History of Orange County, California : with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its earliest growth and development from the early days to the present, Part 20

Author: Armor, Samuel, 1843-; Pleasants, J. E., Mrs
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1700

USA > California > Orange County > History of Orange County, California : with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its earliest growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 20

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The Los Alamitos Sugar Company was organized in 1896. It is a corporation of which the following persons are the officers: W. A. Clark, president ; J. Ross Clark, vice-president ; Henry C. Lee, second vice-president ; E. C. Hamilton, man- ager. Number of employees during sugar campaign 300; daily capacity of factory. 800 tons of beets ; land produces ten tons of beets per acre ; water is supplied by artesian wells and pumping plants ; percentage of sugar in beets is high compared with that in other sections.

The Santa Ana Cooperative Sugar Company was organized in 1911 and began active operations in 1912. The officers are James Irvine of San Francisco, presi- dent : C. A. Johnson of Huntington Beach, vice-president ; Remsen McGinnis of Denver, secretary : S. W. Sinsheimer of Denver, general manager ; E. M. Smiley of Santa Ana, manager. The daily capacity of the factory is 1,200 tons of beets. The average quantity of beets worked up annually is 100.000 tons. The sugar content in the beets is nineteen per cent. Water is supplied by artesian wells located on the company's own ground at the plant.

Having thus failed to get the actual amount and value of the sugar produced in the county from the factories, the transportation companies, or any other local source, the writer applied to E. E. Kaufman. field agent of State Commission of Horticulture, and received a bulletin containing statistics on "California Crop Dis- tribution and Estimates for 1918." This bulletin shows that Orange County excels all other counties in the state in the production of sugar beets. It is credited with 216,000 tons and Monterey County, its nearest competitor, with only 156,800 tons. The bulletin gives no values-only quantities ; but, by using the foregoing data and assuming that the factories received as much as the sugar equalization board recently fixed as the maximum price, we can approximate pretty closely the value of the sugar produced in Orange County in 1918. If the beets in this county average nineteen per cent sugar, as the Santa Ana Cooperative Sugar Com- pany alleges they do, then the 216,000 tons of beets, grown in the county, would produce 41,040 tons, or 82,080,000 pounds of sugar ; and if the factories received "ten cents cash, less two per cent aboard basis," as the sugar equalization board recently fixed the maximum price, or nine and eight-tenths cents per pound, then they received $8,043,840 for Orange County's sugar crop in 1918. The estimated value of the 1919 crop was $10,500,000.

Late in June it was announced that the sugar company contracts for the season of 1920, would start with twelve dollars per ton as the basic price for beets testing fifteen per cent sugar with the price of sugar at nine dollars per hundred pounds, and for each additional per cent of sugar in the beets, fifteen per cent of the price of sugar would be added to the basic price for beets. To illustrate by a suppositional example, let us use the sugar content of the beets, given by the Santa Ana Sugar Company, of nineteen per cent, or four more than the basic per cent, and the price of sugar, as fixed by the sugar equalization board of $9.80 per hundred pounds, the equation would he $12.00 + 4 (.15 > $9.80) = $17.88. the price per ton of beets to the growers under such conditions. With sixteen inches of rainfall, in gentle showers that all went into the ground, to supply moisture where not provided by irrigation, and with good prospects for high

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prices for sugar, the outlook for a bumper crop of beets and a prosperous sugar campaign could hardly be brighter than on July 1, 1920.

The sugar beet is said to be the most scientifically bred plant in the world. Beginning with a small, tough, woody root, found near the salt water in Southern Europe, which contained little more than a trace of sugar, it has been bred by a century's most scientific and painstaking investigation to yield a heavy tonnage of pure sugar equal to one-sixth of its weight in Germany and one-seventh in the United States. Notwithstanding this intensive cultivation and high development, the sugar beet still retains its partiality for soils located near salt water, which doubtless accounts for the domesticated plants yielding good returns on the alkali soils near the sea coast in Southern California. There is also an indirect benefit from planting such lands to beets, in fertilizing, aerating and enriching the soil for other crops, that is said to be even more valuable than the direct benefit. But, to gain these advantages and produce our own sugar instead of buying it abroad, large investments of capital are necessary, some of which have been made, and must be maintained perpetually. Therefore, in justice to such investments and for the good of Orange County and the country generally, it becomes the patriotic duty of every loyal citizen to protect the beet sugar industry from hostile legislation, and to encourage its legitimate development, to the full extent of his ability,

CHAPTER XXVIII ORANGE COUNTY'S FRUITS, GRAINS AND VEGETABLES

Fruits

Orange County has such an infinite variety and wealth of products that it would be impossible to give a detailed account of each within the limits of this work. Fairly complete descriptions of the orange, walnut and celery industries have been presented ; but only a brief reference can be made to some of the other more lucrative productions without undertaking to give an exhaustive list.

