discus-
sion of the subject on which I started to speak. I think it is of great
interest to all of us, because J intend to take that examination myself,
and I was trying to tell the gentleman that I thought a horticultural
commissioner, after he had passed the examination, should devote his.
whole time to that office. I don’t think he could very well sell goods or
keep books for a company and still bea good horticultural commissioner,
because I find that it takes all his time, and more, too, than he has
studying up those different fungicides that come. In northern San
Joaquin many people would say, ‘‘Why don’t you let your inspectors
vo? The thing is over; there is nothing more to do.’’ Sure enough,
the battle is over, and when the battle is over they always put out a
sentry to keep guard to see that nothing comes in. When a commis-
sioner qualifies and just devotes a little bit of time to it there is nothing
more to it, because the people say, ‘‘Oh, he don’t care: he is just draw-
ing his money and he is working selling beans down on the dock.’’
Maybe is out to the race track running races with his horses. So. you
must be a commissioner. If you are going to take that office, you must
make up your mind that you must tie yourself down. If you have got
the thousand dollars you can put it up yourself. But I haven’t got the
thousand dollars to put up. I have got to go to some of my friends and
they must put up a thousand dollars that I will come through. Suppose
I was down to Emeryville running horses; they would say, *‘ That
fellow don’t know sic’em; he is just drawing his money.’’ So it must
be that a commissioner must get right into the collar and get right
down to business. I have been at it about four months now studying
night and day, and it is a pretty stiff proposition to be a commissioner,
I find, and I haven’t got started yet.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. I would like to say one word of warning.
There is a lippia in the Sacramento Valley that is becoming one of the
worst weed pests in the valley. It is taking the pasture lands, crowd-
ing out other vegetation and the farmers are alarmed over the lippia,
not the Lippia repens, but there is another that is almost identical in
characteristics. We must remember that if our horticultural commis-
sioners do not stand between the people and these losses, there is going
to be an abandonment of thousands of acres of the best farming land
in the State, especially from the Johnson grass and the lippia and the
Russian thistle and the Napa thistle, particularly in counties where

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 61

farming operations are carried on largely. We ought to impress the
erowers and the officials that the agricultural interests of the State are
just as much in danger and are suffering just as severely from weed
pests as the horticultural interests are suffering from insect pests. Let
us make that a part of our declarations by resolution, Mr. Kellogg, and
then the supervisors, if they represent farming districts, will be willing
to put up the money.

MR. HICKMAN. I will say, in regard to that Lippia repens, that
just east of Gilroy the plant has been, to my knowledge, since 1873, and
it has never spread into the fields. You probably know that the Lippia
repens does not spread. Here, all the way around the waterways, from
the bridge a mile and a half up, I noticed to-day the only place where.
it showed any disposition to spread was behind Mr. Allison’s house,
and there it does not spread beyond the wet ground. It also is a good

feed.

MR. RODGERS. As this is devoted to topics of interest to com-
missioners, I have here what purports to be a copy of the horticultural
law, and if our worthy Commissioner will take the Chair, there are
a few things I wish to bring out concerning it. I believe the enact-
ment of this new law is a step forward, from the fact that we will
have better men in office, more profound in the specialties required
of them, but it seems to me there are some discrepancies and _ short-
comings that should be corrected, and as long as we have started along
that line I think it would be well to bring the matter up at this time
and have it threshed out, either at this time or the next convention,
and taken up in due time before the legislature. There are several
little points. J notice here in section 2322b: ‘*The State Commissioner
of Horticulture may issue commissions as quarantine guardians to said
county horticultural commissioner and to the local inspectors appointed
by him.’’ It seems he has no power, according to this, of making a
quarantine guardian of these deputy commissioners. Again, I fail to
find here what the duties of a deputy commissioner are; they are not
prescribed. There are two points which, it seems to me. should be recti-
fied. Then, a little further down, it states: ‘‘The said quarantine
guardians, local inspectors, or said county horticultural commissioner,
have full authority to enter into any orchard, nursery, place or places
where trees or plants are kept and offered for sale or otherwise, or any
house, storeroom, salesroom, depot, or any other such place in their
jurisdiction, to inspect the same, or any part thereof.’’ Nothing said
about the deputy being permitted to go into those places. I presume,
of course, we assume that he has that right, but in case of a contest you
know lawyers like these little technicalities, and it seems to me it
would be very little difficulty to rectify these matters so as to make it
‘clear and concise.

In section 2322e it is said: ‘‘It is the duty of the county horticultural
commissioner to keep a record of his official doings, and make a monthly
report to the board of supervisors.’’ Why should he make a report to
the board of supervisors? What does the average board of supervisors
know or care about the doings of the commissioner? If he should make
a monthly report to anybody, I think it should be to the State Com-
missioner of Horticulture. Then, I fail to see also where he is per-

62 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

mitted, according to the law, to buy any stationery, stamps, ete., to be
used in correspondence, nor is he permitted, according to this, to make
any publications to his people as to what he is doing. The commission
in this county has carried on really most of its work through the
Orchardists’ Association and by publications. This county has been
at very little expense as far as the commission is concerned. That was
one of the first points brought up when the commission was organized,
that no one should ever set up the claim that the commission was of
any great expense to the county. I will say that the newspapers, at
all times, have had their columns open to the commissioners. By organ-
izing we have had the support and backing of the people, but we have
not been permitted, according to the law, to go to the expense of any-
thing. Now, again. There are no appropriations under this law
whereby a commissioner can carry on experiments or investigations.
We might take the best man obtainable and his hands are tied. All
he can do is to look at an orchard and say, ‘‘You go and clean that
up.’’ It does not seem that he is even authorized to tell the man how
to do it. The supposition is that he will tell him what to do. I say
that any man who is competent under this new law to fill the office is
competent to carry on experiments to see if he can devise ways and
means whereby he can cheapen remedies or take a short cut towards
the extermination of insects or find new processes. Now, to illustrate,
in our own county. We were up against the codling moth a few years
ago. We sent for bulletins from the State University and to the Horti-
cultural Commission for information as to how to handle the codling
moth. They sent down their bulletins, and in every case it said, ‘‘Use
Paris green every two weeks, about sixteen times during the season.’’
They used Paris green, and the consequence was it burned the foliage,
and if we had not taken this matter up and gone at it and had a
thorough investigation made and tests made, the codling moth would
have destroyed our orchard industry. The University, of course, did
most of the work, but we had to stand a portion of the expense, and
after calling on the University and after they had solved the problem,
we saw fit to retain one of their men. We became ashamed of our-
selves, calling on the University for four years. They solved the prob-
lem and showed us the remedy. They showed that by using a good
brand of arsenate of lead we could control the insect and there would
be no damage to the foliage. We were not satisfied. We wanted to
find out how few times we could spray and how small an amount of
material we could use in the application and get good results. We have
this man still at work, and he is still striving to cheapen the method of
eradicating these pests. And I say that there should be a provision in
the law whereby the supervisors would have the power to set aside asum
for the use of the commissioners. I think those points should be care-

fully considered.

MR. KELLOGG. Will you please give the points to-morrow. where
you would recommend the amendment of the law, to the Committee on
Resolutions, either to Mr. Judd or myself? —

MR. BISHOP. As to the report to the supervisors, this is a per
diem job and not a salary job, and they want you to make the monthly
report so they can know how many days you worked and what you did.
Furthermore, I don’t believe the commissioner has time to carry on any

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’” CONVENTION. 63

extensive experiment. His office, according to my notion, should be a
source of information, and if he does not have it he should get it from
some other source and that our experiment station should do most of
the experiments. The board of supervisors, if they see fit, can allow
the commissioner money from the general fund, if he can demonstrate
to the supervisors that he can by experimenting find something that
will be beneficial to the agricultural interests, and if the agricultural
people back him up the supervisors can not object. I don’t view the
office of horticultural commissioner as an inspector of insects or fungus
diseases altogether, because they have asked us about soil culture, and
I have spent as much time in studying soil and soil chemistry—twice
as much time as I did studying insects, and I think the beet grower
or the wheat grower has as much claim on us as the man who raises
oranges or apples, and if he wants information and we ean find it, it
is our duty to write to some one and find out the information that he
desires.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. A great deal of the objection Mr.
Rodgers has made to-night seems reasonable and it would be held as a
vital defect only for this fact, that the law requiring the appointment
of horticultural guardians throughout the State has been nullified by
the horticultural law of 1903, under which I am acting. This particular
part of the law was left in by accident, but it is not a defect if you
read it in connection with the State law. Because now no quarantine
is possible in the State without an order from my office, countersigned
by the Governor. If you had quarantine officers ike we formerly had,
they would have to get an order from me, countersigned by the Goy-
ernor, consequently the law requiring the appointment of quarantine
guardians has been nullified by the enactment of the law of 1903, which
provides another way of quarantining.

MR. COSTELLO. In explaining one portion of the gentleman’s
argument in regard to the law, why the supervisors want a written
statement is that in case the grand jury of each county wants a state-
ment it finds from that statement what the commissioner or the
inspectors are doing. Sometimes a complaint may be made that the
inspectors or commissioners are not doing their duty, and the grand
jury gets to work and digs up those documents and they find out that
the inspectors and commissioners are doing their duty and they have
been paid according to law. If there were no bills to present the
people would go after the grand jury and call them grafters.

The convention here took an adjournment until to-morrow at 9.30
o’clock A. M.

64 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

SECOND DAY.

WATSONVILLE, Cal., December 8, 1909.
President Jeffrey called the convention to order at 9.30 o’clock A. mM.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. The first paper on the program this
morning is ‘‘The Almond Commercially Considered,’’ by Mr. J. P.
Dargitz of Acampo. Mr. Dargitz is a practical almond grower. (Ap-
plause. )

MR. DARGITZ. Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: When I
consider the desk where I stand and the thoughts that are promulgated
from here and my past relation with the people who worship here and
the people with whom they affiliate, it seems perfectly proper that I
should take a text this morning and I am going to do so. Genesis xliii,
11: ‘‘Take of the best fruits in the land, balm, spices, myrrh and
almonds.’’ Jeremiah i, 11: ‘‘Moreover, the word of the Lord came
unto me, saying, ‘Jeremiah, what seest thou?’ and I said, ‘I see a rod
of an almond tree.’ Then said the Lord unto me, ‘Thou hast well
seen.’ ’’ It seems to me we have got a good starting point now.

THE ALMOND COMMERCIALLY CONSIDERED.
By J. P. Dareitz, Acampo, Cal.

The almond is by no means a new nut, and perhaps justifies the old
saying, ‘‘there is nothing new under the sun.’’ More than four thou-
sand years ago Jacob made use of it in his efforts to achieve commer-
cial success, though in a different way from that which we have in
mind to-day. Later in his life the same Jacob, chastened by his experi-
ences, classed the almond as among the choicest fruits in the land. We
are not told whether it was a hardshell or a papershell, a Nonpareil or
a Texas Prolific.

It was from an almond tree that Moses cut the rod which became a
serpent when he cast it down. May we get a lesson from this to the
effect that we should not look with indifference on this nut-bearing tree,
whose beautiful blossoms furnished the divine pattern for the bowls of
the candlestick in the Jewish tabernacle? The prophet Jeremiah was
also commended by the Lord of heaven and earth for seeing a rod of
an almond tree.

The bringing of almond trees from Europe to California as early as
1853 had about as much religious significance as anything else brought
here in that early day. It was soon discovered that even ‘“‘Sunny Cali-
fornia’’ would not produce almonds in every nook and corner. This,
like most of our horticultural successes, came about by lessons of bitter
experience, whenever we have proceeded without due consideration.
However, we have learned, little by little, until the almond crop of this
State now aggregates over half a million dollars annually, and there is
no good reason in the world why it should not equal three million dollars,
as the people of the United States consume that quantity now. That
the consumption of this excellent nut is increasing in the United States
is shown by the fact that while in 1907 the consumption was 7,900

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 65

tons, in 1908 it was 11,200 tons, a clear gain of over 40 per cent in
one year. When it is understood that over 75 per cent of this con-
sumption is imported from Europe, and that the area for the home
production of this nut is practically limited to California, and a very
small portion of the State at that, we will hardly need to think of over-
production for a lifetime at least. In fact, I doubt if we will ever be
able to keep up with the growing consumption. Therefore, in view of
the viticultural situation and the great influx of population and devel-
opment of our resources, is it not worth while to look seriously into
the commercial possibilities of the almond? ,

The almond is such an early bloomer, such a shy bearer in some
varieties and locations, and such a ‘‘sensitive plant’’ with regard to
bearing, that I would emphatically advise all who anticipate starting in
almond production to gain all possible information from the experi- -
ences of the past, and especially as to the behavior of the various varie-
ties in the locality which you have under consideration. If there has
been no proving in such locality, then get all your information and
begin slowly and prove the varieties for yourself. Of course, if you
plant an almond orchard, and it does not prove a success, your effort
has not been entirely lost, for you can profitably work your trees over
to other varieties of fruits. You can change varieties of the almond by
grafting or budding, or you can work plums and prunes on them very
profitably. The writer’s brand of sugar and giant prunes, which has
won high standing among the trade in the East, has been achieved with
fruit grown on almond trees worked over to prunes after they were
fifteen years old. In this connection I would especially advise the read-
ing of E. J. Wickson’s book, ‘‘Calhfornia Fruits and How to Grow
Them.’’ In this you will find very much that is helpful in getting
your starting points.

CLIMATE.

In the matter of climate you must consider both frosts and a tend-
ency to continued wet weather at blooming time. I am satisfied that
erops are as often lost by wet weather during blooming time as by
frost. It takes sunny weather in blooming time to ripen pollen. Note
the odor of honey and perfume in the orchard when the trees are in
bloom, if it is sunny, as against the lack of such evidence on a cloudy
or rainy day. Moderate frosts in winter while the trees are dormant,
or even when they begin blooming, does not always presage damage.
But there should be no late spring frosts. Bear in mind that the
almond is the earliest bloomer of all our fruits.

LOCATION.

A sheltered location where there is a ravine, or some lower ground
close by, which may draw off the cold air after night, in a usually
frostless situation would be ideal. The crop does well even in low alti-
tudes (our orchards being only seventy-five feet above sea level), while
there are some young orchards on Paradise Ridge, in Butte County, at
an elevation of 1,700 feet which are doing well. They have a deep
ravine on either side of the ridge which draws off the cold air so that
ripe stawberries may be picked from the field at Christmas time.

Portions of Butte, Colusa, Lake, Yolo, Solano, San Joaquin, Contra
Costa, and Sutter counties have been proven for almond growing.

5—-FGc

66 ‘PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

SOILS.

The almond likes a deep, rich, sandy loam soil. It should be deep
and well drained, because this tree will not endure wet feet much better
than the peach. The soil should be rich, for the tree is a ravenous
feeder. It must have plenty of soil moisture, as it is the earliest to
begin work in the spring and the last to take its annual vacation in
the autumn; and to make good strong fruit buds for the succeeding
year the tree should hold its leaves well into November. It can not
do this without good moisture conditions continuously throughout the
season.

VARIETIES.

Perhaps there is no point in the whole proceeding wherein greater
* care is necessary than in the proper selection of varieties. Everything
else may be very good, but if you have the wrong variety you will likely
wait in vain for your commercial success. It is utterly impossible to
give the one best variety for all sections, because it is not at all likely
that any one variety will do equally well in all localities. If you are
greatly in doubt get some budding sticks of the variety you are con-
sidering and bud them on one of the proper trees in your neighborhood.
In two years, certainly in three years, you will have the beginning of your
proof. However, no one should emphasize the qualities of any nut or
fruit by one or two years’ proving. It should require ten or a dozen
years proving before speaking out with authority. If this plan were
generally followed we should not have so many disappointed orchard-
ists. Usually, when a man finds a new fruit which has extraordinary ~
quality, he forthwith begins to herald it and people begin to plant, yet
it might be such a shy bearer or poor keeper as to prove a commercial
failure, no matter how excellent the fruit might be.

The original almond was no doubt a hardshell. In fact, we know
of nothing like the papershell nut until in recent years, and I doubt
if one in five of the population of the United States even now have ever
seen a papershell almond. Whenever any animal or vegetable product
is bred very highly for quality, it is apt to be lacking in quantity when
it comes to reproduction or propagation. So with the almond. The
papershell is largely deficient in pollen. So sure am I of this that I
would not think of planting a block with all papershells, no matter how
much the varieties might be mixed. It-has been customary to plant an
occasional seedling or bitter almond in the orchard so as to furnish the
necessary pollen; but we now have varieties of the sweet softshell which
answer the requirements and are profitable.

My first and great reliance is on the Texas Prolific. J am planting
it solid, and am also alternating it with other varieties, for the benefit
of the other varieties, however. It blooms later by two weeks than any
other variety that I know of, tree grows well and bears every year.
Trees now twenty years old have born seventeen consecutive crops. I
would also plant Nonpareil and Drake’s Seedling, alternating either
variety with Texas Prolific every two rows. It is easier harvesting if
two rows of a kind are planted together. The Nonpareil ripens early
and can be gathered before the other varieties are ready. Then comes
the Drake’s Seedling about three weeks later. The Texas Prolific comes
along about two weeks later than the Drakes, all of which is a great

of
PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 67

advantage if you have a large acreage. These are the three proven
successful commercial varieties in our locality. Whether they will do
so in your locality I can’t say, but on general principles they should,
and are worthy atrial. In Yolo County the Peerless is a great favorite.
In some localities the I X L is said to be a good bearer. If so, it is a
good nut to plant there, because it is a good nut and will not meet with
much competition from other localities.

PLANTING.

Secure the best trees you can get. It is poor policy to plant an
inferior tree because it is cheap. There is great opportunity for some
one to become a benefactor of mankind by developing superior strains
of the best varieties of nuts as well as other kinds of fruits. It is a
fact that there are some trees in every orchard no matter what the
parentage, which grow better and bear better than others growing by
their side and of the same parentage. I am sure that this will be
found to be true in fruit trees as it is in the animal kingdom, yet how
utterly indifferent we have all been on this great point which means so
much on the commercial side of our work! In good soils, where the
erowth of the tree will be vigorous, 25 by 25 feet is plenty close to
plant. When the trees are twenty years old their branches will touch,
and they will need room for twenty or thirty years more.

PRUNING.

The first three years you will need to shape your tree. After that
you will only need to remove water sprouts and an occasional cross
limb, until your trees get very large, when you will need to cut out
some of the big wood and open up the trees. Mr. Adams, my neighbor,
says ‘‘Prune so a bird can fly through the tree,’’ and he is about right.
The tree requires much less pruing than a peach tree. With the peach
tree we prune to lessen the pieces of fruit, but with the almond tree
‘we want to increase the pieces in number. I never knew of any one
having to thin a crop of almonds although in 1908 we did have some
limbs as large as my arm break with their load of fruit.

SPRAYING.

You will need to spray your almond trees sooner or later. You may
have to fight the fungus growths. If so, then you will find a friend in
some form of lime, sulphur, or bluestone. You may have to fight red
spider; then sulphur is a good remedy. It may be you will have to fight
the peach moth larve; then some form of the arsenicals. In the writer’s
judgment you can just as well use your materials dry as wet. I have
used the dry or dust spray exclusively for three years and am quite
well satisfied with results. The great difference is on the commercial
side of the expense account. The method we use is as follows: In
December we spray with lime, sulphur and powdered bluestone (sal
Bordeaux). We use 40 pounds of lime (Vigorite brand), 5 pounds of
sulphur (Anchor brand), and 2 pounds of sal Bordeaux. This makes
a very good treatment for two acres. When the trees are in full bloom
We spray again with the same mixture and add to it 2 pounds of Paris
green or 2 pounds of arsenite of lime. If there is evidence of the peach

68 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

moth larve at work in the buds later, we spray again the last of May
so as to catch the second brood, using the same formula as in the pre-
vious spraying, though the sal Bordeaux may be cut down one half or
omitted entirely if there is no evidence of fungus about the trees. If
red spider makes its appearance, then a treatment of the sulphur alone
will settle Mr. Spider and turn the foliage from yellow to green in
three days’ time if you do not wait too long before spraying. In apply-
ing this dust spray we use a power machine which is quite inexpensive,
mounted on a wagon and driven by a two-horsepower engine, the whole
outfit weighing only about 1,000 pounds, drawn by two horses and
operated by two men, which readily treat forty acres per day. The
amount of material seems small to be effective, but being applied as a
mixture instead of a chemical solution, as in the wet spray, it is every
bit active. The principal thing, however, is to spray if needed, and if
you don’t want to use your application dry, use it wet, but be sure and
use it.
CULTIVATION.

None of our orchard trees yield quicker or more decisively to good
cultivation than the almond and the principle involved seems to be to
maintain a sufficient degree of moisture. We are trying an experiment
on a block of fifty acres of old almond trees, having seeded it to alfalfa
last April. We shall water this as often as necessary, but cut no hay,
allowing it to grow and fall on the ground as a mulch. If the trees do
not bear with this treatment I will have added to the soil any way.
When our orchard trees get to be over fifteen years old they will require
irrigation where they got along very well before with good cultivation.
Of course, I am speaking of conditions in our locality where the soil is
deep and retentive of moisture under good cultivation, but without any
subirrigation or summer rains.

HARVESTING.

Presuming that we have secured a crop and that it is time to gather
it, we now come to the matter of harvesting, which is no small item in
2 commercial proposition. I am told that about fifteen years ago a
company in our neighborhood who had about one hundred tons of a
crop to harvest and having no machinery, advertised in the San Fran-
cisco papers for five hundred hands to help harvest their crop. About
three hundred came a week ahead of time, and then it became necessary
to bring out a squad of policemen from the city. We would not think
of requiring over fifty people to handle such a crop now.

When the hulls on the nuts are loose from the shell, as will be indi-
eated by their bursting open, it is time to begin gathering if you wish
to hull them. If they get too dry you will have to wet them before
hulling or you will break the shells. If you wish to shell them, then the
drier the better. It will not pay to begin until the nuts about the
erotches of the trees are ready and they will be the last to ripen. That
is, it will not pay to go over the ground twice. When they are all
ready you can get all at one gathering. Have some sheets made of
heavy unbleached sheeting or light duck or sail cloth. Mine for large
trees are 15 by 30 feet. Two men to a sheet and two sheets to a tree.
Spread the sheets under the tree one on each side, lapping the edges
where they join. Then the men take willow or bamboo poles and by

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 69

jarring the limbs cause the nuts to fall on the sheets. Always strike the
limb sideways for if you strike a glancing blow down the limb you will
bring your chances of next year’s crop with you. The object is to get
the nuts and disturb the foliage as little as possible. Of course, you
will get some nuts and twigs with the leaves any way. When the nuts
are all off the tree, the men toss their poles to the next tree and then
gather up the sheets, one man at each end of each sheet, and lifting
them, carry them to the next tree, where the process is repeated. That
is what they should do, but if you are not watching they will drag the
sheets. If the time saved is worth more than the extra wear and tear
on the sheets, then by all means drag them. When enough nuts are in
the sheets to fill several lug boxes, the boxes are placed on the ground
side by side and the sheets are emptied of their burden. These boxes
are then stacked up so as to be easily seen and the teamster gathers them
_ up and hauls them in to the shed, where they are run through the huller
and then placed in the hoppers ready for the hand sorting. After sort-
ing they are placed on trays or board platforms in the dry-yard to cure.
They should be cured until the kernel will break without bending.
Then they are ready for bleaching; but be sure they are thoroughly
eured before bleaching or the kernel will absorb the sulphur and be
spoiled. When properly cured, any means may be employed which
will thoroughly dampen the shell, but not penetrate to the kernel and
then be subjected to the fumes of burning sulphur for a period of thirty
minutes to one or two hours owing to the variety and condition of the
nut. <A yellowish white color of the shell is demanded by the trade.
Do not over sulphur. When sufficiently bleached they are removed
and placed in the sun for a few hours to dry and then sacked up ready
for market. My present plan of bleaching is as follows: When cured
we place them on fruit trays about one inch thick and run them into
a bin of the sulphur house which has been connected with a steam boiler
(5 horse power), and then low pressure steam (20 pounds) is turned
into the house for a half or three quarters of an hour. Then they are
removed and quickly run in another bin, which has a sulphur charge
ready fired, and bleached from forty minutes to an hour, when they are
removed and immediately sacked. The same help will bleach twice as
many in a day with steam as without it. Be careful not to use high
pressure steam or you will cook the nuts. For this valuable method I
am indebted to Mr. Reed of Suisun. Only standard almond sacks
should be used, and while they seem expensive, they are a commercial
success because they weigh two and a half pounds and no tare is taken
by the trade if you use these sacks.

The almonds may also be shelled instead of hulled, as there are
machines for shelling which do very good work. The present year our
erop was light and we shelled our entire crop of about twelve tons of
elean kernels. We figured better prices this way. Nearly all the
imported nuts are shelled before importing. If you shell they are not
to be bleached, and you have all of the shells to work back into the soil
as material for humus, which is no small item. For a commercial propo-
sition if you can get the same money for your product shelled, saving
thereby half the hauling and return half the tonnage to your soil which
you would ship off if the product were hulled, better do it.

70 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

MARKETING.

And now we come to the keystone of the whole matter. We may get
lots of pleasure and satisfaction out of our orchards in producing a
beautiful bloom and a splendid crop, but unless we can turn this into
cold hard cash it will never be considered as a commercial proposition.
It must pay! We must be able to make a net profit over and above the
cost of production, or there will be no inducement to become or con-
tinue to be a producer. The last few cents per pound that the market
warrants will be that net profit, and you should have it. Don’t forget
this. There are various efforts at cooperation among growers which are
more or less successful, but there is no other line in which all might
be enlisted as easily as the almond growers. The reason for this is the
ease with which values may be determined. Just as long as the
larger part of the almonds consumed are imported it is is plain that
the price of the foreign product must fix the price of the home product.
When we have a plentiful crop on this coast we have to ship some to
the East. Therefore, the price of foreign almonds laid down at New
York, duty paid, less the freight from here to New York will determine
the price on this coast. When crops are ight here we consume all our
product on the coast, and then the price of foreign almonds landed at
New York, plus duty and freight out here, will determine the price
here. This is so fixed and definite that it should be easy to determine
the market price, yet very few seem to know about it.

The present method of marketing in a haphazard way works a hard-
ship on the grower because he does not always get a fair price for his
product, the price the market warrants. As at present operated, the
speculators learn about the foreign crop late in June or early in July,
determine what the maximum price on this coast will be and then
endeavor to purchase from the grower just as much below that price as
possible. The object is not to buy low and sell high, for they usually
sell on a fixed margin above cost, but the aim is to undersell their com-
petitors when they go to the jobbing trade, as this is the one method
above all others which will bring them business. The system is not to
their real advantage, however, because they never know when a com-
petitor may be able to buy still cheaper from some other grower and so
undersell them or cause them a loss. The party who bought our
almonds this year said he would just as soon pay 30 cents as 20 cents
if the market was steadied so he knew just what he was doing. But when
he buys on a two-cent margin, and some other buyer succeeds in buying
from some other grower for two cents less, then the other buyer is able
to depress the market to that extent in his quotations to the trade,
and my buyer, as well as others who were inclined to deal fairly by the
growers, suffer a loss which untimately falls on the growers themselves.
Understand that if you sell below the market price, you not only lose the
net profit that should be yours, but you cause a loss to all other growers
and fair dealers. It is absolutely a case where no grower stands or falls
alone, but he necessarily carries his fellow men with him.. What we
want is some method of marketing that will make the market for
almonds as steady and stable as the market for flour orsugar. This will
work no hardship to any one, but will be universally beneficial. It is a
plan that ought to meet the approval of every buyer and seller alike.
Then why not?

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 71

Local associations, able to render much valuable assistance to each
other in the way of providing spraying, hulling and shelling machinery,
of promulgating advanced ideas as to varieties, production, detecting
and fighting pests, proper curing and preparing for market, market-
ing, etc., is the first step. It should not be forgotten that uniform
handling and standard grading will be necessary and of untold advan-
tage to the grower. Nothing lke it could be done which would so
speedily put the almond production on a solid footing and relieve some
of the other lines of orchard and vineyard production. It would bring
multiplied wealth to our State, employment to our citizens by increasing
production, and help to settle the food problem of the race, because it
is one of the most valuable and condensed forms of food production.

At present there are organized associations of almond growers in
Sutter, Yolo, and Contra Costa counties, and in our own neighborhood
we have a quasi association which handles 80 per cent of our output.
Every one of these associations has wrought good results for its mem-
bers and the trade. Then why not extend the work of organization?
Let the growers in every section or community organize an association,
and then all the associations select or form some central marketing
exchange which shall do the marketing of the crop. This central
exchange, with the foreign and home crop statistics before it, could
determine what would be a fair price and should be given power to
maintain said price. My word for it, the buyers would be just as glad
as the growers to have this done if they understood it, and they might |
be given a hearing in fixing the price, but always the growers’ organ-
izations should hold the deciding vote. This is a point which can not
be too strongly emphasized, because it touches on the weakest point
in our body politic to-day. The farmer and the fruit grower con-
stitute the only class of people in the world wherein the producer does
not fix the selling price on his own products. The manufacturer, the
merchant, the professions, labor organizations, all say what their serv-
ices and products are worth. Is it not high time for the farmer and
fruit grower to wake up and take his stand alongside of his fellow man?
But it requires a Moses or a Joshua to mean success! Yes, to be sure;
and also be sure that whenever anything is right and needs a Moses or
a Joshua, the Power that shapes the destinies of men and nations will
not be found wanting with the man or leaders. It all means dollars
for every one engaged in the business and that spells commercial success.
(Applause. )

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. The convention has heard this very able
article and a great deal of good advice regarding the cultivation of
this crop and the varieties to plant. We will not have time to discuss
any of these papers this morning, as we want to give the other numbers
full time. You will please note down any points you want to discuss.
The second part of the program to-day is ‘‘Citrus Culture in the
North,’’ by Professor Elmore Chase of Fair Oaks. (Applause.)

MR. CHASE. Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: When, a few
weeks ago, our honorable Commissioner asked me to prepare a paper on
citrus culture in the north, I protested that a man who had had only ten
years’ experience in this work was not qualified to do it. He said,
““You can do it.’’ I will try because he said so. I suspect, from that

72 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

instance, that when our Commissioner has all the counties organized
he will ask you to do something and you will be sure to go and do it.
Things seem to be coming and have to come now. When I went to inves-
tigate some of the orchards in the northern part of the State I called
upon a gentleman who was very successful in growing oranges, and I
said to him, ‘‘ We have come here to find out how you raise such a large
crop of fine oranges in Oroville, larger than we raise in Fair Oaks.’”’
He said, “‘I can’t tell you.’’ The editors of horticultural papers put
more into their papers than they can put in the ground, but I can
assure you I can not put on paper what the orange grower puts into
the ground, and so my paper is disappointing to me and I am afraid
it will be to you, but the thing is in the ground if we can get it out.

CITRUS CULTURE IN THE NORTH.
By Pror. ELMoRE CHASE, of Fair Oaks.

This paper will treat in a general way of the orange, not referring to
grape fruit and the lemon, though both of the fruits flourish equally
well with that of the orange. If any difference exists, it is in favor of
the grape fruit. The methods of culture which apply to the orange will
apply to the growing of other citrus fruits.

The citrus region of northern California has very indefinite bound-
aries; but it has been demonstrated by a few years of experience in
erowing this fruit, that it can be grown successfully over a great por-
tion of the State, except in the extreme northern counties and in the
higher altitudes of the Sierra and Coast ranges and in the lower interior
valleys. The fact that the extreme southern counties have made this
their chief horticultural industry, has given the impression abroad that
this industry will not flourish elsewhere. Outside of these counties
there are large areas extending the entire length of the San Joaquin
and Sacramento valleys and as far north as Shasta in which very fine
citrus fruits are grown. Not all of this area is suited to this industry,
but the places which are suited to it are very numerous, and the acreage
is rapidly increasing. Kern County produces a fruit of exceedingly
good quality. Porterville and Lindsay in Tulare, and other places along
the foothill lands are sharing the honors of this industry with similarly
favored sections of the south. Placer has become well known by the
orange groves of Loomis, Neweastle, and Penryn, and Sacramento by
those of Fair Oaks and Orangevale. Butte County is made famous by
the Oroville district and the adjacent colonies of Palermo and Therma-
lito. In fact, this county may be said to stand at the head of this
industry in the farther north. It has an orange tree transplanted from
~ Sacramento to Bidwell’s Bar in 1859. Yuba and Stanislaus are pur-
suing this industry on quite a large scale, while Sonoma has been hold-
ing citrus fairs for the past ten years. Amador and Calaveras are not
behind other places in growing a very excellent quality of fruit. Fresno
also comes in for her share. Thus it will be seen that citrus culture in
the North is boundless. ;

Let it be noted, too, that while orange trees from twenty to fifty
years of age are growing all over this section of the State, the commer-
cial industry dates back less than a score of years. This industry,
while it has passed the experimental stage, is as yet in its infancy, and

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 73

is now pushing to the front and contributing its share to the wealth
and culture of our great commonwealth. No other class of producers
is so active in seeking a better knowledge of horticulture than are the
citrus growers of northern California. The appropriation of $16,000
for the purpose of investigating plant diseases in northern California,
is equivalent to establishing in this section of the State an experiment
station. The benefit of this appropriation is beginning to be felt in the
citrus growing interests.

The burden of this paper is to try to answer the question, why a
larger yield to the acre is not produced. While in quantity our prod-
_uets do not equal those of the southland, there is nothing to discourage
any earnest grower. In quality, both of flavor and sugar content, there
is nothing more to be desired. Northern California oranges suit the
palate of the most fastidious orange consumer in the Hast, and that,
- too, many weeks before our fellow growers in the south can offer their
products.

In the first place we have the earliest product in the State. Then
next, in the absence of frosts and high winds, we have much to be thank-
ful for. The absence of fogs saves us from many insect pests. The foli-
age of our groves always presents a brighter green and a cleaner face
than is found even in the more southern belt of our section, an indica-
tion of health and vigor. The abundance of water and the system of
irrigation contribute largely to the natural advantages of fruit grow-
ing, especially the citrus. These are some of the advantages the north
enjoys over the south.

The one thing now is how to increase the quantity of the product per
acre. It must be remembered that our trees are yet young. With few
exceptions ten or fifteen years is the age of the productive orchard.

The following statement may be taken as a reasonable estimate of the
returns from a well cultivated tract in the citrus belt of the north:
The third year, per acre, 10 boxes; the fourth, 50; the fifth, 100; the
sixth, 175; the seventh, 225; the eighth, 275; the ninth, 300; and the
tenth, 325. This, though not so large as is often reported in the south,
is a good showing and is realized in Tulare and in Butte counties as
well as in some groves between these two places. Not many orchards
during the first ten years produce this amount per acre; but it is pos-
sible to do this, and after this period of growing with the application of
the best methods known, these trees may be made to increase this yield
almost indefinitely, and in proportion as this culture is wise, the quality
may reach as high as 90 per cent of fancy.

How can this be accomplished? First, before planting, the character
of the soil should be examined. If an impervious soil is found at the
depth of two feet and it is so thick that dynamite will not break through
it, the orange tree will be able to do work not more than ten years.
If the soil is deep and the drainage is good, it is safe to plant the trees.
But this planting must be well and wisely done. The Whitney ranches
of Placer County have made their owner prosperous mainly on the
method of planting. The soil is of a reddish gravel and looks not very
inviting, but the orange tree seems to take to it. The hole is dug some
six feet in diameter, and as many feet deep. Then it is widened by
filling into the bottom the surface soils about the hole. The tree is
planted and then a scraper is used to bring about the trees the surface
soil near at hand.

74 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

Much of the land is hilly and ravines and ‘‘draws’’ are formed
between the hills. These ravines and ‘‘draws’’ have been made by
erosion. In most cases the land is composed of strata of different
degrees of hardness. The deep soil is generally on the higher places.
In cutting out the ravines or ‘“*draws’’ by erosion, several of these strata
are cut through and on the sides of these slopes one or more of the ends
of a hard stratum is very near the surface, so the trees planted on the
brow of the hills sometimes do not thrive as do those lower down or on
the top. The result is, if no heed is paid to these conditions, many trees
will not reach the productive age except in a feeble and sickly condition.
By blasting and excavating, and giving good drainage, such places will
give good results. Successful growers after preparing such places, fill ©
the hole with water, and if it drains readily plant the tree. If not, then
another trial is made. The saying that ‘‘an orange tree must not have
wet feet,’’ is a maxim in citrus growing and must be heeded, always.
It may be said that every step taken in planting, budding, and caring
for an orchard of citrus fruit must be performed by labor skilled in
this line of work, and nowhere is it of greater importance than in pre-
paring and planting an orchard. The most important thing after plant-
ing is the caring for the tree. Nature has been generous in this par-
ticular in this State. She has put into the ground a sufficient capital
for a good working basis; but this capital must not be all withdrawn
before deposits are made. As the tree draws on this capital, the soil
must be supplied with new deposits. Here it requires the greatest
knowledge to do this and keep the trees working at their best. Many
an orchard of fine promise has been ruined by irregular cultivation or
‘*hit or miss’’ fertilization.

Irrigation is a matter of supreme importance. It must be governed
largely by the character of the soil and the mode of application. The
main idea is to give the soil a sufficient amount of moisture to supply
the root system with all its needs before the next irrigation. This
implies that the irrigation must be abundant, but not too frequent, and
the water must reach to the depth of the lowest roots while the surface
soil must be kept dry and sufficiently stirred.

Another matter which has much to do in reducing the yield in many
orchards is the fact that so many trees are not the type of the true navel.
It will be difficult to find an orange grove in the whole orange belt of
the north which has not suffered to a greater or less degree because of
the presence of such trees as the Australian navel and similar types.
These in our most productive orchards are all budded over as soon as
discovered. In three years from budding these trees will begin to pro-
duce fruit, and in five years the fruit will not only have paid for all
cost, but will begin to bring in an income. Jn ten years such an orchard
becomes the type of those which bring in the large incomes of which
we read.

When our orchards shall have reached the age of ten years under the
conditions which have been hinted at above, then the grower may exploit
his trees according to his pleasure. If he wishes fabulous returns, he
may spend a hundred dollars an acre for fertilizer, and he will not be
disappointed. If he desires a more moderate and perpetual income, he
may spend ten dollars an acre and receive from his grove a very satis-
factory return. Mr. Mills of Riverside calls an orange tree a machine.
Supply it with material and run it at high speed and it will turn out a

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. a5

large product. Mr. Boalt of Palermo calls an orange tree a cow. Feed
her high and she will yield the butter fat, but she will not last long.
So, also, does high pressure speed wear out a machine. When $3,000 an
acre can be made by this high pressure principle, the temptation is so
ereat that it will be done if it kills the cow or bursts the boiler. An
orange tree, however, is not a cow or a machine. It is a self-perpetu-
ating, ever growing plant with self-regulation forces of plant organisms.
It renews. its fruit bearing organs every season and regulates its root
system to meet all demands of fruit and foliage, provided it has the
materials which it needs and its root system has the fullest freedom to
do its work.

But the wiser method adopted by the majority of growers is to supply
the fertilizing materials according to the normal demands of the tree.
Stable manures and cover crops furnish the humus that every orange
erove must always have, if satisfactory returns are expected. Added to
these a liberal use of commercial fertilizer of any well known brand,
the orange grove will keep in a good thriving condition for a whole
generation.

Another important thing which must never be overlooked is the
matter of pruning. The orange tree is so self-regulating that it requires
little pruning. The most successful growers advise keeping the dead-
wood cut out, removing the suckers and pruning back excessive growth
which may to some extent destroy the symmetry of the tree and allowing
the branches to grow low. More fruit is gathered from the lower third
of the tree than from the upper two thirds, and is less subject to injury
by the moving branches. The cutting out of dead twigs gives oppor-
tunity for more fruit to grow inside the tree, and this fruit is the finest
of all.

During the whole life of an orange tree, deep and thorough cultiva-
tion is the command of every successful grower. This must be done to
keep the lower soil loose and free from the so-called ‘“‘hard pan,’’ which
always prevents the root system from performing its functions unhin-
dered. Nearly every so-called disease of the orange tree can be traced
to some soil condition which destroys the action of some portion of the
root system.

The limits of this paper do not permit references to the methods of
successful growers which would give more force to general statements.
Each statement properly treated would be a topic for a separate paper,
but it can be confidently affirmed that citrus growing in the north is
destined to become a much more important branch of industry than it
is at present. Indeed, with all other branches of fruit growing which
have reached such a high degree of excellence, citrus culture of the
north must become the overshadowing industry of our great common-
wealth. A no more inviting field of usefulness can be offered to any one
who loves his own State than that of establishing a citrus nursery in
the north which shall have for its prime object to produce the typical
navel orange tree; for this fruit can not be modified by changes of the
embryo, but by adaptation of the bud development only.

The late lamented Lelong has said, ‘‘There is a subtle and delicate
citrus quality that must be associated in all the qualities of an orange.
It can only be described by saying that it appeals to the intellectual
perceptions as that natural goodness and excellence inherent in the

76 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

choice products of nature. This can be eliminated from the orange and
render the fruit insipid and valueless. We must be careful in the selee-
tion of stock and bud so that we shall draw toward this noble fruit
and gift of nature the happy union of staminate and blended qualities
that award the halo of ambrosial excellence.’’ This is especially true
of the navel orange.

The case is a clear one that northern California offers a very large
field for the growth of the orange, lemon, and pomelo, if the knowledge
of this industry now within the reach of all is intelligently applied at
the beginning and continued during the life of the orchard. The main
points to be followed are, plant only typical navels, in any soil that will
give room for the growth and increase of the root system; begin to add
fertilizing material early, cultivate constantly and deep, and irrigate
deep enough to supply the whole root system with moisture, adding
yearly humus-producing materials, either in the form of stable manure
or green cover crops, or both, using liberally commercial fertilizers, and
doing all these things so faithfully that the tree never for an hour
suffers for the lack of this food. These things faithfully performed
and a citrus grove will never fail to pay large returns on the invest-
ment in northern California. This is now being done in Porterville,
Lindsay, Fair Oaks, Oroville and its colonies.

Colonel Weinstock once said, in speaking of the influence of horti-
culture in this State, that the people who produce the luxuries of life
have a higher degree of civilization and live on a higher plane of enjoy-
ment than those who produce the necessities of hfe. They love the
good and the beautiful. Art, science, and literature flourish among
such a people, and they become, if not always the originators of all the
forces which improve the condition of the human race, the disseminators
of all these forces. He referred to the French nation, which has been
eminently the producer of the luxuries of life. ‘‘Her literature has
been to the English what Aaron was to Moses,’’ says Macaulay. Her
university was the first great intellectual center of Europe. Scholars
by the thousand have flocked to it from all over the world, so that
through its influence, knowledge was kept alive and disseminated, so
that, in one sense, the French university was the mother of all that were
subsequently founded throughout the world. The foremost historian
of the nineteenth century has said, ‘‘There is hardly any great idea,
hardly any great principle of civilization which has not had to go
through France to be disseminated.’’ California, so similar to France
in so many of its natural aspects of climate, soil, and nature of its
productions, is already rising to that higher plane of civilization which
may become to the other people of this continent, if not to the whole
world, what France has been to Europe. Shall we claim too much for
the influence of the orange that it has done and is still doing this work
of a higher civilization? Recently some writer in Oregon entered into
a very learned dissertation on the relative values of the apple and the
orange. The former he placed among the necessities of life, the latter
only a luxury. Some California journalist in a broad and generous
spirit, such as must prevail where the orange grows, has rescued the
apple from that low place and elevated it to a position where it belongs
among the luxuries, and luxuries are necessities when man reaches the
higher plane of noble living.

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. ie

Surely the whole State of California appeals to man’s better impulses,
and invites him to come and make his home among her apple orchards
and citrus groves, where are ever found those influences which lead to
the best in human life. (Applause.)

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. The next paper is entitled ‘‘The Berry
Industry,’’ by Mr. W. I. Newcomb of Sebastopol. (Applause. )

THE BERRY INDUSTRY.

By W. I. Newcome of Sebastopol.

In taking up the question of the berry industry this paper will be
confined to Lawton blackberries, Antwerp and Cuthbert raspberries,
loganberries, and Mammoth blackberries, with incidental mention of a
few other varieties that are grown in the foothill region of western
Sonoma, adjacent to Sebastopol, and locally known as the Gold Ridge
country.

While the growing of stawberries is carried on to some extent, one of
your large ‘‘patches’’ in the Pajaro Valley contains more than our
entire acreage. We leave this variety to the Watsonville district, whose
reputation for growing this berry is world-wide.

Berries have been grown in the Sebastopol district since 1872. At that
time the late W. J. Hunt planted the first blackberries. It was soon
proven that the sandy loam soil, together with the moist cool summers,
tempered by the coast breeze, and an abundance of winter rains, made
it a favorable place for berry raising. The first planting was of the
Lawton Black variety, and its adaptibility has been proven by the test
of time, for to-day it leads in production by double all other varieties
combined.

The planting of Lawtons was soon followed by the Antwerp rasp-
berry, which was usually called the Cuthbert, but differs considerably,
both in fruit and growth, not being so rank a grower and fruiting in a
shorter period, making it better suited for canning purposes, to which
the berry business developed into, as San Francisco was the only fresh
market available, and the profits from planting these two varieties
stimulated planting to such an extent that in a few years there was
such an overproduction that if the canneries had not taken hold of
them the berries would not have been worth raising.

During these years of development berries showed the same fault that
all other California fruits have shown, viz., production taking place
faster than consumption, the finding of new markets for this class of
fruit at a distance being considered impracticable on account of its per-
ishable nature. The first attempt, when the production became too
large for the San Francisco market, was in evaporation. Good success
resulted in this effort and a good trade was built up. Then the cannery
came into the field and the tide ran the other way. No berries were
dried, consequently that trade was lost.

The cannery requirements for berries were eastly met. Fruit too
ripe for shipment was in just the condition for them. This led to loose
methods of picking and handling and quantity only was considered,
until the grower was handling his berries about the same as he would
a hay crop, and was only sorry he could not use a derrick fork. All this

78 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

led to one result, the canneries saying they had more berries than they
could handle at the price; consequently a gradual lowering of prices
until during the past two years the returns, based on the valuation of
the land and labor, would not pay the cost of production. This may
look lke a dark situation for the berry growers, but fortunately our
eggs are not all in one basket.

CULTIVATION.

Cultivation of our berries consists of thorough plowing, hoeing and
cultivating, no irrigation being done. Different habits and growth of
the varieties, however, require different training. The Lawtons are
upright growers, and are usually planted eight feet apart each way.
The plants are obtained by digging the shoots that are thrown out late
in the season near the “‘hill.’’ The second season of growth the vines
are staked with two redwood stakes, 2 by 2 and 6 feet in length. They
are driven one on each side of the vine close in, but spreading at the top
to allow for lateral growth and ease in picking.

The raspberries are grown without stakes, and are planted more
closely. A good way to plant is, 3 by 8 and allow to make a solid row
one way.

The Antwerp raspberry is a heavier bearer than the Cuthbert and
shgehtly more acid. The lhght, drier and more sweet Cuthbert has
better carrying qualities for shipping fresh, but has not proven entirely
successful in our locality, from bearing too much second crop in the
fall, especially when we have early rains. Evidently the season is too
long. At Puyallup, Washington, 750 tons of this variety are raised
annually, but their spring is a month later than here in California and
the fall a month earlier, and they are not troubled in this way.

The Lawton blackberry and the raspberry were the only bush berries
grown until the advent of the loganberry, originated in your neighbor-
ing Santa Cruz. This berry met with favor from many, its term of
fruiting filling in a gap before the later Lawtons. Its adaptibility to
a great variety of soils and climate has given it a wide planting, and
its vigorous growth and prolific bearing has made it a favorite garden
berry.

The success met in crossing the California dewberry with the red
raspberry, the Logan, led to much experimenting, with the result in the
past few years of several new varieties. The value of some of these
remains to be seen. Probably the next best of these crosses is the
Mammoth blackberry, which is in full fruiting at the time the Logans
are on the wane and the Lawtons are beginning to ripen. Thus, in our
section we have succession of Logan, Mammoth, and Late Black, as we
are beginning to call the Lawton since the Mammoth has come into
the market.

Another new variety is the Himalya, a strong grower and good fruit,
and may prove a good berry in some less favored climate and soil, but
so far does not seem to supplant any of the older varieties. I suspect
that one reason for this is the quite thorny nature of the vine. but it
certainly is a hardy grower and will eventually find its place.

The Logan, Mammoth, and Himalya are running vines, and have to
be trellised. This is done in the winter, two wires being used. one above
the other, at two and three feet from the ground. The plants from

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 79

these varieties are got from ‘‘tippings,’’ which means putting a shovel-
ful of soil on the tip of the new growth in the winter, causing it to take
root. By spring they are ready to plant. Thorough preparation of the
eround and good care afterwards will give the results obtained in all
other fruit planting.

HARVESTING AND MARKETING.

The first fruit growers’ convention which I had the privilege of
attending was in San Francisco seven years ago. In one of the dis-
cussions there the Hon. John Markley made this remark, ‘‘We have
been telling the people in these conventions for the past twenty years
how to grow fruit, but from now on we must show them how to har-
vest and market it.’’

And these, friends, are the two most important factors in any kind
of fruit growing—proper harvesting and then getting the price that
will justify the cost and labor of production.

Fruit raising of all kinds has had its ups and downs here in Cali-
fornia, where production has been easy, compared to reaching our dis-
tant markets, and our berries have been no exception to the rule. In
these years of development, or underproduction, overproduction, over-
consumption, and underconsumption, the berry business has had as
many stages of prosperity as the much-quoted prune.

We have heard, in our district over by the coast, a great deal these past
few years of raisin growers’ associations, fruit unions, farmers’ unions,
fruit exchanges, and so forth. This, together with the canneries con-
tinually telling us that we were producing more than they could sell
only at a low price, until we became infected with the microbe, or per-
haps ‘‘parasite’’ of codperation. Or at least a part of us, for I believe
there has never been any community yet where the disease has reached,
but what a part of the inhabitants were immune from all forms of con-
tagion.

Those of us who took ‘‘it’’ in the worst form talked codperation in
season and out. This finally resulted last February in the formation of
the Sebastopol Berry Growers, Incorporated, under the laws of the
State, with a charter which allows us to do anything we might care
to do in the fruit and farm-supply line. This happily took place just
in time to prevent half of us having our wives leave us in disgust. I
wish to say that it is actually appalling, the amount of time and talk it
takes to get this virus to work.

We incorporated with thirty out of one hundred and twenty-five
erowers, secured a manager in the person of a party who had done con-
siderable berry-shipping business, thus securing all the available experi-
ence in this line. Our main effort the past season was to get as many of
our berries into fresh consumption as possible and thus reheve the
canneries. By the time the crop was ready we had increased our mem-
bership to eighty. We took up the matter of car-load shipments with
Wells-Fargo & Co., who gave us all the assistance in their power, with
the result of our sending a representative to the large Rocky Mountain
and northern cities, including Odgen, Salt Lake City, Denver, Butte,
Montana, Spokane, Seattle, and Portland, and of our dispatching one or
more cars to each of these cities. In some of them we did well, and
in some we did not, but all the time we were learning, and after the

80 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

season was over and the smoke of battle cleared away we found that
Wells-Fargo had gotten about $8,000 for transporting our berries, and
after all our expenses were paid we had as much or a little more than
the man on the outside and our experience as an asset for future
business.

Some of the things we found we needed, and succeeded in getting;
part this year, and a promise of next were: lower rates, smaller mini-
mum loads, and a better railroad time and connections.

While we are in the habit as fruit growers of laying most of our
troubles to the railroad and express companies, there is one thing we
must not lose sight of, and it is this, unless our fruit is properly picked,
packed and loaded, all the railroad rates and service in the world can
not make it arrive in good condition at the other end. This rests with
your individual growers and corporation inspection. While some
growers think they will lose their individuality by joining an associa-
tion, they really have a wonderful opportunity to preserve it in this way.

There is no doubt but that codperation is a remedy for many of our
ills. This is an age of combination. But they must be carried on strict
business principles, and we have much to learn. We may, perhaps, have
to wander in the wilderness until we grow a new lot of men that are
willing to give and take and pull together for their own sakes as well
as the community, for the prosperity of the community is in a direct
ratio to the prosperity of the individual. In the mean time we will have
to depend largely on a Moses for leadership. But it does look’as though
the children of Israel had a pretty good time, even in the wilderness.
They certainly did not have to make any bricks for the Egyptians.
(Applause. )

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. We will now have the pleasure of listen-
ing to a paper by Mr. G. P. Rixford of San Francisco. The title is
‘‘The Latest Development in Fig Culture.’’ (Applause. )

MR. RIXFORD. I would lke to have it understood, Mr. President
and ladies and gentlemen, that the subject of my paper, the fig, is as
old as Mr. Dargitz’ almond. It figures in the Bible as well as the
almond. We don’t want to play second fiddle to the almond. Perhaps
he is more familiar with the Bible than I am.

THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS IN FIG CULTURE.
By WALTER T. SWINGLE and G. P. RIxForpD of the U. S. Department of Agriculture.

For the first time in the history of Smyrna fie culture in California,
the markets have this fall been partially supplhed with home grown
Smyrna figs that many experts pronounce equal to the product of the
famous fig district of Asia Minor. We say partially. because the quan-
tity offered is not one quarter part of the requirements of even the local
markets. The writers know one buyer who never handles any but the
best of everything, who wants ten tons of a certain pack put up at Reed-
ley, Fresno County. This particular producer could furnish only about
four tons from his young ten-acre orchard. This is certainly an
encouraging outlook for the industry, and holds out the promise that
when enough such figs are packed to supply the American market, the

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’” CONVENTION. 81

million dollars annually paid to the Turks will be paid to the California
fruit grower.

The Smyrna is the best of all figs grown in the world and nowhere
equaled in the eastern hemisphere outside the lmited area of the
Meander Valley, a district about 75 miles in length and 10 to 12 miles
wide, and situated about 50 miles southeast from the city of Smyrna.
The figs of southern Europe, including Spain, Portugal, the south of
France, Italy and Greece, as well as the north of Africa, all fig growing
countries, have failed to yield a product which for tenderness of skin
and delicacy of flavor compares with that of the Adin district men-
tioned above. It is, therefore, a matter for congratulation, that only in
the sunny valleys of California, of all the world, can this delicious
product be equaled.

