THE FRUIT INDUSTRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 9308, 18 September 1893, Page 6

THE FRUIT INDUSTRY.

USEFUL HINTS TO ORANGE-

GROWERS.

SUCCESSFUL OLIVE-GROWING. [from our special travelling CORRES-

pondent.]

San Francisco, August 18.—The last three weeks I have spent in company with Mr. P. J. Cillie, Horticultural Commissioner of Cape Colony, in visiting Southern California. The great fruit industry there is in oranges and lemons ; deciduous fruits are grown to a considerable extent, but the latter having to be irrigated can never hope to compete in flavour with those grown in the north. Olives and walnuts also are cultivated largely in certain places.

1 Planting is proceeding faster than ever and the area needing water constantly enlarging. Consequently the older irrigation companies are developing and increasing their water supply by tunnels into the mountains, by artesian wells, etc., and new schemes are brought forward and others are progressing rapidly. From the head or pressure of water to be obtained from the streams flowing down the canyons electricity is produced by the use of Pelton or turbine water-wheels, and the same water that is used for the irrigation of orchards produces electricity enough to light the houses and streets of many towns and provide power for running electric cars and machinery of all sorts.

THE FUTURE PROSPECT.

When it is remembered that this State has mountain ranges for 900 miles from north to south and scores of canyons with line streams running from them, and what the possibilities of electricity are, one is afraid to prophesy. It seems to me that the country is destined to be not simply dotted with orchards, but one vast continuous orchard, fertile, populous, and wealthy, intersected in all directions by electric lines and light electric freight and passenger cars running at 30 miles an hour easily ; electric lights everywhere and no necessity for coal even to cook meals, and all this by the intelligent use of water. When I saw in San Antonio canyon, at the back of Ontario, a strean some five or six feet across and a foot deep, and knew that that stream, with its fall in 4 or 5 miles of 300 or 400 feet, was rushing along with the force of 200 or 300 horsepower, I could not help realising what a future there is before many parte of Now Zealand and New Zealand, where water-power can be easily developed. In regard to the orange culture, one of the first tilings that we noticed was the very long standards of nine-tenths of the trees, many thousands of acres being from three feet up to five feet high ; three feet is about the average. The opinion seems to bo held that the orange, contrary to all my notions, is not impatient of heat, but, with plenty of water, welcomes it. Stakes are a necessity with these young trees. It is certainly a great deal eaiser to plough and cultivate round a tree of that sort. , Some of the trees first planted at Riverside, and 20 years old, stand with fully five or six feet butts, and look remarkably well, being from 20 to 30 feet high and bearing 10 to 15 boxes of fruit each. At Ontario, the Chaffey Bros', old colony, we were assured that the lowstandard or bush-shaped citrus tree was superseding the high.

MANURE NEEDED FOB ORANGES,

It is everywhere found necessary after, say, seven or eight years to fertilise the land for citrus fruits. Mr. E. W. Holmes, an old citrus-grower and editor of the Riverside Daily Press, is in favour of fertilising from the very first, earlier and larger results being so obtained. Sheep dung is used to make wood and leaf growth, and potash for fruit production. Dr. Jarvis, of Riverside, estimates that it costs about

30dols. |>er acre per annum for fertilisers, and the same for labour and water, or 69 dols. total. Sheep manure is used at the rate of about 4£ tons per acre, and from one to two pounds of potash per tree. The rule is no fertiliser, no crop. Too much manure, however, will produce collar rot {mat-degoma), as the tree will try to take up more than it can use.

STOCKS TO USE.

With regard to stocks for working the orange upon, there is quite a difference of opinion between authorities as to the relative value of sweet and sour orange seedlings. Strong arguments are used on both sides for both stocks, but little seems to be said against either. Editor Holmes, in a letter to me, states that after twenty years' experience of the iiweet stock, he gees no reason whatever for discarding it in favour of the newer and less known sour stock. From all I have heard and read, I should say that both are eood stocks. Both, however, will resent abuse, and too much water or manure, or both, will cause mal-de-(joma. Nursery orange stock is sold from three to five years old from the seed, and at from 25 cents (or Is) to 85 cents (or 3s Gd) each.

With regard to lemon stock for working either orange or lemon upon, I must say that it is everywhere unqualifiedly condemned. The fight on this point was years ago fought out, and there are none so hardy now as to defend it—so New Zealand and Australian nurserymen please take note.

VARIETIES OF ORANGES. The Tahiti seedling is the kind of which most was planted until recently, and the bulk of the crop marketed is of this variety. This orange when grown from seed brought from Tahiti, " comes true from seed," but how those grown at Riverside, and inoculated from the several varieties planted there would turn out, I cannot, say, but I would not care to risk planting an orchard of them unless, of course, budded.

