PEAR GROWING IN CALIFORNI?*. 223 



CHAPTER I. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Pear growing in California dates back over a period of approximately 

 one hundred and fifty years, although commercially the industry 

 amounted to little until more than a century later. The first trees were 

 planted by the Franciscan Fathers on the grounds of their various 

 missions, including Mission San Jose in the Santa Clara Valley. 

 Strange to say, this valley which witnessed the beginning of the pear 

 industry in the state has, up to the present time, been absolutely free 

 from blight, the scourge of the pear orchard, which has spread through- 

 out practically all other pear-growing sections in the United States and 

 which has made the growing of this fruit unprofitable, if not impossible, 

 without the application of extreme measures in its control. Fig. 1 shows 



FIG. 1. Pear trees growing near Santa Barbara, where they are said to have 

 been planted by the Padres about 125 years ago. 



some very large seedling pear trees at Gaviota, Santa Barbara County, 

 California, which are said to be at least 125 years old. The largest tree 

 is about three feet in diameter and at least 45 feet high. They are very 

 thrifty and except at close range look like oaks. Apparently blight has 

 never affected them in the least. At San Rafael there are some old 

 seedling trees which are said to have been planted in 1817. These are 

 also hardy and free from blight. 



Since the days when the Padres demonstrated the adaptability of 

 the pear and other fruits to California conditions, on the lands sur- 

 rounding the missions, many of which are still standing amidst 

 remnants of these old tree plantings, the pear industry has assumed 

 such proportions that it is now one of the leading deciduous fruit 



