USA > California > California of the South: Being a Complete Guide Book to Southern California > Part 26
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APPENDIX.
THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
BY HON. JOHN R. BRIERLY, OF LOS ANGELES, CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA.
THE public schools of Southern California are a part of the public-school system of the State, and no State has provided more liberally for the education of her children.
To describe the work of the public schools of the counties of Los Angeles, San Bernardino, San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Ven- tura, without a preliminary statement of what the California system of public schools has done, and is doing, for the education of the people throughout the State, would be practically impossible.
The public-school system of California provides free schools from the primary school to the grammar school, and thence to the high schools of the cities and large towns, the three State normal schools, or the State University at Berkeley, near Oakland.
The first California State normal school was organized in San Francisco in 1862, and occupied rooms in the public-school buildings of that city until July, 1871, when it was removed to San José, where it now occupies a building erected by the State that cost $150,000.
In 1881 the Legislature appropriated $50,000 for the construc- tion of a State normal-school building in Los Angeles, and in Au- gust, 1882, the school was ready to receive pupils.
In 1887 the State appropriated $50,000 to construct a building
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SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
for a State normal school in the northern part of the State, and within a year the third State normal school will be opened in Chico, Butte County.
The normal school in Los Angeles had 278 pupils enrolled in the school-year ending June 30, 1887, and there were 48 graduates that year.
There have been from May, 1884, to June, 1887, seven graduat- ing classes and 148 graduates from the normal school in Los An- geles.
The primary and grammar schools of the State of California de- rive their support from various sources.
There is a permanent endowment, invested in interest-bearing bonds of the State or counties, of $2,527,500, that produced an in- come of $146,458.72.
The poll taxes, amounting to about $300,000, and the interest upon deferred payments upon State school-lands, amounting to about $40,000 annually, are also placed in the State school fund.
The State also provides for a direct tax upon all the property of the State for the support of the public schools, and for twelve years has levied $1,300,000 annually for that fund. At the session of the Legislature in January, February, and March, 1887, the Assembly, with only four dissenting votes, passed a bill providing for a perma- nent levy of twenty-five cents on each one hundred dollars of prop- erty in the State for the support of the public schools.
The Senate did not act upon the bill, but a similar bill will no doubt become the law of the State at the next session of the Legis- lature in 1889.
Such a levy will produce $2,000,000 annually, and the amount will increase with the growth of the State.
The bill providing for a permanent tax-levy for the public schools having failed to become a law, the Committee on Ways and Means in the Assembly embodied in the general tax-levy bill an increase from $1,300,000 to $1,500,000 annually for the levy for the support of the public schools, and an amendment was offered by the Chairman of the Assembly Committee on Education to increase the amount of the levy for the support of the public schools from the amount heretofore levied, $1,300,000 annually, to $1,600,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1888, and to $1,800,000 for the school- year ending June 30, 1889.
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APPENDIX.
The amendment was adopted with no particular opposition, and is now the law of the State. The liberal appropriations by the State to support the public schools are, by law, limited to only two items of expenditure-salaries of teachers and purchase of school libraries.
The library fund consists of ten per cent of the State fund an- nually appropriated, unless ten per cent exceed fifty dollars, in which event it consists of fifty dollars annually in each school district. In cities not divided into school districts, the library fund consists of the sum of fifty dollars for every one thousand children between the ages of five and seventeen years residing in the city.
In each county of the State the board of supervisors must, an- nually, at the time of levying other county taxes, levy a county school-tax, the maximum rate of which must not exceed fifty cents on each one hundred dollars of taxable property in the county, and the minimum rate must be sufficient to raise a sum equal to three dollars for each child between five and seventeen years of age re- siding in the county.
The school districts are governed by boards of trustees, of three members, who hold office for three years-one trustee being elected on the first Saturday in June in each year. Vacancies in the office . of trustee are filled by appointment, by the county superintendent of schools, until the next succeeding annual election, when a trustee is elected for the unexpired term.
The disbursement of the school funds is practically controlled by the boards of trustees in districts and boards of education in the cities.
