The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, April 4, 1897, Page 27

3. B e THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, APRIL 4, 1897. \JALIFORNTANS are so accustomed to asserting that this State con- tains the tallest trees, the highest s, the deepest gorges, the big est farms, the grandest orchards, the largest fruit and biggest vegerables than any one would be deemed unworthy of being | known as a Californian if he disputed any of these assertions. | I remember some vears ago hearinga man with stentorian lungs shouting, “Oranges—sweet oranges—every one as as a watermelon—every one as sweet | zarl” and we grew so accustomed to ¢ that a man weuld have had a arrel upon his hands if he had at-| mpted to deny that California oranges | were not as big as watermelons or as sweet | gar. | A Iady of the Sacramento Valley some rs ago returned to visit relatives in | iana, and at first sbe often spoke of | !;" this climate and vroductions, but she observed looks of incredulity pass over the countenances of her friends when <he | ed to three crops of figs in one ses- emons fresh on the trees at Christ- or oranges hanging on the trees dur- the seasons. Finally she felt con- | ed to cease praising the State lest | she should lose her reputation for truth and veracity. hat the Sacramento Valley is the most | wonderful ‘valley in the world from an | agricultural and horticultural point of | view can be praved. This valley lies be- | tween the Sierra Nevadas on the east and the Coast Range on the west and is shel- tered from desert winds and ocean storms. From its soil and climate it is able to support a denser population to the square mile than any other corresponding area of the eartb. Itis 160 miles longand from seven to fifty miles wide and contains, in round numbers, 6000 square miles. If the | footm1ls of the Sierras and Coast Range { were added the area would be increased Ly 4000 square miles. | Compare this valley with the most, famous ones known! Compare its soil and climate with that of the valley of the Po in Italy, rich in olive piantations, orange groves and vineyards! Compare it with the valley of the Hudson, so famous for its thousands of orchards of plum, pear and apple trees! Compare it with the valley of the Nile, renowned for its prolific orchards of date trces! The Sac- ramento Valley soil, in climate, in n in its abundance d variety of productions will outrank ot the others and support more | people to the square mile. | It is strictly within the bounds of trath | 10 say that the flowers of thisvalley bioom | every day in the year, and that fresh fruit | of some kind can be gathered from the first to the last day of the twelve months. | ven in midwinter more than a dozen dif- ferent kinds of flowers can b2 seen in blossom in the different gardens of a val- town. The ripe orang: hangs upon the trees when tke peach is in its perfec- tion. The black and oily olive is plucked | before the lemon is ready for gathering, and while the late apples and pears are sull upon the trees. Almost every township in this vall produces the orange, olive, fig, lemon, peach, pear, apple, cherry, prune, apricot, nectarine, quirce, pomegranate, loquat, walnut, shaddock, pomelo, grapefruir, chestaut, and in the more sheltered spots the guava and limes wall thrive, and here | the date palm is grown and even the! banana ripens. | The planting of orchards and vineyards | has been rapidly carried onin this vailey, and when one takes into consideration the ease with which money was made in grow- ing wheat and what immense tracts could be easily handled by firmers itisa won- der that fruit-growing has made such wonderful progress. The State of Verm®nt is not as large as this valley 15, if the low ranges of foot- hills upon both sides areinciuded, vet that Biate supporis a population of 332,000, | while this valley bas but 157000. That ate affords pasturage for 77,000 hogs, 362,000 sheen, £4.000 horses, 169,000 head of cattle and 234,000 cows, or almost as many as the whole State of California. Massachusetts has but a trifle over 8000 square miles, while this valley and low foothills cover 10,000 miles, yet Massachn- setts has more horses, cows, sheep and hogs than our broad ana fertile valley. Tnis valley is larger than New Jersey, yet i that State has 96,000 horses, 184,000 cows, | 65,000 other caitle, 100,000 sheep and 200,- | 000 hogs. Delaware is only a trifle larger than the county of Butte, yet she has 25000 horses, 30,000 cows, 28,000 other catile, 22,000 sheep and 50,000 hogs. | The province of Luccs, in Italy, is no larger than Yuba County this valley, vet its population is three times greater than the combined population of all the counties in the SBacramento Valley. Few habitable parts of the earth are blessed with more clear