(frabtltr. 
r CALIFORNIA—I. 
Brief Note* or a Horticultural Visit to 
California by Marshal P. Wilder, Chas. 
Downing, Geo. Ellwanger, and P. Barry. 
BT P. BARRY. 
Having recently made a brief visit to Cali¬ 
fornia, chiefly with a view to examine the 
orchards, vineyards and gardens, as well as 
the more important native trees and plants 
of that State, and believing that it may be 
interesting as well as useful to make public 
the results of our investigations, the follow¬ 
ing notes are herewith submitted: 
Fruit Culture. 
We begin with this, being the most im¬ 
portant. 
We arrived at San Francisco on (he 20th 
of June. On visiting the markets the next 
morning, we found 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’Etc and 
Madelalne; apples, mostly Red Astrachan; 
figs, gooseberries and early plums. From all 
this we came to the conclusion that the 
period of our visit was more favorable for 
the objects we had in view than we had ex¬ 
pected, and perhaps on the whole as favor¬ 
able, as we afterwards found it to be, as any 
period of the year. We had the opportunity 
of witnessing the harvest at its bight in the 
great agricultural districts through which 
we passed. 
Wo took immediate steps to ascertain in 
what localities we could find the best ex¬ 
amples in the several departments of culture 
and within easy reach of us, and ascer¬ 
tained lhat the valleys of Santa Clara, Napa, 
Sonoma, Sacramento and San Joaquin con¬ 
tained some of the largest. and best conduct¬ 
ed orchards and vineyards in the State. 
W. I,. A. Gould’s Orchard. 
In the valley of Santa Clara wo visited 
the large orchard of W. L. A. Gould. It 
consists of 8,000 pear trees, 4,000 apple trees, 
thirty-five acres of strawberries, ten acres of 
grapes—in all, seventy-three acres. Grapes 
are planted among the pears. The orchard 
was planted in 1855. 
Tlfi pear trees are set, sixteen feet apart, 
with a grape vine between every two trees, 
and two rows of grape vines between every 
two rows of pear trees, thus covering every 
foot of the ground. 
The strawberries are grown in rows three 
and a-half feet apart by one and a-half feet 
in the row, and kept in bills. The plants in 
one plat, were said to be six years old, grown 
in hills which were full eighteen inches 
across, and were bearing ripe and green fruit 
and blossoms at the same time. 
Here the strawberry bears two main crops 
in the year, one commencing in April and 
one in September; but in fact bears the 
whole year, when irrigated as it is here. 
Mr. Gould has three artesian wells on his 
premises, varying in depth from three hun¬ 
dred and twenty to three hundred and forty 
feet, and giving a constant flow of water 
during the dry season. 
The strawberries are irrigated by carrying 
the water along the headlands in wooden 
flumes about eighteen inches square, stop¬ 
pers are inserted opposite the spaces between 
the rows, and thus the water is distributed 
and shut off at pleasure. Mr. Gould In¬ 
formed us that he had on his grounds a mile 
and a half of these flumes. The Longwort h’s 
Prolific here and in many other places was 
spoken of as the most profitable, and ap¬ 
peared to us to constitute the bulk of this 
fruit on t he market stalls and in the shops. 
The later cherries were in perfection, and 
were extraordinary for size and beauty, sur- , 
passing, as we thought, any we had ever . 
seen iq any country—Napoleon Bigarreau 
and Black Tartarian especially. The former 
of these is much cultivated and sold under 
the name of “ Royal Ann.” 
The pear orchard is composed of mauy of 
the leading well known sorts; the trees re¬ 
markable for health, vigor of growth and i 
productiveness. The oldest are about twelve : 
years, and some of these wc estimated at 
thirty feet in height and a foot in diameter : 
of trunk at the ground. The crop was re- I 
garded as too heavy for the future welfare of < 
the trees, and we suggested the thinning of 
the fruit, but Mr. Gould said the low prices of : 
fruit would not justify the expense. Weshall i 
speak of prices hereafter. Doy en ne d'Ete and < 
Madelaine were being picked and compared ( 
favorably with those grown at the East. All 
other varieties seemed to be in advance of i 
ours in the same proportion. All varieties i 
seemed to do well, many were already, i 
though not half grown, highly colored. Mr. 
