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Fruit Exhibition.

The Horticultural Society, at its last meeting, instructed the Board of Directors to proceed to make arrangements for a Spring Fair for the display of Semi-Tropical fruits. The intentions of this exhibition are to afford an opportunity to make a critcal examination and comparison of the various varieties of the citrus family of fruits, and not only compare varieties, but also compare fruits of the same variety from different localities. The State has progressed just far enough in this business to make a comparison that will be of great value to fruit growers. It is claimed by fruit growers in Central California that oranges raised in the Coast Range, also in the Sierra Nevada foot-hills are superior in quality to the Los Angeles orange. Perhaps such is the case, but who knows? The Sacramento Record-Union, in its issue of December 17, in referring to samples of oranges sent from the root-hills, says: "These oranges include various varieties of the thick and thin skinned, all deliciously fragrant, and equal in flavor to those in any portion of the State—rather more pleasant to the taste, in fact, than most of those grown this season in some of the southern counties." How does the editor of the Record- Union know that such is the case? We have no ripe oranges in Southern California as yet, and will not have for weeks. It is claimed that oranges in the upper country ripen earlier than they do in Southern California. Perhaps this is so, but there is fully as much money in late oranges as in early ones, and if Central California furnishes the early oranges, and Southern California the late oranges, it is much better than to have the fruit of both localities ripen at the same time.

It is quite common for up-country papers to make wild statements like the above. At the Fair next Spring let fruit from Central California be placed on exhibition, that this and other questions may be tested. The time for the Fruit Fair has not been set as yet, but probably sometime in March will be chosen.

Riverside Meeting.

The Horticultural Society will hold a special meeting at Riverside on the 12th and 13th of February, 1879, for discussion. A local committee have the matter of arrangements and programme in hand, and we will be greatly disappointed if we do not have one of the most profitable meetings of fruit growers at that time ever held in Southern California. It is desirable that the leading fruit growers of Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties be present. In connection with the meeting will be had an exhibition of Semi-Tropical fruits. A full programme will be given in the January number.

Non-Irrigation.

The attention of the reader is called to Dr O. H. Cougar's article in this issue relative to experiments I made in ascertaining the amount of moisture in the soil of his orchard, where there has been no irrigation. His trees look remarkably healthy and vigorous; the growth will compare favorably with that in irrigated orchards, and it is becoming an interesting question as to how little water can be used with profit in orchards in Southern California.

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San Diego Olives.

We are in receipt of several bottles of pickled olives from Frank A. Kim-ball, of National City, San Diego County. In the matter of size they are much smaller than the "Queen" olive of commerce, but in quality we have the word of several gentlemen whom we consider as experts, that they are in every way the equal, and many think superior to the imported article. One bottle of fruit, pickled when fully ripe, is considered superior to the others, although the keeping qualities may not prove so good. The following letter from J. De Barth Shorb, President of the Horticultural Society, will, we think, express the views of nearly everyone who has tested the samples:

Editor Horticulturist:—I have given a very careful examination to the pickled olives prepared by Mr. Frank A. Kimball, of San Diego, and I have no hesitation in declaring them to be the best in every particular I have ever seen or eaten; they must commend themselves to all olive caters, and eventually supercede all others on the market. The good taste displayed in the bottles and labels are in perfect keeping with the superiority of the olives themselves. I would suggest to Mr. Kimball that year by year he pickles the olives a little riper until the tastes of our own people are cultivated up to that point where like those in the olive countries in Europe, they will only cat those olives that are matured, that have developed a large part of their oil, and not be like many of the French olives, entirely tasteless and insipid, without flavor or nutrition.

I presume his system of curing is somewhat similar to the one in use by the old California families, i. e. first subject them to a bath of ash ley for about 48 hours, and then put them in fresh water for ten days, changing the water every other day, when all the peculiar bitterness of the fruit should be extracted when they are put away in salt brine. Another process can be used which will cure the olives somewhat faster but rather impairs their appearance and would consequently affect their selling value. The olives are cut in two places to the stone before putting them in water to soak, which of course hastens the abstraction of the bitter principle. In using this process the ash ley is dispensed with entirely. The latter process has my endorsement for domestic uses only, and could not be successfuly adopted for commercial purposes.