One of the writers recently sent samples of the product of two growers

at Reedley and one at Selma to the United States Department of
Agriculture at Washington that must have produced a sensation, as a
telegram was immediately received to send ten or twelve pounds more
for exhibition purposes. The department has taken a deep interest in
the establishment of the industry on the Pacific coast, and is evidently
impressed with the progress that has been made. In fact, the industry
has to a great extent passed the experimental stage.

A VISIT TO THE PRINCIPAL FIG DISTRICT.

At the instance of the department, it was the pleasure of one of the
writers two weeks ago to make on extended visit to the fig growers of
the central part of the San Joaquin Valley, in the counties of Stanislaus,
Merced, Madera, Fresno, and Tulare, where the industry has its great-
- est development; largely due to the efforts of Mr. Geo. C. Roeding of
Fresno. More than a thousand acres have been planted in these counties,
more than half in Fresrio, most of which have reached the bearing age.
There was a twofold purpose in this visit. One was to see the men who
are putting up the splendid product, samples of which are here pre-
sented for your inspection, and the other was to ascertain the cause,
and, if possible, suggest a remedy for the discouragement known to exist
among a portion of the growers. It can not be denied that failures have
been made and in a few instances bearing trees have been dug up. But
it is a satisfaction to be able to say, that with a little time and attention
to details, the cause of the failures can be removed.

CAUSE OF THE FAILURES.

With soil and climate well adapted to the industry, it is regrettable
that any failures should have occurred. Intimate contact with a large
number of growers has impressed the fact upon the writers that the
great and paramount cause of failure is an inadequate supply of the fig
wasp, Blastophaga grossorum. The crop depends absolutely upon the
number of this minute, but beneficent insect, that is supplied to the
Smyrna trees and upon a sufficient number of good capri trees to sup-
port them. Here, then, is the condition of affairs with which we are
confronted. Some growers have no capri trees at all, having neglected
to plant them when putting out their Smyrna orchards; many more
have too small a number and not of the best kinds, while in some
_ instances the trees are scattered about in the Smyrna orchards at con-

6—FGC

82 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

siderable distances apart—too far for the trees to properly assist each
other in sustaining the insect through the year. Occasionally, a grower
is met with, and fortunately the number is very small, who has, perhaps,
mistaken his calling in becoming a fruit grower. One such, in speaking
of his small Smyrna crop, was ‘asked if he had a good supply of capri
figs and the fig wasp. Replying, he said, ‘‘there was a-good many bugs
flying about his place and he thought he was getting his share.’ ee ba
not surprising that his crops are small.

In that portion of the San Joaquin Valley mentioned, the principal
capri varieties are Roedings Nos. 1, 2, and 3. While these varieties are
excellent in some respects, others can be added to the list that will give
much value to the whole. Some think that No. 1 is the best of the three.
and it is valuable in producing an early profichi or spring erop. No. 2
seldom bears a mamme or overwintering crop, though an abundant pro-
fichi crop, and must therefore be planted where it can be fertilized by
other capri trees. No. 3 generally carries a fair mamme and a good pro-
fichi crop. As some capri trees fail to produce all the crops required for
the support of the blastophaga through the year, it is recommended that
several varieties be planted, that they may fertilize each other and thus
with more certainty furnish an abundant supply of profichi wasps in
early summer when required by the Smyrna trees.

THE MILCO CAPRI.

Among the most valuable capri trees is the Mileo, named after the
late G. N. Milco of Buhach fame. This tree has been under observation
by one of the writers for some years in widely separated localities and
under varying conditions of soil and climate, and he has never found it
to fail to carry an abundant mamme, a fair mammoni and a large pro-
fichi crop. As a striking evidence of the value of this variety it may be
mentioned that a number of old trees, giants among their fellows, have
been found that have carried the insect unaided by the proximity of
other trees, for forty years. Some growers rely on this variety alone
and never fail to have an abundance of fertilizing material. While
being one of the earliest producers of profichi figs, it is also one of the
latest, and possesses the virtue of giving a steady succession of profichi
from ‘the beginning to the end of its season. Most capri trees when
under five years of age fail to carry an overwintering crop, but the
Mileco is one of the most precocious in this respect of the whole list under
observation. This tree, then, with our present knowledge of the hundred
or more varieties now in cultivation in this State, is confidently recom-
mended as one of the most desirable to plant.

HISTORY OF THE MILCO CAPRIFIG TREE.

In this connection it may be of interest to give a brief history of the
first introduction into this country of the caprifig tree and the blasto-
phaga. On the ranch of Samuel Gates, 10 miles west from Modesto,
stands an ancient capri tree about 45 feet high with a spread of branches
ef 40 feet and a trunk 8 feet in circumference just below the branches.
The tree was planted in 1867 by Lewis Adams of Stockton, who pur-
chased it with other trees from the late W. B. West, an enterprising and
intelligent nurseryman of the same place, well known to many of the
older fruit growers of the State. Of these old capri trees, of which the
Gates is one of the oldest, more than fifty have been located by one of the .

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIAXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 83

writers. About thirty are growing in the vicinity of Ripon, two near
Lathrop, seven at Stockton, and about a dozen near Milton. Some of
these trees are about as old and about as large as the Gates tree, and we
have positive proof have carried the blastophaga for about forty years.
A number of them have been traced directly to the West nursery and
as they are all of the same variety, there is lttle doubt that they all
came from the same source.

It was supposed that the fig wasp was first sent to the new world from
Algiers by one of the writers in 1899, but the discovery of the insect on
the Gates and the Lathrop trees, proves that the first introduction ante-
dates that of 1899 by more than thirty years. A question of much
interest in connection with the Gates and Lathrop trees is, how did they
become infested with the blastophaga. W. B. West probably imported

more fig trees than any other man in the State. In 1865, two years
_ before the Gates tree was planted, he imported twenty-two varieties
from the south of Europe by way of Panama, the first overland railroad
not then having been completed. As it was possible only for the insect
to be brought over in the caprifig itself, it is reasonable to suppose that
the trees imported by Mr. West carried mamme figs containing the insect
and that it was established in the Stockton nursery before the trees were
distributed. As all these old trees are of the same variety and most of
them are known to have come from that nursery, it is a reasonable con-
clusion that to W. B. West belongs the credit, though probably unknown
to him, of having first introduced the blastophaga into America. That,
caprifigs on trees or cuttings could retain their vitality long enough to
make this possible has been proven by one of the writers who took cut-
tings with mamme caprifigs attached from trees in the Maslin orchard
last December and planted them in his yard in San Francisco. In May
following the wasps were alive and about ready to issue, but a spell of
warm weather in June dried up the figs and killed the insects. This
shows that even on unrooted cuttings it is possible to keep the insect
alive for six months. This introduction by Mr. West was undoubtedly
accidental. The late Mr. Fred West, cashier of the Stockton Savings
Bank, was at the time of this importation a partner of his brother in
the nursery business. He said to one of the writers, just before his
death, less than three months ago: ‘‘If we imported the capri tree and
the blastophaga, it was purely accidental, as we knew nothing about
either the capri tree or the insect, but thought we were sending out a
choice variety of the Smyrna fig.

CUTTINGS AND CAPRIFIGS AVAILABLE FROM THE LOOMIS ORCHARD.

At the Maslin seedling fig orchard at Loomis, Placer County, which is
under lease to the United States Department of Agriculture, are several
very desirable capri, as well as a number of choice trees of the Smyrna
type. These capri trees have now been sufficiently studied to enable us
to select a half dozen or more of the very best. They are vigorous
trees, producing mamme and mammoni crops in sufficient abundance,
and above all enormous profichi crops of large figs, abundantly infested
with blastophaga and having plenty of pollen. The resources of this
- orchard, both in caprifigs and cuttings, are placed at the disposal of all
who are interested in fig culture. Cuttings from the best trees without
cost and caprifigs at the bare cost of gathering and shipping will be

84 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

supplied when requested. Any one desiring either the fruit or the cut-
tings has only to send his name to the writers at 1813 Pierce street,
San Francisco, and he will receive blank applications and circulars
giving the conditions of the distribution. Last winter nearly ten thou-
sand cuttings and seedling trees and last spring several hundred boxes
of mamme and profichi caprifigs were distributed. This winter and
next spring further distributions of the most desirable kinds will be
made.
PLANTING CAPRI TREES.

Every grower should aim to have an independent supply of fertilizing
material of his own. This can be done only by planting a number of
varieties of the best capri trees proportionate to the number of Smyrna
trees in his orchard. If he has old trees of any variety he deems unde-
sirable for any cause, let him insert capri grafts of the best kinds and
by this means supply himself much sooner than by waiting for young
trees to come into bearing. Smyrna trees will show some fruit as early
as two and three years, and which, if caprified, will come to perfection.
It is recommended that capri trees at the rate of two to each acre of
Smyrna trees be planted by themselves in one corner of the orchard, or
if there is a knoll or spot reasonably free from frost, put them there.
They may be planted as near as 20 feet apart and if sheltered by a
wind-break to keep off cold winter winds, all the better. A number of
growers may combine and plant a tract to capri trees in a sheltered
spot even at some distance from their orchards, if thereby they can
secure protection from the hardest frosts and also obtain earlier profichi
caprifigs in readiness for the first Smyrna figs that reach a receptive
condition. There is no danger of an oversupply of caprifigs, for there
will always be a demand for the surplus from growers who have from
some cause an inadequate supply. In the fig districts of Asia Minor,
where fig growing has been a great industry for thousands of years,
eaprifigs are a regular article of trade in the markets. The reason for
planting capri trees apart from Smyrna trees is that they more effect-
ually fertilize each other and that a more even distribution of the eapri-
figs may be made by hand among the Smyrna trees. The question is
often asked: Why not plant the capris among the Smyrna trees and
let nature take her course? In Asia Minor it is firmly believed that
overpollination is the cause of the splitting of figs. The writers do not
believe that this is the sole cause, if a cause at all of the trouble. for
reasons that will be given further along. It is not desirable that more
than one or two blastophagas should enter each Smyrna fig. At Loomis,
where at times the insects are seen hovering over the trees like swarms
of gnats, it is not unusual for a dozen to enter a single fig. One of the
writers has counted as many as twenty-five wasps in one fig and another
struggling mass of fifteen at the entrance trying to get in. Capri trees
planted at considerable distances from each other in the orchard receive
very little help from other capri trees in carrying the insect from crop
to crop, and when the tree is of a variety that carries no mamme crop
its profichi crop is likely to be a failure. It may be noted that the
more accessible the figs to be caprified are to the blastophaga, the more
of them will be entered. In some instances we know that the wasp has
fertilized trees some miles away, perhaps carried by the wind, but not
in sufficient numbers to produce a crop.

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 85

THE SPLITTING OF FIGS.

The past season is reported everywhere to have been an ideal one
until the September rains came. These were followed by cool, damp
weather, with considerable splitting and souring of figs. It is the senti-
ment of many growers that splitting is caused by cool, damp weather
and not by overpollination, nor excessive irrigation. One of the writers
has seen trees growing on the banks of an irrigating ditch, in which
water was flowing a good part of the year, and the fruit on these trees
split no more than on trees in other parts of the orchard which were
irrigated only twice during the season. One grower, however, speaking
of the large size of the figs on these trees said he would rather have
some splits than small fruit. One large Smyrna fig orchard planted on
eround so moist that a drainage canal is being constructed through it,
showed very few split figs. Certain trees and some varieties, the White
Adriatie for instance, split worse than others. In the Maslin orchard
are trees with fruit that split more or less every year, while others,
equally surrounded by capri trees and swarms of blastophaga, show no
splitting at all. Location seems to have something to do with it, as in
Fresno County in those orchards near the foothills the trouble seems to
be less prevalent than out in the valley. The past season in most locali-
ties has been the worst in several years, still it is not a very serious
matter. It is noticeable that of the Lob Ingir many split specimens close
up in drying and still make good figs. This fig contains so much sugar
that, unlike the White Adriatic. very few sour even when split. It is
at present difficult to account for this trouble in many cases and the
subject should have further study.

CURING FIGS.

It is well known that when the Smyrna fig is perfectly ripe and
nearly dry it falls to the ground. It is likely that most growers will
find it less troublesome and about. equally profitable to sell the product
to the packing houses as soon as sufficiently dried, rather than attempt
to gather around him the necessary labor and appliances to put his
fruit into elaborate packages in order to secure the highest price.

A few suggestions, some of which represent the experience of the
erowers who are putting up the best figs now on the market, may not
be out of place at this time, and may be of service to the inexperienced.
One of the most important details, though troublesome, is to gather the
fruit from the ground very often, in fact as often as every other day.
This will in a great measure prevent the entrance of beetles that lay
their eggs and make wormy figs. Another important consideration is
not to dry the figs too much. If too dry the seller not only suffers loss
of weight, but also injures the quality, as overdried fruit must be
processed before it can be packed. When the figs have become suffi-
ciently cured they are still phable, yielding to a slight pressure of the
fingers. In very warm weather the smaller figs are sufficiently dried
when they fall from the tree. The larger will require exposure to the
sun on drying trays for two or three days. After the figs are suffi-
ciently dried they are rinsed in clean water to remove any dust or
dirt that may have adhered to them, and are then exposed to the sun |
long enough to remove the surplus moisture. After grading as to size

86 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

they are put into sweat boxes and are pressed down into a solid mass,
where they remain a week or ten days to undergo a sweat. This treat-
ment is a very important part of the curing process. The overdried
fruit absorbs moisture from the underdried, softens the skin and is a
decided benefit to the whole. In this condition the figs go to the packer.
In order to kill germs or the eggs of insects that may have been
deposited in the figs while exposed under the trees or on the drying
trays, some packers expose the fruit to hot steam for a few minutes,
while others immerse it in boiling brine, made with three ounces of
salt to a gallon of water, for two or three minutes. In curing the figs
exhibited here no salt was used. After this heating process the figs are
soft and pliable, and are then split open from stem to apex and spread
out in layers and pressed into bricks of a pound or half pound in
weight, and are then either wrapped in waxed paper, like those before
you, and the bricks packed into 25-pound boxes, or are first put into
fancy cartons and then packed into boxes of various sizes.

It may here be mentioned that certain varieties of trees produce figs
that may be called self-sealed, the eye being stopped by a drop of
hardened syrup or pellucid gum that effectually prevents the entrance
of filth beetles and other vermin, and thus assures figs that will not get
wormy without the scalding process. Cuttings of this variety will be
available from the department distribution mentioned above.

CONCLUSION.

While the production of the finest figs requires some attention to
details, such as the care of the capri trees and caprification, not neces-
sary in growing other fruits, there is nothing in the work not easily
mastered by laborers of average intelligence, while the fig tree possesses
compensating advantages. The crop is never lost by late spring frosts,
the tree requires little pruning, no spraying and no thinning of fruit,
which means a saving of labor fully equal to that required in caprifica-
tion. The prospective fig grower need not, therefore, be deterred from
entering upon the industry for fear of troublesome details, while he can
be assured that when his trees are five or six years old and in suitable
soil and climate, they will bring him a gross income of about a hundred
dollars per acre at present prices, with a steady increase for a generation
to come. (Applause.)

MR. MARKLEY. I want to say, up in Sutter County the Calimyrna
erows very well and sets heavy crops, but we have not been able to ripen
many figs. We have Roeding Nos. 2 and 3. No. 1 never has anything
on it to amount to anything. No. 3 has a very large profichi crop. What
we want is a caprifig that ripens the crop ten day: s earlier than Roeding
INo:'3:

MR. RIXFORD. It is a question edie we have capri trees that
fruit early enough for your purpose. The only way I have seen it done
is to plant the capri trees In some very early locality.

MR. MARKLEY. I want them later. It ripens before the Calimyrna
and drops off.

MR. RIXFORD. You can get caprifigs from the vicinity of Modesto
and Turlock and Ripon where the insects do not issue nearly as early as
they do at Fresno, and if you want them still later, those grown at
Niles—this year they did not issue until the 25th of July.

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 87

MR. MARKLEY. The climate of Niles is so different.

MR. RIXFORD. Still, the insect flourishes there.

MR. MARKLEY. If I took a Niles tree to Sacramento Valley it
would change its habits.

MR. RIXFORD. We are giving a good deal of attention to that
matter of varieties and trying to select a list of caprifigs that will give
a succession. We now have a list that will give a succession for three or
four weeks. The Smyrna fig continues to push its crop for four to six
weeks. Of course, the latest ones, if they are caprified, perhaps would
be too late to escape the fall rains, but the crop can be very greatly
increased by having the caprifigs at various times. The men best posted,
in sending to me, say, send 50, four or five days apart. The reason is,
to-day there may be a certain number of Smyrna figs in a receptive
condition. A week later there will be another lot, but in the mean time
the first caprifigs have dried up and the insects are dead, and that is
the reason why a succession of the caprifigs is important.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. I am going to take the liberty of calling
on four old members of this convention before noon. I am going to ask
Mr. E. W. Maslin to speak five minutes on seedling fig orchards.

MR. MASLIN. Mr. President, and Ladies and Gentlemen: I am
suffering from a very severe cold. I have very little of importance to
tell you or to add anything to the knowledge of how to grow a Smyrna
fig. I suppose my worthy Commissioner simply wants me to tell you
how I grew the Smyrna fig and what induced me to do so. I have about
twenty or thirty varieties of figs in my orchard at Loomis, and con-
ceiving the idea that I could grow a Smyrna fig, of which there were
none at that time, I knew, in the State, I wrote to Mr. Thurber of New
York and asked him to send me a box of Smyrna figs. He sent me the
Imperial figs, which I put out in 1886. I formed a nursery and put out
fifty-three trees in the vineyard orchard and about 15 acres in the flats.
The flats were destroyed; I destroyed them myself. Every tree, nearly,
had a different variety of fig and leaf. One year I raised one tree of a
purple fig which ripened. My notes seem to state what was not true,
that I planted the south part of it with figs from San Francisco. Those
were planted with the best figs I could buy in New York, for which I
paid 30 cents a pound. These figs were grown without irrigation; I had
not the facilities for irrigation. Some time in 1900, I went out to Mr.
Shaw’s place. At that time I did not believe in caprification. Gustav
Hisen insisted all the time that I could never raise figs without the wasp.
One day we went out to Niles and found two or three caprifigs. They
had plenty of pollen. We took the pollen out in my hand with a tooth-
pick and put it into one of the figs imported by Mr. Rixford. We raised
fifty figs. Mr. Shaw then wrote to Smyrna and got out a lot of Smyrna
figs. J put them in the orchard in little boxes. Not being an entomolo-
gist I did not know how to take care of them. Mr. Eisen, from Lower
California, sent me half a dozen boxes of the blastophaga. I put them
in the trees and I think either from the California or the Mexican or
the Smyrna came the blastophaga in that orchard. I was so unfortunate
later as to have to surrender my ranch to Mr. Gage. It was due to Mr.
Swingle and Mr. Rixford to recognize the value of the orchard. So far
as | am concerned, my effort was to grow the Smyrna fig through the
blastophaga and the seedling. I was a sort of a pioneer without | much
Knowledge of the question. Applause. )

88 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

MR. RIXFORD. With Mr. Maslin’s permission I would like to make
a correction. It was in 1883. A

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. Mr. Kohler of Selma has been asked to
speak on curing figs.

MR. KOHLER. I am in a peculiar position. I am a good deal like
this gentleman that has just spoken. I did not know much about it and
have been trying to learn, and when I run across such men as Mr. Rix-
ford I find that I have learned a whole lot that is wrong and I don’t
know what is correct. But I raised a few of the figs this year, and after
IT put them in the sweat box my wife was looking over some one day and
she found a number that were sealed up. I saw the one that Mr. Rixford
had last year; and the wax had come out and seemed to drop over, but
this was sealed up and looked transparent. I forgot to send them to
him and I don’t know what trees they came off of, but another year I
will observe closer and watch for those trees. I cured some, and I believe
in the pure sunshine and no dope on them. When they drop off they
get a little dirt and I wash them in cold water with a very little salt.
i imagine that the salt gave them a bright, glazy color, and then to get
them in the proper condition I put them in the oven, and the oven I had
125 degrees hot, and kept them in there four or five minutes and packed
them. They told me my method was impracticable and I told them it
was not, because I could fix an oven and a dryer just as easy as they had
it on a carrier going through hot liquid. There was a Swiss-Italian that
gave me this idea, and he told me that if there was anything that he
understood thoroughly it was figs and oranges, and he told me that the
figs that they packed in New York they used a sort of an acid and they
had an acid taste to them, but Mr. Rixford tells me the good figs are not
thus packed, so he must have been wrong. I have been buying caprifig
trees for three or four years, and I have got all kinds of trees. I don’t
know what they are going to bear, but I have got all kinds of shapes
and all kinds of trees. It is something I don’t know much about.
(Applause. ) °

MR. RIXFORD. There is about one fig in fifty, generally, that is
self-sealed.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. Mr. Elmore Chase will speak on our
trade in Smyrna figs.

MR. CHASE. The undried figs. I have not done any very big busi-
ness in that matter; I am just starting in the business. Mr. Rixford
has helped me considerably. I bought, something like ten years ago,
twenty-five figs from Mr. Roeding, and he sent me two ecaprifig trees
and one of them has borne figs, but I don’t get any blastophaga. and
this year the caprifig tree has raised a large number of mamme. but
they all dropped. I received a large number of the profichi figs from
Loomis. We hung them up in our trees and even had a very good crop
this year, but the later ones did not fertilize. By the way, my figs have
been fertilized for four or five years, and I don’t know how they were
fertilized. I have had a fair crop for several years without the insect.
I wrote to Mr. Roeding about that. He said, ‘‘Send me some figs.”’ I
sent him some and he said, ‘‘You are fortunate. The bugs are about
vou somewhere.’’ I took the figs, some two or three hundred pounds,
this year from a few trees. We made a weak brine, dipped them in

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 89

the brine hot and then cut them open—lI can’t explain just the process,
as my daughter did it—and packed them in fancy boxes and carried
them to Sacramento, and they had never heard of these figs before and
it was hard work to get started. When I got started they sold rapidly.
I sold most all of my Smyrna figs just as I picked them from the tree,
earried them right down there and sold them green. In this way I
have created with the Smyrna fig quite a demand from one firm, and
they told me, ‘‘ Next year we can sell everything you raise; the demand
for them is great.’’ Another process J took with the Calimyrna fig
was to dip them, what we call candying them, in hot sugar and let
them dry and dip again. The process lasts several days. Those bring
as high as 40, 50 and 60 cents a pound, and that supply we sent down
there went so quickly that they wanted more, but we did not have them.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. I think the most remarkable thing about
this entire discussing is that after thousands and thousands of pages
have been printed in trying to discover who introduced the blasto-
phaga—as much as has been used in trying to discover who hit Billy
Patterson—now we find a pioneer, Mr. Rixford, who discovers that it
has been here forty years. That discovery is not so remarkable as the
fact that Mr. Rixford had the courage to say that all these discussions
we have had for years have been a mistake, taking away credit from
his own department and from a great many other men. I don’t know
how to account for this candor on Mr. Rixford’s part in any other way
than because he is a California pioneer. Now, Mr. Berwick has a few
words to say.

MR. BERWICK. I have to catch this next train and I was just
going. I was telling you yesterday that we had a grand opportunity
of doing something. We have talked a great deal for five and a half
years and this year our treasurer, Mr. John 8. Dore of Fresno, is willing
to help us out by going to Washington, and he is a man of some stir. I
am tired of hearing people say, ‘‘Oh, it will come.’’ Did you ever
know a fig tree to come—even a barren fig tree—unless some one planted
it? Did you ever know a house to get built unless some one built it?
And if you want parcels post to help your fig business you have to do
something. Mr. Dore is here and he will tell you what you can do, and
I trust that you will be ready to do something more than talk at this
time. Will you permit Mr. Dore to take my place?

MR. DORE. Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: I just came
in your hall a few moments ago. I had no idea that my friend Berwick
_ was going to thrust this upon me. The question, I see by the press, was
mentioned yesterday, and my name has been connected with it just
now, and I can tell you very briefiy what I propose to do. When the
Farmers’ Union, a State organization, met in Fresno a few weeks ago
I was selected by the State organization a member of the National
‘Legislation Committee of that body, and one purpose in my selection

was to push the parcels post, as we adopted very strong resolutions
there, and because of that, perhaps more than any other thing, I was
chosen.

Now, some say that little can be done here or at Washington; that

90 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

we can pass resolutions and go home and come back next year and
pass resolutions again. As Mr. Berwick has told you, for five or six
years we have been doing that. We have made progress in the enlight-
-enment of the people; we are more solid with the people, the producing
classes of this country, because of the agitation, but we are not making
much progress toward the establishment of a parcels post. The plan
I have in view is this. A few years ago I met with the National Grange
at Rochester, and this motion for the first time was adopted by that
conservative producers’ association, numbering over 800,000, and from
that day to this the parcels post has occupied a conspicuous place in the
national meeting of that great organization. Every state grange and
all of the local granges and every paper of that organization—and there
are many of them—have pushed it vigorously for the past five or six
years. As I said before, it is a conservative organization, but after
it has once planted its standard along that line it takes no backward
step. The work for the rural delivery and for many other national move-
ments has been pushed, and persistently, by that organization. As a
result we have marched forward. The Farmers’ Union, which has
between two and three million people, largely in the Southern States,
has adopted the same idea, and California, perhaps, was as vigorous
as any in that line. During the sessions of congress the National
Grange for many years has maintained a legislative committee, and a
good share of the time it is in session in Washington; they have met
with the President and the members of the cabinet, and before com-
mittees of congress they have not had a respectful hearing when they
have asked to be heard. What I propose to do is this. I propose to
meet, if I go to Washington, with the committees’ of the Grange and
the Farmers’ Union. I am personally acquainted with the men, or
most of them—all of them on the Grange and most of them in the
Farmers’ Union. We will agree that we can push the parcels post
along intelligent ines. And what are those lines? First, we will have
compiled from the Congressional Record at the present session of con-
gress, both senate and house of representatives, the action of every
member upon every question relating to the parcels post, and publish
that information in every congressional district in the Union. Aren’t
we making progress when we do this? I think so. And there is no
combination of capital, no combination of interests that are antagonistic
to this parcels post that can hinder our doing this, and we will place
within the reach of the people of this nation exactly what we want,
and we will show who are favoring the things that the farmers are
calling for. I have yet to find any state or national grange, any state
or national farmers’ union, a single man or woman, to raise a hand
or voice against this great convenience and great necessity of our
civilization, as it has been in other countries, and, therefore, I say
that when we have a conerete plan of operation that shall mean some-
thing and that shall tell our people who are their friends and who are
careless or antagonistic or indifferent, we will have made progress. The
question is as to doing it. It is with some degree of hesitancy or deli-
eacy that I stated to my friend Berwick the situation. The Farmers’
Union appropriated $250 for my expenses, but they did not have the
amount in the treasury. There was a misunderstanding and it has
come back to the National Convention, and then the question came up

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. OL

whether we should be there or not. The master of the National Grange,
ex-Governor Batcheller of New Hampshire, has pushed this matter
earnestly. More than one page of. his speech each year in his annual
message has been devoted to the parcels post, and in the discussions it has
occupied a larger space than any one question for four years. Ex-Gov-
ernor Bell of Vermont, another member of the executive committee of
the National Grange, is also in line and working and has worked, and
while occupying the position that he has in the grange, has missed no
opportunity to push to the front in an effective way the demands of
the producers of this country for that great convenience. Aaron Jones
of South Bend, Indiana, another member of that committee and past
master, is a sterling farmer who visited California and spent some time
at my home. I have had frequent correspondence with these gentle-
men and we have exchanged views in regard to this question, and I
tell you that there is no reason why the farmers and the fruit growers
of California shall not make their voice heard, and I tell you when
the representatives of those two organizations, through their legislative
committee, stand before the committees of congress, when they stand
before the world, publishing the name of every man there, and no man
has any right to question or dispute the right of the people to publish
the record. Let the people understand this and it will right itself in
a little while. There will be no injustice, there will be no wrong
done any member of congress, nothing that is unfair. On the contrary,
it will save them from misrepresentation and from any and all wrong-
doing on that side of the question.

I have occupied more time, Mr. Chairman, than I should. J had no
thought of speaking at this time, but I will offer, before the close of
the meeting, some resolutions touching this matter and voicing, as I
hope, the sentiment of the fruit growers of California upon this subject.
(Applause. )

A recess was here taken until 1.30 o’clock Pp. mM.

AFTERNOON SESSION.

The President called the convention to order at 1.30 o’clock P. M.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. We will now have the pleasure of listen-
ing to Mr. Ashley on the subject, “San Joaquin County Grape Growers’.
Association.’ (Applause. )

MR. ASHLEY. Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: I want you to
be a little lenient with me. I am nota public talker. As to my subject,
I want you to be a little lenient on that, because while I have been grow-
ing grapes nineteen years, we have only been in this work one year.
There are lots of things we do not understand. If there is anything in.
what I say that seems to be at all out of the way, understand it is from
a grower’s standpoint and nothing personal is intended.

92 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

CO-OPERATION FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE PRODUCER.
By GEorcGE W. ASHLEY, of Stockton.

Organizations, associations and corporations without number have
been formed and are still being formed for the benefit of some one. The
greater number of these go to pieces on the rock of adversity. In those
that are successful the smaller stockholder or member is usually frozen
out and the profits go to the few. With few exceptions those that are
successful are conducted on a commercial basis and the profits are
divided up according to the number of shares of stock held by their
fortunate owner and not according to the products handled for the party
that grew them.

In a list of the few exceptions to the above rule and getting down to
those of closer interest to the fruit growers are such bodies as the Cali-
fornia Fruit Growers’ Exchange of Los Angeles, the Hood River Apple
Growers’ Association of Oregon, The Yakima Fruit Growers’ Union of
Washington, The Georgia Fruit Exchange of Georgia, The Southern
Texas Truck Growers’ Association, and several others. These have for
their chief object, not how large a per cent they can pay on their stock,
if they have any, but how much per box they can return their members
for their fruit? How cheap they can buy their supplies for their mem-
bers? How well they can watch legislation, both state and national?
How they can better distribute their products? How they can open new
markets, and first, last and all the time how good a box of fruit they
can put up? The time has gone by when the fruit grower can work
under the old Roman maxim of caveat emptor, “‘Let the buyer beware.’’
The one for the future will be, ‘‘The seller must make good.’’ The
chief road to prosperity for every successful fruit organization will be
g2ood goods. Make the brand good in every market. Fire out the care-
less and unreliable grower or else have your contracts so ironclad he
must come through with good goods. So much for fruit organizations
in general.

Now for our own experience in the San Joaquin County Table Grape
Growers’ Association. There were several causes for the starting of our
association. One of these, and I may say the chief one, was the fight by
the importers to reduce the tariff on the Almeria grapes. You all know
the result of this fight by which the tariff on foreign grapes was raised
25 per cent. This was accomplished by our congressman, more as the
result of the action of a committee appointed by the State Fruit
Growers’ Convention of two years ago, than to the action of any one
else. We may, however, all have helped a little. This question. how-
ever, called together the grape growers of our district many times and
resulted in the formation of an association.

This association held quite a number of meetings, and discussed
whether it would only work along the lines of legislation, cheaper sup-
ples, and a better pack, or whether in addition it would conduct a
general shipping business. Finally, the more radical element won. and
it was decided to undertake all things connected with the picking,
packing, and marketing of grapes. When this decision was reached. it
was thought best to change from an association to a corporation. This
was done, but we still retained our association name.

In order to carry out our aims we knew we should have to have

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 93

money. How to obtain this was the question. In order to allow the
smaller grower to come in and feel protected, our shares had been
placed at $25 per share, payable in five annual installments. The num-
ber of shares had been limited to one for each person. Therefore, to
get money we knew we would have to borrow it. We decided to adopt
a marketing agency and get our funds from them. On the question ofa
marketing agency our board of directors, and also our members, were
pretty well divided up, and possibly here we made our first mistake of
adopting two firms doing business in the same territory as our agents.
But we did this. With our selling agents adopted we were enabled to
get money for our members to buy their supplies of shook, sulphur,
nails, etc., at a reasonable figure. The majority of our growers had
paid 1214 cents for shook and baskets two years ago and 101% cents

one year ago. They wanted it cheaper, and by getting together and
_ buying one half million in a bunch we got a much lower figure. In this
one item we saved our members between five and ten thousand dollars.
In labels on the number ordered we saved from $750 over their price
in small lots. In sulphur we bought so cheap that more than one store
asked us to buy for them. Nails we got at bedrock prices.

We secured money for those that needed it at a very reasonable rate
of interest. We built two good sized packing houses and one smaller
one. We did not require all of our members to pack in these, as we
regarded them in a way as experimental. Instead of running them
ourselves at first we let the contract to a firm at a fixed price under a
heavy bond to run them and load our cars. This may or may not have
been a mistake. We ran them ourselves the last part of the season,
and the majority of our members will insist on this way next year,
though whether it will be by the crate or by the time taken to pack a
erate I am unable to state. The greatest objection to a fixed price per
erate for packing is that the grower with good grapes and the careful
picker has to pay for more than his share.

Our work this season has shown conclusively that only by the closest
inspection can you secure a reliable pack of grapes and this inspection
is much more easily secured at a central packing house than otherwise.
For while the majority of members are honest, conscientious and fair.
in the minority are some who do not possess these qualifications and a
few who are actually dishonest. These few will kill your brand. You
ean not carry out your motto of ‘‘Make the brand good in every
market,’’ with these few putting in undesired, improperly picked,
culled or packed fruit, handled carelessly. To have an inspector present
at every growers’ packing house is impracticable. We had at our
busiest time four outside inspectors and two house inspectors, and they
got so they could turn a crate upside down and take the baskets out in
a scientific manner. In addition to these, we had our own man in the
East to report on the packs and condition on arrival, etc.

As some remuneration for what we have done in this line we have
received several encouraging letters, one of which says, “‘For a number
of seasons past the Lodi pack of grapes has been gradually deteriorating.
In nearly all markets there was a prejudice against the shipments from
Lodi and a preference shown to some of the other points on account of
the more careful grading and packing. We know it has been the
object of your association to improve the pack, and we are pleased to

94 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

note that considerable has been accomplished along these lines. and
a good deal of the prejudice has been eradicated. We feel confident if
this work is continued it will only be a question of a little time until
Lodi will stand at the head of the list.’

All of this inspection had the effect of shutting out many cars of
inferior grapes. Not as many as we should have shut out, but quite
a considerable number, at least 50, possibly 100. In comparison to
this, we of the Lodi district had the same old game to contend with
of the commercial companies ace epting any and everything offered in
the shape of a crate of grapes. And here we take occasion to say that
our association might never have been in the shipping business had
these same commercial companies ever shown at Lodi any disposition
to inspect or hold down the poor f. 0. h. pack. Their system in the
past has been a premium for a poor pack. We are pleased to note
there is some disposition to remedy this next season.

Returning to our marketing agencies: With one of these, Denney &
Co., we made a contract by which they were to receive as their com-
mission, not a flat rate per cent, but so much per cent above the auction
charge in the East. Our reason for this was that the auction charge
varies a great deal in different cities, and we thought possibly we
would get better distribution if our agent received the same per cent
no matter to which city he sent our cars to instead of getting 5 per
cent net in some large city and 2 per cent in some small one. We
believe that this system would greatly aid distribution if adopted by
others.

Under the present systems, our organizations find that growers’ fruit
iS sometimes used (and I may say quite often) to fight other people’s
battles with, the grower receiving no advantage thereby. If the differ-
ent firms wish to fight, why not use their own fruit? Our instructions
to our principal agent, Denney & Co., was that if any one wished to
fight to let them fight, but to keep our fruit out of it, to only drop them
when. other people had already dropped. Otherwise go to auction. In
connection with this, however, Lodi district and our organization in
particular wishes to give notice to the various other districts and the
various commercial companies that another season we are not going to
sit around the first part of the reason while prices are good and let
some other f. 0. b. district drop its prices 10 cents per erate for a whole
week, as was done by one district three times this season while Lodi
held an umbrella over it. Whenever it is necessary to drop the price,
it must be for the whole Tokay belt.

As an association there is a situation that we redline we have got to
meet. It is the marketing of 10,000 cars of table grapes from Cali-
fornia. This to be done in the same market and at the same time
that they are marketing 10,000 cars of Michigan, New York. and Ohio
grapes, Washington and Idaho prunes and Eastern and Colorado fruit,
all under present conditions to be used up in a short time. This can
best be done by organization, whether it be the getting together of
the various commercial companies or whether the growers are forced
into a growers’ organization.

We have got to get our grapes on the market for less money, and
we have got to get some way of extending the marketing season. I do not
mean for less money than has been received by the grower this year,

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 95

but at less cost with better distribution and with fewer rejections. At
less cost, I said. Our freight and refrigeration charges to some points
are exorbitant. The railroad tells us that one reason we have to pay
so much freight is because they have to bring the cars back empty.
Now, if this is a fact, why did our association have to refuse to load
ears that were so strong with carbolic acid, salt fish and smoked meat
Wwe were afraid to put grapes in them? Why did we load numerous
cars that had been previously loaded with cement, merchandise, and
provisions? At less cost, | said! Why should we pay the same freight
charges to Salt Lake and Denver as to Chicago? It is less than half-
way. Why the same freight charge to Salt Lake and Denver as the
orange grower pays to New York City? Why the same refrigeration
charge to Salt Lake as to Denver.

Now, consider distribution from two sides, one of getting of the fruit
into more cities, the other the act of not getting too many ears into
the same city. Without better organization this can only be remedied
to a small extent by the exchange of billings and divisions. The rejec-
tion of cars by buyers because the market has gone against them should
be reached in some manner, and can only be reached by organization
of some form. For if one firm has a car sold at 65 cents per crate and
about the time it arrives another firm comes along and offers one for
45 cents, the commission firm that bought at 65 cents is very apt to
ask for a reduction on account of some fly speck he has found.

With these 10,000 cars of grapes to market our association realizes
that we have got to give up the idea of fancy prices, especially from
young vines and from some localities, and be willing to put our grapes
out in the West and Mississippi River country at a price based on a
reasonable rate of interest, on a reasonable investment with a reason-
able freight rate. Under those conditions we would open up new mar-

kets, send the Eastern grapes back where they belong, and by only

putting our choicest grapes in the far East we would make some money
for all. But we can not pay $346.50 freight and refrigeration for a
1,000-mile haul and do it.

One thing our association learned is that in many of the auction
markets the receivers, when the markets are bad, bid in the grapes for

the companies they are acting for. There is no question but what this

has a tendency to steady the market. But this same receiver by taking
the chance will in nine times out of ten make five times as much as
the grower does who has spent a year raising it. If a large organiza-
tion had its own agents to cut up these cars it would add quite a sum

to the growers’ profit. The danger now of putting car loads into small

cities is that half a dozen others may do the same thing and the market
get demoralized, the fruit old, and everybody disgusted. The dis-
tributors’ organization of Sacramento has done much towards dis-—
tributing the fruit properly, but it does not go far enough. It should
control the f. o. b. price of its different companies in all the districts
it buys in and it should have some form of inspecting, and stand only
for good goods. As long as the: distributors do or do not do these
things, and as long as the majority of the independent companies are
price cutters, it looks as though the growers themselves, through a
state organization, would have to take these various matters up. The
orange growers of the south had to do it; the Georgia peach growers

96 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

had to do it; the Oregon and Washington apple growers had to do it.
and why should not the grape and fruit growers of northern California
do it? Why should they pay large sums as dividends on stock held by
fortunate individuals? Why should they have to pay exorbitant
prices for shook? Why should they have their fruit selling through
half a dozen agents in a town, cutting each others’ throats? Why
should there not be some form of inspection by which the poor fruit is
kept at home? Why should there not be some organization of grape
and fruit people to work with various other organizations in other
lines to have some effect on legislation and rates? Why should there
not be some organization to put into effect in a commercial way the
storage of Emperor grapes for later sale and keep them out of the way
of the Tokay? Why can not we have some codperation for the benefit
of the table-grape producer?

We, of the San Joaquin County Table Grape Growers’ Association,
have tried some of these in a small way, and have been reasonably suc-
cessful. Why can not other districts do the same and then all get
together under some central organization, no matter what its name is?

I said we have been reasonably successful. We shipped some 300
cars, and would have shipped five or six hundred had it not been for the
poor prices and early rains. We sold grapes in thirty-seven different
markets in car load lots, besides shipping to numerous towns in small
lots. We shipped grapes from the Sandwich Islands to Florida, and
are ready to compare prices with any one of the same grade of fruit.

We do not claim that we have not made mistakes. We have made
them. Some we have rectified. Some we will not make again, others
we may make in a different form. Still we are hopeful, and buyers
are beginning to ask for our pack, and over 250 of our members have
signified their intention of going on next season.

One thing we are ready to do, and that is to cooperate with any one
that we believe can help in any way to increase the amount received
and lower the amount of cost to the grape and fruit grower. I thank
vou. (Applause. )

MR. STEPHENS. I would like to ask one question. How many
members are there of your association?

MR. ASHLEY. There are over 250 paid up for the next year
already.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. The Committee on Seeing the Valley has
asked me to have you pass upon the program for to-morrow. The com-
mittee does not think it will be possible, owing to the rain, to make that
excursion, and yet they do not want to call it off without the authority
of the delegates of the convention, and if you feel that it will be a
‘failure to try and get around to-morrow in the mud, and the committee
feels that way, I would like to entertain a motion that we cut that out
of the program to-morrow and use the time in convention.

MR. DARGITZ. I make a motion to that effect.

The motion was duly seconded and unanimously earried.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. The next thing on the program now is
the report of the California Fruit Distributors, by Frank B. McKevitt,
the manager of the organization known as the Californa Fruit Dis-
tributors. (Applause. )

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8

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 97

REPORT OF THE CALIFORNIA FRUIT DISTRIBUTORS.

By F. B. MclKevitrt, Sacramento.
The fruit season of 1909 is distirtguished from all others by the fact

that never before in the history of the industry has the movement of

fresh fruit to outside markets been of such great volume, 15,265 car

loads having been shipped, nearly 2,400 more than in 1908.

It might be inferred from this heavy shipment that the deciduous
fruit crop of the State was unusually large, but this would not be true,
the crop of some varieties and of some localities having been quite short.

Last year the crop was very heavy, and owing to the season being
comparatively dry, there having been practically no spring rains, the
fruit did not attain full size, and trees especially showed the effect by
a lessened growth and poor bud development. This was true more par-
ticularly in the localities where irrigation is not practiced, but to some
extent was the case almost everywhere in the Sacramento Valley. In
the spring the setting of fruit showed an almost total failure of apri-
cots, ight crop of cherries, and a half crop of peaches, pears, and plums.
Owing to the abundant rainfall, fairly satisfactory cultivation, and the
fact that the crop was short, it was estimated that we would be safe in
providing for an output of these varieties which should be about
seventy-five per cent of last year’s shipments. We have, however, done
better than that. In the San Joaquin Valley all tree fruits excepting
apricots were full crops, as were also grapes.

CHERRIES.
The first car load of cherries for the season was shipped May 8th,

and was forwarded by freight. The first car for 1908 was shipped May

25th, which was unusually late, the records showing first car lot ship-
ment in previous years as follows: 1902, May 13th; 1903, May 9th;

1904, May 13th; 1905, April. 22d; 1906, May 2d; 1907, May 5th. All

these first shipments went forward from Vacaville.

A total of 24934 cars of cherries were shipped, this being 4114 cars
more than in the preceding year. As has been stated before, this did
not result from a larger crop than in 1908, but the canners and other

factors, which are usually purchasers of this fruit, were not much in

evidence, the Eastern market was good, and the result was the increased
shipment. Prices were very satisfactory. Practically all these ship-
ments were forwarded by the regular freight service, which proved per-
fectly satisfactory, and was infinitely cheaper than express.

APRICOTS.

Apricots were almost a total failure in the early sections, but were
better in Santa Clara, and a fine crop south of Tehachapi. There were,

however, nearly as many cars shipped as in 1908, when the crop was the

heaviest known for several years, the shipments for that year being
23134 cars, while that of 1909 was 20814 cars. Prices were very satis-
factory.
PLUMS.
The plum crop, while very good, was not heavy. Trees of this variety
showed wonderful qualities of endurance and productiveness, some
trees which were so loaded with fruit the preceding year that the

(—FGC

98 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

product was too small for shipment, and whose buds were inferior and
poorly developed, surprised the most experienced observers with a good
crop. Our plum shipment reached a total of 1,52634 cars, or only 237
cars less than in 1908. Prices were unusually good. Our plums seem
to be increasing in popularity everywhere, and are a very desirable
fruit. Many of the so-called Burbank varieties resemble the Bartlett
pear in having the exceedingly valuable property of ripening up beauti-
fully and developing an exquisite flavor when picked green. This is
true particularly of the Climax and Wickson.

PEACHES.

The peach shipments were quite heavy for California, a total of 2,599
cars going forward, or 620 more than last season. The quality of the
fruit was not very good, much of it being small and inferior, and in
some localities was very wormy. Owing to the shortage of this variety
in Eastern fruit growing centers a strong demand was anticipated, thus
undoubtedly causing the shipment of a quality that should never have
been permitted to leave California in its fresh state. Prices were low on
the major portion of the shipments, and returns to growers were very
small. To add to the misfortune, there was a car famine that came at
the height of the season, some of the fruit lying on the loading platforms
and in the packing houses from twenty-four to seventy-two hours, thus
causing it to arrive at destination in a soft and overripe condition.

PEARS.

The Bartlett pear crop was very good. and the quality of the fruit
was unusually fine, being of good size, and free from seab and other
defects. Winter pears were generally a short crop. Shipments were
2,638 cars, being exceeded by those of the preceding year by 63 car
loads. Prices were generally very good, owing to the fact that the crop
was almost entirely sold at a time when the Eastern markets were nearly
bare of domestic fruit of all kinds, and especially of this variety. The
reason for the heavy Eastern shipment of pears is to be found in the
absence of demand on the coast, the canners who are usually heavy
buyers being practically out of the market until the bulk of the crop
had been moved. This variety is undoubtedly the most popular of all
California fruit, and for eastern shipment we may well call it ““The
King of Fruits.’’

GRAPES.

The grape shipment in 1909 exceeded that of any previous season by
more than two thousand car loads, the total for the season being 5,875
cars, while that of last year was 3,812 cars, a gain of over fifty per cent
in one year, and it is probably true that there were more than 1,000
additional car loads available had the demand and condition of the fruit
justified shipment.

The grape market was satisfactory until about September 15th, cover-
ing the sale of upwards of 1,200 car loads, but after that time prices
were low, and in the great majority of cases showed no profit to the
crower. A reason for the low prices is to be found in the fact that not
only was the shipment from this State very much heavier than ever
before, but unfortunately it came into direct competition with a very

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 99

heavy crop of grapes and peaches grown in the East. A conservative
estimate made in our office early in August indicated an output of
upwards of twenty thousand car loads of peaches and grapes alone
from Michigan, New York, and Ohio, this fruit nearly all crowding
into the market between September Ist and October 15th. As there were
also great quantities of apples, pears, plums, etc., coming in at the same
time, making an enormous aggregate of probably more than one
thousand car loads per day, it is not to be wondered at that California
growers, handicapped by the high cost of labor and transportation,
have no profit to show for these late shipments.

APPLES.

Apples are not handled by this organization, so that no report on
this crop, which was fine and profitable, will be made here.

SERVICE.

The refrigerator-car service maintained by the Southern Pacific Rail-
road Company has proven very satisfactory. The management is in
able and experienced hands, and we have found hearty cooperation in
all endeavors for the benefit of the service. The only blot on the other-
wise splendid record of the Refrigerator Car Company was the car
shortage, which came in the height of the season. While disposed to
-eriticise severely at the time, and criticism was certainly due some one,
for adequate provision was not made even for the estimated shipment,
still we must admit that most of the trouble was caused by the excep-
tionally large offerings, and we must give credit, too, for untiring
exertions on the part of the company to remedy these conditions as soon
as they realized the necessity for so doing.

RAILWAY SERVICE.

Local railway service from shipping point to Roseville, where
through trains for the East are made up, was very unsatisfactory,
owing to a number of causes unimportant in themselves and which we
hope will be overcome another season. From Roseville to the East
service has been almost uniformly good, although we contend that the
running time between here and the East should be cut down from
160 hours, present schedule, to 147 hours, thus enabling fruit to be
sold on the seventh morning in Chicago. A very slight increase in the
speed of trains would make this gain possible, and it is one of the
many betterments that the California Fruit Distributors are making a
strenuous fight to obtain. The Santa Fe Railroad proved a good friend
to the fruit men this year, not only loaning to the Southern Pacific
Company all the refrigerator cars that could be spared from their own
business, but putting into the Sacramento River service their fine
steamer, making it possible for the Southern Pacific Company to handle
expeditiously the exceedingly heavy pear and plum business of the
Yiver section during the month of July.

A very considerable amount of fruit was shipped East over the Santa
Fe lines during the season, and the service was the best ever received
for California fruit, their running time from Fresno to Chicago being

100 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

151 hours, which schedule was almost entirely maintained during the
season.
RATES.

The question of rates is a most important one, and the distributors
have labored constantly to help the growers of California secure such
concessions as would put the industry on a safe and paying basis. At
the last Fruit Growers’ Convention a transportation committee was
appointed to consider this matter, and I want to heartily commend the
splendid work it has done. The committee has been untiring in its
efforts, and has collected an array of statistics which are a revelation.

We had hoped to be an effective agent in aiding the growers obtain
the desired relief, and to that end we sent a representative from Cali-
fornia to attend the recent meeting of the Transcontinental Traffic
Association at Chicago to urge upon the representatives of the trans-
portation lines at that meeting the absolute necessity of granting us
the so-called ‘‘postage-stamp’’ rate of $1.15 per 100 to all points in
the East. Owing to unexpected opposition in some quarters, we were
unable to obtain what we asked for, although we must give credit to the
Southern Pacific and the Santa Fe representatives for what we believe
to be a sincere wish to secure for us the desired rate. A considerable
concession, however, was obtained, as can be seen by comparing the old
rate with the new one that has been promised:

New York, Boston; Philadelphia, Baltimore, old rate, $1.45; new
rate, $1.40; and on peaches and grapes, old rate, $1.45; new rate, $1.25.

Buffalo, Pittsburg, Cleveland, old rate, $1.35; new, $1.30; peaches
and grapes, old rate, $1.35; new, $1.25.

Detroit, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, old rate, $1.25; new, $1.20; ; peaches
and grapes, old rate, $1.25; new rate, $1.20.

Chicago, St. Louis, Minneapolis, St. Paul, $1.15. No change.

It is a great disappointment that our just demand was not granted,
but as the rate asked for is absolutely essential, we will continue our
efforts, and that ultimate success will be achieved we do not doubt.
Even as it is, however, had the present crop been handled on the
reduced rate, a saving of over $200,000 would have been made, which
sum put into circulation among the growers would have tended to
alleviate some of the heartaches.

In making a comparison of the shipments of this season and last it
is to be seen that the gain of nearly 2,400 car loads was made entirely
- in peaches (gain 620 cars) and grapes (gain 2,059 cars), other varie-
ties, with the exception of cherries, showing a decrease. Heavy ship-
ments of peaches were made from the San Joaquin Valley, where the
crop was fine, more than overcoming the considerable shortage in ship-
ments of this variety from Placer and other sections, and creating the
excess of 620 cars. “A considerable part of the increased grape ship-
ments came from the Lodi district, where the acreage of table grapes
is very extensive, but all parts of the State contributed in proportion.
In the Lodi district a larger percentage of the output was handled by
shippers outside of the California Fruit Distributors than ever before.
and the San Joaquin Valley was an inviting field, not only for these
firms, but for several new ones who tried their hands at the game, and
it is a significant fact which may or may not be related to this condi-

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 101

tion that it was on these two varieties that no money was made by the
erowers. We fully believe, however, that could all of this business have
passed through one channel, results would have been far better. Com-
petitive shipping from California is the Eastern dealer’s opportunity,
we can not blame him for buying at as low a price as possible, but
as our bread and butter depend upon securing a reasonable price for
our products, we certainly are very shortsighted if we do not make
every effort to protect our interests. It is quite customary for dealers
to wire us that so-and-so is quoting fruit for a less price than we
are asking, and we have do doubt that he is saying the same thing
about us to our competitors, and we are told that it often happens
that he makes his bluff work, and succeeds in buying at a lower price
than was established, when in all probability the original price was
fixed as low as it could be and show a living profit to the owner. If
all fruit was sold through one channel such things as this could not
be done, and the further we get away from this idea, the nearer we
get to calamity. With the limited output of the past this danger was
not threatening, but with the wonderful increase of the past few years
every thinking and conservative grower must recognize the fact that
we are drifting towards the rocks, from which nothing can save us
except united and harmonious effort.

Much misconception of the object and aims of the California Fruit
Distributors exists in the public mind, and there are some growers
who have been taught to believe that the organization is a trust; formed
for illegal and ulterior purposes, but the truth of the matter is that
no enterprise ever undertaken in the fruit business has done so much
to advance the interests of the whole industry as this. We have long
since passed that stage of our business when our fruit could be sold to
good advantage anywhere—now we must give the most careful con-
sideration to each market, study its peculiarities and requirements, and
then give to it only so much, and of such kinds as it can handle at
paying prices. This is what the California Fruit Distributors are try-
ing to do; what they are doing, so far as it can be done by any
organization which does not handle the entire output. With a con-
siderable volume of business passing through other channels, the desti-
nation of which is unknown to us, we are necessarily handicapped in
our efforts for perfect distribution and maintaining of prices, unavoid-
ably resulting in an occasional glut of auction markets and a lower
range of f. o. b. values, all of which is productive of loss. It is not
necessary to ask upon whose shoulders must fall, not only the direct
loss so occasioned, but. worse still, the depreciation of land values,
which always is sure to follow when our business is no longer profitable.
*“United we stand, and divided we fall,’’ is just as true of the fruit
business as of our national government, and is a lesson that fruit
erowers must learn before our industry can be placed upon the high
plane of commercial success. (Applause.)

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. The next address will be, ‘‘A Grower’s
Marketing Agency,’’ by W. C. Walker, manager of the California Fruit
Exchange, Sacramento. (Applause.)

102 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

A GROWER’S MARKETING AGENCY.
By W. C. WALKER, of Sacramento.

