120 PACIFIC STATES FLORAL CONGRESS. 



Between the years of 1860 and 1875, grain growing and cattle rais- 

 ing formed the chief pursuits. 



At the present day, with cheap and rapid transit, plants and seeds 

 may be secured by those of even moderate means. 



In California, 45 or 50 years ago, letter postage was 25 cents, and 

 men stood in line at the post-office waiting for their news from home, 

 and flower seeds by mail were an almost impossibility. 



The principal florists in 1853 were Colonel Warren, Henry Sonntag, 

 E. L. Keimer, and Mr. Richard. The latter, located at the plaza, sold 

 rosebuds at $2.50 and $3.00 each. Prior to 1852, buds were $5.00 each. 

 These florists and those of the United States Nursery, on .Fifth and 

 Folsom Streets, imported part of their plants from New York, Bos- 

 ton, and Philadelphia, by way of Panama, 



Quantities of shrubbery came from Australia. 



Mr. Reimer was the first to gather and raise the seed of our wild 

 Monterey cypress, selling the plants in 1855 for $3.00 and $5.00 each. 

 His tuberoses were especially fine. In 1856 he advertised that a plant 

 auction would be held at Healdsburg. This was made a festive occasion, 

 other business being postponed for four or five hours. Plants of 

 Agrippena roses brought $3.00 each; honeysuckles, $5.00, and wall- 

 flowers, $1.25 each. Violets in pots were $2.00, and other plants in 

 like proportion. Over and above expenses these plants netted him $1,000. 

 When the women began to come to California, with them came the 

 desire to beautify their surroundings. They longed for beds of mari- 

 golds and mignonette, such as they had left behind them. They soon 

 found that the climate and soil of their adopted homes enabled them 

 not only to equal, but to far surpass, the beauty of their eastern homes. 

 The children of those pioneer women have since made gardens of 

 their own. But none possess the charm of those of their early years, 

 which were laden with the perfume of the sweetest rose that ever grew, 

 the soft, old-fashioned Castilian. 



While the soil yielded readily, the greatest drawback was in the 

 water supply. In the suburbs water was forced into tanks by wind- 

 mills and pumps for future use. The waste water from the kitchens 

 was saved in barrels, and utilized on the garden patch. From 1850 

 until the present system was established, water was drawn in large 

 barrels by horses through the streets of San Francisco. The driver 

 turned a faucet at one end of the large cask, and, after filling two 

 pails, carried one in each hand until the house barrels were full, 

 the water became scant before the regular delivery day, a little was 

 borrowed from a neighbor. In later years, what a treat it was when, 

 by turning on a faucet in the house, the water "ran out of the wall," 

 as the children used to say. One may readily see how precious were 



