CALIFORNIA'S GARDEN

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVI, Issue 16921, 29 July 1915, Page 10

CALIFORNIA'S GARDEN

THE SANTA CLARA VALLEY

(By ROBERT BELL.)

'THE LAND OF SUNSHINE, FRUIT AND FLOWERS."

Thus was headed tho invitation froin the San Jose Chamber of Commerce to visit the Santa Clara Valley. The invitation reached itinerant pressmen. Exposition Commissioners, State Governors and 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 ih,« 5 party ran out of the shady, cool sta- " ' Lion at San Francisco into the suu- " shine, and warmth of a lovely day in ■ , .June. Not that the weather special- ) ly favoured this particular party on 1 this particular day : for it may as we!: . ho conceded at.onco that "sunshine" \ aud " California " are fcynonyniou.) "j terms. The route to San Jose." some I hf-y miles from the city of the Golden I Gate, runs on the bay front tor sojdr ■distance, then along the peninsula. I through Redwood City,-Palo Alto.. ' j which is the home of tho great endowI cd university known as Leiand Stanford Junior, and other flourishing : centres of population. But of far I more interest to tho visitors than the grouped habitations of men, however I beautiful and comfortable they may : be, were the evidences of richness oi soil in the abundant harvests which had just been reaped nnd the snug, well-to-do air of prosperity manifest in the hundreds of homes on the welltiled, closely settled lands. A littlemore than an hour's run and San Jo?i —the Flower City and chief town of Santa Clara County—is reached. Her.; the party transfer to motor-cars ami begin.'the exploration of the Santa Clara Valley; which some writer has appropriately named " Tho Valley of Heart's Delight" A VALLEY OF HOMES. The orchards and farms are worked as n rule by their owners, and the number of tenants occupying leased farms is small. It is claimed that, in tho 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 the most part the land is held under the freehold tenure, hut in the comparatively few instances in which orchards are leased, the condition. l ; usually are 'one-third of the crop to tho 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 J 1910 the number and size of farms in

Since this Government report -was issued, subdivisions for small orchards have been so numerous that at the present time there are about 24,0(50 farms* in tho county, of which the greal majority are probably from ten to forty acres. The total area of Santa Clara, county, is 567,200 acres. A LAND OF PLENTY. ( TJnplaivted land suitable for orchards . sells at from 250 dollars to 500 dollars ' per acre, and bearing orchards' areworth from 700 dollars to 1000 dollars an acre. In addition te fruits thei'u is a large production hero of all kind? of lierries. and vegetables, also dairy j produce, for which markets are found chiefly in San Francisco, in addition to . itho.local markets. The largest fruit canneries'and drying grounds in the j world are iD this valley, and the vast j output of sun-cured and canned fruits! finds markets throughout the Eastern j Suites of America and in all European ! countries, j The orchard fruits ripen successively in about tho following order:—Cher- ; rics. apricots, peaches, and various j kinds of plums; then _ prunes, pears. J apples, the fruit sor.son beginning abou: the first of June, and continuing until December. Table grapes are shipped . cast as late as the middle of December. ; THE LABOUR SUPPLY J In regard to labour, the fruit grow- . efs are frequently put to disadvantage. ! as the supply of white labour for pick \ I ing cannot always be had, and the growers are compelled to hire Japanese to do. the work, although they would greatly prefer white labour. There , is, however, an ample supply of intelligent white labour for drying, packing and canning fraits, and every sum j mer thousands of women and school girls and boys engage in this work during school vacation months. The work is almost entirely piece j work, and women have no trouble in making from one dollar to three dol- i lars a day, according to their experi- ! once and ability. Girls between the f ages of twelve and sixteen years, accord'ng to the State Child Labour Law, must have the regular school permits to entitle them to work. Unfur- | nished houses in the canning companies' camps are rented by the companies to parties containing three women or girls at two dollars a month. The companies also maintain a bcarding-hou.se and sell food without board if desired. ' There is also a frea kindergarten in con- j nection with some factories, and ohil- ] dren over four years of age are taken care of there while thair mothers arc ; at work in tho canneries. IRRIGATION. j For many years irrigation was not resol ted to in Santa Clara Valley, but ! two unuvually dry seasons resulted iu I the sinking of wells and the use of water from the sev- ' eral streams that flow through the j valley. Many orchards have never been irrigated', while others have been over- I irrigated. With normal seasonable rain- j fall, which a.veragC3 20in of more, irrigation is useful here only for old trees or for trees that have been planted! I in a light gravelly or porous soif. Irri- i gat : on makes in size but loses in. j quality, and tho finest flavoured fruit ! is that grown in the foothill sections, j where irrigation cannot as a rule be j obtained. There ore many artesian wells in the lower portion of "the valley, : and tho .subterranean water supply! j : carried in vast underground gravel ' beds, is abundant. '■ i CALIFORNIA'S GARDEN. SPOT. I' I have told you of the utilitarian— ' ] the practical—part of the Santa Clara \ ] Va.liey, because for the most p;>.rt you : - are a practical, pounds, shillings and: j pi-nee lot of people. I sincerely wish, I however, that f could throw on the hcreen of your mind;, a picture of this < beautiful valley as it looked to me on i that warm, somewhat hazy day in June. , Through highways bordered with ' j orchards of apricots (golden, sun-kiss- < od. ripe unto harvest), peaches, pears, * ' cherries, walnuts, prunes, we motored. \ Oyer the rolling downs of the foot- < hills of the Santa Cruz Mountains, t high up the sides of which vineyards , and orchards like great draught- •( boards. ";■<■?; ; down into the heat and ( haze of the valley and of the grateful"; shade of the fruit trees: thus for miles I we- r.psd.along smooth, asphalted roads j in this land of plenty and profusion— ,e th-'s garden sno+ of Caßfr»r_"in—this J "land of sunshine, and flowers." J

the county was as foil ons: — Area. Farru3. Under 3 acres • 68 ! 8 to 10 acres . . 773 J 10 to -20 acres . 13SG ■■ 20 to 50 acres . 1317 ,- 50 to 100 &CT(>S. 562 100 to 175 acres . 378 175 to 260 acres 111 260 to 500 acros 147 300 to 1000 acres 75 1000 aoros and over 86 \