Gould expressed the opinion that the later i 
sorts, such as Winter Nelis, now being ex- s 
tcasively planted, Beurre Clairgeau, Doy- i 
eune d’Alencou, Glout Morceau, were likely i 
to be their most profitable market sorts in 
the future. 
The apple orchard is less promising than 
the pear, we thought owing to the ground 
being too wet at a certain period of the 
year. 
Newtown Pippin was said to be the most 
profitable, and next to that Smith’s Order, 
White Pcarmaiu and Wine Sap. 
English Walnuts thrive and bear well 
here, and Mr. Gould has some fine rows or 
avenues of young bearing trees and is plant¬ 
ing more. 
We were much pleased with the general 
good condition and management of this es¬ 
tablishment. We passed from this to 
The Grounds of Mr. B. F. Watkins, 
adjoining. He has a fruit plantation of 
thirty-five acres, every part of which is 
kept in the liest. possible order. He has 
seven acres of Longworth’s Prolific straw¬ 
berry, several acres of Black Hamburg 
Grapes grown for the table. Apples, pears, 
plums and peaches are all grown success¬ 
fully. The plums, especially were heavily 
laden with fruit—no curculio in California. 
Here we saw the practice of mulching 
carried out extensively, and Mr. Watkins, 
as well as other good cultivators with whom 
we met, regards it as very beneficial in that 
dry, summer climate. Our next call was 
at the 
Elegant Grounds of J&s. P. Fierce, Esq. 
All the fruits are well grown, but the 
chief feature is a vineyard of twenty-six 
acres, composed muinly of Sweet Water, 
White Muscat of Alexandria, and & variety 
known as “ Rose of Peru,” which is much 
cultivated. As the fruit was not ripe, we 
were unable to identify it with any variety 
known to us. The fruits here are grown for 
market, and last year, we were told realized, 
on an average about four cents per pound. 
A remarkable feature of these grounds 
was a grape arbor three-fourths of a mile in 
length, thirty feet in width and twelve feet 
high, covered with grapes trained in the 
most elaborate and artistic manner. Part of 
this arbor is used as a drive, in which car¬ 
riages may pass. Next day, 28th of June, 
we vlsied 
Tlie Plantation or Mr. E. D. Eewelllng or 
Sau Lorenzo, 
some twenty-five miles from San Jose. Mr. 
L. has one hundred and twenty-five acres 
m fruits, grown for market, and is one of 
the earliest, most experienced and successful 
fruit growers in California. On onr arrival 
we found him in his extensive and well ar¬ 
ranged fruit-packing house, preparing apri¬ 
cots, cherries, early plums, pears and our. 
rants for market,. 
All were remarkably fine of their respec¬ 
tive kinds. He had sent cherries that morn¬ 
ing to San Francisco that measured three 
and three-quarter inches in circumference 
and weighed thirty-six to the pound. We. 
thought we never saw such cherries. He 
sella annually about 65,000 pounds of cher¬ 
ries at from ten to forty cents per pound, 
though some had reached as high as seventy- 
five. All fruits are sold in California by 
weight. The Black Tartarian always com¬ 
mands the highest price. 
He has forty acres of cherry currants, and 
the sight of this plantation will convince 
any one that the cherry currant is not un¬ 
productive ; indeed, the bushes were covered 
with masses nl fruit of enormous size. He 
has sold 140,000 pounds in one year at from 
nine to eleven cents per pound. Both cher¬ 
ries and currants are put up in boxes of ten 
pounds each, and twelve boxes in a case. 
Plums are successfully and profitably grown, 
and are packed in twenty pound boxes. 
