1865.] GRAIN, VEGETABLES AND FRUIT TREES. 453

Of the entire agricultural product, barley reaches thirty-nine per cent.—a larger proportion than in any other part of the world;— wheat, thirty-four per cent.; oats, ten; potatoes, ten; and corn only four. Sixty bushels of barley to the acre is not uncommon; and a single acre has produced one hundred and forty-nine bushels. Canning says shrewdly, that nothing is so false as facts, except figures; but this statement is on trustworthy authority.

The root vegetables thrive wonderfully. There have been exhibited at the agricultural fairs, an onion weighing seventyseven ounces avoirdupois, twenty-two inches in circumference; a turnip, twenty-six pounds; a tomato, twenty-six inches in circumference; cabbage-heads, forty-three to fifty-three pounds; a watermelon, sixty-five pounds; a red beet, one hundred and eighteen pounds, five feet long by one foot in diameter; a squash, two hundred and sixty-five pounds.

Fruit trees are twice as large as in our middle States at the same age. In one year the cherry has grown fourteen feet high; the pear ten feet; and the stem of the peach tree three inches in diameter. One peach tree in a year from the bud grew eight feet high, with a trunk circumference of eight and-a-half inches. A peach twig a foot long, stuck in the ground in 1858, bore fruit the next year. The apple tree bears in the second or third year from the bud; and apples have been exhibited weighing two and-ahalf pounds. They lack the sharp, agreeable flavor which New England and Oregon impart. But the enormous peaches, the rich pears, the strawberries and grapes, which grow with incredi ble profusion, have a peculiarly rich and generous taste that lingers lovingly on the palate.

The California fruits and vegetables for the full-page engraving in this volume, were hastily collected in the Pacific market, San Francisco, on the twenty-eighth of September. They are not unusual specimens; but can be duplicated in all the great fruit markets any morning during six months of the year. The human figure, nearly six feet high, was included in the photograph to show the relative size of the vegetable productions. The two black beets on each side rest upon the floor, and their tops, standing erect, would nearly reach the man's head. They were dug before attaining full growth, and weighed thirty-eight and fifty-nine pounds.

454

MAMMOTH PRODUCTIONS OF CALIFORNIA. [1865.

One of the pears exhibited (a Duchess d'Angoulême) weighs thirty ounces; specimens of the same variety weighing seventy ounces have been raised. The apples (Gloria Mundi) weigh from twenty-three to twenty-nine and-a-half ounces. The corn has twenty-four rows of kernels to the ear, with four ears on a stalk. The bunch of grapes (Tokay) weighs eleven pounds. There is a sunflower blossom twenty-four inches across the face; an eggplant fruit twenty-six inches in circumference; a cabbage fiftyfour inches in circumference; quinces weighing thirty ounces each; large radishes and sweet potatoes.

Grapes fresh from the vines are found on California tables from July till December. Fruit at breakfast is one of the most delicious customs of the country. The morning meal begins with grapes, figs, peaches, strawberries, and pears. Of the first, one never tires. I ate grapes statedly at breakfast, luncheon, and dinner, and incidentally at intervals through the day and evening.

In the orchard of Wilson Flint, near Sacramento, I saw hundreds of pear trees, seven years from the graft, bearing sixty pounds of fruit each. Fruits, vegetables, and grain are invariably sold by weight. I noticed a cluster of six pears growing on one twig, almost as close as they could be packed in a fruit dish, and each nearly as large as a man's fist. This was the twenty-sixth of August; and the graft which bore them was put in during the previous April-only four months before. It was the most wonderful sight of my entire journey. Jonah's gourd ceases to be the symbol of miraculous growth.

In the same orchard hundreds of fig trees bent under rich purple fruit. Olives, pomegranates, lemons, and apricots grow in various sections. The State also contains about twenty-five hun dred orange trees. When six or eight years old they produce fruit, and continue bearing for half a century. At fourteen years they yield from one thousand to three thousand oranges per tree. They blossom early in spring; the fruit is ripe the next February. and if left on the branches keeps until May.

Bunches of grapes weighing six pounds may be found in almost any market; and a bunch of seventeen pounds was exhibited at one fair. Two hundred varieties are cultivated; the most delicate vines from the Atlantic slope, Europe, Asia, and Africa, flourish

1865.]

ORANGES VINEYARDS AND WINES.

455

in this kindly soil. The fruit-growers begin to export large quantities of raisins and preserved figs. With the completion of the railroad, they expect to supply eastern markets daily with fresh Pacific grapes forwarded in close cars, of dry, even temperature.

The grape crop never fails, and averages double the yield per acre of the vineyards of Ohio, France, and Germany. The Catawba, though smaller than some varieties, excels all others in flavor. The vineyards of the State cover upward of ten thousand acres. The largest, in Sonoma, contains one hundred acres. The wine product is between one and two millions of gallons annually. Many varieties of still and sparkling are produced. Angelica and Muscatel are sweet, still wines-the latter very rich, and with a flavor like Tokay. The port and the hock are sometimes excellent. California champagne, claret, sherry, wine-bitters, and brandies are largely produced. But in general the people themselves prefer imported wines; and often their native varieties taste new, raw, and 'heady.' They are better in New York than in San Francisco. The long sea voyage makes them smoother; and age gives them flavor. Wine making is too young here to be perfect. Manufacturers of experience in Ohio, Missouri, and European vineyards, have not yet learned how to treat the most familiar grapes modified by this climate and soil. But all these difficulties will be overcome; one day this will be a very leading branch of commerce, and the wines of California will excel those of all other countries on the globe.

Among valueless vegetable productions, the cactus impresses strangers, by the beauty of its flowers, its many varieties, and its enormous size. Frequently it grows to the hight of eight feet.

The Wells-Fargo express, which combines the mail, banking, and express business, and has about one hundred offices, pervades every railway, steamboat, and stage route, and every town and mining camp on the Pacific coast. It illustrates the superiority of private enterprise. When its messengers run on the very steamer, or the same railway carriage, with those of the United States mail, three-fourths of the business men intrust it with their letters, which are invariably delivered in advance of the Government consignments. In San Francisco, Mr. Colfax dropped a