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TRANSACTIONS

OF THE

American Horticutural Society,

FOR THE YEAR 1888.

CAL., JANUARY 24, 25 AND 26, AND RIVERSIDE, CAIi.,
FEBRUARY 7. 8 AND 9. 1888.

LSO, A SKETCH

Compliments of ^ter-

Sec'y American Hort. Sociehj,
Please acknowledge. GREENCASTLE, IND.

By W. H. EAGA.N, Secretary,
Greencaslle, Indiana.

LIBRARY
NEW Y©RK
BOTAN/CAL

QARDHN

INDIANAPOLIS :

CARLON & HOLLENBECK, PRINTERS AND BINDERS.

1888.

TRANSACTIONS

OF THE

American Horticutural Society,

FOR THE YEAR 1888.

BEING A REPORT OF THE EIGHTH ANNUAL MEETING, HELD AT SAN JOSE,

CAL., JANUARY 24, 25 AND 26, AND RIVERSIDE, CAL.,

FEBRUARY 7, 8 AND 9, 1888,

TOGETHEB WITH

A FULL LIST OF PAPERS READ, WITH ACCOMPANYING DISCUSSIONS. ALSO, A SKETCH
OF THE OVERLAND TRIP, WITH LOCAL EXCURSIONS AND ENTER-
TAINMENTS WHILE IN CALIFORNIA, BY JOHN
CLARK RIDPATH, LL. D.

VOL. V.

By W. H. EAGAN, Secretary,
Greencastle, Indiana.

LIBRARY
NEW YORK
BOTANICAL

QARDeN

INDIANAPOLIS :

CARLON & HOLLENBECK, PRINTERS AND BINDERS,

1888.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Constitution of the Society 5

Standing Committees 8

List of Members for 1888-89 11

Proceedings of the Eighth Annual Meeting 25-140

Letters Received from Absent Friends 27

President's Address (Earle) 32

Outlook of American Grape Culture (iJusmanw) 48

Welcome Address (Myrick) 58

Response to Welcome [Ridpath] 59

Educational Influence of Local Horticultural Societies {Ohmer) 61

Intensive Cultivation (Smith) 65

Expansion of Small Fruit Culture and Its Effects (Augur) ,72

Dewberry Culture (Stone) 77

Diospyros Kaki in North America ( Van Deman) 79

Will the Future Man Eat Peaches? (Munson) 83

Thoughts on Birds and Forests (Minier) 92

The Palms (Albrecht) 98

Educational Needs of the American Farmer (Hilgard) 112

A California Year (Field) 121

Horticulture — Practical and Theoretical (Ridpath) 122

Report of the Committee on Nomenclature (Lyon) 124

Report on Experiment Stations (ilfyn'cA;) 127

How to Get a Race of Hardy Fruits ( Walrous) 129

Combined Agriculture and Horticulture (Ourtis) 134

Color of Grapes (Marvin) 138

Address of Welcome (Deere) 142

Response to Welcome (Earle) 144

Ode Conventional (Cutter) 145

Fruit-Growing in Nevada (Lewers) 149

Ornamentation of our Country Homes (Goodman) 152

Our Neglected Native Fruits (Ragan) 159

State and National Governments and Forestry (Fernow) 165

Thoughts on Forestry in California (Douglas) 170

Down the Volga (Budd) 181

Limitations of Raisin Grape Culture ( Ouster) 192

Rare Fruits of the Santa Barbara Region (Ford) 194

Value of Arsenic as an Addition to Kerosene Emulsion (Riley) 199

Hybridization (Henderson) 206

Societies and Organizations (Munson) 210

Limits of Profitable Citrus Fruit Culture (Rudisill) 218

Evolution— What it Teaches and What it Does Not Teach (Ridpath) 224

Olive Culture (Cooper) 225

Agricultural and Horticultural Press 232

Beyond the Sierras (Ridpath) 235

CONSTITUTION

OF THE

AMERICAN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY

Article I. This organization shall be known as the American Horticultural
Society. Its object shall be the promotion of horticulture.

Article II. Any person may become a member upon the payment of two dol-
lars, and membership shall continue upon the payment of two dollars annually.

Article III. Its officers shall consist of a President, First Vice-President, Sec-
retary and Treasurer, and one Vice-President from each State, who shall be elected
by ballot at each annual meeting. The term of office of the President, Vice-Pres-
ident, Secretary and Treasurer shall begin on the first day of July following their
election. No person can act as an officer of this Society who does not maintain
his membership by the payment of the annual membership fee.

Article IV. The regular meetings of this Society shall be held annually on
the first Tuesday of September, except when otherwise ordered by the Executive
Committee, and continue for tuch time as the committee shall determine.

Article V. The officers of the Society shall constitute an Executive Commit-
tee, at any meeting of which a majority of the members present shall have power
to transact business.

Article VI. Special meetings of the Society may be called by the Executive
Committee, and meetings of the committee may be called by the President and
Secretary.

Article VII. This Constitution may be amended by a two-thirds vote of the
members present at any regular meeting.

LIBRARY
NEW YORK
BOTANICAL

GARDEN

OFFICERS

OF THE

AMERICAN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY

FOR 1888-89.

PARKER EARLE, President Cobden, Illinois.

T. V. MUNSON, First Vice-President Denison, Texas.

W. H. RAGAN, Secretary Greencastle, Indiana.

J. C. EVANS, Treasurer Harlem, Missouri.

STATE vice-presidents.

Alabama W. F. Heikes Huntsville.

Arizona

Arkansas Prof. W. S. Thomas Little Rock.

California Prof. E. W. Hilgard Berkeley.

Colorado D. S. Grimes Denver,

Connecticut J. H. Hale So. Glastonbury.

Dakota Geo. H. Whiting Esmond.

Delaware Dr. J. J. Black Newcastle.

District of Columbia Hon. H. E. Van Deman Washington.

Florida Edmund H. Hart Federal Point.

Georgia W. W. Thompson Smithville.

Idaho .John H. Evans Lewiston.

Illinois Prop. T. J. Burrill Champaign.

Indiana Sylvester Johnson Irvington.

Indian Territory

Iowa Prof. J. L. Budd Ames.

Kansas Frank Holsinger Rosedale.

Kentucky John M. Samuels Clinton.

Louisiana John T. Hardie New Orleans.

Maine Samuel L. Boardman Augusta.

Manitoba

Maryland Franklin Davis Baltimore.

8 Standinff Commiltces.

Massachusetts W. C. Strong Brighton.

Michigan T. T. Lyon South Haven.

Minnesota Wyman Elliott Minneapolis.

Mississippi W. H. Cassell Canton.

Missouri L. A. Goodman Westport.

Montana

Nebraska S. Barnard Table Rock.

Nevada Ross Lewers Franktown.

New Brunswick

New Hampshire Chas. H. Pay.son, .Jr Belmont.

New Jersey H. I. Bidd Mount Holly.

New Mexico

New York T. S. Hubbard Fredonia.

North Carolina J. Van. Lindley Pomona.

Nova Scotia Geo. D. Hewson Oxford.

Ohio N. Ohmer Dayton.

Ontario Prof. Wm. Saunders Ottawa.

Oregon Dr. J. R. Cardwell Portland.

Pennsylvania A. Murdock Pittsburgh.

Quebec Hon. Chas. Gibb Abbottsford.

Rhode Island Amos M. Eaton Providence.

South Carolina S. C. Sattertiiwait Aiken.

Tennessee C. M. Merwin Medina.

Texas J. M. Howell Dallas.

Utah Rev. David Peebles Sandy.

Vermont Dr. T. H. Hoskins Newport.

Virginia G. F. B. Leighton Norfolk.

Washington Thos. Smith Colfax.

West Virginia Geo. Ort Charleston.

Wisconsin J. M. Smith Green Bay

Wyoming Geo. East Cheyenne.

STANDING COMMITTEES.

On Experiment Stations. — Prof. E. W. Hilgard of Berkeley, Cal., Prof. W. J.
Green of Ohio, Prof. S M. Tracy of Mississippi, Prof. Jas. Troop of Indiana, Hon.
R. W. Furnas, of Nebraska.

0)1 Srhools of Horticulture. — Prof. J. L. Budd, Ames, Iowa, Dr. A. F. White of
California, Dr. E. Kimball of California, N. Ohmer of Ohio, Prof. T. L. Brunk of
Texas.

On Socieliejf and OrganizctlionK. — T. V. Munson of Denison, Texas, J. M. Smith
of Wisconsin, W. C. Strong of Massachusetts, T. S. Hubbard of New York, and
W. II. Ragan of Indiana.

Standing Committees. 9

On the Rural Press. — E. J. Wickson, San Francisco, Cal., L. M. Holt of Cali-
fornia, Jas. G. Kingsbury of Indiana, Frank H. Leavenworth of Michigan, and
Dr. T. H. Hoskins of Vermont.

On Botany. — Prof. T. J. Burrill, Champaign, 111., Gen. John Bidwell of Cali-
fornia, Prof. J. G. Lemmon of California, Dr. Joseph Albrecht of Louisiana, C.
L. Allen of New York.

On Ornitholof/y.—Rev. G. W. Minier, Minier, 111., Hon. M. M. Estes of Cal-
ifornia, Dr. O. P. S. Plummer of Oregon, David Baid of New Jersey, C. M. Hobbs
of Indiana.

On Enlomologi/. — Prof. W G. Klee, San Francisco, Cal., Dr. J. R. Cardwell of
Oregon, Jacob W. Manning of Massachusetts, Dr. C. C. Cornett of Indiana, and

D. B. Wier of Illinois.

On Fungoid Diseases. — C. L. Hopkins, Washington, D. C, Frank S Earle of
Illinois, D. S. Marvin of New York, E. H. Cushman of Ohio, and Frank Holsinger
of Kansas.

On Irrigation. — A. T. Hatch, Suisun, Cal., J. M. Smith of Wisconsin, R. B.
Blowers of California, W. J. Maltby of Texas, and J. E. Cutter of California.

On Landscape Gardening. — L. A. Goodman, Westport, Mo., Amos M. Eaton of
Rhode Island, Frank Ford of Ohio, Prof. W. C. Latta of Indiana, and D. S. Hill-
man of Minnesota.

On Floriculture. — Frank Pentland, Dockland, Ohio, R. Maitre of Louisiana,

E. Y. Teas of Indiana, C. Sanders of Missouri, and E. Bourgnignon of California.

On The Nursery. — Hon. C. L. Watrous, Des Moines, Iowa, John S. Collins of
New Jersey, H. S. Hurd of Ontario, R. G. Chase of New York, and L. Coates of
California.

On Forestry. — Prof. Abbott Kinney, Lamanda Park, Cal., Robt. Douglas of
Illinois, Dr. J. C. Ridpath of Indiana, J. S. Hicks of New York, and A. H. Griesa
of Kansas.

On Vegetable Gardening. — Hon. J. M. Smith, Green Bay, Wis., J. H. Masters
of Nebraska, J. A. Foote of Indiana, Sylvester Johnson of Indiana, and G. W.
Endicott of Illinois.

On Pomaceous Fruits. — Hon. P. Barry, Rochester, N. Y., W. C. Strong of Mas-
sachusetts, Wyman Elliott of Minnesota, S. Barnard of Nebraska, and Chas. Pat-
terson of Missouri.

On Stone Fruits. — J. S. Harris, La Crescent, Minn., J. Van. Lindley of North
Carolina, Hon. EUwood Cooper of California, D. Ilganfritz of Michigan, and Dr.
John J. Black of Delaware.

On Small Fruits.— J. H. Hale, South Glastonbury, Conn., Matthew Crawford
of Ohio, F. W. Loudon of Wisconsin, James Edgerton of Ohio, and J. H. Priest
of Indiana.

On Viticulture. — Prof. Geo. Husmann, Napa City, Cal., Geo. W. Campbell of
Ohio, T. S. Hubbard of New York, J. H. Wheeler of California, and E. Williams

of New Jersey.

10 Standing Committees.

On Semi-lropir Fniits. — H. J. Riuiisill, Riverside, Cal., Edmund H. Hurt of
Florida, H. K. Hradbury of California, John T. Ilardie of Louisiana, and W. H.
Cas-sell of Mississippi.

On RuAtian Fruits. — Hon. Chas. Gibb, Abbottsford, Quebec, Geo. P. I'effer of
Wisconsin, S. D. Hillman of Minnesota, Wm. Roy of Ontario, and Thomas Smith
of Washington Territory.

0/1 Nomenchlure.—Uon. T. T. Lyon, South Haven, Mich., Hon. H. K. Van
Deman of District of Columbia, Dr. A. Furnas of Indiana, Hon. Chas. Gibb of Que-
bec, and .1. II. Masters of Nebraska.

On Fruil and Vegetable Packages.— E. T. Hollister, St. Louis, Mo., T. D. Ran-
<lall of Illinois, I. A. Wilcox of California, Fred Wellhouse of Kansas, and Chas.
F. I'ieree of Illinois.

LIST OF MEMBERS

FOR 18 8*8-9.

Abbott, A. F., San Francisco California.

Abbott. Mrs. A. F., San Francisco.. . California.

Adams, John, Santa Rosa California.

Adams, E. C, Fillmore Indiana.

Agnew, A., Agnew California.

Albaugh, N. H., Tadmor Ohio.

Albee, O. J., Lawrence California.

Albertson & Hobbs, Bridgeport Indiana.

Albrecht, Dr. Joseph, U. S. Mint, New Orleans.. Louisiana.

AUegretti, J., West Berkeley California.

Allen, Abner, Wabaunsee Kansas.

Allen, Prof. C. H., San Jos^ California.

Allen, T. C, Riverside California.

Allen, D. C, Greencastle Indiana.

Allen, C. L., Garden City New York.

Allen, E. W., 171 Second street, Portland Oregon.

Alley, 0. F., San Jose California.

Alsip, E. K., Sacramento California.

Amoore, H. E., 120 Sutter street, San Francisco California.

Anderson, Mrs. E. E., Colbrook Ohio.

Anderson, Frank A., Kansas City Missouri.

Anderson, J. Z., San Jose California.

Andrews, Dr. G. P., 83 Lafayette avenue, Detroit Michigan.

Atherly, J. J., Soulh Haven Michigan.

Augur, P. M., Middlefield Connecticut.

Avery, Henry, Burlington Iowa.

Backus, W. H., Riverside California.

Bailey, Josh. G., Columbia Tennessee.

Baird, David, Manalapan New Jersey.

Baklridge, M., Covina California.

Ball, Chauncey, Portland Oregon.

Barnard, S., Sec'y State Hort. Society, Table Rock Nebraska.

Barnes, B. E., Mountain View California.

Barnett, G. W., 147 South Water street, Chicago Illinois.

Barth, Miss Katie, Mascoutah Illinois.

Barton, H. M., San Bernardino California.

Bayles, S. M., St. Louis Missouri.

Bayles, James A., Lee's Summit Missouri.

Bean, James, Box 392, San Jos6 California.

Beard, J. L., Warm Springs California.

*Bebee, H. Y., Ravenna Ohio.

Beebe, W. H., Ravenna Ohio.

Beck, Adolph, 435 California streetfSan Francisco California.

=■■ Deceased.

12 Lid of Members.

Been, Charles, San Jos6 California.

Bell, C. S., Jr., Lexington Kentucky.

Berniinj^hain, T., LSI South Water street, Chicago Illinois.

Bidwell, (JtMi. John, Chico California.

Bishop, .M. F., .Manioila California.

Bishoj), (J. S.. Mankato Kan.-;a8.

Bixhv, W. W., X»MV Kichmond Wiscon.sin.

Black, .Fohn .1., M. 1)., Ne\vca.stle...: Delaware.

Blakeslee, Miss S. E., Lincoln Nebraska.

Blancharil, Nathan W., Santa Paula California.

Block. A.. Santa Clnra California.

Blowers, K. B., Woodland California.

Boardnian, Samuel M., Sec'y State Hort. Society, Augusta. ..Maine.

Boggs, George E., WaynesviUe '. North Carolina.

Bogue, Nelson, Batavia New York.

Bourgnignon, E., San Josu Califurnia.

Bowman, Mrs. J. F., Forgy Ohio.

Bradbury, Henry K., Santa Barbara California.

Bradshaw John A., Indianapolis Indiana.

Breyfogle, Dr. C. W., San Jos(5 California.

Breyfogle, Mrs. Dr. C. W., San Josd California.

Brigden. Thomas, South Lowell Alaban)a.

Briggs, Fergusson ct Co., 314 California St., San Francisco ...California.

Britton, F. F., San Jos^ California.

Britton, J. H., Painesville Ohio.

Brown Bros., Somerset Kentucky.

Brown, B. C, Cienwood California.

Brown, ('. C, Pasadena California.

Brown, Col. .\. B., Concordia Kansas.

Brown, I). Sc H.. Brandt Ohio.

Brunk. Pn.f. T. L., College Station Texas.

Bul)ach, J. C;.. Princeton Illinois.

Buck, J. P., .\ppleton Wisconsin.

Buck, L. W., Vacaville California.

Bucknian, Benj,, Farmingdale Illinois.

Budd, Prof. .r. L. (.Vgricultural College), Ames Iowa.

Budd, H. I., Mount Holly New Jersey.

Bunnell, Dr. U. W., Green's Fork Indiana.

Burden. Mrs. Wade, Springfield Missouri.

Burr, W. M., Ca/.enovia New York.

Burrill, Prof. T. J. (Illinois University), Champaign Illinf)is.

Bush, Isador, Bushberg Missouri.

Bush, C.C, Kclding California.

Cadwalladf^r, N , San Jos^ California.

Calder, J. E., Gilroy California.

Camp, G. R., Sioux City Iowa.

'Campbell, George W., Sec'y State Plort. Society, Delaware. ..Ohio.

Camper, H. H., Chico '. California.

Cantelow, William, Vacaville California.

Cardwell, Dr. J. R., Pres. SUite Hort. Society, Portland Oregon.

CardwcII, Mr.t. Dr. J. R., Portland Oregon.

Carpenter. G. W., Yuba City (^difornia.

Carter, S. M., Hannibal Missouri.

Cassell, W. H.. Canton .*. Mississippi.

Chamberlain, Dr. W. A., Winthrop Iowa.

Chase, R. G. it Co., Geneva New York.

List of Members. 13

Chipman, Gen. N. P., Red Bluff California.

Choguill, F. M., Los Angeles California.

Clark, E. D., Marshall Michigan.

Clark, John R , Lincoln Nebraska.

Clarke, H.J. (Scaten Island), Tottenville New York.

demons, Clonn & Co., 4th and Walnut streets, Kansas City. ..Missouri.

Coates, L., Napa City California.

Colling, D. J., York Nebraska.

Collins, John S., Moorestown New Jersey.

Collins, A., Knight's Ferry California.

Colwell, L. A.,Harrisville Michigan.

Combe, Louis D., San Jose. California.

Comstock, Charles G., Albany Missouri.

Cook, A. F.,Gibbsville Wisconsin.

Cooper, Ellwood, Pres. State Board of Hort., Santa Barbara ..California.

Cornett, Dr. C. C., Madison Indiana.

Cottrell, J. P., Marme City Michigan.

Coulter, J. P., Morse Iowa.

Coward, W. M., Woodland California.

Cox, Daniel, Treas. State Hort. Society, Cartersburg Indiana.

Cozzens, W. W., San Jose California.

Craig, Hiram, Fort CalhcJun Nebraska.

Crane, A. P., San Lorenzo California.

Crawford, Matthews, Cuyahoga Falls Ohio.

Crawford, Wm., Eldora Iowa.

Crumrine, M., Junction City Kansas.

Curtis, Prof. George W., College Station Texas.

Curtis, Mrs. M. S., Sheffield Illinois.

Curtis, Miss Lla M., Sheffield Illinois.

Curtis, B. O., Paris Illinois.

Curtis.-, J. M., Cleveland Ohio.

Cushing, Miss A. L, Pomona California.

Cushman, E. H., Euclid Ohio.

Cutter, J. E., Riverside California.

Cutts, A. D., Marysville California.

Daly, J. F., Snow Hill Indiana.

Danberg, Fred., Genoa Nevada.

Davis, Franklin, Baltimore and Paca streets, Baltimore Maryland.

Dawson, W. R., Bainbridge Indiana.

Deakin. Fred. H., Redding California.

Deere, Rev. G. H., Riverside California.

De Gorris, VVm., Hannibal Missouri.

Deming, Theo., Sacramento.. California.

Dennis, C. N., Pres. Hort. Society, Hamilton Illinois.

Dod, George J., Greenwood Missouri.

Doliber, Thos., Boston Massachusetts.

Doppelmair, Capt. G. G., Kiev.. ...Russia.

Douglas, Robert & Sons, Waukegan Illinois.

Douglas, T. H., Waukegan Illinois.

Douglas, Mrs. L. E., Tecumseh Nebraska.

Downer, F. N., Bowling Green Kentucky.

Dreiser, P. H., Lyons Iowa.

Driver, A. M., Meridian Michigan.

Dunn, Frank, Santa Clara California.

Durand, John B., Prairie City Missouri.

Earle, Parker, Pres. A. H. S., Cobden Illinois.

Earle, Frank S., Cobden Illinois.

1 I Lid of Members.

P'iirle, C. F., Cobden Illinois.

East, (teorge,Clit\venne Wyoming.

P^rttiin, AniMSii M., Providence Riiode Island.

f^dgcrioii, .Jjiines, Barnesville ( >hio.

Edwards, \V. P., Penn's Grove California.

Eisenmayer, G. C, Mascoutah Illinois.

p]lliott, Wyinan, Pre.s. State Hort. Society, Minneapolis Minnesota.

Ellwanger i^' Barry, Rochester New York.

Elmore, John F., Kansas City ]\Iissouri.

Endicott, G. W., Villa Ridge Illinois.

Esbenhade, -J. B , San Jos(5 California.

Estee, Hon. M. M., Napa City California.

Evans, J. C, Treas. A. H. Society, Harlem Missnuri.

Evans, Mrs. J. C, Harlem Missouri.

Evans, S. C, Rivorside California.

Evans, J. H., Lewiston Idaho.

Failing, \V. S, East Portland Oregon.

Fairbank, II. A., oUT Montgomery street, San Francisco California.

Fairbanks, J. J., Denison Te.xas.

Falkner. C, Waco Texas.

Farrell. Wm. W., Leavenworth Kansas.

Faust, C. W., Canton .'. Ohio.

Feeley, D. C, Patohin California.

Filkins, C. W., Riverside California.

Fisher, H. C, Memphis Tennessee.

Flagg, E. C, San Josd California.

Flickinger, J. H., San Jose California.

Foote, .T. A., Crawfordsville Indiana.

Ford, P>ank ct Sons, Ravenna Ohio.

Ford, Prof. H. C, Santa Barbara California.

Ford, Dr. J. M., Kansas Citv Missouri.

Fox, Dr. W. R., Colton ' California.

Francis, H. B., Mulberry Missouri.

Frisbie, B. F., Yuba City California.

Fry, L. S., Plattsburg Missouri.

Fuller, E. M., Bismarck.. Dakota.

Fuller, W. C, Colton California.

Fuller, Harrison, Centro California.

Furnas, Hon. Robert W., Brownville Nebraska.

Furnas, Dr. A., Pres. State Hort. Society, Danville Indiana.

Gail, J. H., 10.3 Michigan street, Buflfalo New Y'ork.

Gale, Isaac &. Son, Waukesha Wisconsin.

Gano, W. G., Olden Missouri.

Gayman, Mrs. Laura, London Ohio.

Gibb, ( 'harlt's, Abbottsford Quebec.

Gilkeson, A. K., Warrensburg Missouri.

Gillett, M. E., South Lake Weir Florida.

Gilman, W. H., San Jos6 California.

Gish, D. E., San Jos<5 California.

Gleaves, J. M., Redding California.

Goodell, G. A., Knight's Ferry California.

Goodman, L. A., Sec'y State Hort. Society, Westport Missouri.

Goodman, Mrs. L. A., Westport Mi.ssouri.

Goodman, A. A., Kansas City Missouri.

Goodman, Mrs. A. A., Kansas City Missouri.

Goodman, T. H., San Francisco California.

List of Members. 15

Goodrich, Edward E., Santa Clara California.

Gordon, F. S , Columbus Ohio.

Gorman, Mrs. M. E., Richmond Indiana.

Goslin. Dr. A., Oregon Missouri.

Graham, George H., Austin Illinois.

Graham, Miss Ida M., Austin , Illinois.

Gray, G. M., Chico California.

Green, Prof. W. J. (Experiment Station), Columbus Ohio.

Greene, W., Davenport Iowa.

Greeneleaf, W. H., Litchfield Minnesota,

Greisa, A. H., Lawrence Kansas.

Greves, J. P., Riverside California.

Griffin, Marion, Cottonwood California.

Grimes, D. S., Denver.. Colorado,

Grimes, J. T., Minneapolis Minnesota.

Grimes, Mrs. J. T., Minneapolis Minnesota.

Grimes, Miss Emma E., Minneapolis Minnesota,

Grimes, Miss Mary A., Minneapolis Minnesota,

Grimes, J. J., Santa Clara California,

Grismer, Fred., Mascoutah. Illinois.

Grondyke, Samuel, Eugene Indiana,

Grosse, Guy E., Santa Rosa California,

Grossman, C. M., La Grange Indiana.

Guthrie, W. J., San Bernardino California.

Haight, A. D., Riverside California.

Haile, M., San Jose California.

Hale, J. H., South Glastonbury Connecticut.

Hale, John, San Francisco California.

Hale, Mrs. John, San Francisco California.

Hall, Bennett, Carthage Missouri.

Hall, Priestley, Riverside California.

Hammond, A. C, Sec'y State Hort. Society, Warsaw Illinois.

Hammond, Mrs. T. C, Greencastle Indiana.

Handy, J. A., Wichita Kansas.

Hardie, John T., New Orleans , Louisiana.

Harms, L., Euclid Ohio.

Harring, S. H., Los Gatos California.

Harrington, C.,Painesville Ohio.

Harrington, Mrs. C, Painesville Ohio.

Harrington, W. T., Rock Creek Ohio.

Harris, J. S., La Crescent Minnesota.

Harrison, J. J., Painesville Ohio.

Hart, E. H., Federal Point Florida.

Harvey, 0., Gait Cahfornia.

Hatch, A. T., Pres. State Fruit Union, Suisun , California.

Hauss, T., Yuba City California.

Hazelett, Samuel A., Greencastle ^ Indiana.

Heikes, W. F., Huntsville..... Alabama.

Henderson, Peter, 35 Courtlandt street, New York , New York.

Hendry, F. T., Indianapolis Indiana.

Henry, Allen, Chico ........Cahfornia.

Henry, D. H.j Geneva New York.

Herrick, S. H., Riverside California,

Hewson, George D., Oxford Nova Scotia.

He^vson, Mrs. George D., Oxford Nova Scotia.

Hibbard, A. A., Chico Cahfornia.

16 Lid of Memhera.

Hicks, J. S., Ro-slyn New York.

Hiestand, Aiiuts, Jlitnor rcnnsylvania.

Hilpird, Prof. E. W., I'res. State Hort. Society, Berkeley California.

Hill, W. E., Nebraska City Nebraska.

Hillis, W. I)., OJin '. IlIiiKjis.

Hillinan, S. 1) . Secy State Hort. Society, Minneapolis Minnesota.

Hines, J. \V., San Jose California.

Hoag, I. N., Lugonia (California.

Hollister, E. T. Sll N. Third street, St. Louis Missouri.

Holnian, Frank, Aurora Indiana.

Holinan, D. S., Treas. State Hort. Society, Springfield Missouri.

Holmgren, Dr. C. J., 33 Waller street, San Francisco ("alif(trnia.

Holsinger. Frank, Sec'y Mo. Valley Hort. Society, Rosedale Kansas.

Holt, ]j. M., Riverside California.

Holt, A. K., liiverside California.

Honn, D. N., Redding California.

Hopkins, C. L., A^sislitnt Pomologist, Washington D.C

Hoskins, J^r. l\ H., Newp(jrt Vermont.

Hovey, F. A., Lincoln Nebraska.

Howard, U. H., 792 Lafayette avenue, Brooklyn... New York.

Howell, T. J.. Redding...'. .' California.

Howell, A. R , Chattanooga Tennessee.

Howell,.!. M., Dallas Texas.

"Howell, Earle Ragan, Dallas Texas.

Hubbard, T. S., Fredonia New Y'ork.

Hubbard. William S., Indianapolis Indiana.

Huber, Theo])hile, Illinois City Illinois.

Hughes, Dr. R.. Okawville Illinois.

Hughes, Mrs. Dr. R., Okawville Illinois

Hull, Ransom, Burgh Hill Ohio.

Hull, T. B., Yuba City California.

Hunting, H. H., Los Gatos Cnlifornia.

Hurd, H. H. i^- Son, Burlington O.iiario.

Husmann, Prof. George, Napa City C-alifornia.

Ilgenfrit/, D., Monroe Michigan.

Jaeger, Hermann, Neosho ]^Ii^.-ouri.

Jandon, B. A., Palmyra Missouri.

Jandon. Mrs. E. A., Palmyra Mih.souri.

Jar vis, G(»orge M., Sau J s^ Ca ifornia.

Jarvis, Dr. Joseph, Riverside California.

Johnson, Sy vester, Irvington Indiana.

.Idlinsnn, E. M.. Indianapolis Indiana.

Johnson, F. C., Kishivaukee Blinois.

Johnson, James T., Warsaw ..Illinois.

Joly, Charles, 11 Rue Boissy d Anglais, Paris France.

Jones, A. F., Orovilh^ California.

Jones, G. N., Sui Josc^ California.

Kanatzar, A., Centr'dia.. Missouri.

Kattler, John A., Aurora Illinois.

Keefe, T. P., 179 La Salle street, Chicago Illinois.

Keith, P. G.. Campbell California.

Keith, Mrs. Lucy M., Bakersfield California.

Kellogg, George J., Janesville Wisconsin.

Kellogg, H. D.. Sui Jo8(' California.

Kells, R. C, Yuba City California.

Kellum, Parker, Waco Texas.

List of Members. 17

*Kendel, A. C, Cleveland Ohio.

Kendel, Mrs. A. C, Cleveland Ohio.

Kennedy, J. F., Los Gatos California.

Kerr, K. VV. & J. S., Sherman Texas.

Kimball, Dr. E., Haywards California.

Kimball, E. E., Nevada Missouri.

Kimball, Frank A., National City ...California.

Kimball, Warren C, National City California.

King, C. S., San Lorenzo California.

King, Joseph D., Ravenna Ohio.

Kingsbury, J. G., Indianapolis Indiana.

Kinney, Prof. Abbott, Lamanda Park, Cahfornia.

Kipp, Charles, San Jose California.

Kirkpatrick, E. W., McKinney Texas.

Kizer, T. W., Winchester Indiana.

Kizer, Mrs. C. S., Winchester Indiana.

Klee, W. G., 220 Sutter street, San Francisco California.

Klinefelter, P. K, Riverside California.

Knowlton, C, Joliet ....Illinois.

Kyle, J. G., Riverside California.

Lake, D. S., Shenandoah Iowa.

Lane, J. A., Greencastle Indiana.

Latta, Prof. W. C. (Purdue University), Lafayette Indiana.

Lauck, Joseph B., 314 Ninth street, Oakland California.

Lawrence, G. W., North Manchester Indiana.

Lawrence, Mrs. Jennie C, North Manchester — Indiana.

Lawson, Robert P., Riverside - California.

Layne, Theo. M., Cloverdale Indiana.

Leavenworth, Frank H., Detroit Michigan.

Leete, B. F., Reno Nevada.

Leighton, G. F. B., Norfolk Virginia.

Lemmon, Prof. J. G., Oakland California.

Lemmon, Mrs. Prof. J. G., Oakland California.

Leonard, M. A., Bangor New York.

Lesley, J. P., Santa Ana California.

Lester, T. C, Alpena Michigan.

Lewers, Ross, Franktown Nevada.

Lewis, D. C, Portland Oregon.

Lewis, William, Kansas City Missouri.

Library Columbus Hort. Society, Columbus Ohio.

Library Experiment Station, Athens Georgia.

Library Ohio Experiment Station, Columbus Ohio.

Library Indiana Hort. Society, Indianapolis Indiana.

Library Purdue Experiment Station, Lafayette Indiana.

Library Mass. Agri. College, Amherst Massachusetts.

Library Jasper County Hort. Society, Carthage Missouri.

Library Experiment Station, Agricultural College Mississippi.

Library State Hort. Society, Minneapolis Minnesota.

Library Northern Club, Norfolk Virginia.

Library County Hort. Society, Winfield Kansas.

Libi'ary Agricultural Experiment Station, Champaign Illinois.

Lindley, J. Van., Pres. State Hort. Society, Pomona North Carolina.

Lindley, Milton, Los Angeles California.

Little, A. H., Nashville Arkansas.

Livermore, Horatio P., Oakland California.

••'■ Deceased.

2

18 List of Members.

Logan, Miss Minnie, Palmyra.. Missouri.

Lorbeer, C. I., I'oniona California.

Loudon, F. W., Jane.sville Wisconsin.

Lovett, .fohn T., Little Silver New Jersey.

Lowe, W. W., Long JJeach California.

Lundeen. A., Osage City Kansas.

Luther, Mrs. J. S., Lemont Illinois.

Lyman, ilcnry L., Charlottsville Virginia.

Lyon, T. T., I'res. State Hort. Society, South Haven Michigan.

Lyons, William, Box 085, Minneapolis Minnesota.

Mai t re, R., 1-10 Canal street, New Orleans Louisiana.

Malthy, W. J., Baird Texas.

Mann, Wni. Nelson. Riverside tJalifornia.

Mannering, George W., Pewaukee Wisconsin.

Manning, Jacob W., Reading Mas.sichusetts

Mar key, John, Geyserville California.

Marvin, D. S., Watertown New York.

Mason, R. D., Ripon Wisconsin.

Masters, J. H., Nebraska City Nebraska.

Matlock, Mrs. Alice, San Jos6 California.

Matthews, A. B., Kansas Citj' Missouri.

Matthews, Dr. J. N., Mason Illinois.

Maxwell, J. W., Euclid.. Ohio.

Meacham, R. W.. Riverside California.

Merrylield, J. 0., Winnebago Illinois.

Merwin. C. M., Medina Tennessee.

Mesler, W. P., Cobden Illinois.

Miles, B. S., Gray's Summit Missouri.

Miller, A. S., Pittsburgh Pennsylvania.

Miller, C. C, Riverside California.

Miller, C. J., Canal Fulton Ohio.

Miller, F. C, New Philadelphia Ohio.

Miller, Dr. J. H., Redding California.

Miller, N. J., Duluth MinnesoUi.

Miller, Mrs. N. J., Duluth... Minnesotii.

Miller, R. M., Marysville California.

Miller, J. C, Rome Georgia.

Mills, W. H., Plainfield Indiana.

Minicr, Rev. G. W.,Minier Illinois.

Monroe, Hon. C. J., South Haven Michigan.

]\Ionsees, J. H., Beaman Missouri.

Montgomery, Robert, Oregon Missouri.

Montgomery, Mrs. Robert, Oregon Missouri.

Moore. Mrs. II. R., Greencastle .♦ Indiana.

Moore, W. H., Rahway New Jersey.

Moore, David M., Ogden Utah.

Morey, I. P., Osage Mission Kansas.

Morgan, S. D., 1(5 Clark street, Chicago Illinois.

Morrell, H. C, Wright's California.

Morrell, J. C, San Jos6 California.

Morton, James, Tulare California.

Morton, J. R., San Jos^ California.

Moulton, L. F., Colusa California.

Mudge, Augustus, Danvers Massachu.setts.

Mudge, Lucius A., Danvers Massachusetti

Munson, T. V., Pres. State Hort. Society, Denison Texas.

s.

List of Members. 1&

Munson, Mrs. Maria, Denison Texas

Murdock, John K & A., 508 Smithfield street, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania.

Murry, Dr. R. D., Key West Florida.

Myers, George T., Portland Oregon.

Myrick, W. H., Santa Clara California.

McAfee,. L. C.Oroville California.

McBr de, Mrs. G., San Jos^ California.

McCabe, T. J., Cottonwood ...California.

McClelland, T. W., San Jose Cahfornia.

Mcln tyre, H. W., Vina. California.

McKay, Prof. A. B., Agricultural College Mississippi.

McKeen, VV. R., Terre Haute Indiana.

McKeen, Arthur, Terre Haute Indiana.

McLaren, Hon. John, Orangeville Ontario.

Nash, W. H., San Francisco California.

Newberry John C, Pilot Point Texas.

Newhall, S., San Josd California.

Newhall, Mrs. S., Sin Jos^ California.

Newmyer, J. S., Love Lake Missouri.

Niagara Whiie Grape Co., Lockport New York.

Nimon, James, Denison ..Texas.

North L., Hudson Wisconsin,

OfReld, J. W., Santa Clara California.

Ogden, M. B., Riverside California.

Ohmer, N., Pres. Hort. Society, Dayton Ohio.

Ohleyer, George, Yuba City California.

Oliver, J. B., Centerville Mississippi.

Oliver, W.. Santa Clara California.

Ort, George, Charleston West Virginia.

Osborn, H. S.,Quincy Illinois.

Ostroni, D. A., Wheatland California.

Ousley, C. N., Dallas Texas.

Overton, John L , Pomona California.

Parkison, W. C, Antioch California.

Parmelee, Ed. F., Reading Michigan.

Patten, C. G., Pres. State Hort. Society, Charles City ..Iowa.

Patterson, Charles, Kirksville Missouri.

Paulsen, Thomas, Portland Oregon.

Pciyson, Charles H., Jr., Belmont N. Hampshire.

Peebles, Rev. David, Sandy Utah.

Pefter, George P., Pewaukee Wisconsin.

Penhallow, Prof. D. P. (McGill College), Montreal Quebec.

Pentland, Frank, Dockland Ohio.

Perkins, D K., Oroville California.

a^ierce, Charles F., 205 La Salle street, Chicago Illinois.

Piatt, P. E., Sacramento California.

Plummer, Dr. O. P. S., Portland Oregon.

Plummer, Thomas, San Jose California.

Plummer, Charles G., Davenport Iowa.

Polhemus, B. M., Boundbrook New Jersey.

Posey, Miss Lizzie, Rushville Indiana.

Pratt Bros., Rochester New York.

Pratt, J. J., Yuba City California.

Preston, J. B., Santa Clara California.

Priest, J. H., Greencastle Indiana.

Prutzman, Joseph E., Three Rivers Michigan.

20 List of Members.

Pryal, A. 1)., North Temescal California.

Ragan, W. H., Sec'y A. H. S., Greencastle Indiana.

Ragan, Miss Belle, Greencastle Indiana.

Ragan, R. M., Fillmore Indiana.

Ragan, J. W., Fillmore Indiana.

Ragan, J. S., Hartland ...Kansas.

Ragan, H. H., Salem ...Oregon.

liagan. Miss Nannie, Santa Ana .. California.

Ragan, W. H., High Point North Carolina.

Rainev, Horace, Columbia Tennessee.

Randall, T. D., 219 South Water street, Chicago Illinois.

Randall, Mrs. T. I)., Chicago Illinois.

Randall, Miss Ida C, Chicago Illinois.

Rea, Robert M., Sioux City , Iowa.

Rider, Preston, Crothersville Indiana.

Ridpath, Dr. J. C, Greencastle I-nliana.

Roberts, B. F., Santa Rosa .' .' California.

Robinson, G. C, Marine City Michigan.

Robmson, INIrs. Josephine, Marine City Michigan.

Roesch, Lewis, Fredonia New York.

Romimel it Sobbe, Morrison jMissouri.

Rose, Lucius, Akron , Ohio.

Rosebro, W. E., Crawfordsville Indiana.

Ross, W. W., Pilot Point Texas.

Roy, William (Royston Park), Owen Sound Ontario.

Royston, C. H., Aurora Illinois.

Rudisill, H. J., Riverside California.

Rudisill, M. B., Greencastle Indiana.

Rudisill, Miss S. E., 337 Park avenue, Indianapolis Indiana.

Runyon, Sol., Courtland California.

Ruoff, E. A.. 335 Gratiot avenue, Detroit Michigan.

Russell, J., Hay ward's California.

Ryckman, G. E., Brockton New York.

Silfisburg, A. C, Aurora Illinois.

Samuels, J. M., Clinton Kentucky.

Sanders, James, Westfield Indiana.

Sanders, C, 2625 Pine street, St. Louis Missouri.

Sanders, L. T., Collingsburg Louisiana.

Sanderson, L. F., San Jos^ California.

SiufFrignon, F. J., San Jos6 California.

Saunders, Prof. Wm., Ottawa Ontario.

Saunders, S. P., San Jos(5. (California.

Schaible, John G., Elyria Ohio.

Schrock, C. B., Riverside California.

Schultz, A. C, Woonsocket Dakota.

Schwartzkopp, Frank, Columbus Indiana.

Schwitzer, O. W., Cottonwood California.

Scofield, L. K., Fort Scott Kansas.

Scott, D. Wilmot, Sec'y Nurserymen's Ass'n, Galena Illinois.

Sells, Mrs. Michael, 321 North N. J. street, Indianapolis Indiana.

Settle, C. T., San Jos6 California.

Shaw, O. B.. Sonoma , California.

Shaw, Isaiah, S:in Jos4 California.

Shearer, Rev. F. E., Santa Rosa California.

Sheffer, C. M., South Haven Michigan.

Shepherd, A., M. D., Glendale Ohio.

List of Members. 21

Shinn, Joseph C, Niles - California.

Shotwell, H. E., Bennett Nebraska.

Shoup, George L., Salmon City Idaho.

Showerman, D., Detroit Michigan.

Simonds, Dr. J. P., Fayetteville ■. Arkansas.

Sinclair, H. H., Lugonia California.

Skinner, F. R., Eau Claire Wisconsin.

Smith, J. M., Pres. State Hort. Society, Green Bay Wisconsin.

Smith, Mrs. J. M., Green Bay Wisconsin.

Smith, Miss Sarah G., Morristown New Jersey.

Smith, Thomas, Colfax Washington.

Smith, C. H., Mason City Iowa.

Smith, Mrs. C. H., Mason City Iowa.

Smith, Miss H., Mason City.... Iowa.

Smith, Prof. J. D., Livermore , -...California.

Smith, Mrs. Prof. J. D., Livermore California.

Sliiith, E. O., San Jos^ California.

Smith, W. W , Vacaville California.

Smith, George, San Leandro California.

Smith, Rev. Samuel B., Amelia Ohio.

Smith, D. Edson, Sec'y Hort. Society, Santa Ana California.

Smith, J. Spencer, Carrollton Illinois.

Snow, H. K., Tustin City California.

Somers, W. H., El Cajon ,. California.

Sprague, M. A. Berea Ohio.

Stabler, B. G., Yuba City California.

Stabler, H. P., Yuba City California.

Stark, W. P., Louisiana Missouri.

Start, George H., San Josd California.

Stell,Dr. W. W., Paris Texas.

Stephens, E. F., Crete Nebraska. .

Stephenson, Gov. C. C, Carson City Nevada.

Sterling, S. T., Camden Indiana.

Stevens, J. C, Centreville Indiana.

Stevens, Nat., Forney Texas.

Steward, Dr. J. A., Santa Cruz California.

Stickney, J. S., Wauwatosa Wisconsin.

Stone, A., Winchester Indiana.

Stone, I. N., Sioux City Iowa.

Stone, Mrs. I. N., Sioux City Iowa.

Stoner, G. W., Jewella Louisiana.

Stowe, George M., Riverside California.

Strong, William C, Brighton Massachusetts.

Stude, Alphonse, Houston Texas.

Swales, Charles E., Detroit Michigan.

Swayne, T. J., National City California.

Sweet, M. E., Kirtland Ohio.

