12 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



canning factory of his own. There is also a large olive orchard ; 

 the cultivation of this fruit and the manufacture of oil is destined 

 to be one of the leading interests of California. A superior 

 varietj' of prune, known as the French prune, has been introduced, 

 and from the fruit dried prunes of superior quality are manufac- 

 tured. In the summer the climate is warm and there is no rain or 

 dew, so that prunes and raisins can be dried by the sun alone. 

 There is a large peach orchard, containing the varieties of best 

 quality for canning and transportation. Gen. Bidwell had a 

 large vineyard for wine, but being a prohibitionist he pulled up 

 the vines, and now grows grapes only for raisins. He makes five 

 hundred barrels of cider annually, all of which is made into 

 vinegar. 



Mr. Ware saw acres and acres of squashes, or, as they are 

 called there, pumpkins, producing at the rate of twenty tons per 

 acre; they are valued at $2 per ton. There is no frost there, 

 and the}' are piled up in the fields until wanted for use. He saw 

 a photograph of a field which was said to have produced eighty tons 

 to the acre. The peach, apricot, prune, and fig require only four 

 years to make good, thrifty bearing trees. Almonds and English 

 walnuts thrive there ; indeed, all the fruits now imported from 

 Europe find a congenial home in California, and our whole coun- 

 try will undoubtedly before long be supplied from thence with all 

 the fruits and nuts now imported. It is only about twelve 3'ears 

 since it was known that the various fruits could be grown in Cali- 

 fornia to advantage. Soon after the discovery of gold, in 1849, 

 oats were found growing there, having stalks six feet high, and it 

 was argued that if oats would grow there wheat would also. Last 

 year a surplus of fifteen millions of bushels of superior wheat was 

 exported. Wheat and barle}' are grown without irrigation. 



Oak trees are found growing naturally in various parts of the 

 State and forming park-like scenery. The principal species are 

 the live oak, water oak and a variety resembling our white oak, 

 but producing timber much inferior to that. The atmosphere is 

 very peculiar ; standing thirty miles away from the Sierra Nevada, 

 it looks as if there were a descent to the foot-hills instead of a 

 rise. The lumber interest is a very important one at Chico ; a 

 flume thirty-eight miles long has been built to float down the 

 lumber, which travels that distance in four hours and a half, and 

 the same water is afterwards used for irrigation. 



