CALIFORNIA'S GARDEN

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 2732, 30 July 1915, Page 3

CALIFORNIA'S GARDEN

THE SANTA CLARA VALLEY.

" THE LAND. OF SUNSHINE, FRUIT AND FLOWERS."

(By Our Travelling Correspondent.)

Thus was headed the invitation from the ban Jose Ghamuer ot Commerce to visit the Santa Clara Valley. The invitation reached, itinerant pressmen, Exposition Commissioners, State Governors, a.nd other more or less lucky individuals, who, although only "deadheads " of the most pronounced, type, are usually in luck's way when' anything good is on.

The special train conveying the party ran out of the shady, cool station at San Francisco into the sunshine and warmth of a lovely day in June. Not that the weather specially favoured this particular party on this particular day; for it may as well be conceded at.once that "sunshine" and "California" are. synonymous terms. The route to San Jose, some 50 miles from tho city of the Golden Gate, runs on tho bay front for some distance, then along the peninsula, through Redwood City, Palo Alto, which is the home of the great endowed university, known as Leland Stanford Junior, and other flourishing centres of population. But of far more interest to the visitors than the grouped habitations of men, however beautiful and comfortable they may bo, were the evidences of richness of soil in the abundant harvests which had just been reaped and the snug, well-to-do air of prosperity manifest in the hundreds of homes on the welltilled, closely settled lands. A little more than an hour's run and San Jose —the Flower City and chief town of Santa Clara County—is reached. Here the party transfer to motor-cars and begin the exploration of the Santa Clara Valley, which some writer has appropriately named. "The Valley of Heart's Delight." A Valley of Homes. The orchards and farms are worked as a rule by their owners," and the numbor of tenants occupying leased farms is small. It is claimed that, in the strictest sense, this is a valley of homes, and the ideal of rural agricultural life is more fully represented hero than anywhere else in the world. For tho most part the land is held under tho freehold tenure, but in the comparatively few instances in which orchards arc leased, the conditions usually are one-third of the crop to the owner of the orchard and twothirds to the lessee. Leases are only from year to year and not for . any lengthy time. According to the statistical report of 1910 the number and size of farms in the county was as follows:— Area. , Farms. Under 3 acres 68 3 to 10 acres 773 10 to 20 acres 1186 20 to 50 acres 1317 50 to 100 acres 562 100 to 175 acres 376 175 to 260 acros 141 260 to 500 acres 147 500 to 1000 acres 75 1000 acros and over ... 86

Sinco this Government report was issued, subdivisions for small orchards have been so numerous that at the present time tliere are about 24,000 farms in the county, of which the great majority arc probably from 10 to 40 acres. The total area of Santa Clara county is 876,200 acres. A Land of Plenty. Unplanted land suitable for orchards sells at from 250 dollars to 500 dollars per acre, and bearing orchards arc worth from 700 dollars to 1000 dollars an acre. In addition to fruits there is a large production here of all kinds of berries and vegetables, also dairy produce, for which markets are found chiefly in San Francisco, in addition to the local markets. The largest fruit canneries and drying grounds in the world are in this valley, and the vast output of sun-cured and canned fruits finds markets throughout the Eastern States of America and in all European countries.

The orchard fruits ripen successively in about the following order:—Cher-i ries, apricots, peaches, and various kinds of plums; then prunes, pears, applesj tho fruit season beginning about' the first of; June, and continuing until Deoember. Table grapes are shipped .cast as late as the middle of Pecember. . . . The Labour Supply. In regard to -labour, the fruit grow- j ers are frequently put to disadvantage, as tho supply of white labour for picking cannot always be had, and the growers are compelled to hire Japanese 1 to do the work, although they would greatly prefer white labour. There is, however, am ample supply of intelligent white labour for drying, packing and canning fruits, and every summer thousands of women and school girls and boys engago in this work during school vacation months. The work is almost entirely piece work, and women have no trouble in making from one dollar to three dollars a day, according to their experience and ability. Girls between the ages of 12 and 16 years, according to the State Child Labour Law, must have the regular school permits to entitle them •to work. Unfurnished houses in the canning companies', camps are rented by the companies to parties containing throe women or girls at two dollars a month. Tho companies also maintain a boarding-house and sell food without board if desired. There is al.so a free, kindergarten in connection with some: factories, and children over four years of age are taken care of there while their mothers are at work in the canneries. "."■-' Irrigation. For many years irrigation was not resorted to in Santa Clara Valley, but two unusually dry seasons resulted in the sinking of wells and the use of water from the several streams that flow through the valley. Many orchards havo never been irrigated, while others have been over-irrigated. With normal seasonable rainfall,. which . averages 20in. or more, irrigation is useful here only lor old trees or for trees that have been planted in ajight gravelly or porous soil. Irrigation makes in size but loses in quality, and tho finest flavoured fruit is that grown.in■. the foothill sections, where irrigation cannot as a rulo be obtained. Therp are many artesian wells .in-the lower portion of the valley, and tlie subterranean ' water supply, carried in vast underj ground gravel hods, is abundant. California's Cardcn Spot. I havo told you of the utilitarian— tho practical—part of the Santa Clam

Valley,; becauso for the most part you are a practical, pounds, shillings and pence lot of people. I sincerely wish, however, that I could throw on the screen of your minds a picture of this beautiful valley as it looked to me on that warm, somewhat hazy day in June. Through highways bordered with orchards of apricots (golden, sun-kissed, ripe unto harvest), peaches, pears, cherries, walnuts, prunes, we motored. Over the rolling downs of the foothills of the Santa Cmz Mountains, high up the sides of which vineyards ;and orchards, like great, draughtboards,., grew; down into ' the heat and haze of the valley aiid of tlio gratesful shade of the frmt trees; thus" for .miles' we sped along smooth, asphalted roads in this land of plenty and profusion— this garden spot of California—this "land of sunshine, fruit, and flowers."