In looking on this sample of olives, forming as it does one of the most important interests of Southern California, I am more impressed than usual with the wonderful resources of this wonderfully favored land. I believe the time is not far distant when Southern California will supply all the pickled olives and olive oil used in America, and may together with our raisins and other dried fruit, supply a great portion of the European markets.

Wishing Mr. Kimball all possible success and trusting his efforts may induce others to embark in the business, I remain, yours respectfully,

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Bursting of Oranges.

O. N. San ford, of El Cajon, San Diego, writes under date of November 18: "About a month ago I noticed a young orange tree which was bearing for its first crop a few oranges; the tree looked as though it needed water; I gave it a heavy irrigation; in about a week one of the oranges burst open and I came to the conclusion given by you in the October number of the Horticultu-Rist—that the bursting was caused by the water."

A Correspondent of the Colton Semi-Tropic writing from Riverside says that thousands of limes are going to waste at that place. The lime crop is very light this year, and with proper management ought to be marketed at a living price.

Large oranges are being noticed by our exchanges. Size can be compared much more readily than quality. The latter is of the most importance. The largest yet reported is a Navel orange, 13 2/3 inches in circumference, in C. W. Brown's orchard at Santa Ana. The Times is our authority.

L. H. Titus has discovered a remedy for the red scale bug which is said to be effectual. A strong suds from the scrapings from a soap factory, with which is mixed a little blue vitriol, is thrown by a force pump in a spray through the tree.

On File.—Communications from J. R. of Fresno, S. B., of San Buenaventura and J. H. S., of Los Angeles, are received too late for this issue. But will appear next month.

Ellwood Cooper, of Santa Barbara, has returned from an extended visit East.

With the December number of the California Horticulturist, published at San Francisco by J. H. Carmany & Co., comes the announcement that with the January number, Chas. H. Shinn, of Niles, Alameda County, whom our readers will recognize as an occasional correspondent, assumes editoral control. Mr. Shinn is an able and vigorous writer, and we welcome him to the new field of labor—a field, as all editors know, that is strewn with flowers and choice fruits, with neither thorns, brambles, Canada thistles, nuggets nor diamonds to mar his happiness. Brother Shinn, accept our condolence.

Riverside.

A recent visit to the valley which at present produces the premium raisins, was made with a view to making a thorough examination of the fruit belt, but a north wind and other causes so circumscribed our observations that we concluded to wait until after the February meeting before making further comment.

Any subscriber having a complete file of Volume 1, of the Horticulturist, in good condition, can leave the same at this office and get a bound volume by paying $1.50.

Any person having a March (1878) number of the Horticulturist can sell it for 25 cents by sending the same to this office.

So prune your orchard from the very first that it will never be necessary to remove large limbs.

The acreage of wheat in England is steadily on the decline, although the yield per acre is slowly on the increase.

J. C. Weinberger, of Napa County, has manufactured 1,500 gallons of grape syrup this season.

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Results of Olive Culture.

Editor Horticulturist:—It is with no little satisfaction that I again write you, this time in regard to results obtained the present year from the olive trees reported on one year ago; for results demonstrate success or failure in any business or enterprise, whether it be production, transportation to a market, or sale of the commodity.

In the report referred to I noted the yield of a row of ten (10) trees grown from cuttings planted May 9, 1872, as averaging about six (6) gallons of fruit per tree, the best tree producing over twelve (12) gallons. These trees are now past six (6) years old, and I have just gathered the crop and find the average to be over twelve (12) gallons per tree, or more than double the yield of the previous year. The tree which gave twelve (12) gallons last year, gave twenty-two (22) this year.