Should the trustees deem the revenue of the district, from the State and county school funds, insufficient to support the school and provide the sites, buildings, and furniture needed in the dis- trict, they may call district elections and submit the question to the qualified electors whether district taxes shall be levied or school- district bonds shall be issued.
A majority of the electors may decide whether taxes shall be levied upon the property of the district, such taxes not to exceed seventy cents on each one hundred dollars for building purposes, and thirty cents on each one hundred dollars to furnish additional school facilities, or to maintain the schools in the district, in any one year.
School-district bonds may be issued by districts, under authority
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SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
of a law enacted in 1881. The trustees of any district may submit the question to the electors of the district whether bonds of the dis- trict shall be issued and sold for the purpose of purchasing school- lots, of building school-houses and furnishing them, or for liquidat- ing the indebtedness for school-houses already erected.
The amount of the bonds must not exceed five per cent of the taxable property of the district ; the rate of interest must not ex- ceed eight per cent, payable annually, and they must be paid in not more than ten years from the date.
When two thirds or more of the qualified electors of a school district, voting at an election called by the board of trustees, de- cide in favor of issuing school-district bonds, the board of trustees report to the board of supervisors of the county the amount of bonds to be issued, the time when the bonds shall be payable, and the rate of interest upon the bonds.
The issuing of the bonds, the collection of taxes to pay the in- terest and principal of the bonds, and such further action as may be required, are controlled by the board of supervisors of the county.
Having seen that the revenue for the support of the public schools is derived from the interest on bonds in the State treasury, the interest on deferred payments upon school-lands sold by the State, the poll-taxes, and direct taxation, all forming the State school fund; from direct taxation in the counties, and from direct taxation or school-district bonds in the school districts, an examination of the statements of receipts and expenditures for the support of the public schools during the school year ending June 30, 1886, will show how faithfully the people of California have performed their duty in providing for the education of all the children of the State.
The receipts and expenditures were for the support of the pri- mary and grammar schools; with this exception, four thousand and ninety pupils were enrolled in the high schools in the State, and parts of the city and school-district taxes were used to support the high schools.
The State normal schools are supported by appropriations from the general fund of the State. The State University is supported by income from endowments, that have been invested in bonds to the amount of $1,363,500, from sales of land, and from a permanent levy of one cent on each one hundred dollars of the taxable prop- erty of the State, which will produce about $100,000 annually.
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APPENDIX.
The receipts and expenditures shown in the following state- ments are for the school year ending June 30, 1886, being the latest statistics report to the Legislature :
Receipts.
State school fund
$1,884,065 07
County taxes
996,703 22
City and school-district taxes
694,001 64
Miscellaneous sources
138,596 48
Total
$3,713,366 41
Expenditures.
Teachers' salaries
$2,710,621 82
Rents, fuel, and contingent expenses.
422,843 30
Sites, buildings, and furniture
283,006 18
School libraries.
64,627 32
School apparatus
24,833 01
Total
$3,505,931 63
The valuation of school property was as follows :
Lots, school-houses, and furniture
$7,782,985 00
School libraries
441,303 00
School apparatus
202,899 25
Total
$8,427,187 25
There were 186,127 pupils enrolled in the public schools, of whom 4,090 were in the high schools, 48,515 in the grammar schools, and 133,522 in the primary schools.
There were 4,434 teachers employed, 1,128 men, and 3,306 women, who received average wages of $79.97 a month paid men, and $65.89 a month paid women.
The counties of Los Angeles, San Bernardino, San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Ventura, in the school year ending June 30, 1886, were in the front rank of the counties of the State in the army of education.
There were enrolled in the public schools of the fire counties 22,267 pupils-157 in the high schools, 3,774 in the grammar schools, and 19,336 in the primary schools.
For the support of these schools the receipts and expenditures were as follows :
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SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
Receipts.
State school fund
$211,082 05
County taxes
129,959 48
City and district taxes
111,130 52
Miscellaneous sources
96,677 50
Total.
$548,849 55
Expenditures.
Teachers' salaries
$288,812 66
Rents, fuel, and contingent expenses
43,870 44
Sites, buildings, and furniture.
112,630 78
School libraries
8,553 91
School apparatus
2,908 82
Total
$456,776 61
The valuation of school property in the five counties was as follows :
COUNTY.