Sweet, Mrs. M. E., Kirtland Ohio.

Syer, Robert, San Jos^ California.

Talcott, John B., Gates' Mills Ohio.

Tamari, Prof. Kizo, Imperial College of Agric, Tokio Japan.

Tarlton, G. W., San Jose California.

Taylor, Franklin, Indianapolis Indiana.

Taylor, H. A., Hudson , Wisconsin.

Taylor, Mrs. H. A., Hudson Wisconsin.

Teas, E. Y., Dunreith Indiana.

22 List of Members.

Tenney, F. M., San Jos(5 California.

Thomas, L. H., 54 Sangamon street, Chicago Illinois.

Thomas, Prof. W. S., Little Rock Arkansas.

Thomas, Milton, Los Angeles California.

Thompson, W. W., Sniithville Georgia.

Thompson, S. C, Edinburg Indiana.

Thompson, J. M., Napa City California.

Thompson, M. T., East Rockport Ohio.

Thorp, Warren A., Mayfield Ohio.

Tibbetts, Luther C, Riverside California.

Towle, G. W., Santa Clara California.

Townsend, Charles A., West Cleveland Ohio.

Townsend, Mrs. Charles A., West Cleveland Ohio.

Tracy, Prof. S. M. (Exp. Station), Agricultural College Mississippi.

Troop, Prof. James (Experiment Station), Lafayette Indiana.

Tattle, Sidney & Co., Bloomington Illinois.

Tryon, Georg'e A., Galesburg Illinois.

Tryon, H. G., Pres. State Hort. Society, Willoughby Ohio.

Van Deman, Prof. H. E., U. S. Pomologist, Washington D. C.

Van Deman, Mrs. Prof. H. E., Washington D. C.

Van Dusen, ('. L., Nursery Co., Geneva New York.

Van Zandt, C, 57 Charlotte street, New York New York.

Veal, W. G., Fort Worth Texas.

Veeder, P. V., Grafton California.

Vestal, V. C, San Jose California.

Vrooman, H. M., San Jos4 California.

Walton, B. F., Yuba Citv CaHfornia.

Warfield, B. C, Sandoval Illinois.

Watkins, Mrs. L. J., San Jose California.

Watrous, C. L., Pres. Nurserymen's Ass'n,Des Moines Iowa.

Watson, W. P., Yaquina Oregon.

Watton, W., 131 Woodward avenue, Detroit Michigan.

Weber, Miss Nettie, Duluth Minnesota.

Weinberger, Mrs. H. E., St. Helena California.

Weller, J. R., Milpitas California.

Wellhouse, Fred., Fairmount Kansas.

Westermann, Emile, Malvern Arkansas.

Western Tree Planter Publishing Co., Elgin- Illinois.

Wetmore, Charles H., Jefferson avenue, Detroit Michigan.

Wheeler, Gilbert, 81 Clark street, Chicago Illinois.

Wheeler, J. H., State Viticultural Officer, San Francisco California.

Wheeler, Henry H., Pomona Cilifornia.

White, W. H., Lena Indiana.

White, James A., Santa Rosa California.

White, Dr. A. F., Santa Rosa California.

White, C. F., Lincoln Nebraska.

Whiting, George H., Esmond Dakota.

Wickson, E. J., Berkeley California.

Wier, D. B., Lacon Illinois.

Wilbur, D. L., Riverside California.

Wilcox, I. A., Santa Clara California.

Wilcox, J. W., Pratt Kansas.

Willard, S. D., Geneva New York.

Williams, E., Sec'y State Hort. Society, Montclair New Jersey.

Williams, E. H., 23 South Delaware street, Indianapolis Indiana.

Williams, Dr. R. J., Gadsden

List of Members. 23

Williams, L. A., Glenwood Iowa.

Williams, C. E., Cottonwood California.

Willis, John J., High street, Harpenden England.

Wilson, William, Brazil Indiana.

Winegar, A. B., Livermore California.

Wingate, M., San Jose California.

Winters, Theodore, Washoe Nevada.

Witter, William E., Oneida New York.

Wood, Edward, Redding California.

Woods, Mrs. Nevie, Pecksburg Indiana.

Woody, William M., Pomona California.

Woolsey, G. S., National City California.

Wright, Mrs. R. W., 271 Woodward avenue, Detroit Michigan.

Wyman, Gilbert J., Fruitvale California.

ZierngibI, Mrs. Minnie, St Helena California.

Zook, Levi, Oregon Missouri.

PROCEEDINGS

OP THE

Eighth Regular Meeting

OF THE

AMERICAN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.

(Formerly the Mississippi Valley Horticultural Society.)

At the seventh meeting of this Society, held in the city of
Cleveland, O., September, 1886, it was resolved to hold the next
meeting in California, with certain provisos, viz.: That the horti-
culturists of California should desire the Society to meet in their
state, and that acceptable railroad rates could be secured. To this
end, the Secretary immediately entered into correspondence with the
transcontinental railway authorities, with the purpose of first secur-
ing the important object of an early settlement of the question of
rates. Meantime, California horticulturists were not slow to act
their part in evincing their great desire to bid us welcome to their
homes and to their hospitalities. On March 9, 1887, the Secretary
received from Riverside a lengthy telegram, cordially inviting the
Society to hold its meeting in that place, and pledging themselves,
in the event that the Society met there, to get up " the largest and
finest citrus fair in connection therewith ever held on the conti-
nent." Almost simultaneously with the receipt of this telegram came
a lengthy communication from San Jose, from the mayor of the city
and committees representing the Grange, the Viticultural and the
3

26 American Horticultural Society.

Horticultural Societies, urgently inviting the meeting of the Society
to that city. From time to time these invitations were renewed and
strengthened by letters, telegrams and press notices emanating from
various sections of the state, and almost invariably uniting upon
one or the other of the places named. Under such favorable influ-
ences as were here presented, and in view of the widely different
horticultural interests represented in the vicinity of the two places,
the officers of the Society decided to hold the meetings in two sec-
tions, the first at San Jose and the second at Riverside.

In obedience to this arrangement the American Horticultural
Society convened in the Baptist Tabernacle in the city of San Jose,
Cal., on Tuesday, January 24, 1888, at 10 o'clock a. m., Hon. Par-
ker Earle, President, in the chair. A creditable delegation of lead-
ing horticulturists, representing many of the eastern states, with a
large number from California, Oregon and other Pacific coast states
and territories, were present at the opening session. Representa-
tives of the press, especially of the California press, were numerous,
and, as their reports fidly verify, were not only intelligent, but also
deeply interested in the subsequent proceedings of the Society. The
Secretarv will here take occasion to sav that never in the historv of
this Society have the services of the press been so cordially given,
and of such inestimable value, as in the case of the California meet-
ings. For these valuable services his individual thanks, and through
him the thanks of the Society, are hereby extended to all press rep-
resentatives, without distinction, from those first met at Denison,
Texas, to the close at Santa Barbara, Cal., who have, by their labors
and attentions, added so much of interest to the Society while in ses-
sion and during its numerous excursions, general and local.

President Earlc, of Illinois — ijadies and Gentlemen : Our meet-
ing this forenoon will be informal. Our first regular papers and
discussions will be reserved for the afternoon session. Among the
numerous special attractions prepared by the good people of San
Jose for our entertainment, while sojourning in their beautiful city,
that of a citrus fair and horticultural exhibition, now in progress in
their elegant pavilion, is not the least attractive. To this you are
all invited, and in due time will be presented with complimentary
tickets by President Cyrus Jones, who now occupies a place by my

Letters Received from Absent Friends. 27

side. This courtesy will be extended only to those who are mem-
bers of the Society. I hope this hint will be sufficient to greatly
increase the membership in the Society, which is always easily ac-
complished, and consists in paying $2 to our Secretary. There are
various other, and even greater, advantages to be gained by joining
our Society, which will be made apparent hereafter.

J. B. Lauok, of California, Traveling Passenger Agent of the
Southern Pacific Railway — Mr. President, if you will allow me, I
should like to request all members from outside the state of Cali-
fornia to meet me during the noon recess, as our company has in-
structed me to tender all such members of your Society (whom I
Avish now to enroll) a free excursion through the Napa and Sacra-
mento valleys, after the close of these meetings.

President Earle — This is a very generous offer, and I trust that
our people will not be slow to accept it. In behalf of the Society,
I thank you, Majoi* Lauck, and your liberal-spirited railway com-
pany, for your magnanimous proposition to show us through these
fine valleys.

On motion of Mr. T. S. Hubbard, of New York, a Committee on
Order of Business was appointed by the President, consisting of Mr.
Hubbard of New York, Mr. Wilcox of California, Mr. Smith of
Wisconsin, Mj-. Avery of Iowa, Major Evans of Missouri, and Sec-
retary Ragan of Indiana.

The President — While the Committee on Order of Business is out
for consultation, I wish to present a few of tlie niany

LETTERS RECEIVED FROM OUR ABSENT FRIENDS.

I will not attempt to read all these letters, but leave the greater
number of them for our Secretary to publish without reading. The
first, and, perhaps, the most important, letter which I shall read
you — important especially because of the eminent position in horti-
cultural affairs held by its author, and because of its far distant
origin — is that from the hand of the editor of the London (Eng.)
Horticultural Times and Covent Garden Gazette, in which he ex-
presses his regret (which we feel even more keenly than he possibly
•can) and his great disappointment at not being permitted to attend
these meetings. This, it would seem, is due — as I suspect it may be

28 American Horticultural Society.

in case of others who had expected to be with us — to the unfortunate

change of time in the hoklinj^ of our meetings, made necessary in

order to secure favorable railroad rates:

London, December 31, 1887.
W. H. R(iga7i, Secretary A. H. S.:

Dear Sir: I am extremely sorry that the date of the annual meeting has
heen changed, as your letter notifying the change only arrived yesterday, and, of
course, it would be impossible to get to New York by January 8. This change
will, 1 am sorry to say, prevent the English delegates from being present, though
I am afraid that one or two of our readers who had intended going in a private
capacity will make the journey too late. But, of course, we could not expect for
one moment to inconvenience your Society. Personally I should have much en-
joyed being present, and 1 hope you will convey to the meeting the hearty ex-
pressions of good will both by the English gardening press and the English
gardening public. I hope the meeting will be, as it deserves, a great successs.
Yours, sincerely, Editor H. T.

Next I have a letter from that most eminent and exceedingly
worthy fungologist whom American horticulturists all delight to
honor, Prof. T. J. Burrill, of Illinois:

Parker Earle : Champaign, III., December 19, 1887.

My Dear Sir — Nothing would please me better than to obey your mandate
and go across the continent. Two of the trustees urged upon me the imj)ortance
of going, but they did not find it possible to do more than possibly grant leave of
absence. I am now buried with work, and could hardly hope for resurrection if
I let a month's time pass. Altogether, the rich treat can not be accepted. But I
will do my best in the way of a paper or papers, and will hurrah for the meeting
everywhere. T. J. Burrill.

Here is a letter from a man who, perhaps, has spent more time
and money in his efforts to introduce varieties of hardy fruits from
abroad into the more northern sections of our country than any
American citizen, living or dead, and to whom we of the east should
feel most thankful. We all regret his absence. He is now fruit-
ing, on trial, of his own importations, hundreds of varieties of
apples and other hardy fruits from Russia and North Germany, at
his home in Quebec:

Ifon. Parker Parle: Aruottsford, Prov. Que., January 11, 1888.

Dear Sir — I have been again absent some days, and my reply may be too
late. I spent two months in California last summer, or would have made every
effort to have^been with you on this excursion. \"ou ask me for a paper on Rus-
sian fruits, but really I have nothing new. I have, however, on trial in my orchard

Letters Received from Absent Friends. 29

seventy-five varieties of Russian and German apjjles and many other things, and
it will not be long before I shall be able to give you some facts. I am really sorry
I can not be with you. Yours, truly, Chas. Gibb.

No more valuable scientific papers have ever been presented to
this Society than those published in volumes I and II of its trans-
actions on " Insects Affecting the Strawberry," from the pen of that
greatest of American entomolgists, Prof. Forbes. His well recog-
nized ability has won for him such numerous and pressing engage-
ments that it seems he can only find time nowadays to briefly ex-
press his regrets for enforced absence :

Champaign, III., December 19, 1887.
Mr. Parker Earle, President American Horticultural Society:

Dear Sir — Your programme of travel and your subject for an address are
both particularly inviting, and I wish that it were in any way possible for me to
accept your very cordial invitation. While I suppose I could take the bit in my
teeth and run away, yet if I pay any attention whatever to my duties and engage-
ments it is absolutely impossible for me to leave. I am down for farmers' insti-
tutes enough to keep me almost continuously busy during the period of the pro-
posed trip, to say nothing of the university work and the necessary entomological
and zoological writing on the reports of the office. I have also agreed to give
some outside lectures, which will further prevent my absenting myself at that
time. The thing I most regret is my inability to meet your wi»hes in the matter,
and if it were anything less than absolute inability, I would do what you wish
without question. Very truly yours, S. A. Forbes.

Here is a short letter from one of our greatest lights. No per-
son who reads that best of all rural papers, the Rural New Yorker,
will lightly value even a "short" letter from its able editor. E.
S. Carman embodies the very essence of sincerity in his letter of
regrets :

Dear Parker Earle : Thank you very much for your kind letter. I wish
you knew how much I would like to go with you, and how entirely impossible it is
for me to do it. Best wishes. E. S. Carman.

Rev. E. P. Roe, widely known to fame as an author, is none
the less an horticulturist. Some of his most charming productions
have been in the line of horticultural literature. Nor is this all.
There is in this line of work something more than the mere embel-
lishments acquired in the field of horticultural literature. Brother
Roe is, withal, a practical horticulturist:

30 Aiiierican Horticaltura/ Society.

C'oKNWALL-uMTHK-lIuD.soN, N. Y., December 19, 1887.
Mr. Parke)- Enrl<; Pres^idenl Anwricun Horticultural Society :

Mv DiCAR SiK — I wish vou were going to California in '89, for then I would
gladly join yoii. I :iiu now iindiored on the Hudson for :i year, and am loaded
down to the water's eilge with literary work, which must be completed by certain
dates. If my time were my own I would gladly write you a paper. You will be
charmed with Southern California. I hope you will go to Santa Barbara, the
loveliest city on the coast. Yours, sincerely, E. V. Roe.

Here is a letter from one of otu- number who, although gener-
ally j)revented from attending our meetings, " never foigets us;'^
and while his letters embody the social features, well expressed,
they invariably present food for thought. Here is one of W. H.
Cassell's characteristic letters :

Canton, Miss., January 10, 1888.
jr. //. Ragan, Sea-clary, Greencastle, Ind.:

Dear Sir — After my regrets, heartfelt, at being compelled by circumstances
to forego the pleasure and profit of this grand " Occidental" excursion, permit me
to ask for a discussion at this meeting of the best methods of propagating nut-
bearing trees, and esj)ecially the pecan. At the last meeting of the Society, in
Cleveland, a paper on nnt culture was read by Mr. J. T. Lovett, of New Jersey,
but he mentioned no other mode of propagating the trees except from seeds.
Pecan culture is receiving considerable attention in this stale, particularly by
those who have bottom lands subject to overflows which prevent them from being
profitably cultivated in the ordinary crops, and yet which do not hurt the pecan
trees. There are from one hundred to one thousand trees being planted by some
parties, but altogether seedlings. There is a great difference in the fruit of differ-
ent trees as to quality, size, thickness of shell, etc. Some of the nuts are oval,
some are long and pointed. Now, if these promiscuous seedlings can be readily
grafted or budded with the more desirable kinds a great advantage will be gained,
especially as the trees live and bear " forever." English walnuts are also being
planted to some extent — more, however, for family use than market ; also, a lim-
ited number of Spanish chestnuts, black walnuts, etc. The interest in nut culture
is increasing greatly, and I feel confident that a di.scussion eliciting the best meth-
ods of propagation will be of great and general benefit to the country at large.
Wishing the meeting great success, very respectfully, W. II. Cas.se^l.

Through B. M. I.<elong, Secretary of this State Board of Horti-
culture, we have the following from its able President. Wo truly
hope to .see Mr. Cooper at our Riverside meeting:

Ellwood, Cal., January 21, 1888.
To B. M. Lelong, Sec'y Slate Board of Ilorlicidlure, 220 Sidler street, San Francisco :

Dear Sir — Please present to the American Horticultural Society my regrets
at not being able to attend the meeting at San Jos(?. I am now in the midst of

Letters Received from Absent Friends. 31

olive-oil making, and can not be absent from home. I fear, also, that the heavy
rains will prevent my attendance at Riverside. I am very truly,

Ellwood Cooper.

One of America's noblemen is Prof. Wm. Saunders, of Ontario.
These good men are busy men, hence we can not always have them
with us. Here is a letter from one of our busy men :

Ottawa, Ont., January 14, 1888.
My Dear Mr. Ragan : A protracted absence from home has prevented me
from replying earlier to your kind invitation to attend your coming meeting in
California. I regret that my duties at present, in connection with the work I have
in hand, are so heavy that I shall not be able to leave home so soon again; and
my time is so fully occupied that I have not just now a spare hour which I could
give to the preparation of a paper for you. I sincerely hope that you will have a
most successful and profitable gathering. I am truly sorry that I can not be with
you. Yours, very sincerely, Wm. Saunders, Director Exp. Fanns.

Of all the absentees, none are more deeply regretted than Prof.
E. W. Hilgard, of the University of California. We had all hoped
in coming to California to meet this most highly esteemed citizen.
His absence is all the more a source of regret as it is due to sick-
ness.

University of California, College of Agriculture, "»

Berkeley, January 24, 1888. J
Parker Earle, Esq., San Jose :

My Dear Sir — I had hoped that the attack of catarrhal fever that overtook
me on Monday last would yield sufficiently to energetic treatment to enable me to
be with you on Thursday at least, but although the worst is over, my doctor will
not allow me to undertake any outside expedition or mental excitement, and so I
must reluctantly relinquish the opportunity, which may not recur for many years,
of seeing the Society at one of its meetings. I trust, however, that I may still
have the opportunity of meeting a number of its members individually during
their stay on the coast, and I would here repeat, most cordially, the invitation I
gave to the members assembled at the rooms of the Board of Trade at San Fran-
cisco, on Sunday last, that they visit, severally or jointly, this university, and
more especially the College of Agriculture, the usefulness of which has, unlike
that of most others in the United States, been built up primarily on the experi-
ment station work, among the subjects of which viticultural work is prominent ;
it being, in fact, the only viticultural experiment station in the United States, so
far as I am aware. Communication from the city to Berkeley is half hourly — full
hours and half hours — except during the middle of the day. It takes about an
hour to get from the Palace Hotel to the university buildings. It will give me
and my colleagues great pleasure to see the members of the Society, severally or
jointly, at such times as may be convenient to them— only I suggest that Saturday

•i2 Av\ericun Horticultural Society.

being a half lioliday, it is only in the morning thai the institution can he seen in
"jperation on that day. Hoping tiiat to see the turn taken hy the higher education
on its extreme western outpost may prove a matter of interest to many among you,
I remain sincerely yours, E. \V. Hilgahu.

Mr. Iliibbartl, of New York, frotu the Coininitteo on Order of
Biisine.ss, roj)orte(l, reconiniendiiig the daily meetings to be opened
at 9 A, M., and '1 and 7 : oO w m. ; tliat for this afternoon's session
Prof. Husmann's and Mr. Ohmer's papers be presented ; that each
sncceeding session's programtne be reported at tlie preceding meet-
ing, which report was concurred in, after which the Society ad-
journed to meet at 2 p. m.

First Day — Tuesday.

Afternoon Session, January 24
At 2 P. M. the Society reassembled in the Baptist 'ral)ernacle,
President Earlc in the chair.

[Note.— As a iiiivttLT of convenience in publishing this volinne the Secretary ventures to
change tlie order of arrangement of papers, preferring to publish the President's address here.

[Seckktary ]

PRESIDENT EARLE'S ADDRESS.

It was nearly fifty years ago that I had my first dream of an horticultural
paradise as I read in the good old Bible story the report of that exploring
committee which Moses sent out to search the land of Canaan, and spy out
its resources, and " to bring back the fruit of the land." Now, Moses being
the wisest of his race, and the greatest leader of men, did not ask his com-
mittee to bring back samples of the grain, the merino wool, the short st^ijile
cotton, or the best breeds of live stock, short-horns or Jerseys, but 8imi)Iy
to bring back the fruit oj the land. For Moses seemed to know that the coun-
try which could grow the best fruits was the very best country for the chosen
people of the Lord to emigrate to. And when this first horticultural depu-
tation returned laden with the figs, the pomegranates, and the great cluster
of grapes from the banks of the brook of Eschol, that the two men bore on
a stafT between them— and I know that the cluster of grapes reached from
the stiitron the men's shoulders nearly to the ground, for my mother's great
Bible pictured it that way — then Moses and Aaron and Caleb and the few wise
men of Israel wanted to go up and possess the land, notwithstanding the sons
of Anak dwelt there and the other tribes of great stature. But the mass of
the people of Israel were ignorant, and did not appreciate this horticultural
exhibition, and the promise of the better life that was possible in a fruit-

President Earless Address. 33

growing country, but they grumbled and rebelled ; and they all suffered the
righteous penalty for their neglect of such a noble opportunity. But I well
remember the longing with which I considered that enormous bunch of
grapes and the impulse I had to go and find a country where they grow
grapes in big clusters. Now, I think that there are many thousands of men
and women who were little boys and girls a little while back like myself —
only a half century or so — who have been carrying visions of the great
grapes of Eschol in their brains ever since those early Bible readings. And
we have all been wanting to come to the land of Canaan ever since we found
out where it was— that we might see its fabulous fruits hanging in the golden
sunshine, and taste the perfumed air of its happy valleys, while we strolled
along the banks of the wonderful brook of Eschol, and, perchance, find op-
portunity to lift some of those big grape clusters that are not wholly of the

imagmation.

THE EARTHLY PARADISE.

And so a few of us horticultural dreamers have come over the great fertile
plains, across the thirsty deserts, and have climbed the gigantic walls which
fortify you against invasion, to test for ourselves the climate and the fruits
of this earthly paradise. We think we like the land and the fruits thereof,
and shall make a good report of them to all the chosen people of Israel.

My friends of the land of Canaan, we are glad that we came. We are glad
to be with you and to see the welcome which shines in all your faces. We
-come as fruit-growers, and gardeners, and forest planters, and builders of
homes, to greet our brethren in a land whose conditions of culture we have
long envied. We have come to study these new conditions for ourselves;
to gain new ideas which we may apply where our surroundings are less
favorable ; to compare views as to many questions regarding which we have
a common interest ; and to drink with you at the fountains of enthusiasm
which have inspired you to so many brilliant enterprises all along this
golden coast.

HORTICULTURE.

Horticulture is a broad term. It covers almost everything that makes
our country beautiful and sweet to live in. It embraces the operations
•of the fruit grower, the skillful manipulations of the gardener, the arts
of the landscape builder, and all that relates to the planting of forests in a
land that perishes without them. Every horticulturist should be a mission-
ary. He should be an educator of the public taste as regards trees and flow-
ers and lawn plantings and fruit gardens. He should be an enthusiast for
the beauty of his town. He should stimulate the making of parks, the
adorning of cemeteries and school-house yards, the planting of groups of
roadside trees. The true horticulturist will make his mark in the commu-
nity in which he lives. I think that one of the great needs of the time is a
generous enthusiasm for horticultv;ral improvement. We want tree-plant-
ing associations in every town in the land. Every man should not only

34 American Horticultural Society.

make his own home beautiful, but should liiul some stimulus for his neigh-
bor whose grounds are lean and bare.

The work that has been done by horticultural agencies in redeeming
this great country, its towns and its farms, from the nakedness of forty years
ago is something to rejoice in. The land is blossoming with beauty in thou-
sands of parks and lawns and cottage door-yards; but many leagues of bar-
renness still stretch along almost all of our railways and highways, a vast
field for the preacher of this new gospel of beauty and home comfort; and
until every farm-house and cottage in all the length and breadth of this
magnificent country shall be blessed by sheltering trees and blooming beds,
or climbing vines, or some sweet spot of green turf which shows the out-
bursting longing of the immortal spirit for beauty — until every American
farm shall have its garden for vegetables and fruit, and every village lot its
fruit-bearing tree or vine, will the duty of the horticulturist as a teacher and
a missionary be parti}' undone.

NARROW DISCUSSIONS.

I think it has often been a fault of our horticultural societies that their
range of discussion has been too narrow. They have been given too much
to the special interests which affected the business of the majority of mem-
bers, and too little to those relating to the public welfare. In fact, we are
often simply pomological societies or nurserymen's clubs. We come
together with our great problems of culture, of insect management, of the
cures for mildews and blights, and our whole business success is often in-
volved in liniling answers to these vexing questions, and we are prone to
neglect the sweet influences which make for beauty alone and the refine-
ment of the home.

I hope for an extension of all horticultural influencer-, for more socie-
ties, for more horticultural columns in the press, for social rural clubs and
tree-planting associations, because I believe that the great horticultural
movement of this age is doing far more for the higher civilization than all
the factories and forges and trade guilds in the land. I^et us labor gener-
ously toward that millennial day when every cottage shall shine with some
of the beauty and every laborer's table carry some of the fruits of our art.

FRUIT-GROWING.

But while I would exhort everybody to grow trees and vines and plants
for beauty and fruits for home supply, I do not by any means seek to influ-
ence any largo increase of fruit-growing for commercial purj>oses, for I be-
lieve that fruit-growing as a business is increasing quite as fast as our facili-
ties for distribution, and rather more rapidly than is profitable to the grow-
ers. It appears to me that there is no subject of more immediate practical
interest to the commercial fruit-grower than this one of the means for a
wide distribution. You are all well aware that our most importjint and

President Earless Address. ■ 35

staple fruits often sell at ruinous prices in our leading markets, not only on
particular days, but for long periods. The shippers of pe.irs from California,,
of peaches from Delaware, of apples from Michigan, of strawberries from
Illinois, and of oranges from Florida, can all testify to this. Yet I do not
think that too many of either of these fruits of good quality have ever been-
grown in any of these states, nor enough for the markets that were within
practical reach of them, or the mouths that were hungry for them. The
fault is with our transportation, and our lack of any far-reaching and elabo-
rate system of distribution. I think I have known good oranges to sell at
not much over one cent apiece at wholesale in Chicago, the market being
overloaded, when there were a thousand towns within a day's ride of that
city in which you could not buy an orange for less than five cents— and not
many at that — and millions of people within the same radius who did not
taste an orange in the whole winter. Yet the fruit distribution from Chi-
cago is more closely worked than from any other American city.

DISTANT MARKETS.

There have been many winters in which the price of winter apples has
paid the producer very lean profits, and paid the large dealers more losses
than gains, while at that same time an apple was a rarity, if not an absolute
stranger, in half the farmers' homes and laborers' cottages in America. The
delicious apricots of your Pacific coast are often left to decay in the luxuri-
ant orchards that bear them for want of a market, while not one-tenth of the
people of the United States ever tasted an apricot in their lives. Yet, by
using the best modern means of transportation, your most delicate varieties,
picked ripe from the trees and full of excellence— and not, as they are now for
long shipment, too green to be of high quality— can be laid down in all of our
great eastern markets in very perfect condition.

The same difficulty exists with most of our fruits. So many of our
available markets are not reached ; and the fruit-grower suffers from an ap-
parent over-production when half the people go hungfy for fruits which they
need and can not obtain. This condition of trade is not found in the case of
staple goods of other kinds, and manufactured articles ; for all these goods
are handled according to a more thorough business system. The more
perishable nature of our fruits must of necessity modify and limit the same
system of thorough commercial canvassing by which more durable products
are placed constantly in every town and hamlet in the country; but I feel
sure that regular fruit markets can be built up in thousands of towns that
now get no supplies, except in the most irregular way, by an energetic system
of canvassing. This subject demands the serious attention of our growers
and dealers.

TRICKS OF TRADE.

This leads me to notice one grave reason why the building up of a reg-
ular fruit trade is more difficult than it should be. This reason is the irreg-

36 American HortlcuUiiral >Soc{efy.

ular quality and serious imperfections of a majority of the fruits sent to
market. Botli the dealers and consumerh soon get disgusted when they find
half the pearhes in a basket, or half the apples in a barrel, wormy: and in
the case of tho peaches find all of them green, hard and inedible below the
top layer; and even the top course seeming ripeand well colored only when
seen through the delusive tarlatjin which is bound tightly over them. A
basket of green peaches with a goodly suj)ply of worms, and with sizable
specimens jjlaced on top, and then all covered tightly and beyond examina-
tion by a colored netting which makes them all appear blushing with ripe-
ness, is a cheat and a fraud so contemptible and disgusting that it should
consign the perpetrator of such a swindle to the tender couch of the county
jail. It is only equaled by a barrel of apples that is faced up handsomely at
both ends and is tilled with scubbj' and wormy scrubs through the middle.
I regret to say that such baskets of peaches and such barrels of apples are
forced oti upon an innocent buying public by hundreds of thousands every
year. I think and hope that the most abused fruit market in the world in
this resi)ect is that best of all the fruit markets of the world, the city of Chi-
cago. 1 will venture the guess here that, of all the millions of people that have
this year bought peaches coming through the Chicago market, not one in four
has had occasion to bless the grower of the fruit; and in most cases he has
been objurgated, if not cursed. I dwell particularly upon this kind of fruit
and this kind of package because it is the most notable example of a wide-
spread attempt to deceive the buyer to be found in all our fruit marketing
history. It will not be a good excuse to say that red tarlatan is necessary to
hold the fruit in place in the baskets, because vhite netting with a very open
mesh will serve that purpose equally well and will not obscure the real color
And no well-colored peach can be made more beautiful by any kind of cover-
ing. Is it any wonder that re8i)ectable grocers dislike to trade in our fresh
fruits, and that the people get sick and weary of buying them, when the open-
ing of every new package is the unveiling of a new deception ?

AN EARNEST PROTEST.

I am a fruit-grower, a fruit-packer, and a fruit-buyer, and I sljuid here
in all three capacities to protest, in all the earnestness of my soul, against all
kinds of deception in fruit-packing. It is impolitic in the highest degree,
and it is unworthy of all decent men. A large dealer not long since said to
me that the whole business of fruit-packing, east and west, north and south,
with now and then an exception, is worm eaten, and rotten with dishonesty.
My friends, I hope his denunciation wa.s unjust, and I believe it is far too
sweeping, but severe criticism is called for.

Let us away with all stuHings and facings, with all deceptive coverings,
with all undersized packages, with the ]iacking of all green, half-grown,
gnarly and worm-eaten fruit in any kind of packages. If we must pack
poor fruit, put it on top where it will tell its own story. Let us do this, and

President Earless Address. 37

we shall find that it will pay in money, pay in the plaudits we shall win from
all men, and in our own self-respect and integrity of soul. I should say here,
and I cheerfully do say, that I believe that the California fruit packers are
generally far less open to criticism in this matter of straight packing than
are the majority of eastern growers. You can not afford to pay freight on
trash two or three thousand miles. Yet there is some room for improve-
ment in the selection and grading of fruits from this pre-eminent horticult-
ural state. It can not be too often or too earnestly impressed upon fruit
men everywhere that to secure the best results the most scrupulous pains
must be taken, not only in growing fruit properly, but in careful handling,,
thorough grading, and unflinching honesty in packing. The man with a
high standard, well worked up to, is the man who will come out best in the
race,

FRUIT PRODUCTION.

The business of fruit production is growing to be so vast a one in many
sections of this country that the time has fully come for giving it more
thorough organization than it has had before. There are many considerable
sections of the country where it is already the-overshadowing industrial in-
terest, and it seems to me probable that in your great and glorious state of
California it will soon overtop every other producing interest. For you, as
for Florida and Delaware, and large sections of New York, Michigan, Illi-
nois, Missouri, Georgia, Arkansas, and other states, these questions of trans-
portation, distribution, a high standard of packing, and a high standard of
quality of fruits, are questions of overwhelming business importance. The
United States is the great fruit country of the world. There is no limit to
the possibility of our fruit production when insect and fungoid troubles are
handled by energy guided by science. There will be no limit to it except
that of pecuniary profit. We can furnish the nations of the old world with
fruit, as we do with bread and meat and cotton. There is no reason why
the peaches of California and Mississippi and Michigan and Georgia should
not be laid down in the European markets. I speak, temperately, and my
conclusions are based upon my own experience as a shipper of fruit. The
facilities for doing this do not at present exist, but they are known, and
within the reach of a properly organized efll'ort. Hence, I see a future for
the horticultural interest of this country that is glorious and vast as the blue
canopy of a summer sky. To reach any grand and rewarding results every
step must be taken with care and thoroughness.

MICROSCOPIC FUNGI.

Among the many obstacles to success in fruit-growing, the most de-
structive and most difficult to overcome are the myriad tribes of micro-
scopic fungi which assail plant and tree and vine and fruit. There is no
branch of our business which does not suffer serious annual losses from
these obscure enemies, and no climate or section so fortunate as to long.

38 Americdn llorticullural Society.

escape their atUicks. The discouraged fruit-grower who has lost his pear
trees by the omnipresent blight; his peach trees by the insidious yellows;
his grape-vines by the mildew, whose white phroud extinguishes all luipe for
fruit ; his aj)ple croj) having become scabby, and his strawberry plants having
been burned by the rust as by a consuming fire, turns his face away from
the old homestead upon which all these horticultural curses have fallen, and
travels to some new fair land where smiling skies and sweet winds promise
him immunity from all these evils. For a few years these promises are
kept, and his virgin crops are fair as the golden apples of llesperides. But
his obscure enemies follow him with the certainty of an avenging fate, and
they will follow him the wide world over, even within the gates of Eden it-
self, if he does not wage an exterminating warfare upon them.

You can not probably name a fruit that we grow which is not preyed
upon by four or five or more of these lilliputian foes. The number thataflfect
the interests of horticulture can not be stated, but it is certainly counted by
hundreds, a single one of which, like the scab on pears an<l apples, costs the
American fruit-growers millions of dollars annually. 1 think it sjife to say
that the quantity of fruits entirely destroyed, or so seriously defaced as to
lose their market value, in this country by these low forms of vegetable life
is far greater than all that escapes their attack. This difficulty grows greater
year by year in all fruit-growing neighborhoods. That this is a situation
which demands the serious attention of all horticultural people I need not
suggest.

LACK OF KNOWLEDGE.

Our definite scientific knowledge of the nature of this vast underworld
of microscopic life, which pervades and att^icks and overwhelms all the
higher and nobler forms of vegetable organism, is as yet incom})lete, and is
all very modern. It is the most obscure domain of physical research. The
botanists who have thoroughly studied the fungology of this country, and
have done something to master its elusive problems, can be almost num-
bered on the fingers of the two hands. We have thousands of scientific men.
and hundreds of specialists, who are making plain paths through the in-
tricacies of scientific obscurity, but this great and universal realm of the
infinitely little things which attack all superior creations, and assail the in-
tegrity of every structure which enters into our civilization, has received
little investigation.

What we need is more workers in this field. We must have more
knowledge, and that we may have investigation we must provide in some
definite way for the support of it. Is there any more imjiortant kind of work
for our agricultural colleges, and for our state experimental stations ? I urge
this matter upon your thoughtful consideration.

A NOBLE OCCUPATION.

The business of fruit-growing is one of the noblest occupations of the

President Earless Address. 39

-world, if carried on with a faithful spirit. The results of our work con-
tribute directly and powerfully to the betterment of mankind. We min-
ister to the health and the moral stature of the community. I would have
every horticulturist regard his vocation with becoming pride. We work
with the great forces of nature. We form alliances with the sunshine and
the rain, and the secret affinities of the soil. We manipulate the occult en-
ergies of chemistry. We join hands with Providence to produce our har-
vests. The American fruit-grower, like the American farmer, should hold
his head proudly, but reverently, as the best man of the world. As I look
at it, there is no man on earth that outranks the well equipped and com-
petent American farmer and American fruit-farmer. But equipment of
knowledge and intellectual competency mean a great deal.

THE NEED OF BROAD CULTURE.

The successful and ideal farmer must be a man of culture and of science,
must have a wide knowledge of the world, its great industries, its history,
its commercial needs. He must be a power in the community and in the
state. Are we taking the necessary educational steps to produce such
farmers ? There is no question which a convention of horticulturists, rep-
resenting every section of our country, can more appropriately consider
than that of the facilities we are providing for the education of the American
farmer as he should be. We have the foundation for the best educational
system of any nation in the world, and we have a more earnest general
desire to find the best kind of education. Our farmers and our agricultural
writers are more widely imbued with this desire than this same class in any
other country.

Yet I fear that the present tendency is to place our standard too low.
I am greatly in sympathy with our agricultural colleges and with the in-
dustrial departments of our universities, but I can not join in the general
criticism of those institutions which attempt to give a generous literary
culture as well as a good technical training. In fact, I feel like protesting
earnestly against the general trend of the discussion in the agricultural press
toward a purely technical, manual, industrial education.

The American farmer should be the most liberally educated and broadly
cultured man in the American state. The farmers as a class far outnumber
the class of manufacturers, or of merchants, or of professional men, or of all
these classes together, and yet they have less influence in molding the in-
dustrial and political policies that govern us than either one of these other
classes. Why is this, except that the farmer has learned how to plow and
to mow and to dig ditches better than he has learned how to think ? His
education has been too generally confined to those rudiments necessary to
give him practical success as a farmer in a narrow sphere. And here come
the doctrinaires of the new industrial education and propose the same pol-
icy for our agricultural colleges, only in a larger degree.

40 Aiiicricaii Horticultural Society.

This wide- spread sentiment is, it seems to me, one of the saddest mis-
takes of tlic ago. It jiroposos an education as deficient in general mental
culture as the old classical schools arc lacking in scientific and technical
training. The true education that will make broad-minded, forceful men
of our bright boys must embrace all that is best and all that is possible of
botii the old and the new systems. Let us by all means shed all the light of
science on the ditliculi problems of agriculture— let us teach engineering
and drainage and stock management and veterinary i)ractice ; but let us
not try to eliminate the Latin from the nomenclature of science or go into
editorial s])asms at the sight of a pile of Greek roots.

I believe that the farmer will never take his proper jilace as a director
in great ailUirs of economy and statesmanship until he is educated as the
lawyer, the minister, the physician, manufacturer, merchdnt and statesman
are educated; until he becomes a student, if not a master, in all lines of
classical, literary, lesthetic and scientific culture, as have the controlling men
who gauge our policies and direct our all'airs. The plea so earnestly and
frequently made against classical and literary teaching in our agricultural
colleges is a plea for mental narrowness and intellectual incapacity. The
technically educated farmer may guide the plow to turn the truest furrow
but he may not be able to do much good in holding the helm of state.
Facility in forging plowshares, in turning the parts of an engine, in grafting
and training fruit trees, in the economical care of stock and the treatment
of sick animals — all these accomplishments so essential to the artisan and
the farmer as such— nevertheless fail to qualify him for the higher social
duties and the solemn responsibilities of the citizen who should be foremost
of men in controlling the great policies of the commonwealth. In fact, a
well trained faculty for tile drainage is not a liberal education. Cincinnatus
"vas called from the plow t«^ the chieftaincy of a people, not because his hand
could hold the plow well, but because his educated brain could master the
great problems of the state. The men who have made farming and horti-
culture a noble occupation, who have given dignity to labor, who have
voiced the needs of agriculture and the Utngings of industry, are not
the men who have had simply a dexterous manual skill, but they are
men who.se minds have had that generous training and culture in all the
learning of the ages, as well as the science of today, which have given them
a masterful i)osition among the best men of the time.

FORESTRY.

I should be recreant to the duty of this hour if 1 did not call your atten-
tion once metre, as I have often done before, to the commanditig question
of forestry. To one who has watched the deforesting work of one generation
of men in all the woo Hand portions of this country, and noted the gradual
change of climate from one of mild conditions to one of extremes as the
great conservative forests have disappeared, it would seem that no appeal

President Earless Address. 41

should be necessary to arouse every class of thinking men to take some im-
mediate action to arrest the threatening waste of our forests and to rebuild
these faithful guardians of climate and soil. There is nothing better estab-
lished in physical science than that a good proportion of forest is necessary
to maintain equability of climate. It is conceded by scientific men, and
sustained by practical experience in many countries, that as much as one-
fifth or one-fourth of the land should be in forests to secure the greatest ag-
gregate of agricultural crops. I can not stop to discuss the philosophy of
this statement, but the fact will scarcely be questioned. There are several
of our states that have passed the limit of safety in timber waste; but the
work of woodland destruction goes on with remorseless energy. I can name
you states where nearly or quite one- half of the total area of land has been
laid bare of forest growth in about a quarter of a century. Some of them
have not five per cent, of their valuable timber left; and so far neither the
nation nor any state has made any serious attempt to stop the waste or to
promote forest culture. The governments of other countries show much
more wisdom than we. The European governments live in the immediate
presence of the ruin and national decay that have come to once fertile and
populous lands. The institutions of civilization have never declined in a
country that has maintained its forests — I think I can safely say that they
have never been maintained in any country that has wasted its woodland
heritage without repair. Hence, these enlightened governments have been
long taking the most vigorous measures to conserve and to restore the great
protective agency of the green and glorious woods.

It is the clear duty of our general government to absolutely prohibit
the further slaughter of the timber on its domain,and to withdraw all forest
lands from sale except to meet the pressing needs of settlers. And why
should not this government take similar measures to those taken in the old
world to establish forests on treeless public lands ? And can not our state
governments encourage timber planting by a judicious system of bounties
and arrest its waste by a very heavy tax on timber cutting? By some such
plan, or by some plan, the states should take prompt action for the ujibuild-
ing of forestry ; and no graver responsibility rests upon our legislatures
than this.

THOSE GONE BEFORE.

There is one sad duty remaining to me on this occasion : to announce
the names of two friends who have passed onward beyond the reach of
mortal vision. This society had no more zealous member, and horticulture
no warmer friend, than A. C. Kendel, of Cleveland, Ohio, who died during
the last autumn. Many of our members mourn his loss as that of a brother.
Mr. Kendel was one of our largest and most useful fruit merchants, and was
one of the class whose faithfulness and integrity all men praised. He was
the affectionate head of a devoted family ; he was active in every good work
for helping his fellow-men ; he was in all places a gentleman, and in all the
4

42 American Jlnrficu/fiiral Society.

relations of life the soul of honor. In tiie death of such men in the maturity
of their powers society suffers a great loss. We who knew him well will
never know a better man.

The death of Colonel Mar^*hall P. Wilder, the venerable president of the
American Pomological Society, although not unexpected— for he was eighty-
eight years old— yet cast a certain sorrow over the entire horticultural
world. For half a century he had been at the head of American pomology.
His fame wa.s world-wide. Boston has been the home of many groat men,
but she had few citizens of such .stiitely presence as our noble friend. Presi-
dent Wilder had a kingly aspect and bearing, but he had a queenly heart,
as gentle and true as your own mother's. None knew him but to admire
him and to love him. He lived out a great and well-rounded life here, and
he has gone forward to those happy uplands where frosts wither not nor
blights destroy the immortal fruitage on the heavenly hills.

DISCUSSION ON THE ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT EARLE.

Mr. Johnson, cf Indiana — I move to refer the address of Pres-
ident Earle to a conimittec, witli in.structions to report upon .some of
its special features. Motion carried.

The committee was made to consist of Mr. Johnson of Indiana,
Mr. Ohmer of Ohio, and Treasurer Evans of Missouri.

Mr. Smith, of Wisconsin — I wish to give my heartiest indorse-
ment to what our President has said about packing and shipping.
I have had a great deal of experience in j)a('king and shipping both
fruit and vegetables, and though I have been in competition with
Chicago, where they can and do sell cheaper than I can, yet 1 have
held my own and built up a trade because I have always been very
careful what I packed and how I ])ack('d it. If I sent any fruit
which was not fully up to the standard I always j)acked sucii fruit
l)y itself and sold it as low grade, instructing the commi.ssion mer-
chants at the .same time to .sell it for what they coidd get and to
pay me whatever they thought it was worth. 1 have found this
.system to work well, and I have by this moans built up and kept
my trade.

