DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE OF SEEDS . 
o 
WHY ■ CALIFORNIA-GROWN 
* * b SEEDS * * * 
LEAD - THE 0 WORLD 
Geographical Situation and Area. 
C ALIFORNIA is nothing if not horticultural and agricultural. Possibly no portion of the footstool 
possesses so many and diverse advantages for the growth of a varied vegetation. Place your 
finger on a map of the state at its northmost point and trace it to the Mexican line at the 
south; thence from where the white foam of the Pacific fringes its western coast due east to the Nevada 
state line, and you will have traveled (with your finger on the map) over an area of country as large as 
that along the Atlantic coast from the pine-clad hills of Maine to the distant savannahs of the South. 
Think of it; California has 725 miles of seacoast; extends 330 miles inland — a veritable empire. Its 
area rivals in extent and natural advantages that of either France or Germany, and eclipses the citrous 
fruit regions of Italy and Spain in its salubrious climatic conditions for the prosecution of every branch 
of an enlightened horticulture; in agricultural and pomological possibilities a prototype of the far- 
famed gardens of the Hesperides. 
The Contour of the Country. 
California in its basic formation and outline is strikingly typical of the Italian peninsula; but it is 
superior to that delightful spot of Continental Europe in its variety of climate and diversity of soils. 
For, be it remembered, within this imperial domain, is to be found, chiefly on account of its situation, 
(being protected from the East by the Sierra Mountains, which shut off and break the rigors of an 
Eastern winter, and on the West bathed by the warm Japan Current, which renders the climate warm 
and equable) every conceivable condition for the growth and perfect development of vegetation, touching 
the temperate zone at the northern extremity of the State, only to meet and kiss that of the tropics at 
its southernmost point. Within this range of country are to bo found the essentials of plant growth, 
which makes possible the luxuriance of the vegetation of arid regions on the one hand and those of humid 
on the other; on the high ranges of the Sierras the snow plants flourish, while in the southern counties 
stately palms vie with the kingly orange in nodding to the warm and balmy zephyrs of a perpetual spring. 
The rainfall, the temperatures, the altitudes, the varying character of soils, all conspire to make possible 
the growth and cultivation of a wider range of economic and ornamental vegetation than any other 
section of equal area in the World. 
Soils and Crops. 
In her natural development California may be said to be in a constant state of transition; strange as 
this statement may appear, it is nevertheless true. At first it was mining, then it was stock raising, 
then it was cultivation of the cereals; following wheat culture, came the phenomenal development of 
our fruit industry, wonderful in its extent of country, marvelous in its annual output, surprising in the 
quality and variety of its production. Now we are on the eve of another transition, namely, to the 
production on a great scale of the most reliable seeds that ever were grown in any country. This is no 
idle boast, but a veritable fact, amply proven and attested to in the exacting school of experience. 
w Tried and not found wanting,” is the verdict that has been awarded to every bit of California-grown 
seed that has been properly grown, harvested and placed upon the market. And though this industry is 
only in its infancy, yet enough has been demonstrated to prove beyond a doubt that seed growing in 
importance is destined to rank with fruit culture; indeed, in many respects it will rival and eclipse it. 
And yet, and in the face of these pregnant facts, from a scientific horticultural point of view, seed 
growing in this veritable garden of the western slope is an unexploited region whose soils for the grow- 