Of blackberries be has eight or ten acres 
—all Lawton. The crop is not more than 
fair. These are packed in five-pound boxes. 
Generally the blackberry does not succeed 
so well as at the east, though we met with 
occasional exceptions which we will refer to 
hereafter. 
Pears are packed in fifty-pound boxes, and 
apples In sixty-pound. This orchard was 
planted fifteen years ago. Pears succeed 
well, and in regard to varieties we might re¬ 
peat what we said in speaking of Mr. Gould. 
He has produced the Pound or Unedale 8t.. 
Germain, weighing four pounds and three 
ounces. 
Almonds are successfully grown — the 
soft-shell varieties,—Languedoc and Lewell- 
iug’s Standard, a seedling of his own. 
We saw one tree fourteen years old, fifteen 
inches in diameter, that lias yielded three 
bushels, which were sold at twenty-eight 
cents per pound. 
He has 2,000 almond trees planted. The 
English walnut is also, grown extensively, 
and some of the trees are already large 
enough to produce some two bushels of nuts 
each. 
Mr. Lewelling prefers the peach and 
apricot, from plum stock, as they produce no 
suckers, while the plum is troublesome in 
that respect. 
It may be well to state here that the cur¬ 
rants are trained in bush form on single 
stems, and the branches are carefully short¬ 
ened during the growing season, to keep 
them compact and prevent breaking down. 
t While speaking of currants, we may as well 
state that a company has been organized for 
i the purpose of 
I Manufacturing Beet gacar, 
i and the same company will manufacture 
currant jelly, which is now prepared exten¬ 
sively in San Francisco. The sugar beet 
, is produced there with great success. It 
attains fully twice the size and weight that 
it does with us in one season. We were 
informed of single roots weighing over one 
hundred pounds. An enterprise of this 
kind, well managed, can scarcely fail of 
success. We were much pleased with the 
arrangement and management of this ex¬ 
tensive establishment, every part of which 
is accessible through broad avenues thirty- 
two feet wide, the whole inclosed with fine 
hedges of Osage Orange and CJeratm* tllici- 
/<?/ia,called the California Holly. Some ob¬ 
jects in the way of ornamental trees worthy 
of note, we shall refer to hereafter. A short 
distance from Mr. Lewelling’s we visited 
The Orchard and Vineynrd of Mr. E. T. 
Crane. 
He has thirty-two acres, a large planta¬ 
tion of cherry currants in great perfection. 
The crop was being gathered when we were 
there. The balance of his orchard was 
made up of cherries, pears, apples, <fcc., be¬ 
sides a small vineyard. This place is well 
managed and was very satisfactory. Mr. 
Crane’s experience with varieties is the 
same as Mr. Lewellino’s. The Newtown 
Pippin apple is regarded as the most profit¬ 
able variety. At San Jose we visited 
The Extennive Orchard and Nuoerlea of 
Mr. B. F. Fox. 
Unfortunately Mr. Fox was not at home, 
but his foreman conducted us over a part 
of his grounds. Mr. Fox is one of the 
pioneer orchardists of that region and a 
large portion of his trees are well advauced 
in growth. The fruit was generally good. 
Early apricots and pears were being gath¬ 
ered and sent to market. Both Apricot and 
Nectarine trees were heavily laden with 
fruits of large size and beautiful appear¬ 
ance. We visited at this place 
The Jfureery of Mr. L. T. Sanderson. 