Mr. A'jvtnc//, of California — 1 rogrot th;it the J'rosidont has given
the weight of his name against technical and industrial .schools.
No doubt where he comes from tlicre may bo too mucii industrial
in proportion to literary and cla.ssic training, but in tiiis state it is
the reverse. \\'o have just commenced our industrial odiication

Discussion on the Address of President Earle. 43

here, and are finding it difficult to get technical training introduced.
Nor can I agree with you, Mr. President, that our greatest men
have had a libei'al education. If great men were those who have
had classic educations, then those who have stood highest at the
universities would stand highest in the national councils; but it is
not so.

President Earle — I did not mean to imply that a college educa-
tion was a liberal education, or that graduation from a classical col-
lege gives a better training than graduation from a technical col-
lege; only the tendency is now, in the east, to throw out liberal
•studies altogether, and to make our schools more and more tech-
nical and practical, to the exclusion of all literary studies. I wish
to have the question discussed, and will be glad to hear any criti-
cism, but I stand by the words and sentiments of my address.

Dr. Kimball, of California — This is a time of material and tech-
nical training, and not a time of training in higher and better
things ; therefore, I was very glad to hear the words of the Presi-
dent urging the needs of a greater and wider classic culture. I
think the address was particularly needed just at this period, and
that its expressions were lit words spoken in season, and hope that
it will not be changed.

Dr. Plummer, of Oregon — I am particularly pleased with what
was said about packing and shipping. I am in favor of the most
stringent laws to punish those who are dishonest in these matters,
for every person ought to be able to get fruit in good shape. But
lean not agree with what the President has said about laws against
destroying timber. I think it unwise to send a memorial to con-
gress on the subject, as it is impossible to make a general law that
would not be injurious to some parts of the country. In Oregon it
is necessary to destroy trees in large numbers, for in that state there
are localities where timber is not worth anvthinar at all ; there are
no mills at hand to saw it into boards, nor any villages where it
can be sold for firewood; it encumbers the ground, and in order to
clear the ground for cultivation it is necessary to destroy it ; and
so it is in some other localities. This country is too diversified for
a general law ; each state should be left to itself in this matter.

44 American llorlicultural Society.

JJr.]V/ii(e,of CiiUiiiVniii — 1 am opjxj.scd tu tliost- wliu wmild Knvcr
the staiulard of classical training in our schools. I am sure that no
man who has had the benefit of college culture would sell his edu-
cation till any terms. The ijreat men of our countiv, like lit iirv
Clay, who have not had these advantages in youth, have, in their
mature years, devoted the native energies of tiieir iiands to make uj>
by study what they lacked, and they have all expressed regret that
they did not have these advantages in youth. I.incolii did so, and
so lias every great mind. Oui" colleges sliuuhl i)e united, so tiiat
the intellect may be more fully developed, and any of the students
who wish to enter upon any special course of technical knowledge
will iind themselves better able to do so l)y reason of this higher
and finer training of their intellectual faculties. I trust tiie Presi-
dent's address will not be modified.

^fl•. Miinson, of Texas — Tcrraculturists require technical knowl-
edsre. Botanv, chemistry, mineralogy, entomoloirv, ornitiudoirv.
each must be known to him in its scientific nomenclature, for com-
mon names would lead to confusion, since the common name of a
particular bug in one locality is very often the name of a distinct
bug in another place. He need not be a Greek or Latin scholar, he
need not be even al)le to read I^atin or Greek, but he must know
enougli of these things to understand the nomenclature of science,
otherwise he could not write, or scarcely read with intelligence, a
single treatise on any one of the dejiartments of agriculture or Imr-
tieidture. But he must also be practical, and not waste much time
on (ireek and Latin. In the right education of the horticuliurist
.scien(;e and technical training should unite.

Mr. Van Denian, U. 8. Pomtdogist, Washington, D. C — T am
very sorry, Mr. President, that Mr. Fernow, chief of ihe Bureau of
Forestry, is not here. The forests ought to be saved. Even those
trees of which the gentleman from (Oregon s|)okc, which are now-
far out of the way of the markets of the w'orld, will soon be in the
market, and the trees will iiaye more value than the land, and it is
selfish in us to destroy and waste now what will soon be of great
value to tiiose who come after us. Congress ought to withdraw
from settlement all wild lands which are remote from roads and not
now needed, and save them until widening civilization renders them

Discussion on the Address of President Earle. 45

valuable to us. Califoraia has the largest forest trees in the world.
The grandest and noblest trees on earth are the redwoods along the
Sierra Nevadas, which are now being ruthlessly destroyed, and I
trust this body will send to Washington resolutions urging that
action be taken to stop the wasting, that these grand old woods may
be saved for our grandchildren.

Prof. Husmann, of California — I regard the preservation of our
forests as a naatter of the greatest importance, and legislative enact-
ments for that purpose as a dire necessity. I was surprised at the
remarks of my friend from Oregon. It may be that in a few places
there are. too many trees, but all along our coasts can be seen the
desolation wrought by the destruction of the trees. I regard the
redwood as providential to this climate. We need it in grape-grow-
ing to furnish stakes for our young vines. It is one of the best of
building woods and one of the least perishable, and it has great
powers of reproduction. Whenever a tree is cut down suckers im-
mediately spring up from the roots, and in twenty or thirty years
furnish good strong wood for all purposes. This noble wood
should be saved; it should not be cut down for fuel, and the roots
should not be dug up. The root of the tree, having a most beauti-
ful color and grain, when polished is very valuable, and so the very
roots are being destroyed. But the greatest destruction is from fires
left by careless hunters on the mountain-side.

Secretary Pagan, of Indiana — From the remarks of Dr. Plum-
mer, I infer that the farmers of Oregon are now passing through
that period of forest-vandalism, if I may use the expression, so re-
cently existing in many portions of the east, where arguments for
the destruction of forests had numerous advocates. " We were
early taught," said Rev. Mr. Webster, of Ohio, before this Society
at a recent meeting, "to destroy the noble forests. My father, in
my earliest recollection, on this Western Reserve, used to say :
' There are three arguments for keeping a good fire: to get rid of
the trees, that we may keep warm, and that we may have more
ashes to sell.' When the first church, of which I now have the
honor to be pastor, was being erected, many of the subscriptions
were marked, 'to be paid in ashes.' Ashes were better than grain,
and were a ' legal tender' in the payment of the pastor's salary."

4() Aiiierkan Horticultural Society.

But, Mr. Pri'sidt'Mt, that happy day ha.s hjuii; siiicc vani.shetl fVoiii
the great eastern pUiin of this continent, and timber now has other
and iii^iier values than to be consumed for its ashes, chief of whicii
is the modifying effect upon climate of large bodies of forest lands.
I have scarcely passed the meridian of life, and yet I can distinctly
remember when all the hardier fruits of the orchard succeeded ad-
mirably in the central basin of the Ohio valley, where to-day we
are strangers to such luxuries, and this is, in ray judgment, largely
due to climatic changes incident to civilized man's interference with
the equilibrium of natural forces resulting from an equitable distribu-
tion of forests. But, like children, we must learn by expeiience,
and I presume our Oregon friends are now being schooled l)y that
same inexorable master.

Mr. Kinney, of California — Forestry is a subject of vast impor-
tance to California The mountain woods of Southern California
are closely related to water supj)ly, and an abundant water supply
is the life of our land. Destrov our mountain forests, and the water
is changed from a beneficial to a destructive agent, as is proved by
the history of Southern Europe. In the valley of Durance, in
France, more than 130,000 acres of once fertile lands are now deso-
lated by rocks and other debris washed down from the denuded
mountain-sides. This matter is of such vast, importance that I
move that a committee be appointed to draft a memorial to congress
on this subject.

Th(! motion was adopted, and the committee made to consist of
Mr. Kinney of California, Dr. Ridpath of Indiana, Mr. Paulsen of
Oregon, Mr. Smith of Wisconsin, Mr. Munson of Texas, and ^[r.
Hubbard of New York.

Mr. Pdulmn, of Oregon — T am oppos(>d to sending any siicii
memorial to congress, since no universal law woidd do justice eve-
rywhere. With us in Oregon it is necessary to destroy trees by the
cheapest and speediest method possible. Our climate is remarkably
favorable to the growth of trees, and if a forest be destroyed and
the land be let alone in less than sixteen years the trees will all be
grown again. We have to tight against the woods, and in our sec-
tion of Oregon we will never need any tree planting. I sj>eak of
Western Oregon, for in the eastern part there are extensive prai-

Discussion on the Address of President Earle. 47

ries; but with us we are opposed to any law that prevents the de-
struction of forests by the cheapest and quickest method possible.

Prof, iemmow, of California — lam a botanist, and I indorse the
speech of the President, as I do not think our western forests grow
too rapidly, except in a very few localities. All along our coasts
can be seen a saddening sight of desolation brought about by the
greed of those who own the summits of our mountains.

Prof. Bidpath, of Indiana — The note of warning sounded by the
President ought to be heeded. I was born in a noble woodland
that has been destroyed; those who destroyed it gained little, but
we are sufferers now. In my boyhood the air was humid, and T
remember hearing an old man say that he had once, on a summer's
day, ridden along through the moist air in the shade of the trees
and said to himself, " There will never be dust in Putnam county;"
but if you could see it now you would never think it could have
been anything else. All our moisture has gone with the trees.
This destruction of trees has changed Asia Minor into a desert
land; even Oregon will see the thing in the future. As for the
pests which follow civilization, we can meet and overcome them by
science ; their propagation depends upon conditions which, when
accurately known, can be removed, for man is master of them.
Just as cities can banish all zymotic diseases when they unite energy
with science, so can we remove these microscopic enemies from our
orchards. Buckle remarks that happiness depends on our knowl-
edge and mastery of natural laws, and when we know a little more
about these pests we can overcome them. I think the President is
right in his views on education ; we need a higher classical culture.

President Earle — Forestry will be before the meeting again, as
we have an essay from Mr. Fernow, Chief of the Bureau of For-
estry, and also Robert Douglas, who will meet us at Riverside, will
read an essay on the same subject. I believe this to be the most
important subject that will be before us at this meeting. Let us
pass to the subject of grape culture. Prof. Husmann, of California,
will now present his paper.

4S Ainerican Horticultural Society.

THE OUTLOOK OF AMERICAN GRAPE CULTURE.

I!V riiOF. GEO. HUSMANN, OF CALIFORNIA.

You have demanded from me a paper on the uubjecl of "The Outlodk
of American Graj)e Culture," and wiish me to consider it from a general
stand-point, eastern as well as western, giving short and cogent reasons for
what I believe. To those of your members (and I need not say that there
are many) who have been familiar with my exertions and labors in the
cause of American grape culture for the last thirty years I need not folate
that my faith in the ultimate succees of a calling which I entered with diffi-
dence, but which grew upon me until it became a hobby and a passion, has
been unwavering and steadfast; that even in the darkest days of the young
industry I adhered to it, with a love that will never die until that greatest
of all Vintners, who said, " I am the vine, ye are the tendrils," sees tit to call
me away from the task.

But I confess that I hardly consider myself competent to speak of the
prospects of eastern grape culture. When I left Missouri, in 1881, I was
conversant, if not identified, with the progress that had been made there-
with new varieties of native grapes as they appeared and were tried, and
could speak more understandingly than I can today. Here, while still cul-
tivating many American varieties, I found difierent climatic conditions,
which evidently have an unfavorable influence on the fruit of most of the
American varieties, while their influence on European varieties is highly
favorable. Such varieties as were our mainstay in Missouri and the east,
as, for instance, Norton's Virginia and Cynthiana among the vEstivalis,
Elvira and Missouri Riessling among the Riparia, are valuable here only as
stocks for grafting the vinifera, and almost worthless for direct production.
Yet it is from the native American stock that you east of the Rocky Mount-
ains must obtain the elements of your grape culture and base your hopes
for success. You can not grow the vinifera species in open air, as they are
too much subject to the changes of your summers and the cold of your win-
ters to place any reliance on them. With such men as Munson, Ricketta,
Campbell, Rommel, Jaeger, and a host of others, directing their best ener-
gies to the production of new seedlings from .Estivalis, Rii)aria, Cinerea
and Rupestris, with the encouraging progress already made, the day is cer-
tainly not far distant when you will have varieties that will be productive
and good enough, both for table and wine, to till your marketvS with desira-
ble table grapes, and also furnish wines good enough and cheap enouj^h for
home consumption. I have faith in the future of the American graj)e, and
believe that it will not take as many decades to develop desirable varieties
as it has taken centuries to develop the best vinifera species. But the cli-
matic conditions of the eastern continent seem to be constantly changing;
varieties considered entirely reliable only five years ago now seem to be
failing, and my eastern brethren :ire better competent to judge how far they

The Outlook of American Grape Culture. 49

can hope to compete with foreign productions, or the product of the western
coast, which must place its main reliance on the vinifera class. That each
locality will have to experiment for itself until it finds the varieties entirely
suited to it seems to me self-evident. In any event, the present time would
seem the most propitious. When France has dwindled, through the ravages
of phylloxera and from other causes, from a production of over 2.000,000,000
gallons of wine to not enough to supply her home demand, and must rely
on Italy, Spain, Hungary, and still more on the skill of the wine doctor, to
keep up her trade, while the ravages of the insects are felt in all the wine-
producing countries of Europe, it would seem a good time for tl e universal
American nation to step in and assume its part of the world's wine markets.

And every locality at least should grow its own table grapes. The grape
is the healthiest of all fruits, and should be eaten and enjoyed by every one
in this nation, which threatens seriously to become a nation of dyspeptics.
We want grape cures established throughout the land, just as they are on
the Rhine and other streams in Germany, where the tired city merchant
and his family can go from the heat and impure air of the cities to recruit
up in pure air and on a daily diet of fresh grapes. While horticulturists, as
a rule, are among the healthiest of men, just because they have more or less
of fresh fruit every day, the nation as a whole is, perhaps, the most dyspeptic
on the globe, and were it not for the constant admixture with foreign ele-
ments, which bring new life to it, it would become hopelessly so. It is,
therefore, not a question of profit to the grower merely, but of vast national
importance and welfare, that we should have grape cur' s established in
every grape-growing community, and these alone would us ; up a large
amount of fresh grapes.

When we come to the consideration of the question here in California
and on the Pacific slope I am more at home, and can speak more under-
standing! j\ I know what I saj' when I claim that we can raise grapes prof-
itably at $15 to $18 per ton, and can make wines good enough to compete
with the choicest European brands, nay, even surpass them. If our best
brands have not been so generally produced or disseminated as to establish
the name and fame of California wines as they deserve to be, it has been
simply because the industry is very young yet, was commenced with infe-
rior varieties, often manipulated with little or no skill, and our wines came
upon the market in an immature condition. Our industry is too young yet
to have come near perfection. We need better average wines than we have
had so far; we want diflferent methods than have been employed to bring
them before the public; we want wine storage houses, which will enable
the vintner to put his product where it can be matured, and a more uniform
grade established; we must come to the conviction that our inferior wines
had much better go to the still, or be manufactured into vinegar, than be
imposed upon the public as California wine, and ruin its reputation. But
we have already enough of really good wine to stand upon its own merits-
We should despise the trickery of sending it under French and German

50 American Horticultural Society.

labels, which so far luis mostly been done with our best products, for wliich
France and Germany received the credit, while we received the blame for
the inferior article. We claim, and claim justly, that we can make wine —
the pure, unadulterated, fermented juice of the grape — good enough and
cheap enough to make it accessible to every laborer, every family, in the
Union, while we also know that we can produce quality high enough to
please the nicest connoisseur. And we also claim that in .so doing we are
furthering the cause of true tempernna;, not total abstinence, but a temperance
that enjoys the noblest gift of God to man in the whole realm of horticulture
with moderation; which drinks wine as it ought to be drank, to "gladden
the heart of man," and to cure our oft infirmities. We claim that it can
and should be introduced into every household, taken with every meal, as a
pure and healthy stimulant. I speak now of pure light wine — wine with a
natural combination of six to seven per cent, of acids and from two to three
per cent, of fruit salts, tannin, etc., ten to twelve per cent, of alcohol, and
something like eighty per cent, of water : not of the sweet Catawba.^, angel-
ica, sherry and ports, when the ardent spirits they contain are di.sguised by
sugar, and which are as unwholesome as alcoholic liquors, if not more so.
The wine I speak of, the fermented juice of the grape, is healthy and health-
inspiring; it does not originate the craving for ardent drinks that is the
bane of so many households. I have brought up a family of four girls and
two boys; they have had free access to wine every day of their lives; the
oldest has charge of 600,000 gallons of wine now ; and not one of them has
ever become intoxicated on wine yet, nor have I any fears that they ever
wiU. They use it daily, but never abuse it; use it in the way in which our
Savior intended to have it used when He made it for the guests at the mar-
riage feast at Cana,and instituted it as one of the sacraments, to be partaken
of in remembrance of His last supper. Do we need a better and holier ex-
ample to consecrate our calling than this?

Let our nation follow in His footsteps, make pure light wine the uni-
versil drink, and we will not see so many lilling drunkards' graves as we
do to-day. If we can furnish good, wholesome light wine at twenty-live
cents per gallon here in this state, and at thirty-live to forty cents per gallon
in the east, it becomes a cheaper beverage than tea or coflee, and a more
wholesome one. We do not want the saloon-keeper as middle man to sell
wine at four to six dollars per gallon which cost him thirty cents. But we
want a family supply at that price, and every family in this state can have
it if they try, and get ^we gallons at a time, take it home and enjoy it at eight
to ten cents per bottle. Our mission is a mission of reform, in its best sense •
we want to supply the people with the cheapest and the best of beverages, bring
roses to their cheeks, elasticity to their steps, and health to their old age ;
and I care very little for the decisions of supreme courts, and exclusive laws
of individual states. I believe too much in the sound good sense of the
American nation to suppose that Maine or Kansas laws can fetter the free
agency of any man, as long as he keeps within the limits of a blameless

The Outlook of American Grape Culture. 51

private life. All of the so-called prohibitory laws will not prevent the free
American citizen from drinking a glass of pure wine if he thinks it con-
ducive to his health and the well-being of his family. You may as well try
to prevent the free air of his own country from fanning his cheeks as lay
fetters upon his actions or his convictions. They will assert themselves, and
he will drink wine if he thinks it is to his benefit and that of his children.
The choice only lays between our own native production, purer and cheaper
in every respect, and the imported article, at a higher price and with no
assurance as to its purity ; and then, again, I hope we are getting beyond the
narrow prejudice of " far fetched and dear bought" to stand on the simp'e
pretext of turning up our noses at home products, to prefer French or Ger-
man brands just because they cost three times as much. The cause of true
temperance, of home industry, will triumph in the end.

When we come to look at our raisin industry, the case is still more sim-
ple. Here we may say we have a monopoly ; from the small beginnings
years ago, we have worked up to the production of a million of twenty-pound
boxes in 1SS7, and the brands of California packers are now preferred to the
foreign product, not because it is American product, but against all the prej-
udice engendered by long usage of the foreign article. Now our raisins
are driving the finest of foreign manufacture from our markets, and are
sold almost before they reach eastern markets. If we once come to the day
that all of this immense country uses California raisins, becaitse they are cheaper
and better, in preference to the imported, what an immense field is opened
to this industry ! Here is an area which even all those may enter who have
conscientious scruples against wine-making. They can thus dry their fruit,
and find a ready market for it in this country as well as on the continent.

You are aware that we are now supplying the eastern states with table
grapes to a large extent; with our increased shipping facilities we can con"
tinue to do so. I nead not say that they are larger and showier, and many
also prefer their flavor and their firmer and more pure meat to the Ameri-
can varieties. This is a matter of taste ; and as we can also keep them longer,
and many of our mountain districts are so free from frost that they can re-
main on the vines until January, this again opens a large field for profitable
grape culture. We have hardly begun to develop all of our resources, and
can hardly tell yet how far this may become a profitable and pleasant indus-
try. But there seems to be little doubt that the supply of fresh grapes can
be kept up until March, or even April.

I have tried to give you a brief outline and some of the reasons why I
believe the outlook for American grape culture a bright one. But to de-
velop all these branches of our young industry they need the fostering care
and protection of our government. While we can be more sure of a crop,
and of a more uniform product, than the European vintners, they have the
advantage of us in cheaper labor ; and although we have brought the in-
genuity of the universal Yankee nation to assist us in labor-saving machinery,
yet we can justly ask a remunerative price for better and purer goods than

52 American Horticultural t'Socicty.

they can and will supply us with, and we can only obtain this if we are pro-
tected against foreign impor tuitions by a tariti", not exorbitant, but suHicient
to j)ut us at least nul at a disadvantage with foreign competitors. I have
tried to give yuu a brief outline why I have faith in the ultimate success of
gra])e culture. If 1 was not afraid of tiring your patience, I would give
you twenty pages more, but I give way to abler pens and brighter, more
entertaining di.><cussions.

With an unbounded area adapted to successful grape culture, with the
results already obtained, which are certainly encouraging enough, I can see
no reason why this continent should not become the Vineland of the old
legend, and its inhabitants the freest, the most sober and happy among the
galaxy of nations. I have abiding faith in the ultimate result; and though
it may be but the dream of an enthusiast,and I may not live to see its fultill-
nient, I shall believe in it through good and evil to the end of my existence.

DISCUSSION ON PROF. HUSMANN's PAPER.

President Earle, ot Illinois — 1 trust that the importance of" the
subject of grape culture will be fully recognized by menibcrs of this
Society, and as it is now so ably j)resented to yoti by the paper of
Prof. Hiisinann, I shall ex{)ect of you a lively di.scussioii of the
topics opened up by the writer.

Mr. Hubbard, of New York — The conditions of grape culture
in California are radically dilferent from those east of the Rockies.
I can most heartily agree with Prof. Husmaun on tnnst j)()ints. I
prefer, however, lo use ray grapes in their native state rather than
when manufactured into wine. In my state grape cidttire is raj)-
idly increasing. There arc hundreds of acres now being planted
where ten luul twenty acres would have been tiiought sufficient a
few years ago. There are certain sections of New York where
grape-growing is very succe.ssful. Our yield is from three to four
tons per at.'re, and the price for which they aie gent-rally sold is
from two to three cents per pound. The Concord is the most prof-
itai)le variety, tiie Catawba next. Eastern methods of paekiiiii; and
shipping grapes to market are very different from ('alifornia meth-
ods. We ship almost altogether in ten-pound l)askets which are of
such shape as to pack closely and securely in the eai>. These bas-
kets cost about three cents each, and are .sold with the fruit They
pack in sucii a way as to thoroughly ventilate ail portions of the
cai". rhe fruit should be exposed to the air for a day or two after

Discussion on Prof. Husmann's Paper. 53

picking before packing, so as to slightly wilt and toughen the skin
and stems, when they may be safely shipped a distance of several
hundred miles.

Mr. Hatch, of California — What is the freight rate on grapes
from your section to Denver?

3Ir. Hubbard — The rate to St. Paul, St. Louis and other Mis-
sissippi river points is about one-third of a cent per pound. I can
not say just what it would be to Denver.

Mr. Wilcox, of California — What kinds of soil do your grapes
succeed best upon ?

3Ir. Hubbard — On almost all of our good farming lands, if well
located. They do best in the vicinity t)f bodies of fresh water, as
our inland lakes, and bordering on the Hudson river. The shores
of Lakes Geneva and Canandaigua are noted grape regions.

The President — M)'. Hubbard, what is the probable acreage of
New York vineyards?

Mr. Hubbard — Probably thirty or forty thousand acres are de-
voted to grape-growing in the state of New York.

Mr. Smith, of Wisconsin — In regard to freight rates, I would
say that a car of vegetables from Green Bay to Denver costs about
|400. I presume it would be the same on fruits.

Mr. Durand, of Missouri — It costs us forty-five cents per hun-
dred to ship apples from Kansas City to Denver by the car-load.

Mr. Hatch — Freights are much higher in proportion from here
to Denver than are through freights to Chicago.

President Earle — It is quite evident that the railroads are trying
to starve the people of Colorado in the matter of fruits.

•Mr. Buck, of California — Mr. Hubbard, is there any great pro-
portion of the New York grape crop manufactured into wine?

Mr. Hubbard — Probably less than one-fourth of our crop.

Mr. Smith — I understood Prof. Husmann to say that California
grapes sold for from $15 to $20 per ton. I should like to know if
they can be profitably grown at this low rate.

Prof. Husmann, of California — A fair average cost of cultiva-
tion, including pruning, etc., is $20 per acre. The yield ranges

54 Amancan Horticultural Society.

from three to ten tons per acre, owin<2; to culture, soil ami other
conditions. Vou can readily see that this leaves a iliir prolit to the
cultivator.

Mr. Coinhe, of California — Prof. Husmann has, if any odds,
given you a high estimate on the cost of cultivation, (jrraj)es are
grown in this (Santa Clara) county for less than half the sum he
names. Labor is cheap in California, and good wine grapes may
be grown at a cost not exceeding $8 or $10 per acre. \Ve need
greater experience and more capital invested in the wine industry
in California. Our wines, as a rule, are sold too early. They
should have more age before being sold, when the product will not
only be far better, but will bring better paying prices.

Mr. Buck — In answer to questions, I would say it is quite diffi-
cult to give the exact amount of fruit, exclusive of oranges and
lemons, shipped from California to points beyond tlie mountains.
From the best estimates at hand, I think about 1,700 car-loads
were shipped last year, 300 of which were grapes.

Mr. Blackwcll, of California — Mr. Crabbe, an intelligent vine-
yardist of Napa county, claims that he can raise grapes at less cost
per acre than the farmers of the central states can corn. He also
says he would rather cultivate grapes at $10 per acre than wheat at
two cents per pound, and that good wine can be profitably made
at fifteen cents ])er gallon.

Mr. Buck — Wine grapes can be grown more cheajily than table
or raisin grapes. Mr. Crabbe is good authority, but I fear he un-
derestimates the actual cost of good wine when Ik^ jMits it as low as
fifteen cents per gallon.

Mr. Wib-o.r — Mrs. Dr. Headen, of Santa Clara, has a six-acre
vineyard of table grapes, the crop of which last year netted lier
$2,500. The Muscat, White Tokay and Rose of Peru are excellent
table varieties.

Prof. Husmaun — The cost of raising grajies varies great ly,
owing to location and surrounding circumstances. There are manv
methods of culture and numerous varieties of grapes. Mr. Crabljc
himself has over 300 varieties in cultivation.

Prof, lynnmis, ol' Arkansas — Is the Scuppernong grown in Cali-
fornia?

Discussion on Prof. Husmann\s Paper. 55

Prof. Husmann — It is grown to some extent, but is not profit-
:able.

Mr. 3Iunson, of Texas — My experience in grape culture is en-
tirely confined to American species. The grapes grown so success-
fully on this coast will not succeed east of the Rocky Mountains.
American grapes have been greatly improved within the last few
years. There are several species of native grapes from which our
cultivated varieties have originated. These are being crossed and
hybridized with each other, and many fine varieties are being pro-
duced. Many of these new varieties are fine table grapes, and
others produce the best of wines. Hermann Jaeger, of Southwest
Missouri, has originated a number of fine varieties from the native
grapes of that region, Owing to the ravages of phylloxera in
France, our native vines are being imported to supply stocks for
their vines, as these native varieties are phylloxera resistant.

Mr. Smith — Grapes can not be profitably grown in Wisconsin at
the low figures here talked about. Wisconsin can scarcely be con-
sidered a grape-growing state, and yet we raise some very fine fruit.
I live on the shore of Green Bay, and there many fine varieties
succeed. The Fox River valley also produces fine Delawares and
Concords. The Worden is rapidly gaining popularity. In point
of quality, the Delaware is the ncplus ultra of table grapes. I sold
my last year's crop of Delawares at eight and ten cents per pound.
We can grow grapes profitably at three cents per pound. Stable
manure and wood ashes are the best fertilizers for the grape.

Mr. Lindley, of North Carolina — Our grapes ripen early, and
bring us better prices than I have yet heard mentioned. Prices
range from ten to twenty cents per pound, or $200 per ton. Bone-
dust and wood ashes are our best fertilizers.

President Earle — Minnesota took the first prize at New Orleans
for grapes. I should like to hear from some Minnesota grape-
.grower.

Mr. Wihox — Where was California?

President Earle — She stood by herself, no other state daring to
compete with her.

Mr. Grimes, of Minnesota — Minnesota is not particularly a

o(i A/iU'rica7i Horticultural Society.

grape growing state, hut in many sections, esj>ecially around Lake
Minnetonka, they were very tine. At the beginning ot the season,
before ours are ripe, our supj)lies come fVoin the more southern
states; l)ut as soon as Minnesota grapes are upon the market those
disappear, or, if" the merchants hapj)en to have any on hand at that
timi', they are disposed of for what they will bring, ours being
fresher and better. I do not want to boast of wiiat we are doing,
but I will say that at the centennial, in 1876, 1 was astonished at
the California display of grapes ; but you men seemed to be looking
more after the dollars than anything else, and kept selling and
replenishing from fresh arrivals of fruit from day to day ; l)Ut it so
hapj)ened at the very time the awarding committee came around
vour tables were almost depleted, and Minnesota took the i)ri/e.
Also, at the last meeting of the American Pomological Society,
held at JMiiladelphia, we took the Wilder medal on grapes, and
also the first premium at the cotton exposition and world's fair re-
cently held at New Orleans.

Air. Bndd, of New Jersey — New Jersey has two grape-growing
centers — Vineland and Hamilton. The Hamilton grapes are largely
converted into dry wines, while those grown at Vineland are gen-
erally sold in their natural state, New York city being the principal
market. The Concord and the Ives generally bring from three to
four cents per pound. Mildew and rot sometimes destroy the
crops. Insects are annoying and destructive. Choice table grapes
sometimes sell as high as seven cents per j)ound in New York and
Philadeljihia.

Mr. Van Deman,o^ Washington, D. ('., U. S. I'omologist — The
Grand Traverse region of Northern Michigan produces fine Dela-
ware grapes. They ripen about the first of October, and bring
from ten to twelve and one-half cents per pouml. Tiie demand is
always greater than the supply. Statistical information shows that
the largest per cent, of grape rot in 1887 was in X'iiLrinia. New
Jersey suffered badly, also. Bagging is an effectual preventive of
rot, if ap])lied early enough. The bags must be put on very soon
after the I'niit is fairly set.

Mr. Smith — Does not the Delaware do best near its northern
limit?

Discussion on Prof. Husmann's Paper. 57

Mr. Van Deman — I think so. On the shores of Lake Minne-
tonka the Delaware is grown to perfection.

3Ir. Hatch — I can not understand how the baskets Mr. Hubbard
recommends can be packed in the cars so as to withstand the abuse
of long shipments.

Mr. Hubbard — The baskets are of such shape as to pack closely
by alternating the position — first placing two on the floor of the
€ar, and setting the next two crosswise upon them, and in this way
filling up until your car is full. The flaring shape of the baskets
leaves ample room for ventilation, while the baskets thoroughly
support each other.

M?\ Buck — I fear that baskets would not stand the abuse of the
long shipments which we of the Pacific coast must submit to. With
the strongest packing we can give our grapes, they are often " pied"
before they reach Chicago or St. Louis.

Mr. Stone, of Iowa — Basket-packed grapes reach us in good
condition from New York and other eastern states.

President Earle — Baskets are certainly safe for any distance less
than a thousand miles.

Mr. Hubbard — The way we pack, baskets are considered per-
fectly safe, even for the tender-skinned Concord.

Mr. Munson — We ship in baskets with perfect success from
Denison to Denver.

Treasurer Evans, of Missouri — The baskets are springy, and
-exactly subserve the purpose.

Mr. Goodman, of Missouri — There are many portions of Mis-
souri in which the grape succeeds admirably. There is some rot,
but they rarely ever need sacking. Our most profitable varieties
are Concord, Delaware, Goethe, etc.

President Earle — There will be no regular session of the Society
this evening, as we have already accepted an invitation to attend
the citrus fair in a body, where the good people of San Jose have
prepared for us a formal reception and welcome to their beautiful
city. Before adjourning, I would say that Mr. Pryal has placed
in my hands an invitation from the Secretary of the Board of Trade
5

58 American Horticultural Society.

of Oakland invitiiii^ us to visit that citv diirini;- our .sojiMirn in Cal-
ifornia.

Oil iiioiioi), tliL' invitation was accepted, with the thanks of the
Society.

President Charles H. Allen, of the State Normal Sehool, invited
the Society to visit the school to-morrow morning and witness the
opening exercises, which was also accepted.

On motion, the Society adjourned to meet at i) a. m. to-morrow.

TIIK UECEPTION AT HORTICIJLTURAI. lIAIh.

The citrus fair referred to by President Earle in liis opening
remarks this forenoon was formally opened at 7:30 i*. m., to which
all members of the Society were made welcome.* Here, also, amid
this grand display of Pomona's and Flora's choicest offerings, oc-
curred the reception given to the Society by the officials and
citizens of San Jose and the Santa Clara valley. President Cyrus
Jones, of the Citrus Fair Association, called the assemblage to
order, and, with a few pleasant remarks, introchiced His Honor
Mayor Breyfogle, of San Jose, who expressed his great delight,
which was mutually shared by all San Joseans, at having secured
the meeting of the American Horticultural Society in their midst.
He referred briefly to the great importance of the Society and the
valuai)le work it was doing. At the conclusion of his remarks
Mayor Breyfogle introduced Judge Myrick, who made

THE WELCOME ADDRES.S.

Qentlemen ojthe American Hojliculturcd Sucitty :

At the request of the citizens of San Jose and Santa Clara county, I ex-
tend to you a cordial welcome. California is made up of people from all
parts of the United States, and there is, perhaps, no part of the Union which
is not represented here by your members. We are glad to see you here,
and there are many among us who will be glad of the opportunity toa^k
for information concerning their old homes. We are glad you are here be-
cause it shows the east is not indifTorcnt to the west, and we can assure you
that the west is not inditTerent to the east. You have not been asked to
come here in aid of any so called boom, neither do we want you to praise
us — it has been said that we are capable of doing a great deal of that for

*For a description of this mngniflcent display, see Dr. Ridpath's appendi-v to this volume.

Reception at Horticultural Hall. 59

ourselves; but we want you to look around, and from what you see to judge
us. We have no distinction to make between this and any other locality of
California. While we have not forgotten our old homes, we are pleased to
live in California, and after a residence of thirty years I am glad to call it
my home.

This city of San Jose is called the " Garden City." I do not know when
or by whom it was thus named, but I might suggest that it was because of
its resemblance to the garden of Eden. In one respect it is very much like
it. It is this: the first pair was planted in that favored spot, and the first
pears in California were planted in this vicinity. The first pair was planted
in Paradise some six thousand years ago, and these first pears were planted
about seventy-five years ago. I do not know the exact date, but I do know
that those who have eaten of these pears have not experienced the trouble
of the first pair.

You, gentlemen of the American Horticultural Society, are enlightened
on the subject of horticulture, and we hope to reap the benefit of your
knowledge, and for that reason we welcome you, also. We have not had
the opportunities you have had in the pursuit of your investigations and
conferences. What you see of progress in this state has mostly been accom-
plished in the last ten or fifteen years. We hope to profit by your knowl-
edge, your experience and your investigations. Tell us where we have
erred, so that we may profit by your knowledge. We want to know how to
do the best thing in the best way, and in that light you are welcome. The
people of Santa Clara county welcome you most heartily to their farms,
their orchards and their homes, and we trust that the personal friendships
thus formed will always be pleasant to all.

RESPONSE BY DR. J. C. RIDPATH, OF INDIANA.

I am unable adequately to express our appreciation of the welcome we
are receiving. We will always bear with us the most pleasing recollections
of our brief sojourn in San Jose. It is difficult, in view of rapid transit, for
us to appreciate how very far we are from the regions beyond the mount-
ains. Here we are at the very margin that divides the newest of all peoples
from the oldest of all, and still we are among friends who speak our own
tongue, meeting no unfamiliar accent and no foreign sentiments. Our real
interest commenced on entering California at Yuma, where we were so
much disappointed that we were tempted to change the engine to the other
end of the train and start back again. But we found before going much
further that we would have to change the definition of a desert which we
had learned at school. We didn't know until then that a desert meant sixty
feet deep of soil as rich as that of ancient Egypt. People here have not
done their duty in not so instructing us. We supposed a desert was a sort
of elevated table-land ; but the first desert we struck in California was some
three hundred feet below sea level. In my own state we are trying to re-
cover from the waters an area of ground equal to the whole of the Santa

<30 A)acric(iii Ilorliciillurdl Socuty.

Clara valley. (»nr fathers had to wrest the state from the woods. In Cali-
f(^rnia the great problem is how to get water from downstairs to go upward.
We are impressed more than we ever dreamed of heing with the vast extent
and variety of California in natural features, products, scenery and soil. ■
The great efl'orl and problem of the age is how to secure the greatest results
with the smallest expenditure of effort. Nowhere in the world can leisure
be reached, honestly, at less expense than in this glorious state. With the
3ottIemont of California, there wa.s no longer on the planet a place that could
be properly termed "west." The ideal west has gone with the biiHiilo.
Here on this coast man completed the circuit of the earth, commenced
thousands of years ago. Would he ever go round again ? I do not know ;
but I do kniiw that no successful movement was ever made in the other
direction. The son of Philip of Macedon tried it in reaching from Greece
to India; but it rolled 1> ck again, being against the movement of the sun.
The Crusaders tried it; but the movement turned back upon it.self. We
liave heard that some are afraid the Chinese will come and take this land.
Be of good cheer; the Mongolian can never do it. You may take him, but
hell never Uike you.

The Arabs never pass each other unceremoniously, as we do; when
they meet on a dcsirt they stop and salute with many formal salaams.
Rich Arab carries with him black and white j)ebbles, and they each, on
meeting, exchange reciprocally a black for a white i)ebblc. The black peb-
ble is a symbol and pledge of the perpetual ftbliviun of each other's faults,
the white of the perpetual remembrance of v:m]\ other's virtues. So we
would fiin exchange, each and all of ns, wiih > ou the black and the white
pebbles in perpetual remembrance of virtut s and perpetual oblivion of
faults.

President Earle, in ro^jKHisc to calls iVoni the members, aro.se
and made a few remarks, in the course of wliicli lie said :

I am glad to respond to the hearty welcome which has been extended
to us, and the many courtesies we have received from the day we entered
the gates of California. Every American fruit grower should visit this true
Mecca of horticulturists in California. It was to see the wonders of this land
that we made this jMlgrimage. and we are glad that we are here. The fruit-
growers look longingly toward this jmradi-se where all fruits are grown
almost entirely without endeavor. When we travel through your vineyards
and orchards and see the thousands of tons of fruit that are shipped beyond
the Rockies, and when we bear— as Judge Myrick said— that you are only
creeping, as it were, in horticulture, who can but ask in ama/ement, " What
are you going to do when you begin to walk? " Do your utmost: the mar-
kets of the world are open to you, and there will always be demand for the
products of your great industry. We are glad that we came. When we
return we will tell of the wonders we have seen, and will send our friends
and children here to see the friends who made us so welcome.

Educational Influence of Local Horticultural Societies. 61

The remainder of the evening was spent in viewing the exhi-
bition and in social enjoyment and greetings.

Second Day — Wednesday.

Forenoon Session, January 25, 1888.
At 9 o'clock A. M. President Earle called the Society to order.
Elder Riinnion, pastor of the Baptist Tabernacle, being called
upon, offered an invocation.

[Note. -The President's address and the discussions thereon, which, for
cause, are published earlier in this volume, occupied a large portion of the
forenoon session. — Secretary.]

Mr. Ohmer, of Ohio, being called upon, read his paper as fol-
lows :

EDUCATIONAL INFLUENCE OF LOCAL HORTICULTURAL

SOCIETIES.

BY N. OHMEU, OF OHIO.

Mr. President, Lidies and Geidteinen :

I feel somewhat embarrassed to appear before an audience, as this, com-
posed of representative men and women, experts in the arts and sciences
of horticuhure, and representing all parts of this great nation. However,
being a loyal citizen, one that always obeys orders as well as he can, will
make the effort to respond to our worthy Secretary Ragan's request to pre-
pare a paper to be read at this meeting on a subject that is no doubt well
known to many of you, namely, " The Educational Influence for Good of
Local Horticultural Societies." I do not know how to do so better than by
giving you the history of the one of which I have been a member from its
first organization in 1866, being now in its twenty-second year, namely, the
Montgomery County (Ohio) Horticultural Society.

In December, 1866, a half dozen gentlemen met together and talked up
the advisability of organizing a horticultural society. They adjourned to
meet in January following, when about a dozen gentlemen met and per-
fected an organization. With the assistance of a friendly press, the object
of our organization was pretty well written up in the dailies of our city,
Dayton, Ohio, and the result was an attendance of about forty gentlemen at
the February meeting. We continued to meet every month of the year in
a hall in the city. As long as it was a new thing our meetings were well

02 Americnn Horficulfnral Society.

attended. The second year the attendance was not so good; the interest
began to weaken, and continued to do so until tiie end of the second year,
which came very near being its last. What to do to save us was the all-im-
portant question. It wa.s finally suggested that ladies were as n)uch inter-
e.sted in horticulture as gentlemen. Why not change our constitution so as
to make the wife a member, as well as the husband, without increased pay?
In other words, introduce a social feature by meeting at members' houses,
and bring wilii yon not only the wife, but the sons and daughters, also, and
a basket well tilled for a social dinner. This was done, and the ch mge was
marvelously successful, and we have so met every month in the year for the
last nineteen years, never having missed one meeting from first to last. All
Iv.ive been attended by from fifty to two hundred members and friends, fully
one-half being ladies.

Our meetings in spring, summer and fall are held in the country, or
suburbs of the city. These meetings are usually on the lawn, under the
shade of trees, dinner being likewise so served; and in winter at members'
houses in or near the city. The summer meetings are usually attended by
from one hundred and liftj' to two hundred, young and old, of as happy peo-
ple as you ever saw. In the winter the meetings are attended by from fifty
to one hundred, usually bj' the older members of the society. We devote
the entire day in getting ready for and attending the meetings. They are
an intellectual holiday for us. We usually begin to collect together at ten
o'clock. On arrival, the baskets of good things are taken in cliarge by mem-
bers of the family. About noon all have come that are expected for dinner.
Some come after dinner without baskets.

During the season of fruits, fl )wers and vegetables members l)ring to
the meetings such as he or she considers worthy of exhibition, altogether mak-
ing a display far superior to many county fairs. After the proper com-
mittees have passed judgment upon them they are usually donated to friends
in attendance, or can be taken home.

At tirstit was considerable trouble to get sufficient quantities of dishes,
especially of knives, forks and spoons, for the large number in attendance.
O ir treasury being in good condition, we, many years ago, purchased suf-
ficient tableware, best Amercan whiteware, and triple-plated knives, forks
an I spoons, to cover tables and feed all who attend meetings. Parties where
meetings are held supply tables, cofTee, sugar and cream, and the prepired
fo )d to make up an excellent dinner is supplied from baskets brought there.
We also have a fifteen gallon cofTee-pot in which to make the cofl'ee. These
society dishes are, after being u.><ed, cleaned and packe<l in four large, covered
biskets, and the silverware in a tin box umler lock and key. AH are taken
charge of, and are conveyed from and brought to all places of meetings, by
a member of the society, and for which he receives a satisfactory compen-
sation.