In June I irrigated the trees thoroughly, in August partially, and again since picking the fruit. I pruned the small twigs from the main branches in the middle of six of the trees, making them look very thin, but resulting in an increase in quantity, and certainly in quality of fruit, over the trees which were not pruned.

There is no reason why any number of trees should not yield equally well, and I wish right here to impress on the minds of the readers of the Horticulturist (I should have said, "your invaluable magazine,") what I believe to be a fact, viz: the olive tree, planted in soil adapted to its proper cultivation, is less liable to disease, requires less irrigation, is much easier managed, and will yield a larger return than the orange or lemon tree.

I do not expect this proposition to be endorsed now by anybody, but am contented to "wait and see;" and while I am about it I might as well make a further record which I think will be verified; olive trees three years from cuttings will pay all expenses of cultivation for that year, the fourth year a hundred and fifty dollars per acre, the fifth year three hundred dollars, and the sixth year five hundred dollars per acre. These figures result from the sale of the fruit just as taken from the trees at fifty cents per gallon; by preparing the fruit for market the net result will be nearly doubled.

I have tried the various recipes for pickling the olive for market, and will forward samples to be placed before the Society at its next meeting, and if satisfactory, will send you the one used in preparing samples sent.

Now for the reasons for the "faith that is within me." I believe the State of California pays a larger sum annually for the products of the olive tree imported from foreign countries, than for the combined products of the orange and lemon, including domestic as well as foreign production, and this, too, with consumption restricted by exorbitant prices, not only of the fruit prepared for the table, but for the oil; and who can determine what proportion of this is cotton seed or peanut oil?

Many persons insist that the fruit of an orange orchard, sold at ten dol- page 58 lars per thousand, or even less, will bring a larger net return than any other production from the same area.

My curiosity led me to an examination of the relative cost per thousand of the orange and olive. I first learned that the Queen (?) olive cost wholesale, per dozen bottles, six dollars, and the number of olives in each bottle varied between forty-seven (47) and sixty-three (63), or an average of fifty-five in each, or a fraction less than ten dollars per thousand, wholesale cost. These were much larger than our domestic or Mission olive.

Curiosity did not flag till I had selected and packed several bottles—duplicates of the foreign—with olives of my own production.

The average number in a dozen bottles was a hundred and ten (110). To bring the olive within the reach of all, suppose we sell them at $3.50 per dozen, instead of $6; every thousand olives then will bring $250, and it takes but a small tree to bear ten thousand olives.

True, the "Queen" olive is larger than those now cultivated here, but I venture to say there is very little more meat on one of them than on a fair sized Mission olive; and besides, the domestic olive is nearly a freestone, the flesh readily separating from the pit, and for these reasons are much to be preferred.

When housekeepers consider that they pay about as much per dozen for imported olives as they do for oranges, and that they are about as much pit as meat, they will cast about to see if something just as good or better cannot be purchased at a less price.

It is evident that the Queen olive must remain a luxury to be indulged in only by those who are able to gnaw a foreign production.

This fruit should not be a luxury, but a staple article of family consumption.

The people inhabiting the olive-producing portions of Europe rarely taste meat, the olive almost entirely supplying its place. As an article of wholesome diet their cultivation should be encouraged.

To-day I saw eleven (11) gallons of splendid olives picked from a tree only four (4) years old from the cutting. This tree is in my brother's (W. C. Kimball's) orchard.

By an article in the Rural Press, I observe that the "Cocus olio" has ceased to frighten Mr. Cooper, of Santa Barbara, indicated by pushing his investigations, and investments into the manufacture and introduction of pure oil. I thought so, and congratulate him on his conversion.

It may not be amiss to say that the orchard at Mission San Diego is now worse than neglected; and while examining it a few days ago I noticed quite a number of trees which had been killed this year.

An Italian firm in San Diego have bought all the olives they could, paying fifty cents per gallon, fresh from the trees. I think no prepared olives have been sold at less than a dollar per gallon, wholesale, this year, this being about one-third the price paid for the imported article.

