12 



Labor is quite as cheap as with us. The necessity for 

 good culture exists there no less than with us, and is pro- 

 bably greater, as we observed instances where a single 

 year's neglect had nearly ruined the plantation, owing to 

 the exhausting nature of a climate where heat and drought 

 are so prolonged. 



As I have remarked, fruits and fruit trees are, in a 

 great measure, free from insects and diseases in Califor- 

 nia ; however, the few which exist, it is reasonable to 

 suppose, will increase with the extension of fruit culture 

 the same as in other countries grown old. We saw a few 

 caterpillars on the apple, slug on the pear and cherry foli- 

 age, aphis on the orange and olive trees, and mildew on 

 the grape, cracking of the pear and curling of the peach 

 leaf; but in all these instances only in a slight degree. 



At the time we arrived in San Francisco, on the 20th 

 of June, we foimd an abundant supply of all the early 

 fruits. Of strawberries the first crop had passed, the 

 second just coming in ; apricots, early sorts abundant and 

 beautiful; cherries in their prime, large, beautiful, and 

 excellent; currants plentiful and very large ; early pears, 

 chiefly Doyenne d'Ete and Madeleine; apples, mostly 

 Red Astrachan ; figs, gooseberries, and early plums. We 

 took immediate steps to ascertain in what localities we 

 would find the best examples in the several departments 

 of culture and within easy reach of us ; and ascertained 

 that the valleys of Santa Clara, Napa, Sonoma, Sacra- 

 mento, and San Joaquin contained some of the largest 

 and best-conducted orchards and vineyards in the State. 

 In the valley of Santa Clara we visited a large orchard 

 which consisted of 3000 pear trees, 4000 apple trees, 35 

 acres of strawberries, 10 acres of grapes, — in all 73 

 acres. Grapes were planted among the pears, the orchard 

 having been planted in 1855. The pear orchard was com- 

 posed of many of the leading well-known sorts ; the trees 

 remarkable for health, vigor of growth, and productive- 

 ness. The oldest were about twelve years, and some of 

 these we estimated at thirty feet in height, and a foot in 