The old truism, ‘‘Necessity is the mother of invention,’’ can very
appropriately be used as the text for a discourse on the question of a
erower’s marketing agency. It has been well said that history often
repeats itself, and I hope in this paper to offer food for thought and
the discussion of a similar problem, if not the identical problem that
confronted the growers assembled at the State Fruit Growers’ Con-
vention held in San Francisco, December 5, 1909. At that meeting the
growers of tree fruits grown for Eastern shipment were in a dilemma,
and as a result of a general admission all round that the situation was
indeed serious, a resolution was adopted as follows:

WHEREAS, It is a fact that unless measures are devised to relieve the present
situation, the greater portion of our shipping fruits will have to be worked over into
drying or canning varieties, thus relieving us of one great outlet for the products of
our orchards.

At that time drying and canning fruits, also table grapes, were in
excellent demand and the only real dark outlook was in shipping fruit.
We have lived to see all three fruits mentioned reach a marketing stage
more serious than shipping tree fruits. We have had the pleasure of
seeing the organization which was created as a result of the resolution,
develop a market not only for the crops then in peril, but ship canning
varieties East successfully the past season—a dried fruit agency formed
and patterned along the same lines successfully marketing raisins and
dried fruits, and we hope to develop a way for making our table grapes
more profitable.

A committee was appointed to prepare a form of organization. The
committee met in Sacramento, January 16, 1901. The name adopted
was the California Fresh Fruit Association.

A later meeting was called at Newcastle, where the committee made
its report, and as a result associations were formed at Loomis, New-.
eastle, and Penryn. The associations were formed for the purpose of
cathering the fruit and loading it into cars for market; each realized
that individually they would be almost powerless in the markets against
the many rival concerns then engaged in open warfare, and a competi-
tion which if continued would have meant ruin to many growers as well
as those engaged in the shipping business. Therefore, a marketing
agency or exchange was needed for obtaining orders, distributing, and
selling the fruit. The result was on May 1, 1901, the California Fresh
Fruit Exchange was incorporated as a marketing agency for the various
growers’ associations. It had no jurisdiction in local affairs, but had
merely to do with finding markets. This arrangement was wise and
needful, for should the control be from the central organization, the
exchange would become all powerful, and the master instead of the
servant. It has worked out that the associations to-day are all powerful.
and the exchange purely a marketing service with the ownership and
control so widely distributed over northern California that any danger
of a few getting hold of the government of the organization is averted.
because the same is vested in representatives from districts several
hundred miles apart. The directorate is made up from the various
associations, and they are all so anxious to maintain it as a purely

?

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 103

marketing agency that our sphere in life has been well defined and
established. .

The working of the exchange resolves itself as follows: The local
associations gather the fruit of their own locality, supervise to some
extent the packing, the distribution of shooks, the loading of cars, ete.
These associations turn over to the exchange the loaded car. The bill of
lading and papers are forwarded to the Sacramento office ; the exchange
finds a market for the product, collects for the same, and returns to the
local associations the checks for the growers, and the local associations
in turn pay their members. The operation is quite simple, and from
experience it has been found that it is advisable to follow the above
procedure.

It would seem that returning to the grower all his fruit would bring,
the distribution of market information, etc., the exchange would have
nothing but a smooth road to travel on, but obstacles were encountered,
and some of them seemed almost insurmountable. The first was in
regard to the matter of obtaining box shook, packing houses, pay for the
help during the season when no shipping was being done, loaning of
money to growers during the winter, etc. It was also discovered the
growers organized in Placer County to market their own fruit did not
have a complete list of assortments, and found from experience that in
going before the trade of the country it would be necessary to have a
complete assortment to successfully trade in the big markets. There-
fore, it was necessary to reach out and do missionary work and teach
erowers to organize. All of this required money. How was it to be
secured? The banks did not care to loan to the associations because they
had no capital stock, and it was necessary for the association directors
to put their personal signatures upon the notes to raise sufficient funds
to do business. These amounts, as far as the local associations were con-
cerned, did not total very much, but in the exchange the aggregate was
considerable; in fact, so high that a good many of the larger growers
would not serve as directors and take the risk connected with the loss
when they had nothing to gain beyond the marketing of their fruit.

The above was the most serious obstacle ever presented. How could
the growers finance such a big undertaking without any capital to start
with? In other words, attempt to build something out of nothing. The
outcome was the present organization known as the California Fruit
Exchange, a cooperative stock corporation. The by-laws are so arranged
that no one individual, partnership, association or corporation can own
more than ten shares of stock. thereby eliminating the danger of con-
trol by a few persons, and at the same time overcoming the objection
of the banks. On February 19, 1907, the old exchange was reorganized,
and is now known as the California Fruit Exchange. Stock was sub-
seribed for and promptly paid up, as a great many growers willingly
purchased a share of capital stock then valued at one hundred dollars
($100). The local associations each purchased a share of capital stock
thereby making the connecting link between the associations and the
exchange. The results have been very gratifying, the banks have
learned that the exchange is thoroughly sound financially, that it does
not buy or speculate, thereby insuring a solidity; and the corporate
notes have been accepted without requiring a few persons to take the
big risk that formerly attended the financing.

104 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

In selecting the directors, it has always been the aim to pick one from
each shipping association first and then make up the balance of the
directorate from some of the old ‘‘stand-bys.”’

The annual balance sheet to December 31, 1908, showed an organiza-
tion with a splendid surplus, and a record of having paid two dividends,
and every prospect of a continuance of the same.

The dividends are disbursed as follows: first 6 per cent is set aside
as a payment on stock, then 20 per cent of the net earnings for the first
three years is set aside as a reserve fund. The balance is divided 75 per
cent among all growers, or growers’ associations, who have signed con-
tracts and shipped consistently, in proportion to their gross earnings,
and 25 per cent as a further dividend on stock. The first and second
years we divided the balance half on stock and half on gross sales, but
we recognized as a grower’s organization the stock was earning too
much, and changed it to increase the dividend on the tonnage as the
stock was only intended as a means to an end and we desired the growers
who produce the increment to obtain the benefit of it.

Our growth in tonnage during 1908 (the first year after reorganizing)
was about 95 per cent (588 in 1907; 1,146 in 1908). The increase for
the State during the same period was about 70 per cent (7,491 in 1907;
LeU tay ESTOS

Our gain this year over last has been about 25 per cent (1,146 in
1908; 1,433 in 1909).

The State growth to the same date has been about 17 per cent (12,917
mi L908 = Tod 72 am 1909):

The growers’ organizations with whom we have marketing arrange-
ments are:

Acampo Fruit Growers’ Association.
Acampo Christian Colony, through J. P. ae
Auburn Fruit Growers ’ Association.
Courtland Fruit Growers’ Company.
Florin Fruit Growers’ Association.
Fresno Fruit Growers’ Company.
Linden Fruit Growers’ Association.
Loomis Fruit Growers’ Association.
Lodi Packing Company.

Neweastle Fruit Growers’ Association.
Penryn Fruit Growers’ Association.
Sacramento River Association.
Vacaville Fruit Growers’ Association.
Winters Fruit Growers’ Association.

We also have a marketing arrangement with The San Joaquin County
Table Grape Growers’ ‘Association for members who desire to ship
through us.

We also have agencies at Lodi and Vacaville. We expect both dis-
tricts to become association points before long. Our agencies are with-
drawn as soon as the growers organize for themselves; that is our only
reason for an agency. We also market fruit for growers in several
districts who operate individually and load their own cars. These
associations and agencies represent practically every important ship-
ping center in northern California, except the apple districts.

With the assortments we are able to give, coupled with a trained

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 100d

force of salesmen and a good knowledge of market conditions gained
from several years’ experience, we are able to command the best trade
in the country. Our record of cars placed in the private-sale markets
during the past two years is enviable. This system of catering to and
building up the private-sale system has been the means of returning to
growers marketing through us good returns in the face of the depressed
“market conditions of 1908 and 1909.

We shall now take up the matter of distributing the fruits in the
markets. This feature embraces a very large field. The present mar-
keting system of the exchange is the outgrowth of several years’ experi-
ence. The marketing of deciduous fruits necessitates considerable
detail, on account of the many varieties and the different districts in
which they are grown. It has required careful study to find out the
markets that will take certain varieties and the varieties that will
_ stand transportation to the various markets. The country from Chicago
east will take varieties of a different nature than the markets west of
that city. This is largely on account of home-grown varieties in the
East. Likewise, the markets of the north and those of the south take
varieties that are unsalable at profitable figures east of the Rockies.
In the marketing of California fruit we have to be most careful to avoid
home-grown crops, as they are often preferred to the imported article
on account of the quantity, ripeness, and low freight rates. We also
find local prejudice often interferes in favor of home fruits. The ter-
ritory east of Chicago is practically all under the auction system, and
that north, south and west under the private sale. After very careful
consideration, we determined to make two central points—Omaha for
private sale and Chicago for auction. This system has proven very
satisfactory, especially at the loading points, where the association
manager is able to take certain varieties and put them into cars that
he is sure will go to auction and other varieties that will meet with
good sale in the West.

We aim to assort cars at all time to suit the Western market, and
in this way develop distribution. This assorting requires a great
amount of detail. We ship a great number of part cars from one dis-
trict to another to assemble the required assortment. If the car is
delayed it requires a careful inspection, so as to keep the fruit that has
ripened out of Eastern cars. In filling orders this year we assembled
a great many cars at additional expense to ourselves. But the cars
thus assorted usually were accepted at satisfactory prices and more
than repaid the local freight and other expenses.

We furnish circulars regularly to our agencies, showing the time
varieties will be in season. We also issue a circular each year giving
a very complete list of the estimated ripening dates and time ship-
ments will begin and end. The agents by following the same are in
a position to tell their trade ahead of time just about the varieties to
expect and thus be in a position to calculate on future requirements.

The packing is all done at home or in the orchards, with the excep-
tion of Fresno, Acampo, and Lodi where some of the fruit is hauled to
the shipping houses in lug boxes and there packed. The house managers
endeavor to inspect all packs as delivered and reject when below
standard. We make a special effort to load all fruit the day it is

106 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

recelved, our aim being to deliver to the railroad company fruit in
prime condition. The managers of the shipping houses endeavor to
ship nothing but hard, good-keeping stock; fruit. that is too ripe is sold
locally, as there is usually a good demand. We approve the recent
standardizing plan as we know its need. In fact, we have practically
been doing the same thing in our own way for several years.

The day following the shipment a telegram, giving full details of
each car, 1s sent to our general Eastern office, which in turn advises the
agents promptly. Thus they have full knowledge of all fruit rolling.
Time is a great element in the handling of deciduous fruit, owing to
its very perishable nature. This calls for prompt action along the line.
We know the individual growers, and definite advice from the East- —
ern markets as to packs gives us an opportunity to reach the grower
and correct the fault in future shipments. Detailed reports received
collectively point out faults which could not be detected individually.
If three or four points complain about a certain grower’s pack, we
know the fault lies at home and not with the transportation or refrig-
eration.

Prices are made by the head office in accordance with the supply and
demand on all cars except those sold at auction, where prices are deter-
mined by the purchasers. We have arrangements with the California
Fruit Growers’ Exchange to use their salaried agents at all points where
they have same, and we select any broker we choose at other points.
By conducting our sales direct with our agents we are in very much
better touch with the market than by turning over our shipments to any
other organization. Our present system keeps us in direct touch with
the market without going through too many channels. In this way we
are unhampered and our ideas of value are not dictated to or passed
upon by any one but ourselves, and it is only natural to suppose, being
a grower’s organization, we hold out for the highest price obtainable.
The prices on deciduous fruit fluctuate rapidly because of the number
of States that produce this character of fruit, and by having a free
and unhampered selling system, we are able to take full advantage of
prevailing conditions. As an answer to our values realized, we have
only to point to our successful growth.

We have followed the practice of having only one agent in any one
city, believing the practice of dividing up offerings brings one’s own
fruit into competition with itself, which, to say the least, is detrimental.
We make a practice of selling the cars impartially because we do not
buy or speculate and the exchange has nothing to gain but the highest
confidence of its membership, and in order to do this all must be treated
alike. We consider our satisfied membership the best evidence that
this has been the case. We have not lost a dollar on bad accounts in
the East since 1902. We endeavor to make payment to our growers
promptly, our average being about twenty-five days from the date of
shipment, and to do this no time can be lost in making remittances.

As a general thing the account sales leave the office the same day
the money is received, and a delay of five or six days in sending the
check from an Eastern district will cause just about that much delay
in returns to the growers.

The exchange charges its growers the usual commission and other

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 107

prevailing charges. At the end of the season, after all expenses have
been defrayed, whatever is left over is paid back in the form of a divi-
dend, as previously explained.

We consider the advices received during the year to be worth a great
deal. Our agents write about the markets, crops, weather, trade, etc.,
and the same in turn is given our growers, thereby enabling them to
keep in close touch with the matters affecting their fruit.

We believe in viewing codperation broadly and as a strictly business
proposition. In fact, this system is putting the deciduous business in
California on a strictly industrial basis without any speculative features
attached to it. It must be obvious if the growers can not make a suc-
cess marketing their own product through an agency well equipped
and constructed on businesslike lines, there is nothing in the fruit busi-
ness for the grower. We have found out to our satisfaction that the
agency as we now have it is a success, and our growers, as a general
thing, are successful. Therefore, we have great faith and confidence
in the future of deciduous fruits from this State, and many of our
growers, through careful study of prices realized on certain varieties
and the time of shipment of other varieties, have grafted over portions
of their orchards so as to make them profitable for practically the
entire season.

In our annual meetings we have never been afraid to take up policies
that we think have been wrong and thrash them out in open discussion.
We have endeavored not to be selfish in our ideas, and the very demo-
cratic way in which our meetings are handled have in themselves been
a great source of strength, because we obtain the combined intelligence
of a great number of growers who we consider are the practical fruit
men. In fact, our whole system resembles to a great extent that in
vogue by this republic. The associations, we might say, represent the
individual States and the exchange the Federal Government. The
States attend to all their own local affairs, devise their own laws, have
their own boards of directors, etc., and they delegate to the exchange
or Federal Government the handling of their foreion relations con-
nected with the business away from their own respective locality. The
associations in turn send to the board of directors their representative,
so that the board in turn becomes the house of representatives, and
the widespread interests represented are in themselves a safeguard and
a great source of strength to the whole institution. In fact, to say a
cooperative concern can not succeed is as illogical as to say this republic
is not a success.

We have tried to show the benefits secured the grower by codperating,
and experience has proven the following advantages:

A marketing agency owned by the grower, thus ensuring an avenue
to market under the growers’ complete control at all times. This in
itself means the danger of a monopoly controlled by others than growers
on fruit marketing is a thing of the past.

The full market price returned to its members.

The cost of marketing reduced.

The general pack vastly improved through the advice of the Hastern
agents, thereby causing our fruit to command a better price.

This exchange is growing daily, and when our advantages are better

108 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

known to growers in all districts we expect to have a very large growth
and become the controlling factor in deciduous fruits from this State. —

We have recited above what we consider the most important features
in this deal, and trust they will bring forth a discussion that will be
beneficial. (Applause. )

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. The next number, and the last on the
program, will have plenty of time. I hope everybody here will put down
what points he wants to discuss to-morrow. Mr. Stephens will come for-
ward as the representative of the Committee on Freight Rates, and we
will be glad to listen to his report. (Applause. )

MR. STEPHENS. Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: I realize
very forcibly that I do not possess the ability to present in a forcible
and convincing a way as should be done the important matter which I
am called upon to do. I doubt if anybody could do it, and I make no
attempt at oratory or anything of that kind, but get down to business
in my own awkward way.

To commence, I wish to say that for the first time, through conditions
existing in the past year and the year previous, the shippers and the
growers stand as a unit. There is no division in sentiment, no division
in opinion, regarding the questions that are contained in this report.
That is a very satisfactory condition to me and to all growers and it
should be to all who take an interest in the future upbuilding and
prosperity of this State. I wish to say in addition, regarding the work
of the committee, that we have not been idle, that we have been attending
to our duty for a year, and there was scarcely a week that we have not
been engaged in presenting to the railroads arguments in favor of your
contention. That has not been done without cost. We have called upon
nobody to aid us in this respect. We have gone down into our own
pockets to defray the expenses of the committee necessary in order to
present your demands—at least, your request—to the transportation
companies, the railroad officials, of the necessity of granting the relief
which you have asked. That has not been any small sum, either. It
will come nearer $350 to $400 than anything less, and yet we have not
asked anybody to contribute towards this fund.

Inasmuch as there will be an opportunity to-morrow afternoon for
discussing this and other questions that have been presented to you for
consideration, it will not devolve on me at this time in any way to enter
into such discussion.

REPORT OF THE FRUIT GROWERS’ COMMITTEE ON FREIGHT RATES.
By R. D. STEPHENS, Chairman, Sacramento.

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, Fruit Growers of California: Your com-
mittee on Freight Rates begs leave to make the following report and asks that you
give to the questions therein discussed the consideration their importance demands:

In presenting the report, I wish to say in behalf of the other members of the
committee, that they were ever ready and willing to do their full share of the work.
They were anxious to do all things honorable that were in their power to win for
you that which is justly due you. They believe that deciduous fruit shipments Hast
should, at least, be placed upon an equality with the citrus shipments made from
the southern part of the State.

When we entered upon the discharge of our duties, we believed that we would
have but little difficulty in convincing the railroad officials that your request was

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 109

‘supported by every principle of equity, and therefore just. Just, not alone to you,
but also just to the railroads; just to those who, through promotion literature sent
out (much of which was misleading and extravagant in its claims of profits made
in fruit growing, by the railroads, promotion committees, large landowners and real
estate dealers), were induced to sell their homes and holdings in the East and come
to California and invest their all in growing fruit for Eastern shipment; just to
those who. through honest and honorable effort, are trying to promote and build up
the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys; in fact, just to all legitimate interests.

We believed that the railroad officials did not understand the true condition of
our deciduous fruit industry and the imperative demand that relief should and must
come to it in order to save a large per cent of its growers from financial ruin. We
believed all we would have to do would be to show them facts and figures to convince
them that you were asking no more than you were entitled to.

In the discharge of our duties we soon realized that the purpose for which we
have been selected was not so easily accomplished as at first it seemed it would be.
However. haying accepted the positions you so kindly tendered us, we felt that we
were in honor bound to do all that our ability would permit us to do, to gain for you
the relief necessary to place your interests upon a small paying basis. In the
discharge of our duties we have spared neither labor nor expense. We have acted
strictly from a conscientious standpoint.

In presenting your claims we have not indulged in the use of abusive language
nor language that any gentleman could take exception to, but, on the contrary, have
been more supplicative than otherwise. Neither have we dealt in generalities alone
but, on the contrary, we have presented eighty-seven different railroad officials with
data containing facts and figures in support of your contention, none of which, up
_to this time, have been proved to be incorrect.

I presume there are some present here from Los Angeles. The next question
considered. then, will be of interest to the Los Angeles people, because it relates to
the question of taxation—one, in fact, that we all feel interested in. We all feel that
we are overtaxed, taxed more than we should be, to defray the expense of govern-
ment: therefore, to those people of Los Angeles I wish to call attention to the fact
that they are paying also heavy taxes, yet not in proportion to the deciduous fruit
growers of the San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys.

TAXATION.

You have just gone through the ordeal of paying your first installment of state
and county taxes, and no doubt many of you, if not all of you, feel that the rate of
taxation for the support of the government is unnecessarily high and oppressive.
That such is the feeling of the fruit growers of Placer County is evidenced by the
speeches and the action taken by the growers at a meeting held at Loomis on Sep-
tember 19th last, at which Judge N. P. Chipman took a strong stand against the
tax levied on fruit trees and vines.

Judge Chipman said, in part, “There is no greater iniquity than that tax. There
never has been a more unjustified piece of legislation. Nothing can justify a tax
on growing fruit trees, and by concerted action you should be able to accomplish
much towards overcoming its evils.”

Il agree with Judge Chipman. The tax on fruit trees and vines is an evil which
should be remedied at the earliest possible moment. ‘There are many trees and vines
that bring no profit to their owners; instead, the care and handling of their products
brings a loss.

I believe the delegates in this convention should pass a resolution tendering
Judge Chipman a vote of thanks for the firm stand he had taken upon this question.
The only fault I have to find with Judge Chipman is that he does not go far enough
on the question of taxation. ;

The deciduous fruit growers, whose products are shipped Hast to find a market,
stand in a class by themselves as taxpayers, when the question of indirect as well
as direct taxation is considered.

There is another tax—you may call it by whatever other name you please, and
it wil! still remain a tax in character and in fact—which the fruit growers have to
pay. that is far more oppressive and excessive in its demands than the one mentioned
by Judge Chipman. This tax is levied by a self-constituted authority, which
arrogates to itself the right to levy tribute, without consulting with or asking the
consent of those who have to bear its burden, and there seems to be no influence or
power sufficiently potent to restrict it in its demands. This tax, for it is nothing
more nor less than such, is assessed against the deciduous fruit growers’ products
in the way of charges for transportation on their Eastern shipments.

I doubt if any one here ever gave this question serious consideration or realized
the magnitude of this tax, which is being imposed upon the fruit growers of Cali-
fornia, and which is particularly oppressive to the deciduous growers of the Sacra-
mento and San Joaquin valleys.

In order to illustrate how this tax affects the deciduous fruit growers when

110 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

compared with the state and county tax, I will call your attention to the following
statements taken from the records; therefore, correct:

GROWER NUMBER ONE.

Charges for transportation on 53 Gars_.._2-)_| 2 so see eee
State and county taxes._...._._.-.. 2 1,031 00
Nixcess transportation tax 222.2). 3 eee $21,617 00

This grower pays $21,617.00 more tax for transportation than he pays for state
and county purposes, or over 2,098 per cent more. His state and county tax amounts
to over $19.00 per car.

GROWER NUMBER TWO.

Charges for transportation on 36 cars_______________________$15,380 00
State and county taxes_..2.2)) 2 27 eee 503 00
Excess transportation tax 23... 3) eee $14,877 00

This grower pays $14,877 more tax for transportation than he pays for state
and county purposes, or over 3,057 per cent more. His state and county tax amounts
to $14 per ear. ;

GROWER NUMBER THREE.

Charges for transportation on 66 cars._2 eee $28,246 00
State’ and county tax_2..-|.-2) 9.4 2 ee TST OO
Hxcess transportation tax’ ._....223-2 322 eee $27,459 00

This grower pays $27,459 more tax for transportation than he pays for state
and county purposes, or over 3,589 per cent more. His state and county tax amounts
to about $12 per ear.

These are fair illustrations and show how the fruit growers are being taxed and
that so heavily that it will not be long, unless relief in some form comes to them,
until their orchards and vineyards pass into the control of their creditors.

The question that you are now called to pass upon, which is of more importance
to you than all other questions combined that have bearing upon your interests, is,
are you going to make an effort to protect yourselves from financial ruin? Should
you decide in the affirmative, then the next question will be how? It is quite plain
that you can not afford to remain inactive any longer. You can not expect assist-
ance from others, unless you manifest a disposition to help yourselves. Now. what
are you going to do?

Now, Mr. Chairman, I am afflicted with a cold and I would like to
have the secretary read a portion of the report any way, if no more.
This is a copy of what is termed and known in the report as the
‘*Printed Petition.’’ You understand, ladies and gentlemen, that we
made a request. We had to back that request up in some way in order
to be justified in making it, and therefore we presented it to these
eighty-seven different railroad officials, facts and figures regarding the
cost of production and setting forth the reasons why the deciduous fruit
interests demanded it. We have here statistics compiled from all the
auction districts in the United States, showing the result of the sale of
1,046 cars. It shows heavy loss to the growers. These sales were made
in 1908. In this you will also find what I stated in the preliminary
remarks, that we are backed by all the shipping interests. Here are
communications from the Earl Fruit Company, the Producers’ Fruit
Company, the California Fruit Exchange. Also, we have a letter from
Mr. F. B. McKevitt, manager of the California Fruit Distributors, in
the matter that we submitted to the railroads for consideration, repre-
senting all the other shipping interests in that organization.. This is
the report which I would like to have read, or such part of it as will
give you an idea of the work done by our committee. And while I think
of it, I wish to call your attention to the fact that the date in this report

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. oe

regarding the statement of the printed petition is wrong, and if you will
be so kind as to change that date on all the copies you get and make it
read ‘‘January 30, 1909,’’ instead of ‘‘January 30, 1908,’’ because we
filed this petition of the growers and shippers combined with the rail-
roads on the 30th day of January, 1909, and in putting it into type
they made a mistake. There is another thing I wish to call your atten-
tion to. In the index you see among the subjects referred to, ‘* Dealing
with Facts, not Theories.’’ It is given here as page 26; it should be 27.

This is a very elaborate report and I wish to call your attention to a
statement made in the report of the cost to the grower. These have all
been presented to the railroads and we have challenged investigation.
We requested that we be permitted to have a conference with the rail-
road officials. that we might be given an opportunity to discuss the pros
and cons. We have not been able to get anything out of the railroads
in the way of an expression since the filing of our petition, with the
exception of two letters which we will now proceed to read.

SACRAMENTO, Cal., February 13, 1909.
Mr. H. A. Jones, Frt. Traffic Mgr. S. P. Co., San Francisco, Cal.

DEAR Sir: Your letter of the 6th inst., in reply to ours of the 4th, which was
accompanied by petition from deciduous fruit growers and shippers north of the
Tehachapi, received.

In this reply you say: “I assure you that I will be pleased to hear from you at
any time on the subject that interests the growers and want you to understand
that we are inclined to do anything reasonable to further your interests so far as
we can consistently do so.”’

You also say: “It goes without saying that our interests are mutual and that
this company will not place any impediment in the way of developing and increasing
the deciduous fruit business, but you must not forget that we are not free agents
in establishing rates over territory beyond our own lines.”

We are pleased with these statements. for we believe they were made in all sin-
cerity. ‘These assurances give us faith that we will get the reduction in the freight
rate asked for in our petition.

We also believe that when we give you additional facts, facts that can not be
successfully disputed from any standpoint, you will realize the absolute necessity of
your codperation with the growers and shippers, in every way possible, in their
efforts to broaden the area of distribution, and thus increase consumption to a degree
that will keep pace with the rapidly increasing production.

We wholly agree with you when you say: “It goes without saying that our inter-
ests are mutual,’ and we wish to impress upon your mind and upon the minds of
all other railroad officials that have any interests in deciduous fruit shipments from
California that anything we say in advocacy of the granting of -the prayer of our
petition is said in the true spirit of friendly feeling, void of any prejudices of any
nature or kind whatever.

You say, in substance, that the greater portion of the orange shipments are
made without refrigeration, which, when reduced to its lowest denominator, means
that the railroads lose the profits made on shipments under refrigeration. In other
words, shipments made without refrigeration do not bring so much profit to the roads
as do the shipments under refrigeration.

Therefore, it follows that the railroads receive more profit from deciduous ship-
ments than they do from orange shipments made without refrigeration.

Again, you carry orange shipments from south of Tehachapi to New York over
your road, which is practically one sixth longer haul than is the deciduous haul,
at a freight rate that costs the growers $72 less per car than it costs the decidu-
ous growers per car for shipments made from the Sacramento Valley to the same
destination.

In order to show how heav ily handicapped the deciduous growers are, to the S72
above mentioned must be added $97.50 for refrigeration on their shipments to New
York from all stations outside of Sacramento City and Placer County, in the Sac-
ramento Valley.

This makes a total additional cost to the deciduous growers of $169.50 per car,
which is practically 50 per cent higher rate than it costs for orange shipments.

lf the same rate per mile were charged the orange growers south of the Tehachapi
to Chicago, which is practically a 20 per cent longer haul, it would cost the orange
erowers about $55 per car more for freight, to which add $85 per car refrigeration
charges on deciduous shipments from all points outside Sacramento City and Placer

112 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

County, in the Sacramento Valley. This makes it $140 more per car than it costs
the orange growers, or something over 50 per cent additional cost per car on deciduous
shipments.

You are requested to give careful consideration to the following items of cost per
car for deciduous fruit shipments, including freight and refrigeration charges, from
all stations on the Sacramento and Placerville railroad to New York.

(Same rates prevail from all points in the Sacramento Valley except on shipments
made from the City of Sacramento and Placer County. The number of cars loaded
at Sacramento is small when compared with the cars that bear the heavier rate for
refrigeration. )

Wreight® 22. 22i2.22 022.122. 2le ee ee ee ee $348 00

Refrigeration: ..1..:...-2L-212- 5.2 Se 97 50

Railroad charges (22.20.22 eee $445 50
Loading: 2.22 sol ee ss ee ee ee ee $18 50
Average ‘cost of delivery atocar = 322 ee 18 50.
Oost of ‘crates, complete * 2292s = ee 124 63
Cost picking, packing and hauling to packing house_. 158 52
Cost: of prodiiction 2252223) e222 a ee 144 72

——_ 464 87

- $910 37

Commission on $910.37 at 7 per cent._-> 3) eee 63 75

Commission on conimMission’ $G5.152225- =) eee ener aS 4 46

$978 58

The items of the cost of picking, packing, etc., and the cost of production are
taken from the writer’s own expense account of such cost and are absolutely correct
and are subject to your inspection and investigation. These charges do not include
the family cost of living, nor interest upon the capital invested, which every organ-
ized business interest, including railroad companies, claim to be a legitimate charge,
and railroad companies arrange their passenger and freight rates so they will at
least bring them sufficient revenue with which to pay all expenses and interest at a
rate that will give then a reasonable profit upon their capital invested.

As stated, the cost for support of the family and the payment of a reasonable per
cent of profit on the capital invested are not included in the cost above given of
growing and marketing a car load of deciduous fruit.

The boom literature that has been sent broadcast all over the civilized world by
California promotion committees, chambers of commerce, syndicates and associations
formed for colonization purposes, claiming that five and ten-acre tracts, when planted
to orchard and vineyard, will bring to their possessors an income sufficient to com-
fortably support a family and leave something to lay aside for a rainy day and old
age, has resulted in inducing many to come to California and to go into the deciduous
fruit growing business upon both small and large scales.

It is a small family that has less than three members, and if less, then one that
is not much good for the upbuilding of the State, and particularly not much good to
bring in revenue to railroads. In order to illustrate the point, we will assume that
there are only three members of the family, and that it will take one dollar each
. per day, or $1,095 per annum to support them, an allowance we believe you will
not think an extravagant one, and such as we do not believe you would be willing,
under existing circumstances, to assume the responsibility of carrying out—out of
which the cost of feeding, clothing, educating, paying doctor’s bills, railroad fares,
and other necessary expenditures must come.

In considering this matter we will eliminate the five-acre tract altogether, for the
reason that the sense in which the proposition makes it, under present conditions,
too absurd to be given a moment’s consideration, and take up the ten-acre proposition.

Ten acres will yield, approximately, three car loads of shipping fruit. Divide
$1,095 by three and we have $365, which must be added to the $978.56, as shown
above to be the cost of growing and marketing in the East a car load of deciduous
fruit, exclusive of the cost of family support, and we have $1,343.56, to which we
must add the full commission on the $365, which is $27.29, and we find the average
cost of growing and marketing a car load of California deciduous fruit in New
York to be, without allowing interest on the capital invested, $1,370.85.

Good orchard and vineyard land, planted to trees and vines, has commanded all
the way from $300 to $1,000 per acre, and a large area has been sold at these prices.

Take the minimum price on ten acres, and the initial cost is $3,000. The interest
at 8 per cent per annum on $3,000 is $240. This sum, together with the additional
commission, added to the $1,370.85 above mentioned, makes $1,628.86.

We will not consider the $1,000 acre land. To do so would add $560, together
with additional commission, which would make it necessary for a car load to sell
for $2,229.81 in order to pay 8 per cent interest on the initial cost or capital invested.

No doubt when you first go over the statements and figures above given you will

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 113

entertain doubts as to their correctness; should such be the case, we most respect-
fully solicit that you make a thorough and critical investigation for the purpose of
showing us wherein we have erred. We believe if you will do this you will find
that, in a general sense, our statements are correct.

Of course, in some cases the cost of growing and marketing a car load may be
less, but where there is one such case, there are likely to be two that will cost more.

Last season, from which our expense figures were compiled, was probably the
most favorable for doing such work at a minimum cost that we ever had. Seasons
in which we have rain early in September, and two or three more rains before the
close of the season, the cost of putting up a pack is much more expensive than is
shown to be by the figures given.

In such seasons in the past the same work has cost $291 per car, or $133 more
than our figures show. This is a statement of cold, unexaggerated facts, and of a
nature to demand your most serious consideration.

_ Money paid out for permanent improvements is not included in the figures above
given.

We believe that if your company will present to its connecting lines, in a manner
its power and influence will permit it to do, it will have but little trouble in con-
vincing them that the request of the deciduous growers and shippers is a just one.

We have the utmost confidence in the ability of your company and its manage-
“ment to bring about an adjustment of rates that will give a fair and just distribu-
tion between all interests in common of the profits made on deciduous fruit shipments
from the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys.

Hoping for the best, we are

Respectfully yours,
R. D. STEPHENS, Chairman,
M. E. ANGIER,
C. M. HARTLEY,
Fruit Growers’ Committee.

SACRAMENTO, CAL., November 9, 1909.
Mr. H. A. Jones, Freight Traffic Mgr. S. P. Co., San Francisco, Cal.

DEAR Srr: We submit to you and ask that you give careful consideration to the
following statement, which is made up from the California Fruit Distributors’ reports
of the-sale of California deciduous fruit—mostly table grapes—in the following
markets.

This statement includes the gross sale of all cars reported by the distributors
and should be accepted as authentic and correct. The sales were made in the follow-
ing markets:

New York, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Minneapolis. Indianapolis,
Baltimore, St. Paul, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Buffalo.

CE Se ee 40 cars grossed $32,489, averaged $812 00
SS 43 cars grossed 32,283, averaged 774 00
penaemner 21th —. 9... -___-____ 76 cars grossed 62,536, averaged 849 00
Rememnee fein 34 cars grossed 29,382, averaged 864 00
espero 58 cars grossed 48,050, averaged 824 00
Peer IE 35 cars grossed 28,229, averaged S806 00
TS DSSS aS D1 cars grossed 27,064, averaged 873 00
2 5 eS ae eae ae 62 cars grossed 55,142, averaged S889 00

379 $315,175 $831 59
Total cars, 379; average loss per car to grower, $168.41________ $63,827 00
Bevyenne to railroads from 379 cars_-.-_-_-.-_.-.------------ -----$163,000 00

During the time the 379 cars above mentioned were shipped ye were 713 other
cars shipped, making a total of 1,092 cars in eight days.

It is reasonable to assume that the ratio of profit and loss made on the shipment
and sale of the 379 cars above given would give a very close estimate of the result
of the shipment and sale of the 713 other cars and when applied will show the
following results:

Revenue to railroads:

2 PEELS EU] i Sa a $469,000 00
Loss to growers: .
1,092 cars—average loss per car to growers, $168.41___-----___- $183,000 00

In other words, $183,000 of the growers’ principal, the capital they have invested,
to produce the 1,092 cars of fruit, was absorbed in making up the $469,000 income
to the railroads, ‘and all in eight days.

8—Fec

114 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

The demand for labor during the busy season was far greater than the supply,
with the result that wages were materially advanced and ranged from $1.70 to
$2.25 per day. This increases the cost of picking, packing, etc.

Cost per car to the grower at the $1.45 rate:

Kreight..and refrigeration}. 22222.) oe $445 50
Crates complete) 22020 h20.- 122 ee ee 110 00
Picking> packing, :etc. 2./2...22_ 32222 See 231 00
Tuoading 2s osce Pee hea Oe ee I 18 50
Delivery vat t@are..< if. 2-0 2222 2 Se 18 50
Interest upon!capital invested. --22- ee) ee 90 00
Taxes, (minimum) ©2122. 2.2L 2-2 ee 10 00

$923 50
ComMission 2.2.2. 222 See ee 64 64

$988 14

To the $988 must be added the cost of production, which, when properly done,
includes the following items:

Pruning, clearing away brush, twine and tying (when staked), plowing twice.
cultivating from four to six times, hoeing, sulphur and applying same twice, irri-
gating, etc., which, when done in the most economical way, will make the total cost
to the erower per car considerably more than $1,000, which does not include family
support.

Of the 1,092 cars above given, oniy 39 of them sold at and bikove cost, thus
showing that eighty-nine and seven-tenths per cent sold at a loss to the growers.

We repeat that no unreasonable, selfish or unjust motive actuates the growers
in this matter, but, on the contrary, they are moved by a desire to promote all
interests involved.

Many growers—as shown herein, 89 per cent of them—realize that they are facing
financial ruin unless relief in some form comes to their interests, which will be
impossible, except through a radical change in the present methods and cost of
transportation.

The results from shipments and sales of California deciduous fruit this season
show that if the request of the deciduous growers to haye their shipments placed
upon an equality with the orange growers be granted, the question will then be:
Will the relief coming therefrom be sufficient to place the rapidly increasing ship-
ments upon a fairly just paying basis?

Any action on the part of the railroads that in any manner will tend to increase
the cost to the growers to market their products will certainly bring ruin to a
very large per cent of the growers, such as is shown to be the case in the eight
. days’ shipments and rates above given, when more than 89 cars out of every 100
brought a. heavy loss to the growers.

The increase to date in deciduous fruit shipments over those made in 1907 is
7,148 cars, or practically 100 per cent.

The increase in table-grape shipments to date over the shipments of 1908 is 1,747
cars, or over 47 per cent.

In conclusion we will repeat what we said in our petition under date of Janu-
ary 30, 1909:

‘We call your attention to the indisputable fact, which is, that to broaden the
Eastern markets sufficiently to consume at a profit to the growers the great increase
in the tonnage of table grapes and deciduous tree fruit shipments from California
is utterly beyond the power of the growers, and if this question is to be success-
fully solved it must be through the ability, allied with an earnest and determined
effort on the part of the transportation companies that handle such shipments.”’

Respectfully submitted.

R. D. STEPHENS, Chairman,
M. E. ANGIER,
C. M. HARTLEY,

Fruit Growers’ Committee.

MR. STEPHENS. Now, that was a general average. These were
not selected cars, but every car that was reported, some of which brought
good, remunerative prices. For instance, the sale of September 28th;
there is one car brought $1,271.00, one $1,045.00, and 32 cars average
loss to grower, $145.19, made the loss to the grower $4,934.00; two cars
brought a profit of $216.00, which is to be taken from the loss, which
leaves a net loss of $4,618.00 that those cars sold upon that day. Here
are several $1,200.00 cars, $1,100.00 cars; here is a $1,300.00 car on

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 115

October Ist; one car brought $1,233.00; two cars $1,144.00; three cars
$1,058, and #4 cars average loss to grower $206.38, making a total loss
of $3,936.00. The whole lst is gone through in that manner.

I wish to state in addition that the Sacramento Valley Development
Association, those men referred to as legitimate actors—that is, honor-
able in their actions to build up the Sacramento Valley—gave an
unqualified endorsement to our committee, in as strong terms as an
endorsement can be made, because they saw and they see now that some
relief in some manner must come to this, the greatest of all interests in
the State of California, to the producers, or else you can not build up
this State, and particularly the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys,
upon a permanent and solid basis. Now, Mr. Chairman, if you will read
the committee’s letter addressed to Mr. McKevitt and Mr Walker, you
will see how they stand.

SACRAMENTO, November 20, 1909.
Mr. F. B. McKevitt, Gen. Mgr. California Fruit Distributors, Sacramento, Cal.

DEAR SiR: Realizing that in the position you occupy, that of General Manager of
the California Fruit Distributors, you have opportunities of gathering information
as to the actual results that came from the sales in the Eastern markets of our
deciduous fruit shipments during the present season, we, the undersigned members
of the Fruit Growers’ Committee on Freight Rates, appointed by the fruit growers
of the State at their last State Convention, 1908, respectfully submit the following
questions, and ask that you give to them your careful consideration, and if after
so doing, in your judgment, they have sufficient merit and bearing upon the future
development and prosperity of California’s greatest and most valuable of all its
many resources, viz., its horticultural interests. you will give us the benefit of your
knowledge as to the facts involved in the questions, you will greatly oblige the
members of our committee.

If we are wrong in any of our contentions, do not hesitate to say so. All we want
is the truth. In answering the questions should you see proper to do so, we wish
you to take into consideration the fact that there has been 15,006 car loads of
deciduous fruit shipped to date this season, against 7,416 in 1907, or, an increase
of over 100 per cent in two years.

In 1906 there were 2,050 cars of table grapes shipped against 5,751 cars to
date this season, or, an increase of over 180 per cent in three years, with the
probabilities of a proportionate increase for several years to come, providing the
interest can be placed on a paying basis from a grower’s standpoint; otherwise a
large percentage of the present acreage must be uprooted.

Do you believe that the request of the deciduous fruit growers of the State, and
more particularly those of the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys, which was
made and presented to our initial railroads on the 30th day of January last, to
have their shipments to Hastern markets given the same transportation rates as
were then being given to the orange growers from south of the Tehachapi on their
shipments to the same destination, to be just and equitable to all legitimate interests
involved ?

Do you believe from the experience and the results obtained from the sales of
our fruit in Eastern markets, taking into consideration the great increase made in
shipments that the relief prayed for by the deciduous growers would, if granted,
be sufficient in itself to place the deciduous fruit industry as a whole upon a sound,
dependable and reasonable paying basis?

Has the demand for our fruit in the Hast kept pace with the rapidly increasing
supply?

Has there been an increase in wages for orchard and vineyard labor, and is there
a sufficient supply of a class to properly and economically handle our ‘crops?

Is it true that a large per cent of the table grape crop is left on the vines for
the reason that it would entail a loss to pick, pack and ship to market without
taking into consideration the cost of production, taxes and interest on the capital
invested?

From your experience as a grower what has been the Coa. since the rain, to
properly pick and pack a crate of Tokays?

Respectfully yours,
R. D. STEPHENS, Chairman,
M. EH. ANGIER,
C. M. Hartley,
Fruit Growers’ Committee.

116 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

OFFICE
CALIFORNIA FRUIT DISTRIBUTORS ¢
1012 Second Street.

SACRAMENTO, CAL., November 22. 1909.
Messrs. R. D. Stephens, HE. M. Angier, C. M. Hartley, Fruit Growers’ Committee.

GENTLEMEN : I am in receipt of a communication from you.under date of the
20th, in which you ask me as Manager of the California Fruit Distributors, which
organization handles about 80 per cent of the deciduous fruit shipments of the
State, to answer certain questions in regard to actual results obtained from fruit
shipments to Hastern markets during the present season, and other questions relating
to the general condition of the business.

In the first place you refer to the large increase in the shipment of table grapes
during the present season over those of any preceding year, amounting to over 180
per cent in three years, with the probability that there will be a proportionate
increase for several years to come, providing the business may be placed on a paying
basis from the growers’ standpoint, and that if it can not a large percentage of the
present acreage must be uprooted.

It is a fact that grape shipments have increased very materially of late, this
present season showing an increase over last year of nearly 2,000 car loads. If the
information I have received is correct, this proportionate increase will be kept up
for a number of years, until shipments reach such large figures that I do not believe
it will be possible to market them profitably. Acting on this belief I have advised
growers who have consulted me on the subject to begin the removal of vines pre-
paratory to growing other crops, and this advice I am following myself in our
vineyards at Vacaville.

Unless we are able to give this fruit a far greater distribution than ever has been
possible in the past I can not see how it will be possible to profitably market the
thousands of car loads that will soon be available. There is but one way in which
this could be accomplished, and that would be through very low cost of transporta-
tion as well as low cost of labor in California, both of which conditions I see no
reason to expect in the near future.

You ask if I believe it would be just and equitable to all legitimate interests if
the request of the deciduous fruit growers be granted by the railway lines, which
request was that their shipments should receive the same rate for transportation
as were given to the orange growers of California.

In answer to this question I would say that there should be no question as to
the justice of giving as low a rate on deciduous fruit as on citrus fruit. There is no
reason why there should be any question about it.

There is, however, one feature in connection with your request to which I would
like to call your attention, and that is, that you do not go far enough. While it
would help us materially to have the so-called postage stamp rate of $1.15 per
hundred apply on our shipments, it will not give the relief required, it will only
help.
T do not believe it will be possible for the deciduous fruits of California to pay
a greater rate than one dollar per hundred, and am firmly of belief that in the near
future the railway officials will recognize this fact, and will be obliged in self-
defense to give us such a rate. ; (

A very large percentage of the deciduous fruit shipments from California during
the seasons of 1908 and 1909 will show absolutely no profit to the grower, and it
will not be possible for this condition of affairs to continue for any great length of
time without producing the greatest hardship and loss to all those engaged in the
industry. If no relief can be found it will mean that many of our orchards and
vineyards must be abandoned. :

You_ask if the demand for our fruit in the East has kept pace with the rapidly
increasing supply, and I regret to be obliged to say that in my opinion it has not.
In order to show a reasonable profit to the California grower it is necessary to sell
fruit in Hastern markets at a price that puts it out of the reach of the working
classes. :

Until we are able to sell our fruit profitably to ourselves at a sufficiently low
price to enable this great army of people to purchase our products we can hardly
hope to increase the demand very materially.

In answer to your question regarding the increase in wages for labor, and asking
if there is a sufficient supply of a good class of labor to properly and economically
handle our crops, would say that it is a matter of general knowledge that wages are
advancing steadily every year, and that there is not sufficient supply of good labor

handle our crops. hs aera
oy Not only is ae price of labor increasing, but the number of hours constituting a
day’s labor are decreasing, and with higher wages and shortened hours there is a
material lessening of the output per man. It is not so many years ago that we
figured on a cost of 10 cents per package as covering the labor of picking and
packing a crate or box of fruit; it has been necessary of late to modify these figures
so that now 15 cents is a low cost for this work, and in many instances it will average

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. LET

20 cents throughout the season. Since the middle of October I believe it is a fair
statement that the labor of picking. cleaning and packing grapes has in most
districts been in the neighborhood of 30 cents per crate. This high cost can of course
be attributed to the fact that the grapes were affected by early rains which made it
necessary to pick and clean them with extra care.

You ask if it is true that a large percentage of the table grape crop was left on
a vines this year for the reason that there was no profit to be derived in shipping
them.

Unfortunately it is true that such is the case. I am informed that in many vine-
yards in the Lodi and American River districts a very large percentage of the crop
is still remaining on the vines, and I know that this is the case in the Vacaville
district in our late vineyards.

I have been told that in all probability there were in the neighborhood of 1.000
‘ear loads of grapes left unpicked because there was no prospective profit in shipping
them. I do not know whether this is true or not, but I believe there are several
hundred car loads of these grapes which will be allowed to rot on the vines.

Your Jast question is what has been the cost of properly picking and packing a
erate of Tokay grapes since the rain.

I can only answer this question from my own experience, which has been at
Vacaville. I found some three weeks ago that it was costing 25 cents per crate to
pick and pack the Tokays, and as I did not believe there was any margin for profit
in the fruit with this high cost for labor, I ordered picking to cease and it is
estimated that we have something like 200 tons of grapes remaining on the vines in
the 50-acre vineyard of which I am speaking.

A particularly unfortunate thing about these early rains which damaged our
grapes this year is that they did not come early enough and hard enough so that all
shipments would have entirely ceased, as so far as we are personally concerned it
would have been money in our pocket had we not shipped a single crate of grapes
since the first of October.

Trusting that I have fully answered your questions and regretting that I can not
give a more encouraging report, I remain,

Yours very truly,
CALIFORNIA FRUIT DISTRIBUTORS,
F. B. McKevitt, Manager.

General Manager W. C. Walker, of the California Fruit Exchange,
was asked identically the same questions and the following is his reply:

OFFICE
CALIFORNIA FRUIT EXCHANGE.
SACRAMENTO, CAL., November 23, 1909.
Mr. Rk. D. Stephens (Chairman), Mr. E. M. Angier, Mr. C. M. Hartley; Fruit
Growers’ Committee.

GENTLEMEN: Your valued favor of the 20th instant at hand. In reply would
say we have read over your various communications and can not see wherein your
contentions have been in error—in fact, we have been agreeably surprised at the
correctness of your figures and the elaborate detail covering the same.

In regard to your question, as to whether we believe the request to have our
shipments given the same transportation rates as those of the orange growers;
would say we think this request is very mild in comparison to the existing conditions
in the deciduous fruit business as a whole. I think that a demand for a rate of $1.00
per hundred would be more in line with our requirements than any other rate, and
I believe that in trying to present our position we should leave other industries out
of the question, because the situation has changed so tremendously in the past two
years that a comparison of the prices realized for citrus and deciduous fruits is so
far apart that to even try to put us on the same basis as the citrus fruit growers
would be unjust and would not help us to the extent required.

This season has been one of the worst in the history of the business and from
the enormous plantings which took place during the last few years the future is
even darker than the present. We know that for certain, in some districts, they
are contemplating pulling up every third vine, as the growers who have taken time
to compute the facts realize that even a reduction to $1.00 per hundred is not
going to save the industry—especialiy table grapes.

As far as we can see, from a strictly cold-blooded business standpoint, it is better
for the railroads to pay heed to your requests and warnings now before it is too
late. It is almost a certainty that unless the railroads announce that they intend
to make a reduction for next year’s business, that some uprooting is surely going
to take place; whereas, if their intention to reduce the rate is made known this
drastic action will be deferred.

In reply to your inquiry as to whether the demand for our fruit in the East has
kept pace with the rapidly increasing supply, we can safely answer ‘No.’ There

118 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

are a few varieties that have been fortunate in the past two years, but there is no
telling when even a large crop of those varieties may oversupply the present market.

In answering this question we wish to Jay emphasis upon the fact that the firms
engaged in the marketing of fruits have not been idle in the matter of developing
markets. I know, as far as this exchange is concerned, we placed fruit in over
eighty markets last year as against twenty-six in the previous season: and this year
the number of markets gone into will far exceed last season; in fact, we have been
selling car loads of fruit in markets we never dreamed of three years ago.

The distribution of deciduous fruits to-day is on a very broad scale, especially
west of Chicago, so that the fault can not be charged up to the lack of energy
in finding new markets; but the supply has been so tremendous in the past two
years, and the rates so high east of Chicago, that we are confronted with two prob-
lems that are insurmountable; and as the supply is something that can not be
reduced unless almost Spartan measures are adopted we are forced to consider ways
and means to overcome the hill that we are confronted with, and the first means to
help us will be the reduction of the rates east of Chicago, and give us an oppor-
tunity to exploit that very large field.

The way the matter stands now our lowest rates are west of the considered center
of population. The present center of population is considered about the south-
east portion of Indiana. Therefore, if our rates were put on a reasonable basis so
that we could reach the mass of the people with our products at a price that will
encourage them to buy we can increase the distribution of our fruit very materially ;
but if we are going to bé kept away from the center of population by a burden-
some rate the situation is going to continue to grow worse, and where it will end
is a grave question.

In regard to your inquiry as to whether there has been an increase in wages
for orchard and vineyard labor, would say that I do not believe there is any one
acquainted with the conditions but would answer unqualifiedly ‘‘Yes.”” And as to
whether there is a sufficient supply to handle the crops we answer “No.” As far
as we can see, it was a very fortunate thing this year that there was not sufficient
labor to handle the crop in time, especially grapes. If there was, the results
would have been disastrous for at least three quarters of the entire grape crop.

In regard to your inquiry as to whether a large percentage of the grape crop was
left on the vines, as it would entail a loss to ship the same, would say that your
statement is quite true. Very frequently we were called on the ’phone by outlying
points and asked whether it was worth while to pick the fruit from the vines, and
on many occasions we suggested that the fruit be left where it was because we
could not honestly counsel them to harvest the fruit. Many and many times we
were reluctant to make this statement because we are a growers’ organization, trying
to seek a market for the products of our members, and we were placed in a very
unenviable position to tell a man there was no place for his product, after he had
spent the year in plowing, pruning, sulphuring, ete., in order to get his products
ready for market and then to know that his livelihood was being snuffed out because
there was no place to ship his product with any certainty of receiving back enuogh
to cover the expenses of transportation, packing, and picking.

The result was there must have been considerable over a thousand cars of grapes
left unharvested, not by reason of their condition, but by reason of the situation
in the markets.

This condition is something very sad to behold, because we know from seeing
the accounts from day to day what it means for a man to pick 100 crates of grapes,
spend hours carefully cleaning the bunches, getting everything so it looks attractive
for the market. haul the fruit to the car, ship the same to the East, and when the
accounts come back ask the grower to dig up for the privilege of sending his fruit
forward.

This is no jesting matter. We are dealing right now with the question of the
homes and futures of a great many people in this commonwealth, and it is surely up
to the railroad authorities to take some action and do it quickly, or they will rue
their procrastination. Not alone were the Tokays affected, but the Emperors were
more or less affected in this way:

The market, as a general thing, for Emperors, is not very active until’ the Tokays
have been pretty much disposed cf. This year the Tokay crop held on so long by
reason of the big supply and low market that a great number of Emperors were
left unpicked and the frost ruined them. We know of one case where a grower
had between four and five thousand crates of Emperors ready for picking and the
entire crop was lost, and he returned his shook and did not send a solitary crate
forward.

We are dealing now with facts, not theories, and we sincerely hope that your
committee will be able to so bring the matter home to the transportation companies
that they will be ready to give you the relief asked for, as surely the amount
prayed is small enough.

In regard to your last question, would say that we have found from experience
that the average cost of properly picking and packing a crate of Tokays since the
rain has been approximately 32 cents to 37 cents, depending somewhat on the

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 119

locality—some even claim that the cost is higher than that, but we consider the
amounts given above about the general run this year in the heavy producing districts.

Concluding, we wish your committee all success in your undertaking, and we have
no doubt from the able manner in which the question is being presented that some-
thing should be done, if the powers that be have any respect at all for the persons
who are furnishing them the tonnage from which they are earning their transpor-
tation charges.

Respectfully yours,
W. C. WALKER, General Manager.

MR. STEPHENS. I wish to state that we state in conclusion that
we realize that the only power existing that could give the relief was
the railroad companies, and we relied on their honesty and integrity
and ability to do so. The object in publishing these two communications
from other railroads is a fair sample of about forty others we received,
showing that the whole responsibility rests upon the initial lines of
adjusting these rates which will be satisfactory to the growers and will
permit them to make a reasonable profit. :
Now, there is one peculiar thing about this. I don’t know. The
railroad companies may have a representative here, they may have
somebody here that will assume to deny the correctness of the state-
ments contained in this report. We would be very glad to have such
the case. If we are wrong, we want to be shown where we are wrong,
and we have tried to get a meeting with the railroad company, but have
not been able to do so. Im other words, they have closed up lke a
clam and have not said a word in the last six months except to acknowl-
edge communications. They have not denied it, and therefore this
must stand as positively correct, and why they have not some official here
to officially represent them I can not understand. If their action is
right, it ought to be easy for the railroads to show that. I would be
pleased to have any railroad official, any other man representing them,
come and attack the statements made in this report.

