188 . RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
here than in the Eastern states. Great variations are observed 
in different parts of the state; an apple may be excellent when 
the tree grows in the hot summer and cold winter high up on 
the Sierra Nevada; and be of poor quality if grown in the 
equable temperature of the coast. 
The best varieties, so far as ascertained, about the bay of 
San Francisco, are the Summer Pearmain, Red Astrakhan, Red 
June, and Early Harvest, for early apples; the Porter, Graven- 
stein, and Summer Queen, for late summer apples; the Bald- 
win, Roxbury Russet, and Rhode Island Greening, for fall 
apples; the Golden Russet, the Northern Spy, the Yellow 
Newtown Pippin, the White Winter Pearmain, and the Spitz- 
enberg, for winter apples. The best cider apple is the Smith’s 
Cider. 
The leading counties in the production of apples are Santa 
Clara, Sacramento, Alameda, Sonoma, Napa, Marin, Y olo, Yuba, 
and El Dorado. 
The trees grow so rapidly and bear so abundantly, that some 
persons suppose our orchards must be short-lived ; and the old- 
est American orchard in the state—at the Mission of San José 
—is cited as proof of this theory. That orchard is evidently 
dying, though only eleven years old; but its unhealthiness is 
owing to some influences peculiar to that spot. It has been 
gradually dying for four or five years, while other orchards six 
and eight years old are in perfect health. Besides, the fruit- 
trees of the old missions, many of them thirty years old, are 
still in excellent health and full bearing, and have not failed at 
any season during the last score of years to produce a good 
crop. The indigenous trees in our valleys have a thriftiness 
of growth and a precocity of development similar to our cul- 
tivated fruit-trees, and yet have a longevity equal to that of 
the similar species east of the Mississippi, where the summers 
are shorter, the winters colder, the annual growth less, and 
the development of the reproductive power later. 
§ 146. Peaches.—The peach-tree grows very rapidly, comes 
into bearing very early, and produces abundantly, in California ; 