The lady of the house can, if she wishes to do so, enterUun company in
the parlor, as the lady members usually take charge of the kitchen, make

Educational Influence of Local Horticultural Societies. 63

coffee, tea, set the tables, placing on them what is brought in baskets, whether
it be much or little. The contents of baskets are distributed so that all tables,
and all parts of tables, are as evenly supplied as possible. No one is allowed
to set the contents of his or her basket before them. In fact, they have noth-
ing more to do with their baskets after delivery. When all is ready, which
is usually half-past twelve or one, all take seats, or stand up, as the case may
be. Divine blessing is offered up by some one, usually by a minister; then
begins the battle of knives and forks. In a reasonable time after dinner the
meeting is called to order by the President. The Secretary reads the report
of last meeting; then follow reports of special committees on orchards, small
fruits, ornithology, entomology, vegetables, botany, meteorology, and orna-
mental planting. These reports are called for in the order named. Discus-
sion follows each report, which brings out much valuable information, be-
sides enlivening the session exceedingly. Next comes the essay. After
being read and discussed we take up miscellaneous business, then adjourn,
" to meet at John Smith's first Wednesday of next month."

The report of the meetings taken by our Secretary is published in the
Dayton Journal the mornings after the meetings, this being our official paper.
Other papers send reporters. Our Secretary corrects the proof before it
goes to press. After the daily Jjurnal has been printed the type is sent to
the job-room, is there placed in book form, and 300 copies are printed for
us, our Secretary tiking charge of each month s) printed After the De-
cember report is out all are taken to be bound in pamphlet form for free
distribution to all members and friends, thus preserving the reports of our
meetings for the entire year at little cost. Our Secretary receives f 1.50 for
his services each meeting, and we pay the printer $40 per year for printing
our reports and a small sum for binding.

Nothing goes into our daily and weekly papers that is more generally
read than the reports of our society, thereby doing a vast amount of good to
the community at large. We are even aggressive, and at times have at-
tacked our city council for their neglect of duty to the public parks and
boulevards of the city, with good effect. We advise how to beautify our
public and private grounds, what and how to plant.

In a moral sense our society is doing much good. Most of the members
are practical fruit, flower and vegetable growers. We have, however, as
members quite a number of professionals — ministers, lawyers, doctors, mer-
chants. All understand the dinner part oj our exercises. All are on an equality
in our society. Any one may become a member by the payment of $1 per
year. While this may seem to open the door for objectionable persons be-
coming members, this is not the case. If perchance one should get in, he
will not attend many meetings before he will find out that he is not in his
natural element, and will stay away.

Horticultural societies conducted on the social plan, as the one I have
been trying to describe, are getting to be common in Ohio and other states.
It is no new thing now, but the time was when new societies looked upon

04 Amcriccui TlorticultnrnJ Society.

this one as a model to copy from, and when done usually succeeded. These
local horticultural societies are auxiliaries to our State Society, and do much
to make that society what it is.

I should have told you before now how we secure places to ni-'et the
twelve months in the year. Our meetings are not a burden. To show you
that they are popular, at the meeting in November last invitations were
called for for the year 1888. Twelve invitations were extended, and ac-
cepted. The card I hold in my hand gives you the names of the <ifficer.<.
executive, standing and special committees, time and places of meetings,
names of essayists, and the order of business.

If societies of the kind I have made the effort to describe were estab-
lished in all sections of the country, especially where horticultnrid jirfMlucts
are made a specialty, much good would result to all concerned. You would
not only learn how to grow the best crops, and how to market the same to-
the best advantage, but you would also have an opportunity to get acquainted
with your neighbors, take part in discussions, and educate the social, the
best part of man — and woman, too.

The reading of Mr. Ohnier's paper elicited some pleasant re-
marks of approval from a number of member.-:, after wliich tlii-^
President announced the following committee to memoriali/e con-
gress on the subject of forestry: Mr. Kinney of California, Dr. Rid-
patli of Indiana, Mr. Smith of Wisconsin, Mr. Munson of Texas,
and Mr. Hubbard of New York.

Major Lauck, of the S. P. Railway — Before adjourning, I wish
to .say that our company is arranging to give the members of this
Society an excursion to Monterey and Santa Cruz. I am about to
leave you now for a short trip to San Francisco, where I will re-
ceive all neces.sary instructions from Mr. Goodman, our general
passenger agent, and report to you on my leturn as to all details.*

On motion, the Society adjourned.

Second I>ay — \%'ccliicsday.

A IT K K NOON Session.

The Society reassembled in the Tabernacle at 2 o'clock p. m.,.
President Earle presiding.

'•'For full puniculiirs of this interesting trip see Dr. Hidpiiih's appeudix to this book.

Intensive Cultivation. 65

President Earle —It seems that the people of this coast are deter-
mined to do us honors. Here is an invitation, backed up by the
presence pf an intelligent committee, to visit the capital city :

To the Officers and Members of the American Horticultural Society :

The undersigned, a committee on behalf of the Board of Trade and citizens
of Sacramento, most cordially extend to your honorable body an invitation to
visit the capital city of California either as a body or individually, as your con-
venience may permit, during your stay on this coast, and we pledge you a hearty

welcome, and a pleasant, and we trust profitable, visit.

P. E. PLATT,

EDWIN K. ALSIP,

Committee.

The invitation was accepted, with the thanks of the Society.

Dr. Ridpath, of Indiana — In view of the frequency of these in-
vitations, I move that in the future all such communications be re-
ferred to Mr. Hatch, as the Society is the guest of the body of
which he is chairman.

So ordered.

Mr. Smith, of Wiscon.sin, was then introduced, who read the
following paper:

INTENSIVE CULTIVATION.

BY J. -M. SMITH, OF WISCONSIN.

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen :

The above subject is not just the one that I should have chosen had I
been given my choice. But yon all know that there is no alternative for
the private in an army except to obey orders, unless he chooses to desert,
and that is generally a harder road to travel than that of strict obedience.
Hence, being only a private in this array, I conclude to save my honor and
reputation by obeying the order of our President to the best of my ability.

" Intensive cultivation " may be applied either to the farm or garden,
though it is oftener applied to the garden than to the farm. It may also be
of two kinds : First, of a kind that, while it may be so applied as to produce
very large crops, yet, when produced, they will not sell for a sura of money
sufficient to pay the expenses of their cultivation, harvesting and marketing.

I have known much of this kind of "intensive cultivation," or farming,
done at the eas^t near my native home, a few miles from New York city. A
single illustration may not be amiss. Many years ago a wealthy gentleman
of New York city purchased a farm near my native home. The land was
very poor, but he determined to show those about him that very large crops

66 American Horticultural Society.

I'ould be grown uitoii it, and commenced improving it iit a rajiid rate. After
he had been ujwn it a number of years he told me one day about an immense
crop of potatoes that he had just stored away. After giving me the entire
history of how he had prepared the land, planted, cultivated and* harvested
them, which, by the way, was one of the largestyields that I had at that time
ever heard of, he concluded his narration with the folh^wing words: " But
they cost me two dollars per bushel for every bushel of them." Tiioy were
at that time worth from thirty-live to forty cents per bushel in the market.

You will doubtless say that if this is ' intensive cultivation " the less we
have of it the better for us. Yet, that man was a useful one in the com-
munity. He demonstrated to those around him that those poor, worn-out
farms could be taken and made to yield bountifully. But he was not a prac-
tical farmer. He wanted large crops regardless of cost, and he succeeded
in getting them. It remained for those of us who were, or claimed to be,
not only good, but practical, cultivators to solve the problem of how to grow
such crops at a profit, instead of a loss.

Now comes the question, Can such cultivation be made practical? or,
in other words, is first-class cultivation profitable when conducted by ener-
getic, intelligent and practical men?

I have no hesitation in answering this question in the affirmative —
whether it be applied upon the farm, in the garden, or upon the immense
fruit orchards of California. The same general principles will apply in each
case, although the practice must vary in accordance with the wants of the
soil, the diflerence of our climate, the difference in our products. N'ot only
this, but the same products need very diflerent treatment in dillerent por-
tions of our country. For instance, you raise strawberries, and so do we of
the far northwest. You are treating us with your berries in midwinter;
ours at the same time are quietly sleeping in the frozen earth, buried be-
neath their covering of snow or ice, or perhaps both. But come to us next
June, and, if we have our usual good yield, we will show you acres of them
that, in yield, beauty and quality, have never been excelled in the United
States. We will feast you upon them as generously, and try to treat you as
handsomely, as you have treated us, although the latter will be a very hard
thing to do.

In those cases where the yields have been the largest and of the best
quality, it has been to a greater or less degree the result of '■ intensive culti-
vation ; " not of the siime character, but of that kind and character demanded
by the fruit in diflerent soils, climates and gen(>ral conditions.

Here again comes the question of degrees. How far may we safely go
in incurring expense, and have reason to expect its return with a fair ad-
dition to remunerate us for our care, labor, etc. ? For instance: If I am
preparing land for strawberries, I select a piece thai I know to be very rich
and what would generally be called in splendid condition. Yet it is rare,
indeed, that I spend lees than from $40 to $50 per acre in its preparation be-
fore aplant isset upon it. I do this with perfect confidence, believing that not

Intensive Cultivation. 67

only this but all after expenses will be fully returned, with a handsome sum
for me for the use of the land and my care in superintending its cultivation;
and it is rare, indeed, that I am mistaken. But suppose I wish to sow the
same land with wheat, and incur the same expense in its preparation and
after cultivation— what then ? Well, if I persisted in repeating the opera-
tion, my friends, if I had any, would doubtless consider me a fit candidate
for the nearest lunatic asylum, and act accordingly. Still, the same prin-
ciple applies in both cases, although the practice must be very different.

Hence, we see the necessity of a wide and extensive knowledge of soils,
climates, seasons, variety of crops, and their adaptation to and wants in dif-
ferent localities and circumstances. In fact, it seems tome that no other
profession in life needs so varied and extensive an education, or such an
almost endless amount of good judgment and every-day common sense, as
does the cultivation of the soil, provided you expect to be truly successful in
your business.

It will hardly be expected, in the short time allowed me upon this oc-
casion, that I should do more than to briefly hint at a very few of the lead-
ing principles to be observed by those of us who intend to follow this system
of cultivation.

A question of first importance is the soil. It must be good. We have
all heard a great deal of talk about the inexhaustible fertility of the soil of
the great west and northwest. It is a glorious and magnificent country. I
yield to none in my admiration of its soil, climate and general advantages ;
yet I say to you in sober earnestness that, after seeing millions of acres of,
I believe, as good land as the sun shines upon, I never yet saw a forty-acre
tract that I considered good enough for me to cultivate for any length of
time without artificial fertilization. It is true that these millions of acres
will yield fair crops of various kinds for many years ; but I am not satisfied
with fair crops, and you ought not to be.

Artificial fertilization is by no means all that is needed. There are
many millions of acres of first class lands in our country that are utterly
useless for cultivation unless thoroughly drained. There are many millions
more, now under cultivation, that can not, by any amount of manure, be
made to do one-half of what they are capable of doing until thoroughly un-
derdrained.

One thing more is needed ; that is, a most thorough and complete system
of cultivation. These are some of the necessities, if any system of " intensive
cultivation ' is to be followed.

It has been more than hinted to me that, in regard to artificial fertiliza-
tion, California will prove to be an exception; that her system of irrigation
wherever a full supply of water can be had will, with cultivation, prove all
that is necessary to enable her cultivators to grow verj'- large crops for an
indefinite length of time. I am not quite willing to let this statement go
unchallenged.

That wonderful valley of the Nile, called Egypt, is the only spot upon

68 American Horticuliural Society.

the earth's surface, so fur as I have learned, that is both ferlUized ami irri-
gated by nature's hand. Fur more than live thousand years the river Nile
has, year by year, borne within its waters from the UKjuiitains of Central
Africa a rich sediment that, with the overtiow, has fertilized and watered its
entire valley of from live to twenty miles wide, and more than one thousand
miles in Ifiijjth.

Is this the case here, or is it not rather the fact that most of the water
used is clean, pure water ? If such is the fact, your growing fruits and
grains require something more than is contained in it. Is it not also true
that, while your water supplies drink for the lhir.«ty plants, it also lirings
into solution such supplies of plant food already within your soil as enable
it to give you at present the bountiful yield of fruit of which we read and
hear? If this is so, and it seems to me that there is no doubt about it, are
you not drawing upon the great bank that nature's God has stored away for
future generations as well as for yourselves? Can you continue this course
indelinilely and still live? Can you continue year after \ear to take a part
from the whole, and still have the whole remain ? In short, if these points
are well taken, will not your system of " intensive cultivation," as now car-
ried on, result in the final destruction of your lands ? I ask these questions
in no spirit of complaint or fuult-linding. If I am wrong, I shall surely be
glad to be set right. If I am right, it seems to me that these questions
should receive serious consideration before it is too late to remedy the evil
except at a fearful cost.

A few words more, and I will close. It is probably evident to the audi-
ence that such a system as I have briefly outlined can not be made to pay
expenses the first year, unless it is in exceptional cases. I believe that I
own no land that did not run me in debt the first season that I culuivated
it; yet it was fairly good, even for our rich western soil. The seci nil year
we always hope to make it at least pay all of its expenses, and the third year
to make some money for us. After this it is expected to improve gradually
in the quantity and quality of its crops, until very large ones are the general
rule, instead of the rare exception.

I have followed the intensive system of tillage according to the best light
that I could obtain. To this has been added my own experience and close
observation for many years. One thing is certain : if I had purchased the
land that I now own at the time that I did. and at the price I did, and then
followed a slipshod, hit or miss method of tillage, we could never have paid
for the land, and shoulil have be<Mi driven oil from it long before this, or else
have remained upon it entirely at the mercy of our creditors; and to-day
wife and myself would have been asking ourselves and each other how we
should get through the wnter, and what ways and means we would devise
to keep up our courage for another year, and at the same time persuade our
creditors that we should at some time pay them their just dues. But by fol-
lowing the ojjposite system our land, though high-priced, hjvs furnished
money to pay for itself, interest and princijial. It has furnished money to

Discussion on Mr. Smithes Paper. 69

pay for an expensive system of improvements. It has furnished a large
family with a nice living, and for a number of years past with a fair amount
of spending money. It enables us to go, at the bidding of our President,
either to New Orleans, Ohio or California to attend the conventions of the
American Horticultural Society. If he and our good Secretary Ragan
should decide to hold the next convention in Central Asia, I do not know
but it would furnish means for us to go there. At all events, it promises to
do much better in the future than it ever has done in the past.

Gentlemen, I know of no reason why this system should not do as well
for you as it has done for wife and myself. I make no claim whatever to
having put my land to its best. I have simply done the best I knew, with
the light and knowledge that I was able to obtain. I hope to do much better
in the future than I have been able to do in the past.

There is, in my opinion, no doubt but that we are upon the eve of a
much more rapid development in agricultural improvement than has ever
been known in the past; and it will he only those who keep themselves in
the front rank of this onward march that will reap its full benefits. Then,
let us be sure that we are not left behind in this forward march, but be ever
upon the watch for a step still in advance. We shall thus advance not only
our own interests and the interests of those around and dependent upon us,
but also the well-being of the entire community, as far as our influence or
interests extend.

DISCUSSIOV ON MR. SMITH's PAPER.

Dr. Ridpath, of Indiana — I can not agree with Mr Smith that
the valley of the Nile has received all its fertility from its sedi-
mentary deposits. The valley has only been raised four feet dur-
ing many centuries of its history, and this mainly by drifting sands
from the Libyan desert. It receives its great fertility from the
fecundating waters during its periodical overflows.

Dr. Kimball, of California — In California almost any kind of
desert can be converted into a garden simply by the application of
water. A sand plain may be thus converted into a fertile valley
by the use of the snow-water from the natural reservoirs in the
Sierras. In Inyo county, near the base of Mt. Whitney, I was sur-
prised to find fine fields of alfalfa growing where naturally only
sage-brush grew. Such land, when once reclaimed by the applica-
tion of water, produces the finest of strawberries and other small
fruits. While I have the floor I wish also to speak of the forestry
question. After an absence of thirty years I recently returned to
my native state, New York. When I left there a tree was almost

70 American Horticultural Society.

reganKd a- a public (mumiiv. Thirfy years ago the Mohawk rivt-r
was almost a navigable stivam ; now fears are seriously entertained
of its drying up. This is due to the great destruction of the forests.
The state authorities have at last begun to realize the danger, and
have wisely set aj)art a large tract in the AdirondaeUs to be re-
served in forests.

Mr. Blowers, of Caiil'oniia — Mineral elements in water are es-
sential to its worth. Alfallii, iirst supportetl by the water, brings
to the surface, through the absorbing functions of its roots, these
beneficial mineral elements, and thus our soils, fairly dealt with,
continue to grow more and more fertile.

Mr. Wilco.v, of California — The Santa Clara valley soil is almost
inexhaustible. In sinking artesian wells in this valley but very
little change is noticeable in the quality of the deposits in going to
a depth of five hundred feet or more. Five crops of alfalfa may
be taken from our soil, annually. Eighty-five bushels of wheat
have been harvested from a single acre in this valley. Fruit-grow-
ing is now known to be so much more profitable that wheat farm-
ing, even with such crops possible, has been in a measure abandoned.
I have produced one thousand pounds of onion seed from two acres
of ground.

Mr. Wheeler, of California — Scarcely one-tenth of our state is
fertilized or irrigated. Orchards and vineyards often require irri-
gation until they are fairly started, \yhen it may be dispensed with.
As for fertilizers, they are so little needed and so little used that I
was forced to abandon the traffic in them, which I once followed.
Californians do not regard fertilizers as necessary in these rich
valleys.

Mr. Munson, of Texas — Nature teaches the best lesson respecting
fertilization. The trees flourish for centuries without artificial help.
Certain plants flourish without connection with the soil. The great
redwood trees have comparatively small roots. An open or porous
soil is generally preferable. Water percolates through such soils,
leaving its valuable properties to be aj)propriated by the plant.
Water finds its way into tile-drains through openings formed in clay
soils. Such soils become porous after having been tile-drained. By
the passage of water through the soil in this way, certain alkaline

Discussion on Mr. Smith'' s Paper. 71

properties naturally existing become dissolved, and thus afford plant
food where only water has been artificially added. Fertilizers are
divided into two classes — chemical and mechanical. The fiber and
coarse material in barn-yard manures act chiefly in a mechanical way,
by rendering the soil porous and permitting- the free passage of air
and water, both essential to the growth of plants. Your soil in
these California valleys can not become compact, owing to the
nature of its origin and composition. Prof. J. S. Newman, of the
Alabama experiment station, experimented as to the relative effect
of fertilizers and of mechanical manures used to render the soil
porous, and had found that, while there seemed to belittle difference
between the effect of one fertilizer and another while the soil was
heavy, the plants seemed to " leap up almost double" when it was
well drained and otherwise rendered porous, so that the air and
water could reach the roots. Both fertilizers and water, when op-
erating beneficially, acted as fluxes, loosening something that the
plant life needed.

Prof. Klee, of California — Cereal crops take from the soil large
amounts of phosphates. A forest growth, in a state of nature, re-
moves but a small per cent, of plant food from the soil, as by its
decay the original elements are mostly returned. Summer fallow-
ing is growing in favor among California farmers. Grain fields,
that have been run down by long and constant culture, may be
greatly improved by allowing them to lie in fallow a single season.
Irrigation alone will not produce a productive soil. The orange-
growers of Southern California, who of necessity must irrigate, find
it necessary, also, to fertilize their lands.

Prof. Husmann, of California — I hail from the Napa valley,
where irrigation is unknown, excepting occasionally for a few sum-
mer vegetables. Grain has been grown on the bottom lands twenty-
six to twenty-eight years without intermission, and good crops
raised with very slovenly culture, half the valley being merely
scratched with the harrow and left for " volunteer" crops, which
yielded five tons of hay to the acre. When oaks of six feet in diam-
eter were seen growing there, we knew that something below must
sustain them. Last year I gathered five crops of grapes, commenc-
ing on September 15th and ending the first few days of December.

72 A)nt'ric(nt Jlorticultural Society.

Tlie vicld was five tons to the acre, not\vitli.-tan<ling the loss by
spring frosts last season. Either the soil must be inexhaustible, or
liiere were some other elements of fertility, to enal)le such cro|)s to
be raiscil for so many years without manure. From what I have
observed during the seven years I have been in California, I regard
irrigation not so much needeil as cultivation, the former having
often proved detrimental where at first considered essential, as I
have experienced in raising grape cuttings.

JJr. Kiiiihdll — 1 only spoke of the wonderful intiuence of water
on barren lands to show how inexhaustible our soils are. 1 know
lands ill Alameda county that have borne crops of barley and wheat
for more than a half century without receiving any fertilizers other
than water from our mountain streams.

3Tr. Sniit/t — 1 am well satisfied that fertilizers would be of ben-
efit, even in California. If I did not use them liberally I am sure
wife and I would not now be with you to enjoy these meetings.

J)r. liidpnih, being called upon, read the })aper of Mr. P. M.
Augur, of Connecticut :

THE EXP.VNSIOX OF SM.\LL- FRUIT CULTURE AND ITS

EFFECTS.

r, ■ r. M. AIGIR, OF CONNECTICITT.

This subject is one of special interest to all admirers of the good and
beautiful, and to those who favor liealthful luxuries in the household; and
yet we are confronted with an idea at the outset, to wit: the danger of an
excess of a porishnblo commodity in overcrowded markets. Therefore, to
recommend an indiscriminate rushing of every land-owner into small-fruit
growing would be impolitic and unwise.

This business truly needs wise foresight and thoughtful precaution. A
surplus of grain means delay in ]>roritable returns; a surj)lus of small fruits
means Icxs instead of iHoi/. Here the law of demand and supply shouKI be
rigorously heeded and its lessons carefully followed, and here again the law
of " the survival of the fittest" must appear. Thus, every yeir thousands
abandon small fruit culture as unprolitable, while other thousands embark
in it as an experiment, many, of cour.-^e, t") be di.sipnointed.

That ten times greater supi)Iy of delicious strawberries and other })er-
ishable small fruits could be judiciously used we all admit. Many a man
smokes his half dozen or more cigars daily as a matter of course who never
feels that he can atlord a good dish of strawberries for his family at home ;

The Expansion of Smali-Fruit Culture. 73

and many another spends his money freely for beer or whisky for himself,
but nothing to luxuriate his wife and little ones at the home table. Hence,
■what might be, in expanded small-fruit growing, is not, and can not be,
under present environments without low prices, or, worse, a broken market.
But with these obvious limitations the question still recurs to us, must we
stand still or advance? We believe, in spite of all the set-backs, that society
is improving. We believe that our people are growing wiser and better on
the whole. We believe when business is less hampered by unnecessary ex-
tortions in all forms; when the real necessaries of life and necessary articles
of manufacture are offered at moderate rates, so that a man's wages shall be
adequate to fully provide for not only the bare necessities but for many of
the comforts of life — when this time comes we may reasonably look for a
largely increased demand for our small fruits.

Another idea will be applicable in this connection. Last summer, when
we were wholesaling large strawberries at from twenty-five cents down to
twelve cents per quart, another grade was brought into market selling from
twelve down to five cents per quart, and four quarts for a quarter at retail.
Now, while we were getting double price per quart, we were also getting
double the number of quarts per acre. So at every point we had the ad-
vantage in profit; and in case of an absolute glut, it is always the case that
the trash goes to the waste. As Daniel Webster said in reference to the law
as a profession, " there is room higher up," so say we in regard to small fruits.

Premising as above, we aver that in expanding small-fruit culture we
should expand first of all in better culture, better varieties, higher fertiliza-
tion and largely increased yield of large, beautiful berries. We greatly need
improved methods. And here, leaving generalization, let us come down to
detail.

Taking the strawberry, let me say that we not only need the best vari-
eties but the best plants. Eggs are sold by the dozen. Strawberry plants
are also sold by count, and to many a man 1,000 plants means 1,000 plants
and nothing more, howsoever or by whomsoever they are produced ;
whereas, they may vary in vigor and actual capacity as from 10 to 1.

First— Our unvarying method is to be specially careful in selecting
stock plants. (This is also applicable all through the vegetable kingdom.)

Second— Never propagate from a plant that suffered from fruit ex-
haustion; a plant that has given, as some of ours have, over two quarts of
fruit may still live, but is not fit to be a parent plant. Renitmher this.

Therefore, when we read of deteriorating of varieties we can say yes or
we can say no, as it depends so much upon management. I know of farmers
who have cultivated the same variety of Indian corn for more than twenty
years with a constant improvement, so that it has been a continual gain from
then till now. The same may be true of the strawberry ; and any quality of
plant or fruit may be intensified by judicious selection and cultivation. In
the same way we may often remedy defects, to wit : Suppose a variety like
the JewelFpropagates slowly, and the requisition is to secure more rapid in-

74 A)iicric(fn llorticullnnd Society.

crease; then chciose for parent plants those which throw out runners most
freely, amil in due time this productive variety will satisfy in reprtxlurtion
of plants. To a grower of fruit the above pernliarity is hardly a defect. A
plant with a stronjr root system, which multiplies crowns rather than run-
ners, has a strong desideratum, and is most likely to reach the m:ixiiinu)i in
fruit production.

Our cardinal principle, then, is this: Pre fruiting plants are invariably
to furnish our stock for the propagating beds. This, of codrse, implies the
cutting off of all blossoms as soon as they appear, on idl our propagating
beds. Another point is to secure one crop only from the same plants and
•the same land at one setting. An extra fine crop is more desirable than
two or three inferior crops. And now comes the point, how to secure the
maximum crop. This opens a subject as broad as the divergent views of
culture in the world of horticulture.

From what has been already said it will be supposed that we start with
a good variety and a good stock of plants; this is the sine quu mm. This
lies at the foundation of success. Again, the variety, no matter how desira-
ble, must be adapted to our soil. Some varieties that do remarkably on a
rather heavy soil may absolutely fail on sand, or on a pure peat soil (and
possibly vice versa), though we always favor a strong soil for the strawberry.
Our ideal of the strawberry acre would be a strong loam with a retentive
subsoil, thorough undertlrainage, two or three previous years' clean cult-
ure with some hoed crop each year, and heavy annual dressings of grain-
fed horse manure, including the autumn previous to setting; in early spring,
as soon sis the land is in condition, use plow and pulverizing harrow and
mark both ways for planting. For spring planting we advise three feet by
one and one-half feet. This will require about ;i,GS() plants per acre. If the
principal kind is a pistillate, like the Jewell or Jersey Queen, we advise
planting every fourth row of two good bi-sexuals, say Charles Downing and
Sharpless, or Shari)less and Cumberland ; thus, first, fifth, ninth, thirteenth,
and so on ; the intermediate rows to be the best pistillate variety for the
locality and soil. Now, using the bi-sexuals, for instance Sharpless, com-
mence on first and plant on every alternate mark ; so on the fifth, ninth,
thirteenth, and on to the end of the piece. Then commence with Cumber-
land, Jessie, or whatever bi-sexual you choose next, and, going over the
same rows, plant on the omitted alternate marks through the piece.

Now you have given every llower on your piece an elective choice be-
tween the pollen of two somewhat diverse bi-sexuals. By so doing you have
furnished the most perfect conditions for complete development of every
llower on the field.

Our experience and observation go to show that these ideas are not
mere vagaries, but that in them lie the highest conditions of success, both
in quantity and quality, size and beauty of fruit. Having the ideal acre set
with plants of exceptional vigor and in manner as already indicated, let the
culture be thorough and frequent; allow each plant to make only two ad-

Tlic Expansion of Small- Fruit Culture. 75

o o b
ditional plants— X X X — X representing the stock plants and S the

s s s

newly-formed plants. Thus restricted, the triple row of plants will be of
unusual vigor and enormous size, with wonderful fruiting capacity. Let it
be remembered that during this year of growth the blossoms are to be in-
variably cut on their appearance, that we are laying the foundation for great
things to come.

The question may be asked, How will you prevent the work of the
white grub and other destroyers? We reply that after two years of clean
culture, with care to destroy all marauders, there will be little damage from
grubs or other enemies. But as a precaution allow some plants to make
extra runners to till occasional vacancies.

When winter sets in, mulch judiciously with evergreen boughs, sowed
corn or coarse hay, or even strawy horse-manure, being careful, while doing
it well, not to overdo. The great object of the mulch, be it remembered
is not to prevent freezing, but to prevent alternate freezing and thawing;
therefore, the most perfect winter condition is one where the plants are per-
fectly dormant.

When spring opens, be patient until all danger of ground freezing has
passed and the soil has sufficient warmth to start vegetation. When this
time has come, carefully remove all coarse material from the plants and
give a complete shallow hoeing and weeding, leaving the ground still un-
covered to get fully warmed up. The plants will now show wonderful vigor
and a profusion of bloom that will be delightful to behold. Your brightest
day-dreams will promise a full realization.

Now, let well enough alone, and keep off your patch until the berries
begin to show white a little, when re-mulch with clean material just suffi-
cient to keep the fruit clean. Coarsely cut straw or lawn clippings are ex-
cellent, but let the operation be done by careful hands ; and thenceforward
let no careless feet or rude hands go among those plants. Visitors will come
around, but let their curiosity be satisfied and their exclamations go forth
from the border of your piece, not from the interior.

Ripening commences (and here let me say that the same field with
thorough underdrainage will ripen from four days to a week in advance of
the same not drained ; that is our experience). If you have fancy berries,
as you probably will, allow only expert pickers to gather them. Send to ap-
preciative dealers in attractive packages, and you may usually dictate prices
with confidence. We have come to feel that a choice crop had better be
handled by only experts at so much per hour, rather than be picked per
quart by average pickers.

In regard to the amount of yield, we simply say that a possible yield is
far more than most people will be willing to admit. On a field day, on our
own ground, many persons remarked that if they had not seen they would
not have believed what they saw in size and yield.

76 American Iforllcn/hiral Soclcti/.

We h live spokoii of sprinj^ iiliiiitiiig und the formation of triple rows.
We have hiul nearly or quite as siilisfactory crops by planting out in July
strong primary young plants in ground strongly enriched on which early
peas or some similar froj) has \>ovn grown, the ground cleared, plowed and
suhso led, tinely raked down, and j)lanted in rows two feet hy one and one-
half feet, after which faultless culture was given, and runners all clipped off.
A record shows that the numher of picked quarts exceeded the numher of
plants. This was on a j)atch which, as measured by Dr. F. M. Hexamer and
others, contained just one twenty-second of an acre, the total yield of wliich
was GTS quarts, or at the rate of about 466 bushels per acre. Mr. J. S.
Woodward, Secretary of the New York State Agricultural Society, saw a
quart of ripe berries picked from a single i)lant at one lime, leaving forty-
eight green berries on the same plant, nearly all of which afterward matured.
We would not feel at all sure that even this may not be exceeded. The va-
riety from which this yield was obtained was the Jewell, and the size and
beauty of the berries, as an average, were as remarkable as the yield. Our
he;iviest yields have been on a rather heavy soil, with at least two year^* jire-
vious high culture, with tile-drains 40 ft. apart, 8 ft. 6 in. deep, the soil mel-
lowed with a subsoil plow IS inches deep; and we regard the above prepa-
ration as a valuable safeguard against drought and as a most important aux-
iliary in thoroughly aerating the soil. Of the single j)lant rows, two feet
apart, in very many places the plants touched between the rows, making a
spread of full 24 inches to the best plants.

Our plan, then, for the expansion of small-fruit culture would be to in-
tensify, rather than overspread large areas. Parties living, as some do, near
cities, where exceVent manure may be had for the hauling, can easily ex-
pand in the fullest sense; but where hort^e-manure costs to or $6 per cord,
besides the cartage, it changes the whole aspect of all'airs. Those who de-
pend largely on concentrated commercial fertilizers should use extreme
caution, as there is a limit to judicious and safe application. While we use
special strawberry manures, we use to sujjplement, not to supersede, stable
manures. The mechanical etlect of stable manures upon the soil is excel-
lent in giving good tilth and porosity to the soil, thereby enabling better
results to be obtained than bj' the same elements in a more compact and
concentrated form. Again, a strongly concentrated manure sometimes has
a caustic eflect, especially if applied in excess.

In conclusion, allow me to say that, in view of the jiresent outlook, we
advise beginners to use great caution in their operations. A crop such as
we have spoken of is, as you may well believe, exceptional. The previotis
prejiaration overlooks two cr three years of liberal expenditure in time)
capital antl skilled labor. A most judicious and generous expenditure is
indispensable. Hence, let beginners commence on a lindled area; and in
any case do not greatly overstcrk the market. The small-fruit l>nsin(\«s,
like any other business, may be overdone. The public jn-ess can and should
do much to create a fuller and mora general use of small fruits. The sani-

Dewberry Culture. 77

tary effect of a wider use of fruits would be most salutary. But such in-
crease will be only gradual, and also depends in no small degree upon gen-
eral business prosperity throughout the country. Therefore, we caution a
good outlook before embarking in the work, judicious management all
through, and a high aim in good culture, remembering that a superior crop
nets the profit, while an inferior crop involves the disappointment and loss.
We would not be so selfish as to make corners and hold extravagant
rates; rather let there be an abundant supply at moderate, but at paying,
rates. With thorough culture and successful crops, we niay adept the
motto, " Post preiia, premia" — "After the battle, the reward."

President Earle, of Illinois — We have another paper which I
think I will now call up, as it and this one by Mr. Augur may
then be discussed together :

DEWBERRY CULTURE.

BY I. N. STONE, OF IOWA.

While there is hardly a stats which has not some variety of dewberry
growing within its borders, still it has not until recently found a place in
the fruit garden, and we predict that it is soon to occupy a very important
place in the list of small fruits throughout the United States. The dewberry
is of the blackberry family, and is o''ten called a trailing blackberry, Some
varieties are propagated from tips, the same as black raspberries; others by
suckers naturally, but may be propagated from tips, also. The tip varieties
are the best for general cultivation, as they may be kept within boimds as
easily as the black- cap raspberr}'.

The dewberry has a more sprightly flavor than the blackberry, is larger,
ripens earlier, and, having a glossy black color, does not turn red after pick-
ing, and is considered by many to be far superior to the blackberry, either
fresh from the vine or when canned. Its large size and attractive appeu--
ance, and its ripening in advance of the blackberry crop, insure for it a good
price at all times, even when the market is overstocked with other berries.

The trailing habit of the dewberry canes renders them as easily covered
in a cold climate where winter protection is needed as a strawberry bed,
requiring about the snwe amount of mulch.

There is no kind of small fruit that will stand drought as well as the
dewberry, except, perhaps, the grape ; in fact, its roots will run down about
as deep; and while it succeeds well on a loose sandy or gravelly soil, it will
also produce well on a heavy soil if not too wet.

They should be transplanted in early spring, setting tips only. Do nut
use suckers at any price. Plant three and one-half by six feet, and cultivate
shallow one way only, with a hor^e, using a hoe between the plants in the
row. The first year we can cultivate close to the row, regardless of the

78 Amcrirnii Ilorficu/furd/ Society.

can es, lis iho rultiv.itor will turn llieiii with ml injury so they will grow
alongside of the row. After the first year the canes should he pinciied or
cut back to ahout two feet when two and one-half or three feet in length.
It will be necessary to go over the vines several times during the growing
seiiHon in order to prune the earlier and later canes at the proper length.

All varieties need winter protection, in a coUt climate, to insure a good
crop every year. Just before the ground freezes the canes should be pUced
along the rows, then covered an inch or two deep with mellow soil, and be-
fore severe winter weather sets in cover the whole surface with mulching,
using more over the rows than between them. In the spring work the
canes up through the mulching with a fork, and move the mulch from be-
tween the rows, placing it along the row and under the canes, leaving the
plantation so it can be cultivated one way only.

The canes may be tied to a trellis, or racked by driving stakes on each
side of the row, so they will be about two feet high; then attach a wire to
the stakes on each side of the row, so they will be at the proper height to
allow the canes to rest upon them ; if the wires are placed at the right
height the canes will not need tying. It will i)ay to use mulchii.g under
the bushes even where it is not necessary for winter protection, as it will
keep the fruit clean and render the soil fertile and moist.

Much might be written about the difl'erent varieties of dewberries which
are being iiUroiluced, but I w-U only say that I have succeeded well with
thn Bartle's Mimmotli and Lucretia. Both are tip varieties, productive,
and their fruit is excellent.

DISCISSION ON SMAM, I'hrns.

Mr. .S;/j/M,()f Wiscon.sin — Mr. Stone, liow will the yield of dew-
berries compare with that of hlaeUherrie.'?".'

Mr. Stone, of Jowa — About the same. I^iuler favorable coiuli-
ti()n.s tlic dewberry may yield 100 bushels to the acre. The dew-
berry bear.s shipment well. I think the liartie's superior to the
Jjucretia, The .sea.son of ri])enin<r of t'.ie dewberry is about tiirec
weeks. In California I understand that the dewberry is lonsior in
sea.son than the blackben-y. All thintis considered, however, I
consider the blackberry the more valuable fruit.

Mr. rdul.soi, of ()re«:on — In our statr we have wild dewberries,
wliicli si'll tor better j)riees in the inaiket> than blackb rries.

Mr. Stone — The dewberry nutx'lls the blackberry in ail our
cilv market-. The l)errii's are pictri icil on account of their better
quality.

Diospyros Kaki in North America. 79

3Ir. Wilcox, of California — Dewberries have not succeeded in
Califcjrnia. Strawberries pay me better than any of the small
fruits. They will yield a paying return within twelve months after
planting. I have realized as high as $650 per acre from strawber-
I'ies. They average me something over $100 per acre.

Mr. Agnew, of California — I have sold from nearly two acres of
strawberries $1,300 worth of fruit. The yield was 200 chests of
about eighty pounds each.

President Earle — That would be equal to about 5,000 quarts
per acre, which is much less than some of our eastern growers pro-
duce.

Mr. Gish, of California — My crop of the Longworth, which was
the seventh crop from planting, produced 57J cases per acre.

Mr. Ohmer, of Ohio — I have produced as high as 175 bushels
of strawberries per acre. From four acres of Kittytinna blackber-
ries I produced 562 bushels of fruit.

H. E. A^an Deman, U. S. Pomologist, read the following paper:
DIOSPYROS KAKI IN NORTH AMERICA.

BY P^OF. H E. VAN DEMAN, WASHINGTON, D. C.

So far as I have learned, the first trees of the Japanese persimmon {Dios-
pyros Kaki) grown in North America were from seeds obtained and sent by
Commodore Perry, of the United States navy, to Lieutenant Maury, in 1856,
and were planted at the Naval Observatory at Washington. The first fruit
was produced on these trees in 1860. None of these seedlings or any of
their progeny, so far as known, were distributed, and the old trees are now
dead.

The next introduction of this species was by a lot of seeds im^wrted
from Japan by Mr. Wm. Saunders, of the United States Department of Agri-
culture, in 1863. They were planted on the grounds of the department, and
germinated freely, and a part of the seedlings were sent out for trial. Some
of the original trees grew to bearing size, and in at least one case produced
about a bushel of fruit on a single tree, but all the older trees on the grounds
of the department are dead. Owing to the crude state of pomology in
Jdpan it was almost impossible to get grafted trees until about the year 1870,
when the Department of Agriculture imported a lot of gratted trees of
named varieties. Tnese were distributed all over the United States, but
principally in California and the gult states. The nomenclature of these
varieties was very imperfect, many trees being without name, some with

80 American JJorticultiira/ Society.

dual iiiimei^, ami diU'irent varielied with the same uanie, as subsequent ex-
perience has proved. At the pre^^l'nt lime (ISSH) great diflicdlty ia expe-
rienced in identifying the dillerent varieties of this fruit.

A great many of the trees sent out (whicii included many of the tirst
seedlings grown by Mr. Saiuiders) died from being planted in too cold and
unfavorable situations, and sonui of them that were planted where they
ought to have done well were very much neglected, and having done poorly
created little interest. But some of them, under more favorable circum-
stances of both climate and culture, produced excellent results, and the nur-
Eerynien of the country beg;iu to import and sell trees. Mr. S. B. Par.sous,
of Flushing, L. I., Mr. P. J. Berckmans, .Augusta, Ga., and Mr. H. H. Berger
of San Francisco, Cal, were among the most prominent of those engaged in
this work. H. H. Berger ct Co. are now extensively engaged in this busi-
ness and have a branch nursery in Japan, where the trees are being propa-
gated for sale in this country.

After repeated trials all over the United States and in Canada, it is now
known that the species will not safely withstand a climate where the tem-
perature falls to zero even occasionally, and some varieties are even more
tender. There is considerable difference in the varieties as to hardineas.
The northern limit of successful growth is about like that of the Hg, being
on a line with Charleston, S. C, Southern Tennessee and Northern Texas,
but extending several degrees further north along the Atlantic and Pacific
coasts. Georgia, Florida, the gulf states and California seem well adapted
to its culture, and by experienced travelers in Japan it is said to do better
here than there, the fruit being larger, fairer-looking and of better quality.
The tree is a more luxuriant grower than our native .species, 7). Virc/inianUf
and makes a handsome tree, with large, glossy leaves

The llowers are sometimes perfect and sometimes imperfect, because
the stamens are abortive. The perfect flowers are alw.iys found in the axils
of the leaves and always solitary. The imperiecl llowers are sometimes
found in clusters. The species may be .said to be dioeciously polygamous.

The fruit is, in size, from one and a half to three and a half inches in
diameter, and an occasional specimen has been known to weigh twenty
ounces. In shape it varies from flat to rouml and oblong conic. In color it
is from chrome yellow to bright red orange, the latter being the most com-
mon. In llavor it is very sweet, and the pulp is very soft. There is, how-
ever, considerable variittion in both these respects. Some of the varieties
require frost to make them at all palatable, or be''oro their natural acridity
will leave them. Others are never acrid or astringent in any.st^ige of their
growth. Many kinds are seedless, and none have more than a few seeds.

As a fruit it is steadily winnijig its way into the markets of our larger
cities and may be occasionally found on the fruit-.-*tandsof the eastern cities.
Up to this date there has been but little of the fruit to s-cll. The largest
amount grown by any one person or firm, of which I have heard, was by
Mr. J. Crawshaw ct Son, of Lawtey, Fla. I have been informed that the past

Discussion on Mr. Van Deman's Paper. 81

year they sold over one liundred bushels, principally in New York cty, at
an average price of about $7 per bushel. The fruit ships remarkably well,,
as it siiouid be picked a little before it is ripe, and can then be transported
with perfect safety for thousands of miles. It matures and softens very
gradually, and makes an excellent fruit to handle by venders at ihe fruit-
stands. It has an alditioml advantage in being very attractive in appear-
ance.

The fruit-growers in the sections in which the tree succeeds are begin-
ning ti) realize its importance, and one firm in Florida of which I know will
this winter plant over three thousand trees in addition to those already set.
If it continues to grow in favor it will soon be as commonly grown in the
southern states and California as any other fruit.

DISCUSSION ON MR. VAN DEMAN's PAPER.

Secretary Ragan, of Indiana — I do not care to speak of the
merits of this interesting paper, nor of the topics treated by the
writer, for they are of little interest to the people of our latitude,
but rather of the official position held by the writer. Xhe office of
U. 8. Pornologist is the creation of the present Commif^sioner of
Agriculture. The pomological interests of the country should be
greatly promoted through the instrumentality of this new bureau.
Fruit growers everywhere should avail themselves of the valuable
services of the chief of the department. There are very many ways
in which an efficient officer at the head of such a department of the
government may render himself useful to the cause of pomology.
He enjoys the frank of the Post-office Department, and through
this medium any citizen may transmit to him specimens of fruits^
etc., from any section of the county, for identification or correction
of nomenclature.

Mr. Van Deman, Washington, D. C. — In regard to the collec-
tion of specimens for purposes named by Mr. Ragan, I have had
prepared mailing boxes, of various sizes, which I will gladly send
out to persons wishing to use them in sending specimens to my
office.