Well, gentlemen, here are the reports. I hope you will take them
home and read them, because there is much more in them than has
been read here, and upon giving the contents careful consideration
you will see that our committee has proceeded in the most quiet man-
ner. We have said to the railroad companies that we were not making
a newspaper fight, that we were not appealing to the public for sym-
pathy and support, that we were depending upon their judgment to
right a wrong, to act in a manner that would permit the deciduous
fruit grower to make a reasonable profit on the capital he has invested.
We did not wish to come out in public one year ago and state the facts,
the true conditions existing, because we believed that we would con-
summate our purpose in that quiet manner. We did not believe that
the railroad officials understood the real situation, and we therefore
had faith that upon the presentation of the facts in the case to the
railroad officials they would accede to our demands and would grant
them.

As Mr. McKevitt says, as Mr. Walker says, right now if they would
grant this $1.15 rate which they have been giving for years to the citrus
shippers, it would not be sufficient alone to bring a profit to many
deciduous growers. We have asked for nothing but what they have
been giving. We explain to them, in other portions of our letters, that
we are not even asking for the rate which they had been giving for

120 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

years to the lemon interests, of one dollar, and the rate which they
have been giving to you, gentlemen, here of one dollar. We ask for the
same rate given to the orange shipments alone, and inasmuch as they
have been giving those rates to those interests, is there any reason
tenable why they should not extend the same rates and facilities to
the deciduous fruit growers? I thank you, gentlemen. (Applause.)

MR. BILLS. Mr. Chairman, I move that the Chair appoint a com-
mittee of three to take up the matter of finance and help out.paying
for this report.

The motion was duly seconded and earried.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. I will appoint Senator C. B. Bills, Mr.
B. F. Walton, and Mr. J. P. Dargitz a committee of three to look after
Senator Bills’ motion.

The convention adjourned until December 9, 1909, at 9.30 a. m., but
in the mean time the delegates, on the evening of December 8th,
attended in a body a reception tendered them by the ladies of Wat-
sonville.

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. Ae |

THIRD DAY.

WATSONVILLE, Cal., December 9, 1909.
The convention was called to order at 9.30 a. M. by President Jeffrey.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. Now, Mr. W. H. Volck, one of your
honored citizens, will present ‘‘ Insect Pests and Diseases of the Apple.’’
(Applause. )

MR. VOLCK. With regard to this subject of ‘‘Insect Pests and
Diseases of the Apple,’’ it is a very broad one, and a paper to be pre-
sented and read before this convention must necessarily be of limited
length; so, in order to make the matter in this paper more clear and
perhaps take it up more thoroughly for those who are most interested,
I have distributed around in the book racks of these seats two bulletins.
You will find one in the other, and the outer bulletin, called ‘‘ Winter
-Control of Orchard Pests,’’ is just from the press, and this edition of
500 copies was made for the benefit of the State Fruit Growers’ Con-
vention, and we hope that it will take all of these bulletins. There
may not be enough people in the audience to take them all individually,
but you may have friends that you can distribute them to, and we
would like to see that these bulletins go out, because they show in a
concise manner all the work that has been done here, and they will
make the matter in the paper more clear. These bulletins, I may add,
are published at the expense of Santa Cruz and Monterey counties,
which have heretofore supported this investigation, and in sending out
a county publication broadcast over the State we feel that we are not
advertising Santa Cruz and Monterey counties as a land of pests, partic-
ularly, but as a place where they know something about how to get the
better of such troubles.

INSECT PESTS AND DISEASES OF THE APPLE.
By W. H. VotcK of Watsonville.

The subject of insect pests and diseases of the apple is rather a
broad one, and perhaps the best method of approach is to take a hypo-
thetical orchard and carry it through the year. The necessities of this
orchard in the way of treatment for diseases will vary with the locality,
but there are certain general methods of procedure applying to all.
Also, in California the great bulk of the apples are produced in the
central and northern coast counties, well within the limits of the ocean
influence. The Pajaro Valley is the center of this production, and in
point of quantity California apples may be considered as the special
-erop of this locality.

Other districts produce apples, but as yet to a quite limited extent.
The mountain sections have been developed slightly, and produce a
type of fruit quite distinct from the coast. In the higher altitudes,
free from fog, the growth of the trees is also different, and there is

122 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

less trouble with fungus diseases. These mountain districts may some
day become quite important, as there appears to be an abundance of
suitable land comprised in them. But, for the purposes of this dis-
cussion, it is best to locate the orchard, which is to be a model from
the sanitary standpoint, in what is at present the center of the industry.

The climate of the Pajaro Valley and other similar localities is well
adapted to the growth of apples, but not equally to all varieties. Aside
from soil, climate may be considered the principal factor entering into
the production of a crop. When plants are growing under climatic
conditions favorable to their best development the inroads of diseases
are reduced to a minimum because of the natural vigor so induced.

The cultivated varieties of the apple differ materially among them-
selves and from the wild species from which they were derived.

These differences in the varieties affect their tolerance of climatic
conditions very materially so that a variety doing well under one set
of conditions may fail in another locality. Then the selection of varie- ~
ties suitable to the locality is the first step to take in the protection of
the orchard from the inroads of pests.

In choosing varieties the commercial value has to be taken into
account, for it would be useless to plant an orchard to thrifty growers
which do not yield regular crops of salable fruit. The planting must
then be made with those commercial varieties best adapted to the
locality, and it is often preferable to select a lower-priced apple which
will yield abundantly than a more fancy type producing poorly.

Of course, it is understood that the land must be suitable for the
apple tree, neither too wet nor too dry, deep and moderately fertile.
Fertility and moisture can be regulated by artificial means, but the
depth must remain largely as nature provided it. Sometimes a lack of
one of these requirements may be compensated for by supplying more
of another; to illustrate, shallow soils may be made to grow good trees
if fertilized and irrigated.

To name a list of apple varieties which will do well enough in a
specified locality to make successful pest control possible is not a dif-
ficult task if all the conditions are known. Important variations in
conditions, may, however, be found within a half-mile as regards the
climate, and a few rods for soil and drainage. Such differences within
a short distance renders general recommendations of little practical
value. |

In selecting the site for an apple orchard the soil should be sur-
veyed to determine its adaptability to the growth of trees, and if there
is any question about an abundance of water the practicability of irri-
gation should be considered. The climatic conditions are not so easily
determined, as a long period of observation is necessary. By observing
the growth of such trees as may be in the vicinity much important
information concerning soil and climate may be quickly gained.

That pests are potentially present in the orchard before it is planted
may be a new idea to some, but a heavy clay or adobe soil means woolly
aphis on the roots, while light clay to sandy loams give comparative
immunity. Cold winds and fogs bring about leaf spot diseases and
favor the powdery mildew. On the other hand, warm sheltered local-
ities are subject to the codling moth and scale insects.

Of the late summer and winter varieties of apples grown in the coast

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. pea

districts the Newtown Pippin is perhaps the most exacting in its
requirements. Cold winds and fogs stunt it badly and bring about
leaf spot diseases. Fogs at more moderate temperatures induce serious
infections with the powdery mildew, which also stunts the growth. On
-the other hand, -it is a sure bearer and resists drouth comparatively
well. On good soils, in a well sheltered locality, this variety makes a
‘sturdy growth rather resistant to diseases, but is quite subject to the
codling moth and apple scab.

The Yellow Bellflower, White Winter Pearmain, and Red Pearmain
can be pushed much further into the zone of cold winds and fogs than
the Newtown, but the bellflower may not bear well under these condi-
tions. The Missouri Pippin and Laneford should also be mentioned
among those varieties which will endure a wide range of soil and
climatic conditions. The bellfiower requires a rich, well watered soil
‘and may fail in localities where Langfords, Red Pearmains, Missouri
Pippins, and Newtowns do well.

The varieties of early summer apples are less numerous, and Skin-
ner’s Pippin is probably the most adaptable, with the Red June a close
second. Both of these varieties are relatively immune to diseases. The
Gravenstein is subject to the powdery mildew and so should grow in
sheltered localities.

All this information regarding the adaptability of varieties is the
result of experience, and unfortunately a large acreage was planted
before these facts were known. A good many of these orchards happen
to be in localities where all varieties do comparatively well, but others
show decided unadaptability for certain types. The Newtown has been
badly misplaced, and is frequently seen to be so stunted as to be
worthless. In such orchards the best practice would be to remove the
hopeless trees and replant with varieties that will do well.

With such attention to preliminary details the orchardist is in a posi-
tion to successfully combat pest, both because the insect and fungus
parasites will not be so destructive and the trees will have the ability to _
withstand the injurious effects which may follow the application of
certain sprays.

We are frequently requested to recommend some application which
will bring the trees out better, but unless the natural conditions required
to make a good tree are fulfilled this is impossible. On the other hand,
where such lack of vigor occurs in orchards that naturally should be
doing well, our present knowledge of remedial measures is usually suffi-
cient to make practical recommendations possible.

The insect pests and diseases of the apple have been shown to vary
in kind and character according to climatic and soil conditions, but
there is apparently no combination of varieties and locality which will
insure complete immunity. There are numerous insects and related
organisms which make use of the apple as a food plant. Perhaps all
of them are capable of inflicting serious damage under the proper con-
ditions. Also, fungus and bacterial diseases. while not so great in
variety, may make up for this deficiency by a greater virulence. If the
troubles ended here they would be quite sufficient. but another group
of diseases may be present. The reference is to those disorders which
can not be attributed to a parasite, and are called physiological diseases.

If all of these parasites and diseases were present. in destructive

124 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

form, the task of the apple grower would be a hopeless one. So, in
the hypothetical orchard we will assume, as is always the case, that
only a limited number need be considered. The sap-sucking insects
most likely to be present are the San Jose seale, greedy seale, and
woolly aphis. The leaf feeders and other chewing insects will include
the codling moth, tussock (horned) caterpillar, cankerworms, and the
tent caterpillars. Of the fungus diseases, the apple powdery mildew,
apple scab, and wood rot or sappy bark disease are most important.
A physiological disorder, known as “‘leaf spot,’’ may also be present.

Even this limited list may have only a few representatives in a given
year. In the coast districts those recurring most persistently are the
codling moth and apple powdery mildew, with the scales and woolly
aphis a close second. The apple scab is more often absent than present,
and the caterpillars are subject to very marked fluctuations extending
over a period of years.

The insects here considered are divided into two classes, according
to the manner in which they take their food, that 1s sucking and
chewing. The scale insects and aphids suck the juices from the inner
tissues without eating the surface, while the caterpillars eat the sub-
stance of leaves and fruit.

The San Jose scale is an insect which passes the greater part of its
life under an armor or scale formed by the secretions of special glands.
The youngest stage of the insect resembles a minute louse and crawls
about over the tree in search of a suitable spot to locate for the
remainder of its life. These young are also carried by the wind, birds
and other agencies to distant trees, thus spreading the infestation.
Potentially, these young are not very potent under balanced conditions.
Not more than one hundred succeed in locating and the number may
be much less.

After locating the insects are still subject to death from various
causes so the number reaching maturity is still further reduced. When
the San Jose scale it probably does not change location, and certainly
is unable to.do so after a time, for the legs are lost. This scale matures
quickly, for as high as ten generations have been recorded in a year.
The young are born alive and continuously for a considerable period.
In California the winter is passed by both adult and immature insects,
the first young appearing in February and March.

The injury caused by the San Jose scale is caused by the injection
of a toxic substance into the tissues of the bark, and is proportional to
the number of insects present. The scale may be so numerous as to form
a continuous crust over twigs, limbs and even the trunk, or there may
be only a scattered infestation on the small twigs. In the first case
death of limbs and perhaps the whole tree may ensue, but with the
lesser infestations the injury may be confined to a few red spots on the
fruit, caused by individuals which have located on the apples in May
and June. The red stain is quite a constant character, and the inner
bark of infested branches is deeply colored. The San Jose seale is not
confined to the apple, but attacks several other species of trees and
shrubs. It is supposed to be a native of northern China.

A number of other scale insects are closely related to the San Jose
scale, and have similar life histories. We have spoken of the greedy
scale, this is a larger species than that just described, and has a more

-

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 125

substantial armor. On the other hand. it is less virulent, seldom becom-
ing numerous enough to form a continuous crust. Also, it is less
poisonous to the host, not producing a colored stain or killing the
attacked parts. The injury appears to be confined to the stunting of
the growth, in the worst cases, and dead leaves may hang over winter
on infested trees. Without causing serious injury to the tree this insect
may bring about considerable financial loss through its habit of locating
on the fruit. The presence of the greedy scale on the fruit causes
rejection in some markets.

To successfully combat scale with sprays it is necessary to use some
wash which will kill by contact with the surface of the insect’s body.
Poisons taken internally are not effective because the habits of feeding
prevent the imbibing of such substances applied to the surface of the
bark as a spray. On the other hand contact with the bodies is rendered
‘difficult because of the armored protection, and strong penetrating
washes must be used. Sprays capable of killing scale are too caustic to
permit of use on foliage, and so must be applied while the trees are
dormant or before many leaves have developed.

A list of sealeicides will include the lime-sulphur solution, rosin soap,
whale-oil soap, distillate oil, and mixtures of oil- emulsions with lye.
For general purposes the lime-sulphur solution should be chosen.

To continue with the discussion of insect pests, the plant lee or
aphids still remain to be considered in the class which are not controlled
by stomach poisons. The aphids feed in the same way as the scales,
but differ in some other respects. They are larger, and not protected
by a scale or armored covering, but in the case of the woolly aphis a
wool-like substance acts in much the same way. The aphids can change
position at any time, but if not disturbed may not do so. Propagation
is by means of both eggs and living young, and the unrestricted rate
of increase is stupendous; but aphids have many enemies including
insects and fungus diseases. Weather conditions also have a great
infiuence on them, and the combined effects of all may be so great as
to almost exterminate the plant lice.

The woolly aphis is the most persistent species attacking the apple.
and, perhaps, the world over, causes as much damage as any of the
scales. This aphid infests both the tops and the roots, and under Cali-
fornia conditions one form is always present, that is, females which
give birth to living young. Contrary to the general impression, the top
infestations are practically independent of those occurring on the roots.
In soils of hght or sandy texture the roots may not be attacked, but
frequently abundant development occurs on the tops. Wintering-over
above ground is easy, in this mild climate, and small ones are often
found under the protection of rough places in the bark. The woolly
aphis multiplies rapidly in the spring and soon infests many of the
twigs, forming compact colonies, which become conspicuous by the
development of the white woolly covering. The same increase occurs
on the roots, but the subterranean form usually has its greatest develop-
ment later in the season. The toxic substances injected into the tissues
of the tree produce disturbances in cell growth resulting in the develop-
ment of galls and warts. On the roots, these galls frequently interrupt
sap flow and bring about decay. The tops are also stunted in the same
manner. In addition to the poisoning, a large quantity of sap may be

126 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

removed, so taxing the vitality of the tree, and the excreted honeydew
produces a very objectionable gumming of the foliage and fruit.

Contact insecticides must be used for the woolly aphis, but the lime-
sulphur solution, so valuable against scales, is not very effective for this
insect. The oil emulsions and nicotine washes give better results.
Something can be done towards controlling the top form by going over
the trunks and large limbs, very thoroughly, during the winter with
distillate emulsion. The object is to kill the colonies wintering in the
protection of the rough bark formation about wounds. The application
has to be very thorough to insure penetration.

This winter treatment may not have killed all the colonies of the
woolly aphis, so nicotine applications may have to be made in the
summer. The root form of the aphis is not readily reached by any
treatment, but the crown ean be largely protected by removing some
of the earth and pouring in a quantity of tobacco decoction.

Of the chewing insects the codling moth is probably the most
important. This species is estimated to cause a 40 per cent loss to the
apple crop of the world. The codling moth passes the winter as a
mature worm or larva. well concealed and protected by a cocoon, not
always on the trees, but frequently in the ground, fences, and old
buildings. In the California coast districts these wintering-over larvee
do not pupate and emerge as moths until the middle of May, and then
not completely. for numerous moths appear even up to the middle of
June. After the appearance of the moths it is not long before eggs are
laid, and the young worms hatch some ten days later. The early eggs
are deposited on the upper surface of the leaves, and somewhat later the
under surface is frequently chosen. Not until the fruit rind has become
quite smooth and free from hairs are the young apples selected in
preference to the leaves. Eggs are seldom if ever laid in the calyx
cavity.

The young larve of the codling moth, when hatching upon the leaves,
frequently have to crawl considerable distances before reaching an
apple, and. may feed to some extent on the foliage. The larve have
been reared to maturity on the foliage alone. Many of these exposed
young may perish, and even after entering the fruit, death frequently
occurs from diseases and other causes. Of those individuals which
succeed in reaching the fruit, 50 to 75 per cent enter at the calyx. The
remainder bore in from other points, generally beneath a protection
such as the contact of a leaf or two apples. Once within the fruit a
more or less direct course to the core is taken. Here they feed and grow
until maturity. The seed are consumed as well as the tissues of the core,
and the destruction of the sap-conducting vessels often stops the further
erowth of the fruit which fall, from this cause, during July and August.
The time required for the development of the larve is about thirty days.
When full grown the first generation worms emerge from the fruit and
shortly spin cocoons under some protection. Transformation into adults
takes place quickly, requiring ten to fifteen days. The moths so pro-
duced lay eggs which give rise to the second generation worms. The
eges of the second generation are laid largely on the fruit, and
frequently in the most exposed places. The young larve also appear
to manifest the same indifference to shelter and enter the fruit at any
point, choosing the calyx only by accident. Codling worms of the
second generation begin to appear strongly about the middle of August,

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 127

but are in evidence, in numbers, late into October. These second brood
larve are much more numerous than those of the first generation, and
eause the most damage. The great majority of the second generation
worms have the wintering-over instinct and so do not develop into
moths until the following spring. A summer generation requires about
sixty-five days, so there is a possibility of a third brood in October.

Sprays applied during the winter and contact insecticides in the
summer are of little or no value in the control of the codling moth.
Poisoning with arsenic has on the other hand proved very eftective when
the spraying is done at the proper times. The compound of arsenic
should be sufficiently insoluble to enable its free use without danger of
foliage injury, and the applications must be made just before the most
important hatches of the worms. Numerous compounds of arsenic have
been proposed, but at present arsenate of lead meets all requirements
best.

Some confusion has arisen from the fact that there are two theories
of spraying and two kinds of arsenate of lead. The two lead com-
pounds are known as pyro and ortho arsenates. The pyro arsenate con-
tains a greater amount of arsenic than the ortho compound, and so is
a more active poison. It also releases some arsenic to water solution,
rendering use in the coast climates dangerous. The ortho compound,
on the other hand, is safe under these conditions.

The two theories of spraying have likewise originated under opposite
climatic conditions. In the dry interior it has been demonstrated that
the calyx cup spraying is most important, and may even be so effective
as to render further applications unnecessary. But in the rain belt of
the Pacific coast and also in many other sections of the country, the
relative value of the calyx cup application is not nearly so great. In
California coast districts applications for both broods must be made,
and will include three or four sprayings, according to the abundance
of the codling moth.

The other caterpillars mentioned in the lst of apple insects are nor-
mally leaf feeders, appearing in the early spring and coming to ma-
turity before the middle of June. April and May are the months of
caterpillars. Many caterpillars have but one generation a year, and
this is true of tent caterpillars, tussock caterpillars, and cankerworms.
The tent and tussock caterpillars pass the winter in the egg stage.
These eges are deposited on the trees by the moths in June and July,
but do not hatch until the following spring. The female moths of the
tussock caterpillars are wingless, so distribution is effected by the
migration of the larve and the accidental transportation of eggs and
young caterpillars. Two species of cankerworms are present, called
fall and spring cankerworms. Like the tussock caterpillar, the female
moths are wingless, but the eggs are not laid in the early summer. One
species deposits late in the fall while the other waits until the early
spring. The adult larval and pupal stages are passed in the ground
under the trees, so the wingless females are obliged to ascend the trunks
in order to lay their eggs. |

The tent caterpillars and cankerworms injure the trees by defolia-
tion, and must be quite numerous before serious damage is done. Com-
plete defoliation by caterpillars destroys the crop for two years. The
tent caterpillars spin a web protection capable of covering the whole

128 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

colony, and to which they return when not feeding, but the canker-
worms live individually, and have the habit of spinning down from the
tree on a web when disturbed.

The tussock caterpillar is capable of doing considerable damage even
when present in small numbers. This is due to the fact that it attacks
the young fruit, eating out portions which afterwards develop into
rough scars that detract much from the appearance and value.

Treatment of caterpillars has to be modified according to their habits
and character. The tent caterpillar and cankerworms are readily con-
trolled by spraying with arsenate of lead, and so no special treatment
need be given when applications are made for the codling moth. On
the other hand, the tussock caterpillar is not readily poisoned, and it
is more practical to pick the eggs from the trees during the winter
than to rely on arsenicals applied later. The eggs are laid in masses
about the size of a pea, and may be found on most any part of the
tree, often attached to the old cocoons. The white to gray color of the
egg masses makes it possible to find them rather readily, but very care-
ful work is necessary with large trees.

Caterpillars are subject to great fluctuations in abundance, due to
the attacks of parasites and diseases. These natural enemies may
nearly exterminate the species at times, but again their absence for
several years allows a destructive increase of the pests.

Coming now to the fungus diseases, the apple powdery mildew is the
most important. Under climatic conditions favorable to it, the per-
sistent attacks of this fungus keep the trees from making the proper
wood and foliage growth. The vigor of the tree is thus much reduced
and many unfavorable conditions develop.

The mildew is a fungus parasite which thrives on the surface of
young leaves and growing shoots. It spreads over the attacked parts
and resembles a mold, both in appearance and odor. The fungus is
propagated and distributed by means of spores or seed-like bodies.
These spores, although microscopic, are produced in such enormous
numbers as to form a white powder, which is often abundant on mil-
dewed shoots. The spores are distributed by the wind.

Treatment for the apple mildew has, until recently, been impractical,
because the fungicides in common use had little effect upon it. Winter
sprays have not proved effective because the fungus is in a very resist-
ant state during the dormant period. Sprays, to be effective, must be
appled in the spring and early summer, and some form of insoluble
sulphur should be used. We have experimented with a large number
of sulphur compounds, and the best among them is the iron sulphide
spray, now recommended. Three or four sprayings are required, but
fortunately these fit very nicely into the codling moth schedule, so that
only a small additional cost is entailed. The Bordeaux mixture is not
effective.

The apple scab is another fungus disease which may prove serious if
there is much rain during April and May, but dry springs reduce the
damage to a minimum. This fungus grows within the tissues of the
leaves and fruit, and forms spores on the surface which resemble a
dark brown powder or soot. The spores are carried by the wind, and
when deposited on apple foliage or fruit will start a new infection if
sufficient moisture is present. The injury consists in the scabbing of

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 129

the fruit, and also the killing of the young fruit if a bad attack occurs
during the blooming period. Spraying for the apple scab is quite
effective if properly timed. Winter applications of lime-sulphur solu-
tion check it materially, but a Bordeaux spraying in May is advisable if
spring rains are abundant.

The sappy bark disease and wood rot is much in evidence in the
humid coast districts. This disease is probably parasitic, although the
specific fungus has not been determined. The trouble is active during
the winter and almost ceases in the summer. It starts from wounds,
and appears first as a puffy condition of the bark, which later becomes
watery. The bark dies and the wood beneath is attacked by a rot,
which continues from year to year. Large limbs are killed, and the
wood rot eventually enters the trunk, resulting in the death of the tree.
In treating this trouble the diseased limbs should be cut away con-
siderably below the infection. The disease may start again in the stub,
so it is well not to go too far back towards the trunk in making the cuts.
Prevention is better than cure, and as the disease starts in unhealed
wounds, the removal of large limbs should be avoided, and all pruning
confined to branches under two inches in diameter.

We are now ready to consider a schedule of spraying and other treat-
ments which will meet all of the conditions previously discussed. It is
important that the sprays used should have as wide a range of efficiency
as possible, and at the same time the application be attended with a
minimum of injury to the trees.

For winter use the lime-sulphur solution meets all these requirements
best. This lime-and-sulphur compound can be used on dormant trees
at any strength, but the contraction now recommended for general pur-
poses is 314 to 4 per cent of dissolved sulphur. This concentration is
obtained by diluting one part of the commercial 33-degree Baumé solu-
tion with nine parts of water, or preparing a solution by the following
formula: Lime 33 pounds, sulphur 66 pounds; boil these together in
50 gallons of water for forty-five to sixty minutes, or until the sulphur
is dissolved. After boiling, strain out the coarse impurities and dilute
with water to make 200 gallons. This dilution should be applied with
ereat thoroughness, so as to drench the entire surface of the tree. Best
results are obtained when a period of dry, warm weather follows the
application. For this reason spraying early in December or when the
buds are bursting in the spring is usually most effective. The latter
date is certainly best for apple scab control. If the greedy scale is
abundant, two applications should be made with some time intervening
between them.

The lime-sulphur treatment is effective against the armored scales,
moss (lichens) and the apple scab, but there may be a few trees which are
badly troubled by the woolly aphis. In this case the trunks and large
limbs may be sprayed with an 8 per cent distillate emulsion. The appli-
cation should be made during the coldest weather in December or Janu-
ary, because the colonies of the aphis are then smallest and least
numerous. Great thoroughness is necessary in order to penetrate all
the crevices in the bark. After spraying, the wet earth about the trunk
should be removed. This is a precaution to prevent killing the root
-erown by prolonged contact with the distillate oil. If the crown is

9—FGC

130 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

found to be infested with the aphis, it is well to pour several gallons of a
strong tobacco decoction into the basin and then refill with new earth.
In addition to spraying, the trees should be examined for tussock
caterpillar eggs, and sappy bark disease infections. The latter trouble
may require several inspections during the winter to prevent undue
spread of the disease. Cutting off the infected branches is advised,
except when these are large and only have one side attacked. In such
cases cut away the diseased bark to healthy tissue, and then watch care-
fully for further outbreaks.

With the advent of spring the most important consideration is the
control of the codling moth, but the powdery mildew is a close second
and even more consequential in some localities. We will take up the
two cases, first the control of the codling moth alone, and second with
the mildew. Provided there is no necessity of spraying for the apple
scab, the spring and summer applications will contain only arsenate
of lead. Four thorough sprayings with this material, and properly
timed, will insure practical control of the codling moth, tent caterpillars
and cankerworms, as well as several other leaf feeders. The first appli-
cation is due when the majority of the blossoms have fallen, from the
middle of April to the first of May. The second spraying comes in the
latter part of May and the third about the middle of June. It is pos-
sible that these three sprayings will be all. that is required for the
control of the codling moth, but experience has taught us that in many
cases this early work is not done thoroughly, and the second-generation
worms may be numerous enough to cause considerable damage. To
meet this contingency a fourth application of arsenate of lead should
be made between the middle of August and the first of September.
The correct amount of arsenate of lead to use in all of these applica-
tions is about 2 pounds to 50 gallons of water, and the neutral or ortho
compound should be chosen in order to avoid foliage injury. Thorough-
ness of all the applications is a point quite as important as the timing,
and failures which have occurred are easily explained as the result of
improper use without assuming any fault in the arsenate of lead.

This statement of procedure covers the simplest general condition,
but arsenate of lead is an insecticide only, and even its most thorough
use leaves the trees exposed to the attacks of fungus diseases. When
there is much rain in April and May the apple scab is to be feared, for
the lime-sulphur applications in the winter may not have been suffi-
ciently effective to prevent all injury. Under these conditions the first
application should include the Bordeaux mixture. <A suitable Bordeaux-
arsenate of lead mixture can be prepared by following these directions.

Three pounds of bluestone dissolved in 10 gallons, and four pounds
of lime slaked and mixed with 20 gallons of water should be poured
together and well agitated. The arsenate of lead and water necessary
to make 50 gallons is added to this mixture.

Bordeaux may russet the fruit if the application is followed by rains,
and bellflowers should never be sprayed with it, as this variety is easily
russeted and but little subject to the scab.

The second case to be discussed is that which includes the control of
the powdery mildew. This may be accomplished by adding iron sul-
phide to the early codling moth sprayings, and inserting an additional
application. The timing of these applications throws them about two

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 131

weeks apart as follows: May Ist; May 15th; June Ist, and June 15th
to July Ist. Arsenate of lead is used with these applications at the rate
of 2 pounds to 50 gallons for the first two, and 1 pound to the same
quantity of the second two. The August and September sprayings are
to contain arsenate of lead alone.

The iron sulphide under discussion is a complex compound formed by
the reaction of the lime-sulphur solution on a solution of copperas (iron
sulphate). A 200-gallon quantity is prepared as follows

Dissolve 15 pounds of copperas in a 50-gallon barrel, two thirds
full of water. and then add 13 quarts of the 33-degree Baumé (com-
mercial) lime-sulphur solution; add water to fill the barrel and agitate
thoroughly. <A thick black precipitate is formed, and, if, as there should
be, there is a slight excess of the ime-sulphur solution a reddish liquid
will séparate. Allow to settle for twelve hours and then pour off as
much of the liquid as possible without loss of the black precipitate.

. Repeat the operation of filling the barrel with water, agitating, allow-

ing to settle and decanting, four or five times, or until the excess lime-
sulphur solution is washed away. When the washing is complete the
mixture is ready to dilute with water to make 200 gallons of spray.
Arsenate of lead is added while diluting, along with the water.

When iron sulphide is used, there should be no need of the Bordeaux
mixture, for the results of our experiments indicate that the mildew
spray is also effective against the scab. In spraying for the mildew
special effort should be made to wet the tips of the growing shoots as
these parts most need protection.

The use of iron sulphide for the mildew is just emerging from the
experimental stage, but we are prepared to say that young orchards,
from the time of planting until coming into bearing, will be greatly
benefited by five or six applications, as the growth is greatly stimu-
lated. Older trees are also much stimulated in growth, but the first
applieation is likely to shock the tree and cause the dropping of some
of the young fruit. This shock is apparently due to the especially
delicate condition produced by bad attacks of the mildew and may be
expected to disappear when a normal condition of thrift has been
restored.

The following points should be remembered in the use of iron sulphide
for the mildew: One or two applications will produce little or no effect,
because the infection of the young growth is continuous during the
erowing period, and so the protection must be continuous. There may
be some dropping of the young fruit as a result of the use of the spray,
but this loss should be compensated by increased growth and vigor
resulting in better future crops.

The discussion of these general methods of procedure for the control
of the most important apple pests is scarcely complete without con-
sidering some of the special problems which may come up incidentally.
The woolly aphis was mentioned under winter treatment, and the state-
ment was made that this insect might require further treatment during
the summer. Aphids of various species develop rapidly at times, and
the apple in California is subject to the attacks of at least three. The
woolly aphis, green aphis, and leaf-curling aphis may all become
abundant enough at times to inflict serious injury. These insects are
all soft bodied and easily killed with contact insecticides when actually

132 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ .CONVENTION.

hit by the spray. On the other hand, multiplication is so rapid that a
few remaining individuals can quickly reinfest the tree. For this reason
it is unreasonable to expect any one spraying to control aphids for the
whole summer, unless the application happens to be so happily timed as
to reduce the numbers of the insects to a point where some natural
enemy or condition, already struggling with the pest, can conquer them.
Natural enemies of the aphids usually get the upper hand in time to
prevent very great damage from these pests, but a few trees may suffer
greatly from attacks of plant lice, often the same ones year after year.
In such cases treatment is advisable, and sprays should be applied when-
ever conditions require.

In spraying for aphids it is necessary to use large quantities of the

wash, forcefully applied, from all directions, in order to insure contact
with the bodies. For this reason the spray material must not only be a
good insecticide, but also free from foliage injuring properties. The
best aphis sprays that have come to hand are the nicotine and tobacco
washes. Nicotine is effective against aphids when used in dilutions as
great as. fifty hundredths of 1 per cent, and is not known to injure
foliage even at much greater strengths.
’ Tobacco decoctions containing the required amount of nicotine can be
prepared from refuse stems, dust, etc., and a wash strong enough for
aphids is obtained by steeping a pound of such material in a gallon of
hot water for several hours, then diluting with an equal quantity of
water after straining. The addition of some soap will much increase
the efficiency of the spray, as it gives better contact and helps to retain
the nicotine. A pound of soap (whale-oil or other) to 20 gallons makes
a good mixture.

Spraying is at present the main reliance in the control of apple pests,
but there are cultural methods and ways of handling the fruit which
may add materially to the total results. Thorough thinning of the
young apples makes protection by spraying much easier as the points
of contact, which afford protection to the worms, are not so numerous.
The complete and immediate removal of the fruit when picked is also
a good practice for most of the wintering-over generation worms are
still in the apples. This is especially true if the picking is done before
the middle of October. Often the good fruit is quickly removed, but
the culls and windfalls are allowed to remain and rot on the ground.
This is a bad practice and may be the means of harboring more than
one pest. This cull fruit is now becoming valuable for drying and
canning purposes, so there is a greater disposition to make a thorough
clean up with consequent improvement in conditions.

In closing this paper I feel that much of importance has been left
unsaid. There are many pests of the apple which have not been men-
tioned. Fortunately, a number of these are not present in our orchards,
and we are trusting in an efficient quarantine service to keep them out.
In the mean time knowledge of methods of control both by artificial
means and the assistance of natural agencies is making rapid progress.
What has already been done gives us confidence in our ability to cope
with most, if not all, contingencies and assures the future of the
industry. (Applause.)

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. Colonel Irish will now speak on the sub-
ject, ‘‘ After Fruit Production, What?’’ (Applause.)

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 133

MR. IRISH. Mr. Commissioner, and Ladies and Gentlemen: Before
I begin speaking you will permit me to say something. There has
arisen, not only in California, but throughout the republic, a problem that
has been for years under observation, which concerns very materially,
not only the economics of agriculture and horticulture, but the social
and general life of the people. This problem is the lapse of the young
of the country, reared under rural conditions, from those conditions
to the city. In the period of our Revolutionary War only 3 per cent
of our people lived in cities, and 97 per cent of the men of brawn and
the women of courage who went through that great struggle in which
our liberties were established were rural people, living under country
conditions. Now nearly 35 per cent of our population is in cities, and
that population is on the increase yearly. This lapse of young life from
- rural districts and rural occupations is a problem that is being con-

sidered by economists and publicists all over the country.

There fs no doubt that man—ancient man—regarded his relation to
the land and its fruits as one of the most important to him. In that
book of Genesis, no matter what opinion we may have of its authen-
ticity as an historical narrative or of its value as an inspired book, there
is something that appeals directly to all men, and that is that part
of a tradition that is traced away back into Assyrian sacred literature,
in which an attempt is made to account for the presence of man upon
the earth as a part of the universe. As I say, whether it be of value
as an authentic historical statement or not, it is of the highest value
to every thoughtful person as an expression of ancient man’s opinion
of what constituted nobility of descent. It is in that verse, ‘‘God
created a garden eastward,’’ and that was Eden, and out of that garden,
equipped with everything that grew upon the ground and upon vines
and trees—except, perhaps, with the loganberry, which is a modern
ereation—in that garden man concluded he would place his origin,
his initial point. It has, I say, the highest value as an expression that
ancient man believed in his descent from the soil. Now we are start-
ing away from that ancient idea. The young of the country do not
place that high value upon descent from the soil that ancient man did.
In your country schools and in your schools in cities like this, a boy
may learn, in the literature with which he comes in contact, all about
the glory that was Greece and the grandeur that was Rome; he may
learn all about wars and captains and commanders; he may acquire,
through the observation of literature, a knowledge and fondness and an
imaginative tendency toward every occupation on earth except the
rural industries. He picks up a city newspaper—we call it a metro-
politan paper—and what does he read? He reads there the pleas of
lawyers made to juries and to courts; he reads the sermons of gifted
preachers; he reads about the cures and great achievements of physi-
cians and surgeons; and when he looks through that metropolitan paper
for something which relates to the occupation in which his father is
engaged, he finds the farmer pictured as a hayseed, wearing whiskers
cut on the pattern of a goat’s, with a toothpick in his hand and saying
*“By Heck’’ and ‘‘Gosh-all-hemlock.’’ [Laughter. ]

Now, what is the effect of all this? It is to captivate the imagination
of the boy with the glories and the splendors of the city, of the excel-
lence of the work in the professions, and to inspire him with contempt

134 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

for the occupation of his sire, the old hayseed with a goat beard on
his chin, chewing Star tobacco and saying “‘By Heck’’ and ‘‘Gosh-all-
hemlock.’’ That is what he absorbs from the literature with which he
comes in contact. The only way to train a child is to train him when
he is young. One wise person went further than that when penal
reform was under discussion, when he said, *‘The way to begin reform-
ing young Smith is to reform his grandfather.’’ But in this respect
it is time that the people of this republic teach, through all the agencies
that instruct the young, that there is something in the world besides
war, that there is some glory beside that won by commanders who lead
hosts to slay. It is time that we began in our schools, both country and
city, to teach that the foundation of all things is in the tilling of the
soil and that, therefore. to the tiller of the soil is due the first honors.
It is time that we should go back, if necessary, to Virgil and Pliny
Secundus and have some man among us who shall originate a literature
that shall teach the utility, the romance, the imaginative elefhents that
are in the rural occupations of the republic in every one of its states,
so that, through the literature absorbed in the schools, our young
may find out something about that great industry upon which all
other industries depend.

‘God planted a garden eastward in Eden.’’ It was a garden. How
inane and silly that line would be if in Genesis it had been said that
God planted a brewery eastward in Eden or a drug store or a lawyer’s
office [laughter], or something else of that sort, but he planted a
garden completely stocked with things that grow in the ground, and
it is well to go back to that. The Agricultural Department in Wash-
ington, to which we owe not only the millions and millions that it has
added to the crops of this country by increasing the fertility of the
soil, but a mighty stimulus that has gone through all the nerves of the
agricultural and rural people of this country, a stimulus that is begin-
ning to teach them that scientific agriculture is one of the highest of
all the arts, that it deserves to rank with what we call the learned pro-
fessions, with law, physic, and theology. We owe all this to the Agri-
eultural Department; but that corps of splendidly trained gentlemen
in that department have observed the necessity of beginning in the
schools of the country, teaching the young something that will interest
them in agriculture, and to that end that department has undertaken
by the spread of bulletins to impress upon the people of the country
especially the need of introducing something about agriculture and
horticulture and their allied arts into the public schools.

Why, think of it. You just listened here to a splendid paper that
will go into your transactions and be a text-book upon the subject, a
splendid paper upon insect and fungus pests, involving that most inter-
esting subject, vegetable pathology. We call the doctor who cures us
of a stomach ache or a soft corn or an ingrowing nail or something of
that kind. The vegetable pathologist, who finds out vegetable diseases,
is following a profession much more difficult to practice successfully
than that of the physician, because we can tell where our pain is.
which rib hurts and where the rheumatism is attacking us and in what
kind of weather, but the vegetable can not utter its complaint. The
study has to be entirely from the external, and vegetable pathology
opens out to young men with a scientific turn one of the most important

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 135

fields of human endeavor, relating to the stability of our crops and the
volume of their production.

In your Agricultural Department in Washington some years ago,
when they began on vegetable pathology, they found one man in the
United States who was a vegetable pathologist, and at that time the
munificent salary attached to that position was $1,800 a year; and that
man went into a pathological laboratory and patiently began his labors
for that small salary. Pretty soon the observant government of Japan
got its eye upon him, and there they must make every square inch of
soil produce all the food it will, and their rice and other food crops
were afflicted with diseases, and that government knew that it must find
a vegetable pathologist that knew what those diseases were and could
suggest their remedy, and so that government picked up this man from
the Agricultural Department getting the munificent salary of $1,800
a year and took him to Japan under a seven-year contract at $7,000 a
year. So, if we begin in our public schools teaching the rudiments of
agriculture and horticulture, teaching the labor that should be done
at seed time and at harvest, but teaching the necessity of studying
the enemies of that crop who reduce its yield, which reduce not only
the profit of the producer, but the quantity of food that will go to
the mouth of the consumer, pretty soon the country boy will look upon
his old father as something more and better than a hayseed and will listen,
not with disgust, when the old man does say ‘‘By Heck’’ and ‘‘Gosh-
all-hemlock.’’ In order to effect this the Agricultural Department has
begun a propaganda. It has issued a series of very interesting bul-
letins and pamphlets on the subject. It sent me the other day a few
of them and I will leave them here, and I want each one of you to
get a copy as far as they will go. There may be some men here who
are school directors in rural schools and city schools. And another
thing. These same things relating to agriculture and _ horticulture
should be introduced into the city schools to let the city boy know that
there is, beyond the limits of his town, pursued by faithful and toiling
men and women, that occupation, the tilling of the soil, which George
Washington said was the most noble, the most healthful and the most
useful occupation of man. And so instead of the lapse of the country
boy to the city we will have a hegira of the city boy into the country,
led there by having his imagination fired by the story of rural life.
Now, that is what I wanted to say. Now I will go on and speak.
[ Applause. |

** After Fruit Production, What?’’ Gentlemen, the time when roast
pigs all stuffed and seasoned were running around the county roads in
California begging people to eat them has gone by. [Laughter.| The
representation to a coming stranger who desires to invest in land that
all he has to do is to buy a piece of California land and sit down and
look at it and it will make him rich, should cease. The State Board
of Trade, of which I have been a director with Mr. Briggs and Mr.
Maslin and other gentlemen for the last twenty years, esteemed it its
function for some time to promote the fruit industry and fruit plant-
ing. Some time ago, however, we consulted upon that subject, and we
made up our minds that the time had come to cease promoting the
expansion of production in this industry, that the attention of the peo-
ple should be turned to something else; that an industry which was shown

136 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

by my friend Russ Stephens yesterday can not stand a freight transpor-
tation to its market of one cent and fifteen one-hundredths, and that
even a transportation charge to a market 1,300 miles away of one cent
per pound will not prevent loss, that industry must turn its attention
to something else than the expansion of production. It must turn its
attention to a market, to the means of reaching it, and to holding that
market profitably. .So the State Board of Trade concluded that the
best thing to be done by the fruit men of California is to stop talking
of expansion, the extension of plantations, and to devote itself to the
production of quality, to the standard packing of its fruit, and to
reaching a market that will take its product at a profit to the producer,
and that market when reached will be subject to expansion in its turn.
Let production stand where it is, then, and let us devote ourselves to a
profitable expansion of our market, and when that expansion of the mar-
ket has caught up with production, then naturally it will be business in
California to begin to talk about expanding production. But first catch
your market, let it expand up to the present supply that you have,
and when that has been done then every acre planted after that will
promise to its planter a profit after coming into bearing. So the State
Board of Trade has devoted itself to the fruit industry faithfully and
honestly in its statistical statements, but it has begun to encourage
other forms of rural industry in California with the same vigor and
energy and truthfulness and confidence with which it formerly encour-
aged the fruit industry, but standing ready to help it take care of
itself, as Mr. Briggs will tell you later on, standing up and resisting
the encroachment upon it threatened in the sulphur matter, enabling
it to reach its market, to reach a profitable disposition of its product,
but letting expansion wait until the market has been found and has
profitably expanded up to our present capacity of supply.

Now, in the first place, I think that it is highly necessary to study the
standardization of the pack. In that respect no one can estimate the
value of the work that is being done by Mr. Jeffrey. He is holding
meetings, which I have attended in many instances, among the fruit
erowers, preaching to them the absolute necessity of observing commer-
cial honor in their pack. You must first have a pack that is of the
character and quality demanded by the distant market, and that char-
acter and quality must be carried to that distant market. You will not
be confronted when there with: ‘‘I have bought some boxes of Watson-
ville apples since they began coming into the market this season, and I
found the top layer splendid, but the other layers were a disappoint-
ment.’’ Let the growers organize. That has been talked to you here
and the example of the citrus growers of southern California has been
held up to you. Let the growers organize, let them make an ironclad
organization, but when they have made that let them understand that
they must not use the power of organization to force upon the packer
inferior qualities of fruit. A great many men feel that when they
belong to a powerful organization they can compel the packer and the
final factor, the consumer, to take what they choose to bring. You have
borrowed that from the labor unions. When the mechanic depends
upon the power of the union behind him and not his skill or fidelity he
will exert neither skill nor fidelity. We who live in cities know this to
our sorrow. But you must discard this leaf out of the policy of the

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 137

labor unions and use your organization to compel every part if it to
observe the principles of commercial honor when you take your product
to the man who is to be the factor and send it to the distant market.
[Applause.] We often hear—and I have had some of the same exper'-
ences—about the sins of the commission man—and his sins are as
scarlet, there is no concealing it [laughter], but the commission man is
a psychologist; he has had experiences with many and many a rural
producer and he knows that that rural producer, if he can do it, will
send him a Christmas turkey with a stone hidden in its insides or he
will send him inferior fruit ; and so when the man from the country gets
back no profits for his shipment, but a bill for his freight and goes down
to jaw it out with the commission man, the still small voice of his own
conscience tells him that he didn’t do square with the commission man
in the first place. Be square with yourselves, absolutely, and you will
be astonished to find out how soon you can make every other man be
square with you. Be square with the consumer, with your commission
man, and when you make your organization make it ironclad, and
demand that it shall compel every member of it to be square [applause],
and when you do that you have taken the first great step that will lead
to your prosperity and your finding of a market. In the first place,
then, the standardizing of your pack, to get to the consumer in the very
best condition, the very best quality that can be produced. Then attend
to your transportation matter. I don’t think you can ever get the rail-
road companies to go into partnership with the fruit producers in
California. I have this criticism to make of what Mr. Stephens’ com-
mittee has done, that it is continually saying to the transportation
companies, ‘‘We want you to give us a rate that will protect us from
loss.’’ Suppose the railroad company says, “‘ All right, gentlemen, we
will do that, and then when we protect you from loss we want you to
divide the profit with us; we are in partnership.’’ That won’t do. I
don’t think that transportation anywhere in the world is done upon that
system or that principle. I sympathize greatly with your effort to get
the lowest transportation rate possible to reach your distant market.
When the interstate commerce bill was under discussion I was editing
@ newspaper in San Francisco, and when it was under discussion before
congress to fix a uniform rate per ton per mile all over the country, I
saw at once that that spelled ruin for the California producer, that
there should be a differential permitted upon a long haul, and that a
long haul should be made by a railroad upon a less rate ‘per ton per mile
than a short haul. And so I went to Washington and I dealt with Mr.
Reagan, of Texas, and other gentlemen, and perhaps had a small part
in procuring a differential, a less rate per ton per mile upon a long
haul. Now, what did I find out? Here were the fruit growers of
Georgia, the orange men of Florida, the apple growers of Nebraska and
Iowa, fighting like soldiers against that differential clause. Why?
Look at it as it is to-day. You will find those men, when a train of Cali-
fornia fruit goes by, frothing at the mouth because, after all, it is going
to the market at a less rate per ton per mile for the long haul. They
have the short haul and you have the long haul. There are so many
intricacies in the fixing of the freight rates that I think we would all
be fit for the insane asylum if we should try to straighten it out; but
certainly, the voice of a great industry that supplies so much profitable
tonnage to the railroads that reach this coast must be heard in reason

138 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

by the men who control the policy of the transportation companies that
earry that product to market, and I am satisfied that sooner or later
you are going to get your rate, not in partnership with the railroad
companies at all, but by their fixing a rate that they will be justified to
their stockholders in fixing, that will greatly approximate your desires,
and when you get that rate don’t profane the arrangement that has
been reached by so many prayers and tears and sacred and profane
methods, as that will have been reached—don’t profane it by making
it the vehicle of sending to your market inferior product.

I have long been satisfied that there is in the world a profitable market
for every pound and pint of California fruit product, either in its
primary or its secondary or its tertiary forms. That market you should
reach but you must reach it, as I say, with your product in first-class
shape. Why, see how easy it is. Some years ago, when the late J. Ster-
ling Morton was Secretary of Agriculture, he visited this coast and we
gave him a reception in the State Board of Trade, and he was asked to
talk about the marketing of California fresh fruit in London, which had
begun not long before, and he stood up and told the story. Hesaid when
the sending of California fruit to London began he sent two representa-
tives of his department there to study the effect when it landed. He said
when the first lot was exposed for sale in London it was found that there
was one lot of fruit that was absolutely perfect in quality and in pack-
ing, and that sold for the highest price. The next shipment came along,
another lot under the same brand, and that was opened and found in
exactly the same condition as to quality and pack. When the third
shipment came the fruit under that brand sold at the highest price
without the package being opened; it had established its reputation.
He was asked whose fruit that was and he said Frank Buck, of Vaca-
ville. He had by that simple process established his trade-mark in
distant London. At the end of the season of 1894—it had been a hard
vear for all of us, the year of the railroad strike—I met Flickenger, of
San Jose, the canner, and I said, ‘‘I suppose you are busted, like every-
body else.’’ He said, ‘‘No, I sold my pack at as good a price as ever
and I could have sold a hundred thousand cases more if I had had the
goods under my brand.’’ I said, ‘‘How do you do it?’’ He-said, **I
have a market in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the United States, and I
have taught my market that everything under my brand can be bought
without opening a can and the customers will be satisfied.’” There can
be a trade-mark and a brand established for the entire State of Cali-
fornia, so that the word ‘‘California’’ upon a package of fruit or a can
or a box of dried fruit can be a trade-mark so thoroughly established as
a legend representing commercial honor as that every bit of this product
going out of California will be taken by the market without examina-
tion. When you do that, when you reach that high plane, you have
done, in my judgment, the first thing that is necessary for protection.
Reach your market in that shape. Let production stand where it is.
without further expansion. Wait until that market so reached is absorb-
ing all you send to it, and then you can begin to talk about enlarging.
Then you can begin to encourage the stranger to plant trees and vines.
and not until then.

So, as I say, the State Board of Trade is showing that we import into
California every year five million dollars’ worth of dairy products, and
we are saying to the people, ‘‘Plant alfalfa and get cows, milk them to

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. «139

eet the cream and feed the hogs skim-milk.’’ Let us turn the attention
of the stranger to other things than fruit. It is conceded by the world,
we have established it, that there is no equal area on the surface of the
globe that can produce in perfection as many varieties of the fruit tree
and vine as can California. We have talked that universally, now let us
send that product to the world in such condition that it will learn to
depend upon us entirely for its supply of that form of food, and mean-
time devote our attention to the other things that are profitable in filling
the gap of five millions a year in dairy products and other millions in
pork products and that will yield a profit. Let us expand in that form
and then it is very easy, when our fruit market has reached the limit of
our supply, to begin to expand the supply.

- Now, this is a very discursive discussion. I envy a man who can write
a paper and stand up and read it. I can’t and never could, and the
result is I never became a writer and never became a speaker. But bear
‘in mind what I have said to you about the schools. I remember the joy
that came into my heart when my only boy, a college boy with an oppor-
tunity to train for a profession, was visiting my ranches and tramping
over my land and seeing seed time and harvest, had born in his heart
an irrepressible ambition to become a land man and a live stock man,
and when he left college at the close of his training in elementary law
and took up land and live stock I was the happiest father in California.
[Applause.| And so, let me tell you. Take this home with you and
don’t forget it, that every father and mother in California, both in city
and country who finds the mind and the taste of the boy turned toward
the country and toward land and toward the rural occupation should
be as happy as I, because Washington told the truth when he said agri-
culture is the most useful, the most noble, and the most healthful occu-
pation of man. (Applause.)

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. Mr. McAdie, of the Weather Bureau, is
here and he will speak, and you will be pleased to hear him. His subject
' is ‘‘Protection from Injury by Frost.’’ (Applause. )

PROTECTION FROM INJURY BY FROST.
By Pror. A. G. McApre of San Francisco.

In our attempts to prevent damage by frost in California the first
question to be answered is, What is needed? A cheap (the meaning of
this word to be given later), easily handled, effective means of pre-
venting rapid cooling during the night and early morning hours.
Also, we must prevent excessive drying of the plant tissue previous to
the fall in temperature and excessive warming of the dried, chilled
plant after the frost. Briefly, we must shield fruit and leaf from
abnormal strains, caused by rapid changes in temperature and humid-
ity. In nearly all the papers heretofore written on ‘‘ Protection from
Frost,’’ attention has been given to temperature changes, but very
little has been said about the condition which so frequently precedes
_ frost; namely, the drying. In California our frost periods are nearly
always preceded by a day or two of boisterous north winds, quieting
down at nightfall. These winds, we have good reason for believing,
rob vegetation of much of the natural moisture and probably leave

140 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

plants in no proper condition to withstand the rapid cooling of the
quiet night hours following. The plants are also in no condition to
withstand the rapid warming after sunrise, when the sun’s rays fall
through a dry, clear atmosphere. At such times there is nothing to
intercept the sun’s heat, practically no atmosphere absorption and no
gradual heating, to which the plant might accommodate itself.

Our attention has been drawn to the importance of this drying effect
preceding frost by the damage done during the cold spell of Decem-
ber 19-20, 1908. Strong desiccating winds blew down the San Joaquin
Valley for several days before the freeze. My belief, expressed popu-
larly, is that the ground was dried out, the trees in large measure over-
stimulated in the effort to meet the intense evaporation at the leaf
surfaces. Then when the excessive metabolism could not be longer
maintained there was inadequate exudation, and shriveled plant tissue
resulted at a time when it was most necessary that the plant should
have a good supply of water to enable it to resist rapid temperature
change. Again, it must be plain that such dried, chilled tissue is in
no condition to withstand rapid heating. There is some eyidence to
support these views in the well known fact that frosted oranges, for
example, are somewhat dried and do not regain their natural juiciness
by remaining on the trees.

If this view be correct, it is plain that in any campaign of frost
fighting we must not neglect this antecedent condition of drying and
the consequent condition of rapid thawing.

The general campaign of frost fighting, as thus far laid out, covers
three main lines:

1. Accurate advance information of the occurrence of frost.

2. Applying preventive measures during critical hours.

3. Preventing sudden warming of chilled fruit, or a too rapid
thawing out.

Under the first of these heads great progress has been made in the
past five years. Not only in California, but now throughout the various
fruit sections of the United States, Weather Bureau officials recognize
the value of special study of types of frost maps. The work first under-
taken in California on a large scale, and for a distinct purpose, is now
an important feature of the forecaster’s work at a large number of
places. Frosts are found to occur as a consequence of certain move-
ments of low and high pressure areas and the displacement of the
lower air incident to the pressure changes. Frost is a matter of air
drainage, both on a large scale and on a small scale. In other words,
frosts are successfully forecast because we understand the general
movements of the lower air and in particular certain local circulations.
Types of frost maps, that is, conditions preceding frost twenty-four
hours, are shown herewith.