sunny days than the Bacramento Valley. It has more | clear days than either Los Angeles or San | in umber of clear days, Diego, although both are famous for the r | climate, The average number of clear ! days in the Sacramento Valley is 235, | while San Diego has 122 and Los Angeles | 7L The valley is far ahead of Fiorida in ciimate, for the average in that State is only 124 clear days in a year excapt at the extreme southern point, where one of the kevs has 162 days. Italy has long been famed for her bright and genial climate, yet the averaze number of clear days in Italy isonly 196, or 41 less than this valley has. It has more bright, clear days than #ny part of France, Spain, Italy or Greece. New York has 100 clear days in a vear, | Philadelphia has 106, Baltimore 109, no part of North Carolins more than 125, no part of Georgia more than 126, and the Jimit in South Carolina is 132, or buta trifie more than half the clear days in this valiey. In iis temperature the Sacramento Valley ranks with the most favored parts of the earth. Orovilla is 6 degrees warmer than Nice, 61§ degrees warmer than Florence, 4 degrees warmer than Naplesand 41§ degrees warmer than Rome. Malia and Malaga have about the same temperature as Oroville altbough they are 200 miles further south, while Valencia, in the same latitude, is only 3¢ degrec warmer. The annual temperature of Cadiz, in Spain, is 62 degrees, while that of Redding, in the extreme northern end of this valley, is 63 8 degrees. Palermo, in Ttaly, averages 63.5, while Willows, if t'e center of this preat valley, averages €44 degrees. Lisbon, in Portugal, aver- o = aces 61 degrees, while Woodland, in Yolo | including all the adjacent foc thills of the County, averages 62 § degree No part of the great valley averages less than 59 degrees, yet the average of Lon- don is only 50 degrees, Paris 51 and Mar- seilles 58.9, and all three are considered to have mild climates. The only places n this valley that go below 60 degrees for the annusl temperature are Benic a and South Vallejo, on the Straits of Carquinez, and they are fully exposed to the continual cold winds, and Auburn, which is situated well back in the foothills and at a consid- erable elevation above thie valley proper. While the Sa but three-eizhths f the Stat Sierras and the Coast Range, embraces but 10,000 square miles. When one compares the figures in the production of fruit and out, and in a few years more the returns will be large. Of the 60,000 acres in the Siate planted in orange groves this valley contains 8657, or more than one-seventh the acres of bearing trees, he will readily | of the total amount. see that this rich valley more than holds This valley is small in comparison with its own with the great fruit regions of | the remainder of the State. It is less Southern Caiifornia. Tkhat region contained 9341 acres of ap 2ot trees, while this vailey has acres planted in this fruit. All Southern ri- California has 637 acres of bearing cherry | trees, while this valle; has 1236 scres in cherries. Souttern California has 9534 | amento Valley covers | acres of peach trees, while this valley has , it produces | 2 87 acres in peach orchards. two-fifths of the. wheat raised in Califor- | gion has 4614 acres of pears, while this The grain-gro valley covers only 6000 square miles, while the area of Southern California emoraces, in round numbers, 45,000 square miles, vet this valley yields more wheat year after vear than all of Southern California. The | average for the State is avpout 30,000,000 | bushels, and the yield for thisy 2,000,000 bushels. Portugal has an area of 34,000 square miles; this valley and the adjucent foot- hills in the Sierra Nevadas and the Coast Range covers 10,000 square miles, making Portugal three and a baif times as large as this region, yet her 5,000,000 people pro- duce but 8,000,000 bushels of wheat, or only two-thirds the yield of this valley. MOND ORCHA! . nAMmroo co\.»ge: | y s | | | ing portion of the | has 9968 acres planted in pear orchards. Southern California has 13467 acres of table and raisin grapes, while this valley has in round numbers 16,000 acres in the same crop. The whole State contains but 10,000 acres of bearing almond trees, and | Butte County alone has twice as many as | all Southern California. Butte County has more orang: trees than San Diego, Santa Barbara and Ventura. It will be seen from this that the Sacra- mento Valley has more figs, almonds, raisin and table grapes, prunes, peaches, pears and cherries than Southera Califor- nia. While the orchardists of this valley make no claims to be proncient in grow- That re- | than one-twentieth of all California, yet it produces two-fifths of the wheat, a very 7639 | laige percentage of the barley, one-fifth of the olives, more than half of the