10 CALIFORNIA VEGETABLES. 



tivated by Thomas Fallen, a cabbage grew which meas- 

 ured, while growing, 13 feet and 6 inches around its body. 

 The weight is not known. A beet grown by Mr. Isaac 

 Brannan, at San Jose, weighed 63 pounds; carrots three 

 feet in length, weighed 40 pounds. At Stockton, a turnip 

 weighed 100 pounds, and at a dinner for 12 persons, of a 

 single potato, larger than the size of an ordinary hat, all 

 partook, leaving at least the half untouched." Rep. of 

 the Com. of Patents for 1851 : Part II, p. 4. 



These statements are vouched for by 12 persons whose 

 names are given. To save the respect of their Eastern 

 friends and at the same time to loyally make known the 

 horticultural glory of the land they had found, the early 

 vegetable growers had recourse to public exhibitions. The 

 first was held in the fall of 1851 in San Francisco. The ex- 

 hibits did not quite equal the verdict of the horticultural 

 jury cited above but they were notable, e. g. : a red beet 

 from San Jose, 28 inches in circumference, weight 47 

 pounds ; beets two months from seed in San Francisco, six 

 and seven pounds; cabbage from Mission San Jose seven 

 feet in circumference, weight 56 pounds; cucumbers 18 

 inches in length; onions five, six and seven inches in dia- 

 meter from a product of nearly 70,000 pounds to the acre ; 

 potatoes from Santa Cruz, 125 pounds from the five vines 

 of a single hill and one potato from Santa Clara 13 inches 

 in length, weighing 7 1 /4 pounds ; pumpkins and squashes 

 from 100 to 140 pounds each. 



The demonstrations furnished by such public exhibi- 

 tions, of which there were several in the early years of 

 San Francisco, were accepted at the East, and even such 

 conservative experts as the late Dr. Warder, of Ohio, 

 were led to exclaim, as early as 1852: "truly this is a 

 wonderful country." To fully appreciate the significance 

 of the facts it must be remembered that the varieties were 

 those of nearly half a century ago and the culture was 

 wholly lacking in the. intensive arts which are common 

 property of vegetable growers of the present day. The 