This is mostly occupied with ornamental 
trees and plants, of which we will speak 
hereafter. Here, too, we made a call at the 
fine grounds of 
General Henry M. Nnelee, 
where we found a large and well-managed 
vineyard, the fruit of which is wholly used 
in the manufacture of brandy, in which the 
General is said to excel. We found hero 
many ornamental trees of interest, to be 
spoken of hereafter. There were many 
oihc orchards iftfid vineyards in this rich 
and beautiful valley winch we intended to 
visit, but our engagements at other points 
prevented us. The Valley of Santa Clare 
in its agricultural as well as horticultural 
aspect, is exceedingly interesting, and our 
visit there will long be remembered by our 
party as one of the most agreeable and in¬ 
structive incidents of their travels. From 
San Jose we returned to San Francisco, and 
on the 29lh of June visited 
Thu Orchards of Mr. Simpson Thompson, 
at Suscol, in the Napa Valley. Mr. Thomp¬ 
son has one hundred acre* under fruit cul¬ 
ture, besides a large farm. Here we found 
one of the largest and best apple orchards 
we had seen. The Early Harvest and Red 
Astrachan were fit to gather. Williams’ Fa¬ 
vorite was largely planted and looked re¬ 
markably well. The following sorts were 
named as the most profitable:—Williams’ 
Favorite, Early Strawberry, Summer Rose, 
Red Astrachan, Early Harvest. Winter— 
Wine Sap, Rawles’ Janet, Newtown Pippin, 
White Pearmain, Rox. Russet, R. 1. Green¬ 
ing, Yellow Bellflower, Smith's Cider. Spv 
and Baldwin failed, and hud been grafted 
over with Yellow Bellflower and other sorts. 
Newtown Pippin best of all. 
Mr. Thompson was one of the earliest 
fruit cultivators in the State since the dis¬ 
covery of gold. He informed us that when 
he commenced he planted peach stones, and 
in eighteen months from the planting gath¬ 
ered i uit from the trees and sold them in 
San Francisco at. enormous prices. 
i he Duke Cherries are extensively grown 
I.ere, being found more profitable than the 
other classes. From Mr. Thompson’s we 
proceeded to 
“Oak Knoll,” the Residence of R. B. 
Woodward, Esq., 
some four miles from Napa, in the heart of 
the beautiful Napa Valley. Mr. Woodward 
has one hundred and twenty-five acres in 
fruit, all in the finest state of cultivation— 
the only defect being that the trees stand too 
close together. The oldest trees are twelve 
years planted, and many of them are eighteen 
inches to two feet in diameter of trunk, and 
twenty-five to thirty feet in height. We 
should think more than twice the size they 
would attain with us in the same time. Of 
the one hundred and twenty-five acres, 
twenty-five are in grapes, fifiy in apples, and 
the balance in pears, cherries, &c. All the 
trees are models of health, vigor and pro¬ 
ductiveness. 
The pears consist of all the leading sorts. 
Of apples, the following were named as the 
most profitable:—Early Harvest, Red Astra¬ 
chan, Fall Pippin, Fallawater, Yellow BCJ- 
flower, Smith’s Cider, White Winter Pear- 
main. 
The vineyard contains some twenty to 
thirty of the best varieties of foreign grapes, 
including the Muscat of Alexandria, Black 
Hamburg, &c. The grounds of Mr. Wood¬ 
ward are very extensive, the whole estate 
containing some 2,300 acres. The grain 
fields seen from the lawn were grand, and 
near the residence is a fine, well-planted 
lawn. This establishment itself, and the 
beauty of the surrounding scenery, gave us 
great pleasure. On an adjoining estate Mr. 
Woodward took us to see 
A Steam TlireBhlu* Machine 
in operation in the center of a great wheat 
field. The force employed was a twelve- 
horse power engiue, twelve men and five 
horses. The quantity of grain threshed was 
eight hundred to one thousand sacks of one 
hundred pounds each per day. Two horse¬ 
power forks were employed in feeding the 
machine. On Wednesday, the 22d day of 
June, through the politeness of W. C. Rals¬ 
ton, Esq., we were taken to 
The Residence of F. D. Atherton, Esq., 
of Fair Oaks, San Mateo Co., about twenty- 
five miles from San Francisco. Mr. Ather¬ 
ton has a charming place. Besides his or¬ 
namental grounds, he has an orchard and 
vineyard of nine acres, to whicli he gives 
great attention, and keeps in ihe most per¬ 
fect order. The ground among the trees and 
vines had been cultivated thoroughly—not a 
weed to be seen, and the surface was rolled 
as smooth as a floor. 