Nearly every kind of fruit known to the temperate zones and many kinds from the torrid zone have been tried here with more or less success. Some seem to be well suited to the soil and climate ; but they are seriously handicapped with insect pests, which experts are learning how to eradicate. Some do better on one kind of soil than on another ; some prefer higher elevations than others ; and some thrive best inland and others near the coast. Practically all kinds of conditions can be found within the confines of Orange County; and enterprising growers are constantly experimenting to find out just what conditions and localities are best suited to each kind of fruit.

Although Orange County is not rated as an apple-growing section, yet con- siderable of this fruit is grown in some parts of the county. Apples do very well on the damp lands near the coast, provided the roots do not reach standing water. They also thrive as well in certain choice localities in the mountains, as they do in the famous apple regions farther up the coast. The statistician's report for 1910 gives 12,795 bearing and 1,540 non-bearing trees, producing 511,800 pounds of fruit, worth $5,118. The Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce's estimate for 1919 was $50,000.

The apricot seems to be well adapted to the conditions that prevail in this county, with one exception. Occasionally the spring rains injure the blossoms and cause a light crop. Possibly this defect in the conditions may be overcome, or at least minimized, by continually selecting the most hardy and latest blooming trees for planting ; but, even as it is, the apricot is one of the moderately profitable fruits of the county. A good crop of apricots, at the prices which have prevailed for several years past, will net the grower about $250 per acre. The number of trees credited to Orange County is 167,240 bearing and 23,370 non-bearing. The statistician for 1910 gave the dried apricots from that year's crop as 1,700,000

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pounds, worth $170,000; but he took no account of the fresh apricots that were marketed and consumed before the drying commenced. The pits amounted to 105 tons, worth $12,600. The estimate for 1919 was $200,000.

The avocado was discussed in the April, 1919, Bulletin of the State Com- mission of Horticulture in part as follows :

"In Volume VI, No. 1 of the Monthly Bulletin, Mr. I. J. Condit of the Uni- versity of California, listed fifty-four varieties of the avocado that originated in California, and eighty-six of foreign origin, or a total of 140 named varieties. With this large number to select from, a real problem exists to determine the varieties that are best for California conditions. Already considerable experi- mental work has been done, and it is now known that there are places that are not subject to frost where certain varieties of avocado will do well. Commercially the industry is of little importance at present. Fruit sells in the larger cities of the state for exorbitant prices and seventy-five cents for a single fruit is a price that is frequently paid by the consumer. Prices have been so high that the fruit has not yet become generally known in this country, and there is no way of judging of its popularity, although most people who have tried it sound its praises."

In the chapter on "Semi-Tropic Fruits in Orange County," C. P. Taft gives a complete account of experiments with the avocado and results obtained. He mentions one variety whose fruits weigh from two to four pounds or more each, which would be considerable fruit even though the price is high. As to produc- tiveness he cites one tree, the "Taft," which produced over $500 worth of fruits in 1917 and over $600 worth in 1919. He says the "Sharpless" tree, owned by B. H. Sharpless of Tustin, has done equally well. Both are among the oldest trees in the county.

In answer to an inquiry about the correctness of the report that his tree had produced $5,000 worth of fruits and buds, Mr. Sharpless supplied the following information : The Sharpless avocado was planted in 1901 and bore its first fruits in 1912, when it bore 2 fruits; in 1913, 20 fruits ; in 1914, 75 fruits ; in 1915, 250 fruits ; in 1916, 700 fruits. He says, "Now you will notice the crop has not been so heavy since 1916; but when I tell you that there have been 10,000 buds a year cut from the tree-and buds cut this year take off next year's fruit wood-it is a wonder there is any fruit at all. And $5,000 is the value of fruit and buds up to this year. It looks as though there were 800 fruits on the tree for next year. as the tree has the habit of the Valencia orange, which blossoms in April and May and the fruit does not mature until the following year." One dollar apiece or ten dollars a dozen is the price for the Sharpless avocado fruit.