I hope the Society may encourage page 59 the planting of the olive in all of our foot hill country; it will stand frost and snow. No poor man can afford to be without an olive orchard.

We have seen growing luxuriantly within half a mile, in Ventura county, the orange, the lemon, the lime, the citron, the fig, the pomegranate, the olive, the banana, the English walnut, the hard and soft-shelled almond, plums of the choicest kind, including' the French and Hungarian prune, the grape of every known variety almost, apples, pears, peaches, and the chestnut.—Ventura Free Press.

Growing luxuriantly is one thing, but growing profitably is another. Nearly all of the fruits and nuts named above will doubtless prove profitable in Ventura county. Will the Free Press please give some figures and facts to show how profitable almond, plum and prune orchards are in Ventura county. Thus far we have been unable to find any profit in either of them in Southern California, but hope to find localities where they will do well.

A California paper chronicles corn in Yolo county fifteen feet high with ears growing nine feet from the ground. Ah! but corn which requires a step ladder to reach the ears is not the sort to produce big yields.—Prairie Farmer.

Yes, but on the contrary we have seen fields of corn in Los Angeles county when it became a necessity to go along and break down the stalks before husking, and yet the crop would yield from 75 to 100 bushels to the acre, and in some cases even more.

Remedy for the Scale Bug.

Kerosene, diluted with water, is receiving many endorsements as a sure destroyer of the scale bug. Anson Van Leuven, of Old San Bernardino, writes: "Take twenty-five parts of water to one of kerosene, use either with syringe or swab; two applications will be sufficient to effectually kill the scale." Mr. Van Leuven is a pioneer orange grower at Old San Bernardino, and lives in a section of country where the scale is not so prevalent as it is nearer the coast.

W. D. Frazee, lately of San Bernardino, but now of Downey City, writes us to the same effect, endorsing the application of kerosene, diluted as stated above.

Scale Bug.—Last Spring we imported a number of orange trees from Los Angeles. When they arrived here they were badly covered with scale bug—an insect that infests the trees at Los Angeles severely. During the Summer the scale almost entirely disappeared from the orange trees, but during the last few weeks we were surprised to find them in abundance on the leaves of a couple of brown Smyrna fig trees, and on a couple of tritomas, or "Red-hot Pokers." Can some of the Los Angeles orange sharps inform us whether or not this is a common occurrence?—Fresno Expositor.

The scale bug infests everything almost. We have seen it on the orange, lemon, lime, peach, apple, apricot, almond, olive, and even blue gum. They are worse near the coast and scarcer in the interior valleys. They ought not to trouble trees to any extent in Fresno county. A little care there ought to keep trees comparatively free from these pests.

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Practical Tests.

Estimate of Water and Temperatures Beneath the Surface and Surrounding the Roots of an Orange Tree.

Being unable to learn that anything in particular has ever been done to encourage experimental horticulture or agriculture in Southern California, and much less for the diffusion of practical knowledge, an in-difference amounting to a culpablc neglect, or considering those vital interests entirely subordinate to other and much less worthy objects, I trust that modern research and inquiry will not be regarded as innovations upon a well-settled and unapproachable system. Viewed from an impartial and present standpoint, no light seems to have radiated even from the liberally endowed agricultural department connected with the State University touching these important interests for which it was originally intended to promote; and it is not an exaggeration to state that these industries are languishing, even in this fairest and most fertile portion of the habitable globe, for the lack of a little well-directed effort which would afford most reliable data from which invaluable practical knowledge could be obtained. "The blind are still leading the blind." Horticultural in: erests here have remained practically in statu quo for the past half century. The old ruts are a little deeper if anything, for the original stimuli that created an interest to embark m the enterprise has long ago become exhausted, and comparative indifference and apathy is almost universal among those who have grown grey in the pioneer effort, assuming an air of wisdom and dignity which, if not absolutely unapproachable, is quite humiliating to observe. Men of thought and culture seem also to have been lulled into comparative indifference concerning the great value of discussing the vital questions connected with economic horticulture, or more particularly the branch of fruitgrowing, insomuch that now, when dire calamity in the form of types of diseases and uncontrollable pests of various kinds threaten with cyclonic rapacity the very existence of their former resources they are amazed and dumb, knowing of no power to stay the ravages of the merciless destroyer. The thought perhaps has never crossed their minds that soil and long years of improper treatment lies at the foundation of their present trouble. However, they do not hesitate to inquire into the best methods of securing and keeping the orange, but ignore all investigations into the proper soils to plant and the best treatment to produce a long-lived, healthy tree, and the perfection of its fruit. This is left for the present and future new-comer to discover, and the indications already point unmistakably to the belt of mesa flanking the base of the Sierra Madre as the future and natural home of the entire citrus family.