Lots, school- houses, furni- ture.
School libraries.
School apparatus.
Total.
Los Angeles
$440,665 00
$21,500 00
$5,563 00
$467,728 00
San Bernardino
115,300 00
7,300 00
2,290 00
124,890 00
San Diego
57,650 00
6,735 00
1,357 00
65,742 00
Santa Barbara
83,550 00
6,590 00
2,854 00
92,994 00
Ventura
42,405 00
3,450 00
1,630 00
47,485 00
Total
$739,570 00
$45,575 00
$13,694 00
$798,839 00
There were enrolled in the public schools 22,267 children-157 in the high schools, 3,774 in the grammar schools, and 19,336 in the primary schools.
There were 509 teachers employed-158 men and 351 women. The average wages paid teachers in each county was as follows:
COUNTY.
Men.
Women.
Los Angeles
$83 33
$73 75
San Bernardino
76 66
63 64
San Diego
67 42
62 00
Santa Barbara
75 00
62 00
Ventura
74 40
60 00
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APPENDIX.
With the condition of the public schools of the State and of the five southern counties shown by the preceding statistics, California is prepared to welcome all who desire to find homes where educa- tion is honored and nurtured, where free schools are maintained from the primary grades to the State University, and where none need be uneducated but those who believe that "ignorance is bliss."
PROFITS AND METHODS OF FRUIT-RAISING .*
BY MILTON THOMAS, FRUIT-GROWER, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.
I SHALL take up the subject of horticulture in the broadest sense, making it include all the fruits that grow and do well on this coast.
FRUITS IN OLDEN TIMES .- In taking a retrospective view of the various fruits that were grown in California in 1849 and 1850, we find there were only a few kinds, and those of inferior varieties ex- cept grapes and oranges. The Mission grape was about the only foreign variety grown at that time in California, and it was con- sidered quite a luxury to the miners and others who came here at that time. It is still a good grape, but since that time there have been introduced from Europe very many other varieties that excel. In the same years there were a few orange-trees grown in Los Angeles County. I remember in 1869 being shown a few old trees, at the old Mission San Gabriel, that were eighty years old, still in a good state of preservation, and bearing well. These old orange- trees and the Mission grapes, introduced by the Catholic fathers probably over a hundred years ago, proved a success, and led to others being planted, and we are indebted to-day to these Catholic fathers for these fruits. There are also old seedling pear-trees at the Mission over a hundred years old. The first grafted fruit-trees were brought to California in 1851, 1852, and 1853. Fruit-trees at that time were one dollar apiece, and the fruits were sold from one
* Read before the Los Angeles County Pomological Society.
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SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
to two dollars per pound. But this was in the golden days of Cali- fornia, when mining was the principal industry, and men made ten, twelve, and sixteen dollars per day. As time passed there were more fruit-trees planted, nurseries established, and the price of trees and fruits diminished, and before railroads reached our coast the price of fruit was not remunerative, and orchardists lost their interest in fruit-raising, and it was some years before fruit was shipped East with profit.
Porter Brothers, of Chicago, commenced to ship fruit East in large quantities several years ago; then others commenced. Fi- nally, a thousand or more car-loads of green fruit were shipped in a year. It was not always a success, especially if the market was glutted, or the fruit was received in poor condition. The freight per car was six to nine hundred dollars, whereas now it is but two to three hundred dollars; so you can see that the fruit-industry in the past was not always profitable.
FRUITS AT PRESENT .- We find at the present time it promises to be one of the leading industries in California. There is no country in the world that can compete with us when we take into consider- ation the great variety of fruits we can grow to perfection. Let us contrast the countries that produce tropical and semi-tropical fruits. Can they produce apple, pear, peach, apricot, nectarine, prune, plum, etc., and other fruits and nuts that we can produce in such quantities, and the quality being first-class? We say no; not by any means. We produce the best of semi-tropical fruits, and our deciduous can not be excelled, taken as a whole. We see growing in the same orchard orange, lemon, pear, apple, peach, apricot, walnut, almond-also the strawberry and other small fruits, as well as the best foreign grape that grows anywhere, with more tons to the acre than any other portion of the world. We defy the world to excel in quality or quantity. Our peaches can be used for dry- ing, and command good prices. Evaporated peeled peaches com- mand fancy prices. In this connection allow me to allude to a cheap and novel way to peel peaches. Simply put the peaches in a weak lye, and let them remain in it about a moment, and the skins will slip off by plunging them into cold water. This being such a simple process every one should try it. Now, as to canned peaches, there is a good market in the East and Europe ; besides, vast quan- tities are consumed in Great Britain. There is no question but what
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APPENDIX.
there will be a good and certain market for all peaches that can be produced in California.
