Early Horticulture in California [pp. 117-128]

Early Horticulture in California.
from the Wiemer Gardens, Coloma, Eldorado
County, from Colonel Weber, of Stockton,
and from many other exhibitors, even from
some dwellers in San Francisco, were shown
at the Horticultural Fair of i858. This
fair also gave a conspicuous place among
apples to "Skinner's Seedling" from San
Jose, a variety which has held a good rank
ever since, and to McCarver's Seedling, an
Oregon winter apple, of which little has been
heard.
In early days the nursery business was
found very profitable in California, as few
men had the necessary knowledge. The
Pomological Nursery of A. P. Smith, two and
a half miles from Sacramento, on the American River, was on land purchased from General Sutter in 1849. In I85o and i851, the
tract was devoted to growing vegetables, but
by i852 peach pits and trees in dormant
bud had been obtained from the Eastern
States, and the nursery was fairly begun. By
I854, a small orchard, set out in I850o, was
in bearing, but suffered greatly from the
grasshopper visitation of that year. By i 8 5 6,
the nursery was well stocked with fruit trees,
shade trees, shrubs, vines, and green-house
plants. Two thousand choice camellias were
grown for outdoor culture-one of the first
extensive experiments with the camellia in
this State. We have been informed that
the gross sales of stock from this nursery for
the two seasons of i856-'57 and i857-'58,
were upwards of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The land it occupied was long
ago washed away by the Sacramento river.
In i854 Cort & Beals, of San Francisco,
advertised roses "only 27 days from eastern
nurseries, via Nicaragua."
The first nurserymen's convention ever
held in the State took place November 9th,
I858, in San Francisco, and its object was to
regulate prices, and to drive out the treepeddlers, there being inferior imported trees
in market. By advertisements a few days
later, we observe that the following nurseries
formed the combination "to protect homegrown trees": A. P. Smith, Pomological
Garden, Sacramento; J. Aram, Railroad Nursery, San Jose; J. Lewelling, San Lorenzo
Garden, San Lorenzo; L. A. Gould, Santa
Clara Nursery; China Smith, Pacific Nurse ry, San Jose; B. S. Fox, Valley Nursery,
San Jose; R. W. Washburn, Shell Mound
Nursery, San Francisco; G. H. Beech, New
England Nursery, Marysville; and A. Lew elling, Fruit Vale Nursery, San Antonio A glance at this list will show how great
have been the changes since; most of the
leading nurserymen of California have en tered the business since the days of this convention.
The prices fixed upon by the nurseryman
of i858, though a great reduction upon former schedules, would strike the fruit growers of the present time as remarkably stiff.
We quote: "Apple, i yr.,.50, 2 yr., $i;
cherry, 2 yr., $i to $2; fig, foreign, $3; apricot, i yr.,.75 to $ r; grapes, California,
$io per hundred; foreign,.50 to $i apiece.
The first California State Horticultural
Society was organized by fifteen persons at
San Josd, October ioth, i856. Its first
annual meeting was held in San Francisco, inApril, I857, and in September of the
same year its first annual fair took place
in connection with the Mechanics' Institute.
Among the prominent florists of the time
were Messrs. Sontag, Prevost, O'Donnell,
Smith and Walker. The Honorable Wilson
Flint delivered the annual address in i 858,
at which time the State Horticultural Society
numbered more than a hundred members.
F. W. Macondray was President, and J. W.
Osborn, Vice-President. Mr. Wilson's address was largely devoted to the desirability
of planting extensive orchards, and drying
the fruit for export; and to the future value
of the wine-making and raisin producing industries. The list of awards shows among
the exhibition many names long prominent
in the horticultural history of California, such
as John Lewelling, of San Lorenzo; Dr. H.
Haile, of Alameda; L. A. Gould, of San
Jose; E. W. Case, of Santa Clara; S. Thompson, of Suscol; B. S. Fox, of San Jose;
D. L. Perkins, of Alameda; G. W. Fountain,
of Oakland; Colonel A. Haraszthy, of Sonoma.
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[Aug.