almonds, 5 per cent of the apples, more than a quarter of the apricots, more than a fifth of the cherries, more than a fifth of the figs, one-sixth of the raisin and table grapes, more than a third of the pears, one-quarter of the prunes and one-third of the peaches. The almond growth of the United States 1s largely confined to California, and the orchards of the State cover, in round numbers, 10,000 acres. mento Valley contains more than half the almonds grown in the State. @wing to the great fluctuations in the returns from the almond and from the prices realized, it is difficult to make an estimate of the value of this crop. The number of pear trers may be placed at 1,000,000, and if the returns are estimated at $50 an acre the pross yield would be $500,000 for the | value of the pear crop. Making the same estimate for the prunes, the number of trees being 1,100,- The Sacra- | ALY PHINGO » s anmd dgrain \beunmel in $acramente Valle at three tons to the acre, the yield would be 96,000,000 pounds each year. There is no vetter fruit region in the | Butte County, vielded forty boxes of frui world than the Sacramento Valley and all varieties of fruit, except a few of the purely tropical ones, are grown here. No fruit produced in the valley does better than the peact. The peach orchards of this valley include fully 2,000,000 trees, yielding an annual product of 150,000,000 pounds, and if the average value per acre is $50—a low estimate—the gross returns from the peach orchards alone would be $1,000,000 a year. The values of these or- chards cannot be less than six times this amount. The Sacramento Vailey has the larges: peach orchard in the State—the Abbot orchard in Sutter County—embracing 425 acres. The first f acres were planted in the spring of 1883 and in the summer of 1885 the trees yielded $6000 worth of fruit. In the summer of 1886 tne yield amounted to $12,000. The peach is extensively planted in both Northern and Southern California, there being no county that does not contsin this fruit in abundance. Of the 54,82 acres of trees now bearing veaches in the State the facramento Valley contains 21,687 acres, or more than one-third of the whole. It is but a few years since this valley be- gan to be known as a prune region, yet - ROSEBUSH T30FEET MIGH. FOLSGA b Greece has an area of 25,000 square miles and a population of over 2,000,000, yet she does not produce half the wheat this val- ley does. The Sacramento Valley produces more wheat than Holland and Denmark com- bined, yet their areas cover four times as many square miles as this valley, and their population is six und a haif mil- lions, while that of the Sacramento Val- ley i3 but a fifth of one million. The farmers of this section grow one and a half times as much wheat as was grown in the famous valley of the Nile and more wheat than is raised in the countries of Switzerland, Servia, Norway and Sweden combined. While this valley contains but three- eigntieths of the area of the State it pro- | daces three-eighths of the hops raised in The nop yield in Yuba, Yolo | California. and Sacramento counties leads all other paris of the world. At Wheatland 307 bales of hops were taken from 3714 acres: in another fiela of 47 acres bales were taken, and from a field of 125 acres 1586 bales were taken. The net weight of these 1586 bales was 298,000 pounds. As the Pacific States raise nearly 50 per | cent of the hops of the United States the industry here is an important one. When New York and Wisconsin raised two- thirds of the whole crop of hops in this country the average crop per acre was 650 pounds. In Engiand the average crop is 750 pounds por acre. In Seatz, the lead- ing hop dis rict of Austria, the yield is from 350 t0 400 pounds per acre. Wi ington is famous for its hop production und its farmers raise enormous crops of it. Kings County averages 2140 pounds per acre, while the uverage in Yuba County, in this valley, is 2340 pounds par acre, that being the highest average in the world, In 1840 the United States grew 1,238 502 pounds of hops, while in 1891 the Sacra- mento Valley produced 2431200 pounds of the same product, or 1,000,000 more pounds than the whole country produced in 1840. The average yield in Wisconsin is 443 pounds per acre, in New York 547 pounds, in Orezon 1125 pounds, in Washington 1325 pounds and in California 1648 pounds. Southern California is famed the world over for the variety and abundance of her | fruits. The area known as ‘‘Southern California” covers 45000 <quar: miles, QRANGE VALE . PEARS, BRUNES And SR 2 I T exe o) TYPICAL SCENES ing walouts upon a large scale, yet there | 000, the returns would be §550,000. Thus isno county in tne valley that does not contain some bearing trees, and in this section there are 45000 trees bringing forth fruit each