Bearing fig trees to the number of 2,500 were reported in 1910; but nothing was said about the quantity and value of the fruit produced.

In the early '80s, the grape was one of the leading fruits in the territory now included in Orange County-especially in the northern part. The first vineyards were of the Mission variety, either planted by the padres or with cuttings from vineyards of their planting. These grapes were used principally for making wine. Later, Malaga, Muscatel and other varieties were introduced, some of which were used almost exclusively for making raisins. This locality acquired quite a reputa- tion abroad both for its wines and its raisins; besides, a great many carloads of table grapes were shipped every season to the middle western states. In the latter part of the '80s some kind of a disease appeared in the vineyard at Anaheim and gradually spread over the vineyards of Southern California. It was most de- structive of the finer varieties, and completely wiped out the raisin industry of this section. The tonnages of grapes for 1910 was 490, worth $3,600.

Grape fruit is highly prized by many people as an appetizer at breakfast and is therefore grown to a limited extent. The crop for 1910 was valued at $3,840.

The lemon industry has not proved so attractive to growers as the orange industry, partly on account of the necessity for curing the fruit before marketing and partly on account of the sharper competition of the foreign article in the

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Eastern market. Relief was afforded on the latter point by Congress raising the tariff on lemons from one to one and a half cents a pound ; now more lemons are being planted than heretofore. The crop of 1910 amounted to 43,392 boxes, valued at $151,872. The value of the 1919 crop was $3,500,000.

In comparison with the lemon crop, the size and value of the orange crop for 1910 may be given here, although that industry is described elsewhere, as follows: oranges, 840,960 boxes, valued at $1,261,440. That of 1919 was valued at $12,000,000.

Very few people in the county have paid any attention to the growing of olives ; nevertheless there were 520 tons raised in 1910, worth $26,000. The 1919 crop value, including olive oil, was $125,000.

Peaches seem to require about the same conditions that apples and pears do and therefore thrive best in the same localities. The peach crop for 1910 was reported to be 575,250 pounds, valued at $5,752 ; the pear crop was 108,500 pounds, valued at $1,085.

There are 1,270 bearing plum trees in the county, producing 38,100 pounds of fruit in 1910, valued at $762. The county is also credited with 17,320 bearing prune trees.

A few scattered growers raised 8,000 crates of raspberries, in 1910, worth $8,000 ; there was also grown 19,000 crates of strawberries, worth $20,900. Berries of all kinds were estimated in 1919 at $125,000.

Grains

Grouping alfalfa under this head, because it is a forage plant and 110 sub- division has been made for grasses, we will take up that product first. Alfalfa . is the main reliance of the farmers for green feed; and it will grow anywhere in the county that other vegetation will grow. It is a deep-rooted, perennial plant and will not thrive with standing water near the surface; on the other hand it will not continue to grow vigorously on the mesa without frequent irrigations in the summer season. It cannot be pastured a great deal, because the tramping injures the crown of the plant; but irrigate it once a month during the summer „season and eight or nine crops of hay can be cut from it each year. Many of the fruit-growers have small patches of alfalfa near their barns; but the large-sized fields can only be found in the dairy, or general farming section. The acreage and vield for 1910 were reported as follows: alfalfa, 4,000 acres, 20,000 tons, value $200.000.

Barley is grown both for the grain and the hay. In the former case it is allowed to thoroughly ripen and is then headed, threshed and sacked ready for the market. In the latter case it is cut while the grain is in the dough and the leaves are still green, and is then raked and cocked. As there is no fear of rain in the summer season, the farmer takes his own time for baling or stacking the hay, as the unthreshed straw and grain together are called. More often the hay is baled out of the cock ; but even when stacked it is generally baled later. The statistician gives the following figures on the acreage and yield of the barley har- vested for grain in the county in 1910: barley, 34,120 acres, 27,296 tons, value $545,920. For 1918, 660,000 bushels or 15,840 tons.