The Washington Navel orange is undoubtedly the prime favourite today all through the orange sections. The Australian Navel, which at one time was

planted to some extent, is now entirely superseded by the Washington. The latter is a remarkably fine, large orange, rich and sweet juice, very littlo waste in the pulp, and practically no seeds. Aether variety that will be planted here to some extent is the Hart's Tardive or Valencia "Late. It

comes into the market in good condition when most other oranges are flavourless and of no use. It has a fine, rich flavour, and, I should say, ought to be at its prime from November to March or April in Australia and New Zealand. Mr. Cutter, nurseryman and grower at Riverside, says it will keep its flavour and quality for 12 months after reaching maturity. However, as it comes into market when all the do-

ciduous fruits are in, on a comparatively small area will be sufficient to overstock the market.

The Paper-Rind St. Michael is a very thin-skinned fruit, very dense in texture of pulp and .richly flavoured ; it, however, does not part readily from the skin, and is seedy. Bub for these last two facts, Mr. Scipio Craig, of the Redlands Citrograph, told mo he would place it at the head of the list.

The above three varieties we were fortunate enough to be able, though so late in the season, to sample specimens of. The Joppa, which has a good deal of notice in the California papers, I found was hardly known. Very few had seen or tasted the fruit, and none seemed to regard it as fit to be placed alongside the Washington Navel.

The Mediterranean Sweet is in some quarters planted, bub not extensively. The Homasassa, Satsuma, Mandarin, and Tangarine are also'grown, bub none of them to any appreciable extent, and thoy are evidently not regarded, as of great commercial value.

The trees are, as a rule, from three to four or five,years old when planted out. Planting is done here all through the summer, and very successfully. One newlyplanted orchard of lemon trees looked little

better than ft lot of bare stakes, three or four feet high. There were about 15 or 20 acres of them, and hardly a leaf or sign of growth, but I was assured it would be all right and nearly every tree would grow.. In many nurseries a transplanting tool is used ; it is about the size of a two-gallon bucket, but not tapering, open at both end?, bottom end sharp, and finger holes near the rim at she top. This is placed round the plant to be lifted, the plant beiner in the centre, and it is driven down into the sandy soil until it is flush with the ground, a Bharp spado is used then to sever fclin roots near the bottom and the whole affair is lifted and in some places is dropped into a canvas tube about the size of the trans-. planter. In that way the earth is not very much disturbed round the roots and success in planting out in summer is much surer. The canvas tubes enable the plants to be carried considerable distances without damage, and they can easily be returned,

The cost of haulage foe 2000 miles, from Riverside to Chicago, for a box of oranges they go from 65 to 70 pounds per box— 874 to 90 cents, This is the rate per carload of 20,000 pounds or 10 tons— the ton here is 2000 pounds. ... .-, LEMONS. }..[ .. ;.;* Most of what I have said aboufa oranges applies to lemons also. The four kinds grown here in quantity are Villa Franca, Eureka, Lisbon, and Genoa. ;> Many other varieties, are grown in small quantity, among them being one, viz., the" Royal Messina, which, if the chemical analysis made of it at the Berkeley University be borne out 'in the future quality of those grown, will possibly take the lead. Mr. Freeman, of Ontario, prefers the •Eureka to the other three standard varieties, because it is hornless and he can pick the fruit at all seasons the year round. He uses a ring 2J inches in inside diameter to measure and grade the fruit, and picks all that tit the ring. His system of curing, and he gets good prices, is to sweat them in boxes of about 200 pounds each for six weeks in a dark room ; he then removes the good ones to another shed, puts them into trays one layer, thick, stacks the trays seven or eight feet high, for from two and a-half to six or eight months in a cool, dark room, j For those kept till July or August he gets i 4d015., or 17s per case, but of course loses something in shrinkage and cull*. Mr. Blanchard, of Santa Paula, one of the most successful lemon-growers and curers in the State, proceeds much in the same way, but sweats his fruit in trays 2ft x 3ft x 3in deep in single layers of lemons. These are packed up solid, five or six feet deep, and left for a fortnight, then removed, culls taken oub and replaced by good fruit, trays restackod for from 30 days to two months before selling, and of course they are always wrapped in tissue paper when packed up for transport. Winter-picked fruit will take months to cure where that picked in the summer will cure in a few weeks. The culls are, as a rule, just as good in quality as the others, being only a little withery or dry in the skin, suffering consequently in appearance only. Mr. Craig, of the Citrograph, told me that until recently so little was really known about citrus culture here that it is hard to get an authority on the subject, which will not contain much matter which a little later experience has proved, in some localities and under some conditious, to be obsolete or incorrect, but he reckons Carey's book on citrus culture the best and most reliable yet published. The Riverside section has just had a very bad time; two succeeding bad years have rather upset things. Last season there was an immense crop there and the Riverside growers attempted, by local cooperation, to fix the prices for the then coming season, without reckoning the crop of the outside districts, such as Redlands, Ontario, Highlands, Pasadena, Alhambra, Orange, Pomona, Duarte, Tustin, etc., and they found that the fruit from these sections poured into the market at prices lower than theirs and in greater quantities than they had expected. Consequently the bottom soon fell out of the Riverside co-operation and the prices realised did not average more than 7-3 cents, or 3 shillings per case. I have been told that 30 cents would be nearer the mark. Some growers, after shipping thousands of cases of fruit East, actually had no profit, bub bills for expenses over and above the returns. The season before last proved disastrous, owing to a very severe frost, and the fact that many hundreds of carloads of frost-bitten fruit were shipped East and, of course, sold for next to nothing, and only landed the growers in debt. These things have forced upon the Riverside people the necessity of co- operating with the other sections, and a very active spirit is now being shown by the whole people, public meetings will shortly be held in every orange district through the south, and practically it will control the whole orange crop of the State.