The forecaster anticipates a condition in which the lower air strata
are quiet, dust-free, and very dry. Under such condition there is rapid
radiation and loss of heat from plant and ground and a sharp fall in
temperature. While the forecaster gives the general conditions favor-
able for frost, it must be clearly understood that each individual
orchardist must study his own problem of air movement in his own
locality. These local circulations should be studied in connection with
the daily weather map. It is also advisable to have certain instru-

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 141

mental records, such as are given by the thermograph and hygrograph,
the importance of which data will be apparent from the discussion
further on.

Under the second head, we must discuss some of the physical processes
operative in the formation of frost and then mention the various devices,
such as smudging outfits, coal baskets, oil pots, orchard heaters, anti-
frost covers, etc. Opinions will differ as to the relative efficiency of
various devices, and some are undoubtedly more serviceable for cer-
_ tain localities than others. We propose to discuss the principles rather
than individual devices.

There are three general principles used in frost-protection devices:

1. Adding heat.
2. Saving heat.
3. Mixing, or stirring the air to prevent cool areas.

Under the first are included all the various forms of heating devices,
such as open fires, smudge fires, coal baskets, oil pots, orchard heaters,
ete. The use of fires probably dates back beyond our memory, but the
first use of the coal baskets for the specific purpose of preventing loss
by frost was by Edward Copely at Riverside, Cal., about 1896. The
first use of oil that we have a record of was by Everett at Arlington,
Cal., and the first use of hot water was by Meacham at Riverside. A
severe frost about the end of December, 1905, caused great damage to
the orange crop in the Riverside section, and the following year may
be said to have marked the beginning of the frost fighting campaign.
The Riverside Horticultural Club took an active interest in the problem,
and many experiments were conducted by such men as those already
mentioned and Koethen, Reed, Holmes, Hall,* Hammond, and McAdie.
The work has gone on and there are now on the market many forms of
heating devices. A convenient and serviceable frost alarm thermometer
and oil pot were devised by the Weather Bureau official at Fresno,
Cal., Mr. J. P. Bolton, for use in the vineyards during the spring frosts.
There have recently been put upon the market orchard heaters, burning
oil, and the claim is made that in the apple sections of Colorado and
other Rocky Mountain states results have been most satisfactory. These
are known as the Troutman Orchard Heaters, burning oil, and used
variously, forty to a hundred to the acre.

Direct heating by large open fires is not recommended, as experi-
ence has shown that the heat is radiated largely upward and is not
effective in warming the fruit. I may illustrate this by the following
experience of one of the most intelligent horticulturists in California.
Mr. J. S. Douglass of San Emigdio Ranch writes that during the night
of December 20 and 21, 1908, the temperature for fourteen hours
ranged between 19° to 24° F. For thirty-six hours the temperature
did not rise about 28° F. About fifteen cords of wood and forty tons of
wet hay were burned in the effort to protect the orchard. The relative
humidity was low, there was little air movement, and the smoke rose
‘as straight as a pine tree. At the intersection of two roads in the
orchard there was a large fire and thirty feet away a thermometer was
placed on an olive tree. A second fire was burning twenty feet away
from this tree in another direction, and a third fire twenty-five feet

away in still another direction. The temperature at the tree, however,

*And others whose names I can not now recall.

142 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

remained at about 20° F. from 3 to 8 a. m. December 21st. This was
the coldest weather in this locality since 1888. It is evident that in
this case a large amount of heat was lost.

Many small fires are much more effective than a few large fires. In
the use of numerous small heating devices, it is possible to distribute
the heat where it is most needed. It is also possible by increasing the
number of wire baskets, oil pots or orchard heaters to offset a con-
tinuing fall in temperature. It should, however, be stated that with
most oil pots, unless the combustion is excellent, there is a deposit of
soot which may settle on the fruit.

Under the second head. that of saving heat, we have all the various
smudging devices for artificial cloud making and all the different forms
of covering. The object, of course, is to utilize the earth’s heat as much
as possible by entrapping it. Any cover spread above the ground inter-
feres with loss by radiation; and the most effective protective methods
have rightly been based upon this saving and storage of heat. To be
thoroughly effective. however, the cover should be spread before the
earth has lost most of its heat. This is the fault of most smudging
efforts; namely, that they are begun too late. The cover, or shield,
has another advantage in that it serves after sunrise as a guard against
the too rapid warming of the chilled plant after sunrise. We have
examined many orchards in California and found that fruit was most
damaged where exposed to the direct rays of the sun. While it is not
definitely known what action causes the death of the cell, whether it
be a rupture of the cell walls or a separation of the water and absence
of the necessary turgidity, it would seem that, we could not err in
ouarding the plant fiber from strain due to rapid and unequal heating
while still chilled.

Of the various forms of cover devices, the lattice work is probably
the most expensive; but certainly the most effective.

A new form of cover, known as an anti-frost cover, was devised last
year in the San Francisco Weather Bureau office. It is, however,
better suited for the protection of small fruit, garden flowers, and
vegetables. It is an old and widely known practice to cover garden
flowers with newspapers when frost is expected. In the new anti-frost
cover there is used instead of a single cover a double layer of prepared
paper with an intervening air space. This prevents almost perfectly
the escape of the long heat waves from the ground. Such covering can
be spread above the plant an hour or two before sunset, 7. e., before
the ground has lost much of its heat. If at the same time shallow pans
of warm water are placed under the cover, an effective screen and serv-
iceable supply of water are provided. It is also to be noted that we
use this cover at a time when the roots are absorbing vigorously and
transpiration by the leaves is at a maximum. We, therefore, prevent
any lowering of temperature at the leaf surface and store up in the
plant a quantity of heat energy for expenditure slowly through the
night hours. The actual temperature of the air is of less importance
than the temperature of the leaf or fruit surface. A deposit of
moisture is advantageous.

A special use of the anti-frost cover in connection with tree fruits is
to unroll the covers in the orchard before sunset and to roll them up
about 4 o’clock in the morning.

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS” CONVENTION. 143

Under the third head. methods based upon mixing or stirring the
air, no special devices that are available and practicable are known.
When nature mixes the air, 7. e., on windy nights, frost does not occur.
Tt is now known to meteorologists that layers of air of different tem-
perature may lie close to one another without mixing. On nearly every
frosty night there is a difference of 6, 8 or 10 degrees in temperature
between the ground and the air ten feet above, the warmer layers
being above. Where air is well mixed and there is good ventilation, we
seldom find frost.

Finally, in our opinion the ideal frost protection method will be a
combination of a cover, a heater and a ventilator, and if the views
advanced at the beginning of this paper are correct, as to injury caused
by desiccation, it will also be necessary to provide for water in proper
quantity.

To sum up, the fruit grower should:

1. Watch the weather forecast closely.

2. Study local air circulation.

3. Use a thermograph in the orchard and study the temperature
record.

4. Experiment and determine for his particular crop the most suit-
able heater. cover or watering device.

5. Do not give up the fight against frost, because of a first failure.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. We will now have the pleasure of hear-
ing from Mr. Arthur R. Briggs, the President of the State Board of
Trade, upon the subject of ‘‘Sulphuring Fruit.’’

SULPHURING FRUIT.

By ArTHtrR R. Briees of San Francisco.

Mr. Chairman, Members of the Fruit Growers’ Convention, Ladies
and Gentlemen: It is always a bad plan for one to make excuses, but
private matters have been thrown upon me during the last month to
such an extent that I found it necessary to digress somewhat from the
program that the Chairman had made out, namely, I was set down for
a paper on the sulphur question, and that paper is in my mind rather
than in my hand. If I was as good a talker as Colonel Irish, who has
just preceded me, I pledge you I would not work for a living.
Fortunately for me this morning, he has paved the way for me by
telling of the great industry which you are considering, its importance
to the State, and what should be done with it. He has left for me
merely the prosaic portion of the work—that is, to tell something of
the history of the sulphur question and its present status.

You are doubtless all aware that the Federal Pure Food law was
passed in June, 1907. You are also aware what consternation was felt
in California among the fruit growers when the first decision, known
as the food inspection decision No. 76, was issued by the federal
department. That order was issued by a commission constituted by
the law itself. which commission was composed of three cabinet officers,
namely, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Commerce and
Labor, and the Secretary of the Treasury. Two of these officers knew
nothing of the fruit business, knew nothing of the effect the order

144 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

issued would have upon that business, and, therefore, the responsibility
fell upon Secretary Wilson, the chief of the Agricultural Department.
When that order was issued which prevented the sale and distribution
of fruit products that carried a larger per cent of sulphur dioxid—
the residue after sulphur is used in curing fruit—of 350 milograms
per kilogram, or thirty-five thousandths of one per cent, it was imme-
diately discovered that so small a portion of sulphur dioxid was less
than that found in any of the cured fruit as it went to the market.
About that time, at the instance of fruit growers and fruit distributors,
a convention was called at the California State Board of Trade in San
Francisco to consider the question and to devise a method of relief, if
such relief was obtainable. That convention went carefully into a
discussion of the merits of the case and resolved, after a day’s dis-
cussion, that the proper way to handle the matter was to select or
appoint an executive committee to take the matter in charge, and who
should have power to do what they deemed to be the proper thing under
the circumstances. IJ was made the chairman of that executive com-
mittee, not with the expectation of becoming an important factor in
the work, but in order that there might be a central point from which
this executive committee could work. My expectations were not quite
fulfilled. I was immediately appointed a committee of one to proceed
to Washington, take up the matter with the Agricultural Department
there, and see what could be done toward a modification of this ruling
of the department, No. 76. I was accompanied by a Mr. Brailsford,
who was appointed by the Chamber of Commerce or Board of Trade
of Kings County, they bearing his expense. We proceeded to Wash-
ington, waited upon the Secretary of Agriculture, who at first was not
very much inclined to heed the suggestions we made. But I want to
say to his credit that at the third interview we had with him and with
the Solicitor of the Department of Agriculture, we procured from the
department a modification of order 76, exactly in the nature and terms
which we asked for. We were able to convince Secretary Wilson that
this great fruit interest of California, which the people of this State
have for years—a quarter of a century—labored to build up, was
menaced to such an extent that in many respects it will be paralyzed
if order 76 prevailed. Later—only a very short time later—through
and by a letter which I prepared and forwarded to Senator Perkins—
the dean of the delegation from this State in Washington—an applica-
tion was made to the Secretary of Agriculture, a copy of which was
sent to President Roosevelt, in which letter the whole matter was pre-
sented in a way that seemed to carry conviction to both those officers.
President Roosevelt, with his usual earnestness and prompt action,
determined that something more than was being done in the Agricul-
tural Department or than could be done through the Bureau of Chem-
istry of that department, was necessary, and immediately created a
commission known as the Referee Board. That board is composed
of five as expert scientific chemists as there are in the United States,
and after this board was created the whole matter of the use of
sulphur and of benzoate of soda was referred to them, and on the
action of that board would rest the determination of our industry
here. The appointment of this board excited somewhat the opposi-
tion—I might. say the enmity—of Dr. Wiley, the chief of the Bureau

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 149

of Chemistry of the Department of Agriculture. He declared in his
contention that the use of benzoate of soda in the curing of such prod-
ucts as peas, cherries, tomato catsup and others, was absolutely wrong ;
that the products manufactured by the use of it were poisonous, and
that it lay in his power to prohibit it. He likewise declared that the
use of sulphur in the curing of fruits in this State was not necessary,
that fruit so cured was not wholesome, and its use should be prohibited
and was prohibited by the ruling or decision No. 76. No argument, no
appeal, seemed to reach Dr. Wiley. He had taken his position and
openly and persistently declared that it was the fight of his hfe and he
would maintain that position. J therefore abandoned further effort
with Dr. Wiley and immediately placed myself in position to confer with
the Referee Board, and learn from them the policy which was to be
pursued. I returned to California confident that the fruit interest of
the State was not to suffer, at least, for a period of twelve months. I
took oceasion to issue a bulletin immediately on my return to assure
fruit producers, fruit dryers and distributors of their freedom from
any action on the part of the Federal Government so far as the crop
for 1908 was concerned. I have the pleasure of knowing that Secretary
Wilson, who gave this assurance, kept his word fully and that no inter-
ference was had on the part of the government in the distribution or
curing of these foods.

When the matter which I have referred to was passed first to the
Referee Board it was decided by them that the use of benzoate of soda
being thought to be of the greatest danger—would be first to be con-
sidered by them. The five laboratories represented by these scientific
and eminent men were, therefore, put to use at once, separately, so that
each might make his own examination and determination without refer-
ence to the others; for six months these examinations were carried for-
ward by the members of this Referee Board.

You will understand that some anxiety has been felt on the part of
all of us and particularly by those who have been closely identified
with this movement since the beginning.

When the Referee Board visited California in the early part of the
curing season of 1909 it was not known that the finding had been made
with reference to the use of benzoate of soda, but it was supposed when
the report was made it would be published as a whole and the recom-
mendations of the board would be made on the full finding. But when
the board was here it was disclosed that the examination and determi-
nation had been made with reference to benzoate of soda and that report
was adverse to the position taken and held by Dr. Wiley. Dr. Wiley,
knowing this, took every method known to him to circumvent and to dis-
eredit the Referee Board, so that its report would not have the effect
it was thought it would have. At the National Food and Dairy Con-
cress, held in Marquette, Michigan, late in 1908, a bill was prepared
and introduced to the congress there and forced through, which it was
sought to have passed by the legislature of every state in the Union,
and that bill was of such nature and character and kind as to practi-
eally prohibit the use of these chemicals in the curing of our goods. It
was necessary, therefore, to circumvent Dr. Wiley somewhat in this
regard, and the matter was taken up, after procuring a copy of the

10—Fec

146 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

bill which he proposed and had sent to many of the legislatures of the
states, and the request was made of them to withhold action until the
Referee Board, to which this matter had been assigned, made its report
and recommendation. The legislatures of the different states paid the
comphment of declining to do anything with Dr. Wiley’s bill which
he said was so necessary, and it did not pass in a single state in the
Union.

The next annual meeting of the National Food and Dairy Congress
was called at. Denver, in September last. The Referee Board was
invited to be present, not to make its report to that body, because it had
no right to do it; its report was to be made to the Federal Govern-
ment and to the authority that had created the board, but the purpose
was, as discovered later, to assail not only the integrity of the members
of that board, but their efficiency, and thereby to discredit whatever they
did and to create an impression that Dr. Wiley was right. I confess
that I wanted to be, and sought to be, a member of that congress. I
earried from California an appointment from Governor Gillett, the
Governor of this State, an appointment from the State Dairy Bureau
of the State, and an appointment from the California State Board of
Trade, three appointments from three central authorities, with the
thought that if there was any effort on the part of that congress to
| disqualify me, my credentials would be of such character as would
make it impossible. I found that I was somewhat mistaken. It was
not a question of courtesy to our Governor nor to these other bodies,
it was not a question of right—it was a question of a determination
on the part of one man to dominate the congress and to carry the
point which he intended to make. With me went Professor Jaffa of
the University of California, but he, having been appointed by the
authorities under the Government, was seated and had his vote in the
congress. Mr. H. P. Dimond, who accompanied me, carried only the
appointment from the Governor. Mr. Dimond and myself fought for
one day and one half, in season and out of season, before our credentials
were admitted and we were given our proper place on the floor. The
purpose of all this is, and I am telling it to show that the conclusion
I have reached will before I finish perhaps seem justified: In that
congress, each state having three votes, the vote on all critical points
without the vote of California, stood 44 to 44, 88 votes being the full
number of votes in the congress. If the delegates from California
could be disqualified, Dr. Wiley could carry his point. But after we
were seated as delegates the vote on all critical questions stood 47 to
44. J tell this to show how nearly we came to losing the point we were
trying to make, viz., to support the action of the Referee Board, in
whom we had confidence. I said on the floor of that congress that it
mattered not what the finding of the Referee Board was, the people of
the State of California and the fruit growers of California had
expressed their confidence in the ability of those gentlemen, in their
efficiency and in their honesty, and whatever the finding might be we
would abide by it and adjust the business of fruit curing, fruit raising,
and fruit distribution in California to that finding. That was not what
Dr. Wiley wanted; he wanted we should stand with him to discredit
the board. And I want to say right now that while I have been in
conventions for forty years, or nearly, I have never seen so gross an

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’” CONVENTION. 147

assault made on gentlemen representing a board of standing, as these
gentlemen stood, as was made against them in that congress. Secretary
Wilson, with some of his staff, including the solicitor of the depart-
ment, were present during this conference, and Secretary Wilson said
to me, when I had become successful in getting my eredentials acknowl-
edged, that he had never seen such gross methods resorted to as he had
seen in that congress. This is, of course, a matter of history.

I now come to the point of the present status of the sulphur ques-
tion. It is in the hands of this Referee Board, but I feel the greatest
confidence that the finding of that board and its recommendations to
the department will be in favor of sustaining the contention, that the
use of sulphur in the curing of fruitsis harmless. In the ease of benzoate
of soda, it was decided by the board that not only the quantity which
has been in common use was harmless, but that it was a harmless
product in much greater quantity. In other words, it was declared
that there was no danger in the use of benzoate of soda in curing of
fruit and meat products as now employed, and they recommended that
it be continued. Instead of fixing a unit of thirty-five one-thousandths
of one per cent of sulphur dioxid, as was fixed under decision 76, I
am assured by the members of the Referee Board individually that
there is no apparent injurious effect from sulphur dioxid on the
human system and that a larger quantity than thirty-five one-thou-
sandths of one per cent will probably be permissible. I am not saying
this for publication. I say it on my own responsibility, but to assure
the fruit growers of California that they are in pretty safe hands and
need give themselves no immediate alarm.

I want to say further that I am given to understand by the Referee
Board that whatever their finding may be, it will not be made until
about the middle of the year 1910, and if it is adverse to our interests
that no hasty action will be taken; that it will not be made operative
during the curing and marketing and distribution of the fruit products
of this State grown and cured in 1910. Therefore, you have a year
before you any way, and if the finding is not altogether to our satis-
faction, I feel justified in saying that a unit of sulphur dioxid will be
fixed that will enable us to go on as we have done heretofore without
danger of interference on the part of the Federal Government.

I presume, Mr. Chairman and ladies and gentlemen, I would act the
part of discretion if I stopped here, but I am so impressed with the
determination of Dr. Wiley to carry his point, even to the destruction
of our interest in California, that I do not hesitate to place myself
on record as to what I think should be done with that officer. He is
appointed by the President of the United States. He holds his position
in the Agricultural Department under this appointment and is answer-
able really to no one except the National Food Inspection Commission
and to the President of the United States. While Honorable James
Wilson, the Secretary of Agriculture, is our friend and is ready to do,
I believe, anything within reason to protect us and help us, he is
powerless to control Dr. Wiley, the chief of the Bureau of Chemistry,
or to remove him in the ease of his not doing as he desires. Therefore,
I say in our own interest, I deem it to be a proper and right thing to
create, so far as we can consistently, a sentiment against Dr. Wiley,

under the impression that any man as vindictive as he is, as determined

148 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

to work against us whether right or wrong, should not occupy a
Federal position as important as this. The difficulty of his removal
is this: No man 1s all good and no man is all bad. No one is willing
to declare that Dr. Wiley is not a chemist, but that he is a pathological
chemist | deny. He was educated a physician, but has never practiced
medicine a day in his life, so far as I am able to learn; therefore, he
can not speak as a pathological chemist, though he can speak unques-
tionably as a chemist per se. It goes, therefore, without saying that
Dr. Wiley is useful in some branches of the work which has been
assigned to him, and unless we can show that there is real necessity, a
public demand from the fruit growers of this State and from other
states likewise interested, for the removal of Dr. Wiley, I fear he
will remain in his present position and go on fighting without limit,
to our detriment. He has it in mind now, and that mind has been
made known to me, to again introduce a bill into the different legis-
latures of the respective states. I have seen a draft of that bill; I
know its conditions. J know it was introduced at the congress in Denver
in September, but having 47 votes against and 44 in favor, they did not
dare make the motion that it be approved by the congress and it fell
dead. But that effort is going to be revived just as sure as the sun
rises and sets, and the work that has been done will be futile unless
we continue lke efforts to those of the last two years, to circumvent
any action of his in reference to the introduction of these bills. It
makes no difference what the federal law may be. We are all in favor
of a pure food law. Every intelligent man and woman in California is in
favor of a pure food law. But if the different states pass laws of their
own, as they have a right to do, and make them so binding that we can not
introduce our goods and dispose of them in those states, the federal
law will not help us; the state statute will control, so far as -the state’s
distribution is concerned. You may think that I am somewhat per-
sistent. I deny that I am vindictive, but I am so interested in Cali-
fornia, I am so interested in the people of California, I am so interested
in the industries of California, that it makes no difference who the
man is, high or low, when I find he is working against these interests
I am against him and persistently so, and therefore I say, whether
Dr. Wiley likes me or not, that I am not his friend, I never expect to
be. I believe that it would be a wise thing for conventions like this
to place themselves on record by resolution, supporting the Referee
Board and declaring it to be their intention to stand by the finding of
that board, whatever it may be. I thank you. (Applause.)

A recess was here taken until 1.30 o’clock P. mM.

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 149

AFTERNOON SESSION.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. The meeting will please come to order.
As you know, the excursion should have been this afternoon, but as
that has been called off the time is yours. How will you use the two
hours here that we have this afternoon ?

MR. JUDD. Mr. Chairman, I move that the President, Mr. Jeffrey,
arrange the program to suit himself. He is in touch with everything
that is coming up. and I believe he is more qualified than any one on
the floor to make a program.

The motion of Mr. Judd was seconded and being put by him, was
“unanimously carried.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. Mr. Newcomb has something he would
like to present.

Mr. Neweomb read a telegram from Santa Rosa extending an invita-
tion to hold the next convention at that place, and spoke in favor of
meeting there, as did also Mr. Galloway.

Mr. Costello and Mr. Dargitz made a few remarks on behalf of Lodi,
which also extended an invitation to the convention to meet at that
place.

MR. NEWCOMB. I would lke to say just one more word on this
line of fruit growers’ conventions, about going to the sections that need
us. You have started in on a plan that I think is good, and that is,
going to each section and specializing on what they need. This is a
eeneral body of the whole State. We can not, at any place, discuss the
problems that are just needful for that point. My idea really of this
thing would be that the State office hold meetings in these different
places, as they have started to do, and then every year this meeting
should be held at Sacramento where the State office is and where the
insectary is; take the small meetings around and give exactly what
those people need. but have the main meeting every year at Sacramento.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. I will say to the claimants of this meet-
ing, in line with Mr. Newcomb’s suggestion, there will be a meeting at
Lodi, already provided for. Arrangements are being made for ‘holding
a meeting in Sonoma, presumably soon. These meetings that we have
held in Solano County and Placer County are larger than our general
fruit growers’ conventions, though not so general in scope. It may be
that Mr. Newcomb’s suggestion is good, but Mr. Stephens will tell you
that the people of Sacramento don’t care very much about having
conventions there, Sacramento being a large commercial city, and a
very prosperous one; they are so engaged in commercial pursuits they
do not encourage the State Fruit Growers’ Convention as they should.
Of course. we held it there last year and they assisted us all they could.
Sacramento is really the place where these conventions ought to be
held, and so long as we are going to hold neighborhood meetings any-
how, it will not make so much difference to you. We are going to have
one in Santa Rosa and one in Lodi, and they have been promised all
over the State in fact, and we will get to them before your next crop
comes in. They will be business conventions. We will not consider

150 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

cultural topics or scientific topics but we will talk business. The New-
castle meeting passed a resolution inviting the next convention to be
held there, but as we have had two big meetings there and have to hold
still another, it probably would not be wise to have the convention
there.

MR. KELLOGG. Neweastle is not pressing that point.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. The reason these matters are not settled
one year in advance by the delegates themselves is that sometimes new
matters come up during the year, and it is only a matter of selecting
the location. Now, I would like to hear from Mr. Frank Femmons, one
of our most honored members, and he would like to say a few words of
appreciation to this convention.

MR. FEMMONS. Mr. Chairman and Fruit Growers of California,
Ladies and Gentlemen: I was disappointed a year ago in not meeting
you at Sacramento, and at this late date I have requested of our Chair-
man, the honorable Commissioner, the privilege of thanking you, the
California fruit growers, with Professor Wickson, whom I met per-
sonally the other evening, for a resolution that the professor presented
before that convention a year ago, and with the sentiments that were
expressed at that time, of respect, of loving regard and of appreciation
of the life work of Alexander Craw. I come to you to thank you sin-
cerely from the bottom of my heart for that loving kindness that you
showed to one of the noblest men that has ever lived in this Western
country. For thirty odd years I have known him and loved him as a
brother.. I was with him in his last days and his last hours, and my
own hands and those of a sister were the last hands that arranged some
flowers about his cold but peaceful face. And oh, the sadness of that
hour! I wish to bring those memories up in your hearts and to renew
them in my own, and perhaps I can do no better, as he passed away
from us up in the mountains of the Sierras near the Yosemite Valley,
than to try, in as few words as I can, to express something of a picture
of the last work that Alexander tried to do with his own hands. Per-
haps some of his old associates, his old friends that I know he almost
worshiped in his very soul, would carry that picture. It was a simple
little one and I shall certainly carry it In my own heart as long as
I live.

It was Sunday morning, the last Sunday of his life. The June sun
was shining bright and pleasant. The birds were singing in the oaks
and pines about the grounds. The forest hills were surrounding us,
and up above, on the crest of the mountain, the pines and the firs stood
against the sky. We were trying to arrange the flowers, do a little
pruning here, fixing a little there, though for my own part I was trying
to keep him as much as possible from any exertion that I could, but
he was all animation, the same old Alexander Craw that many of you
have known for thirty- years or more. There was no indication of
wavering of thought; he was happy, contented and as hopeful as any of
you ever saw him in his life. His brother James, who was with us
at the time, but who since has also passed away, came and asked us in a
joking way if we knew what day it was. I saw that Alexander was
confused. He could not change his thoughts for the moment from
his pleasures and find some answer to that question. To help him out a
little, I asked, ‘‘Is it any harm to help God take care of his beautiful

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 151

things?’’ ‘‘No,’’ says he, and, placing his hand upon my shoulder,
*‘Let’s go ahead.’’ Full of life, energy, absorbed right there among
the flowers and the roses, he was right in his element and his old self
again. But I soon saw that he was getting weary and I led him to a
seat on the porch, and he soon lapsed into a kind of a half dreamy
melancholy that was such a pain to us. That was the last effort Alex-
ander Craw made to do something with his own hands, and I leave it
to you, just an outline as I have tried to paint it, and I thank you
for your attention. (Applause. )

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. I think all will recognize how fitting
this little tribute to our beloved friend. Away back before any of us,
almost, began attending conventions, you will see the name of Alex-
ander Craw in the published reports, always to some effect, always to
some benefit for the people of the State, always hopeful for good, and
there those records stand for years and years, and now it is certainly
befitting for us to make a record of the words of his brother-in-law at
this time. We thank Mr. Femmons for this tribute. Mr. Rixford
wishes to make an announcement.

MR. RIXFORD. Last spring, in distributing the caprifigs from
Loomis, Wells, Fargo & Co. refused to give us the fruit rate. The
agent there ruled that as these figs were shipped principally on account
of the value of the bugs they were not entitled to the fruit rate. I
said, ““Are they not fruit?’’ ‘‘ Well, yes.’’ But, at any rate, they
charged to the central part of the San Joaquin Valley, where most of
the figs were shipped, from 70 to 75 cents a box. Taking up the matter
recently with the head men in San Francisco, I have finally got them
to agree to give us the fruit rate, so that the express charges will be
only about one half what they were last season. I thought I had better
announce it, because some of you may want those figs.

MR. BRIGGS. I would like to know if I would be out of order in
the introduction of a resolution to be incorporated in the report of the
Committee on Resolutions.

MR. KELLOGG. Mr. Briggs was’ requested by the committee to
formulate a resolution. It was suggested that he read it to the con-
vention and make his own comments on it.

Mr. Briggs read the following resolution:

Recognizing the great importance of the fruit interest in the development and
continual growth of the State, and believing that any material change in present
methods for curing and preparing dried fruit for distribution, and further believing
in the harmlessness of sulphur as heretofore and now employed in the process of
drying fruit, the State Fruit Growers’ Convention here assembled in the city of
Watsonville—

Resolved, That we commend the action of our late President, Theodore Roosevelt,
in taking from the hands of the Department of Agriculture the matter of investi-
gating and determining the wholesomeness of fruit cured by the use of sulphur and
of placing the whole matter in the hands of the Referee Board, created by him for
determination; and

Resolved, That by_these resolutions we express our appreciation of the efforts of
Mr. James Wilson, the Secretary of Agriculture. in our behalf, and commend his
intelligent consideration of the fruit industry of California: and

Resolved, That we have faith in the wisdom and integrity of the Referee Board,
and are satisfied its findings will be fair and right and founded on scientific knowl-
edge and efficient investigation and experiment: and

Resolved, That the attitude etre Dre How: Wiley, Chief of the Bureau of Chem-
istry, in what i is known as the sulphur question is in our judgment unwarranted and
not consistent with the position he holds as a federal officer, and that we hereby
record our disapproval of his course.

On motion of Mr. Judd, duly seconded, the resolution was adopted.

152 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. Now, I want our Committee on Resolu-
tions to write out a strong endorsement of Mr. Briggs’ entire course.
My personal feelings are that you can’t make these resolutions too
strong in favor of what Mr. Briges has done.

MR. DARGITZ. The committee that was appointed yesterday on
the matter of providing for the expenses of printing of these reports on
transportation is ready to report. We have heard about the benefits of
cooperation. in many ways. Sometimes we have an opportunity to
demonstrate the practicability. of it. We can have very little of the
benefit from codperation except we first have organization. I think we
have evidence that the fruit growers of California have all benefited
to a great degree from organization, and in order to demonstrate the
practicability ‘of that statement I am now going to make this announce-
ment, that the expeuse of some three or four hundred dollars for the
printing of that, I am authorized by a representative of the California
Fruit Exchange and a representative of the California Fruit Distribu-
tors, to say that the expenses will be prorated between these two organi-
zations in behalf of the growers of the State. (Applause. )

MR. BRIGGS. Mr. Chairman, I desire to express my appreciation
of my courteous treatment by the convention, and to say that I regret
very much that I must go, but IJ am a servant of the people of the State
and bid to go here and there, and I am going this afternoon to attend a
meeting in another county. (Applause. )

MR. KELLOGG. The Committee on Resolutions is ready to make a
partial report.

RESOLUTION OF THANKS TO GOVERNOR GILLETT AND LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR PORTER.

Resolved, That this convention does hereby express its heartfelt appreciation for the pres-
ence and inspiration received from Governor James N. Gillett and Lieutenant Governor Warren
Porter at the opening sessions. We thank them for their manifest interest and words of
encouragement.

RESOLUTION APPROVING HORTICULTURAL COMMISSION.

Resolved, That we heartily approve of the administration of J. W. Jeffrey and his efficient
secretary, Go: E. Bremner, of our State Horticultural Commission, and commend the wisdom
displayed in holding conventions of growers and shippers in important fruit districts over the
State; harmonizing the different interests; standardizing the packing and marking of the fruit
for interstate shipments; and setting in force methods for the extermination of fruit pests; and
recommend that similar methods be. pursued until our fruit industry has attained the high posi-
tion to which it is entitled.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. I thank you. I would lke to say one
word in regard to that resolution. These meetings will be held in
accordance with the spirit of that resolution to the fullest extent of the
power and strength of the office. We have promised one in El Dorado
County, and, as I said this morning, two or three other places, and one
in San Bernardino County and another in Porterville and another in
Kings County, and we will hold all that we can through the winter
and spring and as far as the money and the strength of the office will
20. We have various other duties, but we expect to keep these up. and
I thank you for the appreciation.

RESOLUTION REGARDING KEEPING RECORDS.

Whereas, It is quite evident that in future our orchards must be bred up to produce fancy
iruit and to do this we must get rid of scrub trees; therefore, be it

Resolved, That we each begin keeping a record of the production as to quality and quantity
of fruit, behavior of tree, time of blooming and ripening of fruit, on any tree in our orchards
that seems exceptionally valuable; and after five years’ proving of continuous value and fixed
qualities, these trees and records be offered to nurserymen for propagation as pedigreed fruit;
and be it further

Resolved, That we encourage our nurseries to propagate only the best and most vigorous
stock by refusing to buy “seconds” or inferior stock at any price.

PROCEEDINGS. OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 153

RESOLUTION REGARDING STANDARDIZATION.

Resolved, That the fruit industry of California has reached a point which demands a stand-
ardizing of all deciduous fruit packs, prepared for interstate shipments. Placer, Solano, and
possibly other counties have or will adopt standards for their districts, which we heartily com-
mend. We recommend that all sections of the State unite, so far as practicable, in having the
Standard of the varieties of fruit uniform, the markings designating the quality the same, and
that all fruit shipped be packed in standard dimension boxes only.

RESOLUTION ON OVERPRODUCTION OF FRUIT.

Whereas, Several varieties of fruits and grapes seem to be near or actually suffering from
Overproduction or underconsumption; and

Whereas, The great and growing demand for the Smyrna figs is so far ahead of the supply
and the product so excellent; and

Whereas, The profitable areas for almond production are so limited and the demand so
great and not likely ever to be exceeded; therefore, be it

Resolved, That we earnestly recommend the planting and propagation of these two excel-
lent fruits, also Bartlett pears, wherever the conditions are suitable and they have been proven
out.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. Would the committee have any objec-
tion to putting Bartlett pears in there? There is one county in the
Sacramento Valley where they are trying to eradicate the pear blight
so they can begin planting again.

MR. KELLOGG. We have no objection to including that.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. One of these meetings which you recom-
mend was held in Sutter County, and they took this matter up and
discussed it thoroughly, the fact that they were trying to eliminate the
pear blight in that entire county and give the orchardists a chance to plant
Bartlett pears, and by passing these resolutions, especially when there
isn’t a nurseryman on this committee, it is really a beneficial act for
this convention to express its ideas on what particular lines of fruit
culture should be extended and what should be curtailed.

MR. JUDD. I move the adoption of the resolution as amended.

The motion was duly seconded.

MR. STEPHENS. _ I, for one, am opposed to the resolution. I am
opposed to it from a conscientious standpoint, because we don’t know
what the outcome of the planting of these varieties will be. Ninety-
five per cent of the literature sent out to induce people to come here
recommends the planting of certain varieties and there is no one par-
ticular variety that has been recommended more strongly than Tokay
grapes—peaches and everything you can think of. I, for one, don’t
propose to take the responsibility to say to any person here or any
person in the State, set out Smyrna figs, almonds, pears or anything
else, simply because we do not know and we ean not look into the future
far enough to know what result would come from such recommenda-
tion. It might be an inducement for thousands of acres to be set out,
not only upon land that would produce those things as they should be
and as nature requires, but also upon land that would not be adapted
to their growth and their production. Not being able to go out and
test the land, the man who would invest his means in there would go
upon our recommendation, and he might be the sufferer to a great
degree, from a financial standpoint, and possibly his all, from that
standpoint. And I do not believe that it is within the province of this
convention, I do not believe that we should undertake to advise any
man what to do in regard to the varieties of deciduous or other fruits
that he should set out. We have had an example, and there are thou-
sands of growers that are absent to-day for the reason that they believe
that they can not afford the expense of attending this convention, that

154. PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

are upon the very verge of ruin because they have followed the advice
given in such matters as this. It is well to incorporate in the report, if
you will, the papers that have been read here and let the man judge for
himself, but don’t recommend to him what he shall do in regard to these
matters. (Applause.)

MR. WALTON. I indorse Mr. Stephens’ remarks from a different
standpoint, and that is, that it is not within the province of this con-
vention to give any advice as to what variety of fruit shall be planted
in this State. I think when you come to look at it you will see the
injustice of it.

MR. HARTRANFT. Mr. Chairman, I was going to indorse exactly
what Mr. Stephens said in exactly the same way Mr. Walton has placed
it, because I rather felt amazed that the convention should undertake
to give advice as to what particular varieties to plant. We have
had contests in this convention before regarding advice, pertaining to
the planting and other subjects pertaining to the coming of home-
seekers which have always been candidly considered and, I think, wisely
acted upon, and upon the ground that I should recommend probably
later, in other discussions that Mr. Stephens has alluded to, that the
convention do not go on record in that particular tone of voice. I
don’t think we should be either for or against the planting of any
particular thing. The records stand. There are those that are self-
interested and those that are disinterested, and the man then has his
welfare in his own hand, both as to what to plant and what not to plant,
and I should be opposed, and always have been and always will be, for
the convention to say either for or against any particular thing of that
kind.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. I would like to make one suggestion here
as your Chairman. A man has no right to plant any more Tokay
grapes under present marketing conditions. A man has no right to
do a thing that would injure his neighbor. Now look at it from two
standpoints. He has the legal right to do it, and he has been exercising
that right with a vengeance. By simply naming the varieties of fruits
that this convention thinks ought to be extended, by inference limits
the varieties we think should not be planted. I hold that these land
schemers in the Sacramento Valley threaten to wreck the fruit business
itself, because if there are 10,000 car loads of Tokay grapes going into
the markets, it is going to demoralize the market for your peaches and
pears, and I claim it is a matter of self-protection for the growers of
this convention to speak out on such matters. You are up against a
crisis, and men are becoming bankrupt all over the State from listening
to the song of the siren, the land boomer. The sheriff is fixing a whole
lot of them up there every year, and there will be more of them that
have listened to the song of the land seller that has land to sell planted
out to grapevines to give it an apparent value as a venture, and the
very planting of the grapes has really deteriorated the value of the
land. They are trying to shut some of the land boomers in the Sac-
ramento Valley out of the mails by getting a fraud order against them.

MR. HARTRANFT. I have just read this report for the first time.
I am happy to report that for once I agree with Mr. Stephens. I
move that we consider the two together, and if we take the negative
take also the positive.

‘

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 15)

MR. ASHLEY. I second that motion. I think that quite a number
of us would be much better off if this convention had taken up this
matter a year or two years ago and put out some information that people
could rely upon as to the standing of the Tokay grape, and also as to
what the prospects are for fruit that will pay.

MR. STEPHENS. I am in hopes that the suggestion offered by Mr.
Hartranft will not be accepted, and I really hope that the gentleman
will withdraw the suggestion, because I can see that there will be no
other business transacted by this convention this afternoon and per-
haps not to-morrow. It is a question of great magnitude and we could
not possibly get through with it. Therefore, I think we had better get
along just as peaceably as possible until we come to the rock upon
which we will probably divide. I think we had better take one ques-
tion up at a time and consider it. The reason I objected to that is,
I don’t want to suggest to any man what to do. For many years I
have been solicited to make suggestions. ° My answer has been that I
have got no advice to give for the reason that I do not know myself
what varieties to put out. I have uprooted trees and had to fill in
the vacancies; I didn’t know what to do, and in a manner I was groping
around in the dark. I would one year put out one variety, switch the
next year and put out another, and for five or six years kept on chang-
ing every year. ;

MR. DARGITZ. I am very glad indeed to see the discussion and
the interest taken. If we pass a resolution without any discussion the
possibility is we will proceed to go home and forget all about it. The
idea of the resolution is not to say that any man shall or shall not
plant any variety. The question comes to me very forcibly, because
some years ago I was looking over the State with a view of selecting
a location for fruit growing. It is not so much a question of what
we are going to do, but other people are coming to the State with a
view of going into fruit growing, and I understand that all these
papers that have been read here and these resolutions will be printed
and will be placed in the hands of homeseekers who are contemplating
going into the fruit business or planting ventures. If we who are here
and have experience know that certain varieties of fruits have been
planted to such an extent that there is absolutely no profit in them
to-day, will we be doing ourselves justice, will we be doing those who
contemplate coming in justice, if we keep our mouths shut and let
them plant things that are unprofitable even now? It is not a ques-
tion of changing market, it is not a question of shifting from one fruit to
another, as, for instance, peaches and plums. If the market was low
on peaches to-day and high on plums we would not suggest that you
grub out your peaches and plant plums, for the reason that to-morrow
it may be the other way. But knowing that somebody is going to plant
anyway—if they did not the nurseries would get in trouble—knowing
that there is a very great and increasing demand for the Smyrna fig and
at such prices that it is profitable and that it is lable to eontinue to
be profitable for a good many years to come—I will grant that there
may be such a thing as overproduction of the Smyrna fig at some time,
because there are large areas in the State that are liable to grow it in
paying quantities, but for the present the outlook is very good along
that line. On the other hand, the question of almond planting. Is it

156 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

a selfish proposition for me to recommend the planting of almonds if
it is likely to overdo the market? My principal article is almonds, and
when I invite vou to produce more of them if that results in overpro-
duction, I am inviting trouble for myself, but I think I showed conelu-
sively by my paper yesterday that there is no likelihood in generations
to come of overdoing the almond question, if we plant where the
varieties have been proven out. The late Senator Langford owned a
very large acreage of almond which never paid, and the orchard that I
now have. He always referred to the Texas Prolific almond as a mus-
tang, and he called these paper shells thoroughbreds, and the thorough-
breds didn’t pay and the mustangs did, and about a year before he
died he remarked that if his orchards had only originally been planted
to mustangs he would have been a wealthy man.

The question was put by the President on the adoption of the resolu-
tion as reported by the committee, and the motion to adopt prevailed.

RESOLUTION COMMENDING PRECOOLING.

Resolved, That all experiments and observations have demonstrated the great importance
and substantial. benefits of cooling fruit as quickly as possible after it has been picked to arrest
decay and preserve the same in a sound and healthy condition. Therefore, this thirty-sixth
California Fruit Growers’ Convention commend any method that will do this work quickly,
thoroughly, and uniformly to the center of the fruit, and believe that best results will be
obtained by the method of preserving fruits at initial shipping points, and whenever possible
before the fruit is loaded in the car.

RESOLUTION REQUESTING SUPERVISORS TO ACT.

Whereas, Many noxious weeds are appearing as a menace to both orchardists and agricul-
turists; and

Whereas, Under the present horticultural law the county horticultural commissioner is given
the authority to exterminate noxious soil pests as well as fruit pests; therefore, be it

Resolved, That we urgently request the board of supervisors in all counties to speedily
establish the commission in their counties, and insist on the extermination of such pests.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. This is a State-wide question, gentle-
men. Mr. Chase, will you speak just one minute on that point?

MR. CHASE. There are so many noxious weeds in the State, in
Sacramento County. in Placer County—indeed, all over the State—
and I have written letters and I know from the best authority on one
particular weed that it is easier to tell where it is not than where it is.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. MHas there been any land abandoned?

MR. CHASE. Yes; there are orchards abandoned in Sacramento
County and Placer County and out on the Cosumnes River. There
are acres of land for sale. We can’t raise a thing. This Johnson grass
ean be eradicated, without great expense, in three years by the methods
adopted by the Bureau of Plant Industry at Washington. There is
another noxious weed I find that is producing a great deal of alarm,
and that is one of the lippias, not the Lippia repans, where it has been
used as a sod to make an overflow. It has got all over the Cosumnes
River, where the dairy business is the chief business. It is destroying
the alfalfa. |

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. And you think this is a great question?

MR. CHASE. It is one of the most important questions there is.

MR. KELLOGG. I want to say this, that it was an eye opener when
vou stated to me yesterday that the Horticultural Commissioner had
power over that. For years I have made a practice of sending men clear
to town to clear the noxious weeds, but my neighbor would have a fine
patch of them.

On motion, the resolution was adopted.

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 15%

RESOLUTION APPROVING WORK OF STATE UNIVERSITY.

Resolved, That we appreciate the work of the State in expert and efficient experiments and
effort undertaken by the University of California, and the valuable demonstrations of knowledge
and results attained by their efforts.

RESOLUTION RELATING TO GOOD RoapDs.

Resolved, That the fruit interests of the State are greatly affected by the condition of the
public highways; every jolt is a menace to its keeping qualities. Our fruit trees and vines are
unjustly taxed in addition to the taxes upon the land, a discrimination in favor of all other
agricultural pursuits, except the alfalfa growers. We, therefore, feel that it is our special right
to demand the best roads possible in all of the horticultural districts.

RESOLUTION AS TO PERSONS SELLING LAND.

Whereas, Unscrupulous and sometimes dishonest persons are throughout the State buying
cheap and sometimes worthless lands, cutting the same into small tracts, often so small as to
be worthless for the purposes of maintaining a family or any part of one; and

Whereas, Said parties often advertise the same in a laudatory and often false manner, creat-
ing impressions that often mislead the unwary; and

Whereas, The Government is engaged in making a soil survey throughout the State for the
purpose of defining the character of the soils so surveyed to guide the agriculturist in making
the best use of said lands; therefore, be it

Resolved, First: That the fruit growers of the State Convention assembled deprecate the
methods often used by the aforesaid parties, and condemn as false many statements made set-
ting forth the possibilities on such lands.

Second: That we ask the Government to publish the soil surveys together with the analysis
in bulletin form, so that buyers may fully understand the soils of the intended purchase.

Third: That the legislature be asked to pass such acts as will protect the buyer by com-
pelling the seller to publish the soil analysis and character of the same in accordance with the
Government survey.

Fourth: That we here and now call the attention of intending settlers to the fact that our
soils and location should be very carefully scrutinized before buying or planting, especially as
there are plenty of locations available that are worthy.

MR. CHASE. I want to say just one word on that. That is one of
the most important resolutions we have. In my recent investigations in
regard to raising oranges and other things and our experience in Fair
Oaks, we have planted our trees where they will do no good. Just now
there are about to be planted 2,000 acres of land and the owners are
going to advertise it as orange land. I have suggested whether some one
should not go and ascertain whether that land will grow oranges. The
question I wanted to ask was, can that be done at the expense of a county
or can the State order that done?

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. No, sir.

MR. CHASE. The State has appropriated $16,000 for the examina-
tion of diseases. and I did not know but that they might be allowed to
examine land that is-going to produce diseases.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. The disease is in the mind of the Eastern
gullible buyer and we can’t cure him until he comes out.

MR. CHASE. We have suffered a good deal from planting trees on
soil that is not fit for them. 3

MR. HARTRANFT. I am only sorry for that report in one respect,
the indefiniteness of the persons referred to. This condition has existed
in California ever since about 1870. Land has been bought and sub-
divided and the old settler has said it was worthless. Mr. Stephens con-
vineed me five years ago that the State was going to rack and ruin, and
I went down home and started a homeseeker’s journal. I let some
fellows get hold of me and I have been subdividing. I have put out
seven large tracts of land. We have our record behind us. I get not
less than three hundred letters a month asking if this concern is right,
and I have come near going to jail for libel. It would take almost a
- supreme being to decide what colonies are thoroughly legitimate. I feel
that if this convention wants to have a committee pass on the coloniza-
tion plans of the State it would be one of the best things that could
happen, especially with regard to this planting eucalyptus. The Sacra-
mento Valley Development Company has had no reputable newspaper

158 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

in California carry their advertising, either on the Tokey proposition or
the eucalyptus. I think something definite should be said there. I know
you have one paragraph, but taken in connection with the Associated
Press dispatches, I don’t think the convention has stated it in an intel-
ligent manner. The people have got to be brought here. We have got
the valleys in this State that are going to be settled either by Japs or
Chinamen or Slavonians or Americans, and while all races are fellow
beings we want Americans, and it is a great work, a sacred work, and I
_ think the paragraph, together with the general attitude, just makes us
carping critics about what I deem to be the noblest profession next to
crowing fruits, and I do think that that resolution is a very sweeping
proposition, has no allusion to the legitimate work in that line which
has been going on and always has got to go on, and I am going to work
against it, although I am not a bit opposed to its general tone.

MR. DORE. I am not pleased with the resolution as read. It indi-
cates that the report of these soil experts when published shall be a
oulde for newcomers. There is hardly a section of land, perhaps hardly
80 acres, that would bear any resemblance throughout the entire tract
where the survey was taken. In my own place of 100 acres there are
all sorts of soil and many kinds of hardpan within reasonable distance.
To take a sample and sell a farm on that sample would not pan out, and
I believe the same situation prevails throughout the State. There are
tracts in the Sacramento Valley and Kings County where it might
average, but generally it will not.

MR. STEPHENS. I heartily endorse what Mr. Dore has said. There
are many localities where you go 50 feet and you find altogether a
different character of land, and you will find in many instances seven or
eight different kinds of soil on a hundred acres, and unless the expert
bores into the ground on almost every 50 feet you can’t tell what it is,
except it be an alluvial deposit, lke a river bottom, and in many
instances the value of the land for productive purposes varies materi-
ally in a short distance. I think the resolutions are all right. We
don’t want to deal in personalities, but it will be a warning in general.
It will have a tendency to put people on the lookout and that they them-
selves should be the investigators to ascertain whether this or that piece
of land offered for sale is worth the price asked. I don’t believe, under
the circumstances, in citing any particular interest, any particular
locality or any particular colonization organization, because, as Mr.
Dore says, the lands vary so materially in such a short space. Take the
hardpan. It may be within eight inches of the surface here and 50 feet
away it may be within ten feet of the surface.

MR. HARTRANFT. I would like that we vote that resolution down
and then vote that our Chairman appoint a committee of three or seven
men who will bear the brunt of making the good name of California,
who will investigate the general publicity schemes that are going on
about lands and have in their power to call a meeting, and directing the
attention of the postal authorities, without taking the dangers and risk °
of direct publicity. That will be work.

MR. JUDD. The Government of the United States has agents all
over the State of California, and I presume other states, making these
soil surveys. In the Pajaro Valley and the surrounding country I think
Mr. Mackey worked something like two seasons making those surveys.

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 159

The Board of Trade of this town went to quite a bit of expense in having
those surveys put in vials or long glass tubes, setting forth the various
localities, what it is composed of, where it was taken from and what its
value was. It seems to me that as little as this convention could do would
be to hold up the hands of the Government in this very thing that we
propose in this resolution. If we want to show the people what we have
got and we are honest about it, there is nobody going to make any objec-
tions. But if you have got any hardpan down west of Fresno, 12 or 14
miles, all covered with alkali, and sell that to people back East until
taxes carry them out, that is all right. If you go up near Centerville
and find it is a bog during the wet season, you don’t want to get a lot of
people in there. It would turn out just exactly as Mr. Hoffman’s colony
did at Merced. We have a man in our county now, a lawyer, that spent
something like $35,000 or $40,000 on his own place before he got there.
There was something like two hundred families from Holland that sent
their money on and had their houses built and they came out here and
they got the water on, and the third year they had to pull up every tree;
and lots of those people, all they had on earth was sunk in that hardpan
spot; and I only know of one man, Mr. A. R. Curry, they crowded him
off on to a sandy spot and he put it out to olives and has made good.
There isn’t anything in the State of California that damages us to-day
as much as this grafting proposition on poor land. I am in favor of the
resolution as read.
The motion to adopt the resolution was carried.

RESOLUTION REGARDING PARCELS POST.

Whereas, The California Fruit Growers’ Convention has been working for five years to
secure for American citizens the advantages of modern civilization in the way of a parcels post;
therefore, be it

Resolved, That this convention appoint Edward Berwick of Monterey, John S. Dore of
Fresno, and G. B. Messenger of Los Angeles, a committee and authorize these to compile from
the Congressional Record the action of every senator and representative from California, upon
any phase of the parcels post which may come before Congress, and supply the same to the
press of the State.

RESOLUTION AS TO COMMITTEE ON PARCELS POST.

Whereas, The future prosperity and very existence of California horticulture depends on
transportation facilities; and

Whereas, One most valuable transportation agency, the parcels post, which in other lands.
panes producer and consumer together, is here, by reason of prohibitive rates rendered useless;
e it

Resolved, That this convention of California horticulturists assembled at Watsonville this
Sth day of December, 1909, hereby requests the senators and congressmen who represent the
Pacific coast states at Washington, to pass such measures as shall permit the Postmaster Gen-
eral to grant the American people such parcels post rates as are current in Germany, Great
Britain, Japan, and other civilized lands;

Resolved, further, That our Secretary be instructed to send copies of these resolutions to
our representatives in congress and also to President Taft and Postmaster General Hitchcock.

RESOLUTION AS TO POSTAL SAVINGS BANKS.

Whereas, Our monetary system is inadequate to put into general circulation sufficient to
meet emergencies arising from the movement of crops, or money stringency caused by financial
institutions that have practical control of issue;

Whereas, Other progressive countries have found the system of postal savings banks to
cover many of our financial ills; therefore, be it

Resolved, That we, the Fruit Growers’ Convention assembled, most earnestly urge congress
to pass such laws that will bring about such postal savings banks.

RESOLUTION ENDORSING REPORT ON FREIGHT.

Resolved, That the able and exhaustive report of our Committee on Freight Rates shows
valuable data and a vast amount of iabor performed, we hereby endorse that portion of their
claim for a reduction of a freight rate bringing deciduous fruits on a par with the orange rate.
We justify their demand for a postage stamp rate of $1.15 per hundred pounds, but later experi-
ence and computations with present labor conditions shows us that a rate of $1.15 for the past
season would have been too high to encourage any further development in the fruit industry.
Therefore, we hereby instruct our Committee on Freight Rates to press the matter through ail
legitimate channels for a postage stamp rate of $1, thus placing all deciduous fruits on a par
with the lemon and apple growers of the coast. This rate only will satisfy the fruit interests
and offer encouragement to prospective growers.

160 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

MR. STEPHENS. I wish to return the thanks of the Freight Rate
Committee to the delegates to this convention for their kindness in
endorsing the action of their committee. I will state that for years we
have been engaged in our efforts to secure the reduction which will be
in your interest and we have not spared either time or expense. Labor
has not entered into it in any way. We have, as you see, conducted the
correspondence in a manner that has been kept from the public up to
this time. We believed, as I stated yesterday, that the reasons were so
obvious why the same rate should be given the deciduous fruit shippers
that for years have been given the orange shippers, that we would have
but little if any trouble in securing that, but we found that we would
have trouble. We kept it from the press, we kept it from everybody
that would give it publicity, in the hope that at this time or before this
time we would receive information from the transportation companies
that their request had been granted, and had that request been granted
that report would not have been published. In behalf of our committee
T thank you, Mr. Chairman, and the delegates, very sincerely.

