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The Florists^ Review 



17 



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GOLDEN STATE'S SEED CROPS 



GROWING SEED IN CALIFORNIA. 



Distinct Districts. 



As a < iilifiiriiia iiiiliist ly, sccil uidw- 

 iii<' siill'c'is li.v (■(Hii|i;iris(in in i-iilfiiial 

 \ (iliiiiic with other hint iciiltiniil lino, 

 such as citriiiis fiiiits, almonds, wal- 

 nuts, r.aisins, ]iriincs ami aiu-icots, tlio 

 ^nifi-al fi-iiit cannirii; Inisincss. and even 

 \ cf^a'talilc sliippiiiji. As coniparcil with 

 (it her seed yrowinj;- districts, licr(> :in<l 

 in iMiiiipc, it is, liowi'vcr, of laij^c pln- 

 |ioit ions. 



Califoinia is a lon«;' state and one of 

 a i;reat \ariety of (diniates, (dexations 

 and sidls. 'I'iie oldest seed lirowinji dis- 

 tiicl is the Santa Clara \aliey, in and 

 ;ili(nit the town of Santa Clara, a town 

 dl' some .".(KHI i nlialtitants, fifty miles 

 south (if .San l-'raiii-iseo. Xone of the old 

 locations is now ilseij for seed j^row 

 ini^, lint there are some seed farms in 

 the Santa ('lara \:illey. .Most of the 

 ^rowels lia\c ^(ine aliont thirty live 

 to fifty miles sontli of .Santa Clara 

 Id (lilroV. San Juan, San !-'(di|ie and 

 llollister. Here is grown most of the 

 Ictlnce, radish, jiarsley and salsily and 

 .'ilidut fifty per cent of the onion seed. 

 This district is what we designate ;is 

 p.art (if the coast \alle>'s, since the dis- 

 trict lies to the west of the co;tst ran<ie 

 df mountains. K;iitlier o\ cr and nearer 

 the ocean ai'e now "jrown sweet |ieas and 

 ami culinary peas. Still farther sontli 

 .inii still alonj; the coast are the laryc 

 HdWtr and seed f;irms at .\rroyo (Irande, 

 Cuadaloii])e .•ind I.,oin|ioc. Here are also 

 Lirown lari;e areas of sweet peas. Still 

 I'.aither south and alon<! the coast is the 



Our of till iitiisl hi fur null 1 1 I unit in 

 ti I'l.sl i iifl iif till jiiiiiiis jin SI III I il III III! 

 CI) lire lit ion of till A nil ririiii Si i d 'inuti, 

 As.sncidt inn. ill Cliirililn lii.st iiiiL. tins 

 ihscriptiiHi iij ' ' \' I III tiitili Si I it liriiiri ml 

 ill Ctilifdniiii,' ' lis it inis iiililtiil, IS till 

 Li stir L. Miti'si, iif Sim F ru m-i.-ii u, Cnl.. 

 irlliisi lii'iiilil k iiiiirl iilili unit liin iiisii/lil 

 lliin-iriiii liilll nil iiiltstil nili ml imsilmn in 

 till SI I il t null . 



lima and pole liean district, ,ii ('.-irpiii 

 teria and \'enlui',a. I'arthcst south, near 

 liOS .\nyeles, ;ire other l.arj^c flower sccii 

 growino distiicts and tomato scc,| 

 farms. 



"Up River.' ' 



.\ n enfiridy dill'ei'ent distiicf, Imtli in 

 climate and soil, is wh.at we call flu- 

 river district, locallv ret'encd to as ''iip 

 ri\-er.'' This is ;i territory neai' S.-o-ra 

 inento, ;i city of ahoiit .")ii,(l(i(i people, the 

 capital of the state, and Sto(d\ton, a 

 city of alpout 4ii,0(iii inhaliitaufs. I'hiw- 

 in<i up to Stockton from the south is the 

 threat San .Ioa(piin rivci' .and flowing 

 down from the north to Sacramento is 

 the j^reat Sacramento rixcr. These twd 

 ri\-ers turn west to a pass through the 

 coast ranyc to San l-'rancisco liay .ainl 

 thence to the ocean. Where the rixcrs 

 meet are lari;c tracts of tnle islands, 

 which ha\i' practically all lieen re 

 (daiined with lii<;li le\-ees .and fine drain 

 ago systems. While the soil \aiies from 

 •;lmost pure muck or pe.it to hea\ ier 

 loam or silt, it is ,all rich, moist soil 

 and is nearly .all under ,a hieh state of 

 cultivation. The moisture is casih- con 



tidlleil li\ liii^c draiiia).ie systems, which 

 pump out the w.ater when there is too 

 mu( h and pump it in from the ri\'ers and 

 their trilmtaries (called sloii^^hsi uhiii 

 t he soil is too dry. 



East of the Mountains. 



Lyiud cast of' the mountains, the didta 

 section, as il is comiu^i to lie called liy 

 the newer ri\fr settlers, does not "ct 

 the cool suminei' winds th.at lilow t'roni 

 the ocean .alone the co.asf couiitiy .and 

 Is much hoftei .and drier in the surnmei, 

 .aihl cid|is lipeii earlier. 



( )cc;isioiia liy there is an unusually hot, 

 (|r\' wind in .lune. when see(i crops are 

 ill Iddom, .and \\c experience a liad liuiii 

 on the seed head, whether carrot, leid; 

 or oniiiii, ami sometimes the crop is 

 seiioiisly (lama^ed. In the d(dfa there 

 is practically no t'oe in summer ,and tln' 

 moniiuj; dews ,aic usually exapor.ateil 

 liid'ore S o'(do(d\. so that when crops 

 are i-ipe they ,are liest h;ir\i'stei| early, 

 anil cure or di\- on the sheets within a 

 few (Lays .'ind can then he thresheil liy 

 lieiti;; rolleil with a roller diawn iiv 

 horses. I'l.acf ica ll\' all the sei'd ciaips 

 ai-e tlii-eshed in this simple manner, and 

 the mefhoil is pict'eralile to tliresliinji 

 with a machine, since there is no clean- 

 ing of a m.aehine necessary when it is 

 luoveil from one \ariety to another, ami 

 in the case ot' carrot, the hoards or 

 spines ,are uicdy ruhhed olT hy the 

 iiillei'. Siiidi se(>ds as carrot, ccdery, 



I t, p.arsnip. etc, aic iiin tliroujjh a 



f'.aniiiiii; mill and ei\,.u a ro^igli idean- 

 in;;, and then ship|ie.l fn the >icfii 

 grower, who deans the scimI to a niei 

 clia lit .a Me s,-iinple. (tuion and leid\ are 



Winter-Flowering Sweet Peas Grown for Seed at the Floradale Farms of W. Atlee Burpee Co., in California. 