Then next let us consider the apricot, which is one of the best of fruits. Eaten when ripe it is delicious, and can not be sur- passed in flavor. It is most conducive to health, and on account of its acidity is in great demand in cold countries and on shipboard, especially on long voyages. Canned apricots will always be in demand. The dried apricot is perhaps the best dried fruit we have. The evaporated apricot commands the highest prices in the best markets of the world. There is one thing, perhaps, which is not generally known, that there are but few places in the world where the apricot can be pro:luced. California is the best apricot-produc- ing section known. Taking the apricot in its various uses, it is per- haps one of the best-known fruits. There are few people in the world who have not tasted this luscious fruit.
The nectarine is a fruit especially good for drying or canning. It usually does well in California wherever the peach succeeds, that is, the red or colored nectarine. The white or light-colored necta- rine is a shy bearer. The nectarine promises well, and in the future may be a good fruit to raise.
I will allude to the English walnut as being very profitable. There are several walnut-groves in Los Angeles County which have netted their owners two hundred dollars per acre the past year. The wal- nut requires good, deep, rich soil, and but little pruning and irrigat- ing. The English walnut comes into bearing in about ten years, and the soft-shell at about six years.
The almond is a tree that grows well, and under certain condi- tions is profitable. In order to have trees bear well you must plant different varieties close together, in order that the different varieties may fertilize each other when in bloom. This experiment has been tried in different localities in the State, and the result has always proved satisfactory.
I now wish to call the attention of those intending to plant the cherry to the fact that they require no irrigation. The branches should be allowed to grow out at about a foot from the base of the tree.
PRUNING .- As to pruning apple-trees, suppose you plant one- year-old trees. After they are properly planted, cut back to three feet in height, then allow the tree to send up shoots above eighteen
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SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
inches, and rub off all below. Let the branches start all round the tree in the form of a pyramid. Second year, cut back say one half ; third year, the same, and after that, less. Keep all suckers and superfluous wood thiinned out, so as to admit sunshine. Pear-trees require more pruning; cut back the same as apple, only mnore vigor- ous pruning is necessary, cutting back, say, two thirds year after year, and endeavoring to make the branches stocky, so that they will not break. The apricot requires still more pruning, as it is a wonderful grower, and it must be cut back three fourths to five sixths, thus allowing the small twigs to remain on the trees to bear fruit. The apricot requires vigorous pruning each year. The peach does not require so much pruning ; cut back some the second year and keep all new wood cut away that grows out from the base; in fact, keep all brush out, and keep the tree in symmetrical shape. This same rule applies to nectarines as well. Walnut and fig trees require little pruning. In this connection let me urge every one to plant one-year-old trees, and to prune vigorously when first planted, remembering, the more you prune the better your trees will grow.
SOIL .- Apple, cherry, pear, and walnut trees need the best soil ; peach, plum, prune, and nectarine will grow in soil more sandy, also orange and lemon trees. Small fruits do well in sandy soil, but be it remembered that all trees do better on rich soil, but some do bet- ter on a lighter soil than others.
IRRIGATION .- Orange-trees require irrigating regularly, say, while young, and before they come into bearing, once every two months in the dry season, and every four to six weeks after they come into bearing. Lemons require but little water, about twice during the dry season. Deciduous trees do not require irrigating in ordinary seasons and under ordinary circumstances.
