44 CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



Planting ol 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. 



Partial 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 exist at the San Gabriel Mission old pear trees grafted 

 over with improved 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, and 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 succeeded 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 re- 

 main, 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. 



RUSSIAN FRUITS 



The second introduction of cultivated fruits to California was by 

 the Russians. The exact date of their planting at Fort Ross on the 

 ocean side in Mendocino county, is not known, but is believed to 

 have been as early as 1812. The survivors of the original Russian 



