17 



The quince trees surprised us ; the}^ were gi'owii with one 

 stem, hke an apple tree, and were the finest and hir<^c8t 

 we ever saw, — two hundred in numl^cr. The price ob- 

 tained for the fruit is from three to four cents a pound. 

 The pomegranates, 180 in number, were super!) phuits, 

 about six feet in height, covered with fruit and flowers. 

 A splendid sight of the kind, and such an one as we 

 never enjoyed before. They ripen in Septeml)er and 

 October, and sell for eight to fifteen cents per pound. In 

 good seasons they produce 600 pounds. Here, also, the 

 English walnuts were beginning to bear, fifteen years old, 

 and produce sixty to seventy pounds per tree. The Al- 

 haml)ra valley is narrow, wholly occupied by this planta- 

 tion, and sheltered on two sides by hills some GOO feet 

 high. The climate is therefore very warm, and on the 1st 

 of July the mercuiy rose to 109 in the shade. 



The next orchard which claimed our attention was a 

 short distance from Sacramento, owned by the Messrs. 

 Smith, who formerly carried on an extensive nursury 

 business in addition to fruit-gTowing ; and their gi-ounds 

 were regarded, and justly so, the finest in the State ; but 

 the floods, so destructive around the city, swept away a 

 large portion of the grounds near the river, and covered 

 other parts from three to five feet deep in sand ; the finest 

 portions were thus destroyed, and the w^reck is still to be 

 seen ; the portion remaining bears a heavy crop. Pears 

 and plums were especially fine ; of the fonner. Dearborn's 

 Seedling, Bartlett, White Doyenne, Winter Nelis, Eas- 

 ter Buerre, Dix, and Glout Morceau ^vere prominent. 

 Dearl^orn's Seedling and Glout Morceau surpassed in size, 

 beauty, and quantity any crops we have seen. Trees of 

 Dearborn were bearing eight to ten bushels of fruit ; the 

 Dix were high colored and fine ; the White Doyenne was 

 in its ancient beauty and excellence. The crops of plums 

 were so heavy as to break down the branches of the trees ; 

 the early Orleans were just gathered and ready for market. 

 AVashington plums were superb. The ground where 

 these fine, fruitful trees were growing, was covered by 