Mr. Buck, of California — The Japan persimmon thrives almost
anywhere in California. We grow a number of varieties. It is
a showy, handsome fruit, but we db not find it valuable. I know
of but few persons who really like it. I have propagated it on the
native Virginia persimmon, but even then it is not of good quality.

S"2 American llorlindtural Society.

Mr. llV/co.r, of Calilornia — Tlie Jiipan |)ersimiii(ni was first iii-
IrodiK'cd into California by a distiii^iiislicd inissionarv. It i> not
a ili'sirable fruit licrc. California luirscrvinm liavr al)()ut ([nit
Ujrowin^ it. Most of the ti'rcs now Ixinir planti-d arc imported
from Japan. Tlu- frnil innst \>r vcrv ri|)c in order to be palatal)le.

Mr. Master.^, of Nebraska — The Japan species does best when
top-,<:;rafte(l on our native pcrsimtiion.

^fr. Win Deman — 1 do not believe that toji-graff ing improves
the jiersimmon in the least. Mr. Buck is right when ho says a taste
must be cultivated for this fruit. Persimmons grown in the gulf
states are larger tiian those grown in California.

Mr. Klce, of California — This fruit is best when grown near the
coast. I have had specimens sent me, grown in this state, that
weighed a ])ound. California-grown trees took the j)remiuni at
New Orleans.

}fr. Coates, of California —I do not think the Japan per>inin>(.n
has I'eceived the care in culture on this coast tliat it deserves. I
ha\-e known them to sell in tlie San I'^-ancisco markets at -S'i per
box of twenty pounds. 1 have seen some very delicate preserves
made from this fruit.

Mr. \'(t)i Deman — The persimmon is the apple of Ja])an, hcdd-
iuir thei-e a first rank as a valuable fruit. Tiiev arc used in various
wavs — in the fresh state, dried, j)iekled, preserved, and made into
marmalade.

Mr. fAndley, of North Carolina — Tii oui- state tlie native per-
simmon is almost a sta|)le cro]). The Japan species grows much
larger tlian the nalive and is linei' in (piality. 1 think it will prove
to be valuable in |)ortions of North Carolina.

Prexideid Karlr — The Japan |)crsimmon does well all along the
gulf coast, and is growing in liivor with the jteople.

i)\\ motion, the S((cieiv adiourned until 7:.")<> o'clot'k I'. M.

]V;/l the Future illan Eat Peaches f 83

Second Day — Wednesday.

Eve n I n g Session.

The Society reassembled at 7:30 p. m., President Earle in the
chair.

Vice-President Miinson was introduced, and read his paper:

WILL THE FUTURE MAN EAT PEACHES?

BY T. V. MUNSON, OF TEXAS.

Mr. President: In this you gave me a hard nut to crack ; but not to
be outdone, I shall try it, if I break all my teeth (facts) in the attempt. To
start with, I should remark, " That depends : "

First, whether or not the taste of the future man coniinues, as now, to
regard a ripe, buttery, juicy, perfect peach as delicious and healthful.

Second, whether or not it will be possible to continue to grow peaches.

At first thought it would seem that we should answer, without hesitat-
ing, each horn of the dilemma in the athrmative. Certainly, we always would
the first though we are aware of the fickleness of human taste, and how we
have ceased to practice the custom of our progenitors of eating the delicious
flesh of our human captives, and how devotedly the young ladies take to
chewing paste and wax, and the young men tobacco and licorice, in prefer-
ence to plain bread. Maybe some inventive genius, taking the hint from
butterine, will find a substitute and name it peacharine. We have already
tried nectarines, but they just won't do— in Texas.

However, as we begin to cast up the innumerable vicissitudes of peach
culture, we at least admit that the second proposition is worihy of a few
moments of serious consideration.

That we may more clearly comprehend the situation and its future
probabilities, let us name a category of the chief and constant drawbacks
which environ the grower of this queen of fruits, and then rummage our lists
of preventives, curco and palliatives, and try to draw an approximate answer
at least sufficient to say whether or not we and our children can reasonably
plant more peach trees.

Let's see ; there are ihe borer, liability to be killed by cold, the curculio
the rot, the yellows, tlie leaf-curl, the root-rot of several kinds, the difficulty
of marketing, short life of the peach tree, etc.

We shall at once fall upon this den of thieves and robbers against our
honest toil. The life of the successful fruit-grower is a relentless warfare^
The battle is never ceasing. But remember, " a battle well planned is half
won." The planning here, as in all warfare, chiefly depends on our knowl-
edge of the exact nature and whereabouts of the enemy.

<S4 AinericdH llorlicnUuval Suvicli/.

liORERS.

We charge lir^t on the borer — that wasp-like Uy, with its orangf ab-
dominal belt ever on. Like all true flies, it has no sting ami only two wings.
It would have four wini^s if of the wasp fiiniily. Vs a chryr'alis benoath the
large roots of the tree it hibernates, after having vorac-ioiisly eaten the hark
to the wood, perhaps girdled your tree just below the surface of the (j(»il,
showing its presence by gum and brown powder intermingled. In the spring,
about apple-blooming time, it emerges from the piiim-ciu-e as a fully grown
tly, to seek a partner and peach trees anew, and about theircollars lay eygs,
then skulk and die, leaving the litter to hatch into young borers, on the out-
side of the bark. As soon as hatched — early in the fall— they silently gnaw,
and soon imbed themselves in the live, tender hark, leaving the harder out-
side part as a protection, and slop their entry with gum to keep out water.

Remedj' : Clear away the soil down to the first roots in August or early
September; scrape and brush the collar clean, to the roots, With a sharp knife ;
take out all borers that may have entered ; then with a coarse brush paint
evenly, but lightly, with hot coal-tar, the exposed rot)ts. collar and body to
eight or ten inches above ground. Level back the soil, and no borer will
again bite that tree for at least three years. Nor will harm follow the mod-
erate use of tar, as directed. This the writer has seen fully demonstrated
on a goodly number of trees, which have grown vigorously for two years
since, where an excess of hot coal-tar was ut^ed. I never wi^h to see trees
in better condition. This test was made by Dr. A. M. Rugland, of Pilot
Point, Texas. To him, I believe, belongs the credit of this simple, ell'eclual
and harmless remedy. The tar never washes ofl", and I believe one treat-
ment, when the tree is two years old, a sufficient preventive for three or
four years.

Other remedies for the borer there are many— even " patent tree- jack-
ets." The old method of mounding up every spring and leveling down and
cleaning bodies in fall is the next remedy. Be careful in using coal-tar on
apple or other trees having thin hark.

For a remedy for late frosts, hard winters, etc., nothing is absolutely
certain, except to go to a country where frost never comes, and plant Peen-to
and Chinese honey, and a few other semi-tropical varieties. Otherwise, i)lant
upon the blullson the south or southeast side of a lake or large river. Thir<1,
plant varieties known to be hardy in l)ud and bloom, which often bear well
when others entirely fail. .V few of such are most of the Chinese cling seed-
lings (though Chinese cling itself is shy). Such are General Lee, Family
Favorite, Mamie Rosh, Sylphide, Thurber. Nearly all the Hale's Early class*
Alexander to begin with, Reatrice, Louise, Rivers, (Jross Mignonne, ritrely
fail. Of the yellow free.xtones, of the Crawford type. Governor Briggs (orig-
inated by Orr Brown, of Oregon), Reeve's Favorite, Wheatland, are more
certain than Crawfords. Elberta, a Georgia seedling of Chinese cling, ami
probably a cross with Crawford, and every way superior to it, is the yellow

Will t/ie Fuiure Man Eat Peaches f 85

freestone, in both tree and fruit par excellence. Even in New York it is re-
ported as enduring the winters well when Crawford is killed to the snow.
Picquet's Late, a cross between Crawford and Columbia, and Scruggs, of
Texas, with similar parentage, are very sure and excellent. The fact that
such excellent varieties as these crosses between widely different strains
stand at the head of the list of fine and sure peaches is a valuable pointer to
the experimenter.

The Oldmixon Free, Druid Hill, Mrs. Brett, Ringgold, Bonanza and (far
south) Onderdonk will not often disappoint. Of very late peaches, Crimson
Beauty, Henrietta, Lonoke, Bonanzi, Yellow Cobbler, are fine and sure, but
where Heath is the last peach to ripen are useless. They do well in all the
southern states.

CHEAP SMOKE.

Smudges, where plenty of smoke can be made cheaply, and the man is
vigilant enough to stay up all night and watch his thermometer, make his
smudges in the right place, sometimes save a line crop, and tlip.n that man is
happj', his neighbors disconsolate, and he declares that smudges return a
large percentage on the investment; yet there is much lottery in smudges
and smoke after all, especially the smoke of a man who saved his crop with
a few smudges when something else did it.

For the Little Turk, I have nothing new. Eternal vigilance with the
sheet, funnel, mallet and coal-oil grave will secure much smooth, sound
fruit as against neglect.

The rot — that terror of the early peach, nearly always and almost every
variety in the southern states in a wet season — I must acknowledge still
holds the situation. High location and thorough drainage avoid it to some
extent. I only dare suggest thorough spraying of the trees while the fruit
is yet young, and before the rot germ has penetrated, with a mixture in so-
lution of the sulphate of copper and lime —the Bordeaux mixture, so success-
ful in combating mildew in the grape. This, also, might be offensive to the
curculio, as in the grape it is to the insects which prey upon the leaves, and
thus rid us of two evils at once. Experiments are much needed here.

Ah ! I see the most terrible ghost of all now coming — " The Yellows."
This scourge seems to permanently curse the very earth in which it once
devastites an orchard. It is a well-known fact that the regions in Delaware,
New Jersey and Michigan once famous for peaches produce peaches no
more. The "peach belt" has moved back time after time, with every set of
new orchards, to fresh lands. Good culture, vigorous varieties, potash ma-
nures, resting the land for a series of years where trees once have grown,
may again induce the peach to be grown with some success. Yet there are
localities, or soils, or climate^, which the yellows seems never to invade.
Such places are the table-lands on mountain spurs in East Tennessee and
other places in the south and in California. Yet it may be the disease is
only waiting its opportunity to blast these fair gardens. Let us hope for

86 Aiacrivaii Hoiiiculturul Socidv.

the host, and Htndy more carefully the iiiiiure di" iliis most insidious enemy.
It will be a long while, however, before man quits eatinj? peaches if he waits
on the yellows alone to cut off his supply. The ingenious and observing
will tiianujic soiiuhow to grow a few peaches even in the yellows' region.

The leaf-curl is rather too trilling for serious lii!idcrance. Some varie-
ties resist much better than others.

" Root-rot" is more commoidy the result of poor drainage than a true
disease. The feeding root fibers, by being submerged too long in wet
weather, are drowned; then various scavenger fungi devour the dead roots,
and the tree, supported only by a few surface roots, at last tumbles over.
There are, however, true diseases, microscopic organisms, which, in some
regions near the gulf, attack healthy roots of the peach, mulberry, Hg, wil-
low, cow iieas, grape, tomato, cucumber, etc. This is more often called the
" root knot," and is traced directly to a minute worm of the genus Anqui-
lula. In some places in Florida it is quite destructive to the fig, mulberry
and peach. It causes bead-like knots to at first develop on the small roots;
afterward decay sets in, and the plant or tree dies. No remedy is known.

It is also claimed that excess of alkali in the soil causes root rot. Such
disease shows itself in excessively limy soils in the sickly yellowing of the
leaves after long periods of wet weather. This by the French is termed
chlorosis when in the grape. It simply means yellows, but it is altogether
a difllerent disease from peach yellows, which seems worse in i)oor, sandy
soils, devoiil of lime.

DIFFICULTY IN MARKETING.

The difficulty of marketing the peach is remedied only by the pushing,
industrious man, possessed of shrewd business tact. It is a fact that horti-
culture nowhere has a place for the sluggard, unless he be a tramp in the
back row of the orchard or melon patch. Even then the shotgun and watch-
dog appear in his dreams, and sometimes when he is awake.

The commercial evaporator and cannery are the markets' great safety-
valves. Especially is this the case with this otherwise perishable fruit. With
these and all the aids of scientific investigation in discovering causes and
preventives of failure, as well as means of success, we would predict that,
not only future, hut universal man will come to eat less meat, less tobacco,
and more peaches. He will find it better, too, to drink less cofiee and whisky,
and more water, cider and wine.

The large planter of peaches ever inquires after four classes, namely :
the best producers, the best shippers, the best canners and the best evap-
oraters.

I have already named a short list which embodies these requirements
in a marked degree; but the classilication of these with reference to each
requirement would be more satisfactory; so I present the following lists,
which can be extended or modified for different localities. This suits
North Texas :

Discussion on Peaches. 87

Best Shippers. — Ejiiy — Alexander, Louise, H\'ne'8 Surprise, Bishop, Pansy
Pabor, Lady Ingold, Yellow St. John, Troth, Mt. Rose, Governor Briggs, Fos-
ter, Elberta, Mrs. Brett. ^Medium— Oldmixon Free, Druid Hill, AVheatland,
Stump, Columbia, Onderdonk, Scruggs, Princess (of Wales), Cabler's Indian.
Late- Gaylord, Ward's, Picquet's, Ringgold, Salway., Crimson Beauty. Very
Late — Henrietta (Levy), Bonanza, Lonoke, Tinsley, Yellow Cobbler, Austin's
Late, Nix's Late. The latter four can be ripened onl}"- in the south or Cali-
fornia, where frost does not come till late in November or December.

Best Evaporaters. — These must be solid and full of meat to give a heavy
product. They should be large with small seed, and preferably freestones.
I name in about the order of ripening. Pansy Pabor, Lady Ingold, Yellow
St. John (these are frequently killed in bud by frost, but otherwise are fine),
Bishop, Mt. Rose, Governor Briggs, Foster, Early Crawford, Elberta, Mrs.
Brett, Family Favorite, Oldmixon Free, Reeves' Favorite, Wheatland, Colum-
bia, California, Scruggs, Princess, Walker, Gaylord, Ward, Picquet, Salway,
Ringgold, Crimson Beauty, Henrietta, Bonanza.

Best Canners. — These should have little or no red coloring in the flesh
either next the skin or seed, and are comparatively few. Mountain Rose,
Oldmixon Free, Mrs. Brett, Family Favorite, Governor Briggs, Elberta,
Crawford, Reeves, Wheatland, Stump, Druid Hill, Princess, Walker, Colum-
bia, Onderdonk, California, Ringgold, Picquet, Salway, Bonanza.

I always omit Heath when I name Ringgold, as the latter— formerly
called Wilkins' Ringgold Mammoth Cling — is a decided improvement.
There are many other excellent varieties not mentioned. The above are
numerous enough. One can not go astray if he will take only those which
are named in every division, except he would have to add some of the early
market sorts if he wishes to ship first.

Well, we have about reached, by circumlocution, the conclusion with
which we started — that man will continue to eat peaches, and that the fur-
ther into the future he gets, the better will be his varieties and the more he
will consume. But the increase in population and demand will probably
outrun the supply, and the price will continue to advance, so that the intel-
ligent and enterprising peach-grower will ever prosper.

DISCU.SSIOX ON PEACHES.

Major Holsinger, of Kan.sa.s — A .strip of wi re mcsq uito netti ng fast-
ened around the trunk of the tree, at the collar, will prevent the bor-
er.s from laying their eggs and save the tree from their injuries. I
know of no new method of guarding against the curculio. Catching
in nets and killing is the only certain remedy. A great many trees
can be freed from the curculio in a few hours of judicious industry.

President Earle, of Illinoi.s — Has California the curculio pest?

88 Aincric<iii Jloiflvulhirn/ Sorieli/.

ProJ. Ilusiiiann, of California — I liavc resided in tins slate seven
year.-, and, wliile I have kept a sharp lookont for enrcidios. I have
never found one. There is eoniethinfj; in our soil or eliniale, or
l)oth, that does not. favor iiis peeuliar enterprise. Wc are perfeetly
willing that he shall remain with yon olthe east.

Mr. /'y_?/a/, of California — I also aji^ree in stating that I have
never been able to find it, and 1 consider that none of that class of
insects thi-ive in this state, as J have seen similar species imj^orted
from Japan and Australia, but they have never remained.

Mr. (Jodtes, of California — The curl-leaf and peach moth are all
we have h;id to contend with thus far. The peach moth has ap-
])eared during the last few years, and there is no remedy which is
entirely successful in exterminating them. The curl-leaf is a sub-
ject of constant discussion among our local growers, and they always
roach the conclusion that it is entirely confined to certain varieties,
and does not si)read generally. What we want in the line of new
])each varieties is something Inter than the Salway. \\ e want to
liMigtiien our S(uison, both for shippers and eanner.-. Now we pieU
peaches nearly as late as November. Our best varieties are those
which originated in this state.

TJie President — Let me ask what is your earliest shipping peach
i.i California?

Mr. Coatcs — Oui- earliest peach is the Alexander, whieh is our
onlv reallv ijood earlv peach.

3/r. iSwuV/j, of California — We begin shipping al)out the last of
■•Tune, shi|)j)ing the Crawfords and Fosters i'lrst.

3Ir. Coatcs — In answer to a (juestion as to whether the acreage
of peaches in California is increasing, I would say that the i)rodiict
this year was greater than ever before, and the demand is also in-
creasing.

Mr. Smith — The eastern demand is for a jjood vellow freestone.

The President — Is ii profitable to sliip freestones to the far east-
ern points, such as IJostcjn? •

3Ir. Smith — We find that we can sometimes put good freestones
into the eastern markets profitably. 1 find that we have to pick
them much earlier to send them to the east than for home con-unip-

Discussion on Peaches. 89

tion, and so they do not always arrive in as perfect condition as
they ought.

i/r. ^arnarc?, of Nebraska — What'is considered the best fruit-
drier on this coast?

Mr. Smith— The one they call "Old Sol." We have no better
evaporator than the sun, except in those localities where it is foggy.
I do not know all the kinds, but where I live thirteen evaporators
were put up this year, and before the year was over they were all
laid aside. I dried apricots in the sun this season thoroughly in
three or four days.

President Earle — Do California fruit-growers resort to thinning?

Mr. Smith — Yes, every year. One of the greatest difficulties we
find is to keep our trees from bearing too heavily. We practice
thinning regularly every year. The peach crop is a sure crop in
the central counties, as sure as the corn crop in Illinois, but in some
of the counties along the coast it is not always so sure. The rule in
thinning is to leave no two peaches closer than six inches. We
prune the trees regularly, cutting away from one-half to two-thirds
of the previous year's growth. The cultivation of peaches and apri-
cots is about equally profitable.

Mr. Ohmer, of Ohio — I have tried to grow peaches, but do not
do it now, owing to their freezing. I prefer good dried peaches to
the canned fruit. This year I bought California dried peaches,
which were the best I ever tasted, and I am surprised that you do
not dry more of them. I have never yet bought a fresh peach from
California which I liked as much as those dried peaches, because
they have to be picked too early.

3Ir. Van Deman, of Washington, D. C. — The disease called the
yellows prevails in the central Atlantic states, also on the eastern
shores of the great lakes. It is a very formidable disease, the origin
of which is not certainly known. It is supposed to be due to some
bacterial cause. The first sign upon the trees is the appearance of
ripening before the peaches are mature, when about half grown.
The leaves do not reach their proper size, and have a certain appear-
ance of wiry shoots on the tree. It will first attack one tree, and
perhaps may be soon seen on the surrounding trees, although some-
' 7

90 American Horticultural Society.

times it may l)c' two years beloi-e it spreads to any great extent. It
is generally conceded to be contagious, allliongli some jieople claim
that it is not. The curl-leaf frequently occurs after a cold sjiell as
a .swelling of the veins.

Mr. (r /-ay, of California — We have a disease which some have
th(»u<rht to be vellows. Examination shows the roots to be first
affected, jelly-like lumps appearing at the surface of the ground. It
.seems to be contagious.

Major Evaiift, of Missouri — The yellows seems not to have crcssed
the Mississippi river. The curl-leaf may be cureil by removing the
earth about the trunk of the tree and filling the basin with hot lye.

Major Hohinger — In case of the true yellows the exudation of
gum takes place along the main branches and not at the collar. I
susjH'ct Mr. Gray's trees are affected with the ])each tree borer.

Mr. Gray — The disease I referred to appears to be a fungus,
and not the work of a borer.

Mr. Goodman, of Missouri — The yellows is contagious under
certain circumstances. In Michigan the application of wood ashes
is claimed to be a remedy.

Mr. Sweet, of Ohio — The yellows exists in Ohio, and it is not
cured by ashes, either. The only sure remedy is to make ashes of
the diseased trees and use them as a fertilizer for other trees. It is
a fatal contagious disease, and I advise California fruit-growers to
exterminate the diseased trees on the first appearance" of the yellows.

Mr. ]Vatson, of Oregon — The j)each is a favorite fruit and is
valuable in many portions of Oregon. Ilie peaeh-growing interest
is now growing i"aj)idly. A fungus blight sometimes destroys our
croj)s. I have j)roduced from four acres of Early Crawfords 1,6U4
twenty-pound boxes of fruit, which sold for an average of $7oO per
acre. The best time for pruning in Oregon is just after the fruit is
gathered. Severe winters are our greatest enemy.

Mr. Jhuld, of New Jersey — Our peaeli interest has sulfered
greatly in New Jersey from the yellows. The best remedy known
to our people is tlie applieatiim of nuiriate of j)()tash.

Mr. Stevens, of Texas — Wood ashes is thought to be a remedy
for the yellows in Texas, but we are not really sure that we have
the true yellows. The disease we have seems to be a root blight.

On motion, the Society adjoiiincd to meet at 9 a. m. to-morrow.

Letter from W. H. CasselL 91

Third Day— Thursday.

Morning Session, January 26.
President Earle called the Society to order at 9 o'clock A. m.

Pt'esident Earle, of Illinois — At the opening of our sessions

here several letters were read from absent friends, among which

was one of great interest from W. H. Cassell, of Mississippi. A

second and even more interesting letter from him has since come to

hand, which I will read :

Canton, Miss., January 12, 1888.
Parker Earle, Esq , President American Horticultural Society:

Dear Sib — At the forthcoming meeting of the American Horticultural Soci-
ety, where there will doubtless be gathered together some of the best pomologists
and scientists of this continent, some who are especially familiar with the apple
and its diseases, will you please ask for a discussion on the fungoid diseases of this
most useful fruit ?

In Mississippi, and especially upon the yellow or yellowish red clay soils,
there are certain varieties maturing in the fall and winter months that bear good
crops of sound, healthy fruit for a few years, then begin to rot, and are ever after-
ward affected so as to be almost worthless. This rot, seemingly, begins in August
or September in one or more spots upon the surface of the fruit, and continues to
increase until the whole fruit is decayed. Is there any remedy for this, or, more
probably, is there any preventive ? May it not be true that in the early life of the
tree it imparts sufficient vigor to the growing fruit to enable it successfully to resist
the effects of this fungus, whatever it may be ; and that as the tree grows older, and
its vitality lessens, it fails to do this?

If so, would the application of fertilizers sufficient to maintain a vigorous
condition of the tree enable it still to resist this fungus, and continue to produce
sound, healthy fruit? Then, what kind of fertilizer and quantity are necessary?
This subject may have a wider range of interest than that bounded by state lines
or a few degrees of latitude. 1 know it is of great importance to us in Mississippi,
and I have learned the same trouble exists in West Tennessee to some extent.
Place of origin does not always exempt a variety. Ben Davis is affected consid-
erably, and so is Shockley. On the bluff formation along the Mississippi river the
same varieties seem to do well for a longer period than elsewhere, but finally suc-
cumb. Any practical remedy or solution of this problem is greatly to be desired,
and we hope good may result from this discussion.

Yery respectfully, yours, &c., Wm. H. CASSELXi.

The President — The subject presented in this letter should re-
ceive attention at this or our Riverside meeting; but for the present
we will pass it, and hear a paper from "an old friend of birds and
forestry," which Dr. E,idpath will now read :

92 American Horticultural Society.

A FEW THOUGHTS ON BIRDS AND FORESTS.

IJY GEORGE W. MINIER, OK ILLINOIS.

Among tlio many useful und self-abnegating societies of our ever be-
loved country, none can claim pre-eminence more justly than the American
Horticultural Society. And, surely, none can be expected to tiike a deejier
interest in every labor, subject or science which in any way relates to the
safety, security and advancement of pomology. Pomona, the goddess of
fruits, died with Grecian mythology; but her mantle dropped to earth, " a
sacred gift to man."

My memory of Grecian fable is somewhat shaded by the frosts of seventy-
five winters; but if I'm not greatly mistaken, the goddess chose her friends
from among the beautiful denizens of the air. The (o//>;;-) ornis was her
delight, and strange it is that modern pomologists have not all worshiped at
her shrine.

To say to this body of thoughtful men that insects are our worst ene-
mies in fruit culture would savor of folly. All know it. All admit it. Well,
then, our best friends are those creatures which prey u|)nn and destroy these
foes. Here is where the birds come in as our chief allies. Birds may live
without man; but man can not live without birds. This truth ought to be
patent to every one. It is a delightful thought that nature has adapted every
part of creation to a beautiful consistency. That insects are a jnirt of the
economy of nature no naturalist will deny. That the keeping them in check
is one of our local necessities is also true.

God made the earth rich in plants, and beautiful in forests, and gra-
ciously granted man the privilege of laboring for his sustenance. Man is,
therefore, compelled to labor to smooth the rough and subdue the intract-
able, to foster and cherish the useful and enjoy the beautiful and the delight-
ful.

Man plants and prunes, cultivates and grafts, and (may I say without ir-
reverence) creates new fruits and flowers? A Pippin is, at least, a manu-
factured article. The rude Persian crab is given to man; he takes the lui-
savory fruit from the hand of Dame Nature and from it manufactures the
Maiden's Blush, the Baldwin and Ben Davis. Myrisds of insects (creatures
cut into, not in twit) start to life and prey upon his labors. Our remedy is to in-
voke nature togive us a remedy, and, lo ! the air isalive with beautiful, helpful
creatures. They herald their arrival with the sweetest music, and thank
their Creator in songs of praise for the privilege of aiding the only creature
made in His image in his toil to "subdue the earth." Birds ask no protec-
tion. They sim{)ly demand to be let alone — not in the sense of a certain
exPresiilent, but merely to be permitted to rear their nestlings in trees and
verdure planted by the hand of nature's Gotl, and this, too, by destroying
man's most potent foe. Insects are more destructive than lions. Millions
will not i)ay the annual loss by the chinch-bug (Cimex leciidarius) only.

A Few Thoughts on Birds and Forests. 93

For at least three months they destroy so vast an amount of insects that
the accounts of ornithology seem fabulous. Audubon, the highest authority
on birds, assures us that a woodcock will eat its own weight in insects in a
single night. Dr. Bradley tells us that woodpeckers are constantly ridding
the orchards of insects.

To preserve our birds we must preserve our forests. Trees are the nat-
ural home of birds, and, with the exception of the aquatic tribe, their only
home.

Gentleman of the American Horticultural Society, there is a great
issue— a suit before the tribunal of men of thought. It is not so much a
question of expediency as it is of justice. The title of said suit is, " Birds vs.
Worms." A part of that court is here and now in session. What will the
verdict be ? It can not be decided today. The jury is not all impaneled. In-
deed, the court is not all present. Millions of American boys are to be educated
to a high point of national discrimination and discernment before the testi-
mony is all in. Thousands of grown men are not yet competent jurors.
Some nuisances are to be abated before we are ready for trial. The shotgun
iriust be abated, if not abolished ; and woman must be taught not to decorate
ht^r hat with the symbol of the life blood of her best friend.

And now, in conclusion, do you ask which birds shall be fostered and
preserved, and which, if any, may be destroyed ? Save all except, perhaps,
a few birds of prey, and two others. The sap sucker {Sphyrapicus varius) I re-
gard as an unmitigated scamp, fit only for power and shot. And last of all," the
worst pill in the box," the English sparrow {Fringilla domestica). He is the
sum of all ornithological rascality, and deserves nothing good at your hands.
There is one apology for him, and that is no virtue of his : Like the African,
he came not of his own free will. Some villainous white man captured and
brought him, or else some governmental dude got an appropriation through
congress, and spent, perhaps, a moiety of it in this, the second worst impor-
tation that ever vex^d the seas, and came to America.

The following letter breathes a hearty spirit:

Manalapan, Monmouth County, N. J., December 8, 1887.
George W. Minier, 3Iinier, III.:

Dear SiR^In reply to your inquiries, would say that the only bird considered
injurious to agriculture or horticulture in New Jersey is the English sparrow.
At the last annual meeting of the State Horticultural Society the following res-
olution was adopted, via.:

"That the two Directors from this Society to the State Board of Agriculture be
and are hereby appointed a committee for the purpose of uniting with a like com-
mittee from the board in asking the legislature of this state to enact a law placing
a bounty of two cents for each and every English sparrow killed in this state, pay-
able by the several justices of the peace throughout the state."

It was the opinion of the Society that the English sparrow is, from its known
•destructiveness, the greatest pest now known to horticulture, and that a law for their
extermination, to be effectual, should be national ; and to this end I hope the Ameri-

94 American Horlicultural Society.

can Horticultural Society at its next meeting will petition congress to pass such a
law. The hinls comtuon in this state are r()t)ius, crows, blackhirds, cat-hirds,
quails, thrushes, wrens, martins. Your reference to New Jersey leads me to say,
" we are proud of our Jersey women." Very truly yours, David Baikd.

DISCUSSION ON BIRDS.

President Earle, of Illinoi.s — Thi.s is one of our best papers.
Father Minier is an able ami honorable representative American
horticulturi.st.

Mr. Holnngcr, of Kan.sas — I wish the author of the article had
described the bird which he calls the sap-sucker, for the bird which
usually goes by that name is so far from being a pest that he is one
of the most useful birds we have. He is a busy bird on warm
winter days, and feeds chiefly upon the larvie of insects and borers,
whicii he extracts from dead and decaying trees at a titue when
other birds are doing no work at all.

Mr. Ragan, of Indiana — Tliere are several species of woodpeck-
ers which are called sap-suckers, but the true sap-sucker feeds only
on the cambium of the tree. He is difficult to recognize, as he dif-
fers from the others chiefly in the formation of the tongue. Wood-
peckers have long, elastic tongues, terminating in a barb. The
sap-sucker has a short tongue without the bar!), the end of the
tongue being a small horny spoon or brush. The essayist is cor-
rect in asserting that the sap-sucker is a destructive bird.

Mr. Holsinger — Unless we can determine accurately one bird
from another by sight, had we not better save them all, lest we de-
stroy our friends?

Mr. Van Dcman, U. S. Pomologist, Washington, D. C. — The
sap-sucker bores holes (for sap, and not for worms) with geomet-
rical regularity around the trunk of a tree, and the other woodpeck-
ers are searching for insects only in dead and decaying trees. The
sap-sucker is speckled white and black and has a white spot in his
head.

Mr. .J. G. Evans, of Missouri — Another way to distinguish them
is that the tail of the sap-sucker is provided with a spike, with which
he balances himself on the tree in a peculiar way. His color is a
dingy Dominique or Plymouth Rock.

Discussion on Birds. 95

Prof. Lemmon, of California — The sap-sucker is bad in Califor-
nia. He injures forest trees as well as fruit and ornamental trees.
This injurious sap-sucker is smaller than most other species of
woodpeckers.

Prof. J. G. Ridpath,o^ Indmwa, — Mr. Holsinger is right. There
are other birds that make holes in trees like those of the sap-sucker,
and until we have better knowledge on the subject it would be
wiser not to destroy any of the woodpeckers.

Mr. Van Deman — Prof. Ridpath is mistaken. Woodpeckers
bore holes wherever they can find a worm. These holes are not
bored at geometrical distances, and with the regularity of the sap-
sucker.

ifr. /SjmV/i, of Wisconsin — Is the robin in this state a destructive
bird?

Mr. Buck, of California —Robins with us are birds of passage.
Generally we have a few in the winter, but occasionally I have
seen them in large numbers. They are not destructive; but the
sap-sucker is one of our worst enemies, and often entirely destroys
the apricot trees.

Mr. Grimes, of Minnesota — The sap-sucker should be destroyed,
and can easily be distinguished by the geometrical regularity of the
distances between the holes which he bores. Sometimes they will
bore as many as half a dozen rings around a tree, thus impeding
circulation and causing the death of the tree. The only objection
to birds is that they are destructive of small fruits ; but they more
than pay for what they eat, and should be ]irotected.

Mr. iSmith — There are a great many birds on my place, where I
permit no boys with shotguns, and as we are very careful not to
disturb tiiem we can approach within ten feet of the robins before
they will fly. I have even moved birds' nests from one place to
another, and the old birds have returned to them. They sometimes
eat my Delaware grapes, but 1 think this is a proof of good taste
on their part, and do not seek to destroy them.

3Ir. Estee, of California — Sap-suckers are destructive. I am in
favor of killing them to save the trees; but our most destructive
bird in Napa valley is the linnet. In the earlier years of California

96 American Horticultural Society.

Iii.story a man could not luivc cluldreii enouj^li to frighten tlic lin-
nets away; but of late years \vc liavc planted so many clieiry trees
and have such large crops that we and the linnets have now an
honest living between tis. To comiiass this end re^niircd as much
patience as the man had who undertook to make niini^tcrs out of
fifteen bad boys.

[NoTK.— In view of the confusion existing aiiionjj horticnltiirists in regard to
the identity and habits of this bird, so frequently confounded with an innocent
member of the woodpecker family, the Secretary quotes from the transactions of
the Indiana Horticultural Society for 1879, page 134, a general dfscription of the
family, as given i)y Alenibert W. I5rayton, B. S . M. I)., in " A Catalogue of the
Birds of Indiana, with keys and descriptions of the groups of greatest interest to
the horticulturist :"

" The Woodpeckers. — Bill stout, usually straight, with the tip truncate or acute
fitted for hammering or boring in wood ; tongue long, flattish, i)arbed, cajiable of
great protrusion, adaptt-d to securing insects (except in <S/(/i///(//)iVhs) ; hyoid appa-
ratus peculiar, its bones generally quite long, curving around the skull behind;
feet zygodoctyle; outer toe permanently reversed, hind toe present (except in Pi-
coides) ; claws compressed, sharp and stVong. Tail feathers 12, rigid and acumi-
nate; outer pair short, concealed ; tail never forked ; nasal tufts usually present.
Chiefly arboreal. All (except itphyrapiciis, wliich is truly a sap sucker) are pre-
eminently insectivorous, and hence they are of the greatest service to the farmer.
Voice loud, and often harsh. Colors generally bright, the male having almost
alwa^vs red on the head; sexes usually slightly diflerent. Species 250; abundant
almost everywhere."

Of Splnjrapicuti vurim (yellow bellied woodpecker), the mischievous member,
excepted above from those having tiexible, barbed tongues, Dr. Bray ton further
says: "Tongue not extensible, the tip brushy; hyoid bones short; black and
white above, black on breast, chieily yellowish below ; white wing patch ; crown
red in adult, scarlet in female; 8, inches long. This bird is an exception to the
rule that the woodpeckers work in the interest of the fruit-grower. He is a true
sap-sucker; the hairy and downy woodpeckers do not deserve the name. The
yellow-bellied sap-suckers eat fruits and insects. They injure fruit trees by strip-
ping ofl'the outer bark and eating the soft inner bark (Cambium lai/er)."

— Secketauy.]

Prof. Kinney, of California, chairman of the Committeo on For-
estry, submitted the following preamble and resolutions:

KEPORT OF THE CO.MMITTEE ON FORE-^TRV.

WnERK.x.s, It is now known that a due proportion of forest, vitryingfrom one-
fifth to one-fourth of the area of a given locality, is estimated to secure the largest
agricultural returns and the maintenance of the largest popul .tion in the whole
district, and that deforestation exceeding this proportion diminishes the total out-

Report of the Committee on Forestry. 97

put of crops, even though the cultivated area be increased, and consequently di-
minishes the capacity of the land to support population ; and

Whereas, Excessive tree destruction without regard to the maintenance of
the reproductive power of the forest causes irregularity and uncertainty in the
rain-fall, diminished wood and timber supply for the future, diminished humidity
in the air, diminished health of the people, especially through the production of
malarial diseases, diminished spring and summer flow of streams used for naviga-
tion and irrigation, increased extremes of heat and cold, of drought and flood,
and in mountainous countries like CMlifornia causes the production of torrents
that carry debris from the denuded water sheds to cover and destroy fertile valley
lands below ; and

Whereas, The present government land laws furnish neither an adequate
means of carrying on the timber industry nor any means for protecting the water-
sheds, and consequently the irrigation and inland navigation, nor the climate and
crops of the country ; and

Whereas, Timber lands are being rapidly taken up by questionable means,
frequently in the interest of foreign capital ; therefore, be it

Resolved, That the American Horticultural Society, in convention assembled,
calls the attention of congress to this subject of vital importance to the country,
and requests that all government timber lands be at once withdrawn from sale or
entry, and that the mining act granting timber to locaters be repealed, until a
definite survey shall have ascertained what portions of the public forests should
be permanently reserved for the best interests of the nation ; and that when such
forest areas shall be definitely ascertained they shall be set apart and managed in
accordance with such regulations as have been suggested and verified by the expe-
rience of other nations. The questionable means necessary to obtain large bodies
of timber land now so energetically practiced, together with the waste and destruc-
tion and fires, make this or a similar measure one of urgency.

Resolved, That congress is further requested to create a special forest reserve
in the far-famed redwood districts of California. Abbott Kinney,

T. S. Hubbard,
J. M. Smith,

T. V. MUNSON,

J. Clark Kidpath.
Resolved, That the preamble and resolutions herewith presented be printed
ail 1 handed as soon as possible to the members present and sent to those absent,
with the request that the resolutions be forwarded to the members of congress
whom they know, or who represent their district, urging action ; also, that copies
be forwarded directly to the chairmen of the Committees on Public Lands in the
senate and house of representatives, and the Secretary of the Interior, the Commis-
sioner of Agriculture and chief of the bureau of forestry.

DISCUSSION ON THE FORESTRY RESOLUTIONS.

Mr. Van Deman, U. S. Poraologist, Washington, D. C. — I
heartily indorse the report. Congress should perpetually preserve
the big trees of California.

98 American Ilorticit/furn/ Society.

Mr. Buck, of California — Special mention should be made of
the redwood forests of this state in a separate resohition. It is not
best to endan<;er the resolutions by any special amendments.

Dr. Ridpaih, of Indiana — We made the report short so as not
to create dissensions.

Mr. Edee, of Califoniia — I wish to add the following amend-
ment, and move its adoption :

Resolved, That Congress is further requested to create a special forest reserve
in the far-famed redwood districts of California. [See resolutions.]

Mr. Buck — Most of the redwood forests are now individual
property. Congress can, therefore, do notiiing in this matter.

Mr. Pryal, of California — Forestry is profitable in Europe, and
will be here eventually. Some landlords there require two trees to
be planted to one that is cut down.

The resolutions as amended were adopted.

Prof. Lemmon, being called upon, read the following paper:

THE PALMS.

A PHYSIOGNOMIC SKETCH.
BY JOSEPH ALBRECHT, M. D., OF LOUISIANA.

The plant vesture of the earth has peculiar beauties and characteristic
form.s in every zone. In the tropics these impose by their grandeur and
abundance, by their unbounded wealth of grace of forms and of fragrance,
by their perennial growth, by the never-ceasing power with which leaf,
flower and fruit throng in continuous succession without ever-pausing de-
velopment.

More modest is the vegetation of the temperate zone. Yet this is not
without splendor and variety ; and what lack she shows in continuous power
of reproduction, as compared with her sister troj)ical zone, she compensates
by the changes which she displays with the varying seasons.

If, linally, we direct our regards to the polar zone, we meet there, also, a
rich plant life, strongly diminished and variously stunted in its form, indeed,
but, nevertheless, furnishing striking evidence of the never-resting creative
power of nature.

In the tropics— that climate which our fant;iay paints so vividly as the
cradle of the human race — none of the manifold forms of plants we meet is
80 peculiar and characteristic as that of the palms. I will endeavor to bring

The Palms. 9&

before y©n the principal outlines of the forms of these plants. I will also
mention the architectonic relation of their internal structure, their distri-
bution and their propagation, their relation to the human race, their influ-
ence on the physical and moral energies of mankind, or, briefly, their his--
toric mission in nature.

Few plants have more impressively influenced the welfare or woe of
whole nations, and are still influencing them, few have more powerfully
united in sisterly union the ideas of whole tribes, and more deeply founded
an independent direction of thought, than have the palms. Few men have
reflected how the palms have proved at once the motives to profound think-
ing on the symbolism of a religious culture, and on some of the glories of
artistic production.

Tne great father of systematic botany, the immortal Linnseus, called the
palms the princes of the vegetable kingdom. By this he has created an
image of palms which will remain everlasting, for there is no better verbal
mode of distinguishing the palm from all other plants. Wherever the palm
appears in its truly typic and unstunted form, it distinguishes itself by its
port and carriage from all growing around. The undivided stem, which
rises continually in height, without bearing limbs, and lifts its crown of
leaves proudly up without ever dropping them, imprints on the palm it&
peculiar stamp.

Some of our tallest palms delight to stand isolated, and to govern the
landscape for a great distance. They like to raise above the surrounding
jungles their heads, bathed in the sunlight, where they form, as Humboldt
says, a forest above the forest. Yet it must not be hastily inferred that it
any the less presents vast bodies of glorious fronds to contemplation. Sir
Samuel W. Baker, who spent many years in the island, says : " For upwards of
a hundred and twenty miles along the western and southern coasts of Ceylon
one continuous line of cocoa-nut groves wave their green leaves to the sea
breeze without a break, except where some broad, clear river cleaves the
line of verdure as it meets the sea." At the same time, what he elsewhere
says is not to be forgotten : " This palm delights in the sea breeze, and never
attains the same perfection inland that it does in the vicinity of the coast. "^
More definitely other authors affirm that this body of Cocos nucifera is
twenty-six leagues long and several leagues broad, and comprehends some
11 000,000 trees. But it is chiefly the dwarf palms which grow in grei.t
masses. The Sabal, Adansonii and Serrulata and the Chamserops hystrix
form almost impenetrable thickets as undergrowth in the swampy foret^ts of
lower Louisiana and Florida, and the Chamterops humilis has taken posses-
sion of large tracts of land in the French province of Algiers, to the exclusion of
all other plants, and is the despair of the colonist who tries to clear the land
for cultivation. In the marshy parts of the Philippines and other large
islands near them, and the Moluccas, there are wide tracts entirely covered
with the Nipa palm {Nipa frutescens). Among other social dwarf palms

100 American Horticultural Society.

may be namod the Geonoma acaulis, Macrostachia, Trinax ar;4entea, Cham-
uTops arf^cntoa, I'lid-iiix acaulis, Licuala paliuloea, etc., and among the tree
l)alm.s the PlKonix daftylifera, P. nylveslris, Elieis guineensis, Iriartea ph:co-
carpa, Euterpe, Syagrus botryophora, AttJilea spinosa, A. excelsa, A. compta,
A. phalerata, Cahuno, Mauritia vinifera, M. (Ipxuosa, Orbignia phalerata,
Copeniicia cerifera, Cocos Yiitai, Corypha Of banga, Areca Nibung, etc.

Such varied features give the pahii.s an independent .><tiimp, and make
them, with their carriage, the character plants, not only of a landscape, but
of whole countries. The proud, royal form of oome palms is often developed
from a very small germ. Those of our pea.s or beans are giants compared
with it. If we look closely at the stone of a date we ob.serve on its rounded
back a small cavity, and cutting through the horny substance of the seed we
perceive a small whitish corpuscle. This is the germ. The substance of the
t<tone is the albumen and starch which furnish nourishment t ) the germi-
nating ])lant. It is, indeed, the same substance as the tl )ur of the cerealia,
and which has a fleshy or oily constitution in many other plants. The germ
of the palm develops very slowly into a tree. Years often pass before the
plant begins to form the stem, and the body of the stock has increased to
considerable thickness before it rises up to a stem lik^^ rounded shaft.