year. Olives are produced in forty counties in California, yet the eleven counties in the Sacraménto Valley produce more than one-fifth of the olives raised in the State. The acreage for this crop is rapidly being extended, for it has been found that the olive tree produces welil without irrigation and grows rapidly and luxuriantly in the foothills up toan altitude of 2000 feet. There is a vast territory which cannot be brought under water, but which wiil grow the olive to perfection. It is buta few years since the orange and the lemon began to attract attention in the Sacramento Valley. It istrue that orange and lemon trees have been grown here for the past thirty years, but no one ever mmade a business of growing oranges for commercial purposes until 1886. Since while the area of the Sacramento Vailey, | then a vast number of trees have been set the value of the peach, pruve and pear crop of this valley would be somewhat over $1.500,000 each year. California has 19,527 acres of apple trees, and of this number the Sacrameato Val- ley contains 1235 acres. The fig of California rivals if it does not surpass that of Asia Minor, and of the 5213 acres planted in the crop in the State Sacramento Valley contains more than one-fifth of the whole. The apricot is one of the noted fruits of the Golden State, and the orchards bear- ing this fruit cover more than 30,000 acres. Of this acreage 7639 acres are found in the Sacramento Valley, which produce more than a fourth of the total crop. The cherry orchards of California cover 6728 acres, and in this valley there are 36 acres planted in cherries, more than a fith of the entire acreage of the State. There are in the Sacramento Valley in round numbers 16,000 acres’ oi raisin and table grapes, and the crop is estimated if IN THE SACRAMENTO__VALLEY. now, of the 49,231 acres in California, we have in this valley 11 281 acres, or nearly one-fourth of the total. That itis a great pear region may be seen from the immense shipments of pears made from here every year, and from the further fact that while the State has 23,742 acres of this fruit, the Sacramento Valley contains 9968 acres, or considerably more-than one-third of the whole. : The eigh! e peach orchard of Giblin Brothers, in Sutter County, a7eraged $:63 an acre. William Wolfskill, in Yolo County, from eighteen acres of pumpkins gathered a crop of 170 tons. From five acres of land in Yuba County G. W. Hutchins dug 780 sacks -of potatoes, aver- aging 112 pounds per sack. He harvested from seven acres of beans sacss of the vegetable that averaged 78 pounds a sack. Heeold them at $2 15 per hundred, the returns from the crop being in round numbers $40 an acre. Four acres of blackberries in Yolo County gave the owner $225 an acre. | ¢ | corn, aifalfa and otner products. The single county of Butte has more acres of | barley than the whole of Anzona. The | Pennsylvania | County !ina way. They have already produced & A single old apple tree in the orchard of Mrs. C. Hefner, at Central House, 1n which sold for $1 50 per box. Mr. Avery, in Placer County, from twenty-five trees of Royal Ann cherries, obtained 825 boxes of fruit. In Yolo County $240 was realized from an acre of apricots. In Glenn County $260 was realized from an acre of blackberries. Down in Yuba County the hop fields, dur- ing good years, gave thelr owners as high as $4%0 an acre. In Butte an acre of tomatoes yielded $600. n Glenn County an acre of almonds has been known to give in a single season 0. Table grapes in Sacramento County ealizea as high as $320 an acre. Vege- tables ia Colusa County have returned $1000 an acre. Bartlett pears in Sutter County guve $1144 an acre. Apples in Butte bave given $967 an acre, and cher- ries in Sacramento have yielded §1500 an acre. S. J. Nikirk of Nelson, Butte County, cut 82 bushels of barley per acre. Reyman & Evans, near Gridley, cut five crops of alialfa peracre and raised 313 bushels of potatoes per acre. Joseph Gar- della, near Oroville, cut 200 sacks of cab- bage averaging 65 pounds per sack on one acre. Texas is greater in area than the whole State of California, yet the Sacramento Valley, which is less than a twentieth part of the State, produces three times as much wheat as all of Texas dces. This valley yields six times as much wheat as either Alabama or Arkansas grows; five times as much as the four Midale States, with an area of 94,000 square miles and a population of 10,000,000, and twelve times as much as the six New England States, with an area of 65,000 square miles and 3,000,000 people. There are in fact but thirteen States in the Union that grow as much wheat as the Sacramento Valley, and of the total quan- tity exported from this country the valley grows nearly one-eighth of it. While wheat is the most important grain crop of the valley, its