The pear portion of the orchard seemed to 
have received special attention, and con¬ 
tained a large collection, including the new¬ 
er sorts. 
Mr. Atherton’s experience with varieties 
corresponds, in the main, with ours. Jose¬ 
phine de Malines has proved to be one of the 
best., aud several trees had been grafted over 
with it. Grapes looked veiy well. Muscat 
of Alexandria had set well, and showed 
large, well formed bunches. Figj, olives 
and walnuts were all in bearing, and looked 
well. Lawton blackberries heavily laden 
with fruit just beginning to color, and ele¬ 
gantly trained to a wire trellis. We were 
all delighted with this visit. In the same 
neighborhood we called at. the country resi¬ 
dence of-Selby, Esq., 
Mayor ol Sail Francisco. 
The grounds are extensive and well plant¬ 
ed. In the fruit garden we saw a fine col-' 
lection of apples trained as pyramids, with 
stems about two feet in hight. Other fruit 
were all carefully pruned and trained The 
walks were lined with fig trees. We called 
at several other places in that neighborhood, 
but it was late in the evening and the party 
in haste, and we had no time to make care¬ 
ful note of what we saw. 
Ttlb §rnps. 
FIELD NOTES. 
Norway Outs in Iowa. 
A Van Buren Co., Iowa, correspondent 
writes:—“ Norway oats are the best of any 
variety in this part of the State. They will 
yield fifty to seventy-five bushels per acre, 
while the common oats will not yield half 
the amount.” 
Broom Corn Culture in Ohio. 
An Ohio correspondent of the Country 
Gentleman says:—“Broom corn is talked of 
but little in reports and market lists, but an 
extensive business is done in it, in Central 
Ohio. The more extensive growers do their 
own manufacturing, and as they put the 
seed in the ground and put the brooms on 
the market, there are no transactions to get 
into the papers, and no noise is made about 
the business. As certain growers in this sec¬ 
tion have been engaged in growing broom 
corn and manufacturing brooms for the last 
twelve years, and have become wealthy, the 
inference is that the business pays. Every¬ 
thing from seed to straw is made to count, 
and the returns are very good.” 
Unicorn Plant. 
A correspondent at Meredith writes: 
“ I have a plant, a flower and leaf of which 
I inclose. The seed was found in Hudson 
City, N. J., last fall. The pods in which the 
seeds were found were the shape of a bird’s 
head, with two horns at the back — in all 
about four inches in length. No one knew 
what it was or that it contained seed until I 
dug into it. 8eed was planted this spring; 
plant now about one foot high." It is Mar- 
tyniaproboKcidm , or Unicorn Plant. This is 
an annual plant, a native of the Southern 
States, and is frequently grown in gard ns 
as a curious, flowering plant. It frequ itly 
escapes from cultivation, and mav oft n be 
found growing on the roadsides and waste 
places where the soil is good. It is some¬ 
times grown for the sake of the pods alone, 
which, when half grown and in a tender, 
succulent state, are used as pickles, and by 
mauy are considered preferable to cucumbers. 
BEE NOTES AND QUERIES. 
Rearing Ducens. 
C. C. A- writes the Maine Farmer—“ First, 
for queen rearing I select frornA stock se¬ 
lected for Us superior activity md working 
qualities, two or three frames one or two of 
brood in the proper stage, aid one of honey, 
with enough bees to maintdn the necessary 
degree of heal, which I pace in an empty 
hive and cover with a flmnel, which retains 
the heat. In this nucXnis 1 find usually six 
to ten perfect queen cells, if I l»ave enough 
bees and a plenty ofdrood in the l ight stage. 
About the eighth «'ay I take from as many 
stocks, less one, *s I have cells, bees, honey 
and brood, and form other nuclei, one from 
each cell, which I insert carefully in each, 
being sure <o put the cell in the center of 
the brood, that it may be discovered and 
protected. Let these second nuclei stand 
twenty-four hours before the cells are insert¬ 
ed, else the bees, unconscious of their loss, 
may destroy them. This I had to learn by 
experience.” 