A recess was here taken until 8 o’clock Pp. mM.

EVENING SESSION.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. The meeting will please come to order.
The first number this evening is “‘Insect Pests as they relate to Rural -
Hygiene, with special Reference to Control.’’ by Professor W. B. Herms
of Berkeley. (Applause. )

PROFESSOR HERMS. Mr. Chairman, Members of the Convention,
Ladies and Gentlemen: The topic that I have selected for this evening’s
talk is shghtly different from that indicated on the program. I have
cmitted one word. Instead of speaking of it as *‘ Insect pests’’ I want
to refer to the subject as ‘‘Insects,’’ omitting the word “‘pests.”’

INSECTS AS THEY RELATE TO RURAL HYGIENE, WITH
SPECIAL REFERENCE TO CONTROL.

By Pror. WILLIAM B. HeERMs, University of California.

On first thought there seems to be little relationship between insects
and disease, but a little observation will at once reveal much that is good
and much that is bad about these tiny winged creatures. A great edu-
cational campaign is sweeping over the entire world at the present time
which has as its aim the hygienic betterment of the human race, pointing
out certain dangers to health and happiness which lie on every side.
There is, however, room for criticism, inasmuch as the methods used tend
largely to frighten people without pointing out the methods applicable
in the correction of the evil. Fear is at the root of much disease, and is
disastrous. Boldness and daring, however, in the face of danger may
also lead to disaster. It is, nevertheless, notoriously true that we as a
nation in our hurry to make a living have to be warned over and again

’ PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 161

of lurking danger; we go heedlessly on until we are frightened into
action. Can we not calmly consider these questions of hygiene in the
light of preventive medicine, acting wisely and quickly, not hastily
gaining time and averting disease in the end? Our nation is a business
people and business propositions appeal to us. If it were told you that
it is possible to save ten millions of dollars annually, you would be ready
to figure at once. Yet the American people spend annually more than
twelve millions of dollars for fly screens, fly paper, fly poisons, and the
like, not even to mention the great loss of life estimated in the hundreds
of millions of dollars lost through preventable diseases in which insects
play the most important role, as in typhoid fever and other enteric
diseases, malaria, and yellow fever. Added to this great loss are the still
further millions due to insects as they relate to the stock raiser in Texas
fever, anthrax, warbles and the like. If there were time to add another
_ phase to this direct loss it would be instructive at least to point out the
tremendous loss to man as he is impaired in vigor through malaria, a
loss to himself and family as a producer. Then, too, the depreciation of
real estate value through the prevalence of malaria, yellow fever and the
like, is an item of no small import.

When it is considered that we are here dealing with matters which are
largely if not entirely preventable, is it not worth our while to consider
somewhat more specifically the relation of the insect to rural hygiene,
and determine as far as possible in a brief way a few methods of control?

INSECTS AS SCAVENGERS.

Nature has provided no better scavengers than the flesh flies which
devour through their larvee literally tons of dead animals every season.
The vile smell emanating from one dead rat or from one dead fish can
better be experienced than described, but imagine the pollution of the
air that would exist if the masses of dead animals left to die without
burial were not reduced through the agency of the flesh fly larve. In
a study of the conditions existing along the shores of the Great Lakes
the writer made observations for five summers on the relation of the
insect scavengers to the beach débris. For a distance of one mile as
many as 538 dead fish (mostly small) were cast up during one night by
a high surf, the weight of these fish was 20.38 kilograms (about 45
pounds). This was about an average mile, and thus dead fish were
strewn for many miles, and this casting up of bodies was regularly
repeated at short intervals. A walk along this same beach about three
days after a storm demonstrated most satisfactorily the effective work of
the flesh flies, since the dead fish and other animal bodies were reduced
to mere shells which were comparatively odorless. In weight the indi-
vidual fly increases from 0.2 mg. at birth to an average of 90.2 mg., or
an imerease of 45 one-hundredths per cent of the original weight. Since
this applies also to the reduction of animal matter in general, these few
statistics are given to demonstrate the efficiency of this particular group
of scavengers. What is true of the two or three species of flies just
referred to, namely, the green bottle fly (Lucilia cesar) and the large
gray flesh fly (Sarcophaga sarraceni@), is only true of certain other
scavenger flies with very important reservations. The two flies men-
_ tioned are typical insects of the great out-of-doors, rarely coming into the

11—rec

162 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

house as does the blowfly (Calliphora vomitoria), and therefore rarely
attacking the prepared foods of man. We have now pointed out the
qualities of a good natural scavenger, namely, it must do its work
effectively and it must not enter the dwellings of man to attack his
foods prepared for use. Certainly, this does not apply to the common
house fly.

The annihilation of a species whether complete or relative always
brings opposition. Few ideas are more firmly rooted in the mind of
the average man or woman than that Nature has brought forth nothing
that is useless in the economy of the human family—it must be good
for something, otherwise it would not be in existence and should there-
fore not be exterminated nor even molested. True it is that we must
study Nature’s ways and endeavor to find out what she is trying to
do, then help her to carry out her plans more quickly and more accu-
rately. For instance, if Nature has provided scavengers, she is endeavor-
ing to clean up, thus pointing out to man what he should do. The
house fly is often spoken of as one of Nature’s scavengers. By a care-
ful study of the performance of this function by the fly, it can be
said without question that the house fiy is a poor scavenger and it
certainly does not stay out-of-doors. The house fiy breeds primarily
in excrementitious matter, and this of all offal from animals and man is
the most dangerous source of infection. Thus all evidence is against
the house fly, and certainly no one would suggest that the house fly be
left unmolested, because it helps man to keep his premises clean (which
it does not), and that which the fly might be liable to reduce a little
should not be permitted to accumulate exposedly on the basis of ordi-
nary rules of sanitation.

THE HOUSE FLY AS A CARRIER OF DISEASE.

It may be said without hesitation that the house fly is one of the
most dangerous animals, the greatest menace to human health. It is
so, largely because it is generally regarded as an innocent creature,
and because the labeled disease in large parcels is not observed, of
course, there is no evidence. There is more first class experimental
evidence against the fly to-day than there is against any other insect,
except the mosquito. The fly is dangerous because of its vile breeding
and feeding habits, during which time it may become loaded with dis-
ease producing organisms. The mouthparts and feet are perfect col-
lectors of filth. Each one of the six feet is equally fitted with bristles
and hairy pads which secrete a sticky material, adding thus to their
collecting powers. The diseases which it is possible for the house fiy
to transmit and which have been proven against it are typhoid fever,
dysentery, summer diarrhea in infants, cholera, tuberculosis, hospital
gangrene, and several other disease for which the evidence is as yet
meager. Now the causative organisms (‘‘germs’’) of the above men-
tioned diseases are found in the excrement, vomit, sputum, and pus, all of
which form articles of diet for the fiy, and the mode of infection is
by way of human food (wounds in the latter case) which are con-
taminated, or infection of wounds and cuts in gangrene. Time alone
prevents us from dwelling on the details of infection.

From 75 to 125 eggs are deposited in one mass, and there are usually
several (2 to 4) such layings. The eggs hatch in from twelve to

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 163

twenty-four hours, and the newly hatched larve begin feeding at once.
To gain an estimate of the number of larve developing in an average
horse manure pile five samples were taken from various parts of the
pile and the larve counted, the weight of the samples being previously
taken. . The total weight of the samples was fifteen pounds and the
total number of larve (maggots) was 10,282, all of which were quite
or nearly full grown. This gives an average of 685 larve per pound,
and the entire pile was estimated at not less than 1,000 pounds, of
which certainly two thirds was infested like the samples. A _ litle
arithmetic gives us the astonishing estimate of 455,525 maggots in an
average manure pile of only four days’ standing. This particular
manure pile (not from a livery stable, either) was only one of many
known to exist in various parts of the city. No wonder flies fairly

swarm in the vicinity of these choice ornaments!

The growing or larval stage requires from four to six days, after
which the maggots often crawl away from their breeding place, many
of them burrowing into the loose ground just underneath the manure
pile, or crawling under boards or stones, or into dry manure collected
under platforms and the like. The maggots often pass three or four
days in this condition before they change into pupe (the resting stage),
recognized as small chestnut colored barrel-shaped objects in which
the maggots transform to the winged fly. This resting stage requires
from five to ten days and more, varying according to temperature ; thus
the time necessary for a fly to develop from an egg to the winged insect,
as we know it, is usually from twelve to fourteen days in midsummer.

We are now familiar with the facts of development and habit and
have this knowledge as a basis for action against the pestiferous and
dangerous fly.

ESSENTIALS OF HOUSE FLY CONTROL.

Methods of control are planned along the lines suggested by the
study of the life history and habits of the insect. The more familiar
Wwe are with these two factors, the better able are we to attack the
problems of control. Usually the most vulnerable stage in the life his-
tory is selected at which time the insecticide may act most speedily, or
during which time permanent preventive measures are most effectively
applied. Certainly wherever the breeding places can be eliminated,
this method should be followed. It has been already pointed out that
at least ninety-five per cent of our city house flies have their origin in
the open horse manure pile, and that the remainder are bred in the
open garbage can and similar situations. The point of attack is clearly
shown. The open manure pile must be abolished and stables must be
kept clean. Receptacles containing kitchen refuse must be kept tightly
closed or screened and refuse of any kind must not be thrown out into
the backyard to decay. The reason for this cleanliness in human habits
is to prevent the female house fly from depositing her eggs upon the
material which is to provide food for the maggots.

Permanent preventive measures will always be far less expensive in

the end, and also very much more effective than the application of

temporary methods in the form of insecticides, which must be applied
over and over again with continuous expenditure of time, labor, and
money. 2

164 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

MANURE BINS AND PITS.

There must necessarily be some way of disposing of manure from
stables, but the old method of merely throwing this material outside the
barn door and allowing it to accumulate there for months at a time is not
only disgusting, but is a menace to health. The open manure pile must
be abolished. The effectiveness of fly-tight (not air-tight) manure
receptacles has been demonstrated beyond question; it only remains
to be decided as to what form is most practical and carries with it the
least expenditure of time and money in construction and best results
for a given case. A closet or bin can be constructed at a small cost,
which is satisfactorily offset by the absence of the fly nuisance. Such a
closet may be built in one corner of the stable with a small screened
door, through which the manure is thrown when cleaning the stables
(providing also for ventilation), and an outer door giving access to
clean out the closet once or twice a week, or a closet of about the same
construction may be built in the form of a shed or lean-to connecting
with the stable by means of a small screened door as above. In all of
these cases the manure must be emptied at short intervals and should
then be seattered on the field. Objection is here raised by such who
wish to use rotted manure for fertilizer. I believe the best plan, then,
is to construct a pit in the ground into which the manure is thrown.
The pit should be deep enough so that the manure will remain far
enough beneath the level of the ground to cover the pit securely with
a fly-tight roof. Frequent and heavy liming will aid greatly in attain-
ing the object desired.

INSECTICIDES FOR MANURE HEAPS.

The purchase of insecticides for continuous use on the manure pile
would be a matter of no small cost, especially because of the tenacity
of life shown by fiy larve and the consequent strength of insecticides
necessary to kill them. The cheapest, and at the same time effective,
preparations now available must be applied in strength two to five times
that which is useful against other insects, and furthermore, the larve
can not be easily reached buried as they are in the bedding and offal.
Chemicals used to destroy the larve (maggots) in the manure pile may
be roughly divided into two classes (1) contact poisons, and (2) stomach
poisons. To the first class belong such preparations as the kerosenes
(generally used in the form of emulsions) and the cresol preparations.
also chloride of lime. To the second class belong the arsenicals repre-
sented by arsenate of lead and Paris green. All of these insecticides
are more or less effective when used in proper concentrations and in
sufficient quantities, but none of them can be applied with any degree
of safety to man or the domesticated animals, because of either their
inflammable, poisonous or corrosive nature. We are, consequently,
again forced to recégnize the utility of fly-tight receptacles for the
manures. While the experiments with tobacco decoctions applied to
the manure pile have not proven successful, the use of tobacco dust
liberally intermixed seems to offer better results.

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 165

CLEANLINESS ABOUT STABLES.

The writer has been called in on frequent occasions to explain the
presence of many flies about stables which were said to be in “‘perfect
condition.’’ Three instances may be mentioned. In one ease the inside
of the stable was in good condition, the manure being thrown out in a
heap and removed every four or five days. It was said that surely no
flies could develop under such conditions, inasmuch as it required ten
to twelve days to become full fledged flies. The error is evident at
once, namely, it requires only four or five days for the maggots to reach
their full growth, after which many of them migrate from the manure
pile proper into the loose ground underneath or into near-by débris.
Removing the manure pile every four or five days, therefore, did not
eliminate the trouble; indeed, it was shown that hundreds of maggots
- were present in pockets under the site of the pile, and furthermore
2.561 pup were taken with one and three fourths pounds of manure
collected at random from underneath a platform leading from the
stable. Thus there remained no further question as to the source of the
flies in that locality. The second instance seemed to have a better basis
for doubt. In this case the stable was provided with a cement floor with
ood drainage and the manure was thrown every morning directly into
a cart and immediately hauled away. Now, where did the swarm of
flies come from? Adjoining the stable there was a very small lot in
which the horse was frequently set free. No attention, of course, was
paid this open lot, and manure collected there which was kept fairly
moist with urine and here literally thousands of house fly maggots were
developing. Again the problem was solved, the horse lot was thoroughly
seraped and thereafter kept clean. The third instance was easily
explained in part, and eventually entirely elucidated. In this case it
was a certified dairy. Flies were abundant; where did they come from?
The horse stables were found to be partly floored with cement, but the
stalls were made of wood planks with wide crevices between. In these
crevices manure had collected abundantly and maggots were found
there in large numbers. But that was not altogether sufficient to explain
the situation. It is, of course, well known that cow manures, unless
accumulated to retain moisture, are not favorable breeding places for
house fly maggots and none were found. But there is no excuse for not
properly disposing of cow manures, inasmuch as the horn fly develops
here, one of the most troublesome cattle pests. Further search, how-
ever, brought to light the fact that the cattle were being fed at that
time on ‘‘brewers’ grain’’ much of which remained unconsumed and
was ‘‘dumped’’ upon the field as waste. These piles of waste ‘‘ brewers’
erain’’ were found to be literally alive with fly larve, and again the
mystery was solved. These three instances will suffice to make clear the
range of breeding places to a large extent and also the necessity for
careful Been of premises.

THE FLY IN THE HOUSE.

Nearly all efforts thus far to destroy the fly have been directed toward
the winged insect, to either destroy it in the house or drive it away.
These are certainly laudable efforts, but will only afford in all cases
temporary relief. The fly continues to breed, and one fertilized female

can be the progenitor of countless thousands of flies in one season.

166 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

Until the permanent methods of control come generally into use the
utmost care should be exercised to keep this most dangerous of disease
carriers out of the house. Thus properly screening both windows and
doors is important. Grocery stores, fruit stands, candy shops and
butcher shops, bakeries and restaurants, which do not protect their
wares from the flies, should be compelled to do so by health author-
ities and patrons should insist upon this precaution. A little public
sentiment in this direction will work wonders.

The use of the ordinary fly poisons is objectionable, since poisoned
flies are liable to fall into prepared foods and cause mischief to the con-
sumer. Furthermore, not a summer passes without its toll of innocent
children whose lives have been lost, generally in extreme agony, by
drinking some deadly fly poison. The writer has found (as already
suggested by others) that formaldehyde, properly used, forms a very
good substitute for arsenical or cobalt poisons. This liquid material is
rather inexpensive when used as indicated and has the added advantage
that it is not poisonous to man, and may, therefore, be used with
impunity around food; it is also one of the most powerful germicides
known and is not injurious to delicate fabrics. Formaldehyde, as pur-
chased at the drug store, is in about a 40 per cent solution and should be
diluted with water down to 5 per cent to 8 per cent; in other words, add
five to six times as much water. This dilution must now be sweetened
well with sugar or other sweet. A good plan is to partly fill a shallow
individual butter dish with the diluted formaldehyde and add about
one fourth teaspoonful of sugar, then place the dish on the table or in
the show window. The flies drink this material and die in great num-
bers not far from the insecticide. It is not an easy matter to control the
fly in a dining-room where there is plenty of liquid material for food
and drink, such as water, milk, sweets, etc., but where this can be
removed in the evening and the dishes with formaldehyde substituted
so that the flies will drink this the first thing in the morning the end will
be accomplished much more readily. One is here taking advantage of
the fact that the flies seek something to drink as soon as they “‘awaken’”’
from their sleep in the morning.

MOSQUITOES.

We must now briefly turn our attention to the mosquitoes. Among
the several species of these insects existing in the State of California
there are also the Anopheles or malarial fever mosquitoes. No fact in
medical science is perhaps more certainly established than that malarial
fever is transmitted by mosquitoes of the genus Anopheles. However
much a man might expose himself to the miasma of swamps and the
steaming tropics he could never contract malarial fever except through
the bite of an infected mosquito. Malaria is caused by an unicellular
animal parasite which lives a certain part of its life in the red blood
corpuscles of man. The destruction of these corpuscles when the para-
sites are numerous induce the paroxysm of chills and fever, which occurs
at regular intervals due to the regular developmental cycle of the para-
site. The direct loss of life due to this disease may not seem to be great,
but it is one of those affections which produces great inefficiency in per-
forming one’s ordinary duties. Herrick has well stated the matter thus:
‘‘The loss of energy and enthusiasm, the loss of interest in one’s own

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 167

efforts and successes, all of which contribute enormously to the efficiency

of labor and cause the wealth producing power especially in agriculture
to fall short of its normal capacity, is due in a marvelous and undreamed
of degree to that life-sapping disease, malaria. The man that is just
able to ‘crawl out of bed and drag around’ is certainly not the man to
accomplish an efficient and full day’s labor.’’

The greatest demonstrations of disease control have been made in parts
of this country, in Cuba, Honolulu, and Italy, in controlling malaria and
vellow fever. Considerable work in mosquito control has been accom-
plished in various parts of this State. Mosquitoes breed in pools of
standing water, tide pools, along the margins of slowly moving streams,
in tin cans partially filled with water, in rain barrels, watering troughs
and the like. Indeed, very little water is necessary to breed hundreds
of mosquitoes. Again, the control measures require the elimination
of breeding places or the application of a chemical which will destroy
the wigglers. Drainage or filling up of unnecessary pools in spring,
overturning of receptacles which might collect water, in fact, a little
precaution will again save many a mosquito bite and perhaps cases of
malaria. A few teaspoonfuls of kerosene on a tank of water or a small
pond will serve very well; open-box privies and cesspools should always
be so treated at frequent intervals. In irrigating the water should not
be allowed to remain in pools for long periods ata time, say not over
several days. Usually twenty-four to forty-eight hours will suffice for
ordinary irrigation purposes, and flooding for longer periods repre-
sents gross neglect or carelessness. Water standing over ten days
would be dangerous since the larval and pupal life of the mosquito may
be passed in less than two weeks. The use of metal, cement, or tile
irrigation ditches which will not only prevent lateral seepage, except
where wanted, will help greatly in lessening the great quantities of
mosquitoes now produced in poorly kept ditches. The metal, cement,
or tile ditches can be kept clean easily and the water running. Experi-
ments on a small scale show conclusively that the addition of a very
small percentage of tobacco decoction will destroy both wigglers and
pup, how successful this will be on a large scale remains to be proven,
but I have hopes that it will prove out well, and will then be a good
substitute for kerosene, with the addition that the nicotine containing
water may be used with impunity for irrigating purposes.

If the resident of rural districts will apply himself to the correction
of such unnecessary surroundings as have been here briefly pointed
out, he may expect to be amply repaid for his trouble. The most
beautiful and enjoyable parts of this earth are found among rural sur-
roundings and may be made more and more so by the expenditure of a
little extra energy in keeping things clean and in order—the rules of
rural hygiene are few and simple. (Applause.)

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. Fellow delegates, if you would like to
ask any questions of Professor Herms we will have ample time to-night.

MR. KELLOGG. I have been exceedingly interested in that paper ©
and a whole lot of reforms have gone through my head, but there is
just one question I want to clear up in my mind. I have lived in
new countries at different times and where they were troubled with
malaria, and we said, as the country got older, we were not so troubled
with malaria. I would like an explanation of that.

168 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

PROFESSOR HERMS. Not of the true malaria, I should say. Of
course, in the transmission of a disease like malaria or any one of
these diseases just referred to, you must first figure on the disease
being there in order to be transmitted. Of course, the house fly could
not transmit any of these enteric fevers, like typhoid, if typhoid were
not there to be transmitted.

Mk. DARGITZ.. Just a little incident that occurred about a year
ago. It shows how easily we sometimes can eradicate these pests. I
was called to a neighbor’s where they stated that the mosquitoes had
become such a pest that they were inclined to sacrifice their property
and go back East, had become disgusted and thought California was
nothing but a nest of mosquitoes. I made some inquiries and finally
told them to pour half a cupful of kerosene in the sink and let it find
its way to the cesspool through the drain, and they did so, and in
twenty-four hours they said they had no more mosquitoes and had
none after that all summer.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. The next on the program is ‘‘ Planting
Good Health on the Farm,’’ by Dr. W. F. Snow, of the State Board of
Health. (Applause. )

PLANTING GOOD HEALTH ON THE FARM.
By Dr. W. F. Snow, Secretary State Board of Health.

Planting good health does not differ in principle from planting any
other crop. Good seed must be sown in the right soil and with due
regard to the environment. Many things must be done between the
planting and the harvest if one expects a maximum yield. The fruit
farmer follows up his planting by making a business of aiding the
erowth of his trees. He protects them against drought by irrigation,
against frost by smudging, against insect pests by fumigation, and by
the importation of friendly insects to prey upon the pest.

The infant trees are wrapped in swaddling clothes in winter and
provided with sunshades in summer. Being clothed they must be fed.
The farmer studies their diet and buys the necessary fertilizing chem-
icals advocated by the horticultural experts. Their leaves must have
sun and their roots must be housed in properly ventilated soil, there-
fore, the farmer cultivates his land and battles with the weeds. And all
the time he is saying to himself, ‘‘In a few years more they will begin
to bear fruit.’

The placing of wind stakes and props, the digging for borers, the
all-night irrigation, the fight with the birds and the rabbits, are but
incidents in the day’s work of the successful fruit farmer.

And then when the crop has matured must the trees be ruined and
the fruit lost because there are no strong men to harvest it? -Has the
farmer, in his efforts to grow trees, forgotten that it is necessary at
the same time to grow boys and girls if he would ultimately reap the
full reward of his planning? The labor-problem is unquestionably a
serious one for California horticulturists. A most important factor
in this problem is good health, and this can be cultivated, adapted to the
environment, and made to yield good returns. It is, therefore, a legiti-
mate subject for your earnest consideration during this convention.

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 169

There are two great obstacles to interesting people in the cultivation
of good health. In the first place, the normal baby born to healthy
parents has a tremendous vitality and power of adaptability to its
environment, which distinguishes it from the little tree. This gives
rise to the impression that with the baby the proportions of food and
_ sleep, air and sunshine, work and play, are of little consequence. In
the second place, from fifteen to twenty years are required to mature
the crop, which since the days of slavery has had no directly quotable
market value when. produced.

It can be demonstrated, however, that good health is a valuable crop.
Each of us, for example, expects to live to be at least sixty or seventy
years old. And if we come of good stock, have been carefully culti-
vated and have developed good habits, we ought to hve this long. Yet

each of us knows of a number of friends with similar expectations who
_ became blighted and died, some of tuberculosis, some of typhoid fever,
or malaria, or diphtheria, or scarlet fever, or any one of a hundred
other causes. When we stop to think of it, most of them died before
the age of thirty or thirty-five. The twenty years or more they might
have lived would have been most valuable to the prosperity of Cali-
fornia. Many of these friends have been young men with families.
Each man’s labor would have provided at least $1,000 a year, which
means a loss of at least $20,000 to $30,000 for his family. Even if he
carried a $5,000 or $10,000 life insurance policy it was still poor busi-
ness to die.

Suppose this young man had come out to your neighbor’s farm to
pick fruit and had contracted typhoid fever as a result of unsanitary
conditions, which his employer permitted to exist in violation of the
State law. (Professor Herms has just explained to you how this infec-
tion may be transferred by fiies.) And suppose this young man’s wife
should sue your neighbor for damages and you were drawn for jury
duty, would you award her a competence to care for her babies, or
would you ask your minister to present evidence of some manifestation
of Divine Providence in your neighbor’s negligence? California has
over six hundred deaths a year from typhoid fever alone.

Dr. Woods Hutchinson has somewhere remarked, ‘‘It is really not
so wonderful that we are alive when we consider the length of time
we have been at it since the original man passed the spark of life on to
his descendants.’’ The wonder is that in these millions of years we
haven’t learned to live longer. Within the brief period of recorded
history the average length of life has been gradually lengthened. In
- certain countries this increase has reached fifteen and even twenty
years, but the average length of life is still considerably below forty
years. The addition of one year to the life of each citizen of California
would be equivalent to adding 100,000 people to our industrial popula-
tion. Is not this added population the thing for which our boards of
trade and chambers of commerce are striving?

The Sacramento Valley farmers recently pledged themselves to
spend $50,000 in advertising for additional settlers. Is it not probable
that they would also invest in good health if it can be proved to be an
equally good investment?

Every active horticulturist knows in a general way how much
nursery stock is lost each year through the ravages of plant diseases. |

170 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

He can also know, if he will, just how many babies are lost through the
agency of human diseases. If he studies it out he will see that the
prevention of the latter is just as important to him as the prevention
of the former, even from a purely business point of view. Both babies
and young trees represent potential investments from which there
should be large returns in future years.

You are all familiar with inspection and quarantine as applied to
fruit-bearing trees. If your right-hand neighbor’s orchard is invaded
by the San Jose scale you want to know it so that you may protect
your own trees. It is just as logical that you should wish to know
when your neighbor’s child develops scarlet fever. The United States
Public Health and Marine Hospital Service is charged with the duty
of inspecting the passengers and crew on each incoming ship and of
making a careful medical examination of all immigrants. This pro-
cedure is the same in principle as the inspection of all imported trees
for evidence of plant diseases. The difference comes later when the
tree has to submit to continuous observation, and quarantine or fumi-
gation if it ‘‘catches’’ anything, while the newly made citizen main-
tains that it is nobody’s business but his own what diseases he may have
or how he may treat them after he gets into the United States.

Individual liberty is a precious thing to all Americans, and in order
to preserve it we often permit one citizen to infringe the rights of
many. One third of the business of our undertakers in California is
based upon our exaggeration of individual freedom at the expense of
the public. At present we are burying annually upwards of 10,000
of our children and young adults because of diseases contracted from
other diseased persons, who came among them. Of course, the proposi-
tion to save these 10,000 lives a year would work a hardship on our
undertakers. But this would readjust itself in fifty or seventy-five
years, through the great increase in deaths from ‘“‘old age,’’ and mean-
time our industries would have the benefit of a steady annual income
of 10,000 workers and their accumulated families. Does this not sound
like a good investment ?

There is another way to estimate this. The commission on conserva-
tion of natural resources, appointed by President Roosevelt, estimated
the community value of the average life to be $1,500. California is
thus losing approximately $15,000,000 a year because no provision is
made for enforcing laws already on the statute books. All these things
are not theory merely, they are hard business facts. We have been
applying to human life in California exactly the same principles which
we are now condemning our timber barons for applying to our great
forests. With him it has been so many million feet of lumber per year,
with us so many million hours of labor. We have cared no more for
repopulation than he for reforestation.

We must include conservation of health among our other plans for
the unborn generations if we are to hope that America will continue
her progress toward supremacy in the industrial and scientific world.

The requirements of good health are very simple to enumerate.
They are sunshine, fresh air, good food, enough sleep, plenty of play,
work for which one is adapted, and protection from the disease
invaders. But these requirements are not easy to fulfill for many oceu-
pations even in California. Are they possible on the farm? ~

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 171

First, sunshine. It would seem so, and yet how many farmers’
wives scarcely see the sun from one week’s end to the next? How
many farmers’ daughters contrive to avoid the health-giving rays of
the sun, the while they industriously apply so-called skin foods? How

- often does one see at the seacoast whole families taking the fashionable

sun-cure in bathing suits, or with bare heads and sleeves rolled up.
This is the same sun which shines on the ranch, and is so carefully
excluded from the parlor and bedrooms lest it fade the carpets.

Fresh air should be available on the farm, but often the only member
who uses it to any considerable extent is the farmer and he has it only
in the day time when he needs it least.

Fresh air has different qualities. There is the cool breeze that comes
in off the ocean, and the hot wind that blows across our great valleys,
and the night air currents that flow down through our murmuring

forests. Each plays its special part in the environment of the body,

but all are fresh, and are alike invigorating to the lungs. The fallacy
of dangerous night air has cost the human race untold numbers of
lives. The sleeping porch is the most effective weapon we have thus
far used to combat tuberculosis. The old-fashioned fireplace was a
most important fresh air apparatus, because it constantly drew into
the house great quantities of out-of-door air to replace the hot air it
sent up the chimney. The present day air-tight heater and oil burners
are economical of fuel but most expensive in headaches, drugs, and
doctors’ bills.

It is poor economy to utilize unfinished attic space for bedrooms for
the growing family. The rooms of a house which depend on ground air
forcing its way up through the walls and floors from mildewed cellars
or malodorous kitchens, or closets, are not the rooms in which good
health will flourish. Such air will not cause any specific disease, but
it will lower the resistance of the body to disease. Sanitarians estimate
that sleeping rooms should have for each occupant at least 500 to 1,000
cubic feet of air space exclusive of the cubic space taken up by the bed
and other furniture, but this depends on the ventilation, 7. e., the
frequency with which the air of the room is changed. The farmer who
screens in his porches for sleeping purposes and uses the bedrooms only
as dressing rooms will have plenty of air and few bills for medicine.

The selection and preparation of food for the family is a very impor-
tant factor in farm life. The farmer knows his land and sows his
crops advantageously with reference to the soil. It is equally impor-
tant that the farmer’s wife know her family and prepare her table
according to the varying needs of the individuals. Simplicity, variety,
the best materials, and proper cooking are the general requisites. The
normal healthy individual may count on his appetite to guide him
in what he eats from day to day. His stomach is simply one of the
way stations along the alimentary canal, from which the body helps
itself to such tissue-building and energy-producing ingredients as it
needs, leaving the excess to be passed on and discharged day by day.
**T never know I have a stomach,’’ is only another way of saying that
one has good digestion. But if this be said by all the members of the
family, it means there is a clever housewife in command of the kitchen,
who realizes that her position is that of commissary general. The

standard army ration is not sufficient for her needs. First, she must

172 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

provide her husband with sufficient energy-producing food for the
heavy muscular activity of his day’s work. Then she must provide the
body-building food necessary for her children, who are sitting quietly
in school, but are growing all the while, then the baby needs his food
prepared and administered with clock-like precision. It is necessary
that she plan her own diet, and have regular hours for her meals. Then.
if she provides the means for the farm hands, she must study history
and know how to cook the national dishes of her husband’s employees.
And this is only the foundation of her problem. Cooking for the
climate is a most important part of her work. This means pork and
beans for cold days and cool salads for hot days. It means shifting
the meat dishes to the breakfast meal in the picking season and the
substitution of nuts and macaroni for the dinner meat in the idle
rainy season. It means hot, appetizing heavy suppers from June to
October and simple bread and milk suppers before the open fire from
December to March.

Cooking for one’s ancestors is more important than is at first appar-
ent. Suppose a young Massachusetts farmer comes to California to
raise apples and eventually marries one of the daughters of old Spain.
Is it not certain there must be some adjustment between his ancestral
love of pie for breakfast and her desire for enchiladas?

Enough sleep is not a matter of the number of hours we may spend
in bed. The purpose of sleep is to provide complete cessation of
activity, so that the body may be repaired for the work of the next day.
The individual who makes a business of sleeping and who sleeps in the
open air will get his sleeping done in much less time than the one who
cultivates the habit of reviewing the day’s events and making out a
trouble schedule for the next day before he gets to sleep.

Play is but another form of rest for the adult. Play serves many
purposes for the child, but it is a necessary thing for the father and
mother as well as for the child. The parents who are too old or too
busy to play with their children will find their influence over those
children steadily slipping away. It is real economy for the mother to
take the girls to the best theater plays and to hear good music. It pays
for the father to go with his boys to see the city, and to show them
what is safe and what is unsafe in its varied amusements. It is a good
investment to take the family to the high Sierras or along the coast in
the summer. The telephone is not a luxury. It is important for the
tired mother to have her recreation, and the relaxation of a daily visit
with her distant neighbors on a ten-party line is part of the family
play. The current magazines and a good phonograph or pianola with
well selected music yield big returns on the purchase price.

It pays to grow flowers and to use them in the decoration of the
house. The box of candy one occasionally buys for his wife is not
foolish sentiment. These are the things that make the home, as dis-
tinct from the house. Anything will serve for a house, provided it
be dry and light and airy. By this I do not mean that a modern,
well arranged house is not desirable. A convenient kitchen and the
various labor-saving household devices are worth all they cost. But
the most sanitary and convenient farmhouse that can be built will soon
degenerate in the course of a generation into a ‘‘chuck house’’ for hired
men unless the atmosphere of the home be created. This requires study —

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 173

and the well directed expenditure of some money. The Country Life
Commission has pointed out in no uneertain terms that if we would
conserve our farms we must make them livable.

How often have the half-ills and discontentment due to unvaried and
incessant work on a cheerless, homeless farm led children to unwise
immigration to the city. The farmer is too busy, the mother is too
overworked and disheartened by the monotony of her daily round to
investigate the half-ills of these children, and in the end they go. The
neighbors say, ‘‘ Well, I don’t rightly know what was the matter with
the Doe family. They didn’t hke the farm. The old man and his
wife still stick to it, but the children have all scattered. The two girls are
clerking in some store in the city, and the last I heard of the youngest
boy he had a job hauling lumber somewhere in the mountains. Poor
stock, I guess.’”’ More often it is poor opportunity. If our farmers

- would apply the same keenness of observation and deduction to the

development of good health on their farms that they apply to the devel-
opment of good trees, the number of farmers whose sons are also farmers
would increase many fold.

The generalities which have been emphasized thus far deal with
things which a man may provide for himself and his own family with-
out codperation from his neighbors, but there are many other things
entering into the health of the farm which require codperative manage-
ment. Professor Herms’ excellent paper has demonstrated how the
mosquitoes of the farmer’s right-hand neighbor may bring him malaria,
how his left-hand neighbor’s flies may bring typhoid fever. His
neighbors to the north come to call, bringing their baby, and the baby
leaves the whooping-cough. His neighbors to the south in the course
of years contribute many expensive things. Scarlet fever comes to
him in his cream cans, which are returned from the city each day. The
passing tramp frightens him with smallpox, and the temporary fruit

_ picker suggests many possible dangers. It is only by community

cooperation that these experiences—expensive alike in life and money—
may be avoided. |

In conclusion, let me repeat good health is a crop, and demands atten-
tion and necessary outlay of money if adequate returns are to be
expected. (Applause. )

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. I think you will all agree that we have
had a treat to-night, and I know how well you will all appreciate the
remarks we have heard from the two friends who have come down here
to-night for this special purpose.

The convention then adjourned until December 10. at 9.30 o’clock

A. Mz

174 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

FOURTH DAY.

WATSONVILLE, CAu., December 10, 1909.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. The convention will please come to
order. I would like to ask if the Committee on Resolutions are ready
to finish up what little business they have?

MR. KELLOGG. On that matter of unfinished business yesterday,
laid over for to-day, the committee would amend their report and have
it read as follows

RESOLUTION AS TO FORMATION OF PROTECTIVE LEAGUE.

Whereas, There are many general problems affecting the fruit industry aside from the
marketing of fruit, in which our interests are identical, and upon which we can unite for the
good of all concerned upon common ground; therefore, be it

Resolved, By the Fruit Growers’ Convention, that the fruit interests would be best sub-
served by the organization of a league, or association of some character, to look after the
freight rates, standardizing of the fruit pack, uniformity of packages, and other matters, look-
ing to the harmonizing and helping all interests.

Resolved, further, with this end in view, we recommend that a committee of ten fruit
growers be appointed by the Chairman of the convention representing all interests, as far
as possible. This committee to meet as soon as possible, formulate a plan of organization
with such constitution and by-laws as they may think wise, and submit for approval to a
delegated convention to be called by them, in the city of Sacramento, within the next sixty
days, if practicable, the said delegates to be duly accredited from established organizations
representing the fruit interests of the State. We recommend that the said delegated conven-
tion effect a permanent organization, for no profit to themselves, but for the general interests.
of the whole fruit industry.

Mr. Stephens moved the adoption of the resolution and his motion
was duly seconded.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. The resolution means simply that a com-
mittee of ten fruit growers will be appointed to formulate a plan for
organizing a protective league of some kind to take up general proposi-
tions relating to deciduous fruit and grape industries, general propo-
sitions touching the interests of everybody connected with the business,
railroads, fruit distributors—every interest must be handled by some
central authority.

The resolution was unanimously adopted.

MR. JUDD. Mr. Charman, Ladies and Gentlemen: We had a
paper yesterday, or rather a speech made by Mr. Irish, which covered
a very large scope and at the same time it brought the question of
education down to my idea of what our youths, especially the agricul-
tural youths of this State should have. He said nothing about the
Polyteechnie School at San Luis Obispo, which has something like 150
or 160 students. It is one of the most progressive institutions of learn-
ing in this State. It is a place where a young man can get any kind
of an education he wants, whether agricultural, mechanical or almost
any other except the professional education. I want to call your atten-
tion to that particularly in the form of a bulletin, the agricultural
number, published by the class, and all you people that have an interest
in the Polytechnic School, which is the very essence of education for
our agricultural youth, I want you to get one of these and also the
bulletin, and it will give you some idea of what is being done in the
State for your boys and your girls that you don’t know anything about.

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. Lia

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. We will now have the ‘‘Precooling of
Fruit,’’ by George D. Kellogg of Neweastle.

MR. KELLOGG. Mr. Chairman, first I want to say a word. I have
taken a great deal of interest in something more than the fruit industry,
and that is the character of this convention. We have met in this
beautiful place that many of us hold sacred and I have yet to see the
first breach of good behavior in recognition of the place in which we
have met. I believe the fruit growers are a pretty good class of people
to be with, clean, intelligent, upright. Mr. Dargitz insisted upon: a
text, and the only one I can think of just now, and I can’t tell you
just where it is, but if he will look in Ezekiel somewhere he may find
it: ‘‘For because ye are neither cold nor hot I will spew ye out of
my mouth.’’

MR. DARGITZ. Revelation.

MR. KELLOGG. I guess it is. [Laughter.] I am not here to
throw any hot air, but I am to throw pure cold air. I don’t come
before you with any scientific proposition. I am simply going to deal
with facts as I have found them from my own observation. I let the
theory go to these professors who study it and know why these things
are so.

PRECOOLING OF FRUIT WITH DRY COLD AIR FOR SHIPMENT.
By Gero. D. KetxLoce of Newcastle, California.

Mr. President, J. W. Jeffrey, Ladies and Gentlemen: Reform and
progress have become the watchword of the California fruit men. It
is a well known fact that a slight bruise or abrasion on any fruit will
affect the keeping quality of the same; this has been discovered, and
padded picking baskets or buckets will be installed during the coming
season ; springless wheel sleds will be discountenanced and discontinued
by the up-to-date grower and vehicles with springs will be used in
their place to give ease of carriage and supplant them. The frequent
dumpings from the tree to the packing shed will be eliminated, and
the farewell to the old dead axle wagon between the packing shed and
the shipping house will be sounded. The standardized pack, with
correct comprehensive markings upon the package, under the super-
vision of a competent corps of independent inspectors will be a reform
of great consequence, bringing increased reputation and standing, as
well as additional dollars for our California fruits.

All this, and still there stands before us the great problem of how to
get this fruit into the Eastern markets in such condition as to com-
mand the attention and admiration of the consumer. Refrigeration
has been tried, and under the old system has proven a help—though
expensive. The crying need is for something better.

The Agricultural Department at Washington, D. C., recognizing the
great importance of the fruit industry, detailed their expert, G. Harold
Powell, as Pomologist in charge of Fruit Transportation and Storage
Investigation. This worthy official came to Neweastle, California, in
the summer of 1905 and began his investigations and experiments, and
the taking of valuable notations. He improvised a cold storage car,
and after holding the fruit for: twenty-four hours or more, it was
transferred to another cold car and shipped to the Atlantic coast.

176 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

This experiment was conducted during the extreme heat of an extreme
season and proved beneficial. These experiments were conducted from
my office, with the codperation of the fruit shippers of Newcastle. We
had free access to the valuable data obtained from Mr. Powell’s obser-
vations and notes. Frequent discussions led us to believe that if the
fruit could be precooled by the single box before placing in the car,
quicker and better results would be obtained. Mechanics of inventive
talent and experts in refrigeration were consulted, combined with those
having experience in handling of fruit and knew its weaknesses and
some of its possibilities. The situation was studied, the conclusions
reached from observation, that fruit shipped under ice with no previous
preparation was inclined to arrive at destination damp, and this damp-
ness would create a mold that would be injurious to the fruit. It was
also demonstrated by the Government experts that ripening proceeds
much more rapidly when a fruit is severed from the tree, so that it
comes nearer the point. of decay in a few hours, or days, than it would
have been if left hanging on the tree in the same temperature for a
much longer period; therefore, the ripening must be checked as soon
as possible after picking to prevent premature decay.

Experiments show that mold grows in the room in which the fruit
is placed, if the air in the room is moist, and the flavor deteriorates
if the air is impure, especially is this true as regards mold upon grapes.
Dry cold air will prevent the development of rot, and pure air pre-
serves the delicate quality of the fruit. Therefore, a dry cold pure air
is ideal for the preservation of fruit and to maintain its natural quality.

The conclusions reached were these: The successful transportation of
perishable fruits in refrigeration depends, primarily, upon the sound
condition of the fruit; upon cooling it as soon as possible after it has
been picked; on shipping it in packages which cool quickly thoughout;
on a dry, pure, cold ar, uniformly distributed in the car, or compart-
ment, and on a free circulation of such air throughout the packages, and
this cooling process should not cease until the pit, or center of the fruit,
has been as completely cooled as the surface, for practical results.

With these ideas, and to reach the results sought after, a unique and
practical machine was invented, which conveyed single packages of
fruit through insulated compartments through which a stream of dry
cold air was forced, and the fruit cooled thoroughly to the center, and
to any desired temperature. This: was done by the ammonia process,
instead of ice. From this machine the fruit should be landed in a
cooled room, which is vestibuled with a precooled car and this car
loaded and closed up and shipped through to destination with the initial
icing. Cars so treated will carry to any market in the United States
without reicing, and will arrive dry and in sound condition. At least,
that has been my experience and observation from my experiments with
fifty-seven cars precooled with this process during the season of 1909,
and in this season of scarcity of cars and poverty of ice. Of these
fifty-seven cars thus treated there has been but one claim made for loss
and damage in transit, and that car was precooled on Saturday and
left standing in the open air until the Tuesday following, waiting for
a car to come to be loaded into; three days in the heat nullified the
precooling, I suppose, and bad results followed. I shipped an equal
number of cars during the season that was not precooled, and there was

.

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. VG

many claims for damage made. The usual time it has taken to reduce
the temperature of these cars has been from one and a quarter to two
hours. J experimented with cars in which the fruit temperature had
been reduced from seventy-six degrees to from forty-four to fifty-five
degrees, while the open air temperature would be ranging anywhere
from seventy-five to one hundred degrees in the shade, the fruit arrived
at destination without complaint. These statements may be verified
from the files in the office of the California Fruit Distributors in Sac-
ramento, through whom all my claims on loss in ear loads are made. I
have with me a list of the precooled cars, the date when shipped and the
destination ; by a comparison of this list with their files will verify my
statement.

With but two exceptions did I make known to the consignees what
cars were precooled and what were not, and no attempt was made to
get special reports upon the car; I took this method that I might
know the facts, for as my fruit is most usually sent to the f. o. b.
markets, and if it arrives without complaint, the draft is paid with
no grumble from the consignee, it becomes prima facie evidence to the
shipping fraternity that the condition of the fruit is above suspicion;
and when the fruit is delivered to the auction and sold at the best price
with no one to ““boost’’ the sale we are ready to accept the theory that
the fruit was all right.

On one car I advised the consignee in New York, Mr. C. E. Thurston,
that a certain car was precooled, and asked him to note its condition;
this car sold at top price and the returns came back with the nota-
tion from him that ‘‘precooling was all right.’’ On another occasion
I notified Messrs. Longfellow Bros. Company of Minneapolis to note
conditions of a precooled car, P. F. E. No. 6100, shipped on June 25th
with an initial icing only, and the following report was received from
them :

“Green fruit from Neweastle, Cal., received by us this morning; peaches and
plums were in splendid condition, being firm and dry, and did not develop sweat
after unloading, although the day was quite warm. We believe that your system of
cooling fruit before it is loaded into the car will place the fruit on this market in
much better condition than the present plan of icing cars and loading the fruit while
warm. Wishing you success in your efforts te improve conditions in the fruit busi-
ness, we are,

Sincerely yours,
LONGFELLOW Bros. CoMPANY.”

On August 27th, one of the hottest of the season, I loaded a mixed
car of peaches, precooled, into a car that was cooled by being vestibuled
to the cold room, with no ice, the car closed; it left the next morning.
On September 7th the car was sold in Minneapolis auction, the twelfth
day from the picking, and this car of peaches and assorted grapes was
sold for $875, being the average price paid for fruit in that market that
day.

Note that this car was not cooled by ice, was not iced en route, and
was in condition to sell at average price; the cost of refrigeration was
only the cost of the precooling; the cost for hauling five and a half
tons of ice was saved the transportation companies, and the expense
of holding the trains, with five or six icings, was all saved, so far as
this car was concerned. All matters of great consequence to the rail-
road operating departments, which if could be applied to whole train

12—_Fec

178 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

loads, would mean many hours of time saved in transit of the trains,
to say nothing of great bunkers of ice, and the expense of many men
saved.

These fruit meetings are not so much for hearing theories as for .
facts. California fruit men are facing active and intelligent competi-
tion from many states in the Union that have the advantage of hun-
dreds, and even thousands, of miles of hauling over us. We have the
quality, size and beauty if our fruit is allowed to mature before pick-
ing, properly selected and packed, and displayed before the buyer free
from mold, or moisture, and with what is known as a postage rate of
one dollar to the markets of the East, as some other fruits are hauled,
the California fruit grower can meet all competition.

I have demonstrated to my own satisfaction that the best results can
be obtained only through the precooling of the fruit, each individual
package treated and cooled alike to the center or pit before loading
in the ear, precooled with dry pure air, removing all moisture from the
fruit, so that it arrives at destination with no moisture perceptible. To
reach this desired condition, I am satisfied that if so treated that an
initial icing is sufficient to insure good delivery. (Applause. )

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. If there is no objection on the part of
the convention we will now hear the report of the Committee on the
President’s Address. Mr. Rixford and Mr. Bishop were the members
of that committee.

Mr. Bishop read the following report:

We, your committee appointed to consider the President's Annual Address to
this convention, beg to report as follows

We find the address prolific of thoughtful suggestions on important questions
which are thus brought to the earnest consideration of the fruit growers of the State.

We would especially commend to your attention the suggestion that codperative
leagues or committees, such as the Citrus Protective League, be formed to consider
the interests of each branch of the fruit industry, and to handle every proposition
that has a general bearing on the particular branch it represents and in which all
can rely in times of peril.

We indorse his idea that we are not confronted so much by the problem of over-
production as by that of underconsumption leading up to the stamping out of dis-
honest packing and standardizing the California pack as a business proposition,
which he brings to our attention for the first time, and which must inevitably lead
to further extension of the markets for choice fruit on its merits.

The President should be commended for the movement he has inaugurated
recently, in holding community meetings of fruit growers in various places in the
Sacramento Valley and which are in the months to come to be extended to other
parts of the State, to consider the economic questions connected with the industry.
It seems to your committee that these meetings will be productive of much good in
threshing out various problems of especially local interest and leaye them in a con-
centrated form for consideration on the broader plane of the State convention.

And we would earnestly call your special attention to his suggestions concerning
the disapproval of the fraudulent land booming, hoping and believing it should
receive the emphatic indorsement of every loyal Californian. .

Finally, we commend to the convention a thoughtful consideration of the entire
document as filled with timely suggestions for the good of the great industry in

which we are all interested.
G. P. RIxForp.
Roy K. BISHOP.

MR. BISHOP. The Citrus Protective League in southern California
is a league in which the shipper pays so much for every car load of
fruit he ships, and that money is used to gather information and
protect us in the legislature and in congress. (Applause.)

Mr. Stephens moved the adoption of the report.

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 179

The motion was duly seconded, and, being put by Mr. Stephens, was
unanimously carried.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. I wish very briefly to thank the com-
mittee on the President’s Address for the sentiment conveyed and for
the beautiful language in which it is expressed.

MR. DARGITZ. Just one moment, before we get so far away that
we forget it, a remark made in Mr. Kellogg’s paper that it is facts
and not theory that we are after. I am sure, as all practical growers,
we recognize the great importance of facts, the practical knowledge
that comes to us from the growing and handling of fruits, and I am
sure every one of us who has looked into the subject very far will
very greatly appreciate the theories that have come to us from the
scientific side; and perhaps one of the greatest values that comes to
the orchardist and fruit grower from these conventions is the fact
that here the two extremes—one of practical knowledge and experi-
ence, and the other of the theoretical and scientific—meet and blend,
and out of the two going forward we have the results that shall prove
success for us. (Applause.)

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. The next topic for consideration will be
““Grape Transportation and Storage.’’ You all are acquainted with
the work of Mr. Stubenrauch; you are personally acquainted with
him, most of you, and you know him to be a most excellent and capable
man. (Applause.)

MR. STUBENRAUCH. Ladies and Gentlemen: Contrary to my
usual custom, I will read my paper. There are so many things to be
said that I have formulated it in a paper.

GRAPE STORAGE AND TRANSPORTATION INVESTIGATIONS
OF THE U. 8S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.
By A. V. STUBENRAUCH of Washington, D. C.

The grape storage and transportation investigations of the Bureau
of Plant Industry of the United States Department of Agriculture,
begun in California several years ago, form part of the Fruit Storage
and Transportation Investigations of the Department carried on in
different sections of the United States. These investigations include
a complete study of the various problems connected with the handling —
of fruits in storage and transit—the two are practically the same, fruit
in transit being simply held under storage conditions while being
hauled across the continent. Naturally, there are many factors which
have to be considered, but the investigations have narrowed down prin-
cipally to a study of the relation of handling in picking, packing, and
preparation for market to the occurrences of decay and deterioration
in storage and transit. This part of the problem is fundamental, and
it frequently happens that when once this is thoroughly understood, the
other parts of the investigation are comparatively simple.

From all the Bureau work on this problem one fundamental prin-
ciple has been deduced, a principle so important that frequently the
only problem connected with the avoidance of troubles in storage or
transit is an application of the principle to local practice.

180 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

It has been shown that the different kinds of molds which cause the
most common forms of decay in fruits while in transit and in storage
are unable to penetrate the sound, normal,-skin of the fruit. These
molds generally gain entrance through mechanical abrasions produced
in the preparation of the fruit for market. It is not unusual to find -
10 per cent of apples showing cuts or abrasions in the skin. Small
fruits are more commonly injured, while oranges frequently show from
10 to 50 per cent of the fruit with the skin cut by the clippers in
severing it from the trees or by rough handling of the fruit in the
packing houses. It has been demonstrated that by careful handling in
the picking and packing of oranges under commercial conditions the
injuries can be overcome, and the decay can be almost wholly eliminated.

During the past four years the storage investigations have been
extended to the table grape industry of California. These investi-
gations were started with two main objects in view: A study of the
factors which affect the keeping quality of grapes in transit and
storage and the possibility of extending the markets and season of Cali-
fornia grapes, ultimately with the hope of replacing the two million
dollar importations of fresh Spanish grapes with the California-grown
product held in common or cold storage. At present practically the
entire Tokay grape crop has to be marketed within sixty days. Within
a few years the output of this variety will nearly double. The neces-
sity of either extending the season of marketing or of developing new
markets becomes of vital importance.

COLD STORAGE EXPERIMENTS.

Our first efforts were directed toward the storage problems, and the
results obtained in this work had a direct bearing on the transporta-
tion problems which were to follow later. A careful study of the
behavior of a number of important grape varieties was begun. Some
of these were grown commercially, some were not, and were included
in the experiments to determine their suitability for introduction to
commercial vineyards. The list of varieties includes the following, most
of which were obtained from the University Experiment Station near
Tulare, through the courtesy of the California station officials: Flame
Tokay, Muscat, Mallaga, Thompson Seedless, Ferrara, Emperor, Verdal.
Black Prince, Cornichon, Huasco, Bowood, Pizzutella, Perruno, Chas-
selas de Fontainebleau, Sabalskanski, and Almeria. Last year and the
present season varieties from Lodi included the following: Flame
Tokay, Emperor, Ferrara, Verdal, and Cornichon. This season a num-
ber of new varieties grown on the Government experimental vineyards
at Fresno and Oakville were added to the list, but as this work is only
begun these varieties need not be named here.

The preliminary work included a test of different methods of pack-
ing: In erates without filling, and in tight boxes with various filling
materials in comparison with ground cork, such as is used with the
Almeria grapes imported from Spain. The lst of packing materials,
besides the ground cork, included paper, both shredded and as a
wrapper, wheat bran, corn meal, ground corn pith, shredded and cut
tule and redwood sawdust. <All of these substitutes, except redwood
sawdust, have been found unsuitable and have been abandoned. Red-

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 181

wood sawdust has been further tested, and all of the results so far show
that it is superior to the cork. The grapes packed in this sawdust hold
- longer and in better condition, and in future we shall probably confine
our investigations of grape fillers to this material. It seems particularly
fortunate that so valuable a substitute is at hand. It would be impracti-
cable to use cork in this State on a large scale, both on account of its
high price and comparative scarcity. It is evident that the importers
of Spanish grapes are becoming aware of the superiority of redwood,
as already inquiries are being made in the interest of foreign growers
regarding the practicability of obtaining this sawdust in quantity.

