PASSING OF THE MISSION ORCHARDS 43 



He also describes at the mission of San Buena Ventura apples, pears, 

 plums, figs, oranges, grapes, and peaches and pomegranates. Robinson 

 described the orchards connected with the Mission of San Gabriel as 

 very extensive, having among their trees oranges, citrons, limes, apples, 

 pears, peaches, pomegranates, and figs. There were also grapes in 

 abundance. Edwin Bryant noticed at San Luis Obispo Mission the 

 orange, fig, palm, olive, and grape. At the Mission San Jose he found 

 an inclosure of fifteen or twenty acres, the whole of which was planted 

 with trees and grape-vines. There were six hundred pear trees and a 

 large number of apple and peach trees, all bearing fruit in great abun- 

 dance and in full perfection. The quality of the pears he found ex- 

 cellent, but the apples and peaches indifferent. E. S. Capron, in a 

 general enumeration of the fruits grown at the missions, includes 

 cherries. 



Early Planting by Others than the Padres. Though the earlier 

 Spanish population had the example of successful horticulture before 

 them for half a century at the missions, they did not seem inclined to 

 emulate the efforts of the padres upon their own grounds, except in 

 occasional instances. General Vallejo planted fruit trees in Sonoma 

 Valley as early as 1830, and of his place it is said: "It is an old and 

 well-cultivated place, well known in all the northern portions of Cali- 

 fornia while this State was still Mexican territory." Exceptions there 

 were, also at the south. The old fruit garden on the Camulos Rancho, 

 in Ventura county, has become famous. Freemont, writing of his 

 observations in 1846, says that among the arid, brush-covered hills 

 south of San Diego he found little valleys converted by a single spring 

 into crowded gardens, where pears, peaches, quinces, pomegranates, 

 grapes, olives, and other fruits grew luxuriantly together. 



Scarcely had six years elapsed subsequent to the settlement of the 

 pueblo of San Jose on its present site, before the inhabitants were en- 

 joying the benefits of luxurious fruits. Before 1805 more was grown 

 than could be disposed of in its natural state. 



Decline of the Mission Orchards. The decline of most of the 

 mission orchards and gardens followed the secularization of the es- 

 tablishments in 1834. There were a few exceptions, where the mission 

 lands fell into enterprising Spanish or American hands. During the 

 years of neglect, the more tender trees died, and the more hardy sur- 

 vived. The pear and the olive vied with the vine in withstanding 

 drouth and the trampling and browsing of the cattle that roamed un- 

 molested through the deserted gardens. These pears, as will be de- 

 scribed presently, were turned to good account by the early American 

 settlers ; the olive and the vine furnished cuttings for most of the 

 plantations made during the first twenty years or more of American 

 occupation. 



But it seems that not all the mission orchards were permitted to 

 fall into decay after secularization. In 1846 Bryant found at the 

 Mission San Jose two gardens inclosed by high adobe walls. The 

 area was from fifteen to twenty acres, all of which was planted with 

 fruit trees and vines. There were about six hundred pear trees and 



