160 RURAL CALIFORNIA 



original sorts, handed down from prehistoric people, 

 have made Arizona famous. Beans came with the 

 Spaniards, or Mexicans, who are never very widely 

 separated from frijoles, and were therefore brought 

 to San Diego by the padres in 1768. According to 

 the records, there were grown at all the missions 

 during their active period, which ended in 1833, a 

 total of 71,115 bushels of beans, of which 19,380 

 bushels were raised on land which is now central in 

 San Francisco. 



Beans came to California with gold-seekers, as did 

 other garden seeds, but made a slow start, for what 

 reason is not now known. At the first display of 

 productions held in San Francisco in 1851, there were 

 exhibits of many grains and vegetables of surprising 

 size and productivity, but in the details given there 

 is no record of beans, though nearly all other gar- 

 den growths are specifically mentioned, described and 

 glorified. Even in the list of plants of which J. M. 

 Homer grew crops in 1851 valued at $200,000, and 

 for which he was awarded a silver goblet as a prize, 

 no beans are included. 



At the State Fair of 1857 there was only one ex- 

 hibit of beans, which led the judges to scold and 

 prophesy in this way: 



"One sample of beans only was exhibited. When 

 this product shall be properly understood and the 

 quantity known that has been and is continually 

 imported, a wise attention will be given to a crop 

 that will always pay, if planted upon the right kind 

 of soil. California pays annually for many thousand 