It is impossible at this time to state the reason for the better holding
qualities of the redwood sawdust. At first it was thought to be due to
the greater fineness of the material, but a comparison of it with cork
eround or shredded to the same degree of fineness as the sawdust,
while it shows some difference in favor of the finer ground material,
does not indicate that this is the only cause. So far, no attempt has
been made to treat the sawdust in any way except to be sure that it
was thoroughly dry. The material has been obtained from planing
mills working on dried lumber, and consequently the dust has been
rather fine. The use of this fine sawdust this season on a rather large
scale shows that while the fine material holds the grapes in prime condi-
tion it has a distinct disadvantage in clinging tenaciously to the grape
berries, especially around the pedicels and it is difficult to dislodge these
fine particles without a strong air blast. It is, therefore, evident that
before redwood sawdust can be used commercially it will. have to be
freed of the fine dust and splintery particles. Millmen assure us that
this would be a comparatively simple and inexpensive process by using
a fan, and it could be done at the mill without difficulty if the demand >
for the cleaned sawdust becomes great enough.

The flavor of the grapes packed in redwood has never been found to
be tainted as long as the sawdust is pure. A slight mixture of pine or
cedar, however, seems, sufficient to flavor the grapes when held in
storage for some length of time.

The storage investigations show that for long holding a filler will
have to be used. All varieties with the exception of the Almeria, and
possibly the Emperor, do not hold in first-class condition longer than
thirty to forty days packed in crates, or too short a time, usually, for
the holiday trade, which is the market offering the best demand for
fancy grapes in good condition.

Table No. 1 shows the results of the cold storage experiments of last
year (1908). The data are given in terms of the number of days after
storing, when the fruit showed 5 per cent and 15 per cent deteriora-
tion, including decay, physiological breakdown, and shelling from the
stems. These results were obtained by an actual determination of the
percentages by weight, care being taken to segregate all the unsound
berries. It is difficult to determine the exact commercial limit, because
market conditions vary so widely in different sections and in different
seasons. It is safe, however, to say that it will not pay to store any-
thing but the very best and fanciest fruit, not only on account of the
better keeping quality, but also because a relatively high price must be
expected, and buyers are always more critical and particular when
prices are high.

182 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

TABLE 1.
Results of Holding Table Grapes in Cold Storage (32 degrees). 1908.

7 — — —-

| Packedin | Packed with | Packed with | Packed with
Commercial Coarse Cork Fine Cork Redwood

Crates. Filler. Filler. Sawdust.

29 Per | 15 Per} 5Per | 15 Per | 5 Per | 15 Per |} 5 Per | 15 Per
Cent Cent | Cent Cent Cent Cent Cent Cent

| Deteri- - Deteri- | Deteri- Deteri- | Deteri-| Deteri-| Deteri-| Deteri-
| oration oration | oration ration | oration | oration | oration | oration

After After | After’ | After | After | After | After | After
| | /
z toa ate J 3» a !

Tulare varieties: | Days. | Days. | Days Days. | Days. | Days. | Days. | Days.
Almeria (Ojanez) ___- 70 110 105 121 120 175 155 | 250
Cornichon 22-2. al ie, 24 eis eyes a 80 92. el Nie 95 85 125
He@TrAT Ams eels yer ee 35 45 80 100 | 80 LOB eer ae (ies ulae
Blame okay #225 2% Reed detheed Pa Se? 45 60 55 SO ae prs nT boat
Eiuasco 2. /.. sea lapse gi) eae ce 60 75 dereee) | 405
Mia lara ova ee Ue oa ae e 80 100 60 85 80 | 105
Perriunoe ise eye 45 50 50 75 60 90 80 | 110
Pizzutella— |

Early picking_---__- 40 60 55 70 5d ire) 2 eee 2 oes
Late picking ___---- 20 AQ) ME ee 50 65 65 90
Wien clays 1a tame Be 5 15 65 90 60 90 45 | 80
MuISCa pte ae ees 3 65 5D 75 60 70 75 ‘| 100

Lodi varieties:

Cornichonee) eee Exepiea rem Were gene peer Se 75 bs Saat He Aaa Nig
HiMUperore A539 eee sc 30 60 5d 65 80 105 120 180
MeCrRe Ta eet ee ee apa (Re ees Sele (ra Bee Pe fe a 7) SP) (Ga nn ee Caer
Flame Tokay— /

Sand yisoul,» late sale SNe se ae ee eee 5d BS Tose ze 2 [ft pasee

Flame Tokay—
Sandy soil, late pick-

1 6 Eater Renee MEMES Act (RLIP fee ROA | Ne So (Ras a Pn Ak 30 4 fb | sf Se Ree ae
Flame Tokay—
Sandy soil, late pick- |

AMP a Scho ee Ls Ser ek ema te ee eee) meee se 40 iT my ges Sep eee eee. 2
Flame Tokay— |

Black lands, late |

UC kings es eels ee I ee ee 70 og Se

Verdal

PeUcUe ara aPC nee Rec We ede 60 he, ae es

The hmits given in the table are more or less arbitrary, but the
experience gained in the four seasons’ investigations show them to be
both fair and conservative. It has been found from the examination
of a very large number of grape packages that up to 5 per cent
deterioration would be considered commercially sound, and decay to
this extent would not be noticed on the market unless it is all at or
near the top of the package. Between 5 per cent and 10 per cent
would be noticeable and would detract from the market value of the
fruit, while 15 per cent or over could hardly be disposed of except
at a heavy discount. The 15 per cent date is, therefore, given as the
extreme limit of the marketableness of the fruit. The range of days
between the 5 per cent and 15 per cent limits gives a very good idea
of the rate of deterioration, which varies considerably with different
varieties and with different packing materials. As a general rule, the
range is shortest in the crates without a filler and greatest im. the red-
wood sawdust packs.

The grapes were picked when their appearance indicated full matur-
ity without overripeness, and this naturally differs with different varie-
ties. It is difficult to. determine the exact time when grapes are ripe.
In our experiments color, sweetness, and firmness were used as the

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 183

_ determining factors. Experiments with green and overripe fruit show

that both will not hold long or in good condition; the former shrivel
- badly and shell from the stems, while the latter soon decay or break
down physiologically. One comparison of early and late picking is
shown in the table: Pizzutella, early picked (Sept. 16), remained in
good condition forty days in crates, while the same variety picked two
weeks later held only twenty days to the 5 per cent limit.

The fruit was all very carefully handled and was nearly all packed
by ourselves. Great care was used in culling to eliminate all unsound
or injured berries, and the packing was done carefully to avoid injury
in handling. Packing was done as quickly as possible after picking
and the packages were gotten into the cold storage rooms with the least
- possible delay. Not more than thirty-six hours elapsed between pick-
ing and placing the fruit in cold storage.

It has been shown in the investigations with other fruits that one
of the most important factors in the successful handling of fruits,
either in storage or in transit, is quick shipment or quick cooling after
the fruit is harvested. The sooner the fruit can be cooled after it
leaves the tree or vine the longer time it will continue in first-class con-
dition. This is especially true where there are any appreciable mechan-
ical injuries in handling. It has been shown with oranges, for example,
that after a delay in shipping or cooling of two to four days the decay
in transit may be from two to five times greater than under immediate
shipment or cooling, depending upon the amount of mechanical injury
in the fruit. These factors of quick shipment and quick cooling are
found to be even more important in the case of table grapes than they
are with oranges, for the reason that the ordinary grape package offers
ideal moisture conditions for the development of molds, and if the
proper heat conditions are present molds are almost sure to occur.
When a filler is used quick cooling is just as important, if not more
important. The filler acts, to a certain extent, as an insulation, and
cooling will be relatively slow under the best conditions. The converse
is also true, and consequently the fruit should be packed as cool as
possible. A very appreciable effect can be gained in this respect by
taking advantage of natural cooling overnight, and where picking is
done in warm weather it is always best to allow the grapes to remain
open over night and pack the next day while cool. We had a good
illustration of the deleterious effects’ of warm packing and delay in
cooling during the present season. A number of varieties, packed at
Fresno at a high temperature, were in some way delayed several days
by the express company in transit from Fresno to the point where they
were stored. The first inspection of these lots made a few days ago
showed every one long past the 15 per cent limit, while a few packages
of the same variety stored locally and quickly cooled are still in first-
class condition.

The question has been asked whether grape storage will ever become
a commercial business. We believe it will, and plans are being con-
sidered by the Bureau to extend the investigations along commercial
lines, and some of the grape’ growers of the State also are planning to
make a commercial test next season. In the carrying out of these
investigations, nothing has been done which can not be done under
commercial conditions. The problem connected with the proper con-

184 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

dition of the sawdust and its preparation for use will be investigated.
The one great governing factor will be the introduction of these grapes
into the markets. Just how this can be done remains to be worked out.

Quite an appreciable local market has been developed for cold storage
grapes in southern California. The fruit is hauled to the storage rooms
direct from the vineyards and held loosely in small field boxes. The
growers have learned to handle carefully in picking and culling, and
the grapes are placed in storage as soon after leaving the vine as pos-
sible. The varieties used are Flame Tokays, Muscat, Malaga, Emperor,
Verdal, and Ferrara. The first two are held in nice condition for
Thanksgiving and the rest for the Christmas market.

I can not close this discussion of the results of the cold storage experi-
ments without calling special attention to the Almeria, or more prop-
erly Ojanez, which is the variety mainly shipped from Spain packed
in cork. We have been able to obtain small quantities of this variety
from the Tulare Station and the results have been most encouraging. A
glance at the table shows how far superior this variety is for holding
than any we have had under observation. It seems especially fitted
for this purpose, and it is a pity that it has not been successfully grown
commercially in California. It seems that the variety was given a wide
trial years ago with uniformly poor results. due, we now have reason
to assume, to the fact that proper treatment was not given it. The
vines have to be long pruned and possibly may need trellising in this
State. The fruit has such splendid shipping and keeping qualities that
a systematic and thorough study of its cultural requirements in Cali-
fornia is well worthy of attention.

TRANSPORTATION INVESTIGATIONS.

These investigations were begun at Lodi last year (1908) and were
continued during the grape shipping season just closed. The work con-
sisted mainly in the study of the relation of handling in picking,
packing, and shipping to the occurrence of decay and deterioration of
table grapes in transit from California to Eastern markets. For sey-
eral years considerable loss from decay has resulted in the shipments
of Flame Tokay grapes from Lodi, and it was at the urgent request of
the grape growers and shippers of that section that the Bureau inves-
tigations were undertaken. When we began work at Lodi we had no
theory other than the general principle worked out in the case of other
fruits and in California grapes in storage: That the common molds,
which are the cause of the ordinary forms of decay of fruit in transit
and storage, have not the power to penetrate the sound normal skin of
the fruit. As mentioned in the storage investigations above, it has been
found that the molds gain entrance through mechanical abrasions made
in the skin of the fruit in preparing it for market, and that if the
skin can be maintained in sound condition the ordinary decay will be
prevented. .

The plan of the work consisted in forwarding a number of crates and
boxes of grapes. packed under known conditions. through to New York,
where one of the Bureau staff received the fruit and carefully inspected
it. This inspection consisted in cutting apart all bunches and segre-
gating the decayed and injured berries and determining the actual
percentages by weight on the day of arrival, and three, five, and seven

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 185

days after arrival. Last year twenty-two shipments were made.
This year thirty shipments were put through. In each car there
was an experimental series consisting of eight crates or boxes: two
were the ordinary commercial pack, two were a careful commercial
pack put up either by ourselves or a careful packer working under our
supervision. In this careful pack we attempted to do nothing more
than to be sure that the bunches were carefully culled and placed in
the baskets without further injury. All the careful packs were put up
in two-basket crates. Along with these crates were two boxes each of
the same fruit packed in ground cork and redwood sawdust. One crate
or box of each pack was placed on the bottom tier of the car and one
of each on the top tier. In each car, therefore, we had the same fruit
handled in different ways, thus eliminating all factors except the han-
dling. This year we have obtained data on the equivalent of about 250
erates, or sufficient to place the work on a practical basis.

TABLE 2.

Average Percentages of Decay in Shipments of Tokay Grapes from Lodi to New York.
September and October, 1909.

za z ¥ —— |
| 3 ,
| Packed in|} Packedin
| ee | poe | Ground Reece
Crates. | Crates. Sees eae
On arrival—
ee 4.06 0.85 | O.79) | 0.33
Ea a a ean 7.51 GS an 21 + | 0.31
Lo ee ee eee eR ae 1.24 1.45 0.32
Three days after arrival—
ae ee 8.96 | 1.95 2.95 | 0.62
ee eS 11.62 | 4.51 | 2.40 | 0.75
Lh ae eee LO [vs Sao lee BS. 0.69
Five days after arrival— | oat
ES EE ee ee a eee 12.68 | 3.67 | 4.94 0.81
ea Gea eS ae ae 18.85 «| 8.73 | 4.36 | 0.82
202 SS are eee ten oe ee 0.81
| |
Seven days after arrival—
2 LA Sy De ee eee | 18.66 | 6.53 5.75 1.03
ET a Se Ee ae 21.78 13.30¢ | 5.70 1.37
Peeuneamrmmeeenee ts iene i be ds 20209" 7 9,945 [5.78 1.20

In Table 2 and accompanying chart the data from all the shipments
have been brought together and show the actual percentages of decay
found in the different lots on arrival and up to a week later, the fruit
being held under open market conditions. These data show a wide
difference between the commercially packed and the carefully packed
erates and between the bottom and top tiers in the cars. The average
on arrival in the commercial crates was 4.06 per cent on the bottom
tier and .85 per cent.in the careful pack at the same place in the car.
On the top tier the figures are 7.51 per cent and 1.63 per cent, respec-
tively. These differences were maintained during the time the fruit
was held. Three days after arrival the commercial pack showed 8.96
per cent on the bottom tier and 11.62 per cent on the top. The figures

186 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

for the careful pack at the same time are 1.95 per cent and 4.51 per
eent. Five days after arrival we have 12.68 per cent and 18.88 per cent
for the bottom and top tiers in the commercial pack and 3.67 per cent
and 8.73 per cent for the careful pack, respectfully. Seven days after
arrival the commercial pack had increased to 18.66 per cent on the
bottom tier and 21.78 per cent on the top tier, while the careful pack
had reached only 6.53 per cent and 13.35 per cent, respectfully. The
effect of careful handling shows in the fruit after it reaches the Eastern
market, and this is an important factor when the possibility of extend-
ing the markets for California grapes are considered. The carefully
handled lots only slightly exceeded the commercial limit of soundness
five days after arrival while the commercially packed crates were just
at the limit or a little above on the day of arrival. Fruit in the one
case could be reshipped to smaller markets in less than ear load lots,
while in the other case it would have to be used quickly. These figures
show the same relationship as those found in the season of 1908 and we
may be sure that the differences are due wholly to the handling. We
have eliminated the other factors by taking fruit from different sections
of the district and extending the shipments through the whole season.

An examination of the decayed or moldy berries cut from the various
lots shows that fully 95 per cent of the decay started at the pedicel or
point where the stem and berry join. This is the weakest point of the
erape berry and the slightest crack or loosening at that place will allow
the mold spores to gain entrance and start the decay. With the larger
fruits it is comparatively easy to detect injuries and to eliminate them;
grapes are not only more easily injured but the injuries are more diffi-
cult to detect. The necessity for care in handling grapes becomes there-
fore doubly important, not only in the packing, but in the picking and
all handling operations. The handling should be reduced to a minimum,
for every time a bunch of grapes is lifted there is liability to injury
unless it is done with the utmost care.

It will occur to some that grapes grown under different conditions
(soil or otherwise) or from young vines, will vary much in their keep-
ing quality. This is undoubtedly true. Our records, however, are
based on shipments made from sandy soil vineyards, from heavy soil
vineyards and from old and young vines, and all are included in the
tables. We have eliminated to a large extent the effect of these factors.
Where fruit is tender and more liable to injury, it must be all the more
carefully handled. We have had some lots from old vines show more
decay than younger and some heavy land fruit show heavier decay than
corresponding lots from sandy soils. Moreover, in our carefully handled
series and cork and sawdust packs we have used the same fruit and thus
are able to show that even the weaker fruits, carefully handled and
uninjured will not decay, other things being the same.

So far we have not referred to the results obtained from the cork and
sawdust packs. These were used as a check to determine whether
grapes could be handled, packed and shipped in good condition. A
glance at the tables and charts shows how well the fruit carried. An
average of all the lots packed in cork shows 1.45 per cent decay on
arrival and 2.68 per cent, 4.65 per cent, and 5.73 per cent, respectively,
three, five and seven days after arrival in New York. The lots packed
in redwood sawdust showed much less decay, being only .32 per cent

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 187

on arrival and .69 per cent, .81 per cent, and 1.20 per cent three, five
and seven days after arrival, respectively. Why not change the method
of packing? will at once suggest itself to some. But this is not to
be recommended until every other means to get the fruit through in
sound condition has been exhausted. We believe that the results of
our carefully handled shipments show that fruit can be gotten to
market in sound condition packed in erates. The markets are accus-
tomed to receiving California grapes in crates and any attempt to
change the package or method of packing on a large scale will result
in serious objection on the part of the buyers.

We have had one example and warning of this during the season
just closed in the way that the general use of the 2- basket crate has
been objected to in the Eastern markets. These objections are likely to
continue and if the markets insist on a 4-basket package the grapes
will have to be packed in that way. It is claimed, and perhaps right-
fully, that the 2-basket packs arrived in no better condition than those
packed in 4-baskets, and that, besides, the 2-basket packs often were
more loosely put up and did not look so well on arrival. We have had
a number of 2-basket packs under observation and in many of them we
have found as many injured berries and as much decay as in some of
the 4-basket packages. The use of the large basket will not of itself
correct the trouble, and unless the packer does her share, there is no
advantage. However, it can not be doubted that it is easier to pack in
the large baskets and there is less lability to break or injure the berries.
The packer has a better chance to do good work, and do it more quickly
than she has with the 4-baskets; but if she uses care, she can get the
grapes into the smaller baskets without serious damage. She will have
to be given more time and consequently must not be expected to put
up so many crates a day.

A comparison was made in a few shipments of commercially packed
4-basket and 2-basket crates, with the following results: 4-basket crates,
11.30 per cent decay; 2-basket crates, 8.50 per cent decay, on arrival
at New York.

These figures show less decay in the 2-basket packages, but both are
beyond a reasonable commercial limit on arrival. As in the case of
grapes in storage, we have placed 5 per cent as a reasonable commercial
limit on arrival. Up to 5 per cent would be considered sound. Above
5 per cent and up to 10 per cent would be noticeable, and above 10 per
cent would be fit for only immediate use. More than 15 per cent would
not be salable except at a heavy discount.

Table 3 and corresponding chart show the percentages of decay
resulting from injuries and the percentages of injured berries found
in a number of commercial packs obtained from different growers and
held in Lodi in an iced car for about two weeks or the equivalent of a
trip across the continent.

TABLE 3.

Average Percentage of Decay from Injuries and Percentages of Injured Berries in
Commercial Crates Held im Iced Car at Lodi Same Length of Time as Trans-
continental Trip.

Decay, Injuries.
per Gent: per cent.
Sh 197 ean eee Ee oe ie eee eee ue i, se Bao tec eal 9.02 12.82
eel ie Re ee Se oe es ee sae eae he 18.53 8.68
apart pfs eae ince tpe pee SP Ses 23.92, (15

eee fer ee a ee et An OL ee ere. Ge 4,21

188 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

It will be noticed that the decay and injuries are both high. These
crates were not selected with any view to obtaining both carefully and
carelessly handled packs. There were perhaps more from packers
handling rather carelessly. The figures show strikingly the relation
between injuries and deeay.

If the percentages of decay and injuries are added together, the
figures show from 22 per cent to 34 per cent of the fruit was injured
in handling and rendered susceptible to decay. The first day the crates
were taken from the car 9.02 per cent was found decayed and in addi-
tion 12.82 per cent was injured. At the inspection on the third. fifth
and seventh days after taking from the car the decay increased at a
tremendous rate, and there was a corresponding decrease in the per-
centages of injured berries not decayed. This has a very important
bearing on the holding qualities of the grapes after arrival, and empha-
sizes strongly the necessity for preserving the natural resisting proper-
ties of the fruit.

It naturally follows that it will cost more to handle carefully—just
how much more it is impossible to say, but it will vary with the quality
of fruit and the season. But will it pay? many will ask. During a
season of low prices, at first sight it may seem unreasonable to advocate
the spending of more money on packing. That careful handling will
pay, and pay well. has been demonstrated again and again in the
orange business. We have seen a number of associations and indi-
viduals rise from among the lowest priced class to the highest priced
class as soon aS more care was used in handling, thereby reducing the
susceptibility of their fruit to rot. By increasing the cost of handling
a few cents per box, thus insuring sound fruit, has in some cases
increased the average returns from 25 to 50 cents per box, leaving out
of consideration the value of the reputation thus gained. The question
now in the citrus business is not how cheaply can the work be done
but how well. It has been recognized that cheapness places a premium
“on careless work. What is true of citrus fruits will be found equally
true with grapes. And if the grape business ever gets to the point
where the difference of a few cents per crate spent in good handling
becomes the margin of profit or loss, it will cease to be a safe business
investment.

The best answer to the question of whether careful handling is
practicable or profitable is shown by the fact that a number of growers
are handling carefully and are getting good results. When the market-
ing problems have been systematized, much better results will follow.

Table 4 shows the percentage of decay in individual shipments,
arranged in the order of the percentages of decay shown on arrival in
the commercial packs. These are the individual shipments from which
the general averages have been made. The range is very great, run-
ning from less than 1 per cent to over 13 per cent. One shipment went
to 24.83 per cent, but this was packed after a rain and most of this loss
was due to soft decay, starting on sound berries. The figures shown
in No. 6, 3.75 per cent, were obtained from a shipment made from the
same place previous to the rains. All the other high percentages were
obtained from shipments made before the rain. The percentages of
decay in the carefully handled lots of the same fruit placed alongside
show that even in the case of the heavy decay found after the rain the
carefully handled lot showed less than 2 per cent, or far below the com-

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 189

mercial limit above mentioned. This was accomplished by extra care
in culling and elimination of all bunches showing excessive decay when
picked. These were frequently found to be the tight bunches, and they
were always cut apart to determine whether there were any decayed
berries hidden in the middle of the bunch.

TABLE 4.

Percentages of Decay in Individual Shipments on Arrival in New York.

Commer-| Careful | Packed peace ic
cial Pack) Pack in Cork | goa vat
Crates. | Crates Boxes. | es

Boxes.
ee 0.90 0.17 0.02 0.0
re 2 ++ - 1.80 0.7 0.72 0.07
nee ee ee 22-2 2.52 OraQiy pie ae 0.10
SS 3.18 0.28 0.18 0.10
ae SS Se Dee 1.00 0.10 0.05
ee 2 el B.10 Ae 2 he ert 0.11
SS ee ee 24.83 AOA RY. 4 ace <a ACE AS
I ES ee 9.66 1.33 0.55 0.50
ee be oe a 6.50 2.41 4.94 | 0.77
ob es A ee eee 9.42 2.05 2.38 | 0.75
a LS ae ee ee 13.32 1.95 1.25 | 1.20

and top tiers in commercial crates put up by careful packers compared
with the commercial pack of packers handling rather carelessly. The
figures show that where there is less susceptibility to decay there is not
so wide a difference between the bottom and top tiers. The figures for
the careful packers are 1.33 per cent on the bottom and 1.84 on the
top, while the careless packs show 6.73 per cent on the bottom and
12.10 per cent on the top, or nearly double. These differences are main-
tained throughout the time the fruit was held, and the rate of increase
in the careless packs is very much greater than in the carefully packed
erates. These figures were obtained from ordinary crates selected at
random from the commercial shipments, and show conclusively the wide
variation between good and poor work. When these figures were first
shown to one of the shippers at Lodi he at once implored us not to
emphasize the difference between the bottom and top tiers too strongly,
as he stated he was already having difficulty with some growers who
objected to having their fruit placed on the top tiers. The best way
to overcome this objection would be to get all the growers into the
careful class and then the difference between bottom and top will be
reduced to a minimum.
TABLE 5B.

Percentages of Decay in Commercial Crates of Tokay Grapes Packed by Careful and Care-
less Packers. Shipments from Lodi to New York, 1909.

Commercial Crates | Commercial Crates

} _ by Careful Packers. | by Careless Packers.
| |
| poor |Top Tier.| B eles | Top Tier.
Fal! | ee
|
On arrival________ SBE SO. oan 0 te OS | LSahl tee ees 12.10
Mbeerig@awtatter arrival. == | 2.21 | - 4.83 | 10.48 17.28
ememetyer ater arrival! :_ 00>. Pe eo | 4.33 7.05 14.25 | 28.93
| 9.33 | 25.18 | 39.15
| }

Mevemeayes Afber arrival == =) | 7.33

190 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

The shipping experiments conducted at Lodi were accompanied by a
series of local demonstrations, in order that the growers might be able
to see the results of the work. <A refrigerator car was held at Lodi and
kept fully iced during the shipping season. A duplicate of every
series shipped to New York was placed in the car and held there until
the shipment arrived at destination. The lots were then taken out and
placed on exhibition, and the growers were thus enabled to observe the
differences found in the different packs. Along with these a number
of growers contributed crates from their commercial packs, in order to
be able to judge of their appearance on arrival and in some instances
to determine the kind of work their packers were doing. This cam-
paign of education among the workers has resulted in a marked general
improvement in the commercial pack of the district during the season
just closed when compared with the season of 1908. The first year
that the work was carried on it was not uncommon to find a large part
of the decay due to crushed berries on the top of the pack made in
pressing on the cover. During the last season this difficulty was largely
overcome by using more care in nailing on the covers and by extra
cleating. :

Our investigations during the past season show that there is at least
one mold which has the power, under certain conditions, to penetrate
the unbroken skin of the grape berry. This is a species of Botrytis,
probably B. cinera, and is undoubtedly the cause of the so-called ‘‘slip-
skin’’ found after the rains. The “‘slip-skin’’ is the early stage of the
decay, and unless every berry showing this is culled out it will decay,
no matter how careful the handling may be done. This disease gives
very little trouble before the rains come, but after a rain the crops of
many vineyards are practically ruined by it. It is wholly distinct from
the cracking of the berries.

It is easy to see that if there were few or no spores of the Botrytis
when the rain comes, there would be little or no trouble from this decay.
This is a pathological problem, and points to the control of the fungus
in the vineyard either by spraying or some other remedial treatment
of the vines. The life history of this fungus on the vine has not been
fully investigated and until it is, it will be impossible to state the exact
means for its control. This is a most important phase of the problem,
and if the work of the Bureau is continued in California we hope to
have a complete pathological study included in the investigations.

In conclusion, it may be stated that the results obtained during the
past two seasons are very encouraging. The relation between handling
and the occurrence of decay is as striking and consistent as the results
of the orange investigations in southern California. which have led to
the practical elimination of decay in transit. The indications are that
by careful handling in packing, accompanied by some method of quick
shipment or cooling, the present losses from decay may be largely
avoided. (Applause.) .

MR. RIXFORD. I would like to ask the Professor a question. He
refers to an importation of the Almeria grape for distribution a good
many years ago. I think I was the introducer, about twenty-five years
ago. I had a large shipment distributed throughout the State? De
you know how it turns out as a producer?

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 191

MR. STUBENRAUCH. We had it under observation at Tulare and
packed at that place for five years, including this season. For four
years the crops were very good, but this last season the crop was not so
good; but the way the vines bore at that place I should say it was a
commercial possibility to have good crops, depending on the way they
were pruned. I think the only way to find that out is to have a number
of experimental plots in different sections and to actually study the
method of handling that grape in California. We could establish
experimental plots in different sections and have the pruning and other
cultural requirements studied in-that way, and I am hoping to have
the Government take that up. I think it is so important, because there
isn’t anything lke it; we have nothing like that grape under our
observation. I think if we had that grape growing in California we

could get that splendid trade.
~ MR. RIXFORD. R. B. Flowers, to whom I sent the cutting, grafted
them into other varieties, and he reported them as shy bearers.

MR. STUBENRAUCH. As near as I can find out, it was a very shy
bearer, but they had been pruning them in the old way, and, of course,
probably they won’t grow in every section. It is a late grape, comes
along with the Emperor and even later, but it is certainly worthy of
a very careful study.

A MEMBER. Where can we get cuttings?

MR. STUBENRAUCH. I think the station at Tulare has been
abandoned, but another: plot has been established at Fresno.

MR. ASHLEY. You ean get some from Frank Swett.

MR. STUBENRAUCH. Yes, and George Roeding has a few.

MR. HARTRANFT. I live in a very late district, and we are still
hauling in grapes. You say it is a very late grape, and probably in
such a late district, on the north slopes of some hills where the shadow
comes about half-past one or two o’clock in the afternoon, I think per-
haps it might be well to try them out.

MR. STUBENRAUCH. But try the long pruning and trellising.

MR. WALTON. In your remarks you said there seemed to be no
way of determining when grapes were ree and ready to pack and
ship. Is it not possible chemically or so.ae way to determine when
erapes are ripe? I notice in the East, when grapes are received there,
the market is destroyed by immature shipments in each variety.

MR. STUBENRAUCH. You might determine the percentage of
sugar but that does not really tell you when the grape is ripe; it only
tells you how sweet it is. I think the only way to get at that point
would be to make a number of experiments, taking the grapes. from
the vines at different stages of maturity, starting purposely with green
grapes, taking their sugar content and then continuing from week to
week or from day to day, even, but that would not give you the actual
time the grapes were ripe but would give you the most favorable per-
centage of sugar. It is especially hard to say that this grape is ripe.
Color, for instance, can not be relied upon to determine that point.
We have the Tokay at Tulare very, very poorly colored, yet the per-
centage of sugar was high enough.

MR. ASHLEY. That would vary greatly in a few miles. For
instance, in the Lodi country the black land is three or four weeks
behind the sandy land, only three dr four miles apart.

192 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

MR. STUBENRAUCH. Oh, ves, it would vary in short distances.
That would have to be worked out in typical localities. I think that is
an important point. I was speaking with Mr. McKevitt about that
last night. If we had some definite figures to fall back on I think
we would be able to hold back shippers to a large extent and probably
prevent the shipping out of that green fruit. I have seen some of the
ereen grapes shipped and they are absolutely worthless. In the
Imperial section they grow the Marquette and it ripens six weeks
ahead of anything in the San Joaquin Valley. They are not satisfied
with that and want to pack two weeks earlier. You might as well eat
vinegar as that fruit.

MR. STEPHENS. The expression of ‘‘top tiers,’’ what do you
mean ?

MR. STUBENRAUCH. Inthe car. The grapes are shipped loaded
nine high. The bottom tier refers to the floor and the other, the ninth
one, on top. That is the way it was done.

MR. STEPHENS. That is very important, because if the tonnage
should be raised it would naturally raise the tiers and consequently
the top tiers would be more affected than the bottom tiers.

MR. STUBENRAUCH. Yes, depending on the installation of the
car. If you could start with cold fruit you won’t have so much
trouble. That was shown in the orange work in southern California.
We were able to load three tiers in the car and not hurting the fruit at
all, by starting with cold’ fruit. We put 549 boxes in some of those
ears by putting in three tiers.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. Now we will hear from Mr. Brown, of
the University, who will present a paper. ‘‘The Horticultural Work
at the University Farm, its Aims and Objects.’’ Mr. Brown is Pro-
fessor Clarke’s assistant in horticulture at the University Farm.

THE HORTICULTURAL WORK AT THE UNIVERSITY FARM.
By B. S. Brown, University Farm.

Before taking up the discussion of the horticultural work at the
University Farm, it would seem best to spend a few minutes in explain-
ing just what this farm is, and some of its more general attributes.

The farm proper consists of 780 acres of land and is situated in the
town of Davis, thirteen miles west of Sacramento. All of this land is
subject to irrigation, and its splendid fertility affords an excellent
opportunity to carry on all kinds of farm operations or experiments.
The purpose of this farm can, perhaps, be best explained by quoting a
part of the statutes establishing it. In the acts of the California legis-
lature of 1905, chapter CX XIX (129), reads in part as follows: ‘‘The
University Farm and the instruction thereon shall be so conducted as
to meet the needs of persons who desire instruction in agriculture.
horticulture, viticulture, animal industry, dairying, irrigation and
poultry raising, and to prepare them for the pursuit thereof; and shall
be used for experimental and investigational work in connection with
the Agricultural Experiment Station of the University of California.
Short courses of instruction shall also be arranged for in each of the
leading branches of agricultural ‘industry. so regulated as to pro-

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 193

_vide for popular attendance and general instruction in agricultural
practice.”’

From the above it will be seen that the main objects of the farm are:
first, to carry on investigational work, and second, to provide instruc-
tion in various agricultural subjects.

To turn now to the horticultural phase of the work at the University
Farm, let us first consider the educational side. For some years past
in this State there has been an ever growing feeling among the farming
class that the long period of years required by the University for an
agricultural education could not-serve their best interests. The four
years in the high school followed by the four years in college was too
long a time to keep the young man away from the farm, besides creating
in him a desire to remain away. To avoid this, a three-year course, for
which a high school training is not necessary, has been established at
- the farm, which aims to give the boy a thorough training in agricul-
ture. At present this school is in but the second year of its work, and
although many rough places still remain to be smoothed out, yet on the
whole results are very encouraging. In horticulture the work so far
has been confined to tree fruits. But in this we have tried to give the
boys a thorough working knowledge of the subject, such as the selection
of sites and soils for the various fruits, preparation and planting of
the young trees, the various cultural methods necessary, irrigation, ete.
Pruning in its various phases is taken up. The harvesting and handhng
of fruit is carefully considered, and the various marketing processes
are followed until the goods are in the hands of the consumer. Each
boy is instructed in the work of the nursery. He is taught how to
propagate orchard trees, and the actual work of budding and grafting
is done until the hands have been trained to do what the mind has
been taught to understand.

Another feature of the educational work at the farm is the short
course in horticulture. We now have under construction a $20,000
horticultural building. When this is completed we will have abundant
facilities to offer short courses in this subject. These are primarily
for the busy farmer. One who ean spare but two or three weeks from
his work. Here he gets in touch with other people and sees what they
are doing. He is able to follow the experiments carried on by the farm,
all of which help him to keep up to date. Problems and troubles of
the farmer are discussed and remedies suggested, and instruction in the
more general problems are given by the men from the University.
With our new equipment, together with the hearty codperation of the
resple of the State, we hope that much good will result from these
short courses.

Turning now to the investigational phase of the work, which, I pre-
sume, to you people is the more interesting, let us see what the Univer-
sity Farm is doing to help solve the problems of the agriculturist.
How can the farm benefit those who have passed beyond the time and
reach of the high school or college? California is a big state, and
farming in it is done under more varying conditions than any other
state in the Union. Our climate varies from that of the tropics in the
south to perpetual snow in the north. Our moisture conditions vary
from those of the barren desert to that of almost continual rain. It
is very apparent, then, that under these many different conditions that

13—¥Fcc

194 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

advice that would hold for one section of the State would probably be
inapplicable for another. Hence, the need of the various experiment
stations. California, more, perhaps than any other state, has an unlim-
ited field for research work. So many new things to be tried, so many
problems to be solved that at present our answers to questions are few
and far from satisfactory. The University Farm, as best it can, is
trying to fit into the conditions of the great Sacramento Valley. <A
great fertile country, larger than many of the Eastern States, capable
of supporting more than twenty times its present. population, yet but
little known or understood.

At the present time the horticultural department has a number of
experiments under way; twenty acres have already been planted to
standard varieties of deciduous fruit. Among these we have 12 varie-
ties of almonds, 6 of pears, 12 of apples, 18 of plums, 5 of prunes, 5 of
cherries, 9 of apricots, and 80 of peaches. These are all to be tested
out under valley conditions. Their amenability to different treat-
ments of pruning, of methods of culture, and of irrigation are to be
watched, that we may give more specific answers to the many inquiries.

One of the special problems which is now being studied is that of
the almond. In many sections of the valley this particular crop is a
failure, and no one seems to know why. Some say it is due to early
blossoming and frost, other to the lack of cross-pollenization, ete. We
are trying by the application of scientific methods to find a cause. We
need to watch the flowers of these trees to see if they are perfect, we
need to examine the pollen to find out if it is carried by wind of by
insects, and if by insects, what particular one is responsible. We need
to know the length of time these flowers are open, and their suscepti-
bility to temperature and moisture. We must find out if they are
self-fertile, or if they must receive pollen from another tree, as many
other plants do. We must also find out whether they will grow best
upon their own root or upon their near relatives, the peach, plum, or
apricot. And if there is a difference, to what soil each particular root
is adapted. All of these questions and many more we are now asking
of the almond tree. I simply mention these to indicate what the plant
men of the experiment station are supposed to know.

Along these same lines Professor Bioletti is carrying on experiments
with the grapes. He has twenty acres which he is preparing to turn
into an experimental vineyard. All of the different types of table and
wine grapes are being grown to determine their suitability to valley
conditions. Different varieties of the European grapes are being
crafted on to the many different species of the native stock to see if
they will make a good union and strong, vigorous plant. At the same
time a careful watch is kept for their resistance to phylloxera and
attacks of mildew. At present about 20,000 grafts are being made,
dealings with fifty different varieties of grapes on twelve or fifteen dif-
ferent kinds of roots. | | ;

This outlines in a very brief way the horticultural conditions as
they exist at present at the University Farm. As we look over the con-
ditions of the valley and plan for future work, we find an almost
unlimited field. For example, take the apple. It doesn’t do well in the
valley, and to the many questions why, our answers are far from
satisfactory. The high summer temperature forces the fruit to early

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 1995

maturity. The fine apple fiavor does not develop and their keeping
qualities are impaired. We need a good apple for the Sacramento
Valley. Not only one good to the taste, but also of good keeping and

shipping qualities. We hope to do something with this by a series of

experiments lasting perhaps ten vears.

Just now word comes to us that the olive men are in trouble. The
pure food law prevents them from using artificial coloring in pickling,
and the many-shaded preduct now put on the market is spoiling the
trade. We need to help these people out by producing an olive with
less bitter and a more uniform coloring, that the California product
may compete with that of Europe on the open market.

Further, we believe it a part of experiment station’s work to try
ont all the new varieties of fruit offered by the various nursery com-
panies that we may be able to advise of their adaptability to valley
conditions, as well as to protect the farmers from fakers.’ New plants
from other states or countries should be tried by the experiment station,
and records kept of their probable value. Novelties and tropical plants,
such as the vanilla bean, tea, coffee. tobacco, and cotton, which at pres-
ent have no commercial value with us, should be tried out, if for no
other reason than that we may be able to properly answer the questions
of those seeking information.

Still further. owing to the lack of a forestry department at the
University, the horticultural department at Davis is experimenting
with eucalyptus. A few hundred trees are being tried out in connec-

tion with our sewage disposal plant, and also of a few variety tests

are being made. Of course, we can but inadequately meet these require-
ments, but it seems that a subject carrying such a widespread interest
throughout the State as eucalyptus does should be officially represented
by the University. and we believe that it is not too much to hope that
in the near future the University Farm will have a department of
forestry to represent the State’s leading commercial industry.

From the educational side at the University Farm, we are predicting
ereat things for the future students in horticulture. Instead of the
one-year course in pomology we hope to offer four courses, with as
many more in allied branches of horticulture. At the present time the
successful orchardist must know how to spray, so we must introduce a
course to cover this need. Bush fruits offer a new field for the Sacra-
mento Valley farmer. So our school schedule ought to be enlarged to
include these. Floriculture needs to be given, that the coming farmer
may know how to grow, to care for, and appreciate the beautiful
fiowers for which California is famous. In these days of country-life
commissions and agricultural high schools, rural art and home decora-
tion must be brought in prominence that real homes may be built and
their occupants made contented by the knowledge that they have the
best there is. ;

The efforts in horticulture at the farm should not be devoted alto-
gether to question of production. Although the producing of bigger
fruits, of finer quality and flavor is important, vet we believe that it
is Just as important to know that this same fruit is placed in the hands
of the consumer in a clean. wholesome condition. We believe in organi-
zation among the farming class, and we think the young student should
be trained along these lines in school, so that when he gets out and

196 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

comes in contact with the actual problems of life he will have the
equipment and training necessary to become a leader.

We might continue to add to this list, but this will suffice to show the
responsibilities the University Farm has undertaken. Whether it will
prove a success or not rests largely with the ones who patronize it and
the support of the people of the State. We believe that the University
Farm has a great opportunity before it, and we hope that it will
get vour hearty cooperation and that the agricultural education of
California may be brought up to the standard to which it deserves.
(Applause. )

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. I would like to call attention to one par-
ticular part of Mr.. Brown’s address for you to consider, that is, the
reference to the economical part of it. When I was over at the Uni-
versity Farm a few weeks ago talking to these same boys, of which
Mr. Volek is a sample of what they turn out from the higher depart-
ment of the University agricultural school. I asked those boys if they
knew how far the Southern Pacific Railroad Company had to lft a
car load of peaches to get it to market. I didn’t expect them to answer
it; there isn’t a man in the house can answer it, but the boys had never
thought of that question. In taking a car load of sugar from New
Orleans to Chicago they have to lft it 200 or 300 feet. In taking a
ear load of peaches from California to Chicago they have to lift it 7.3
miles straight up. Now, that is a matter of economics, and is very
important. Fifteen years ago the average freight train was hauling
only 143 tons of freight. To-day the same crew of men, so many brake-
men, conductor, engineer and fireman, are handling nearly 400 tons of
freight. The first proposition I named is in favor of the railroads.
They can’t carry freight 2,300 miles and lft it 7.3 miles as cheaply as
they can carry it a few hundred miles and lift it 300 feet. On the
other hand, the railroad that is now able to carry 400 tons of freight
with the same crew of men that formerly could only carry 143 tons
should reduce their rates. That is in favor of the fruit grower. I
asked the boys of they knew that the producer of a perishable product
had to take all the risk of taking it to the market, whether he sold the
crop on his trees or whether he sold it on consignment or in what way.
The boys had no thought of that. It is a good thing for all of us to
think of. Now, what I object to in the University course at Davis and
also at the University itself is, that they have no chair of agricultural
economics. They have an economic department there. and each one of
seven or eight professors there signs after his name, “*Professor of
Commeree,’’ and the word ‘‘commerce’’ means to the ayerage person
the mere handling and shipping and traffic in freights. You go to a
commercial school in any city in this State and you will see them doing
all their figuring and warehousing and banking and insurance and
brokerage, but they don’t do any figuring in selling hay or peaches.
They teach the boys at the school what they call commercial subjects.
It is no more commercial than Mr. Judd’s selling his apples. I have
talked this over with Professor Wickson. He agrees with me that the
University should have a chair of farm economics, and when you
people realize this you will get it. I think the University ought to give ©
it to you without any demand. Professor Wickson says it will come ©
when the farmers demand it. When you send your boys to be educated

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 197

as farmers, see where they are denied the right to learn how to sell the
products they raise. We have too long considered farming as a mere
function, as a mere occupation, that is, the producing of a certain
tonnage of fruit and we have forgotten to teach the farmers that there
is a business end of it. As I told the boys at that meeting at Davis, the
business part of farming may be entirely different from the productive
part. So is my right hand different from my left. Will any one in
this room deny that I need both of those hands? Sometimes my very
life may be dependent on my having two hands. They are different;
one is right and the other is left: Just as selling farm produce differs
from raising it, and yet I must have both of those if I am to make a
success. I believe the very life of farming will soon come to the point
where the farmer must be as good a business man as he is a producer.
T believe we will come to the point very soon that the man who shall
teach another man how to raise more fruit without teaching him how to
sell it is a disadvantage to the State. In other words, the University
must come to the point of teaching the boys just as thoroughly how to
sell the products as they do to raise them. The Southern Pacific Rail-
road knows everything about fruit growing that relates to railroading.
The farmer should know everything about railroading that relates to
fruit growing, and until he learns these things he is at a disadvantage
and will get the worst of it. (Applause.)

MR. DARGITZ. Teach them to raise better instead of more fruit.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. Mr. Dargitz has the key to it, and that
is what Professor Clarke is doing. And at the same time teach them
how to get the money out of that fruit. If Mr. Dargitz were raising
-almonds just for the fun of taking his friends around to show the good
erop, he would not need to know the business. If he need to get his
wife a pair of shoes occasionally he needs to know how to sell those
almonds. Mr. Hillery is here and would like to read his paper before
noon. We will hear that delightful paper on’ roads from a man who is
not afraid to face the music on a good many things besides roads.
(Applause. )

BETTER STATE ROADS.

By NATHANIEL ELLERY, State Engineer.

MR. ELLERY. Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: In 1893 the
State of New Jersey began a state-wide agitation of the road question.
They enacted a law known as the State Aid Law. It was a pioneer
along this line. They had taken their cue from European management
and control of roads. After the State of New Jersey had gone but a
year or two on that line other states adopted the plan, and it became,
in the EHastern States, quite universal. Since 1893 there have been
several minor changes in the law, and recently the State of Pennsyl-
vania, which is spending some millions of dollars in the construction of
state aided roads, has been figuring more along the line of getting a
system of state roads aside from the state aided roads. We know that
in the State of New York, where perhaps the state aid has been
extended more than in any other state, about one hundred and sixteen
millions of dollars are being expended on state aided roads. J mean
by that the county spends perhaps one half and the state one half.
The great question with these state roads is not merely in the construc-

198 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

tion of them, but it is in the maintenance after you get the road con-
structed. I have seen in the State of New York good roads constructed.
and I have seen those same roads in a very few years deteriorate until
they were—well, some of the worst roads in the State. If, after those
roads had been constructed, you would put on a system of maintenance
to care for them, then you would have good roads and would enjoy the
benefits of them all the time. There, where it took about five years for
them to detoriate, you would have had the benefits for those five years.
and if the maintenance kept up you would have probably everlasting
benefits from roads. This question of maintenance has been taken up
benefits from these roads. This question of maintenance has been taken
up pretty thoroughly by the State of Massachusetts, which has a system
of state roads, as a number of the other states have. I might explain the
roads more than the construction of roads. The aid plan is worked
something like this. The state provides for one half of the cost of
construction, in codperation with the county which provides for the
other half, or a percentage. In New York State they provide for one
half each. In the State of New Jersey it is provided as follows: the
state one third, the county one third, and either the general road fund
or the property owners who are benefited by the road or the construction
or improvement of the road. pay the other third. In the State of New
York it is partially paid by the county and partially paid by the people
who are benefited by the improvement. After this road is completed, it
is turned over to the county for maintenance. You will notice that
right here is an important point. The county takes the road and is then
held to certain rules and regulations by the state, and it must follow out
the maintenance in accordance with those rules or regulations or else
the state steps in and spends the money to keep it in such shape as they
deem proper. That, in a general way, is the state aid system, but, as I
said a little while ago. the State of Pennsylvania has been figuring out
that they want a state system. They want some roads controlled and
maintained by the state.

The State of California. at the last session of the legislature, passed
an act for the bonding of the State for eighteen millions of dollars for
a state system of roads. That seems to be the latest development in the
East. This State desires to bond for eighteen millions to construct the
roads to tie up the various county seats of the State, then the counties
to take up and construct the secondary roads, perhaps somewhat after
the manner of the state road. The state road would be used as an
object lesson or example by which the county would work out its minor
roads. The question naturally arises, whom do those roads connecting
the county seats benefit? As an educational proposition they benefit
every one. As tying up the county seats they benefit every one. As a
matter of maintenance they will vastly benefit every one, because at the
present time in the State of California we have practically no mainte-
nance. On our approximately 55.000 miles of roads in the State of
California, I dare say there is but very little maintenance, although
we expend per annum three and one half millions of dollars upon these
roads. In the past ten years if we had taken half of the three and one
half millions we would have had about eighteen million dollars to put
in permanent improvement. To be sure, we have got to spend part of
this money in keeping the roads up.

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 199

There is another item in the State taking hold of the roads. We
want to get those roads away from local influences. When there is a
dollar expended on those roads we want that dollar to show, and the
only way we can get away from local influence is to take it out of the
hands or partially out of the hands of those who meet their fellow
citizens and say, ‘‘ Hello, Bill,’’ or ‘‘ Hello, Jack,’’ and the man goes
out to fix up the road and the supervisor says. ‘‘ Well, you have got
a couple of boys with teams; take them out on the road.’’ That man
is spending the county’s money. He ought to put in the full time
on the road. He ought to see that the county gets its money’s worth.
It is to his interest to see that, but there are certain local influences that
tend to stop that. We want to get away, if we can, from these local
influences, and the farther we go the nearer we get to the State where
_ we will certainly get away from some of them.

Again, the State, in constructing these roads, can employ good
engineers, can adopt a system of maintenance that perhaps the county
ean not take up, perhaps for political reasons, or for other reasons, as
lack of funds. Some sort of scheme will be evolved, perhaps on the
European plan, of giving a man a section of road and let him care
for that. Not to give him too much road, but let him look after his
portion and see that it is kept up. Then the system of rewards that
they have in Europe might be a good thing, reward the man who does
the best work on a certain section of road. That would be an incentive
for a man to work a little harder.

We have seen the failure in the State of the roads, from the use of
oil. Most people, I should say, in the State say that oil is a bad thing.
I don’t condemn it, because I know how it has been used. I believe
to-day if it had proper application and proper attention after it had
been applied—and by proper attention I mean the strictest kind of
maintenance—the oiled road would make a good road and make a cheap
road. I have seen a dirt oiled road kept up in such shape that it was as
smooth as this floor. I have seen that same road, after the supervisor
went out of office and another man took it up, in a year and a half,
go to pieces so that it was no better than the ordinary rutty, muddy
road that we see so often.

There is another question that comes in that makes me believe we
should take hold of this thing; the city should pay its part, as they do
under the aid plan or as they would do under any state plan. I think
in the rural or country districts of the State we need to make the
conditions better. J sincerely and earnestly believe that we want to
retain the young man and the young woman on the farm, and if we
want to retain them there we have got to make something attractive
to them, and a road is a part of the scheme of giving them attraction,
and I believe with good roads that it will help in holding a great many
of the young people on the farm. I think this is a very, very important
factor.

I have spoken to you of the maintenance of roads. I want you to
get that clearly in your mind. We have various sorts of roads, different
kinds of construction, but we have no system of maintenance. You
know that any piece of construction, no matter what it may be, if it
is a house it needs painting after a while, if it is any sort of work it
must be cared for, and with the road, above every other kind of con-

200 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

struction, it receives the severest test; it should be cared for most
carefully, for it you don’t care for it you are bound to get bad results.

Now, as to the question of bonds in the various counties. The people
are bonding and putting the money in the hands of a commission, and
that commission, after the construction of the road, turns it over to
the supervisors for maintenance. What the bond issue by the State
for eighteen million contemplates is this, that if the county, under the
bond issue, is built up to a certain standard, then the State would
assume or take it over and pay the county and then maintain that
road. That is what is contemplated in that issue. By roads I mean
the main roads between the county seats. This scheme, therefore, allows
the county to build its roads, but when it comes to the maintenance,
which is the important factor in the road problem, then the State
takes hold of it and maintains that road, and I sincerely believe that
the maintenance of the principal roads can be better handled by the
State than it can by the system we have at present. The states that
have the state aid plan in the East have gone through the same experi-
ences that we have gone through, and they are getting out of the rut,
they are getting good roads; and the State of California, above any
other state in the Union, should have good roads, because it is the great
fruit raising state, it is the great scenic spot, you might say, of the
world. You are spending in the State of California to-day something
like fifty or sixty million dollars to haul your products just to the
railroad station. If you put your roads in a proper system of con-
struction and maintenance and look after them properly you can cut
this expense in half. If you do that you have saved that much money,
but you have not only saved it that way, you have given the country
district something that they want. Not only that, but I dare say that
with the good roads you will hold in check excessive freight rates. It
may be forcing the thing a little, but the time may come, if we had
smooth, good and dustless roads, that you may have some kind of trans-
portation outside of railroads. You may have motors, and instead of
about 514 miles, the average haul now, you may be hauling 20 miles;
you may make the railroads come to an economical basis of fixing rates.
If with these roads you can preserve your fruit or keep it from being
spoiled by the jolts, the price that you get for it is higher. I have
watched grapes being hauled to market over the rough roads; I have
watched different classes of fruit being hauled, and I have known any
number of instances where that product has been badly damaged
simply on account of bad roads.

I do not think there is any more important subject to us than this.
The roads are a public institution, and they should be handled and
looked after the same as a private business should be handled and looked
after. The money expended upon them should be handled as econom-
ically as a private business. You don’t see your great transportation
companies, the railroads, employing various men to run the railroad
business. For the construction and maintenance of these roads you
see trained men, you see high class engineers, and some of the railroads,
among them the Pennsylvania system, employ engineers who are really
or practically in charge of the railroad. Now, it requires just as good
an engineer to build a highway as it does a railroad, and it requires
just as good an engineer to maintain a highway as it does a railroad.

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS* CONVENTION. 201

If you leave the roads or highways, then, to untrained men, inexperi-
enced men, you can’t expect anything but poor roads; you have got to
get them into the hands of trained people, and I think that through
a state plan this matter will be solved and the roads will be put upon a
proper footing. Understand me, I mean that the technical part of the
road work should be in trained, technical hands, and the business part
should be by good business men or men of large executive ability. We
see to-day, for instance, where there is a good man elected supervisor
who looks after his roads. Perhaps he has done something that has not
quite suited his constituency; at the end of four years they put him
out and another man is put in. How can you ever expect to get a
system worked out in ‘this way? I don’t doubt but a great many of
you here have seen this, that one man in charge of a piece of road had
his views and ideas about the construction, and he went to work to carry
thém out. When the change took place and the other fellow came in,
his views and ideas were diametrically opposed to his predecessor’s,
and he fixed it upon in his way, and the next fellow probably did
the same thing, and instead of getting roads you got a hodge-podge
out of it. As I have said, it requires considerable scientific ability to
get these roads on a proper footing, and I think that the roads require
engineers just as much as any disease requires the man of medicine.
I don’t think if you were ill at home you would go to a blacksmith to
have him cure you. If you are going to get a road, I believe you will
have to go to the engineer to get it. .

