CHAPTER XXXVII. 

 SEED GROWING IN CALIFORNIA. 



The commercial production of garden seeds in California was 

 entered upon by the first American vegetable growers as a branch 

 of their business. The difficulty of obtaining supplies from the East 

 and the almost fabulous prices which seeds commanded, acted as a 

 strong incentive to local production. The inventory of Mr. John M v 

 Horner's productions at Alvarado in 1851 included eleven hundred r v 

 pounds of garden seeds onions, beets and cabbage. Mr. A. P. 

 Smith at Sacramento had twenty acres devoted to seed growing in 

 1857, and the following record shows that he had been doing a good 

 business for some time before that date : 



To his vegetable seed department Mr. Smith turned his attention at an 

 early day, and has pursued it till now he devotes to it twenty acres of ground 

 and the time of several laborers, and from it reaps a merited reward. His 

 crop of seeds for the last four years has reached from three to four thousand 

 pounds per annum, which up to 1858 averaged about three dollars per pound. 

 They now sell for less. 1 



Another pioneer seed grower was Mr. D. L. Perkins, of Ala- 

 meda. The record states that he "served a thorough apprenticeship 

 in the business at the East and is quite at home in all general ope- 

 rations connected with his business." At the state fair in 1860 

 premiums for garden seeds were awarded to A. P. Smith, of Sacra- 

 mento, and to D. L. Perkins, of Alameda. The committee reported 

 both exhibits very meritorious and indulged in the prophecy that 

 "the time is at hand when our gardeners will be saved the time, 

 trouble and expense of looking abroad for their seeds." 



It would seem that Mr. Perkins must be credited with a broader 

 conception of the opportunity of California in seed growing than 

 was known to the awarding committee. With them the problem 

 was local supply. Mr. Perkins looked beyond that. In his state- 

 ment submitted with a claim for a gold medal at the state fair of 

 1867 he uses these significant words : 



For the past ten years all my time has been given to the raising of seeds 

 . . . striving to get the best seeds from all parts of the world. During 

 the past three years I have sent collections of seeds to be tested at the East 

 and the results in size and quality over the same varieties grown at the East 

 have been so marked that several parties have ordered from me, thus show- 

 ing that California can compete with the world for garden seeds. There is 

 no State in the Union so well adapted to the raising of seeds as California. 

 During five years past I have sent samples of my product to Japan, China, 

 Sandwich Islands, Mexico, and to Europe. 2 



1 Rep. Cal. Agr. Society, 1858, p. 233. 



2 Condensed from Rep. Cal. Agr. Society, 1866-7, pp. 228 and 229. 