A third of a century or more ago there was considerable corn raised in the cultivated portions of the present territory of Orange County. They used to tell fabulous stories about the immense yields in the Gospel Swamp region southwest of Santa Ana. In fact, good crops of corn could be grown almost anywhere in the county, if irrigated on the upland, and can yet. In the article on livestock it is stated that the number of hogs had decreased in the county because the land could be used more profitably for other purposes than in raising feed for hogs. Well, here is corn, one of the best of hog feeds, that is not raised very extensively in a county which is adapted to its growth because the land can be used more profit- ably for other products. The statistician's figures for the 1910 crop are: corn, 2,690 acres, 1,345 tons, value $40,350. For 1918, 36,900 bushels or 1,033.2 tons. 9

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Oats are preferred by some people for horse feed ; but they are not so exten- sively grown as barley, because they are more liable to rust. However, the statis- tical report for 1910 gives the following figures: oats, 4,375 acres, 1,750 tons, value $52,500.

Wheat is also one of the light crops of Orange County for the same reasons that corn and oats are light crops; nevertheless there is quite a little of the hill land devoted to wheat as shown by the figures on the 1910 crop, as follows: wheat, 5,000 acres, 2,500 tons, value $87,500. For 1918, 5,600 bushels or 168 tons.

Grain hay is given in the report without indicating the kind-barley, oats or wheat-or how much of each kind is included. These three grains must, there- fore, be credited collectively in 1910 with the following additional yield : grain hay, 25,350 acres, 16,742 tons, value $200,904. The 1919 crop value was $1,000,000.

Vegetables

This subdivision includes a great variety of products, some of which are grown for the wholesale market and others for the retail trade. The Chinese and Japanese gardeners and vegetable peddlers may be grouped in the latter class. It is doubtful whether the statistician got much of the data on the products peddled out by the growers, or even on that retailed through the local grocery stores. However, the same criticism may be applied to the other subdivisions, though to a less extent ; the report of products consumed at home or sold or bartered to neighbors must necessarily be incomplete.

The county is credited in the statistical report with producing 38,000 pounds of asparagus in 1910, worth $1,900.

The bean industry is becoming one of the important industries of this county. As an introduction to the subject, a paragraph is quoted from an exhaustive article by George W. Ogden, as follows:

"The lima beans of commerce do not grow to maturity back east. Those you buy dry in the stores at all seasons are ripe beans and not green beans dried. They grow in only two places on the globe, Southern California and the island of Madagascar. The lima beans of commerce do not grow on poles, but run along the ground like sweet potato vines. Five counties in Southern California supply the United States and Canada with lima beans. England uses the Madagscar crop, so there is no competition anywhere for the growers of California. The California lima bean crop of 1910 amounted to 1,175,000 bags, a bag averaging a little over 80 pounds, and the gross returns to the growers was $5,000,000. Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego are the five lima bean producing counties of California, and within their confines is embraced all the land in the entire United States upon which this peculiar plant will bring its fruit to maturity."

Thus is Orange County found to be in very select and exclusive company in this industry. The real beginning of the lima bean growing on a large scale dates back to 1886, when James Irvine, owner of the San Joaquin rancho, planted 120 acres as an experiment. Although the industry was successful from the start, the farmers were slow in following Mr. Irvine's advice and example. In 1909 he had 17,000 acres of his ranch in beans, which is said to be the largest bean field in the world belonging to a single individual. Besides the San Joaquin ranch, the mesa about Huntington Beach and Smeltzer and the La Habra valley produce large quantities of beans. There were 28,000 acres planted to beans in the county in 1910 producing 210,000 sacks, worth $672,000. The bean straw makes very good feed, of which there was 550 tons, valued at $2,200. The lima bean crop in 1918 amounted to 473,000 bushels or 354,750 sacks ; all kinds, 696,000 bushels or 522,000 sacks. The value of the 1919 bean crop (ninety per cent limas) was $3,000,000.

Large fields of cabbage are grown in the winter season about Anaheim, Ful- lerton and other parts of the county ; and the product is shipped East when the

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markets of that section are bare of fresh vegetables. The 1910 crop is reported at 5,900,000 pounds, worth $54,100. In 1918, 300 cars, worth $120.000.

The celery industry, which is more particularly described elsewhere, yielded in 1910 1,212 cars, worth $275,720. In 1919 the crop value was $100,000.

The cauliflower crop amounted to 11,970 crates in 1910, valued at $5,985.