In this bond proposition of eighteen millions of dollars, stop and
think what it means; stop and think, by tying up the county seats,
what it means. Again, stop and think what the opening up of the
ereat Sierra Nevadas of this State means. You know that the southern
part of the State has a great harvest, not only of oranges and lemons,
but tourists. Those people can be induced to stay longer and spend
more money if you give them good roads up through the Sierra Nevadas.
They come out here to the coast with their machines, and they spend
their money whenever they do that. I have been in the hotels and
heard them say, “* Well, there is no good of coming out here again.’’ They
ean’t go anywhere, owing to the mud and dirt and bad roads, yet if
we had good clean roads for them to travel on they would not stop
in that section, but they would travel over this beautiful country. That
alone is a very important item. In the expenditure by the State of
eighteen millions, just see how small it is compared with what we are
now spending. Look at the past thirty years and see what we have
expended on roads. We have expended alone on oiled roads some
millions of dollars, and where has it gone? There isn’t much of it left.
I dare say that in the past thirty years the State of California, through
its counties, has expended something in the neighborhood of sixty
millions of dollars for its roads. If we can stop this and put a system
into use and get it going and spend only eighteen million dollars for
that system, and see to it that the money is put out properly and
expended only on the roads, I think that the people of this State would
all be for it, because it means as much to the State of California as
any one thing that I know of. (Applause.)

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. I would lke to ask one question, Mr.
Ellery. If the people of the State of California could be assured that

202 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

we would have good engineering for the next four, eight or twelve
years, they would vote for eighteen million dollars right straight down
the line. How can they be assured that they will get their money’s
worth ?

MR. ELLERY. In answer to that, we are not assured of much of
anything in this world, but the present system is totally inadequate for
our needs, it does not solve the problem, and if the problem is not
solved by our present ways you have got to turn to some other scheme.
I do say this, that what we need in office are men who will properly
handle it, but that I can’t guarantee.

MR. HARTRANET. We had some experience in that down in Los
Angeles, and I believe there is an ideal way of getting at those people.
We voted over three million dollars in bonds for good roads. We
have the best system of municipal government that exists on the face
of the earth, and have recently found it out, but we have not got the
same form of government in the county, and we voted three million
dollars in bonds; they sold part of it; they put up a job in the selling
of them through a private sale; we stopped them in the court, and
the solid three have gone on and done about enough work to-day to
amount in its total construction cost about half what the interest is on
the bonds sold. To take the precautions, to get the money spent prop-
erly on the roads, which everybody was for, and the proposition carried
by about four votes to one in favor, if it appointed a business man’s
advising board and. a great engineering board and all the schemes that
you could appeal to the voters, and then instead of having the power
to force through the program as laid out, the entire will of the people
and the entire intentions have been thwarted by the powers of the
elected supervisors, because there is no form of government by which
they can be reached until an election under the old plan, and south-
ern California, I know from personal contact, is not for the state bond
issue, although I am for the building of good roads everywhere, but
southern California is not for it. We are going first to get a proper
form of government so we can do it, and I met on the railroad coming
up here one of the fine political bosses in the south, and he said,
‘“When you meet any of those machine fellows over in Watsonville tell
them they lheked the stuffing out of us in Los Angeles, and they are
all headed for Sacramento and they are headed there for direct legis-
lation,’’ and I think we have had in this convention before resolutions
for the initiative, the referendum, and the recall. If it isn’t out of
order, I move that that is the sentiments of this convention. (Applause. )

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. We are under great obligations to the
State Engineer for the able address he has made to us to-day. It has
been illuminating and instructive and encouraging, and in behalf of the
members here I thank him, both as a friend and as an official, for coming
here to-day. He speaks with authority, he is a man of courage, a man
of incorruptible honesty, and if he could build our roads for us there
would be no question about the money.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. The next paper will be by Mr. Frank
Femmons of Ahwahnee, Madera County. Mr. Femmons is one of the
pioneer apple growers of the high Sierras.

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 203

SOME OBSERVED CHANGES IN FRUIT TYPES.
By FRANK FEMMONS of Ahwahnee.

In presenting the following observations that have reached over many
years of association with trees and plants, I wish to disclaim any scien-
tific attainment, or that they are entirely new to our scientific horti-
eulturists. They may all be but simple things as most of the operations
of nature are found to be when we once understand them; and, also,
valuable in our work in orchard or garden.

I feel sure there are many operations in nature that contribute to
producing changes in plant life; giving the plants their individual form
and character and to their fruits their peculiar color, texture and
flavors, often to the extent of producing new varieties, that are not as
vet fully understood.

We have learned something about crossing and hybridizing, but with
even our Burbank, the process is far from certain in its results. There
must be other natural influences that we know little or nothing about
that are constantly modifying the results of our best efforts. Some of
these, as that of heredity, we know something of, but as yet have little
power to modify. The influences of environment are more under our
control. But do we yet know all the elements and accidental combina-
tions that may have their influences in what we call environment or
local conditions, to modify plants or their fruits? In a rough way we
know many and can modify and control them, but I think we have
evidence in our every day practical experience and observations that
we have not mastered all. Where did the old Rambo, the White Win-
ter Pearmain, the Delicious, or any of our apples get their peculiar
fiavors and characteristics? It is easy to ask such and a thousand other
questions that will start some theory in the mind, but I am not able to
answer them. The facts of observation here referred to as illustrations,
are, I think, of a class that gives an evidence of some operations in
nature that are not entirely understood. Similar facts may not be new
or unheard of to our scientific people, but I have not seen them referred
to, not explained in our common horticultural hterature.

For five or six years past I have been watching a change that has
affected some Black Ben apples at Home Orchard. I wish to make the
statement of the observed facts as full and accurate as I can.

In different parts of the orchard are many top-grafted trees of it.
and on many different varieties as stock. As it happened, several trees
regrafted were near some of the old Ben Davis of which Black Ben is
a seedling. The Black Ben has a solid red color, while the Ben Davis, as
every one knows, is prominently striped. The first year the new trees
immediately near by, or in the next row to the Ben Davis bore fruit,
I noticed that many of the apples were very noticeably striped. The
evident fact was a puzzle to me, and besides some of the fruit had its
typical color. The next year the change was more pronounced, and I
wrote something of it to a horticultural friend in the East. He thought
the only explanation of it was that ‘‘the scions used had been mixed.’’
That didn’t satisfy me, and I have been watching it ever since.

While at first the change was confined to the trees near the Ben
Davis (24 feet apart), it has extended out year by year until the past
season it was plainly noticeable five rows distant. Beyond that, and in

204 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

other parts of the orchard where Black Bens are fruiting near other
varieties such as Lawver, York, Imperial, and others, the color is
entirely unchanged. Except in color, I can see no other change—size,
form, quality and the peculiar shape and modeling about the eye-basin
are all typical Black Ben.

Some years ago I had an observation that I think in the same line.
IT had planted two patches of potatoes. They just cornered with each
other. One was planted some days before the other. As seed potatoes
were scarce that year they were both cut to ‘‘single eyes.’” One was a
red potato we used to know as ‘‘Garnet,’’ the other was similar in size
and form, but white. They both made fine growth and yield. When
they were ripe and dug the hills at the contiguous corners were about
equally filled with both the white and red and the mixture extended for
a number of hills into each patch. Beyond that they were all typical of
the variety planted.

Another experience in potato growing. Some years ago I sent East
for a small quantity of what was called ‘‘ White Elephant.’’ It was
planted in the garden along side of some Early Rose. When they were
dug but few of them were of their typical white color—and were evi-
dently mixed with the Rose. Some of them were uniformly of the Rose
color; some were mottled in splotches and bands of red and white, while
& part of them retained their original type. They were all planted the
next year but the crop had lost all its character.

Benjamin Breckman of Illinois claims that this mixing of the tubers
when different varieties are planted near each other is the true cause
of potatoes ‘‘running out’’ and becoming worthless, which coincides
with my own experience and observation.

But how do the tubers mix? Does the influence in the case of the
Black Ben apples and in that of the potatoes come through the pollen?
The Early Rose so very seldom form a bloom, that in the example of the
White Elephant it would favor a doubt of that conclusion. We can
understand, or at least know the fact that the pollen of one variety
oreatly influences the true seed germ of another. Has it some power,
also, that we do not fully understand; or is the change produced by
a subtile diffusion of some hereditary relationship that under certain
conditions reaches back to some influence or association of former
generations, or a common origin?

Two or three years ago, among some yellow speckled beans at gather-
ing time, I was surprised to find some white ones. There has certainly
been none of that color in the ones planted and no other growing on the
place. In shelling out some scattered pods by hand, I found two, one
with a single white bean near the middle, and in the other, two white
beans with a yellow one between, the others in the pods were all the
same as planted; all the individual white one seemed perfect to their
type. We are apt in our ignorance of the true cause to call such things
‘‘bud variations,’’ ‘‘freaks,’’ and ‘“‘sports,’’ as though nature had
momentarily forgotten herself and allowed some new creation to creep
into her household by chance. |

There is another class of fruit variations—the influence of the stock
upon the scion, that is recognized in a general way, but I think the
influence is often greater than supposed. It may be for the better in
some characteristic, or, as is more usually the fact, for the worse.

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 205

In all my top-grafting (and I have done a good deal of it) I have
always been careful to cut scions from the tree that produced the finest
fruit of its variety, growth and all other characters considered. With
some varieties but little change is noticeable, but in others the influence
of the stock is often considerable, and I feel like taking the Delicious
as an example. In the orchard are about one hundred top-grafted trees
of that variety bearing, and the scions were all from a single tree. Of
the tree propagated from it, a few are certainly highly colored, better
in form and more juicy—finer apples in every way. Others are a
dingy, pale color; some more elongated; some are inferior in quality ;
in fact, scarcely two trees bear fruits that are identical in all their
characteristics. In most of the trees, however, the change is very slight.
From my observation and experience I think the Delicious very sus-
ceptible to this influence; that is, particular in its associations as an
apple of its high character has a right to be, for it certainly is the
‘Queen of its Kind.’’

I will give another example in the same line: A neighbor who planted
one of the oldest orchards in this mountain section, found his old
Grindstone (American Pippin) of little value, and about twenty years
ago (the trees were about thirty years old) top-grafted them from a
fine strain of Ben Davis. When they came into bearing, the fruit was
neither Ben Davis nor Grindstone. It seemed to partake of the charac-
teristic of both, but so blended that no one not knowing the facts could
tell what it was. It had the flattish, round form of the Grindstone
with the brighter stripes of the Ben Davis, only medium in size and
worthless in quality. That was the most evident and best example of
the influence of stock upon scion I have ever seen.

We explain such changes as the congeniality of stock to scion. But
what is it, and how is it produced? What modifies the plant’s organi-
zation that makes one of the same species congenial, and the other not?

There is another class of fruit changes that we are likely to hear more
of in a scientific way in the near future. The modifications of many
varieties of fruits by our Pacifie coast influences have attracted atten-
tion for many years. We all recognize the fact, but I think it has not
as vet so fixed our thought and investigation as its importance deserves.
Many varieties of apples when grown here are scarcely recognizable
when compared with the same as grown in their old habitat of the
Eastern States. Our soil and climatic influences seem to develop some
of the varieties into almost new and greater forms. Many of our local
seedlings seem to have something inherent in their character that is
distinctly Western. Besides our favorable natural conditions, I think,
the converging and commingling of all the different types that have
been heretofore comparatively isolated is producing varieties that in
development will give us new and higher types of all our fruits.

I know that such observed facts in nature, and that we meet only
once in a while, leads off into a line of speculation I am not scientific
enough to explain or give them any particular application. All the
natural laws and their operation we know contribute to the development
and comfort of life. We have no reason to think that the more obscure
ones, when better known and under our control, will prove any the less
useful. With all the accumulated knowledge that has come to us out
of the wisdom of the ages, we have no reason to think we have fathomed

206 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

its depths. Nor do we know how much the still unknown secrets of
nature when mastered will contribute, if rightly used, to the power and
welfare of the human race.

I am sure there are no lines of research into the still unknown fields
of science that promise so great a reward as in that of horticulture
the propagation, care, and development of plants and their fruits. No
other production of nature contributes so much, and directly to the
physical life and welfare of mankind, and I can conceive of no limit
to their future development and usefulness, nor of any ultimate
knowledge of all the resources of nature that may contribute to that
development.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. We will now be favored with a paper on
eucalyptus by our State Forester, Mr. Lull.

EUCALYPTUS COMMERCIALLY CONSIDERED.
By G. B. LuLu, State Forester.

It is of great importance just at this time that reliable information
on the subject of growing eucalypts in California be given to the
public. Persistent reports of the impending failure of the Nation’s
hardwood supply, together with a growing belief that the future
demand will be met, to a large extent, by California-grown eucalypts,
have already induced hundreds of persons to establish plantations and
thousands to buy stock or acreage of them, in order to take advantage
of this market. Many more will doubtless become interested during
the next few years. Inasmuch as many purchasers of stock or acreage
in eucalyptus companies are residents in Eastern States, their only
chance of judging whether the claims of promoters are correct is by
correspondence or through reading the publications of the State and
Federal forest offices on this subject.

There can be no doubt that, rightly undertaken, eucalyptus growing
is a sound, conservative business, of a sort to be encouraged. It prom-
ises to be of the highest value, not only to this State, but to the country
as a whole, for the prevention of a hardwood famine is a matter of
national concern. It is, however, of special interest to the State, for
if the eucalypts become the principal hardwoods in use it means a
shifting of the source of supply from the East to California and the
removal hither of most of the woodworking plants depending on it.
California will then furnish to the country not only the raw material,
but the manufactured product also, with the utmost profit to herself.
But these benefits will not follow, or at best will be greatly delayed,
unless the business of growing eucalypts is, from the start; established
on a sound basis. It is evident that the failure of any considerable
number of persons to obtain as good results as they expect will seri-
ously harm the industry, particularly if, on investigation, it is discov-
ered that no substantial basis for their expectations ever existed.

Companies buying land for eucalyptus purposes should consider this
seriously, for in that single transaction they determine the success or
failure of their venture very largely. The belief is prevalent in Cali-
fornia that land for any cause unsuited to agriculture is as good for
eucalyptus as is the best agricultural soil. It probably is true that

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS” CONVENTION. 207

this hardy tree will survive conditions that could not be withstood by
ordinary field crops. But, if high returns are sought, the fundamental
requisite, good soil, must be used. This fact must not. be lost sight of.

In this connection it may be explained that good soil as applied to
eucalypts has the same physical meaning as it has when applied to
field crops. The soil must first of all be of good depth, that is, six feet
or more from the surface to hardpan or other impenetrable material.
Shallow soils produce short-boled trees. Equally important is the
texture and character of the stratum underlying the soil, owing to its
influence on the retention of moisture. Finally, the rainfall must be great
enough to produce rapid growth or water must be artificially applied.
These conditions of soil may be found in many sections of California,
but in choosing land for eucalyptus growing it is vitally essential that
the lowest temperature prevailing shall not be too cold for the species
to be grown. Generally, it is necessary to confine the search to areas .
where the temperature is always about 25° F. Another factor of
importance is that of transportation. Sufficient foresight should be
exercised to guard against the exhaustion of profits by high freight
rates, for the output of an acre of well-developed trees is exceedingly
heavy. To meet this the farther-sighted growers are purchasing land
situated along a railroad near the coast or, better still, along a navi-
gable river.

Having selected good land, the actual development work begins.
This consists in growing or purchasing seedlings of the best species
and of hardy character. The work of growing seedlings is extremely
exacting, for they must have constant care and attention from the time
the seed is sown till they are set in the field. Especially must care in
their watering be exercised, for on the amount and time of application
of water depends not only: the thrift and development of the seedlings,
but determines whether they become victims of the fungous disease
known as ‘“‘damping off.’’ Inexperienced growers almost always lose
heavily from this cause, and even the most expert are not exempt. In
almost all publications giving instructions on the best methods of seed-
ling culture shading is recommended. It is questionable, in the light
of recent experiments, whether this is either necessary or desirable. It
’ is believed that hardier plants in greater numbers can be raised with-
cut shelter from the sun, although this will depend to some degree upon
the exposure of the nursery site.

What has been said about the necessity of selecting good land applies
equally to its preparation. Shallow plowing has long been the custom
of those tilling large areas for wheat and other surface crops. I ques-
tion if such tillage is the best for wheat, certainly it is not for euca-
lypts. Deep plowing should always be practiced, the deeper the better.
As an illustration of this may be cited the usually luxuriant growth
of blue gum on the dredged land at Natoma, Sacramento County.
There, on land plowed by the gold dredgers to a depth of twenty feet
or more, this species is making as good growth as can be found in the
State. At first glance dredged land appears to be irrevocably ruined
for crop purposes. It is only when we remember that dredging is
merely another name for deep plowing that the reason for this thrifty
growth dawns upon us.

In the same measure that good land and thorough tillage are neces-

208 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

sary preparations for an eucalypt crop are careful planting and fre-
quent cultivation during the first two years essential. This is the
period during which the character of the crop is determined and every
one of these fundamentals must be shaped as though it were the deter-
mining factor. Neglect of any one will produce its corresponding
deficiency in the matured product.

The age at which eucalypt plantations become marketable is a subject
on which opinions differ greatly. It should be borne in mind that this
is a matter which many factors will determine. In the first place by
age is meant financial age, that is the time in the life of a plantation
when, considering rate of growth, quality of product, distance to market
and rate of sprout growth together, it is determined with approximate
exactness that more money will be made by cutting than by holding
the trees. It is readily understandable that this is so. For, if at the
end of ten or twelve or fifteen years it is found by measurement that
the production of lumber is greater, quantity and quality considered
together, after deducting loss of suppressed trees than it would be by
the succeeding sprout growth then certainly the financial cutting time
is still ahead. Of- course, this is reasoning without reference to the ©
bank account of the owner. It may very well happen that he will decide
to forego maximum yield for the sake of returns before the financial
cutting age is reached. In this connection it is debatable as to what
course should be followed. It would seem better business to borrow,
using the plantation as security, than to sacrifice too greatly. Likewise
the demands of the market are important in that they determine the
character of the product which will yield ‘the highest financial returns.
Thus market demands have their influence on the financial cutting age.
Also is the location of the plantation as regards accessibility to market
a prominent factor. It will be readily seen that if the market demands
determine cordwood to be the most valuable product, the financial
cutting age might lie anywhere between the fifth and tenth year. But
if the tract is so located that the profits on cordwood will be devoured
by searcity of labor, high wages or heavy transportation charges then
a cutting age for a more easily handled product must be selected.
These considerations demonstrate how impossible it is to say in advance
that the grove will be harvested when ten or twelve years of age.

Many people noting the tremendous acreage being planted have
voiced the question, ‘* Will not the industry be overdone? Granting |
there is now a market for all that can be raised will not the yield a -
dozen years hence be so great that the price will drop?’’ Circular
No. 116 of the Forest Service sheds considerable hight on this phase of
the eucalyptus problem. Therein it is set forth that during the period
1899 to 1906 the hardwood lumber cut decreased 15.3 per cent, the
decrease taking place at a time when there was the strongest demand
ever known for every class of structural material; when the output of
pig iron increased 15 per cent, that of cement 132.17 per cent and even
that of softwood lumber 15.6 per cent. That the decrease was due to
diminished supply rather than to lessened demand seems to be proved
beyond question for during the same period the wholesale price of
various classes of hardwood lumber advanced from 25 per cent to 65
per cent. Every kind of hardwood found in quantity sufficient to
make it useful has been put on the market and hardwood timber is now

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 209

being cut in every state and every locality where it exists in quantity
large enough to be cut with profit. These conditions could not prevail
were the decrease in production due to a falling off in demand. In
Ohio the decrease in hardwood products between 1900 and 1905, accord-
ing to census reports, amounted to 57.4 per cent; the rank of the
industry fell from fourth to twentieth place and the number of
employees decreased 40 per cent. In Indiana, during the same period,
the value of the products fell from third to eighth place; the value of
the products decreased 27.1 per cent; the number of employees
decreased 42.6 per cent. This by way of showing the threatening
position in which the hardwood industry stands and how improbable it
is that the eucalypts grown in California will cause an oversupply.

But the question arises, ‘‘Granting all this, is the quality of the
eucalypts such that the wood can be readily substituted for hard-
woods in common use?’’ An unqualified answer in the affirmative can
be safely given. For although the tests of the wood have not as yet
been exhaustive, they have proceeded so far and with such favorable
results that the wood of the commercial species of eucalypts can be
likened in quality to the best grades of hickory. This insures its value
for structural purposes and with its susceptibility to a high polish —
guarantees its employment in vehicle and furniture manufacture.
From the standpoint of utilization the better species of eucalypts leave
nothing to be desired.

These statements are made with full knowledge of the experience
among those who have used the wood in green condition that it checks
badly and does not hold its shape. Indeed, the practice of using green.
wood has been so general that a feeling exists that eucalyptus will not
yield to seasoning methods. Nothing could be more absurd. The wood
is hard, dense, and of close grain. It grows rapidly, and hence is full
of sap. Naturally, if the juices are drawn out quickly, something must
give way. But if the wood is understood and rational, slow-seasoning
methods are applied the eucalypts will be found to respond to them
as do the hardwoods in the East. It is safe to say that the experience
with eucalyptus of Californians—long accustomed to redwood and
pine—would not have been duplicated if they had been handled by
men accustomed to handling green hardwoods.

These statements embody some of the possibilities of the eucalyptus
industry. We have noted that the growth of these trees is fully five
times as rapid as that of any Eastern hardwood; that, on account of
its climatic requirements, it can not be grown commercially in the
United States outside of California; that its wood is capable of substi-
tution for the Eastern hardwoods rapidly nearing exhaustion. Do
not these circumstances justify faith in the industry? Consideration
of them has led many to interest themselves in the growing of
eucalypts and the sale of eucalyptus lands. At this time there are
fully one hundred companies dealing in some sort of eucalyptus com-
modity, and, very regrettably, some of these companies are of wildeat
nature. This is inevitable in an industry of this kind when in the
hands of men expert in salesmanship but ignorant of soils and tree cul-
ture. They have very naturally confined their energies to those features
of the business they were familiar with, leaving the great fundamental
problem of tree culture in the background. Not content with this, in

14 rec

210 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

some instances they have greatly overestimated possible returns in an
effort to catch the buyer with a fondness for long shots. Lest I be
misunderstood, let me say that I am not talking about all eucalyptus
companies. There are many high-class, thoroughly honest companies
growing trees in California, who, by the care of their plantations. prove
they want to give investors the worth of their money. Such companies
should be encouraged, for in addition to enriching themselves and those
associated with them, they are adding to the Nation’s timber supply.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. Now we will ask you to remain a few
minutes and let the Committee on Resolutions be relieved of its duties.
Just read them right through and if there is any one objects to any
resolution make a note of it.

Mr. Kellogg read the following resolution:

RESOLUTION OF APPRECIATION TO A. R. Brices.

Whereas, In the efficient and persistent efforts of Mr. Arthur R. Briggs in our behalf on
the question of sulphur-cured fruits, all the growers of drying fruits in the State have been
greatly benefited; therefore, be it

Resolved, That this convention extend to Mr. Arthur R. Briggs our heartfelt thanks by

rising vote.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. We will just arise and give that vote

now.
The convention expressed its approval of the resolution by rising.

Mr. Kellogg read the following resolutions:

THANKS TO PROFESSOR STUBENRAUCH.

Whereas, The very persistent and efficient work of the Department of Agriculture, rep-
resented by Prof. A. V. Stubenrauch and his co-laborers, has resulted in showing us the
great benefit of careful handling of our fruit in picking and packing, and they have also
revealed the probable effect of various molds in relation to the keeping qualities of our various
fruits, especially grapes; therefore, be it

Resolved, That the fruit growers of California in convention assembled, express our
appreciations of the work and assistance from the Department of Agriculture, at Washington,
with their able corps of scientific and practical experts who have done so much to advance
the interests of fruit men. We recognize the careful and conscientious work of Prof. A. V.
Stubenrauch as of an inestimable value to us, and hereby express our appreciation of his per-

sonal work, and thank him for it.

RESOLUTION FOR PLANT PATHOLOGIST.

Resolved, That this State Fruit Growers’ Convention urgently request that the Department
of Agriculture continue its experimental work, and add to its working force a Pathologist
to give special study to these molds to see if we can not overcome the great losses from this

source.
RESOLUTION OF THANKS TO PROFESSOR HERMS AND DR. Snow.

Resolved, That we are indebted to Prof. W. B. Herms of the University of California and
to Dr. W. F. Snow of the State Board of Health for their valuable and interesting lectures
during the session.

Resolved, That the thanks of this convention are due and are hereby extended to all those
who have prepared papers and addresses for this convention.

RESOLUTION ASKING LEGISLATURE FOR INSECTICIDE LAW.

Whereas, One of the controlling factors of successful horticulture in the State of Cali-
fornia is the control of pests;

Whereas, A great many nostrums, concoctions, would-be remedies and aduiterated chem-
icals have been foisted upon the horticulturai people of the State; and

Whereas, There is more than a million doilars spent each year in California for sulphur,
cyanide, sulphuric acid, lime-sulphur solution, bluestone, arsenate of lead, Paris green, soluble
oils, etc.; therefore, be it

Resolved. That the State Fruit Growers’ Convention, assembled December 10, 1909,
petition the State legislature to pass a pure insecticide and fungicide law, which will guarantee
to the consumer an accurate knowledge of what he buys; which will require a printed analysis
on the outside of every package; that shall show the percentage of the active material contained
therein, and analysis which will be comprehensive te the horticulturist, and one which wiil
make the manufacturer of insecticides and fungicides, with his agents, criminally liable for any
imposition, or for any misleading or false statement thereto.

Resolved, That a committee of five be appointed by the chair to draft a bill covering these
several points. This committee of five shail consist of the State Commissioner of Horticulture,
assistant professor of the chemistry of insecticides of the University of California, two manu-
facturers, and the professor of entomo!cgy of the University of California.

PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION. 211

RESOLUTION ON CHAIR OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS.

Resolved, That we request the State University to establish a Chair of Agricultural
Economics.

RESOLUTION OF THANKS TO PRESS AND RAILROADS.

Resolved, That we thank the great metropolitan press of the State for the fair and uni-
formly correct reports of our deliberations.

Resolved, That we thank the local press for all their courteous recognition.

Resolved, That we extend our thanks hereby to the lines of railroads and steamships for
their usual courtesies and concessions.

RESOLUTION ON A FEDERAL LINE OF STEAMERS.

Whereas, Transportation and the cost of seed is the most important question before the
producers of California; and

Whereas, Efforts have been made to bring about legitimate competition between California
and the market of the East; and

Whereas, The United States Government operates a line of steamers on the Atlantic in
connection with the Government-owned railway across the Panama Isthmus; and

Whereas, An effort will be made to have the Government operate a line on the Pacific, to
connect with the railway across the Panama Isthmus, and thus give to California a complete
service; and

Whereas, The present system does not afford to California the benefits of legitimate com-
petition, owing to the fact that the Pacific Mail Steamship Company operating on the Pacific
is under the control and domination of the transcontinental railroads; therefore, be it

Resolved, By the thirty-sixth California Fruit Growers’ Convention, assembled in annual
meeting at Watsonville, California, that we do hereby memorialize the President of the United
States, William H. Taft, Secretary of War Dickinson, and the congress of the United States,
to speedily relieve the situation by the establishing of a Federal line of steamers on the Pacific,
to connect with the Government-owned line of railway across the Isthmus of Panama and the
Federal line of steamships on the Atlantic, thus giving to California a through and complete
service; be it further

Resolved, The President of the United States and the United States Congress be memorial-
ized to enact such legislation as will increase the powers of the Interstate Commerce Com-
mission, so that it may be able to prevent any increase in freight rates at any time, unless
the proposed increase in freight rates shall be found by said Interstate Commerce Commis-
sion to be reasonable and justifiable; be it further

Resolved, That we favor the enactment of laws whereby the capitalization of all railroad
and express companies engaged in the transportation business shall be fixed and determined
as a basis upon which transportation charges shall be fixed, so that rates charged may be
regulated by law.

Resolved, That copies of these resolutions be transmitted to the President of the United
States, the Secretary of War, and the United States congress and senate, and to the California
congressional delegation.

RESOLUTION ON POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL.

Whereas, In every county there are boys and girls so situated as to prevent them from
getting an agricultural or mechanical education, thereby being a great loss to the State, the
public greatly losing thereby;

Whereas, The best interests of any community are conserved when every person is able
to give the best service possible;

Whereas, The California State Polytechnic School is an institution for the purpose of
bringing about the much desired conditions; therefore,

Resolved, That the legislature be asked ‘to enact such laws as may permit each county,
through its ‘board of supervisors, to give a limited number of scholarships in the said school,
in proportion to population and under proper qualifications.

RESOLUTION OF THANKS TO CITIZENS OF WATSONVILLE.

Resolved, That the unbounded hospitality of the citizens of Watsonville has been accepted
with great satisfaction. To the ladies especially who entertained us so delightfully with choice
music and refreshments, we thank them with hearty appreciations for the same. The lantern
exhibit by the Board of Trade, showing the fertile Pajaro Valley, has been fully appreciated
and enjoyed.

RESOLUTION OF THANKS TO CHRISTIAN CHURCH.

Resolved, That the concessions made by the Christian Church of Watsonville in permit-
ting us to occupy their splendid auditorium and commodious side rooms, also of the careful
attention given by its pastor and official members for the comfort and convenience of the
convention, is deserving of, and does hereby receive, our most heartfelt thanks.

MR. KELLOGG. So far we have agreed in our report.

MR. STEPHENS. I move that the committee’s action be adopted
thus far.

The report of the Committee on Resolutions was adopted.

MR. KELLOGG. Here is another.

RESOLUTION ON EXPERIMENTS WITH SPRAYS.

Resolved, That we request the State University Agricultural Farm at Davis to conduct
experiments in the use of both wet _and dry sprays, to determine whether the results can be
determined by dry method of spraying.

Resolution adopted.

212 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS’ CONVENTION.

MR. KELLOGG. Now comes a matter of law, more than anything
else, and the committee did not feel competent to pass upon it, as none,
of us are lawyers, but those who have presented it have studied it and
T have no doubt it is correct.

RESOLUTION RELATING TO AMENDMENT OF HorRTICULTURAL LAw.

Whereas, An act passed by the last legislature of the State of California, and which said
act is known as the County Horticuitural Law, and which among other things attempts to
amend sections 2322, 2322a, 2322b, 2322c, 2322d, and 2322e of the Political Code of this
State, relating to the county board of horticulture, is defective, vague, and uncertain in certain
respects; therefore, be it

Resolved, By the State fruit growers in convention assembled at Watsonville, California, on
December 8, 9, 10, 1909, that our senators and assemblymen be requested to use their best
efforts to have said law amended in the following respects:

1. That section 2322d be amended by inserting after the word ‘“‘day,” at the end of the first
section therein, the following: ‘‘During the time actually employed as such officers.”

2. That a new section be added to said act to read as follows: “That the powers and
duties of the deputy county horticultural commissioners shall be the same as those of the
county horticultural commissioner.”

3. That section 2322b be amended so as to contain the following: ‘‘The state commissioner
may issue commissions as quarantine guardians to the county horticultural commisioner, or
his deputies appointed by him.”’

4. That section 2322d be amended so as to contain the following: ‘‘In the case of the
commissioner himself, his compensation shall be $6 per day when actually engaged in the
performance of his duties; provided, that the term ‘duties’ shall include investigation and
experimentation in the matter of devising new methods and improving upon old methods of
combating and eradicating insect pests and plant diseases, and he shall be allowed, in addi-
tion to his said salary, necessary traveling and office expenses, including the amount -eieenaeaach
expended in making public his said investigations.’

5. That a new section be added to said act to read substantially as follows:

“The boards of supervisors throughout the State are hereby empowered to set aside a
sufficient sum to pay the salaries and other expenses set forth in this act.”

6. That a new section be added to said act to read substantially as follows:

“Any board of supervisors shall have the power to employ at a reasonable compensation,
and for whatever time is in their judgment necessary, an entomologist, whose duties may be
to carry on investigations and experimentations for the purpose of devising the best and
cheapest methods for combating insect pests and diseases of all agricultural crops and for
the eradication of noxious weeds and other pests, and when deemed advisable by him, to issue
bulletins or take other means of supplying the public with such information.”

Respectfully submitted.
; Gro. D. KELLOGG,
J. P. DARGITz,
A. N. Jupp,
Committee on Resolutions.

The resolution was adopted.

MR. KELLOGG. That completes our report.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. I have a communication here that it
would be a discourtesy to overlook, but I don’t know what to do with it.
This is dated Auburn, Cal., December 7, 1909, from the Placer County
Farmers’ Union. Now, this must have the courtesy of a reply, and I
suggest that you refer this letter to some one for a reply.

MR. KELLOGG. I move it be referred to the Chairman of the con-
vention for a suitable reply.

The motion was duly seconded and carried.

PRESIDENT JEFFREY. When you go from this convention home,
T hope you will say you had a good time and were pleased with Wat-
sonville and her fruits. You have expressed your thanks through
your resolutions to the people of Watsonville for what they have done,
but you should tell everybody all over the State what they have done
for you here. I say, ‘‘Hurrah for the people of Watsonville!’’

The convention then adjourned sine die.

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ED Sg PEPE SS Se a na ee ee 32
insect pests of,
coddling moth... PRR Set Ne Po so cy cian a haere Lee mae ee ies onda, Ses 126
EMO VSS ES S22 Ses pe Reh Se 2 Ne em re ieee cee oe ee ae 124
Sea CLK E SE PEE lel ee Si saree oo wis tend Ow Sle Soa njeae wR RS Ln 8S 2%
Re Re THERES eo hee e) te Se epic Sie ave cia ale w:4, ela eb eb eele eas ks aiele ie ® 128

nN TOE EBS ne ACT ean a era a'e a Sb oS a ee ateie Sasgla see "hte £25

214 INDEX.

Apples, PAGE.
location £0F 2.5.2 46. 2% so 0 a 6 dale ab den oad oe lle ee 35
médicinal value Of... 2:2... 9. sds be eo ee 25
ON OUP MONU 2 62. oi ee ee ne wee ee me ee 2 ae 5 ee eer 25
pollination Of p.. 2. fo5. 2 25s ae sb Pei aw 2 we ee 30
price in Hood River .: «2... .is2 425-00 dec cep. ee oe 41
price in London: ... 2... eo Se ene we bg bee as 2 ee 44
price in Watsonville... 2.52.46. .08..4sl. oa de dee 30
recipes. for cooking. .:......5 20: e ee ceed es seule be Oe ee 26
report of distributors. ..... 2.005.066: 6%. eee eee ee he]
SOU wo. eet ee we ee eee oe eee » wb oe ons a ol een ee 28
Standarizing the pack Of. ..2 65. cc deen cle ceo « oe et ee 25
STOCK oo oe Sl ee ain w bw ewe Dim oe ee ee 30
stock influence on. grafting trees... :...:.-....0:s ss obmeo ee 40, 42, 43
subject to disease... 6. 200.52. 50120 Ae. 123
varieties of

Ben Davis ..... 5.0 dan Sa elt alae She cabin soe eo ie 23
Jonathan 2. i 0 oe via doidw we nw wee «on Oo ee ee 23
Newtown Pippin ©. .....05.. 0.0.05. cbs oe cos 22
Northern Spy... . - 6. 2s ss nen oo 6 cece oe wee ue 44
Ortley Pippin. <2... 22.0.0... 20020 lt Sewee Ue ee 23
Rome Beauty . 2. cee va ss eek ewe sce + ee cee ee 23
Spitzenbere |...) sees ee awe eve ee eo ep ee Stas & 23
White Winter Pearmain...... 5... ..- ses .5ss oe ee 29
Yellow -Bellefleur ...0 06060. s04 ss o Be ceeiela ws Se 23, 29, 35

Beans, mixing of. 0.0.22. 6. 2 2S soc eo c ces wn > we bay De 204

Berries,

CATMINE 0b ec cis eee we wes oo oS ge wd cera be pies cy 77
GUTTVATION © oc. cc ww ee ie wie ew ee ale wn weicieeel oie oie s, wheat ean 7

Harvesting 2a. is Pee eke we es we ee ww aie 6S em alin, we 79
DIStOry OF 6. Pee he Seles kis wok Be ae ke ta
marketing 2... selec saws ees bie Sele owes w armel me 2 be Ne nee een 79
OTSANIZATION 2.6 ce cee a eee wes Fe de wen sews so one er 79
WATICLIOS 6 ok. eee ee soa Sela ed owe bo bs wiele ly «a phe ole ieneie te ane 77

Bordeaux. 2.20.2 ee. a vee vbw eus sek cde cue wwe ds «cle a ieee enna 130

Carbon bisulphide . .... 20. .). . see See os ee ce CO ee 131

Gornyrctaes eee Cea cade ce bevee eb euee cree’ ont, ci bi ope tne 23

Gitrus Culture in the North... 005... .23..0.. 5.0%. se eee 72
GCTOP — scien seca eo abe a aye woo. eS wreve So oe eo Waele Sion tle ear 73
fertilizing fs ce See eS bas as whe ec 6 Gm om 74, 75
ITTIPation. § os ls bee e wo See Pe bee a ns ee 74
TOGATION:. 3 2 2. ak we ee se be ole eels we oc a late 5, Seare Bile eS 12
Planting 2s. ee oh etn s Bees ea on © 0 a0 peices eee 74
PrUNIMS 6 el Se he ae we SS a aes oO oe ee 75
time’ Of TIPENiINe ~ 2S. es Lecce cos a ows eee Oe ee 73
EYDES: © os el See Hace oe iw Soele Soe Belew woe a rer ena cape aes ee agent 74

Discussion
on character Of sols. ....0.<. 2. vs cs o. $22 Gea ee~ > 32 Se ee 158
on land boomers... 2... sss... ss. be wee cls eles «/s 2 2 oe er 157
on “TOK&ayY STADES: ce 2 ee oes 5 one bre shes Ge 3 el or 154
on varieties of fruit to plant... 2525224. 2.s.-)- Se ee 153, 155

Eucalyptus,

Care Soe Ries Ae Se es es ee ee ee hc eee eee 207
commercially eonsidered . 2 =.sse lc sce be ek oh eee 206
foundation: of indUstry : 2s .20 2 Pie S266 = 2 ee ee eee 206
marketable: age... cis eee be kids. - i es Se eee See ae = SS ea 208
OVELProgducHon. Of =... oe “gee betta Ve ve sabes ade 208
SOil fore 1.56. See een ee eee Se eee aioe a cee ee 207

INDEX. 7 tes)

PAGE
CYS Pr a ct re eid the wien Seam ES oat ae 135
eG, 5a are shai af) s capteselsl sala ie pine aysla SoA \a cle RUS A Mug we dehe ee 86, 87
—_—nmnvemrrin=S from Loomis orchard... 2.2... le. ei ee eee 3
kN Peg e evcb Psy wing aaa. winwa'e Wise) g) dase 46S gin td hate Mislala’ sieges 88, 85
PES CMON [ee es NG ec haly ae Stee oe Lei elon Soe rae rio, ae Mey erg OE areeamesctanuna 6s 81
IP. 50 Bate as. kl Paty Mee, voce Wiad ude DANS Ene Sle ay wv el Mecha galas A eheie was $2
EMA TOES sat cele che sia fs ash sta ein Walk aoe Gerais < ess Bk ss wigle wc oie s 84
ee ESETE TOME le cree at eh athe wwe baatfalarsbecty ete oe Mid Gis aime 'Ss oe Woe w oie a 81
PERSE RCA Cy Perse Re clas clive ew Wes vis! Ryne se op Anis see uae Se 6 we 87
IESE er ee = Sek oe Os SPT ne A lara Rraieot aihin de ed eye Sadia 81, 88
i POE SCE For alte) s neste mis Fie in ham Bee's Widigss ¢ Site <i 85
EE, eS ls aah cs a ec laele wiatkeim eta Sie Geek wishe ga) ajo 3 ahelaN ew 151
er DME MITE GFOSSOTUM) ... 2s svn cc ee ee ee nee wees eee ena 83
Ei eLCMORE OF COMIMITLCE ON. 22. 6636 ei ee lee eee 108
EET BE ao cd ae) a ale) s) ane Shoe 4 ee wiwie's 9 aon Pi aiar yrs ste mie pada aw 139
devices for protection........... Mata a rn eer UGE. lenin Na SA? eb ian 141
EMRE EUV E a2 eS ecw. Ge ipl v's wie cb Sle Ss Sid eae Sec has mee oa 97
Ie teeta fc) ee SOR, te ai Ue windy ca caine ey gS eae tae awe 99
IE ate rot ro, Se Sees OG icim pe odin kas sie ws ele ete Rae ese ee we 97
ae EC es es eee ey, go ES ARTS ach ee ST lose ods ata th ta wiGre Sieve: aed ws 98
a Ties ET etn, em 4 LF SAIS reteya a iw ee ale) ea dae oe dleeaio.e Se bie wc 9§
Oc aga EM ass Sk oe wo eiew bane wm waa < ole em es slala pe win els 3 O88 98
rete 28 3) fa oS ne LIS aoe en Sus ds Pal alae sine Soa wee g tee ee edges ode 98
Ae rin gcc vated. ohh) WA Ss wie Sats cs 2p Sa Rm Gn ee as ees oie eee acs 98
nana SIMCHA TG LCCH re 2%, coc. ke heve so a coe sheeted Ande <3 cheno vie es Sa ccawld a bee 99
ER areca era ede ila, he SG) Xtal ances, 68 wm n oieusla'e G.v.8 ela hiee’e ls 6 wn wo SF
Fruit Types,
GES ra, ca ahdin att oePy eC alee ss kcta sc cee tlle ats seed hc kc esse ee 203
ccs cy aps a oes vedere eso Roe TEA IEE RR RE eS alt 2 a pee i Oe 203
EE PRESETS AO TNS CUO Ma! ves hsb wows S eo Sek koe Wane ale bP apleleg ede wee ele oul oud 204
Mae ee CLOC IO TOD -STALLINE 2 ok als stale ce be eb wed eee koe eels 205
Grapes,
I OE AAAS COPE nics cy a be Sook ek a eho ee Wide Gn sib lene Gh wid anatd ede nes 180
ECE OEM EMO W CIS. Of, .< sua ceye is ssc calelfe Seis swe sce ala cw ate ee Seis see eink 92
ESB NO ef UN Gidea eis woe OR Be SE CRANE Loo are aieceA She eto cen eee wok 187
IR See tere ce ace cia oR desta Sica cm tees hla Seow ed hha i aa 95
GUE PUR VE TASH OYSS GS fe a EA eS BI ne A 181
aa a MOE TI PMPRTINE MGOLLTIL yrs Gs siaic 4 tested bocce e bes cles eB ine cs wckede eslele eee wobec. 93
Naan SENT TENET CSU SSS ans toh 2) Sas ee sr BS ICUS ldo eee A cael Sal bis elke y dee he hs 94
Vel 7) BS SURBNOGS SSAA RRs Stree ar err os calc at ieee set an Ona aa ee a an a Re ra 190
SaaS PREP PR TE eee 88 Sot a © WE eee EC ee et PT bar Te 96
NN USER GRE Lc 2 Rial toh ah oct pee mack Ms cise NG Ne whe ego wee S at lee ele end bales 37
DETTE EDR CoS 3 ESSA eee ocd One tec iio, Aiur Suet eh oe eh an 98
fave DEingured Ssrapes ShOWwInNe GeGAaY.. 2...) ee ce ee ee 189, 185
Pern eLCCmEDNC On GSCAYi2. 2 «tnt ces cic blew eee healt es tld ves eete eters 187
ee CRETE MES ROEM n.3 =) Sas = SR Taesc /aiatehe en aaa koe ee as Oe Boe ears, Bate ee wk 182
aE ae IME MEMOS ALIONS © 22. os cyclo ee ea hw a ne oe Brat tee Siew w eyes 187
PONE Se ee rs ada a aod wea DNA, wean oo whale Ce owlesmn eee seat 180
Horticultural Commission, in San Bernardino County..........:..........:. 50
Horticultural work at the University Farm................... DENT y A i ee Ti 192
BE EAS OTST ie Sia ae og Pe rE ae 193
PEAR ANACECE EN PICLICATOUVES Sac se ek he adds ses c AOD e ooes esau eave abe 195
eROUBEILEC | WOLD Merl, MUI eas reat ab sere so. es bk ee ks Sherine Sate Nt Ce terre Ny yen ced 196
PREM LIN = Wn bl Se IpO. sen re. SS tha eed te toe ek ws wee Ue
ED PESINCDAY ALCOA See ace NS cl Sao een Ble AC So Pa Sn aa ena a RR hee eC EAR, TLS)
TASES ETON oe AIOE Gea Siepin ie vee cc) ud ra SMe ORS er YI tar ao a 193
Cae ee MMRDA EOI STINGS: ep ete ee em NN Oe ee tee yeh eS a 194
TT SIAL SAE TAS ASIT TM ee eae ee eel cals eal © Shc. CORR rs toe ky ten Sanna cua eA me 195

216 - INDEX.
PAGE
Insects in Relation to Rural Hygiene.......... .. 2... > se ules eee 160
conservation of health. fo. 4 2 sc os beso ae bee ols © ue ee 170
Clean: ‘St@DIOS 6. aia ie: 25 we bine eminent! om ane. bom wolin.so Obs) Seow te yea ena rn 165
FreOsh MIS oo jo Les oe wp ialie lence atinesalo ve pote pe pie, Pe aoe seis ope eta an 161
FLOSS BI solo ee els ae ab din aco p bw wb babe w wi ele whet ole hae aie aan ns g EYE
ALY, DOUSOM © 650 c6 4 oe ep 0/00 s' oa v wie ped) boise 6): a ae’ n nn eee enn rr 166
good health @ Crops... 650i t 05 See oe mol Slee wi 5, 6 oon earner 168
house fly, life history Of. 60005 02. 2 sie 6 es breb lace Boe 2 i 162
house. fly,.the control Of. 6 0052005 «ss 5 b'e sale one’ lao nea 163
insecticides for manure heaps /... 2.4.50 2205s > 5 ov cis eestor 164
MANULe DINS ANA Pits. eo. eke he si diers ate ec ace oe Ue oe eeeee ee 164
MOSQUITOES ob aiale is ae eie'e bib e 6 0d ons «6 edu v ole buwin Soe) pleee Ween 166
PLAY Bee ees cab eee Tere oe Maen Le ® 016 b sie'e «0:0 #iniiniohehs ta she) ete ye ee ana nn ae 172
PLOPET LOOM 5 oo ihaie occ cseceis bb pre ores mie om bhein-pe'e cen i-era eso elle aie ieee ian 5 7 fo
SCAVEN EELS) oie ee so es ie me dpe w die cei nilelie lath yot oe aiielce, 5) alte teenie 161
STC SD 3202 ites Slat eueueh thener Oe Sev cee aaa > sn ela # mo 8 md m9 )aim ote ela aera aan 172
SUDSHIME | 55.05 Gi Naty vet bone hel ie ae ake eee ee p+ 28 ole 's wtnnlecsnw deena nn oe 171
Inspection’ of ‘nursery: SEOCK 6.0.0 oo as oie alas ow betel | ga ee tn 55
Invitation for next convention at.Santa Rosa....:...22).)-2.eee eee 149
Invitation for next convention at Lodi............12.%. 4 se ae 149
Katydids i. oid i). ciaiies © kag 5 a ee a dale pip vb wie pielh id glean cy gale rr 58
Law, new ‘horticultural, 1. oo. 6 ciciwieci ele sole Ge be wopibipna ie oie 6 et Seek enn aaa er 45
qualifications Under. . 652 eu coe cee nee ey ow mee sient te penalee nen 48
QUAL ATITINGE) 6c o.0 Sieve leis e000 dine Sipe ca.e 8 osmywlivigive b oubs ab /ene mane aie oan 57
Lime-Sulphur solution) 2.0)... 60.05. s46.cecu 4 6 oie so 5 tele telee out ans nme 129
Lipia modifloray . ol. 2 oe eles wie wie e cee oom wee olan plaoa gate nee en 60, 61
1 oy OL =) dU ee ee nr er eee Ae Seamer MEN ee 60, 61
Marketing agency of growers, organization Of.....- 7... cca seco ee 102
DAV UCSS ieee ae se ee, loa se! o.lviei ee! aleve S ey ose7Pe cele.e) elie! ee. Yaiyelaulre bat tale Nailsea aaa nr 105
distribution Of PrWIts 7.52 hcci ae «oe a: ole cie sm ol the wplalone SOE eae 105
STOWEFS OT PANIZALION, .... 3.2 ss. Su Sa saa cclleligs ap © 0a tee eo 104
WORKS Of 6 oe) anes jain wiiste one! 01 © olye toyeco: oh anisl elie) o) ot pale 26a Ue Ree eee 103
Migration, from country to city... 2... 2. 2.050 6 see le ee oe
Parcels Post. occu. ob vince ocean aie te oe 0 oue.p wv Kz clea, um am CS 89
Pedigreed nursery. stock... 2. 05.000 cc cee eee hve awe we oe 0 aoe eee 37, 39
expense Of eee dk es ge eo a 38
Potatoes, mixin& Of: eos. ee flee be eis Wwe ehdcw ene wapal so elle © aire, cI ce el 204
Precooling of «fruit: bc... ec ego oh oe See wrerere nie oly Suelo eae 175
experiments: in Shippin’ .).cin. omic sc Sh es © 2 siete, 5 9 Stel ie eee IVT
MACHINE, POM is eso dees Sb Sige seced wih aie eos Leta eINeitel Seo tes 2s pela 176
Report of ‘Committee on Freight Rates.......:2.2.-.... 2.42. een 108
letter: to. ie A. JONES 560 os Hs Sei ns ei eke ee bake Pe Pa bab
letterto.B. B. MeKevitt oni er ae Socks sc a eee ee eee eee 115
letter; to-Committee: from: MecKewitt ocr sic ieipo ek en eee 116
letter, to: Committee from “W. C. Walkers... 25- .% « sis eileen gb Us
PA RATTON is oasis ste Se Lie OES Hee WS a ase ay when cease Gisele Sie anelee Cneke eae 109
Report of Gommittee on President's Address-. 2... -..-. J. 7/2 ae eee 178
Resolutions on,
approving work of Commission of Horticulture........... ote Sipe SSRN 152
chair of agricultural conomiGs i.e =< oct = fice ee eee 2a ke
experiments with. Sprays... sss s<hore~ lea ls be ene ae
EPUIE: NECOKAS esc Os ee ee Bis wae ak ere Sek eo ete a Wn esis Se eee 152
SOOd TOadS 26 eee ee. eas bee sicly ele ee wee oe ea Be ee 15%
sovernment line Of ‘SteAMENRS: ..c0.(oe sacs 6 Bible ws seees cue Oise = Oe nee neon 211
Horticultural Law ee ee ee aac etal 212
indorsing report ‘of freight rate Committees.) |... 2.5 eee eee 159

indorsing work: of Aj RR.) Brigesiin coc. cite Mee © le = alc eee eile hele tte 210

INDEX. ily

Resolutions on, PAGE.
EMT 0a a oe icine x uh ale adhe it ons aia Os wee was « Se Paid Sete Se nalts 210
EES oh gee ed mee FER as oe ee wig wicalia. ai esiolane aogrelw eatin Oa.S cfejecd’s 156
ERIE CRED SPURS SS rd ie ee coe ts le eS ata Bn eS ia eo Ger adeua atenane a ek 153
nO ce ae reek ee eg rc gee a eal oie rd wy aa kest ale Gn ove aoa 159
Smimuines bank, .-...........s0<s bees des BS OS Tete a ate ee 159
IROL UNE ESTE eee es RS the ain ach cers IS aren nk tre Me piewie Che bahegels 210
EE ATEEG SRST OL Ae ek ES SP re ee a a ee 21.1:
mR NE RO EE Be oe ee os ca alta os ayer e co's isles ef Re RUE ei a alk ola mma pad 174
ET PRIMES ore ete ee Paiva tS Sah artes ven Rheem dia tse wise es 156
a MEE ate t Reon an. a ate ia cent ait alt we Se kg Siw sale he we ae wae LST
ERVIN end itn we is ee Sar dle ae eee Saks wa we we dialete tide ees 153
rime tralin ang referee bOaArd... 6... i.e cc ce ke een cee eeu Ui
ES DS TR Oy 0) 2 Ro Abel
thanks to citizens of Watsonville.......... Pre date ee ee ails Ute 211
thanks to Governor Gillett and Lieutenant Governor Porter.......... 151
nee ee nets EPI PIT) STOW. 2 ois so eee as ae om cele ea ese awa gues en 210
SS WE TG US Bu CEES et a 211
Ee PUR EEITSTRP ANIC. © oo 2 o's. ciwiy ave 2%, nos. wx n/a a sed p wed one bon arena ee ak 210
TE ERECT OLN Gyo ore c/o Gain wo a ese sw bees w ae Cele eS wa weielee’s 1

i Set OR ke a ie OF eile d eoilecad ba avers 136

State roads,

Oe ere ot) eee hr sc Reayele sje eins wie’s 197
I ent en a he ad oie pes "ee sabia bie ald @ wbis Boca eee * 198
Ee ae oT ee et is oe a Ce gc a avd ac wa Sod Shape es ole 200
ENE SOME COs ee ee nae ee. INS ha aig Genre 2 wget a. d vid’ mates Bs of 202
ne gala p oda wide. ue con are. e afeik woweae% ve o cle ams #18 eye 198
ee i ea ia kc wine ie ove Seo deliv wa c ee Wie Sea ee 199
ee A Lee cig e's, a sdinle © clave AYA WTRTa al ow Weimes ac os 199
UE BOL 0 re og eS ise a ead a oligw eee, wie npn cleus, doe e0 200

EMMIS See oe Sc, ak eb de a Bon clio vedceanunws 130

eee ee eae hs Saiwdg Win Bais a Sista cele aiare’s 143
ESOT. ESOP ANOD Seco ig Sea oid coc wiv selaia ww o's wide moe wie baie welaie 147
nnn ttl DAY CONPTCHS =. < ..'s osc sce eae s ace once tw wesc es 146
RT Ac Ao re acs ale on es idle im Sis ww =e am oi wee oe ajo mares eases 143
Te nee te Ss Sie Te I aya th Sa Ses Bowe bee wt 145

ere ot aa) sill bes cial a dees ad diese 6 0B ee wis bles aos 59

ar ee Er NE gk eid ea ates «we iow 0 8! ale 132

White Fly ..... ESET Pe Be a clot te Me delcgio we faa a eroa a os Fume ee ele 56

15—Fec

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: ‘ . 3 ¥ ‘ J 5S meh S ay

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