SEVENTEENTH DISTRICT AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION. B99 



from his dull horizon to see the denial of his assertion in the many orchards 

 scattered throughout the county bearing fruit unexcelled in any part of the 



State I am aware that so far there is no systematically arranged or large 

 orchards in the county. The trees that, generally, so far have been planted 

 were planted more for the wants of the family than for the commerce of 

 their fruit. But where one tree grows another will grow. I do not know 

 how to argue with such men. They remind one of the hog in the fable, 

 which, while eating the acorns under the oak took no thought whence his 

 food came or bestowed any thanks to the trees which gave it. Nevada 

 County is singularly and happily situated to produce the very fruits that the 

 eastern country demands, and to market them cheaply. There are five 

 things that can be raised in this county: pears, probably better than in 

 any other county; apples, grapes for table and wine; figs and olives equal 

 to any. Any of these bear shipment, and your nearness to the Central 

 Pacific Railroad, and the fact that you are the most eastern of the fruit- 

 bearing counties, gives you the advantage over every portion of the State, 

 except Placer County. My friend Gillet, who has wrought wonders on his 

 "barren hill," and whose scientific attainments, intelligence, and enthu- 

 siasm in his vocation excite our admiration, will tell you to plant nuts. 

 He will show you by practical experiment that you can transform the native 

 oaks of your forest into chestnut trees, and leave a legacy to your children 

 better than a gold mine. The principal crops of this State in a decade 

 hence will be olives, figs, grapes, and pears. Take the apparently insignifi- 

 cant article of figs which appear in our markets as imported once a year: 

 the value of the importation from Smyrna alone is nearly $2,000,000, com- 

 manding in our market eighteen to twenty cents per pound. The fact that 

 figs can be shipped and consumed in a dried state permits sections remote 

 from the railroad to be devoted to their production. But why dwell further 

 upon this branch ; the facts are before us. The soil of Nevada County con- 

 tains in abundance all mineral constituents favorable to fruit culture, and 

 the rainfall is more than is necessary for all kinds of agricultural opera- 

 tions. Indeed, there are two sections of your county that can scarcely be 

 equaled; I mean the ridge between the middle and south forks of the Yuba 

 River from San Juan west, and the southwest part of the county about 

 Penn Valley and between Wolf Creek and Bear River. These are sections 

 comparatively free from frost, and the soil is easily tilled. Just at present 

 the facilities for transportation are not the best, but if the orchards are 

 planted the roads will be built. I was talking the other day with a gentle- 

 man formerly connected with the Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad 

 Company, who has some landed interests along the line of the road, and 

 urged him to interest himself in the development of the agricultural 

 resources of the section along the road. He seemed to think that the road 

 would have to depend, as it hitherto had done, upon the mining develop- 

 ments. I took a pencil and asked him: " Do you think the land from Bear 

 River to Grass Valley will raise pears?" "It most assuredly will," he 

 replied. '' Can fruit be carried three miles with profit to a road ?" " I think 

 so." " Well, say that two thirds of the land between these two points is 

 devoted to fruit, say pears, let us see the product. In that distance there 

 would be 30,720 acres; on each acre there would be one hundred trees, each 

 capable of producing an average of two hundred pounds — ten tons of fruit 

 per acre, and a total of 307,200 tons." I had the curiosity to ascertain the 

 amount of freight that had been carried by the road in the last year, and 

 found that the road had carried 28,449 tons. Do you not think that on the 

 ridge from San Juan to French Corral at least ten square miles could be 

 found that would produce fruit? Do you not think that if the people on the 



