HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE 67 



brought into California from old Spain via Mexico 

 in 1769, two are still in good repute and of com- 

 mercial value, the Mission fig and the Mission olive, 

 the latter now being more widely grown and profit- 

 able than any of scores of varieties introduced at 

 much cost by Americans during the last half century. 

 It may not be too fanciful to claim significance for 

 the fact that the greatest gift which American agri- 

 culture in California still cherishes from the sub- 

 merged Spanish husbandry is an olive branch. 



Aside from her agricultural inheritance from Span- 

 ish precedence, California fell heir to nothing of an 

 industrial character. It is stated that there were not 

 more than ten thousand white people in the State 

 before American occupation, that is one to ten thou- 

 sand acres of her area. Although the citizenship 

 given by Mexico was insignificant in numbers, there 

 was clearly discernible a social atmosphere that influ- 

 enced the lives and manners of the multitudes which 

 gathered from all parts of the world when the 

 American flag was unfurled. The Spanish Califor- 

 nians loved the land and joyfully accepted citizenship 

 in a republic which they believed would make Cali- 

 fornia great. Their chief gifts to the new State were 

 the patriotism, deep human interest, courtesy and 

 courtliness of manner and genuine and generous hos- 

 pitality which characterized them. 



THE AMERICANIZATION OF CALIFORNIA 



California's acquisition of a cosmopolitan American 

 population began long before the gold discovery. A 



