State Agricultural Society. 150 



signed claims that he has produced as fine qualities of wines from the 

 different varieties of grapes used as can be had — age and other circum- 

 stances considered — anywhere, and that the result thus attained he has 

 made the common property of all other viniculturists in the State. 



I am yours, truly, BENJ. N. BUGBEY, 



Per H. D. D. 



SIXTH DEPARTMENT. 



STATEMENT OF T. K. STEWAKT, OF SACBAMENTO. 



To the Committee on Gold Medals, at the Fair of eighteen hundred and seventy: 



Gentlemen: As an applicant for the gold medal, to be awarded by 

 your committee for the most meritorious exhibition in the sixth depart- 

 ment, I beg leave to submit to you the following facts for your considera- 

 tion : I came into the State in eighteen hundred and forty-eight, and in the 

 following November 1 settled where I now live, on the American river, 

 within the present limits of Sacramento. Having brought with me a 

 supply of garden seeds of various hinds, and apple seed, pear seed, and 

 peach pits, etc., to the amount of about two hundred pounds, I planted 

 them all in the following Spring, and in the Summer of eighteen hun- 

 dred and forty-nine succeeded in producing a very fair crop of nearly 

 every variety of vegetables; such as corn, beans, beets, potatoes, peas, 

 melons, etc. I also planted the peach pits, apple and pear seeds, all of 

 which came up well; but during the warm, dry season, not having any 

 facilities for irrigation, and not knowing much of the peculiarities of the 

 climate, a large number were killed by the drought; I succeeded, how- 

 ever, in keeping alive and raising some half dozen pear and apple trees, 

 and a dozen peach trees. I also, the same Spring, planted a few fig ami 

 olive trees, and succeeded in raising one of each. At the late State Fair I 

 exhibited from these trees, now over Ttwenty years old, apples, pears, figs, 

 and olives. As early as eighteen hundred and fifty-one, desirous of testing 

 the question, whether the climate was adapted to the successful produc- 

 tion and maturing of oranges, I obtained some orange seed and planted 

 them, and the sweet oranges exhibited by me at the Fair w T ere from the 

 trees then planted. Finding, from this early beginning, that the cli- 

 mate was favorable to the growth of the various kinds of fruit trees, I 

 was encouraged to extend my experiments in this direction, and in 

 eighteen hundred and fifty-five, with a view to supply myself with the 

 stock necessary for a more extensive orchard, I planted out a nursery of 

 about one acre in extent, and embracing nearly all the varieties of the 

 most useful fruits now produced in the State. From this nursery I sup- 

 plied many of my neighbors with trees for a beginning in the fruit busi- 

 ness, reserving for my own use a sufficient number to plant some twenty 

 acres, which is the size of my present orchard and vineyard, and which 

 is in a good bearing condition. 



My exhibition at the Fair embraced a large number of varieties of 

 apples, pears, plums, oranges, figs, grapes, and olives. For oranges and 



