]S6 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA, 



from the bud, is now ten feet high, four feet through the top, 

 and measures ten inches round the body at the ground, brandl- 

 ing about one foot from the surface. A Beurre Diel dwarf, 

 pUxnted in January, 1856, is now seven feet high, three feet 

 through the top, and ten inches in circumference at the ground. 

 A dwarf May Duke cherry, planted in 1856, is now thirteen 

 feet high, and thirteen and a half inches in circumference at 

 the ground. An Old Mixon peach, planted in 1855, and cut 

 down within a few inches of the ground, is now twenty feet 

 high, twenty-two feet through the top, and the trunk twenty- 

 eight inches in circiunference. A seedling peach, seed planted 

 in January, 1858, is now eight feet high and well branched, and 

 the trunk four and a half inches in circumference at the ground. 

 The growth of trees, vines, and shrubs, is about double that of 

 similar kinds on the rich prairie-soils of Northern Indiana." 



In 1858, a sprig of a peach-tree, a foot long, was stuck into 

 the ground on the Bay-state ranch ; the next year it bore fruit. 

 It may be set down as a general rule that, previous to the time 

 of bearing fruit, trees in California make twice as much wood 

 in a year as they do in the middle states. 



In Alameda county, plum-trees have grown twelve feet in 

 one vear from the bud. 



The trees commence to bear fruit at about half the age at 

 which they bear in the Atlantic states. An apple-orchard in 

 New York begins to bear in its fifth or sixth year ; in Califor- 

 nia, in its second or third. 



The variety of climates, and the freedom from frosts, severe 

 cold, and furious storms, protect us against a failure of the 

 fruit-crop. 



Our apples, pears, apricots, and plums, are larger than the 

 same varieties usually are elsewhere; other fruits are about 

 the same in size. 



§ 145. Apples. — The Spanish Californians had a few apple- 

 trees, but they were seedlings of a poor class. The first good 

 apples were imported from Oregon in 1849 ; but the varieties 

 were few, and the trees did not thrive. Either the stock was 



