852 JOUENAL OF THE ROYAL HOETICULTUKAL SOCIETY. 
of California. The box was at once sent on to Louis Pellier at San Jose, 
and a number of Plum roots were grafted with the newly arrived Prunes. 
This started the first Prune nursery on the Pacific Coast, situated in 
San Jose City, in Devine Street, between Tarraine and Santa Teresa. 
San Jose is the county town of Santa Clara County, and the centre of the 
Prune industry. 
The importance of Pellier's experiment was not at first appreciated. 
A German nurseryman named Kamp procured some grafts from Pellier, 
and also worked at the cultivation of the Prune. He was one of the first 
to plant Prune trees out in orchard rows. But comparatively little 
attention was paid to Prune-growing .as a speciality for almost a 
quarter of a century after its introduction into the State. 
The superiority of California, however, as a fruit-growing State at 
last forced itself upon public attention, and among other fruits the 
Prune was given a trial. It soon proved its great capabilities as a pro- 
fitable crop, and to-day ranks among the leading industries of the 
Golden State. 
Geowth of the Industry. 
Probably the oldest orchard of any size in the State of California is 
the Bradley, on Steven's Creek road, about two miles out of San Jose. 
This w^as set out in 1870, and its success led others to go into Prune- 
growing. The O'Banion and Kent Orchard, near Saratoga, was planted 
in 1878. The Dr. Handy Orchard of 100 acres followed in 1880, and in 
1881 the Buxton. Both of these were planted in Saratoga, so that Prune- 
growing and curing on a large scale commenced there, and the result 
has been quite phenomenal. The Prane industry has been practically 
the growth of the past decade, for within that period the planting of 
orchards, their cultivation, and the proper treatment of the fruit have 
grown into a system. From the great Prune centre of Santa Clara 
County, which ten years ago did not produce a pound of this fruit, it is 
now exported by the car load. Above Los Gatos (a little town nestling 
in the foot-hills of the Santa Cruz range of mountains, and about ten 
miles from San Jose), Mr. Morrell was then one of the heaviest pro- 
ducers ; his output was five or six tons a year. He now picks from five 
to six car loads each season from the same orchard. 
Santa Clara County was from the beginning the centre of the Prune 
industry, and here it was demonstrated that Prune-growing would pay, 
that no extraordinary care was required in cultivation nor any mysterious 
skill in preparation. As soon as these facts were proved and became 
known, other counties took up the pursuit, until now the Prune is found 
in all except the highest mountain counties of California. In 1870 
there were but 19,059 Prune trees in the State, while the Assessor's 
Keport for 1886 (which is probably 25 per cent, too low an estimate) 
makes the number at that time 1,077,841. His report for 1891 shows a 
very large increase in those counties which had made returns, and 
since then there has still been a steady increase going on all through the 
State. A large proportion of the trees, perhaps one-half, are not yet in 
full bearing. It is estimated that when the trees now growing in Santa 
Clara County alone are full grown, the annual product will be over fifty 
million pounds of the dried fruit. 
