Early Horticulture in California [pp. 117-128]

Early Horticulture in California.
eighty miles of fencing about their ranches.
Some of it cost eight hundred dollars per
mile, and a large part, of imported English
iron, cost more than three thousand dollars
per mile. Mr. Beard planted out one hundred acres of fruit trees and vines that winter. On the two ranches more than two
thousand five hundred acres were under cultivation in i854. "Sunnyside," as many
persons called the Beard homestead at the
Mission San Jos4, a comfortable old adobe,
became famous throughout the State.
These two men in Alameda County, with
T. P. Robb, of Sacramento, J. B. Hill, of
Pajaro, and WV. Pomeroy, of Alviso, were
the leading vegetable growers of the time.
Among other exhibitors of prize vegetables
were James Denman, then of Petaluma, E.
T. Crane, of San Lorenzo, A. T. McClure,
then of San Francisco, Col. J. T. Hall, Dr.
Samuel Murdock, A. Lloyd, and W. N.
Thompson, of Suscol.
The first steps to organize a State Agricultural Society were taken December 6, 1853,
in Musical Hall, San Francisco, and the following officers were elected: President, F.
W. Macondray; Vice-Presidents, J. M. Horner, of Alameda County, Major John Bidwell, of Butte, Mr. Chipman, of Contra Costa,
Abel Stearns, of Los Angeles, Jerome D.
Ford, of Mendocino, General C. J. Hutchinson, of Sacramento, C. M. Weber, of San
Joaquin, Dr. J. B. Clements, of San Luis
Obispo, William F. White, of Santa Cruz,
Major P. R. Reading, of Shasta, General M.
G. Vallejo, of Sonoma, Mr. Ryan, of Trinity,
John A. Sutter, of Yuba, James K. DeLong,
of E1 Dorado, Captain J. A. Morgan, of
Marin, J. Bryant Hill, of Monterey, J. w.
Osborn, of Napa, Judge J. J. Ames, of San
Diego, S. R. Throckmorton, of San Francisco, J. F. Kennedy, of Santa Clara, Pablo
de la Guerra, of Santa Barbara, Jefferson
Hunt, of San Bernardino, S. Thompson, of
Solano, E. Linoberg, of Tuolumne. The
first county meeting of agriculturists and
fruit growers was held in Napa City (then
a part of Sonoma County), in March, r 854.
About thirty persons were present; J. M.
Hamilton presided; Judge Stark, A. L.
Boggs, Wells Kilburn, and other wellknown men were members. The second
county to organize an agricultural Association seems to have been Santa Clara County.
In June, i854, a letter to the "California
Farmer," from "Sim's Ranch," Alameda
County, urged the formation of a similar
association.
Under date of October 3 Ist, I 854, a document, called a "Memorial" to Congress, was
sent from San Francisco by the firm of Warren
& Son, "asking for the endowment of an agricultural college" in California for the Pacific
Coast. It set forth the particular horticultural needs of the State, and the probabilities
of much being done with fruits and semni-tropic
products. At this time, cotton had been successfully grown in Shasta County for two
seasons, by Major Reading, and in Sacramento by Thomas Selby. Tobacco plants were
on exhibition, and preparations were being
made to test sugar-cane as soon as plants
could be procured. Yontz & Myers, of San
Jose, who sunk the first artesian well in that
region, are credited with having sowed, in
i854, the first field of flax in California.
California pomologists are beginning to
place great faith in the value of our native seedling fruits, as often better adapted to soil and
climate, longer-lived, more prolific, and better
flavored. New varieties of peaches, apricots,
almonds, plums, cherries, apples, and pears
are becoming widely known as choice market fruits. It should therefore be of interest to horticulturists that nearly thirty years
ago valuable new California fruits were
brought to public notice in horticultural
journals; some of these are still cultivated,
others have been superseded. For instance,
the once widely disseminated "Myer's Rareripe," originated at the Pioneer Nurseries of
Alameda, took the lead as an early market
peach until Hale's Early supplanted it, to be
in time superseded by Briggs's Early May,
and the remarkable group of Eastern seedlings, such as the Alexander. We also find
that a seedling cling-stone grown about 1855
by N. McPherson Hill, of Sonoma, attracted
much attention, and took premiums at State
fairs a few years later. Seedling peaches
1885.]
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