12 CALIFORNIA VEGETABLES 



address at a Farmers' Institute by S. J. Murdock, one of the most 

 successful early vegetable growers of southern California: 



The business of growing vegetables has grown step by step, until at 

 present it is a great industry, mostly in the hands of Asiatics. Yet in some 

 places white men are getting a share of the trade, and if they would combine 

 and exchange vegetables, as the Chinamen do, they would soon have the bulk 

 of the business. The people of California know no seasons for the different 

 vegetables, as they do at the East. They demand beets, lettuce, onions, tur- 

 nips, radishes and cabbage the year round, and they want asparagus, peas, 

 parsnips, salsify and cauliflower nearly all the time. White men should com- 

 bine and exchange different kinds, for one man can hardly succeed in having 

 all varieties in the proper quantities, as different soils and locations produce 

 different results. But the average Californian does not take kindly to the 

 business. He considers it "puttering" work. Yet it is far ahead of wheat 

 raising. It takes study, and lots of it, to keep abreast of the times, for we 

 cannot raise the vegetables of ten or twenty years ago and make a success of 

 the business. There has been as great improvement in vegetables as in other 

 things. There is scarcely a region in southern California where an indus- 

 trious, energetic man could not work up a trade along this line. He should 

 not expect to make a fortune in a few years, but after the first few months 

 he would have a steady income, increasing from time to time, as he learned 

 the wants of his customers and catered to them. 



Recent Achievements in Vegetable Growing. Although Cali- 

 fornia horticulturists as a class are charged with neglect of vege- 

 table growing, prizes awarded to California growers by eastern 

 seedsmen in competitions open to the whole country show indisput- 

 ably the eminence of California, and are the more valuable because 

 the weights are certified by the judges in these contests. From our 

 records in this line we select a few, as follows : 



Varieties Weight 



Silver King Onion, single specimen 4 Ibs. 9 oz. 



Jumbo Mangel 91 Ibs. 



Imp. Sugar Beet 35^ Ibs. 



Wethersfield Onion, yield acre 66,905 Ibs. 



Jumbo Mangel, single specimen 39 Ibs. 



Prizetaker Onion " " 6 Ibs. 2 oz. 



Jumbo Watermelon " 131# Ibs. 



Prizetaker Onion, yield 1 oz. seed 8384 Ibs. 



Silver Skin Onion, largest 4 Ibs. 2 oz. 



Mammoth Pompeii Onion 4 Ibs. 8 oz. 



Red Victoria Onion 4 Ibs. 12 oz. 



Giant Intermediate Mangel 32 Ibs. 



Burpee's Bush Lima Bean, 1 plant 323 pods 



White Victoria Onion 5 Ibs. &/ 2 oz. 



Great Divide Potatoes, from 1 Ib 542 Ibs. 



Gibraltar Onion 1 Ib. 15 oz. 



Genuine Mammoth Pumpkin 187 Ibs. 



Henderson Bush Lima Bean, 1 plant 294 pods 



Marblehead Mammoth Cabbage 81 Ibs. 



Warren Cabbage 77 Ibs. 



Vegetables for Distant Shipment. A new phase of the vege- 

 table-growing industry of the state arose with the openings of the 

 overland railways, but it developed very slowly and it was at first 

 marked by great uncertainty in values, causing losses as notable as 

 profits to those in the shipping trade. The railway freight rate has 



