44 CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



a large number of apple aand peach trees, all bearing fruit in great 

 abundance, the quality of the pears being excellent, the apples and 

 neaches indifferent. Other visitors to some of the mission orchards 

 between the events of secularization and American occupation speak 

 of being regaled with pears and milk, a dish which seemed to them 

 ambrosial after the weary journeys overland across the deserts, or 

 after months of ship fare. 



Planting of Mission Fruits by Early Settlers. There were quite 

 considerable plantations, chiefly of mission grapes and oranges, by 

 early settlers in the neighborhood of Los Angeles. General Bidwell 

 saw in Los Angeles in 1845 the largest vineyard that he had seen in 

 California, and the vines were the most thrifty. Wine was also 

 abundant even the. Angelica. Los Angeles had orchards, also, mostly 

 of oranges. The largest orange orchards at that time were those of 

 Wolfskill, Carpenter, and Louis Vigne. During recent years the 

 modern city of Los Angeles has been built over and beyond them. 



Among the early planters of mission fruits in the northern part of 

 the State was Yount, who planted vines in Napa Valley in 1838, and 

 other fruits later. John Wolfskill, of Winters, saw grapes and peaches 

 at Yount's in 1841, and J. M. Pleasant took peach pits from Yount's 

 over into Pleasant's valley, Solano county in 1851. Dr. Marsh, on 

 his place at the base of Mount Diablo, had, in 1842, a mission grape 

 vineyard more than an acre in extent, and in good bearing. The vines 

 were planted about 1838. Mr. Wolfskill planted a few vines on Putah 

 Creek in 1842. 



Pairtial Revival of the Mission Fruit Gardens. After the incom- 

 ing of Americans in 1849 some of the old Mission trees were secured 

 by enterprising men, and made to renew their youth by pruning, 

 cultivation, and irrigation, that they might minister to the great 

 demand for fruit which sprang up among the gold seekers. The trees 

 richly reciprocated the care and attention given them, and there still 

 exists at the San Gabriel Mission old pear trees grafted over with im- 

 proved varieties by W. M. Stockton in 1854. The first fruits offered 

 for sale in San Francisco markets were from the pear trees of Santa 

 Clara and San Jose Missions, arid from the mission grapevines of the 

 same localities, and of Los Angeles county. These grapes, packed in 

 sawdust, came up the coast by steamer, and were then re-shipped to 

 the mining camps, arriving for the most part in good condition, and 

 were very popular. It is recorded that one thousand five hundred tons 

 of these grapes were sent from Los Angeles county to San Francisco 

 and the mines in 1852. Another instance in which thrift followed 

 neglect is seen in the fact that, in 1858, Don Andres Pico, who suc- 

 ceeded to possession of the orchard at the San Fernando Mission, did 

 a considerable business in drying pears and other fruits, using the labor 

 of the Indians. 



At the present time vestiges of the old mission orchards still remain, 

 the pears and olives still bearing, and in some cases the old date palms 

 guarding the desolate scenes, or standing as reminders of the old 

 regime, while the new life of California is surging up around them. 



