HORTICULTURE 



HORTICULTURE 



769 



ern Europe — olives, figs, oranges, lemons, pomegranates, 

 wine grapes, and also apples, pears and peaches. Early 

 in this century the mission of San Gabriel had over 2,000 

 fruit trees, and others had more than a thousand. Fig. 

 109-1 shows the yard of San Juan Capistrano Mission, as 

 it existed in 1889. There are also some traces in Califor- 

 nia of the fruits of the few early Russian settlements. 

 With the American occupation and the immigration 

 from the East, came the eastern American types of 

 fruits, and the state is now the seat of a wonderfully 

 varied fruit culture, although the small fruits have not 

 yet attained that prominence 

 which they enjoy in older 

 countries. 



Details of the early Cali- 

 foruian Horticulture are 

 given for this occasion by 

 Charles Howard Shiun. The 

 first official horticultural re- 

 ports from California ap- 

 peared in the second part of 

 the United States Patent 

 Office Report for 1851 In 

 this report, Mr. A. Willi inis 

 of San Francisco, presenti d 

 statistics from the Hornei 

 Ranch, near the Mission "^ in 

 Jos^, Alameda county, whei t 

 800 acres were planted ii> 

 vegetables and the crop < t 

 1851 sold for upwards < t 

 $200,000. The crop of pot i 

 toes, onions, beets, turnip s 

 and tomatoes was 134 2(10 

 bushels. The same repoit 

 noted an onion weighing 2 1 

 pounds, and at the Fair oC 

 185^ the committee on vege- 

 tables reported a "white Hut 

 turnip'' weighing 33 pounds. 

 a squash that "weighed 121 

 pounds, and a tomato weigh- 

 ing 5% pounds Thus early 

 California began to boast of 

 the mammoth productions of culture o 



her soil. The first official 



report printed in California appeared in a document is- 

 sued by the Secretary of State for 1852. The capital then 

 employed in "fruits and orchards " was given at $366,910. 

 The market-garden interests were surprisingly large; 

 among single items were "460,000 pumpkins, worth 

 $46,000;" upwai-ds of 5,000,000 pounds of onions, "worth 

 $186,000;" .'JO.Olin liuslicis of beans, "worth $72,000." 

 Santa Barbara c'.uiit^' ri-ported "1,370 barrels of olives, 

 worth $27,500." I Inrtirulfural statistics are continued 

 in the reports of the state Surveyor General. In Decem- 

 ber, 1853, the State Agricultural Society of California 

 was organized, after a successful exhibition in San 

 Francisco, where almonds, figs, olives, walnuts, and 

 many other fruits, as well as vegetables and flowers, 

 were shown. Fairs were held in 1854 and 1855, but were 

 not officially reported. The state began to publish the 

 proceedings of the agricultural society in 1858, when its 

 membership waJ856, and annual reports have continued 

 till the present time. The California Horticultural So 

 ciety was organized April 5, 1881; in 1883, the State 

 Board of Horticulture was established. Reports of 

 these bodies and of the state fruit-growers' conventions 

 have appeared annually or biennially since 1882. The 

 State Viticultural Commission was organized in 1881, 

 and its reports continued xmtil 1894. Upwards of one 

 hundred octavo volumes represent the official output of 

 California since 1858 in lines ef Horticulture, including, 

 of course, the California Experiment Station reports. 



Among the special California horticultural literature, 

 are the following: "California Fruits," E. J. Wickson, 

 first edition, 1889; second edition, 1891; third edition, 

 1900. So many changes and additions have occurred in 

 this book that all three editions will be found very use- 

 ful in libraries. "California Vegetables," E.. J. Wickson, 

 1897. The only book on this subject that has yet ap- 

 peared (19001. "Gardening in California," Wra. .S. 

 Lyon, Los Angeles, 1897. This is a small volume of 1.50 



pages. "Olive Growing," Pohndorff, San Francisco, 

 1884. "Olive Culture," A. Flamant, San Francisco, 1887. 

 "The Olive," Arthur T. Marvin, San Francisco, 1888. 

 "The Raisin Industry," Gustav Eisen, San Francisco, 

 1890. "The Wine Press and Cellar," E. H. Rixford, San 

 Francisco, 1883. "Grape Culture, a Handbook for Cali- 

 fornia," T. Hart Hy.att, San Francisco, 1876. "Orange 

 Culture in California," Thomas A. Garey, San Francisco, 

 1882. Contains appendix on grape culture, by L. J. 

 Rose. "Orange Culture." W. A. Spalding. Los Angeles, 

 Calif. "The California F!irmer,"established in January, 



the early promoters of Horti- 



1854, and maintaining a spasmodic existence for a num- 

 ber of years, printed the first pomological and horti- 

 cultural reports of committees, etc. "The Rural Press " 

 was established in 1871, in San Francisco, and still con- 

 tinues. "The Rural Californian," of Los Angeles, still 

 in existence, was established in 1877. "The California 

 Fruit-Grower," commenced in 1888, and still survives 

 (1900). "The California Florist," first issued in Santa 

 Barbara, then in San Francisco, began in May, 1888, and 

 stopped in April, 1889. "The California Cultivator," of 

 Los Angeles, established in 1884, still published. "The 

 Pacific Tree and Vine," of San Jos^, established in 1882, 

 still published. 



California is now a horticultural wonderland ; but its 

 illimitable plantations are depressing to the man of 

 small means and non-commercial ambitions, or to those 

 who would grow for the discriminating personal market. 

 Difficult climates develop the highest type of the ama- 

 teur. 



Periodicals.— Whilst the periodicals of any subject 

 are supposed to chronicle all the fleeting events of the 

 days and years, and to embalm them for future genera- 

 tions, it is the most difficult thing to remember and re- 

 cord the journals themselves. Many liiirti<'nltural jour- 

 nals have lived and died in this country without having 

 attracted the attention of a single lilmiry nr cuilector of 

 books. They germinated in the rich soil of expectation, 

 bloomed in the dewy morning of enthusiasm, and col- 

 lapsed when the sun rose. It is probably no exaggera- 

 tion to say that 500 horticultural journals have been 

 started in North America. There are about 40 in the 

 flesh at the present moment. The "Massachusetts Agri- 

 cultural Repository" was started in 1793, and this was 

 the first agricultural journal in the country, but it was 

 as late as 1821 that a horticultural department was 

 added to it. The first journal to devote any important 

 extent of its space to horticultural matters was the 



