VEGETABLES AT THE MISSIONS V 



goods; and by spring I had accumulated about three thousand dollars. The 

 last load freighted by me included a ton of potatoes, which cost me forty cents 

 a pound. My seeds and potatoes were planted in March, 1851, and everything 

 was doing well until cut to the ground by frost on April 19. My potatoes, 

 however, came up again and made a fair crop. I was not to be cheated out 

 of my vegetable crop, and started out again to buy seeds, but could find none, 

 either in Sacramento or in San Francisco. Returning to Sacramento, I 

 chanced upon some watermelon seeds on the boat, and bought the lot for 

 twenty dollars. With these I planted five acres, and cleaned up about five 

 thousand dollars for one summer's work. The next year I planted about 

 twenty-six acres of watermelons, and in the fall I found I had twenty thou- 

 sand dollars for my summer's work.* 



With the money Mr. Briggs returned to New York for his 

 family and brought also, on his return, some fruit trees, and laid the 

 foundation of his subsequent brilliant record as a pioneer fruit 

 grower. Others followed about the same course and thus vegetable 

 growing became not only the basis of California's horticultural 

 reputation but actually furnished the capital for the ventures which 

 demonstrated the possibility of our great fruit industries. 



Vegetables at the Missions and the Ranches. The American 

 pioneers found little at the establishments of the old regime that 

 was instructive or even suggestive. In fact, the Spanish conception 

 of the agricultural capacity and adaptability of the country was not 

 only inadequate; it was erroneous as well. Though the missions 

 had gardens, they were almost destitute of gardening as we under- 

 stand the term and whether the Spanish and Mexican settlers were 

 deterred from vegetable growing by their distaste for any physical 

 exertion, away from the saddle, or by their ignorance of the fitness 

 of the country, is not a question of much importance in this con- 

 nection. Hittell says: "Gardening was not attempted except on a 

 very small scale and only for such vegetables as could be produced 

 with very little labor. . . . Potatoes and turnips were rare and 

 of garden vegetables in general it my be said that until the advent 

 of foreign settlers they were scarcely cultivated." 4 Bryant, who 

 visited California in 1846 and examined the Los Angeles gardens, 

 saw only onions, potatoes, red peppers and beans and added that he 

 believed other vegetables would grow as well as they. 



Illustrating the inability of the rancheros to understand the 

 wide applicability of the simple horticultural lessons given at the 

 missions, it is related that at the time of the American settlement 

 most of the Spanish families living in different parts of Alameda 

 and Contra Costa had their garden patches near the Mission San 

 Jose. They knew fruit and vegetables would grow there, because 

 they had seen them in the mission gardens and they did not know 

 they would grow elsewhere and had not taken the trouble to find 

 out. Thus the Estudillos of San Leandro had their garden patch at 



8 Condensed from narrative of G. G. Briggs, in Rep. State Ag'l Soc. 1881. Another ac- 

 count (Rep. 1858) says this watermelon crop was grown by Mr. Briggs with the aid of two 

 men. 



4 Hist, of California, Vol. II, p. 474. 