That something is radically wrong in the old time-honored methods of treating the orange and lemon trees of this and adjoining counties, with page 61 rare and singularly obscure exceptions, cannot well admit of doubt, and the question is now forced upon us, what is to be done? Have we, late arrivals, encouragement to emulate the practice of these grey-haired patriarchs around us? Bathing in the rich and delicious ethers distilled from the delicate orange blossoms until narcotized into the belief that all is well, while disease and death is insidiously working disaster and ruin everywhere? While we desire information, we cannot look upon the destruction of the old orange groves going on around us and ask no questions, but blindly follow. Experiments are somewhat expensive, but ignorance, bigotry and guess work are much more so. Experience is a good teacher, guided by reason, founded upon facts, but generations of experience resting upon hypothesis only, is not worthy of respect.

Recent investigations into the quality of soil, moisture and temperature at the different depths which the orange roots have already reached or may penetrate the soil in which they grow, has led me into this discussion at this time, and without pursuing this inexhaustible subject further I will submit the result of my recent experiments around and beneath a growing and vigorous orange tree that has not been irrigated but once in the past two years and that once last year.

On the 5th instant, at 2 P.M., I made an excavation 3x4 feet and six feet deep on the north side of one of my six-year-old orange trees, leaving the inner wall four feet from the trunk of the tree. My first sample of earth was the top most dust, temperature of air, 76° Fahr. Below is the result, going down to 5 ½ feet, the present limit of the fibrous roots at that distance from the radical or tap root.

Surface dust at 135° Fahr. yielded 12 5-12 lbs. water per ton troy of soil, or 18 lbs. to the cubic yard. Same sample at 212° gave off 32 10-12 lbs. of water per ton, or 49 lbs. per cubic yard. Now, the roots of this tree under consideration have reached a distance of over 8 feet in every direction from the trunk, which gives us 11 cubic yards of soil penetrated by its roots.

Second sample, one foot below surface, temperature of soil, 60° Fahr. gave off 125 lbs. of water per ton at 212° Fahr., or 188 lbs. per cubic yard.

Third sample, two feet below surface, temperature of soil in place, 54° Fahr. gave off 124 11-12 Ibs. water per ton, at 212° Fahr., or 188 lbs. per cubic yard.

Fourth sample, 3 feet down, temperature of soil in place, 55° yielded 166 lbs. 8 oz. per ton at 212° or 250 lbs. per cubic yard.

Fifth sample, 4 feet deep, temperature of soil in place, 58° gave off 167 lbs. per ton, or 250 lbs. per cubic yard.

Sixth sample, 5 feet down, temperature of soil in place, 61° gave off 169 lbs. per ton, or 254 lbs. per cubic yard, at 212° Fahr.

It must be significant to all to note the difference in temperature of the soil at two and three feet below the surface, and that at four and five feet page 62 down, with a steady increase of moisture also.