Of the shooting up of the young plant into a wood}- twig. as we see even
during the first year with our fruit and forest trees, not a trace can be ob-
f^erved in the palnn. But once the stem commences to form, it grows on
and on in yearly swelling height, pushing forth on its summit ever green
new leaves; and in this manner, at last, after many years, running on to
eenturies almost, the mighty columns of 100, 150 and even li^> feet high are
developed, with their large capital of leaves on the summit, which we can
not but so much admire.

The conception is so very general that th? pdm always appe.irs as a
tall, straight column, which terminates in a cluster of leaves, that no other
form is thought of. But we have a great number of palms which have quite
a different growth. Many never show above the soil more llian tlieir crown
of leaves ; other forms are those of the climbing ])alms or rattans. The well-
known Spanish c uie (sometimes wrongly called bamboo) is the stem of •
such a palm. This cane, as do others of the same tribe, climbs like an end-
less, tenacious rope of several hundred feet in length, in the forests of the trop-
ical zone, particularly in southern Asia. From stem to stem, from crown to
crown, it winds its way, not seldom through several mighty forest monarchs,
pissing b'^tween their limits in great sinuous arches. These stems of the
climbing palms are the longest vegetable growths in the wt)rld, and if
stretched out would often measure 500 and 600 feet in extent.

.\s a freak of na'ure, a few palms occasionally divide into two or more
branches, as is constant and typic with the Doum palm {Iii/ph;int' fluhnica)
of northern Africa, and p4rticularly of the valley of the Nile, and of Nubia,
Abyssinia and Arabi.i. We see this palm forming one of the decorations of
the Egyptian provinces, and at the cataracts of the Nile it stands isolated,

ne PahriP. 101

looking down into the never-renting billows below. Welwitsch, on the other
hand, tells that in the pirched districts between the rivers Dande and Zanza
he saw a forest of a kind of Hyphseae some five leagues in length, consist-
ing almost exclusively of the branched stems of this peculiar palm.

Some pilmshavea gourd-like swelling in the mid lie, or near the middle,
of their stems. We see in the yards of the convents of Chili, now and then,
the showy crown of the Cdquite palm {Subaca spectabilis), with gray-green
pinnate leaves, whif^h has such a stem. In the savannas of central Africa
rises the grandiose Delib palm (Barassus Arthiopum), and balances its
gigaatic fan leaves on a high columnar stem, which shows a little below the
middle of its height a swelling, which gradually and gently diminishes up-
ward and downward. This formation gives such strength to the trunk
that the strongest hurricane can not bend it.

The mild and tender nature which distinguishes the palms and makes
them so attractive to men is not always present. Many stems of palms bristle
with thorns, with which they confront and oppose the traveler who comes
within their reich. Among these are the Desmoncus, Bictris, Guilielma,
Acrocomia, Astrocaryum, Aiphanes, Listonia Hagendorfii, Martinezia caryo-
tifolia, etc. The spines shoot like huge fangs forward on many stems ; on
others they are fine-pointed, like the sharpest needles, which the Indians
often use to tattoo with, or to puncture the skin before rubbing a dye in the
wounds.

The petioles, or stems of the leaves, of many palms remain on the
stem for a long time after the green leaves have perished. They frequently
sharpen into thorny points, as is the case in the Chamserops hystrix of Loui-
siana and Florida. On other palms the bases of the leaf stalks remain on the
trunks, and give the surface of the trunks the appearance of being furnished
with steps. These steps facilitate the climbing of these trees, and the dwellers
of the torrid zone by them mount up to get the nourishing fruit, or to draw
off the palm wine from the sheath of the flower. The leaf stalks in another
great number of palms envelop its stem entirely, and form, when ex-
tended, broad fibrous sheets. The leaf stalk of the Oreodoxa regia of Cuba
is three to four yards wide, and much used to pack up the fragrant weed of
Vueltabajo. The tree drops one leaf every month.

Wax is best known as the product of the honey-bee, but certain plants
probably produced wax long before bees began their quiet activity, and
some plants produce it still to a large extent. The palms are among the
most important wax-producing plants. The Peruvian wax palm {Ceroxylon
andicola) is entirely covered with a whitish wax, which gives it the appear-
ance of marble, A single stem of this palm furnishes twenty-five pounds
of wax. This wax is scraped from the stem and mixed with tallow for can-
dles.

Von Martins says, informing us of another extraordinary presentation
among the palms : " Characteristic differences are also furnished in some
species by roots which, springing from the stem at about a foot or a foot and

102 American Horticultural Society.

a hiilf above the pround, either raise the stem, as it were, upon a soaffoldinR,
or riurrouiKl it with thick butlressed." Far more wuiidcrful accounts of thia
strant;e phenomenon have been observed by others. Mr. A. Smitli says of
the Iriartea exorrhiza that it " is the tallest-growing species, and its cone of
roots is sometimes so high that a man can stand in tlie center witli the tall
trees above his head. These ai-rial roots, being covered with little asperities,
are commonly used by the Indians as graters."

Mr. Berthold Seeman tells us that he became acquainted with asinguliir
instrument when he made an excursion one evening through Panama.
This instrument was used by his native servant to crush cocoa-nut kernels
to a pulp to prepare them for food. It had somewhat of a resemblance to a
cylinder full of prickles, as we see pins in the barrels of street organs or
music-boxes. Seeman would never have imagined what it in reality was.
It was an ai-rial root of a palm. Later on he saw the tree himself, and could
study more closely its formation ; it was the air-root of the Pashinba or Zi-
mara palm (Iriartea exorrhiza).

Dr. Siegfr Reissek thinks that the trunks of many palms in advanced
age die entirely away near the ground, und are reduced to dust, so that
nothing remains of the original tree to the height of four to six feet. These
are the palms which stand single. It has been asked, how can they stand
erect, and continue to grow, being deprived of their supporting base and
roots? It has been replied that they have had to create a new pfint iVdppui
and new organs of nutrition, and that their stems have thrown out air roots,
such as we observe sometimes on the stalks of our corn, and that these they
have implanted in the soil during the decay of the base of the trunk.

We see stems of the Iriartea on conic scaffolds of aC-rial roots which
havw fastened themselves solidly in the soil on all sides. The view of such a
scaHold of roots maybe compared with the frame of a tent made of conically
converging poles. The trunk is now suspended entirely free from the soil
on this scailold of roots, and is in this manner raised often six or seven feet
from the ground, carrying a stem of sixty or seventy feet free in the air.

The traits which we have just cited of the siem of the palms show suHi-
ciently that they difler entirely from the trunks of our forest trees. This
difference extends not only to its external appearance, but also to its internal •
structure. We look in vain for wood in palms, as we posses-* it in our trees ;
in vain for a bark, as on our trees. No heart, with its yearly layers of rings,
is to be found; no bark which can be separated from the wood. Tiio whole
body of the trunk of the palm may be considered as a gigantic bundle of
fibers inclosed in a hard shell. If we cut a Spanish cane across, we can see
very well how the libers run and how the stem is constructed. It may be
compared to artificial whalebone, consisting of horse-hair glued and pressed
together.

The peculiar structure of the palm stem, which corresponds with the
type of the Monocotyledons, is not without intrinsic influence on certain of
•its external phenomena. The trunk of the jiilni is elastic and flexible in a

The Palms. 103

high degree. Strong old palm trees bend in the wind far below the line in
which our forest trees could retain their entirety, while young trees are as
yielding and pliable as grass halms. The stems of our trees would break if
they were bent as much as any of them. Headless trunks, or forest giants
broken and uprooted by the storm, as we meet them in our forests, are un-
known in the world of palms. The palm remains standing erect when the
tropical hurricane shivers the forest around him to pieces, and when other
trees are broken asunder. The deficiency of a woody body, as in our trees,
does not withdraw from the palm that degree of solidity and hardness which
ii indispensable to it to maintain its position, and to brave the attacks of
storms. Its solidity is, on the contrar}-^, a very extraordinary one. The
wood of certain palms belongs to the hardest we know. The best ax is notched
or gets its edge turned in attempts to cut some of them, as the Guilielma
speciosa or peach palm of Venezuela and Guiana.

On the high shaft of the tree palm, as well as on the climbing stem
which winds itself through the thickets of the forest, the palm unfolds its
crown of leaves. On the arborescent palm it corresponds with the architec-
tonic capital. Some palm leaves resemble long drawn out spades, as in the
Lodoicea and Phoeaicophorium Sechellarum and Verschafleltia sporida, in
which they are sometimes upward of twenty feet long and twelve feet wide.
Others may be compared with the leaves of our parsley, only magnified a
hundred-fold, as in the Caryota^ and Martinezia caryotifolia. But the two
principal forms are the fan-leaved and the pinnate-leaved palms. The fan-
leaved carry green fans, the pinnate-leaved green feathers. A lady's fan,
whose rays are drawn out in long points, gives us an image of the fan leaf,
and an ostrich feather, which we have to imagine immensely lengthened,
and its downy divisions put further apart and transformed into green leaves,
gives us an idea of the pinnate palm leaf. Of the fan-leaved palms we have
in the United States the Sabal palmetto, the S. Adansonii, S. serrulata and
the Chamserops hystrix.

In the formation of the palm leaf the structure of the leaves celebrates
its triumphs, for no larger leaves are met with in the vegetable kingdom.
It seems as if nature intended to indemnify the palms for the deficiency of
a crown of branches by the grandeur of the organs of the leaves, so gigan-
tically and massively are they built. There are palm leaves which fairly vie
in size with many of our fruit trees. Put up in our orchards they would
reach far above the tops of the trees. The leaves of the Jupati palm (Raphia
txdigera), a pinnate-leaved palm of Brazil, attain a length of sixty feet or
more, and form a feather crown of forty feet in diameter. Its leaf stalk or
petiole shoots out twelve to fifteen feet before the first segments of the
leaf make ther appearance. We could easily climb up to the second story
of our houses on the prongs of the leaf stalk of the Sagus or the Arenga
palm {A. saccliarifera). No less majestic are the fan leaves of those palms
which, though not so Jong, spread more in breadth. The round green fan
leaves hover about the head of the palm, and when shaken by the wind send

I'M American Horticultural Society.

on all sides 11 i«liinu ^Icaiiis from the glossy f-urface of their leaves. The royal
forms of the Taimyra, the Sabal, the Latania, etc., carry fans from twelve to
fifteen feet in breadth. Ten persons can conveniently stand under the leaf
of a Tali])at jiahn {Curypha umbr(icidijera). The navigators of the Upper
Nile set up the leaves of the Delip i>alni as a screen to make shade under
which to re.st.

Nature has not only prepared parasols, but also paper, in the leaves of
the palm, especially of the Talipat, Palmyra, Borassus Habilliformis and
Cocos. These consist of long 8tri})s from the leaves, so as to serve the Hin-
doos for writing material, as VA Babir, the jtapyrus— whciico the word jiaper —
did the Egyj)tians. The strijjs are smoothed, and the writing is engraved
on its surface with a stylus. The writing is afterward rubbed with a black
mixture to make it more distinct. The merchant keeps his books on these
prepared slips or olas— the native name for them— and the craftsman writes
on it his account, which, in spite of the small tiimulic characters, produces
the same impressive effect as a European civilized account would. Even
many tender secrets are confided to the green leaf, which, neatly rolled up
and scaled, ilnds its delivery through the post-office as well as our letters. I
will here remark that this manner of writing may well l)e one of the oldest,
if not the oldest, according to Pliny. The oldest of writing on palm leaves
has to be put, according to Indian authorities, at thousands of years before
the historic era.

We plant our cabbage in our gardens on the ground ; the inhabitant of
the tropics gets his cabbage on the top of palm trees, especially the Areca
oleracea, Cocos oleracea, Euterpe oleracea and many others. The palm cab-
bage is the tender heart of the leaves of many palms, but as this heart exists
only once, the tree dies when it is taken, and many palm forests have been
destroyed by the greediness of man for this product.

The beautiful leaf of the palm is not always so free from danger as may
seem at first sight. Many palms, and principally the climbing palms, have
thorns on the petioles, which are sharper than the claws of a cat or of a
hawk. These thorns are sometimes hidden under the soft segments of the
leaf,and, therefore, so much the more dangerous. ^Erocomia, Astrocaryum,
Bactris, Guilielma, Desmoncus, etc., are genera belonging to this class.

In extraordinary contrast with the size of the leaves are the dimensions
of the flowers, or, rather, of the llorets, in the palms. These are very small,
without remarkable coloration, and would disapjiear under the magnificence
of the leaves if they did not compose large corymbs or racemes, or sometimes
dispose in huge spikes. Few palms carry the floral panicle in the center of
the shaft (interfrondales), and are, therefore, monocarpous, that is, flower
and bear fruit only once in their lives and then die. Palms of this character
all belong to the old world, and bloom only at the age of forty or fifty years,
such as Corypha, Metroxylon, Eugiessonia. The Sagus blooms at about fif-
teen years of age ; the fruit is nearly three years in ripening, after which the
tree dies. Most of the palms produce their flowers (racemes) on the side of

The Palms. 105

their stem, or in the jixils of their leaves (infrafrondales). The presence of
the leaves is not always necessary during the flowering and Jructification.
The leaves drop off on certain p:dms before the flower spathe appears (Eu-
terpe, Oenocarpiis, Areca, Seaforthia, etc.); in others the leaves persist at
all times (Arenga, Sagus, Phamix Mauritia, Borassus, Lodoicea, Latania,
Hyphoene, etc.). The racemes of the flowers sometimes attain a gigantic
size. The Cryptocalyx of Java sends from the crown a fluttering spike six-
teen feet in length, and many others are not much smaller.

The diminutiveness of the flower of the palm must not be cons'dered
a defect; it is rather an advantage. Nature operates more through contrast
than through harmony. The leaves which give the palm its peculiar majesty
would sufTer in their effect if large and highly colored flowers were put by
their side. The palm flower compensates at least for the deficiency of its
size by the enormous number of fl )rets. More than 208,000 were counted
on a single raceme of the Sagus Rumphii, which is preserved in the museum
at Kew, and as the tree produces commonly three such racemes, the num-
ber of florets must have amounted to 624,000.

The sex is mostly separated in the flower of the palms. We find the
male and female flower often on one tree (Cocos, Attalea, Areca, Desmoncus,
Sagus, Leopoldia, Geonoma, etc.), and often on two separate trees (Pncenix,
Chamfedoria, Mauritia, Borassus, Lodoicea, Latania, etc.), and, indeed, the
differences of the sex in plants was first observed on the palms. It was
known to the Egyptians and the Greeks. The spathe and the flowers of
several palms exhale a very agreeable musky odor toward evening and
morning. Among them are the ^rocomia sclerocarpa, Chamsedoria fra-
grans, Morenia fragrans, Astrocaryum, Diplothemium Bactris, Saguera sac-
charifera, etc.; but unfortunately not all produce an agreeable, but, on the
contrary, some exhale a fetid and putrid, smell CAreca catechu). Some
flowers develop a certain amount of heat at the time of inflorescence. It is
commonly the spathe which shows the increase of temperature, as in Bac-
tris, iErocomia, Iriartea.

The maturation of the fruit of the palms is a very slow process. In
many palms it requires at least eight months, in Sagus, as already stated,
three years and in the Maldivian nut {Lodoicea Sechellarum), whose hard,
woody shell is two inches in thickness, ten years to mature the fruit.

The fruit is often in great disproportion to the flower. The small flow-
ers of the Borassus, Cocos, Lodoicea and Eugeissonia produce very volumi-
nous fruit. The fruit of the Lodoicea Sechellarum — a very peculiar kind of
cocoa-nut — is often half a yard long, a yard in circumference, and weighs
over fifty pounds; it is cordiform, and the greatest tree fruit of the world,
and known under the names of Maldivian nut or Coco des Maldives, double
cocoa-nut and Coco de mer.

Not all fruits of the palms are nuts with a dry and fibrous cover. Others
produce berries or drupes, with a fleshy and soft cover inclosing a stony
kernel. Some of them are edible, like the drupe of the Phcenix dactylifera

106 American Ilortlcullural Society.

(date), the Desmoncus pninifer, with a subacid sweet flesh, the GuiUehna
speciosa and others. Still others are covered with neat scale;*, like the fruit
of a pine or a j)ine-apple.as in Lepidocarynn), Sagus, Calamus, Kaphia, JJes-
nioncus, Maiiritia, etc.

The i)ahns concentrate themselves in tropical regions, where we meet
with the greatest number and the greatest diversity : these diminihh as the
lines of Cancer and Capricorn are reached, and still decrease as those limi»8
are passed. The most northern limit in America is about 34° north lati-
tude, and the southern 36° south latitude.

The most blessed countries on the earth, which harbor the palms in
their greatest abundance, beauty and variety, are, in America, the countries
on the Amazon and the Orinoco; in the old world. Farther India and the
Sunda islands.

In earlier periods the palms flourished much further north and south,
and where now the dreary {)ine and spruce grow and raise their dark heads
stood formerly rich palm forests, as is abundantly proveil by their fossiliza-
tions in the coal measures.

The number of the known and yet living palms amounts to about 1,500
species, of, according to V. Martins, 64 genera, and according to Dr. Wendt-
land 119 genera; but as many countries in the interior of Africa, etc..
are not yet accessible to the botanist, it is supposed that their number will
be increased to about 1,600 species.

How much more might be said on this almost inexhaustible subject I
must leave to contemplation. I can only trust I have not exhausted your
patience in what I have thus presented before you for your indulgent recep-
tion on fcuch an occasion as this.

DISCUSSION ON I'ALMS.

President Earlc, of lllinoi.s — '1 hi.s i.s a unique and iutere.'^ting
pa])er, and I can only regret the absence of its able autlxu-.

Prof. Levwion, of California — California has two native palms.
The Washington, one of the finest of the fan j)alms, succeeds in all
the warm valleys of the state. Its native home is at the soutli, at
the foot of the San Bernardino Moinitains, in what is Unown as
Palm valley. Some of the finest specimens of this s})ecies in the
state may be .seen in this city. Naturally, its majestic columiiai'
i)0(ly is left rough and rather unsightly for a number oi' years by
the retention of its leaf stalks. This may be remedied by shaving
them off without injury to the tree. The second species is al-o a
native of Lower California, l)iit is neither so conspicuous nor hardy
a-^ the Wa^hintjton. As Dr. Albrecht has well said, thcic are no

Dlscussio7i on Palms. 107

trees or plants which present to the beholder such unique beauty
and interest as the palms, and where they succeed, as they do in
California, they should be seen on every landscape.

Seci-etary Ragan, of Indiana — It was with some difficulty, and
a good deal of persuasion, that Dr. Albrecht was induced to prepare
this paper. I apprehend that no member of the Society will regret
that he finally did so. There are, probably, not many of the palms
that will prove of economic value in the United States, but they
are certainly of great aesthetic value wherever the climate will
admit of their being grown. There is at least one of their number^
however, from which I anticipate valuable economic returns in the
near future as a possible fruit-bearing species in a large section of
comparatively arid country bordering on the Pacific coast and
Mexico, viz.: the date palm. This is one of the most hardy, and
certainly ^Ae most valuable, species of the palms. The region named,
in many of its essential features, resembles North Africa, where the
date palm is the greatest blessing to the semi-barbaric tribes who
inhabit that country. It should be thoroughly tested in these arid
regions.

Ifr. Van Deman, U. S. Nomologist, Washington, D. C. — I am
very much interested in palms. I received the fruit from a date
palm grown near Phoenix, Arizona, only seven years from the seed.
It had five bunches. I believe this valuable palm will do well in
that country. The date palm requires a moist soil and a dry sky ;
irrigation can give the first, and the other is everywhere in South-
ern California and Arizona.

The President — Notwithstanding the value that may, and I hope
will, develop in date culture in the southern sections of California
and Arizona, I still think the greatest value is in the beauty and
grandeur of the palms.

3l7'. Bettner, of California — In Southern California the date
palm succeeds, and has been fruited for a few years past. We cer-
tainly have the necessary atmospheric conditions. At Riverside,
my home, the culture of the date is receiving some attention.

Mr. Wickson, of California — Date palms were introduced into
Southern California by the Jesuit fathers. They have perfected

108 American Horticultural Society.

fruit in Solano and Santa Iiarl)ara countifs. The Irce is of ratlior
slow growth, and does not bear tViiit until it has attained consider-
able age.

3Ir. Van iJeinan — Does the royal |)alin grow in California'.'
3Ir. Extec, of California — I have eight varieties ol'pahns on niv
place in Napa, and one of them is called the royal, bnt 1 do not
know that it is true to name. The last frost cut the lower leaves a
little, but it has not been seriously injured. I have found this palm
hardy enough in Xapa, where there are trees twenty-five years old
and forty feet high.

Prof. Thomas, of Arkansas — There are two beautiful specimens
(»f ijalms on street, in this citv. ^Vhat varietv are thev?

Prof. Lemmon — Those are the Washington palms, and are prob-
ably as fine specimens as any in Central California.

Mr. Wilcox, of California — A nimiber of varieties of palms are
grown in this (Santa Clara) county, but no perfect fruit has vet
been obtained from the date.

3Ir. liettncr — Palm vallev, the native home of the \\'ashin£rton
palm, referred to by Prof Lemmon, is near Indio, in the Colorado
desert. Many specimens there rise to the height of one hundred
feet or more, and are majestically grand.

Mr. P^stee, of California, introduced a resolution on the subject
of the tariff on fruits, which was, on motion, referred to the follow-
ing special committee: Mr. Estee, of California; Mr. Buck, of
California; Mr. Masters, of Nebraska; Mjijor Evans, of Missouri ;
and Major Plolsinger, of Kansas.

Mr. Barbour, from tlu' local committee on entertainment, gave
some infoi-mation concerning the })roposed banquet to be given the
Society in the evening; also, regarding the excursion to Monterey
and Santa Cruz.

A letter of invitation to the Society to visit Santa Rosa and the
redwood forests on the Russian river was receiveil ami the invita-
tion acce])ted. The Society then adjourned.

Resolutions. 109

Third Day — Thursday.

Afternoon Session.

The Sucietv reassembled at 2 o'clock. .

Hon. M. M. Estee, of California, from the special committee on
fruit tariff, reported the following resolutions:

Resolved, By the American Horticultural Society, assembled at San Jos^, Cali-
fornia, that any reduction by congress of the existing tariff" on green and dried
fruits, nuts, raisins, prunes, wine, and other horticultural and agricultural prod-
ucts, would injure all and destroy many of these industries.

Resolved, That a copy of this resolution be forwarded to each senator and mem-
ber of congress, and that a printed copy be sent to each member of the Society,
with the request that the subject of the above resolution be urged upon the atten-
tion of the senators and members of congress from each of their respective states.

M. M. Estee,
J. C, Evans,
Frank Holsinger,
J. H. Masters.

After an able and prolonged discussion, participated in by sev-
eral gentlemen from California, all of whom favored the resolu-
tions, and by Mr. Munson, of Texas, who opposed them, they were
adopted by a very decided majority.

The following supplementary resolution was introduced by a
minority of the special committee on the tariff:

Resolved, That it is necessary that a large import duty be imposed on all nurs-
ery stocks brought into the United States, as many of these imported stocks bring
insect pests into the country and threaten the destruction of our orchards, and at
the same time cripple the nursery business of our own people.

M. M. Estee,
J. H. Masters.

Mr. Masters, of Nebraska — I heartily favor the adoption of this
resolution. Many of our worst insect pests have been brought into
our country on imported nursery stock.

Dr. Pliwimer, of Oregon — Our California brethren seem to be
already supplied with bugs. They ought not to import any more,
either with or without duty.

110 American lloriimltii ral Socirfif.

Mr. Klce, of California — 'V\\v i-csolntion .-lioiild l)t' niodilied so
as to require a tiiorough inspeetion of all imported nursery stock.

Mr. Lhidlci/, of North Carolina — 1 Ix-lieve this discussion to lu-
out of order, and, therefore, move to lay the resolution on the
table, ("'arried.

Mr. Johnson, of Indiana, from the committee on President
Earle's address, reported as follows:

Your committee to which was referred the President's address l)eg leave to
report that the questions therein so al)ly dihciisseil, the recommendations wisely
made, and the conclusions reached, are of so much importance to horticulturists
throughout our country that we recommend that this Society secure the publica-
tion of 8,000 copies in {)amphlet form. J. C. Kvans,

S. Johnson,
N. Ohmkk.

The report of the committee was adopted, and, on motion of
Mr. Estee, of California, a collection amounting to S-^S was at once
taken up to defray the expense of the publication and distribution
of the address.

COLD STORAGE AND UEFRIGERAToR CARS.

California members desiring to know the eifect of cold storage
and refrigerator cars on their fruits shipped to distant markets in-
quired of eastern members concerning the condition of such fruits
when received.

President Earlc — The common inijiression that fruits are injured
by cold storage is incorrect. They do not necessarily decay more
rapidly when exposed to the warm outside atmosphere by reason of
having been in the cold storage, unless they have been overripe
and in the incipient stages of decay when gathered and shipped.
My own experience and observations convince me of the value of
thoroughly cooling fruits before shipment. This is true of all
classes of fruits, not excepting the strawberry. A refrigerator
car simj)ly holds the fruit in abeyance, so that organic action is held
back for a time. Wlien the fruit is packed in a lirm condition it
does not essentially change when taken out, although when the
fruit is put ill overripe it will not keep long. The success of ship-
ping fruits from this coast to the ea'<t would depend largely upon

Cold Storage and Refrigerator Cars. Ill

the kiud of cars used and the manner of jacking. A refrigerator
car is the worst place in the world for fruits after the ice is melted
out, as it is then without ventilation, and soon warms up, thus spoil-
ing the fruit very quickly.

Mr. Wilcox, of California — Fresh grapes must be kept dry while
in the process of refrigeration. The cold storage establishment at
Riverside is quite successful.

The President — Fruit that has been in cold storage or shipped
in refrigerator cars should never be reshipped in ordinary cars.
Refrigeration is to be used with judgment and (;are, or bad conse-
quences may result.

3Ir. Wilcox — The question of refrigeration is an important one
to Californians. Where fruits shipped in refrigerator cars are to
be reshipped, it is best to raise the temperature of the car somewhat
before transferring the fruit to other cars.

Mr. Feeley, of California — Cold storage has not proved satisfac-
tory to California fruit-growers, as a rule.

Mr. Klee, of California — I think the experience of shippers at
Riverside is against cold storage. Lemons and oranges decay rap-
idly after being taken out of cold storage. California fruits at New
Orleans, which were not in cold storage, kept much better than
fruits from eastern states, which, as a rule, were so treated. This,
however, may have been due, in part, to the extraordinary solidity
and good-keeping qualities of fruits grown in this state.

Mr. Van Deman, of Washington, D, C. — The cold storage facil-
ities on the exposition grounds at New Orleans were very .inade-
quate. Arkansas was the only state which availed itself of the
op})ortunities, but, owing to some delay in the preparations, the
fruit was greatly decayed before the cold storage application could
be made.

The President — Fruits that went into cold storage at New Or-
leans in good condition came out all right. The process was suc-
cessful, but the trial given on the exposition grounds was far from
satisfactory, owing to bad management.

Mr. Wheeler, of California, by invitation, read the following
paper :

J 1 - American Horticultural Society.

THE EDUCATIONAL NEEDS OF THE AMERICAN FARMf:R.

BY PROF. F. \V. HIUiAKl), uK CAMI-ORNIA.

The cry for " iii(liistri;il cdnpation " has, within the lat<t twenty years,
become ahnost univcrt^al throughout tlie oivihzed world. The ustonibliing
progress made in the arts through the application of scientific principle?,
the powerful influence exerted by technical science in the improvement of
old industries and in the development of new ones, and last, hut not leaet,
the awakening of the laboring an<l industrial clashes to their claims to some-
thing more than the position of hewers of wood and drawers of water, have
made that cry penetrate to the innermost recesses even of the most conserv-
ative educational institutions. From the kindergarten to the university, the
justice of the demand for something beyond the old scholastic training and
methods is admitted, and the question is not now whether the long-neglected
training of the senses shall form a part of all education, but only how and to
what extent it shall be done. I can not doubt that the audience here assem-
bled is a unit on the main issue; but it may not be amiss to discuss some-
what the detailed application of the idea of industrial education to agricult-
ure, concerning which there still exists a great variety of opinion and prac-
tice. Such a discussion is the more timely, as the establishment of experiment
stations in or out of connection with the previously estal>lished agricultural
colleges has once more brought the merits and demerits of the latter prom-
inently before the public.

What, then, are the educational needs of the American farmer? I say
advisedly his needs, »xiA not his demands, for in my view the two differ not
immaterially in many points, if the utterances of some of their prominent
spokesmen may be Uiken as guides. And in saying this I mean nothing
derogatory to either the intentions or the intelligence of these men, < r of
those whom they represent. What can be accomplisheil by education out-
side of the paternal home, and what can and should be its metlu)ds, are not
matters of common note to be intuitively perceived by every one. On the
contrary, these are extremely complex technical questions, and to be found
uninformed in respect to their details is no greater reproach than it would
be to say that the i)roper mode of constructing a steam engine can not be
intuitively known. What our farmers do perctive intuitively is that there
is evidently something wrong al>out the old educational system ; that it does
not teach their children nuuh that bears directly upon their life-pursuit,
and that on the whole it seems to have a tendency to alienate them from the
farm.

Now, in so far as the school or college omits from its course the training
of the senses and perceptive faculties, and the principles that underlie and
are called into daily requisition on the farm, the farmer's complaint is well
founded. But when by way of remedy he demands that, in order to prevent
a diversion of the boy's mind from the f.irm, he j-hali be Mirrounded by a

The Educational Needs of the American Farmer. 113

dense "agricultural atmosphere," through which he shall but diraly discern
what other people are doing, and have done in the past; that his horizon,
and with it his mind, shall be kept narrowed down to the sphere predestined
for him by his parents without his intelligent consent, and that the achieve-
ments of the human mind in past ages, from which his present condition
has been evolved, shall remain a sealed book to him by the omission, or re-
duction to a minimum, of culture studies, he unwittingly attempts to defeat,
in the most effectual manner, the very aim and purpose for which farmers'
organizations throughout the country, and above all that of the Patrons of
Husbandry, expressly and loudly contend.

What, in fact, are these aims and demands as set forth in the declara-
tion of purposes of the grange? They may be formulated under the follow-
ing heads : To secure to the farmers their rightful influence in public affairs ;
to elevate their pursuit in their own as well as in public estimation ; to ren-
der it more profitable and less laborious, and more attractive, a s^pecial com-
plaint being the tendency of young men to leave the farm for the cities.

The latter and most pregnant fact can not be too closely scrutinized as
to its causes. It means, of courtie, that from some cause farm life, as it is, is
not attractive to the young, and the reason very commonly assigned was
tersely expressed in the answer given me in the premises by an old and very
level-headed farmer : " The young rascals don't like hard work ! " And yet
these same young rascals will go to town and slave as ill-paid clerks or oiher
underlings without any reasonable hope of acquiring a competency before
their hairs are gray, and think themselves better off than on the farm, where
they would be assured of independence, if not of opu'ence. As it is proverb-
ially of little use to dispute about tastps, the only debatable questions are,
what are the catises of this preference for city life, and how can the farm be
rendered more attractive to the young? for, in this country, happily unlike
the old, the lines of a young man's life are not, and should not be, laid out
for him by virtue of his parentage. The instincts of every American rebel
against that kind of predestination, which is the outcome of the fixed class
distinctions in the old world. If it is the birthright of every American boy
to look upon himself as a possible candidate for the presidency of the United
States, how much more is it his right to take his own choice of a life occu-
pation. Neither farmer, merchant nor lawyer has any moral right to claim
that his sons should, as a matter of course, follow their father's occupation ;
in that, as in the choice of a wife, no man can properly act for another who
is of sound mind. And in this country, at least, it is not by putting a young
man's nose to the grindstone, or by " rubbing it in," that he is likely to be
converted either to farming or anvthing else.

I insist strongly on this, because it is one of the points commonly made
against our agricultural colleges that, by offering their students a wider field
of study to choose from than would be involved in the professional study of
agriculture alone, they " turn farmers' sons away from agriculture." Hence,
the demand that these colleges shall be kept apart from the institutions

114 Amcricnn HorficuHvrtil Society.

where <ilher j)n.fessions are taught, in order that the boys' horizon ni:iy be
kept rircuniscribed by a dense "agricultural atmosphere."

Truly, this is a singular methotl for elevating the pursuit of agriculture,
whether in thr> ostiniation of the j)ublic or of the boys themselves. When
jiiainly formulated, its two fundamental propositions are: First, that it is
objectionable, or improper, for a farmer's son not to becon>e a farmer, also,
even though his natural aptitude might lie in a totally different direction.
Second, that farming i.s in any case too lowly and uninviting a pursuit to
bear comparison with other occupations; and, hence, these must, if possible,
be kept out of the boys' view.

The first proposition is intrinsically obnoxious anywhere, and peculiarly
un-American. The second is a stultification of the very claim so strongly
and justly insisted on. that farming is an occupation dignified not only by
its fundamental importance, but also by the call it makes upon the judg-
ment and intellect when properly understood, and that it makes men inde-
pendent and self reliant — forms them, in fact, into the very bone and sinew
of a roi)i:l)lican i)eoi)le.

Farming, when intelligently taught, as when intelligently carried on
need not fear comparison with any other occupation. It is only when the
teaching forme merely a somewhat systematized continuation of the dull
routine of 2inpr(.gressive farming that the latter sufl'ers in the comparison.
The progressive farmers, then, are the last persons that should object to
their sons' being taught their profession in the full light of literature and
modern science, as is done in most of our agricultural colleges. But these
colleges, in number as well as in means, are ridiculously inadequate to cope
directly with the real evil complained of, the Hight of the boys from the
farm, for they can not educate, no matter by what process, any numerically
considerable proportion of the agricultural population. Supposing even
that it was their particular business to convert every one of their students
unto farming, their effect upon the whole population would be only as a
drop in the bucket, unless the superior quality (f the education, as well as (f the
men, shoidd make them the future leaders of their industry. To etlucate such
men, who, by precept or example, or both, shall lead the way, I consider to
be the true province of the agricultural colleges, and by far the most effectual
mode of action in the direction desired by the pro>;ressive clement among
the farmers. A little of such leaven of high quality will leaven the whole
mass much more effectually than would scores of half-trained men, whose
stinted education and halt-knowledge would but serve to obscure their prac-
tical sen.s^ and throw discredit ujm)!! rational farming.

If, then, it is physically impossible that the agricultural colleges should
educate the rank and file of the agricultural population, and if, on the con-
trary, they can best serve the cause of agriculture by educating the leaders
of progress, is it not obvious that that education should be of the broadest
kind, and should qualify the student not merely to be a successful farmer,
but should also enable him to cope successfully in public life with the trained

The Educational Needs of the American Fai'mer. 115

men that other professions put into the field ? How can the farmer hope to
be effectually represented in the legislative halls of the states, or of the
nation, while the bulk of the men occupying these influential positions (and
that by virtue of the farmers' votes) are taken from the ranks of other pro-
fessions? The very fact that farmers themselves habitually select persons
from other walks of life to represent them in the legislative councils proves
conclusively that they do not at present find within their own ranks men
sufficiently well qualified, otherwise than by good intentions, to uphold the
interests of their fellows against the well-trained advocates of other interests-
If the agricultural colleges were to do no more Ihan to furnish an adequate
supply of such well qualified leaders— leaders in agricultural progress as
well as in the councils of the nation— they would render the greatest service
to the farmiijg population that, with their means, it is possible to accom-
plish. But more than this: They should, and rfo, supply the much needed
contingent of teachers who are trained not only in the ways of the old-time
schools, but are imbued with the spirit of industrial science and progress,
and will infuse that spirit into their teachings, whether in the colleges them-
selves or in the public schools.

Cornell has, in the last report of its regents, given a verjf striking exem-
plification in the latter direction, showing among its graduates not fewer
than twenty-nine men who have gone out as teachers of agricultural science
in the several j:;olleges, and most of whom have made their names well
known to and appreciated by the farmers of the United States. It is a strik-
ing example of the little leaven that leaveneth the whole mass, and has done
vastly more to promote agricultural progress than ten times the number of
" farm school" pupils could have done.

But while nothing short of the broadest culture is desirable for the
graduates of the agricultural colleges, whatever may be the opportunities
afforded by them to those not aspiring to future leadership, what shall be
done for the rank and file of the farming population — the millions who can
not go to college, or, in fact, to anything beyond the public schools ?

The problem is a formidable one. But while various methods may be
suggested by which the public schools might be made more sitisfactory in
respect to the education specially needed by farmers in this country, there
can be no question that a change in that direction is pressingiy called for.
In fact, I contend that the dissatisfaction expressed by farmers with resi^ect
to the agricultural colleges should much more appropriately be directed
against the public schools. It is there, next to the farm itself, that the bias
unfavorable to the pursuit of farming is formed and confirmed, long before
the young man reajhes the agricultural college. The latter is too often
called upon to undo what parents and teachers have done (or more gener-
ally left undone) at the critical time when the mind of the young is most
impressionable, and when the taste or distate for manual labor, and the
habit of using the senses to the best advantage, are either formed and con-
firmed or else left to fall into disuse. The fact is, and we may as well face

11') American HorticuUunil Society.

it squiirely.thnt these desirable tastes iitnl hiiMtH are by far moBt readily and
lastiiinly formed in yrmn^, and oven very yoimir. ••liildren, and that not only
IS the boy father to the man, but the very baby is father U) the boy himself.
It is hardly neressary at this laie jteriixl, and Itefore this audience, to go
into all the arjiuments and j)roofs in the premises. The kindergarten is
(*()ming to be more and more an established fa<M, and with it 'he convietion
that the time when manual and sense training shouM be begun is almost
from birth. The natural and most precious time for inculcating the taste
for and habit of the use of the senses, and with it that love of work that
leaves the possessor unhapi)y when compelled to be kWe, ties within the limih
o/boi/hixd (ind girlhorti, anil that chiejlij in t}ifir mrlier pnrtiims. No colleges, no
matter how organized, can ever make uji for the omissions made in these
early portions of the child's life; and it is glaringly unjust to make them
responsible for the consequences of such omissions.

The kindergarten first, or its equivalent in home training, as an indefeasi-
ble part of primary education, and then the continuation of the same sys-
tem in the constant exercise of the senses and perceptive faculties in manual
training schools, forming p:irt of all public schotds, high or low- that is, in
my view, the true and only remedy for the evils coniplained of, not only by
farmers, but, also, in a larye measure, by society at large. There can be no
question of the fact that the time-honored system of education, from lowest
to highest, neglecting this sense training, is largely to blame for the numer-
ous cases in which men and women completely miss their life vocation ;
simply because they have never been brought face to face with what they
were truly litted for. It is dithcult to estimate the number of bad poets,
penny-a-liners, lawyers, doctors and other professional men who would have
graced the carpenter's bench, the machine-shop, or the farm, if they hadonlj*
been made aware early in life of their capacities in these directions. I be-
lieve that to every sane man and woman is given the faculty of d<iing some-
thing well, and with enjoyment thereof; and that if the parents and teachers
are only on the alert, and give each child the freest opportunity to fmd his
life work among what is offered in the home and school, few will fail to suc-
ceed. But if both in the home and school only the meager outlook of ill-
rewarded drudgery (Hi the one hand, and of the mysteries of the " three R's "
on the other, is held up to view, what wonder is it that the child, seeking
something that will interest and please him, will but too commonly seek and
find it in wrong-doing, in listless apathy, and later in Hiirht from the farm ?
It is surely, then, by brwuhniing, and not by narnwiiuj, the education of
farmers' children, from the primary school to the college, that the ills com-
plained of can he remedied. Speaking for the child on the farm as emphat-
ically as for the student at the agricnlturd college, I conienil that parents
have no right t<j j^redestine him for the pursuit of the .same path trodden by
themselves. But I feel fully assured that by the broadening of the child's
view through the training of his perceptive faculties, and not only of con-
scious reasoning as is now done, the creater attractions of the f:irm, intelli-

Tlie Educational Needs of the American Farmer. 117

gently viewed, would keep the vast majority just where their farmer parents
want them ; and for those that are not thus kept, it is plain that another path
would be preferable to hfe-long dissatisfaction with their daily work.

In other words, I do not think that farm life and the farmers' pursuit,
intelligently viewed, stand in any need of being bolstered up by the haziness
of an agricultural atmosphere, and by holding the boys down to uneduca-
tional manual labor, just to keep up the habit, as its advocates say. Intelli-
gent parents and teachers can readily render them so attractive that only
those whose natural aptitude leads them to other purstxits will be anxious to
abandon them. But this can only be done if the precious time when the
child's five senses are open and eager for such impressions is properly util-
ized, and if sense training be made part and parcel of school education of
all grades.

It is, however, far from easy to bring about this state of affairs, and
sweeping legislative enactments in that behalf would be powerless to do so.
Teaching requires teachers, and the teachers competent to carry this idea
into effect are as yet few and far between; and a large proportion of those
now teachmg wotxld prefer to continue in the old routine, which they have
thoroughly memorized, and which costs comparatively little mental effort.
In justice to teachers generally, it should be said that the rewards attendant
upon the performance of their all-important duties are by far too small to
induce them to qualify themselves thoroughly and make teaching a life pur-
suit. Under these conditions a very large proportion take up teaching
simply as a temporary shift, until something better turns up; and thus the
teadency is to go no further in qualifying themselves than is just suflBcient
to pass examinations. Such half-hearted teachers can not be expected to
feel enthusiastic about the introduction of improvements that, in order to
be effective, require a strong efibrt and single-minded devotion to the task.

It should be fully understood that an improvement in the results of
education, such as is so strongly desired by farmers in particular, means
increased qualifications and efforts on the part of teachers, and, therefore,
increased expense, not only in respect to salaries, but, also, as regards the
needful appliances. The best qualified teachers, however, will, as a rule, re-
quire the smallest amount of such appliances, and will be able to make the
ordinary surroundings of a well-kept school-house supply, in a large measure,
the place of a multitude of costly apparatus. The more this is done, the
more impressive will be the teaching; for nothing makes the scholar realize
so fully the meaning and import of instruction as the bringing home of it to
every-day life.

But it is laseless to expect important improvements where country
school boards turn over the incalculably important lask of molding the chil-
dren's minds and tastes for life to the lowest bidder who can make some
kind of a showing. And it must be specially remembered that teaching is
itself an art, independently of its subject; and that men or women who may
be excellent workmen in certain lines may utterly fail in imparting their

118 American llorticuUurnl Soclefi/.

knowleilpp to the young. This is u mnsi essential eonsidt-ralion, in view of
the fad that it has often heen suggested that in country schools the neigh-
horhotxl car|)enter or blacksmith should be called in to give instruction in
their trades to the school childn n. Asa rule, such arrangements will utterly
fail, and only prove a wearine.-s to the cliililrcn, for the ordinary arlisjin wiil
use no other methods than those he applies to his apprentices, namely : to let
the learner absorb what he can by looking on, or by doing the things him-
self. This mode of learning is extremely tedious, and, as a rule, a compari-
son of results achieved, and of the time employed, will be far from fatisfac-
tory. As a matter of fact, the teaching of any particular trade is not, and
can not be, the object of the common schools, for the subj.cts would be too
numerous and the appliances needed far too costly. Wliat the schools should
and can do is to teach each child to make use if Inn Hfnues (iml fnculties am-
jointhj ; after that, instruction in special trades must be left either to indi-
vidual eir.>rt or to special Iratle schools. If it were attempted to imp'SP the
learning of any particular trade upon all the children of any school, the inev-
itable result would be a general rebellion against th.it trade, and probably
it would be the most unpopular of ail the life-pursuits chosen by the
scholars.