Melons of every kind are grown in the county, of large size and fine flavor, and in sufficient quantities to supply the local demand.

Peanuts do well in this county and are grown to a considerable extent between the tree rows of young orchards ; but, on account of the Japanese competition, they are not so profitable as some other kinds of crops. The crop of 1910 amounted to 60,000 pounds, worth $2,400.

Peas are among the winter vegetables that are grown on the mesa near the foothills, where there is comparatively little frost. The quantity and value of the 1910 crop were reported to be 160,000 pounds, worth $4,000.

The most of the chili peppers are grown about Anaheim, which has acquired quite a reputation with this product. They are grown in rows like potatoes, requir- ing frequent irrigation, and are artificially cured in dry houses. The crop of 1910 was reported as follows : chile peppers, green, 40 tons, worth $8,000; chili peppers, dry, 100 tons, worth $20,000. The Federal Bureau of Crop Estimates says that practically all of the chili peppers grown in the state are grown in Orange County. The estimate for 1919 is $1.125,000. First prize for chili peppers at the recent Riverside County Fair was won by John B. Joplin of the San Joaquin Ranch. He won second prize for chili peppers at the Huntington Beach Fair.

The soil and climate of Orange County are well adapted to the growing of potatoes-Irish potatoes, as they are called to distinguish them from sweet pota- toes. The potatoes grown in this county, particularly on the upland, are of me- dium size, with a smooth, clean surface, and cook evenly throughout, producing a mealy pulp not unlike crumbly cake or well-cooked rice. Two crops are raised each year, one from the early spring planting and the other from the late summer or early fall planting. The yield reported for 1910 was 250,000 sacks, worth $250,000 : the 1919 crop had a value of $750,000.

Credit is claimed on behalf of the late Thomas Nicholson of El Modena for introducing the sweet potato into the state. He shipped more or less of his product to San Francisco and from there the seed potatoes were conveyed to other parts of the state. He secured a silver medal for his product at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The crop for 1910 is given at 30,000 sacks for the county, worth $37.500. That for 1919 is valued at $200,000. "The sweet potato now ranks second in value among all the vegetables of the United States, having in- creased in this respect more than eighty per cent in the last ten years. The crop of 1917 was worth $90,000,000 and the crop of 1918 is estimated to be worth almost $117,000,000. In a recent conference at Birmingham, Ala., representatives of the U. S. Department of Agriculture and horticulturists and pathologists from the Southern States discussed every phase of planting, cultivating, storing and marketing the sweet potato. The time when it was allowed to decay in primitive dirt beds in the open fields has long since passed."-The Youth's Companion.

Pumpkins make valuable food for stock-especially milk cows-and are grown everywhere the farmers wish. The average size is about that of a half bushel measure; but some of them grow so large that it takes two men to load one of them into a wagon. Photographs of fields literally covered with them and labeled "Some Pumpkins" may be seen in almost any collection of picture cards in this part of the state. The pumpkins are generally sold by the wagon load for a lump sum to those who keep a family cow or two, but haven't sufficient land upon which to raise their own stock feed. They are not shipped any distance ; hence there is no record of the quantity grown in the county.

Thousands of acres of land in the western and southwestern part of Orange County are well adapted to the growing of sugar beets. Besides suitable land the industry needs capital to provide factories to work up the product of such

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land. The first factory was established about 1896 at Los Alamitos by Senator WV. A. Clark of Montana. As soon as the factory was provided the beets were grown and they proved to be the equal of any grown elsewhere. It was also dis- covered that one factory was entirely inadequate to work up all the beets that could be furnished. Another factory was therefore built south of Santa Ana about 1908; and during the next three years three more sprang into being, one near Anaheim, another near Huntington Beach, and still another near Tustin. With the five factories in operation in 1918, they worked up 216,000 tons of beets grown in Orange County and a considerable tonnage grown in Los Angeles County. Orange County is credited in some of the published statistics with producing $10,500,000 worth of sugar in 1919, but probably $8,000,000 is nearer the mark.

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History of Orange County, California : with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its earliest growth and development from the early days to the present, Part 20

Author: Armor, Samuel, 1843-; Pleasants, J. E., Mrs Publication date: 1921 Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co. Number of Pages: 1700

Author: Armor, Samuel, 1843-; Pleasants, J. E., Mrs
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1700