Upon discovering this condition of things, a net of fibrous roots bathed in such rich, moist soil below the vicissitudes of surface temperatures, I no longer wondered why my trees kept up such a vigorous appearance and constant growth of new wood. The old method of blindly pouring on unmeasured streams of cold water every two or three weeks, and continued, could not but have worked irreparable injury and premature decay and death to all trees thus situated, and I venture the prediction that if an examination were made around and beneath the dead and dying trees in the old orchards, few if any vigorous roots would be found far below the surface. The orange tree is warm-blooded and must have warm, deep, mellow soil that its roots can penetrate, and such soil will gather water enough from the clouds, if kept in proper condition, to supply the natural wants of the tree during the interim of drouth nine seasons out of ten. The ground around my trees receives thorough surface cultivation once in four weeks and no oftener, as in my opinion, the soil needs rest and time for recuperation as well as organic substances. Many overwork their soil without doubt, as well as committing another error of over stimulating with fertilizers and water. The result of the examination as given above clearly demonstrates that roots of the orange tree will go down after the requisite moisture if permitted to do so, and moreover will supply the evaporation and other demands of the rapid-growing tree, while the surface roots are measurably off duty from any cause.

Neither the extreme heat nor its opposite cold affects these deep roots, and the percolation of the rain is so gradual that no sudden shock is experienced by the tree as in the case of sluicing on the water in the present artificial manner. The sap ceases to flow during the descent of any considerable quantity of water within a short interval, as all close observers will have noticed that if a tree is irrigated just as a new growth is putting out, it is checked at once, and will remain dormant from ten days to two weeks more or less, according to the season of the year, warmth of soil, temperature of air, etc. In short, solar heat has to again raise the temperature of the wet soil enclosing the roots to a degree compatible with conditions requisite to restore their deranged functions. The subject is so full of important details that will not admit of discussing in this already too lengthy article, I will simply consign my trees to the tender care of the clouds, capillary attraction, deep plowing, clean surface, and thorough cultivation until further developments, when, if of general interest, will report progress.

Don't irrigate next to the tree, is the advice of Anson Van Leuven, of Old San Bernardino. This advice has been reiterated many times by our best orchardists, and yet probably nine trees out of ten in Los Angeles county get the water next to the tree during the hot days of summer very much to their disadvantage.

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Horticultural Society

Fair Suggestions.

Editor Horticulturist:—Allow me to make a suggestion which, if carried out at the next Fair, I think will be an improvement in the pomological department. At the last Fair the fruit was placed in different parts of the pavilion, and it must have been a very difficult matter for the judges to make their awards. Now, I think the interest that is manifested in fruit in this part of the State demands that there should be a special hall, or part of the main building set apart for its display. Also, that competing lots be placed side by side and not in a conglomerate mass, where, or as the exhibitor may fancy. Let the names of varieties be legibly written or printed, so that visitors can decide upon varieties in the purchase of fruit or trees. It would be a good idea for the Committee on Nomenclature to look over the collections and correct mistakes in naming, if any. Also, that the judges make and affix their awards to the Successful lots before the public are admitted. Yours etc.

Will It Pay?

In entering upon any business the first question asked is, "will it pay?" A few men enter a business for the pure love of the thing itself, but the majority always have and always will look at any enterprise from an investment stand point. The time never has been in Southern California when there have not been found plenty of people who have advised against planting orange and lemon orchards, on the ground that the business will soon be overdone, and that the undertaking, as an investment, would be a failure. In this business, as in any other, there are plenty of failures; there is a right way and a wrong way to put out an orange orchard, and a majority of people find the wrong way.

As an evidence of what can be done we refer to the Sierra Madra Villa orchard, in this county. It was planted in the Spring of 1875, the trees were five-year-old roots, with two-year-old Konah grafts, making the trees, last Spring, eight years of age. Two hundred and fifty Konah trees were planted. This season J. De Barth Shorb has advanced $600 on the orange crop, and says that the trees will average 500 oranges to the tree. As $150 per acre will bring an orchard to this state of advancement, any ordinary scholar can easily figure on the proposition—"will it pay to plant orange orchards?" In our opinion it will pay to invest in an orange or lemon orchard, if the orchard is to receive good culture, otherwise not.'

Corn has sold in large quantities, in Iowa the present season, as low as eight cents per bushel.