PLANTING .- Before planting plow the land eight to twelve inches deep, or deeper if you can afford it. Harrow and pulverize the land thoroughly. Dig the holes about twenty inches deep ; place the roots in and spread them out, and when filling the hole put the top earth in at the bottom and vice-versa, and press the soil firmly until the tree will stand erect, and if you have the water irri- gate the trees so as to settle the soil around the roots. In some localities where the atmosphere is dry, trees require more irrigating. Now, as to distance apart to plant trees, twenty feet apart will answer every kind of tree except orange, apricot, and apple, which
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APPENDIX.
. should not be less than twenty five feet. English walnuts, forty feet; almonds, twenty-five feet; blackberries, raspberries, currants, and gooseberries should be six feet apart; strawberries, two to three feet. Grapes of all kinds will produce more tons per acre, after six years old, if they are planted ten feet apart, than if they are nearer. I wish to emphasize this as a fact that can be and has been demon- strated.
Now, there is one thing I wish to refer to, and which I deem of great importance, and that is thinning out the fruit on fruit-trees. No fruit should be allowed to grow nearer than three inches to each other, and all small and defective fruit should be picked from the tree.
THE RAISIN INDUSTRY .- Let us now glance at the raisin indus- try as being one of great importance, and which has perhaps the greatest outlook for the future of any other. The possibilities of this industry are beyond anything we can conceive of. Some twelve years ago there was an attempt to make raisins, but it was not a success-as is usual in all new enterprises. There were many discouragements met with by those who were interested in this enterprise. There was a prejudice, in the East, and at home, but there has been a steady increase in flavor and output, and Cali- fornia raisin-makers have used every precaution to make their rais- ins palatable as well as attractive to the eye. Wrapping, packing, and boxing, and, in fact, everything connected with this industry is well done. The many difficulties encountered have been boldly met and overcome. We have a climate preferable to that of Spain, and in the near future we will supply the demand for first-class rais- ins. If California raisin-makers will keep on in the same ratio, in the future as in the past, making improvements in flavor as well as general attractiveness, they will be able to successfully compete with any raisin made in Spain or elsewhere.
Small grape-growers find it to their advantage to sell their rais- ins in the sweat-boxes to those who have made a reputation for their brand. We perceive that the output for raisins has steadily in- creased. In 1881, 90,000 boxes; 1882, 115,000; 1883, 125,000; 1884, 175,000 ; 1885, 475,000 ; 1886, 703,000. We have the follow- ing brands, and most of them are very fine: the "Forsythe," the "Coleman Flag," Riverside Packing Company; McPherson Broth- ers, the " Austin " brand; and George W. Meade, the "Lion "
16
362
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
brand. These different brands have sold side by side in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia with the imported raisins from Malaga and compared very favorably, and the merchants were loud in their praise of the California raisins. There is another advantage that California has in her raisins that they do not deteriorate after the 1st of April. The Malaga profits in producing and making raisins are sufficient to satisfy almost any one. One to two hundred dollars per acre ought to be sufficiently remunerative to the raisin-maker. The variety of grapes used are mostly Muscat and a few Malagas, some Sultanas, a seedless grape, are used.
In 1884 there were imported to the United States over 53,000,- 000 pounds of raisins. Now, we will notice briefly that the Mal- aga raisins come from Malaga, a small province of Spain, on the Mediterranean Sea. It has an area of 4,729 square miles, and its surface is mountainous, being traversed by the range of Sierra Ne- vada, and only a part of Malaga is used to produce the Malaga raisins. A part of the grapes are used for wine-making. Let us see what they pay laborers for making raisins : For men, twenty- five to thirty cents per day and board; women, from twelve and a half to twenty cents and food furnished. In packing, men get fifty cents per day, and women twenty five to thirty cents, and furnish their own food. One American would do more in one day than these would do in three. Now we will contrast the yield of our vineyards with those of Malaga. Our vineyards in full bearing yield from eight to ten tons per acre, and in Malaga less than two and one half tons-four pounds to each vine, one and one fourth pounds of raisins to each vine. The seasons in Malaga are uncer- tain. In 1884 it rained two days in September and seven days in October. This year it rained one day and two nights. The prin- cipal grape they grow for raisins is the Muscatel, the same as our white Muscat of Alexandria, and it has been there from time imme- morial. There are other places where raisins are made beside Mal- aga. There is a province near which makes an inferior raisin.
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