Can One Jn<ltre Honey by its Color in Comb ? 
A lady friend of this (New York) city 
writes:—“ I have been badly deceived in a 
recent purchase of honey. I bought a cap, 
the comb of which looked white, clear, pure. 
I thought it nice. Lo! it is anything but 
nice I It is the worst tasting honey I ever 
put in my mouth ! I never supposed it pos¬ 
sible to la; so deceived in honey. Is not the 
lighter-colored honey usually the best?” Yes; 
it is our experience that the lighter-colored 
and most transparent, honey is best, as a rule; 
but because the comb is light colored it doe* 
not follow the honey is good ; nor because 
the comb is dark does it follow the honey is 
poor. Nor is it always true that tiie lighter- 
colored honey is best flavored, though we 
have found it more frequently true. 
Thick Hooey Comb. 
The Bucyrus (O.) Journal of a late date 
says“ A gentleman took a spare box of 
honey from one of his hives on Saturday, 
and it was superior to anything of the kind 
we have ever seen. By actual measurement 
the comb was four and a-lmlf inches through. 
The cells on one side were three incites deep, 
and on the other an inch and a-half. We 
had always supposed that the cells of a 
honeycomb were of uniform size and depth; 
but wc have since heard of combs even finer 
than that wc have described. We have not, 
however, seen and measured them as wo 
have this, nor tasted the honey either; but 
we know the above was one big, dripping, 
unctuous mass of sweetness.” 
What Shall be Dona with Late SwartniI 
Puineas S. Bancroft writes: — “ Last 
year I had two late swarms of bees—and 
rather small ones—that came out, one of 
them the last of August and the other the 
middle of September. They did not store 
food enough, and although I fed them, I lost 
them both. Now, the same thing may hap- 
peu again; if It does, what is the best thing 
to do? Can’t you tell us?" We have seen 
aparians, in such cases, catch the queen of 
the new swarm and put her back in the hive 
she came from, and the new swarm followed 
her. We never did suck a thing, and don’t 
know the best way to do it; but we know 
it has been done. 
Water for Bees. 
A writer in the Western Pomologist 
says:—“ There is no insect more fond of wa¬ 
ter than the honey bee. In fact, water is be¬ 
lieved to be absolutely indispensable to the 
successful operations of the hive. Water 
should at all times be near the bee stand, 
where it will he easily accessible, and at the 
same time not to endanger the lives of the 
bees by tirowing, as in open troughs, pails or 
tubs. Take either of the vessels mentioned, 
fill up with water, and cover with a piece of 
coarse canvass, such as comes around bales 
of sheeting, and you have a moat perfect wa¬ 
tering place for bees. The canvass should 
be made to rest upon the surface of the wa¬ 
ter. The water oozes up through the can¬ 
vass, upon which the bees may light with¬ 
out danger of being drowned, as in open 
vessels." 
From Merrlmac Co., N. H., Jnly 39. 
Owing to the bountiful rains the early 
part of 1870, honey-secreting crops flour¬ 
ished vigorously, and large quantities of 
honey were Btored, greatly exceeding those 
of last year; but the drouth now existing in 
Eastern New Hampshire lias killed many 
of the honey plants. Early sown buck¬ 
wheat is in bloom, but has a withered ap¬ 
pearance, and the quantity of honey therein 
must be small. Last, and thus far this year, 
I have noticed the bees prefer the flowers of 
mignonette to buckwheat, clovers, mustard, 
or catnip, and accordingly I have gratified 
their sweet likings to a small extern, and 
would advise others to do so the coming 
year. The amount of honey secured during 
the fall will necessarily be quite small, un¬ 
less wc have rain soon. Last Sunday a 
shower passed through the northern parts 
of Merrimac and Belknap counties, but we 
got none here.— g. r. d. 