farmers grow in addition immense quantities of barley, county of Yolo has more acreage in barley than the State of Washington, and Sacra- mento County more than Oregon, so that these three counties grow more barley than these three States. The county of Sutter has mors acres of barley than the Blue Grass State, Kansas has less acres than Tehama County, and less acres than Solano | has. In the matter of exact figures, while Kan:as has 24.000 acres of barley, Tebama County has 27,000 acres; and while Pennsylvania ha: acr the county of Solano has 35000 acre: Even such a great grain State as Illinois does not prodace as much barley as Butte, Glenn and Colusa coun- ties in this valley. The Sacramento Val- ley yields more bushels of bariey than all of the Statessouth of Mason and Dixon's | line combiped. | The immense land holdings in this val- ley have been a curse to it and have held tack progress. These land holding in- creased during a period when the gre ranches of Southern California were be= ing subdivided, for wheat--rowing was very profitable, and this led to the accu~ mulation of land by the largest owners. Taking Butte County as an illustration, there were eight owners in 1875 who owned 5000 acres or upward, the aggre- gate holdings embracing 109,000 acres. In 1880 nine men owned 126,123 acras. Five years later the number of men who owned 5000 or more acres each was twelve, and their holdings numbered 195,235 acres. The average of the largest holders in 1875 was 10,100 acres. In 1%90 fifteen men held an average of 13,000 acres each. In 1875 the largest individual hoid- ing was 25062 ' scres; while in 1890 the largest was 20,560 acrcs. In 1875 the fifty largest holders in Butte owned 184,286 acres, while fifteen vears later the fifty largest owners held 287,686 acres, they huving increased their possessions be- tween these dates by 83,000 acres. What is true of one valley county is irue ofall. Tehama, Coluss, Yolo and Solano show the same enormous increase in land holdings during those years that Butio did. Coluss, for instance, had in 1880 336,581 acres owned by her fifty largest owners. 1In 1885 the possessions of these men had increased to 450,709 zcres, while in 1890 they had increased to 523,743 acres. The lessening 1n the price of wheat dur- ing the past few years has had a tendency to break up the big land holdings and turn the attention of farmers to other crops besides grain. Flax and hemp are being tested in many localities and the farmers are meeting with gratifying success. The culture of sugar beets shows that the soil and climate of this valley are well adapted to beets. Creameries are being organized in many localities, and they have been very suce cessful wherever established. It has been demonstrated beyond quess tion that just as good butter can be made in the Sacramento Valley as on the coast or in the mountains. The immense crops of alfalfa grown here show that feed in enormous quantities can be produced, so that butter-making is certain to become a very important industry in the near future. Coal has been found in a num- ber of locaiities in the valley or in the adjacent foothills, while it is known that natural gas exists in many places. Orchard planting is now exceedingly active and thousands oi acres will be planted this year. The olive is destined 10 become of vast importance in this part of the State and tens of thousands of treas will be planted along the low foothills and up to the limit of culture on account of snow cn the Sierra Nevadas and in the Coast Ranga. The Sacramento Valley has asyetshown nothing like its full capacity, nor will it until the valley has a greater population and a more thorough cultivation of its fertile lands. When that day arrives Sacramento Valley will show a remark- able increase in its variea productions and many new products will be added to the list of its productions. Among these will be camphor, chicory, licorice, tobaceco, cotton, hemnp, flax, jute, ramie and other profitable crops. . BERKELEY'S QUEER THEATER Playhouse Whose Business Manager Is Only Ten fiHE North Berkeley Theater is open. Of all stations of Berkeley the north A end 1s the last to get a theater. Tae one it has is & novelty, and destined to be fully amusing. 