This brings up the subject of the so-called " farm schools" about which
so nmrh has been said, as though they woidd be the supreme remedy for
the exodus of farmers' boys to the cities. As understood in Europe, " farm
schools" are establishments where boys are taught simply the handicraft of
farming, with few or no principles, but substantially only rule-of-thumb.
They are intended for the sons of peasants who desire to learn an improved
practice, after having gone no further th;in the common school, in which,
moreover, the training of the senses has boi-n pretty much left out. The
boys, therefore, learn by absorption what will be the i)est practice for thcin
in their particulrir neiL'hborhood. As the boys are predestined to be peas-
ants themselves, no effirt is made to give them a glimpse of anything else.
It would be useless to them.

But I do not believe that our farmers, as a body, want liial kind of in-
struction for their sons, even for the sake of making them farmers. Not
only the American boy himself, but the boy's parent*, very soon revolt
against any such machine work, as has been amply shown in the c&ve of the
agricultural colleges that were at first establishetl upon the farm .school ide.i,
and in the main give the boy a bare grammar .'jchool education while mak-
ing him work for his living most of his time. The idea took like wild-lire at
first, and like wild-fire it soon burned out. These very same institutions
have, stc]) by step, been compelled, not by the old school edticators, but by
the demand of parents and pupils, to throw out of their coiuve all unin-
.structive labor, and to enlarge the scope of instruction, until the subjects
taught (liflTer but little in kind from those in the courses of other, non-agri-
cultural, institutions. Albeit, they remain differently proportioned, and very
properly so. But the dense agricultural atmosphere at first created around

The Educational Needs of the American Farmer. 119

the pupil has been cleared away, and he is made to feel that, although a
farmer's son and intending to be a farmer, he is a free agent, and a member
of a progressive community in which class distinctions are, if not unknown ,
at lea^t reduced to a minimum.

I will not discuss at length the question of the usefulness of the college
farm in making practical farmers of the students. It is now pretty well
admitted that, whether carried on on the " model" or on the " experimental"
plan, it can not very well make practical farmers of the pupils. The actual
management of farms is best learned on well managed farms ruti fc r profit,
which the college farm can not be if utilized for instruction. So far I agree
with those who deride the idea of farming being taught in colleges. In my
view, the college farm should serve precisely the same purpose that labora-
tories do in other lines of technical studj' — for illustration and demonstra-
tion of principles, and to teach actual manipulation in connection w'ith such
principles; and just as a " practical course" is required of any student in
other occupations before he is considered competent to practice, so must
every agricultural student expect to make his practical apprenticeship on a
farm. But the difference will be that, while a raw boy will, as a rule, re-
quire years to learn the mere routine of operations, without the ability to
adapt himself to varying conditions, the boy who has gone through a proper
course of instruction will qualify himself in the course of a few months,
because trained to observation and reasoning, and to an understanding of
the underlying principles. In fact, the American boy is so prompt in ac-
quiring manual dexterity that the " rubbing in" method is quite out of place
where he is interested, and knows what is to be done, and why. It is, at
the very least, unnecessary to stint him in his education by the time devoted
to merely mechanical drill. Teach him to use his senses, and give him a
knowledge of the principles upon which he is to work, and he will generally
take care of the rest himself.

On motion of Mr. Munson, of Texas, a hearty vote of thanks
was extended to Prof. Hilgard for his excellent paper.

Dr. White, of Santa Rosa, renewed the invitation from citizens
of that city to visit them, which was accepted.

Major Lauck, of the Southern Pacific Railway Company, stated
that the contemplated excursion train to the Xapa and Sacramento
valleys, consisting of four Pullman cars, would leave San Francisco
on Tuesday next at 7:30 a. m., giving the delegates an opportunity
to visit and stop at A^allejo, Napa, St. Helena, Sacramento, Marys-
ville, Oroville, Chico, Vina, Redding, Red Bluif, Woodland, and
return to San Francisco on Thursday evening. All members and
their eastern friends would be the guests of the railroad company
during the trip.

1-'^ American liortiniKural Society.

< »ii iiiutinii, all necessary arrangements tor the Santa Rosa ex -
eur>i(>n were referred to a eommittee consistino; of Dp. Kidpath, of
Indiana, Treasurer Kvan^, of Missouri, and Major L:mej<,of Cal-
ifornia.

A c.iMiniitie.-, cdnsi-^tini^r of Mr, Hid)l)ard, of New Ycrk, Mr.
Goodman, (if .Missouri, and Mr, Van Deman, of W'a-liinjrton, was
directed to make all necessary arrangements for the Riverside ex-
cursion.

Vicc-Pre.sident Mtmson. from the ( "uminiM..' ..n Resolutions,
presented the following

FINAL resolutions:

\VnEKEAs, The American llortitullural .Socit-ty, .nul all the iiulivi.liial mem-
bers, have been so hospitably received and entertained by the city and citizens of
San Jose- during the session of this convention, therefore,

7?eW(rrf, That our sincere and hearty thanks are tendered to tiuin lor their
generous attention during our stay among them.

Resolved, Also, that our thanks are due to the papers of this city and S m Kran-
cisco, to the Ainencan Garden and others, for sending competent reporters among
us for the purpose of more thoroughly sending abroad a report of our i)roceedings
to the world.

Resolved, That for the faithful manner in which the reporters have done their
work we are very grateful. ,

ReMlved, That our further thanks are due the Southern Pacific Railway for
reduced excursion rates to this city and return.

Resolved, That our profound gratitude is due, and hereby tendered, the Board
of Trade of San Jose for providing this excellent place in which to hold our session.

Resolved, That our thanks are especially extended to the ladies of San Jose
who have so royally provided for our comfort and entertainment while sojourning
in this city.

Resolved, That we further sincerely thank the citizens of San Jos^ for taking
so great an interest in the increa.se and acquirement of a large membership in
California, and San Jose in particular. T. \'. .Mi nson,

J. M. Smith,
JohnC. Kidpath.

The resolutions wore ado))te(l l)y a ri>ing vote.

The Society then adjoiirnetl to re-assemble in Riverside on Tues-
dav Febriiarv 7.

TJie Banquet at Turnverein Hall. 121

THE BANQUET AT TURNVEREIN HALL.

Reference has already been made to the pending banquet to be
given the Society on Thursday evening by the ladies of San Jose,
and, also, to which Dr. Ridpath, in his accompanying sketch*, will
refer to in detail; yet, at the risk of repetition, the Secretary will
venture to here allude to some of the features of this recherche
affair, which seem to call for special notice. A brief quotation
from the San Jose Weekly Times, of January 28, is beautifully de-
scriptive of the cards of invitation, which, no doubt, will be pre-
served by ever}' guest as souvenirs of this pleasant occasion :

The invitations issued were intended as souvenirs of the convention as
well as passports to the banquet. They are very handsome, all the printing
being done in gold. On the front cover is "Welcome to Our Nation's Hor-
ticulturists. San Jose, Cahfornia, January 27th, 1888." On the back is rep
resented a basket filled with golden fruit. The names of the Committee ot
Management are given on the third page, as follows: Mrs. L.J. Watkins,
Captain J. H. Barbour, Mrs. S. W. Boring, Mrs. E. 0. Smith, Captain W. T.
Adel. The second page of the invitation is adorned with the following
poem, written by one of San Jose's most talented ladies:

A CALIFORNIA ^EAE.

BY MRS. M. H. FIELD.

How do we know when the spring has come,

In this pleasant land by the western sea?
Why, the rainy days grow farther apart,

And the clouds before the north wind flee;
The gardens are blue with forget-me-nots.

And pepper trees scatter their berries red ;
The hills with poppies are all aflame.

And linnets and meadow-larks sing o'erhead.

How do we know when summer is here?

The sky is one vast, deep vault of blue,
Whence the sun pours down his golden flood

Unchecked by a cloud the long day through.
Grain fields are waving, and orchards bend low,

Roses and jasmines hold riotous sway,
While tents are unfolding on mountain and shore,

And the life of the campers is blithe and gay.

'•'See Appendix.

12 2 American Jlorticulturdl Society.

What is the sign of the autumn-time?

Oil ! then the vineyards their sjilemior sliow —
Muscats an<l Ilamhurgs and flaming Tokays —

Never were clusters like these, I trow.
Hut the roadside trees with dust are gray ;

Yellow and sere lie the hills and the plain ;
The water-courses are parched and dry;

All patiently wait for the beautiful rain.

But the winter— ah I that is the strangest of ;ill !

Instead of the north, the south wind hlows,
The sweet south wind that brings the rain.

The pattering rain, not wintry snows.
And then the rivulets sing once more.

The hills turn green, and the dear wild llowvrs
Awake from their slecj), while the furrowed earth

Grows young again 'neath the welcome showers.

Never were lionoitd gtic.-t.s entertained in a more hospitable ami
happv manner than were the visiting hortienlturists ami tlieir frieml.s.
One word will describe the banquet better than a column of adjec-
tives: it was perfect. Nothing short of that woidd be just to the
talented ladies who so quietly and gracefully achieved such success.
Their triumpii was complete, and well fitted to close the harmonious
meeting of the Society.

Of the many toasts and responses, but one would seem appro-
priate in this connection, viz.: '' Horticulture, Practical and Theo-
retical," responded to by Dr. Riilj)aih, of Indiana, as folh>ws:

To study much a fact called chemistry,

To learn earths, acids, alkalies and all.
To know all seeds and name all bugs you see,

Is Horticulure Theoretical.

To reason long aliout the laws of things,

To make analysis, to classify
All leaves, legs, bodies, bugs, scales, teeth, toes, wings.

And give them titles that may pass for aye ;

To talk fur weeks how nuuli of this and that

Is necessary that a jilant may grow.
What rainfall, dewfall, sun, wind, cloud are pat,

And then tell others what you il<> not know;

The Banquet of Turnverein Hall. 123

To raise within a busy cranium

At least six crops before you plant at all ;
To write long letters and for papers some,

Is Hoiticulture Theoretical.

To feel the sunshine and the morning dew,

To smell the ground in the first dajs of spring,
To have for company yourself and you,

To hear the robins and the bluebirds sing —

To hoe and harow, and to put plain dirt

On living seeds, and then to wait awhile ;
To be afield in democratic shirt

And use your muscles in plebeian style —

To take all nature in your hardened hands.

Plant trees and vines, train, prune, protect and pluck.

Believe in self and in your fertile lands.
And have more faith in living than in luck —

And then, at last, to sit in glorious style

'Mid golden fruits heaped high in royal state,
OfTered by beauty with a gracious smile.

To strangers dwelling in the city gate —

To taste, to eat, to feel the throb of pride,

To rise rejoicing from the festival ;
To clasp new friends with old ones by your side.

Why — that is Horticulture Practical.

ADDITIOXAl. PAPI-RS.

The iSccrciarv will here add such jjupcrs of merit as were. f<ir
the want of time, referred for piiMiratioii without reading. Two
of these are really reports from important standing committees,
and all are highly meritorious.

KErORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON NU.MENi LATLKE.

South Havks, Mich., January o, 1888.
To lion. Parker Earle, President of the American Ilorliciilliiral S<>ci>lff :

The undersigned, chairman of the Committee on Nomencliiture, woiiM respect-
fully report that contributions to such report have been received from only two
members of the committee.

Mr. (». 15. Brackett, of Iowa, says: "I most heartily indorse the idea you
have heretofore advanced, and urged upon the various horticultural societies, in
reference to shortening and correcting the names of the fruits in our catalogues ;
anil we should'also endeavor to convey as much information concerning the varieiy
as possible, consistently with brevity, in the naming of new fruits, and avoiding
all Latin names which may be liable to convey the idea of a distinct species, such,
for instance, as Priimis Simoni or P. Pinnardi.

" There is another point to which I wish to invite attention, and which you
can enlarge upon, as it is a source of great confusion in the nomenclature of our
fruits, viz. : The introduction of old varieties under new names. This can only
be done among a class who are not familiar with fruits; and, perhaps, this is prac-
tice<l to a greater extent in our state (Iowa) than in yours (Michigan), for the
reas<m that there is a mania for something new since our old varieties began lo
fail ; and there is a set of mountebanks who are ready to lake advantage of this
' tiilal wave,' and furnish the eager seeker after 8(uui-thing new with these obi
sorts with newly-made names. A case in point was brought to notice at the late
meeting of the .American Pomological Society, where it wasstateil that the Lawvcr
apple was being disseminated in New Jersey and Delaware under the name of
Delaware Winter. Many such instances have occurred in Iowa. This is one of
the ways in whiih synonyms are multiplied."

On December 31, the following was received from T. V. .Munson, of Denis.in,
Texas: "I had hoped to .send you something worthy of attention ere this, but
after attempting ti> review our fruits, I became so confounded with the matter that
I g:»ve up in dts|>air of ever getting our names adopted, even if we ^boul(i succeed
in simplifying them. I have, therefore, come to the following conclusions :

"]. That the revision of the nomenclature of fruits is a special and appropriate
work of the ,\merican Pomological Society, which it has so well begun.

Report of the Committee on Nomenclature. 125

"2. That about all our American Horticultural Society can do is to second
that work by adopting the Pomological Society's revisions and suggestions, and by
urging upon all our members the observance of the rules of nomenclature of the
American Pomological Society, and especially by urging nurserymen to make
their catalogues as correct as possible in nomenclature; thus correctly educating
their patrons.

" 3. That in other branches of horticulture we urge a similar reform ; that is,
among seedsmen and gardeners, that they reform their names, dispense with the
numerous synonyms, and abbreviate consistently.

" 4. That we recommend to the Department of Agriculture to confer with the
committees on nomenclature of the various societies, and, with their aid^ prepare
a set of works describing accurately each distinct and well-known variety of fruit,
grain, vegetable, grass and flower, with the leading name, as the authoritative one,
and synonyms following, so that old varieties under new names could be easily
traced to their true position and correct name, upon some system of arrangement
similar to that of Downing's 'Fruits and Fruit Trees of America.'

" 5. That the departmen! keep the work up to the times by supplements and
revisions, since the publication of such a work truly belongs to the general gov-
ernment, as no individual can afford to do it, such works being in demand by so
few that they yield the publisher no profits, and yet, as standards for reference,
they are highly important, aiding greatly in the prevention of frairid by dishonest
dealers in selling old varieties under new names.

" 6. Such works should be kept in constant and sufficient supply by the depart-
ment, for distribution at cost, to meet all demands.

" 7. Committees on nomenclature should secure the correct names and descrip-
tions of all new varieties, and report the same to their respective societies, and,
through them, to the Department of Agriculture."

Being fully in sympathy with the foregoing suggestions of my associates, I
may indulge in a few remarks respecting the objects sought and the difficulties in
the way of their accomplishment.

Aside from the enactment of the requisite rules for the control of nomen-
clature, doubtless the most effective means of advancing the desired object in this,
as in most similar matters, is to insist, even pertinaciously, upon adherence to such
rules in the discussion of varieties during the sessions of the Society, and to adhere
rigidly to their application in its published transactions. If, in addition to this,
nurserymen, and writers upon the subject, can be induced to apply such rules in
their catalogues and other publications, the object may be assumetl to be prac-
tically accomplished. It may properly be added that a society is doubtless better
with no rules whatever than, having them, omit their enforcement.

The American Pomological Society is devoted exclusively to the work indi-
cated by its title, while the American Horticultural Society ostensibly covers the
entire field of horticulture, which, in the modern sense of that word, also includes
pomology; to which, in fact, its labors so far have been largely devoted. Since
the truth is obvious, therefore, that these two independent organizations can not
otherwise work effectively to the end suggested in Mr. Munson's first and second
propositions, it would seem necessary, if the information accumulated by each is
to be utilized, that there be not only an understanding effected between these

126 Ainn-ican Horticnltunil Society.

societies, hut tlial tlicre also be a standing conference committee between them, to
which matters of the character referred to shall be submi'.ted, and by them rei)orted
to the society in whose transactions their matured conclusions are to appear.

The carryinp out of Mr. Mnnson's third snppcslion is a work which the So-
ciety, in its title, has clearly assumed ; while this field calls for eflective labor
quite as forcil)ly as does that of jmrnology. This fielil, moreover, is, as yet, almost
wholly unoccupied so far as reform in nomenclature is concerned ; and yet, even
here, there woulil doubtless be found, as in the case of pomology, occasion for con-
cert of action Itetween this Society and the associations of the llorists, the nursery-
men and those interested in forestry.

It is, however, especially to the broader, and hence more important, sugges-
tions contained in the remaining clauses of Mr. Mnnson's portion of this report,
taken in connection with the points menti()ne<i by Mr. IJr.ickett, that I desire to
invite the thoughtful consideration of the Society.

For the first time since the organization of a national Department of Agri-
culture, it has at its head a i)ersoii possessing an adequate conception of the needs,
the present importance and the possibilities of American horticulture. This is
clearly evinced by the steps already taken by the department to assist in develop-
ing the various interests associated under this head, notwithstanding the limited
apjiropriations available for such purpose.

It seems difficult to conceive a more effective mode of extending public aid to
individual enterprise of the character indicated than by the process shadowed
f )rth in Mr. Mnnson's fourth proposition : that all societies, whether national or
1 )cal, cither directly or indirectly', place themselves in correspondence with the
appropriate branch of the department, rei)orting to it the origin, names and de-
scriptions of all new fruits, together with such other valuable information as may
come within their knowledge; such varieties to be examined, and, if found worthy,
to be described and iluly entereii upon the department lists and the same published,
with date and place of origin, the locations in which it has proved successful, and
the purposes to which it is adapted. \ publication of this character for each of
the |»riucipal departments of horticulture, including the valuable varieties already
known and in cultivation, with accompanying .synonyms, and supplemented an-
nually by lists of the meritorious novelties of the ]iast year, approved by the socie-
ties anil by the department, and resolutely excluding unworthy varieties, would,
doubtless, soon come to be generally recognized as authority as to the value of
varieties, iind hence become the means of su|>prcssing the mass of trash which, in
the hands of unscrupulous persons, has so long, so heavily, and to so little purpose,
taxed tlie ignorant and the unwary.

Such a (dieck upon the introilni-tioii of worlblcss iinvfliies has been long needed,
especially in i)oniology, since the mulliplitatioM of varieties has long b?en such that
even the |)ublishing of shor: and hence imperfen descriptions, as a means of iden-
tification and detection of re introdnctionw under new names, is already quite be-
yond the cajiacity of individual pnteri)rise, and, in ronspquence, -tandard worksof
this character are already, in too many cases, comparatively stale an 1 useless,
while the nee<l of such has heioiiie increasingly great.

All of which is rcspec tfully sul>mitted, 'P. V. l.vox. diairman.

Report on Experiment Stations. 127

South Haven, Mich., January 9, 1888.

Since the preparation and forwarding of the report of the Committee on No-
menclature I have received the following from Edmund H. Hart, Federal Point,
Florida:

" There is little to contribute in the matter of nomenclature from this state.

"In the Nurserymen's Convention at Palatka last July it was decided that
the Ereobothrya Japonica, generally and erroneously called Japan plum, be in fut-
ure designated by its proper name — Loquat.

An imported and anonymous citron exhibited by Rev. Lyman Phelps, said to
be valuable for preserving and palatable in a fresh state, was named the Lyman
citron.

A motion was made to call Diospyros Kaki, Kaki, instead of Japan persim-
mon ; but it was not adopted, after the objection made that, being an undeniable
persimmon, and of Japanese origin, it is rea^y entitled to its present name. The
nomenclature of this is, however, so barbarous and so inextricably confused that a
sweeping revision is loudly called for, and will probably be attempted soon.

(Signed), Edmund H. Hart.

W. H. Ragan, Secretary American. Horticultural Society :

Please add the foregoing to the report of the Committee on Nomenclature re-
cently sent yt.u. Very n sp?ttfnlly, T. T. Lyon,

Chill man Committee on Nomenclature.

EEPOPtT ON EXPERIMENT STATIONS.

BY HEKBERT MY'RICK, OF MASSACHUSETTS.

I am asked to contribute a word in relation to experiment stations.
This subject becomes of enormous consequence by reason of the passage of
the Hatch exjDeriment station act, under which an appropriation of $15,000
annually is expected for each state, to bd devoted to conducting an agricul-
tural experiment station in connection with the agricultural college. This
act says that the appropriation shall be made annually. It is not a perpetual
appropriation; congress must provide for it every year. This has been
pointed out as a great weakness in the law, but to my mind it is one of its
strongest points. The stations established under the Hatch act must attend
strictly to business, and do the work that the farmers want done, or they
will not satisfy the public demand, and the result will be that congress will
withdraw the appropriation.

But let the stations do good work, and the work that is most needed,
and there will be no doubt that th^ necessary funds will be forthcoming
without fail every year. Thus the stations will ba put on their mettle, and
the abuses and errors which have grown up in some states by the adminis-
tration of the agricultural college act of 1862 will be avoided. The 115,000
annually to each state will not be permitted to be gobbled up by any third-
rate literary institution, which may have been successful in gulping down

128 American Horticultural Sociitij.

the whole or a portion of the income due to its state under the land grant
act of lS(i2.

There are several conceptions as to the work which experiment stations
should do in this country. The director of an institution of this nature,
which has received large grants of nioney, hut has yet produced hut meager
results, said, when asked why he did not issue bulletins of information upon
those subjects:

" You say I ought to send out bulletins describing and illustrating the
Hessian ily, and what can be done to prevent it« ravages. Now, it is true
that such a bulletin would be of interest to farmers at this season [which
was in the midst of an attack of the fly], but what would my scientific friends,
the directors of other sUitions, think to receive such a bulletin of well-known
facts ? "

We replied that it made no diflerence what the directors of other sta-
tions thought. The station in his state was for the benelit of the farmers in
that state. While it should do original and careful scientific work, it should
also be ever ready to give the information that farmers want. At that time
the best possible service it could have done would have been to issue as a
bulletin a complete illustrated history of the insect that was ravaging the
wheat crop, and what measures could be taken to prevent it, or what meas-
ures the farmers might pursue to guard against ita return in the future.

To my mind work of this nature is the first duty of each and every ex-
periment station. It should be a bureau of information, where, upon appli-
cation and without cost, the farmers of the state could secure full knowledge
so far as it was obtainable upon any point involved in their business. In-
deed, an experiment station that thus gets down to the common, every day,
working farmer, should have so much correspondence of this nature as to
require the constant employment of at least one, if not two, competent sten-
ographer and tj'pe-writer. Every effort should be made to encourage farm-
ers to ask (Questions of the station, and also to visit it. They should be made
to know that it is established and operated for their benelit. Copies of let-
ters and replies of general or special interest should be sent to all tlie agri-
cultural papers that circulate in the stiite, as well as the party whose inquiry
provoked the answer. Indeed, no effort should be spared to i)lac-e the infor-
mation given out by the station before the whole public of farmers.

One of the best features of the Hatch act is that which j)ermits the free
circulation in the mails of the experiment station bulletins and report.-.
There would be no sense in si>ending $lo,000 or more annually in each stat»;
in work of this i">ature, ostensibly for the benefit of farmerfS, and thou h ivo
it locked up in an annual report that few would ever .see. It is tho <liH'u^ion
of knowledge that .should be one of the important objects of the station, and
this should apply not only to the results of the the station's original work,
but to the dill'nsion of results and knowledge gained at similar institutions
elsewhere, or knowledge gained by any other means, .so far as it apjilied tr,
and was helpful to, agriculture. Under a proper system of management this

JJoiv to Get a Race of Hardy Fruits for the Northwest. 12^

(lifFusion of information need not seriously interfere wHh the scientific and
original worlc and experiments uf the station. A proper executive manage-
inent will distribute the iijquiries and requests for information on various
points in such a manner among the employes of the station, that the work
shall be so divided as not to seriously draw them away from their actual
work in carrying on experiments in the laboratory, stable or field.

This is merely a fragmentary snggesuon in relation to this most im-
portant and far-reaciiing subject. Nevertheless, I believe it is exceedingly
important, and if I were to emphasize any one point above all others, it
would be this : The experiment station should get down to the common
farmers, who most need their help, by direct correspondence, by bulletins,
by annual or more frequent reports, and, above all, through the press. This
is said with the understanding, of course, that the dissemination of partial
results or mispleading experiments is to be guarded against. It is also un-
derstood that, in all these presentations of knowledge to the people, the facts
are to be stated in plain language, that the average farmer can fully under-
stand. Short sentences and clear definitions are required. Brevity is above
all things to be desired. But references may well be given showing where
further details may be found.

HOW TO GET A EACE OF H AKDY FKUITS FOR THE NORTHWEST.

BY C. L. WATROUS, OF IOWA.

There is, perhaps, no other question whose prompt and practical solu-
tion would bring more daily comfort into the home-lives of the people of the
prairie region of this continent. Of food and shelter we have abundance.
It is a light task to build against the wildest blasts, while barn and yard and
field are annually overflowing with fowl and flesh and grain for the susten-
ance of a vigorous race of men. But more and more is fruit becoming a
large and necess iry part of the daily food of the highly organized and nervous
race occupying this region. Races whose vital and mental activities remain
nearest the animal may thrive on meat and bread, but the highest living
and highest thinking are nourished and stimulated by the finest fruits of the
temperate regions.

The rich, cool acid of fruits more truly deserves to be called Elixir vitee
than any fancied distillation of alchemists, and of all fruits the apple is un-
disputed king. But now over all the prairies rides the black-visaged herald,
proclaiming with blast of trumpet and solemn voice, "The king is dead!
The king is dead ! " And as he rides, lo! other heralds cry aloud, "Long
live the king! The king lives! " And they tell the people how to have sound
and healthy orchards. Some say, " Here be trees crown-grafted on whole
roots, let them rule over you. The price is high, but they are worth it."
Others announce, " Here be trees budded on seedling stocks ; they are worthy
to rule over you, at no matter what price."

130 Aiiurirdit Jloilicn/tiinil '%ci('(i/.

Here also ride olher eviingelists— siern-vlsaneil men, weak in numbers
but strong of purpose— lilling all llie air ami tlie newspapers willi loud
acclaim, " Here come the Russians! Make way for the noble Kus:<ians! They,
and they only, arc able to live and rule in the land. They are crude and
wild, but tliey are vigorou.s and h.irdy. The imperial purple costs money,
but it is our only refuge. Buy and plant and have faith ! "

Thus exhorted, men arc i)lanting again, dowly. Perhaps anything is
better thiui nothing, and all these ])roclaiining evangelists may find mercy
hereafter throuj:li that consideration. l*rudent men know all these for tinsel
kings, and look into each others eyes for an answer to our first question:
How shall we get a hardy race of fruits lit to rule our tables and our cellars?

Experience teaches that crown-grafts on whole roots are a delusive
remedy; that with a short piece of root, a long scion of a hardy variety soon
forms a tree subsLnntially on its own roots — the best form of a root-grafted
tree; :in'l that the bept sorts budded on seedling stocks are less reliable than
any sort (.f root grafted tree. Clearly, no known method of i)ropagating the
varieties we have gives promise of full relief.

Facing the evangelists of the new gospel of the Russians, we cry in de-
spair : " Show us your divine right of kingship and we will bow in submis-
sion." Comes the answer: " Russia is a land far northward, with a climate
more sevM-e than ours and a similar soil ; therefore, trees hardy there will
lie still more hardy here. Moreover, many of them are winter ajiples, which
may be depended upon to be reliable winter-keej)ers as far south as latitude
41°." It is admitted that the home of the Russian apple is beyond north
l.itittide 51°, from 600 to 1,000 miles north of central Iowa, and should be
rcnsonably expected to mature unseasonably in a much longer season. But
the Russians say the influence of the Atlantic gulf stream carries the line of
equal summer heat 10° farther south in Europe than in America, therefore,
10° farther south in America will eqialize conditions, and Russian ajiples,
winter-keepers in latitude 52' there, will keep equally well grown in latitude
42° here. How two climates can cons'stently be claimed as similur, while in
one the moist and warm influences of the gulf stream are potent enough to
change the isothermal line through ten degrees of latitude, and are ab>ent
from the other, no man has yet risen to explain. Central Russia is far from
the sea, but no elevations of land rise between them, while western America
has range upon ran).':e towering heaven high, so that the soft influences of
the I'.icific are scarcely felt beyond a few miles inland.

The foremost authority in geograpliical botany. Uriesbach, divides the
earth into twenty-four botsmical regions. A map of those regions shows the
green shade of the north Europe and Asiatic timber region as extending
from the shores of the Btltic fully live hundred miles beyond Moscow, Orel,
Verone.sh and B »gd tnofF, where, we are told, is the home of the mor-t pr.nu
ising Russians. Our own Asa Gray, after a journey of ob.servation-. used
these words: " 1 have been able to see for myself what species ami what
forms constitute the main features of the vegetation of each region, and

How to Get a Race of Hardy Fruit.-ifor the Nort/uvest. 131

record, as the vegetation unerringly does, the permanent characteristics of
its climate." The climates of western Europe and western America are
duplicates, while corresponding eastern shores bear like relations.

Asa Gray tells us that about latitude 47° the trees of the Pacific extend
eastward and mingle with their cousins of the Atlantic, while at 37° there is
a broad hiatus of a thousand miles between the two floras. The trees of the
Pacific and of western Europe generally fail before maturity, even if suc-
cessful through infancy on the prairies. Whether the trees of Russia will
in the end fare much better appears more doubtful every year.

Secretary A. C. Hammond, of the Illinois Horticultural Society, says in
his last report : " I have tested many of the Russians. They do well until
they come into bearing, when they almost invariably blight and die. Even
1 1 the trees grow the fruit is too poor to be of much value. South of latitude
42° they are not wanted." Prominent horticulturists in Ohio and Missouri
have lately expressed themselves to much the same effect.

Thus far the most successful Russian orchard in America is in the tira-
l)ered region of southern Wisconsin. The prairies have never shown such
success. But this is no nev/ experiment, it is only an old one revived.

More than forty years ago President Berckmans, of the American Pom
ological Society, tested, with his father, in Belgium, about 500 varieties of
South Russian and Hungarian apples. In 1845 the most promising of these
were brought to America. President Bei'ckmans now writes that none of
them proved good keepers, and, so far as he knows, the race has entirely dis-
appeared from the region of the experiment.

In 1852 or 1853, scions of many of these were sent to Ellwanger & Barry,
at Rochester, N. Y. They now say that after more than thirty years of trials
and importations from the best known sources, they have abandoned all hopes
of finding good quality or good keepers, or, indeed, of finding anj^ sorts worth
cultivating anywhere, unless they will succeed where others fail. No reli-
able winter-keepers hiive thus far been found among the late importation in
Iowa, nor any of high quality.

Many scores have been shown in August and September, but, with few
exceptions, the flavor of the Cossack hangs round them all. No rivals of
such apples as Early Joe.Benoni, Dyer, Porter and many others have been
shown, while of a score out of our noble old list of winter-keepers, it must
be confessed there is absolutely none among all the Ru.«sians to fill their
places. While many Russian apples have succeeded fairly well in nurseries
where our oldest sorts have latelj^ been crippled, yet the most promising of
them have shown in nurseries from Minnesota to Missouri, among other
weaknesses, a strange infirmity in respect to the needful nursery pruning
at the age of two or three years, turning black at the cut, whether made early
or late in the season. For this reason one of the most extensive growers of
Russians in Iowa has lately suggested the possible advisability of growing
Russians without nursery pruning.

As has been pointed out by more than one, this inability to endure

l.'VJ Americdu Horticxdinnil Society.

pruning shows a fatal lack of adaptability, if not a lack of hardiness. Here
let it be noted, the use of the word "hanliness" instead of "adaptability" has led
to )?rcat confusion of thoiiiiht. A tree native in a i'<>Ider climate may nat-
urally be supposed hardier if we mean by this belter able to endure exces-
sive cold. But for that very reason it is likely to prove unadapted to a hotter
or a dryer climate, for excessive summer heat is as fat^il a.s excessive winter
cold.

It is the unlikeness of conditions lb u c iu>es the plants of one clime to
fail in a dillerent one, and God has not matle any two disUint regions alike,
as was so forcibly pointed out by the great Humboldt near a century ago.
History shows no instance of successful acclimatizing on a large scale except
by nature's method of variation by seedling productions to meet changed
conditions. No man is better qualilieil to spe:Uc on this subject than Charles
Darwin. Of the relations between the plants of Europe and America, he
says: " On this view we can understand the relationship with very little
identity between the productions of North America and Europe— a relation-
ship which is highly remarkable, considering the distmce of the two areas
and their scperation by the whole Atlantic ocean." And again : " When we
compare the now living productions of the new ami the old worlds, we tind
very few identical species, but we find in every great clas.s many forms which
some naturalists rank as geographical races, and others as distinct .species,
and a host of allied or representative forms which are ranked by all natural-
ists as specifically distinct."

It is not necessary to heap up evidence, of which all modern bot^inical
science is full on this and cognate points pertinent to our inquiry. Dirwin
has shown conclusively that crosses are stronger than s'-lf-fertiliznl i)lants,
but our nursery methods of propagation by buds are, in their result?', the
very essence of in and in breeding a species of incest repugnant on phy-
siological grounds to all 1 tws human and divine.

D.irwin and others have also pointed out how in nature new and im-
proved species, better able to withstand new dilhcnlties, have continually
crowded to the wall older ones. Says Professor Gray : " A series of plants
propagated by bud only must have a weaker hold of life than a series pro-
duced by seed. How and why the union of two organisms, or g'-neraily of
two very minute portirais of them, should re-enforce vitality, we do not know,
but this must be the m*^aning of sexual reprotluction." Mark well the worda,
" re-enforce vitality — by the the use of two organisms," for right tliere, unless
I greatly mist;ike, is the seminal idea— the key that in worthy hands will
unlock the castle of all our difHculties.

For two generations the nurserymen of America have neglected the
vitid process of natural propagation. Now, like m tny another prodigal, hav-
ing exhausted the patrimony gathered by the fathers, they are unhappy.
An inspection of Downing or Warder will reveal the princijial origin of our
noblest apples as chance seedlings in the older settled states, in the primi-
tive days when millions of seedlings grew to maturity among the hills.

How to Get a Race of Hardy Fruits for the Northicest. 133

The road to a race of hardy fruits for the northwest is not paved, and
it may be long, but all botanical and biological science points in but one di-
rection. Where shall we begin the advance? What races and varieties
oflfer most promise of speedy relief.

DeCandoUe tells us that our own apples probably originated somewhere
in the region between Trebizond or Ghilan, in north Persia, south of the
Caspian sea, and that its prehistoric area extended thence nearly to Europe.

He adds : " No author mentions it growing in Siberia or Mongolia, or in
Japan." Hence all our Siberian and Russian apples must be regarded as
descended, with variations, from this primitive form. President Berckmans
says his Russian apples appeared by their names to have been carried to
Russia from the countries of Germanic-speaking races. Mr. Barry noted
the same thing among his importations, and a glance over any list of late
Iowa importations betrays the same ear-marks.

Seedling reproduction in a severe climate may have produced modifi-
cations which will render them of extra value as breeders here. This will
soon be known. The veteran Peter M. Gideon has produced, by crosses with
the Siberian crab, some sorts that in Iowa nurseries now show a better
adaptability than any of the Russians, showing less damage from climatic
influences and less disease from needed pruning in nursery. These facts
are visible and undisputed. They are vastly encouraging to the travelers in
the new road.

Another most remarkable exhibit was made the other day at an Iowa
horticultural gathering ; nothing less than an apple nearly as large as the
average Roman Stem crisp, juicy and well-flavored except in one respect.
The tree that bore it was the lineal grandson of a wild crab from our thickets.
It was a seedling from the Soulard crab, supposed to be crossed with a fine
summer apple, and the original Adamic nature of the grandsire was too ap-
parent. Yet it seemed to me, on the whole, more palatable than any Rus-
sian on the tables at the same time.

If all modern science be not at fault, if the doctrine of the survival of
the fittest be not a delusion, these denizens of our own thickets, having been
bred through all the ages to meet and endure the vicissitudes of prairie con-
ditions, ought to be brought out and yoked to the car of civilization. DeCiin-
doUe says the lake dwellers of Savoy, Lombardy and Switzerland, before the
use of metals, made great use of apples, drying them for winter provisions.
They had two kinds, one somewhat less than an inch lengthwise, the other
rather more, both being still a little larger cut across. From their abund-
ance he thinks they may have been cultivated for food. These s'zes do not
exceed many of our wild crabs in a state of nature, which may be promptly
enlarged by cultivation and abundant nutriment.

As to exact methods, thousands of men in the northwest are competent
to place a graft of Russian, or Siberian, or native crab, or some well-adapted
cross-bred descendant of them, in the top of a bearing tree, and repeat the
process many times. When the graft fruits, there is a reasonable probability

134 AmericcDi Horticultural Society.

of cross-bred seeds, wliich should be planted by tens :ind by hundreds and
by thousands, and the work repeated again anil again ; for along that road
lies tiie city of our refuge — a race of liarily apples adapted to the northwest.
For till' other fruits, except pears, the way is still ejisier. With plums the
problem is already near solution. With cherries let us hope to .see our own
wild black cherries and our choke-cherries crossed and re-crossed with th«!
European forms. Success lies at the end of the road. With grapes and all
small fruits the problem is comparatively simple, and results much sooner
reacheil.

In these pleasant fields are labors worthy the ambition of any man who
loves his fellowmen and his native land. Does anyone ask what shall we do
while the new race is breeding? I say plant the best old sorts where there
is any hope of success. Top with the best winter .sorts on hardy stocks and
plant iliem. Plant Russians if they will succeed where others fail. Plant
anything that promises fruit to eat till something better can be bred.

COMBINED AGRICULTURE AND IIOKTICULTUKE.

BY PROF. GEOKOE W. CURTIS, OF TE.XAS.

This is an age of specialties — a time when cluce applied science is mak-
ing itself heard in every quarter of the globe. The old time versatile genius
vu'garly known as "Jack at all trades, master of none," has gradually been
pushed farther and still farther back upon the shelf, while the ilust of ages,
started by the vigorous hand of spruce young "specialty," settles slowly o'er
him. The time was — so the ancient mile-posts along the pith of progress
may tell you — when every man was a host in himself, and every good wife
performed her simple duties of the household in addition to those regular
tasks of spinning, weaving, fitting, and a score of other modern ''specialties,"
each one of which involves at present millions of dollars capital, and is dig-
nified or disgraced (we can not assume to decide) by the peritxlical strikes
of some labor union machine. Some, perhaps, will mourn the j>a.<sing of the
" good old times,' but to such we would say, not .so, and, to change somewhat
the old truism, " In union there is strength, in division, progress."

Life is too short and the world too large for a man to attempt every-
thing. Let him, rather, devote what energy and patience he may have to
the mastery of une thing — broad enough in itself to bring out the best with
which nature has endowed him — and the world gains, while he lo.sses noth-
ing. Then, is it wise to advocate, as we presently shall do, the mixing of
two such specialties as agriculture and horticulture ? To this we answer,
yes. Horticulture is only a branch of agriculture, so that no principle of
the division of labor is strained. In fact, the exact boundary whore the
field of horticulture merges into its containing parent can never be located ;
the two are so intimately and firmly associated that a thorough knowledge
of agriculture almost implies, and certainly demands, at least a primary
knowledge of horticulture.

Combined Agriculture and Horticulture. 135

It is a fact which we need not argue that only in certain localities will
horticulture cdone be profitable. Where the soil is suitable, there must still
be other conditions to render success probable, or even possible. There
must be either a home market, as in location near a considerable city, or
there must be cheap and speedy transportation. The products of horticul-
tural labor are, for the most part, perishable, and must either go at once to
the consumer or be put through a more or less expensive " process" for their
safe preservation.

The nursery business is, to a certain extent, independent of these restric-
tions, and may very properly engross the entire time of the nurseryman. It
should be borne in mind, however, that the supplj'^ must never exceed the
demand if profit is the desideratum — and here hangs the kej' to the tomb of
hundreds of dead nurseries. A good talker may often create a sort of un-
healthy demand, but when the country has been flooded with nursery stock
in this way for a year or two, no amount of talking can prevent the down-
fall of the nursery which caused the deluge. To be secure, a nursery must
undertake only what its territory demands, and, further, it must not seek to
extend that territory beyond the natural climatic and humidic limits of its
own locality. Although, perhaps, foreign to the subject, it may not be out
of place in this paper to decry the evil practice of selling nursery stock from
one country in another of radically different temperature, soil and moisture.
Such practices as this do much toward preventing, among farmers, a popu-
lar appreciation of the home orchard, and tends to foster feelings of distrust
and resentment toward the entire nursery fraternity.

But while we may justly blame such horticultural knavery, we must
also mention the lack of requisite knowledge to successfully plant and culti-
vate a fruit garden. Farmers, as a rule, have too little knowledge of the
principles which underlie plain and practical farming, and when we add to
this the care of orchard or vineyard, the majority are found sadly de-
ficient. To remedy this defect is much easier than to control dishonest
practice among vendors of trees; the latter we can only reach by proper
legislation, the former we must seek to govern through educational chan-
nels. Oar agricultural colleges are deing a grand work in this direction,
and students who leave their halls are well-fitted to spread the knowledge
which they have acquired among those who are not so fortunate. Nor is
this all ; there are men to be found who, at their own private expense, are
doing much to instruct the unskilled in the growing of fruit and garden
products. Horticultural meetings in all parts of the country are, in them-
selves, important factors in this horticultural education. The public press,
by its faithful record of events and its tireless search after new facts and
theories, has already done wonders. With future issues multiplied and scat-
tered broadcast, so that even " he who runs may read," there is every reason
to hope for rapid progress in this really important work.

In the cotton states there is an especial need for more admixture of
horticulture and agriculture in farming operations. The cotton crop is

136 American llorticnltnrdl Society.

planted, tended and harvested at certain seasons, leaving the planter free at
ju.->i the proper time for taking care of a small fruit garden, and giving hint
ample time as well to grow an abundance of fresh vegetables for home con-
8Uini)lion. To remedy the evils which have eaten up the i)rolits of cotioii-
growing in the past, it is necessary to economize labor by keeping it steaddy
employed. Why not, then, let us ask in all seriousness, why not encourage
to the fullest extent the growing of fruit by southern farmers for home cim-
8umj)tion. More than this, let the farmers once appreciate the benelits
from such a course, and become familiar with the simple operations on which
successful fruit-growing depends, and they will create a home market which
must surely increase the yearly income. Canning and evaporating estab-
lishments are steadily increasing in number, and the great southwest is re-
ceiving her full quota.

Texas, with her one and a half million bales of cotton, representing an
annual value of over $55,000,000, is slowly but surely turning to mixed farm-
ing for relief from the tyranny of " King Cotton," while fruit and viticulture
are as surely pushing forward to a prominent place in the future operations
of the farm. The peach, the pear and the grape lintl a congenial home on
Texas soil, and there is no excuse for neglecting to proliL by the cordial readi-
ness of nature.

The system of farming in that greatsouthwest area known as the " tlrouth
region," has, heretofore, been too extensive to admit of costly methods of
improvement. Soils, nowhere excelled for richness, have been clussed as
" grazing lands," for the simple reason that necessity had not yet forced ui)on
our people the practice of close, intense farming, which demands a greater
outlay while permitting the same percentage returns. Much of this so-called
drouth area has an abundance of rainfall, but coming a? it does during a f'^w
months only of the year, its effects are not lasting, and, indeed, a large por-
tion of its bulk is rapidly carried away by ravine8,creek-<and rivers. If this
body of water which is annually lost could be stored up and drawn upon as
needed, we should have a section of country dotted with small, diversified
farms, each one showing a considerable portion for fruit and garden use.
"Will irrigation pay?" is a question often asked. We can only answer:
Look around you a^. the places where irrigation ilx's pay, and satisfy your-
selves as to its value.