OLIVES.

The culture of this fruit is .rapidly extending over the southern portion of the State. In some sections a greater immunity is claimed from black scale than in others, and the olive nurserymen of course do not lose sight of this fact in advertising. The Hon. El wood Cooper, of Santa Barbara, is the largest and oldest producer of olive oil in the State; he has a welldeserved national reputation for the purity of his product. His chief variety is the Mission olive. y; '

i Mr. Cooper hospitably entertained JMr. Cillie and myself for the two days that we j spent at Santa Barbara, driving us round his extensive rancho and explaining his methods. I must say that what Mr. Cooper calls a good crop on some of his ! immense Mission trees, we in South Australia would consider very small. He has for years had to fight the black scale upon his trees, and he has used coal oil or kerosene emulsion for the purpose. His experience has been like that of Prof. Newton B. Pierce, of Santa Ana, and mine in South Australia with regard to the kerosene emulsion, viz., that unless made with scrupulous care and from the best oil, it is more likely to do harm than good. However, by keeping always to one brand and grade of kerosene, he has managed to succeed measurably with it on his groves. It costs Mr. Cooper $5000, or £1000 per year to spray for the black scale. While driving through his orchard we noticed his spraying waggon and team at work carting water. The waggon has a long wooden tank capable of holding 500 gallons upon it. Six mules draw it, one man pumps, and two others direct the nozzles of the sprayer. Since Prof. Koebele's return from Australia, where he had been sent to study the parasites of the different scales, Mr. Cooper has had two ladybirds— the Orcus Australasia and the Rhizobins— placed upon his trees, and we had an opportunity of seeing the splendid work being performed by the Khizobius in eating the black scale. It has multipled enormously, and we found it on trees very many rows away from the trees where originally placed, and the scale upon the trees harbouring the Khizobius was undoubtedly decreasing rapidly compared with those trees where the ladybird has nob yet reached. lb is, I firmly believe, only a question of time when the Rhizobius will do for the black scale what the vedalia did for the cottony cushion scale. The little blue ladybird, Orcu.s chalybeus, is nob increasing very rapidly yet, but time must be given it, and it will probably clean out the red scale. Mr. Cooper will be prepared to distribute the Rhizobius to applicants in a few weeks. Mr. Cooper pays one-half cent, or one farthing, per pound for picking, but provides all appliances, ladders, aprons, bags, etc. An average day's work is 300 pounds picked, while a smart man can pick or strip from 400 to 500 pounds. The fruit is picked in bags, and each picker has his or her number plainly marked upon the bag, and in this way no confusion is caused when, at the end of the day, each picker's weight is credited to him. Two hundred pounds of Mission olives produce 15 bottles of oil ; the bottles run 5.} to the gallon and soil for 51.25, or 5s por bottle retail. Mr. Cooper has found that a simple and effective test for olive oil is to place it in an ice chest for about two days. If it is pure no change will take place ; if it contains cotton-seed oil it will look like lard ; if there is mustard seed in it, it turns red. Immense quantities of cottonseed oil are consumed in this country under the name of salad oil or olive oil. People do nob understand the dangers of using cottonseed oils or they would not use it. Everything about Mr. Cooper's oil cellars was scrupulously clean and double doors used to keep out dust and light. Mr. J. L. Howland, of Pomona, showed us through his oil cellars and nurseries, and we there tasted two samples of oil ; one we both liked very much better than the other. The sample we preferred was made from the Pendulina olive and the other from the Mission. Mr. Howland prefers the Pendulina above all others because of its constant bearing qualities and its very superior flavour.

If I were at liberty to say what per cent, of profit Mr. Howland makes out of his olives you would bo apt to discredit it, I am afraid ; but if Sir Samuel Davenport, of South Australia, could get $6 per gallon, or ever, half, for all his olive oil, I know ho would realise a very handsome profit. . Mr, Howland says t*iat tho Pendulina, Rubra, and Uvaria have never failed him a crop since they came into bearing.