1t has a boy who is only 10 years old for a manager. The actors are all of iike tender age. The odd thing about them is that they are all playwrights tragedy on Washington’s birthday of their own composition. Moreover, they built their own stage, devised their own system of footlights and illumlination, and have a drop-curtain which rises and ialls at the instance of some invisible agency, just like the drop-curtain of the real big theaters in the city. They have not yet progressed—these precocious and imaginative youngsters—to the dignity and glory of a set of sliding scenes; but they have an “orchestra,” which plays one tune, with variations— principally variations of an involuntary sort. This temp!e of the Thespians, this North Berkeley Theater, was opened on Washington’s birthday. Patriotically em- blazoned with the American flag in various sizes was the auditorium and the row of dazzling footlights was flanked at either end of the banner of the brave and the fres ickets, please,” demanded the youth. ful guardian of the door from a little miss. I haven’t any ticket,” said the incipiens new woman.” “Can’t go in then,” was the response. “Well,” said the little miss, decidedly, “‘I've been invited and I am going in and that is all there is about it.”” Past the astonished young doorkeeper she grandly swept and took a seat triumphantly in the frontrow. The door- keeper looked a little dazed, but paid his attention for a minute to the other comers. Then he looked at the little new woman and said, “You: can't get out until you buy a ticket.” The show begar sharp on time. The doorkeeper was also one of the principal comedians; also lent a hand to raise and lower the drop curtain; did not forget to carry his “‘cashbox,’” having a hole in its lid to drop pins through, to & place of cover; was ready at the proper time to take part in a “shadow’’ boxing and wrest- ling bout, and later was a viliain of the deepest and darkest dve, with a fierce mask enveloping his face and his humor- ous eyes glaring fiercely through two hori- zontal slits in the mask—a home-made affair of muslin—the slits unfortunately being out of line, so that it was difficult to catch the glare of both eyes simul- taneously. The tragedy was preceded by an olio. The orchestra, which consisted of one small boy, played a tune, which was, has previously been said, principally vari- ations, although once in a while the tune got a chance to be nheard. Hardly had the effect of this triumphant music died away, when *Professor Carbon,” with a decided and Frenchy accent on the last syllable of his name, was announced. This professor does not belong to the Years Old State University, but is engaged in edu- cating the public by that useful pursuit o showing them how easily they can be fooled—*'smart Alicks” along with all the r Carbon is a little more than 4 feet tall. His face had been blacked until it was shiny. He had a fierce mus- tache, and in his eyes was a dreamy and faraway but nevertheless mischievous look. How he charmed the babies and amused the ‘‘grown-up children” who have beards and wrinkles or babies of their own, as he made coins mysteriously disappear and poured liquors of balf a dozen colors out of the same glass, one after another! Little girls tittered and gigeled and babies looked on with solemn and wide-eyed astonishment. 5ut this came toan end. Then there were magic lantern views which explained themselves the best that they were able, and which was not very well, and then finally the course of events led up to the tragedy, which was very real and amusing. While the “‘orchestra’ is playing and the white drop-curtain is down the foot- lights come in for their full share of in- spection. They are on & string. At either end of tne string is a pot-bellied Japanese lantern of a half candle power. Between these two are a score of tiny lanterns such as are used in the decora- tion of Christmas trees, of the power of one Christmas tree taper each. These are crowded close together on the string, cozied up like coy birds with lumino intervals on a branch. The seating accommodations are some- what interesting. The seats are graded down like the chairs in the bear’s house in the woods which was discovered by Goldilocks—big chair for the big bear, middling-sized chair for the middling- sized bear and tiny little chair for the little bit of a bear. Half the seats are chairs from nurseries—little red-painted affairs, some not too big for a “Brownie”; others lsrge enough for the phenomenally fat infant with the phenomenal bass voice when it cries. The general illumination is by candles. Ot course, the theater is small. Every word of a discussion concerning the hand- made programme which the chief tragedian and the manager carry on is audibie. The chief tragedian expresses the unqualified opinion that the pro- gramme was no good—albeit it was a work of patient industry, and really was vastly entertaining. Davip H. WALKER. Size in Hats. A size in hats is one-eighth of an inch. According to the English method the smaller diameter of the head is taken as the starting point, OQue-eighth of an inch increase in tha shorter diametsr makes a little more than three-eighths in the cir- cumference. The French and German hatmakers have a ruic slightly different from this. ——————.— There is an orchard in Jersey containing 60,000 pear 4rees.