AGRICULTURE. 259 



'elsewhere. The Gloria Mundi apple, which elsewhere seldom 

 ^exceeds fourteen ounces in weight, in California frequently 

 reaches twenty ounces, and some have attained the great size 

 of two and even two and a half pounds. 



The climate seems to have a tendency to ripen apples 

 more thoroughly than in other States. Those varieties which 

 are grown for winter use elsewhere, are here generally con- 

 verted into autumn apples, and only a few will keep to New 

 Year's Day. Our list of winter apples is very short, and 

 some years will pass before we can in this respect equal the 

 Middle States. 



The flavor of our apples is not equal, as a general rule, to 

 that of the apples grown on the Atlantic slope. They are less 

 juicy and more mealy. Some varieties, however, are better 

 here than in the Eastern States. Great variations are observed 

 in different parts of the State : an apple may be excellent when 

 the tree grows in the hot summer and cool winter high up on 

 the Sierra Nevada ; and be of poor quality if grown in the 

 equable temperature of the coast. 



The trees grow so rapidly and bear so abundantly, that some 

 persons suppose our orchards must be short-lived ; but the fruit- 

 trees of the old Missions, many of them forty years old, are 

 still in excellent health and full bearing, and have not failed 

 at any season during the last score of years to produce a good 

 crop. The indigenous trees in our valleys have a thriftiness of 

 growth and a precocity of development similar to our culti- 

 vated fruit-trees, and yet have a longevity equal to that of the 

 similar species east of the Mississippi, where the summers are 

 shorter, the winters colder, the annual growth less, and the 

 development of the reproductive power later. 



The best varieties, so far as ascertained, about the bay of 

 San Francisco, are the Summer Pearmain, Red Astrakhan, 

 Red June, and Early Harvest, for early apples ; the Porter, 

 Gravenstein, and Summer Queen, for late summer apples ; the 

 Baldwin, Roxbury Russet, and Rhode Island Greening, for 