The great bugbear which has prevented a more general appreciation of
the natural resources of the great plains, is the fear of investing capital
which will not give immediate returns. Farming is like all other business
ventures; capiUil intelligently placed will surely yiclil a go(Kl interest on
long investments. Do not understand that we would advocate an expensive
system of irrigation for a crop which occupies the ground only during a few
months of the year; but we do claim that irrigation from tanks, in a small
way, for fruit and garden products, and for some of the lei^s hardy crops as
well, will yield abundant returns. The subject is just now being strongly
pushed with the hope of securing appropriations from the general govern-

Combined Agriculture and Horticulture. 137

ment for the building of large tanks in the highest portions of these dry
lands. In these tanks the winter rains may be securely retained, and drawn
upon by farmers in the locality as needed, on the payment of a nominal water
rent. We believe the plan can be carried out, and would repeat that if such
assistance is to be given, the farmer who skillfully uses a knowledge of both
agriculture and horticulture will be the prosperous man in the early future.

Forest tree planting, as an aid to general farming, should also engage
our attention. In many localities the planting of pecan and other nut tim-
ber has proved extremely profitable ; but we must look beyond the imme-
diate gain and realize, if possible, the vast good to result from an extensive
system of tree planting on o,ur western plains. The question of scarcity of
wood will be, perhaps, of no moment for years to come, but if any material
increase in the amount of rain-fall can be effected by tree planting, the argu-
ment in its favor becomes irrefutable. That the vegetation of a country has
a decided effect upon its humidity, few will deny ; and it is equally certain
that as the quantity of vegetation increases over any considerable area, the
average rain-fall increases also. To increase the vegetation without surface
water in advance, it is necessary to plant varieties which will seek water at
considerable depth. Deep-rooted forest trees will do this, bringing up the
water from below and giving it off by evaporation to charge the atmosphere
with moisture. We believe the states should follow the example of the cen-
tral government, and make timber culture a basis for the sale of state lands
to actual settlers. Texas has a vast area which she is trying to use for the
best interests of her school population. To secure the greatest good to the
greatest number, she should adopt some policy which will force an actual
occupation of land by owners, requiring at the same time a certain acreage
to be planted in fruit or forest trees, and allowing successful culture for a
series of years to offset a portion of the purchase price.

At the present time immigration is pouring into the whole plains region,
and it behooves each state concerned to aid the material advancement of her
would-be citizens by all means in her power.

Tree planting is no blind experiment. It has been tried, and to-day the
green groves springing up all over the prairies of Dakota, Kansas and Ne-
braska may furnish brilliant examples of its success. The farmers of these
sections are but proving the wisdom and foresight which brought forth the
national timber claim and homestead act, and labored so faithfully to secure
to holders in fee-simple the actual possession of the public lands.

We believe the time is ripe for concert of action between the friends of
agriculture and horticulture; and, in closing, may we not urge that each
and every one interested shall do his utmost to advance the common cause ?
Let us use all means in our power for the education of those whom we seek
to assist, urging, always, the importance of economy in both time and labor,
and we mayreach results which will startle modern agriculture out of her
apathy, and link her fortunes still more closely with those of her horticul-
tural offspring.
10

]38 Aiiwrican Horticultural Society.

COLOR OF t; KATES.

IJY D. S. .MARVIN, OF NEW YORK.

In growing seedling grapes we are just as apt to get a so-called white
grape from a black one, or vice versa, as one of the color of the p.irent vine.
From the thousands of seedlings I have grown and studied, I do not think
that hybridizing has any ellect in determining the color of a new seedling.
The coloring matters of wine have been well studied by Thresicunj and
Dupre in their exhaustive treatise upon wine, and, incident^dly, the coloring
matter of the skins is more or less studied. On page 204 it is said " the juice
of most grapes is perfectly free from tannin; the skins and stalks (stems),
however, contain a considerable quantity of a substance which, though not
ordinary tannin, closely resembles it in properties." On page 255 it is said
"color in wine is produced by the o.xydizing etiect of the air upon matters
contained in grapes — the so-called extractine, or bodies not yet known, and
the tannic acid. '

It will be seen that color is the efiect of sunlight acting upon the tannic
acid of the skins and those unknown bodies spoken of that play so important
a part in the colors of wine. This leaves the causes of the colors of the fruit
sDmewhat unstudied. Back of all this, it seems to me, there are cauf^es out-
side of any chemical action and reaction that have led up to and originated
the colors of the fruit. I refer to the influences of birds and, occasionally,
animals; the interchanges of action and reaction they have produced upon
the slow and gradual development of the fruit.

It is as yet unknown from what plant the grape originated, but from a
careful study and personal consideration of the varied tendencies of the
plant, the seedlmgs gradually diverging and, linally, breaking in such a num-
ber of species far away in ihe }):ist, and each of these species again into such
a multitude of varieties, the varieties sprouting into so many new tints and
colors of skin and i)ulp and seeds, we must, therefore, conclude that these
causes have exerted such an important influence upon some one or more of
the vital economics, that the color of the fruit had come to be of very great
importance to the development, growth and welfare of the plants themselves.
The origin of the vine i)robably dates back to the earlier portions of the ter-
tiary period, the fruit at lirst small and inconspicuous. Some of the plants
finally sj)routing a little, from lavorable environment or other causes, devel-
oped higher-colored berries. The birds being attracted, fed upon the ber-
ries, and scattered the seeds ujion still better land and in a more favorable
climate, where they germinated and produced still higher-colored and more
attractive fruit. Thus, from clime to clime and age to age, continuing, until
finally primitive man, coming to the aid of the birds, recognizing the attract-
iveness and food value of the fruit, began its selection, and afterwards, per-
haps, its cultivation, always .selecting the best and largest fruit, and, like the
birds, the highest-colored and most attractive varieties, for his own diatetic

Color of Grapes. 139

purposes, dissemination and improvement; until, finally, civilized man
taking the plant under control, the " grapes of Eschol " gained a historic
record, with all their great attractiveness and alluring colors, the brightest
colors still being alwaj's chosen by birds and man alike.

In some varieties of grapes, like the Concord, for instance, there is little
or no coloring pigment in the pulp, the coloring matter, as we would sup-
pose from its herein suggested origin, residing in the skin. There are other
varieties, those of which port wines are made, in which the pigments have
spread from the skins into the pulp, and even the seeds are dark in most of
our Riparia grapes.

Mr. Darwin and those who have studied the colors of the plumage of
birds suggest that their bright tints have originated in and through sexual
selection. But the origin of the colors of grapes must be attributed to selec-
tion for diatetic purposes by the past joint action of birds, animals and man ;
of course, mainly, and for long ages, by birds alone. And I am convinced
from a study of our own native grapes, several of which species appear older
than Vitis vinijera, that it is generally in the oldest species, as we would con-
clude, that we find the darkest colors of skin, seeds and pulp, while our more
recent species have the most purple, pink and red pigments.

In conclusion, the writer wishes to add that he desires the foregoing
paper to be considered more as suggestions to cause others to study the topic
than a finished contribution to exact knowledge.

PROCKEDINGS

OF TIIK

AMERICAN HORTICl'LTURAL SOCIETY.

(SECOND SECTION.)

The Meeting at Riverside, Fp:uruary 7, 8 and 9, 1888.

The reasons for holding the eiglith convention of the American
Ilorticultnral Society in two sections were briefly exjdained in the
opening paragraph of this volume. The hiatus intervening lietween
the adjournment at San Jose and the re-assembling at Riverside, is
completely covered by the appended sketch by Dr. Ridpath, " Be-
yond the Sierras," to which the reader is referred.

At 10 o'clock A. M. on Tuesday, February 7, ISS.S, as pL-r ad-
journment, the Society again assembled, in tlie First Congregational
church, in the city of Riverside. Here, as in San Jose, all neces-
sary preparation had been made for the accommodation of the So-
ciety and its members. Indeed, the pledge telegraj)hed the Secre-
tary on March 9, 1887, was fully redeemed by tlic citizens of this
beautiful and prosperous city and community of fruit-growers and
horticulturists. A few of the visiting members who iiad attended
the meeting at San Jose failed to atteiid the Riverside meeting.
Others, however, joined us here for the first time, the local attend-
ance being even better tiian at the former place.

The Los Angeles Herald, in its issue of February 8, has the
following :

The annual convention of the American Horticultunil Society at River-
side, which is now in progress at that city, is considered liy those who have
thought deeply on the subject to be one of the most important events that
has ever happened in southern California, for the reason that the visiting
members of the Society are intelligent scientists who can not fail to be im-

Financial Statement. 141

pressed with the wealth of this section of the country. Eecognizing this
fact, the citizens of southern CaUfornia have made preparations to properly
exhibit the products of their sections, and the fTerald has dispatched a rep-
resentative to report as full as possible the proceedings.

lu the temporary absence of the President, Vice-President Mun-
son, of Texas, called the meeting to order, and introduced Mr. Holt,
President of the Riverside Board of Trade, who briefly alluded to
the arrangements which had been made for the accommodation and
entertainment of the Society and its members, after which the Sec-
retary made the following

FINANCIAL STATEMENT:

Receipts.

From subscriptions for publishing President Earle's address $ 14 70

From books sold 52 00

From Missouri Horticultural Society for transactions 50 00

From 424 members for 1886-87 848 00

From Missouri Pacific R. R., for advertising 60 00

Total of receipts $1,024 70

Disbursements.

Paid record and alphabetical list for members $ 1 15

Paid office rent, fuel and lights 50 00

Paid telegraph and telephone messages 2 35

Paid printing and publishing Vol. IV 538 60

Paid express, freight and drayage 10 93

Paid postage on letters, circulars and books ••• 138 60

Paid railroad fare and personal expenses Ill 40

Paid stationery, pens, ink and pencils 11 45

Paid assistant at meeting at Cleveland 20 00

Paid hotel bills at meeting 18 50

Total expenditures $ 902 98

Balance in hands of Secretary $ 121 72

Respectfully submitted, W. H. Ragan, Secretary.

Treasurer Evans, of Missouri, made a verbal report, stating
that all money transactions of the year had been, through a mutual
understanding, within the Secretary's office, and had been by that
officer reported.

Messrs. Smith of Wisconsin, Ohmer, of Ohio, and Holsinger, of
Kansas, were appointed a Committee on Finance, to whom the officer's
reports were referred.

142 American Horticultural Society.

The Committee on Order of Business was rc(jnestecl to icpdi't at
the opening of tiie afternoon session.
Oil motion, the Society adjonrntd.

Fourth Day— Tuesday.

Afteknoon Session, Feliriinn- 7, 1888.

At 2 o'ck)ck President Earle called the meeting to order.
Rev. George H. Deere, of l^iverside, delivered the following

ADDKE8S OF WELCOME.

Lad^^x and Gentlemen, Fellow HoTiioultunMa from the far Eaift :

S )uthern California in general, and Hiverside in particular, through me,
would utter its most cordial greeting and warmest welcome. Our intelli-
gence is of such kind as to appreciate the fact that the practical horticul-
turists require not only muscle and sinew, but brains. The substance of our
welcome you have already received. *It met you when your eyes were
weary with pictures of desolation on your approach to our borders. The
raisins were honeyed words from our vineyards; the oranges golden speech
from our orchards, and the flowers the smiles of our fair women. You were
doubtless made to feel that you were indeed approaching Eden. Milton,
who is good authority in matters of tradition, says " Eden stretched its line
from Auran [presumably Los Angeles] to the royal towers of Selencia " (bor-
ders of Arizona). In this fertile soil (San Bernardino. Los .\ngelesand San
Diego counties) this far more pleasant garden God ordained. All trees of
the noblest kind for sight, smell, taste, he cau.sed to grow : and amidst them
stood the tree of life, high, eminent, blootning ambrosial, vegetable gold.
This was the original Riverside Washington Navel. Dr. J. P. Gr'^evy and
Jude Brown, in June, 1870, believed they had found the site of the old gar-
den, though reduced to a desert by the ages since the first horticultiiri.sts
were turned out for misconduct; and on the 2(Uh of September, Dr. Orccvy,
with the veteran colonist Jude and John W. North, was the first to lodge
within its limits. Dr. Shugart and Dr. Eastman and others soon joined
them. Doctors, lawyers, clergymen and men of culture were numerous
among these adventurers. They began to build: what, they hardly knew
themselves. It was a sorry work amid the frowning mountains. It was all
climate then. Here and there they planted little sprouts, and watered them
year after year, as best they could, waiting all the time patiently for the
result. Los Angeles and S.m Bernardino, only small settlements, laughed

^Sce Dr. Ridpnth's skctdi. " Tlic Uccoption at Indio."

Address of Welcome. 143

at what they considered the foolhardiness of these sturdy settlers, and even
now they don't, or pretend not to, know what we have done. S. C. Evans
came five years later. He wrote to ex-Governor Downey, asking as to the
advisability of a move to Riverside. That worthy gentleman told him to
never undertake it, as it was a God-forsaken country. But, notwithstanding
this, men of intelligence, brain and culture saw a future in the place, and
they came here, and behold the result! And now let me say to you, when
you meet a woman who stood firm by her determination in these early
pioneer days of trial, uncover your head in her presence.

The tradition some of them recently discovered, concerning our pet
orange, I think I had better give you : The nuptial festivities of Juno, queen
of the Olympian heaven, were graced by " ambrosial " fruit and vegetable
food, contributed by Terra, goddess of earth. So privileged was this fruit
that Juno committed it to the exclusive care of the three daughters of Hes-
perus, with a dragon to guard it in their far-off isle in the west. The story
of the most difficult of the twelve labors of Hercules, relating to the search
and finding of these apples of gold by Atlap, while Hercules shouldered the
world, is well known. From the stolen fruit brought by the strong god to
his tyrannical master, Eurystheus, have descended the degenerating oranges
of the world.

The golden apple which Discord threw, in her anger, marked " for the
fairest," among the goddesses at the wedding of the father and mother of
Achilles, and which Paris awarded to Venus, Discord filched from the golden
tree of the H^sperides. Homer's glorious story of the Trojan war, which
sprang from thit award, does not record what became of the apple. Eecent
research in the archives of tradition, however, supply the needed light. Venus
loved the apple. She gathered its vitality and luscious qualities into her
cestus and made them a part of its substance. When the day of doom came
to the <)lvmpian hosts, bewailed by Schiller, but made the poet's joy in ' The
Dead Pan " of Mrs Browning, Venus fled, bereft of divinity, over land and
sea, round and round the world, an i lost her cestus in midair. It floated
slowly to the earth, dropping into an open, shallow seam, which soon closed
over it. Centuries passed before the wonderful cestus yielded to natural
forces, decayed, and set free the vitality and precious qualities which at once>
on gaining liberty, began growth in tree form to reproduce its kind. History
emerges from tradition now, and tells how a bud from the golden tree of the
Hesperides was brought by the way of Washington to the site of the "garden
planted eastward in Eden,'' whose " fruit of vegetable gold " is in our day
known as the Riverside Washington Navel.

Allow me in conclusion again to welcome you most cordially to our city.
Don't feel timid about speaking to our people wherever you meet them.
They will be glad to meet you, and if you should find, anywhere, a door open,
please walk in and be at home, for every threshold extends its hospitalities
to you. I hope your labors among us may be productive of a vast amount
of good to you and to all.

144 American Horticultural Socictt/.

PrL'sident Eark- rospoiuled l)rielly, as folhjws:

Lndies and Gentlemen :

It is with a great deal of pleiisure I respond to the welcome you hive
extended to us. I came here four years ago. However, I then had hut one
day to give you. That day impressed nie so murh that I hid a longing de-
sire to some day hold an American Horticultural meeting here. And now,
I am hapjty to say, my desire is realized ; and though not many of us are
here, yet there arc enough to represent the Society.

We have been in California for some weeks, and everywhere we have
met with the greatest courtesies and have been receiving the same warm
hospitality extended to us here. We have been tendered such banquets and
receptions as never have been experienced by any party which has hitherto
visited your state. We have been toasted, banqueted, driven through or-
chards and farms, and received with open arms by every city, town, village
and hamlet. Everything has been done in such a cordial and earnest
spirit that we have no words to express our appreciation and gratitude. We
have not to teach you, but to learn. Those who had not been here had no
conception of the magnificence and grandeur awaiting them, which is all
due to the industry of the inhabitants of this fair land. There is nothing
like it, I venture to say, in the world. We went three or four hundred
miles north of San Francisco but did not reach the limit of this ;j;olden land,
and now we are traveling south, and have been for two ilays, and yet no
limit. We have found surprising things in the north. There, under the
very shadow of Shasta and perpetual snow, we found trees loaded with fine
tropical fruit. There is this peculiarity about California : You can produce
any of the tropical fruits in every section of the state. No state in the Union
can produce such magnificent ajiples, pears, peaches, apricots, cherries, and
grapes. I only speak from a market standpoint, for you know that it makes
little difference whether they have the flavor or not. No sUite grows every
kind of stone fruits as you grow them. We grow a few but you do not know
under what ditficulty they are propagated. It impres-es us so strange as to
be almost incredible that here you should represent Pomology in all of its
phases. We are pleased to note that you are not only raising fruit l)ut
homes; guod intdlcdual society with all the rapid growth. We are glad to
note that not all is for money, but for comfort and the better inatincts.
Nothing has impressed us more than the good people we have met every-
where. In .selling corner lots and speculating you have not lost sight of the
higher motive; not only have you great wealth, but a Christian society. When
you consider the physical features of California, you can not but recognize
the promising future. The Hebrews were born looking out over the sea.
Rome, Greece, England, France, all were looking westward. The tendency
of all good things is west. Civilization must halt here, and here arrested —
good will be the result. Barred from further progress you will he stinmlated
to great energy. We have thought at every place, as we journeyed through

Ode Conveiition-al. 145

this state, that this was the best. We have continually said this is surely best;
but I said wait, you have not seen Riverside yet. I knew what was here— I
knew how a great desert had been changed. The best has come out at the
end, just as I anticipated it would. I am glad we are here. Some wondered
why we came here last. But we do not regret it, and you will not be sorry.
Thanking you for this hearty welcome, I will express the hope that the work
you are doing may greatly prosper, and that you are just in the beginning of
an age of prosperity not known anywhere in the world.

At the conclusion of the President's response, the following or-
iginal poem was read :

ODE CONVENTION-AL.

BY J. E. CUTTER, OP RIVERSIDE.

What strange invasion pours adown the glen ?
And whence svich troops of frozen-bearded men?
Say, watchman, ho ! way up in the Cajon !
Who may they be, and whither are they bourne ?

"Seven days and nights they've fled the blizzard's wrath.
And west-sou'west have held their hopeful path.
So far they came, it seemed too like a sin
To bar the pass, and so I let them in."

Right worthy watchman, these our luck shall share.
But keep old Zero t'other side with care !
So, friends, you're welcome — each to what may suit.
Now doff your furs and have a litle fruit.

Old Bacchus, wiser than our modern day,
Hand-squeezed his grapes and sucked the juice away ;
Nor still, nor saccharometer had he,
And never got his wine by chemistry.

But Bacchus' bowl and chemists' fizzing tun
Have here no place. Beneath the kindly sun,
In sweet profusion down the laced lines.
We dry the fruitage of the sheeny vines.

The orange? Yes, it rules the vale no doubt.

Just cut transverse and turn it inside out.

The cost, you'd know ? You've nothing, gents, to pay ;

Put in your bills and taste— there, that's the way !

Mr. Smith, of Wisconsin, from the Committee on Finance, made
the following report, which was adopted :

146 American Horticultural Society.

Your cotutuittee reijuest the privilege of reporiing as follows: We have ex-
amined the Secretary's an<l Treasurer's reports, and find them to he correct. We
also find that an al!r)\vanre of SoOO was made to the Secretary at tiie last New Or-
leans meeting, of which $;i2(J.88 has not l)een paid. We also find that the Society
owes to Treasurer Kvans the sum of S'J(M), money advanced hy him some three to
four years since for the purpose of piildishing Volume II of our reports. Your
committee would rccomiufud that liotli of these amounts he paid from the money
now in the hands of the Treasurer. J. M. .S.MiTit,

N. Ohmer,
Frank Hoi-sinoer.

Tlie Committee on Order of Business reported, recommending
the hours of meeting to be 9 a. >r.,aMd "2 and 7 :'M) v. m., wliich was
adopted.

An invitation from the citizens' committee to take a carriage
drive through the city and suburbs was acce|)ted, and the hour fixed
for 9 o'clock a. m. to-morrow.

LETTERS AND INVITATIONS RECEIVED.

President Earle, of Illinois — Since our meeting at San Jose a
number of letters and invitations have been received. These give
ailditional evidence of the high esteem in which our Society is held.
The fir-t I will read is a series of resolutions from Phtenix,

Arizona :

Pii.KNix, A. T., Fehurary 3, 1888.
To the President and Members of the America)! lIoticidtnr(U A.^^soriatinn, Riveiside, Od. •'

WiiEKKAS, The members of the Maricopa County Immigration Union and
citizens of Salt River Valley, Arizona, are deeply interested in the development of
the horticultural resources of the country, for which you are laboring so earnestly
anil believe the grand possibilities of Central Arizona in this field, are, as yet,
hardly realized in the present fruit centers, and,

Whereas, The Salt Kiver Valley, covering an area of 400,000 acres, owing to
its cheap and fertile land, which is esjiecially adapted to fruit, wine and raisin
production, ami in addition having the advantages of an ai>undant water supply,
mild climate, near markets, a total absence of tree and vine pests, and maturing
fruit three weeks earlier than California, aflbrds perfect conditions and unrivalled
advantages to the scientific horticulturist, and

Whereas, Horticulture in the valley having long passed the experimental
stage, it is desired to call your aliention to this p;irl of the territory as the future
fruit and vineyard district of the west, therefore, be it

R-snlred, That the Imigration Union and citizens of Maricopa county extend
you a cordial invitation to visit .*^alt Kivir Valley and make examination of its
resources and attractions, and assure you of a pleasint reception by our people,
r. .1. Trask, President Maricopa County Immiffralion Union.

L. M. Lemok, Secretary.

Letters and Invitations Beceived. 147

We next have a cordial invitation from the young, but pros-
perous, society of Whitman county, Washington Territory :

Colfax, Washington Ter., January 30, 1888.
Parker Earle, Esq., President Ainerican Horticultural Society, or, W. H. Pagan, Esq.,

Secretary American Horticultural Society :

Gentlemen -Having observed that several members of your honorable So-
ciety intended to return east by way of the Northern Pacific Railroad, we con-
cluded to extend an invitation to come by way of Colfax, the county seat of Whit-
man county, and address our young horticultural society in this new but rich
country. Should any of you conclude to favor our society (which we most earnestly
hope you will), you will come to Palouse .Junction, and there take the O. R. & N-
C K. R. to Colfax, eighty-nine miles; and while we can promise you no money,
we will give you the best entertainment in our power. Our society is not a year old
yet, so that we need your help very much, and hope you will favor us with your
presence. We are deeply interested in your good work, and wish you every suc-
cess. Should any of you conclude to come this way, please let us know in time to
call a meeting, and oblige, yours truly, J. Cairns,

President Whitman County Horticultural Society.

And here is a letter of regret from the President of the Wash
ington Territory Horticultural Society:

Tacoma, Washington Ter., January 30, 1888.
Secretary of the American Horticultural Society, Riverside, Cat.:

Dear Sir— I send you by mail a package of the Northwest Horticulturist, of the
November and January numbers. Please be kind enough to place them so they
will le received by the members of the Society. I expected to be with you, but
circumstances of a nature which I could not control prevents me from being
present. I anticipate for you a grand meeting and much good accomplished.

Yours truly, Henry Bucey,

President Washington Hoi ticultural Society.

Our next letter is from an esteemed, but newly-made, friend,
j)rominent in viticultural matters on this coast:

San Francisco, Cal., February 6, 1888.
Parker Earle, Esq., President American Horticidtural Society, Convened at Riverside :

My Dear Sir — I find it impossible to attend your meeting at Riverside as I
had promised and expected. This is a great disappointment to me. Will you
kindly express my regret to the Society, the recollection of which 1 shall ever
cherish, particularly the members of the northern excursion, to whom, with your-
self, I owe particular gratitude? I am detained by the work of preparing for the
Annual Viticultural Convention, to be held in this city March 7 to 10. This will
be an exhibit of all viticultural products, together with the reading of papers and
discussion on various topics relating to the industry. The Board of State Viti-

148 American Horticultural Societi/.

cultural Comtuissloners takes pleasure in inviting any members of your Society
who may be in California during March to attend this convention, prumisin),;
much of interest to horticulturists.

Trusting I may soon see you all in California again, I am,

Yours very respectfully, John II. Wiieelkr,

Chief Executive Vilicnlluml Officer of Gdifornia.

And hero is an invitation from llie neijjhborini; citv of San
Bernardino, and let me exjiress the hope that tho.se of our nieinber>
who can will respond to this cordial invitation :

San Beunardino, Cal., February 9, 1888.
Mr. W. II. Rarjan, Secretary Amrrican Iloriicnilural Socirli/:

Dear Sir— The Board of Trade and citizens of San Bernardino beg leave to
extend an invitation to your Society to visit their city on Friday, the 10th lost.
We will try and make your stay with us agreeable, if you see fit to accept.

Yours truly, R. F. Cunnini.ham,/jc Cmmillee.

I will only present one other letter, and that froiu our far-oH'
friend and co-laborer in the ancient empire of Japan :

Imperial College oi' Agricultlrk and Forestry, ■>
KoMABA, ToKio, Japan, January 28, 1888. i
W. H. Ragan, Eaq., De Pauw University, Indiana :

Dear Sir — You maybe thought that I would not write you any more froni
Japan, but my advantage of making you as a friend is after I got home. I left
New York in September last year, and got at home in 4th of inst., during that timi-
I spent in traveling over Europe and voyage in tropical oceans. The art of horti-
culture in Europe is intensive, and I think to be ahead of America.

I am specially interested and pleased to study tropical fruits, of which I have
collected and brought to home over thirty different specimens. They are very
fine and nice fruits. Vegetables are rather inferior and poor on account of intense
heat, and causes to run into flowers.

I told your Society of American Horticulture that wc should exhibit some
fruit from Japan on the occasion you hold next meeting in San Francisco in this
spring. It is a great regret that I can't find anyone would send our horticulture
products to your meeting, yet nor I am unable to send some by myself, because soon
after I have got hqme I am compelled to give lectures to two classes of students in
the college ; while my things are laying disorderly, and my mind is unsettled yet on
hearing different news, or olds, happened during my absence. Although Mr. Van
Denjan told me that the meeting will be in San F'rancisco in coming February,
when it is po.stp()ne<l in later dale. I'lease tell ine the address of local committee
in San Francisco. I shall send some of our dried fruits. . I hope hereafter of th.-
transactions of the Society to be sent to Japan, so that if you permit me as a corre-
sponding member, I will be very much pleased.

With the best wishes, I am yours very truly, K. Tamari.

Fi-uit- Growing in Nevada. 149

Mr. Lewers, of Nevada, read the following }japer:
FRUIT-GEOWING IN NEVADA.

BY ROSS LEWERS, OF NEVADA.

3Ir. President, Ladies and Gentlemen of the American Horticultural Society :

Nevada for the first time asks of you the privilege to present some of
her claims to recognition as a horticultural state, having come as you did
from all over the union and the Canadas to our great neighboring state to
see and judge for yourselves of her justly far-famed agricultural productions
— this wonderland of the golden west, where an almost endless summer and
a fertile soil combine to produce a nearly perpetual vegetation, and in such
excellence and profusion that nature meets you more than half way in your
endeavors to promote the growth of everything that conduces to the happi-
ness of mankind. We can not lay claim to the almost uninterrupted vege-
table growth that prevails in southern California, but our winter season,
rather mild, but sufficiently rigorous to allow nature to rest, may be a bless-
ing in disguise, as evidenced by the excellence of our agricultural products,
which, in quality, rank among the first if not at the top of the list. The
territory of Nevada is so vast and the soils and climatic conditions so varied,
that it is impossible in a paper like this to convey any satisfactory idea of
her horticultural capacities in every part, so I will confine myself to that
portion with which I am most familiar — the western part of the state.

Fruit culture in Nevada is yet only in its infancy, and what little is
planted has been done mostly near the Sierra Nevada mountains, on the
margins and elevated slopes of a chain of valleys which extend north and
south along their base. The great drawback to successful and extensive
fruit-growing in this part of the state is late spring frosts, which occur gen-
erally in May, when the trees are in bloom, or immediately after, but vary-
ing much in intensity in different years and in different localities. This
elevated belt before mentioned enjoys an immunity from frost much greater
than the adjoining valleys, owing, probably, to the cold air settling by gravi-
tation and forcing the warm air upwards.

Various means have been tried to counteract these spring frosts, or to
prevent the trees from blooming until they are past, such as building fires
in the orchards at night, or packing snow around the trees in early spring,
but without any appreciable good results. The most effective remedy sug-
gested by the experience of the writer is, in respect to apples, at least, to
plant varieties that are known to succeed in a belt along the northern bor-
der of the southern states, such varieties not being very sensitive to heat in
early spring, and, consequentlj', not blooming till after all danger from frost
is passed. Nearly all kinds of hardy tree fruits are successfully grown in
this part of Nevada. Peaches, and even apricots, are here reasonably sure
of fruiting; besides most of the hardy berries are cultivated with success;
amongst these, strawberries and raspberries are deserving of special men-

150 Aiiiericnn HorticuUnral Society.

tion on account of ilicir fruilfulncss, and particularly on account of their
superior quality. Thtte berries when grown here have a beautiful appear-
ance, a rich, fruity Haver, and reniarkalile solidity, all of which make them
very desirable for table fruit, for preserving and for shipment. Riisitberries
here may be considered a sure crop, an they do not bloom until the time for
spring frost has passed, and the winters are never so severe as to kill the
canes. There is here a remarkable absence of nearly all the known fruit
diseases and pests, the only one of any serious consequence being the codling
moth, and even that in very limited quantity.

All the fruits grown here are of excoUont quality, being distinguished
by their beauty of color and form, their rich flavor and go(xl keeping qual-
ities. The Bartlett pear is here a prolific and almost sure bearer of large^
fine fruit, but amongst these good fruits the apple, the king of all fruit, as-
serts its royal prerogative and stands up prei-minent above them all, and
allows us to form some idea of the reason why our first parents were willing
t<» forfeit their title to the Garden of E<len.

The best way, perhaps, to describe the merits of this noble fruit when
grown on the eastern slope of the Sierras is, to state that, in the World's Ex-
position, at New Orleans, in 1885 and 1886, for apples Nevada was given
first premium for eight varieties, " first degree of merit" and "second best
display." also " best exhibit of dried fruit."

Now, I know that those apples were grown without any idea of exhibi-
tion (as I raised most of them myself), and were selected without any par-
ticular care, besides were carried a long distiince without ice, and afterward
remained in a hot climate about three months before being judged. From
this an idea can be formed of what they are in their chosen home.

Many kinds of apjiles when grown here are so changed in their general
character that it is very difficult to recognize them, those only with the
most strongly marked characteristics retaining their individuality, and even
they get some addition to their beauty ; for instance, the Greening and New-
town Pijipin are frequently red-cheeked, the Spitzenberg deep purple, in-
clining to black on the side next the sun, and the Bellflower pink on yellow-
ground.

Whether the beautiful color and fine quality of all the fruit grown here
is attributable to the soil, which is generally a black sandy loam, rich in
potash, ammonia and iron, to the rare atmosphere at an altitude of about
5,000 feet, to the long, mellow ripening season that always prevails, or to a
combination of all of these, I do not pretend to say.

I have before mentioned the great impediment to extensive fruit-grow-
ing in this part of Nevada — late spring frosts — and to show that this thermal
belt that I have endeavored to describe is reasonably free from their injuri-
ous eflfects, I will instance my own experience in fruit culture on a part of
this belt, perhaps as favorably situated as any, but not exceptionally so; in
the past twenty-five years I have had twenty-one full crops and four failures,
none of these failures being total, and previous and up to the past year I
have had ten full crops in succession.

Discussion on Mr. Lewers' Faper. 151

All this chain of valleys I have mentioned has an abundant and never-
failing supply of water for irrigation purposes, and most of the land in these
valleys lying nearest to the mountains requires very little irrigation, being
supplied with sufficient moisture from springs. In connection with this
water supply there are certain peculiar conditions that prevail here that I
think are worthy of notice. One of these is that, wherever the forest timber
has been cut ofi' the mountains, a new growth of the same kind of timber
has sprung up, much thicker than the original growth, and none of this
young timber will start to grow till the old has been cut down. Another is
that the water supply from the mountains is greater and more permanent
than it was before the timber was cut off. The reason f^r this appears to be,
that the wind has a more unimpeded course, and as all the snowstorms come
from nearly the south, the snow is blown from the south sides of the ridges
to the north side, where it is piled in deep, solid drifts, and not being ex-
exposed directly to the sun's rays it melts very slowly, consequently it
affords a more permanent supply of water; also spring floods are less fre-
quent than they formerly were for the same reason, as there is less snow on
the southern slopes to be melted off quickly by the sun.

DISCUSSION OX MR, LEWhRS' PAPER

Pi'esident Earle, of Illinois — We are pleased to hoar from Ne-
vada. 'I his is our first paper from tliat state.

Mr. Ragan, of Indiana — Mr. Lewers is our Vice-President for
Nevada. As such he is making himself felt. He has just handed
me the names of about six (including the governor of the state)
new members. Such Vice-Presidents are worth having.

Mr. Munson, of Texas — Mr, Lewers, what are the meteorological
conditions of yoiu- state?

3Ir. Lewers, of Nevada — Our maximum temperature is about
90°, and our minimum rarely below — 10°. Our precipitation is
mostly in the foi-m of snow', in the winter season Our summer
rains are light, and mostly in the month of July. Irrigation is our
chief dependence, the melting snows of the Sierras being the source
of water supply for this purpose. Fruit-growing until recently has
been for home consumption, very little having been marketed. As
stated in my paper, the clearing up of the mountain forests has
seemed to increase our water supply. This is doubtless due, as
stated, to the drifti-ng of the snows into the mountain ravines, where
its great depth preserves it better throughout the season. Our for-
ests are mostly of pine timber. Our winds and rains are generally

1 52 American Horticnliural iSocietij.

fruiu the south. The tiiiilnT (.)!' the Triickee valley is pri iiei pally
fir instead of ])ine. It does not grow up so rapidly as tiie pine
wlieu once cut oil'.

Mr. Win Dcman, of Washington, D. C. — Are grapes grtnvn suc-
cessfully in Nevada?

Mr. Lcirer.s — They are not generally grown, Ijut I have seen
some fine raisins and raisin grapes of Nevada production.

Mr. Broicn, of California — In southern California we are (piite
differently affected by the removal of the mountain forests. The
summer flow of springs in the San Gabriel valley have been reduced
more than 20 percent, by the removal of the mountain forests sur-
rounding us.

Mr. Larcr.s — I did not aim to convey the idea that our rain-fall
had been increased by the removal of the mountain forests, but that
the water supply had been rendered more j)ermanent and cndui-ing,
the result of the drifting snows being longer preserved in the
mountain ravines, from their greater depth and bulk.

The President announced the following Committee on Nomina-
tions of officers: Prof. W. S. Thomas, of Arkansas; Mr. Abbott
Kinney, California ; H. E. Van Deman, Washington, D. C; George
P. Peffer, Wisconsin ; J. G. Bubach, Illinois; 8. Johnson, Indiana ;
Prof. J. L. Budd, Iowa; Frank Ilolsinger, Kansas; J. W. Samuels,
Kentucky ; Wynian Elliott, Minnesota ; L. A. (Toodman, Missouri ;
S. Barnard, Nebraska; Ross Lewers, Nevada; I. H. ]5udd, New
Jersey ; T. S. Hubbard, New York ; J. Van. Lindley, North Caro-
lina; G. D. Ilewson, Nova Scotia; N. Ohmer, Ohio; Dr. Card-
well, Oregon, and Nat. Stevens, Texas.

L. A. Goodman, Secretary of the Missouri State Horticultural
Society, read the following paper:

ORNAMENTATION OF OUK COUNTRY HOMES.

IJV L. A. GOODMAN, OF MISSOURI.

The distinctive difference in our country homes I can no more plainly
show to you than to cite you .to the wide diflerence that exists, not only in
our portion of the country, but which I see everywhere here in California,
and that is in the homes of our stock men, and peculiarly our agricultural
portion on one hand and those of our horticulturist on the other hand.

Ornamentation of Our Country Homes. 153

A man whose whole time and interest are devoted to the breeding and
raising of cattle, horses, mules or sheep, can scarcely find time to spend a
day or a dollar on his yards and gardens in the way of ornamentation,
whereas the horticulturist never fails to find time and means to beautify
his yards. But it is something practical that my subject calls for, in helping
to awaken an interest in beautifying our homes and how to do it. What I
have to say will not be new to many of you, and yet it is the same old story
of '• line upon line."

Our country home varies from that planted in the native forests, sur-
rounded by many old trees, perhaps evergreens, a large yard in grass where
the horses are often turned to graze, or the chickens and hogs are allowed
to roam at will, to that of the pioneer on the prairies without a fence or a
tree about the home, where oftentimes not even grass is to be found, and
horses, mules, cattle, sheep, hogs and chickens can "go as you please." Be-
tween these two we have all grades of houses and yards, some pleasant, some
agreeable, some tasty, and some even handsome and picturesque. I do not
wish so much to instruct the horticulturist, or to induce him to plant, as I
do to awaken an interest in the minds of many of our countrj^ home keepers
that much taste can be displayed in the planting of our new and old places,
and that it can be done so easily.

First, then, if it is necessary, and I am sorry that it is, we will have a
fence ; not a heavy fence, but one just as light and low as the circumstances
will permit. So many of our yards are spoiled with their fences; in fact, if
it could be possible, I would like to see the fences abolished entirely, but as
this can not be done, do the next best thing and make them as light and
airy as possible. Next, let us have a green lawn. A good set of blue grass
forms the most beautiful of all yard fronts. Sloping or rolling, as the case
may be, it matters not if we only have it well covered with a good grass
sward. The position or the home from the road is a very important matter,
for if we have our house too far from the road we will have more lawn than
we will take care of, and it will cost too much to plant it properly, and hence
we find so many places so sadly neglected.

I have found that the greatest drawback to the pleasant planting of our
country homes and their ornamentation is a want of knowledge of what to
do and how to do it easily. The farmer is so busy that he has but little time
to give, and little knowledge, and no thought on the subject, so that it is no
wonder he lets the matter run at loose ends. I have found in many in-
stances where I have met such a friend and such a place, that one-half hours
talk with him on the ease and beauty of his place with but little trouble and
less expense, that invariably he was induced to do it. But, above all this, if
we can get a love of outdoor life and the beauties of our trees, we have a
lever to work with that will move the hills, rocks and stumps and make a
yard. Then, if we can suggest some easy means of reaching the desired
end, we may be sure that there are many who will adopt it. A house stand-
ing about 100 ft. to 150 ft. from the road, and, if on a corner, about the same
11

154 American Horticultural Society.

distance from each road, will give any farmer all the room he will need for
the front yard.

Do not plant in regular order, but by all means plant in clumps or
groups, leaving a bare spot of lawn and a cle.ir \]ov/ from the house to the
road, especially from the principal windows of the kitchen and sitting room.
Plant a clump of evergreens here, a clump of shrubs there, a clump of
one kind of deciduous trees here, another kintl there; a bunch of a variety
of hardy herbaceous plants in one bed and a beil of roses in another.

These being of common varieties cost but little and are soon planted.
But what I want to warn you against is indiscriminate planting. If you
have not enough time and money to plant all at once do not, I pray you, do
not by any means plant a tree, or bush, or rose, or shrub, just a-s the notion
happens to take you, or just because you see that tliere is room between two
other trees to jnit it. Such planting will make your yard a mixed medley,
and will be a tangled mass of trees, shrubs and vines in the years to come.

If you can not plant your yard at once, and wish lo keep planting a.s
you find things which suit you, or as they are given you, plant judiciou.-^ly
and with system; have a plan and follow it. Have your clumps of ever-
greens, deciduous trees, shrubs and roses, and when you do plant any of
each of these, plant it in its proper place with its proper kind, and in after
years you will be glad. Another mistake, and a very great one, is in think-
ing that there is no beauty except in a large tree or trees and shrub.*.
Now, the beauty of them is in seeing them grow and caring for them until
we come to love them as we do our children. Plant then, small and young
trees, and plenty of them, so that the growth may gladlen your eyes and
hearts every time yon return to your homes.

Does your heart go out in love to your home and your children when
away from them ; do you love to have them about you, on your back,
maybe, loving and caressing you ? Well, if so, you can realize how much a
true lover of the trees and plants thinks of the ornamentals of his yard.
These trees and shrubs will grow in your affections and the afTections of
your children until they come to love every tree and shrub in your yard.
Don't you believe it? Well, just try and cut down a half-dozen of them be-
cause they are too thick or are spoiling one another, and have your wife
and children, as I have had, pitch onto you and scold and beg for the lives
of the trees, because you are cutting down their friends.

I well remember an instance where a large, old white oak had been
for years, and the American ivy covered it to a bight of sixty feet (where it
had been sawed oiX) until it was one solid colunni of green in summer and
scarlet in autumn ; how every one in the whole country admired the beau-
tifid column, until it seemed as if it were a part of the beauty of our village.
One day a heavy storm came and it was laid flat on the ground. The people
in passing could not be kept out of the yard, but would come in and express
their symjwUhy for the old tree, as for a lost friend. Pardon the digression.
I am anxious to show that the best investment we can make is to plant a few

Ornamentation of Our Country Homes. 155

trees in our yards and let them grow with our children, and our love with
them. In my own home, I think more of my trees than I do of my house,
and I have a good one, too.

TO PLANT CHEAPLY.

Plant a clump of elm, a clump of sugar maple, a clump of soft maple, a
clump of white pine, a clump of Norway spruce, a clump of red cedar, a
clump of shrubs, Althea, Wigelia snow ball, a clump of the lilacs, a clump of
spirea, a bed of roses, hybrids and June, a bed of peonias, phlox and hardy
perennials, and, if you can aflford it, a bed of house plants. These, put in
proper places, so as not to interfere with the view from the house, will, with
very little expense, give a very pleasant yard. Small evergreens can be had
one foot high for ten to fifteen cents. Trees two years old of the varieties
given at about the same price. Shrubs two years old at five to ten cents ;
roses at fifteen to twenty cents; herbaceous plants at five to twenty cents.
The total expense of such planting of such a place need not exceed $10 to
$15, and will prove the best invedment a man ever viade on ttiefarm.

The roads and paths should be as few and simple as are needed only,
because they take more time to keep them well than any other thing on the
place. A drive from the gate, circling or straight, to the side of the house,
and thence to the barn, with a path from the front gate to the front and side
of the house, is all that is needed. This path if angling or curved will be
much the better, but never so much so as to cause a jDcrson to turn out of
the way in going from the house to the gate.

The back yard may be used for indiscriminate planting, and many
things not proper to go into the front yard can be used in the rear, and with-
out so much system. In fact, it may be a mixed mass or a conglomeration
if you choose to have it. Plant thickly, and if some die you do not miss
them, and as soon as they begin to crowd take them out by transplanting or
cutting down. Do not be afraid to cut down wJien necessary any more than
you are to plant tvfiere necessary. On my own place I have cut down twice
as many trees as I have left, and will have to do more of it.

The planting of larger places, or ornamentation of city homes, is not in
the province of my paper, and yet I can not help but notice the great mis-
take that the city people are making of letting their places be so much
crowded as to spoil their beauty. I find that to be the case much more so
in California than even in our own state. One fine, well-perfected tree, with
plenty of green lawn, makes a prettier show than a dozen planted too closely,
and one well grouped clump of trees are much more beautiful in a lawn
than would be a dozen scattered here and there. If you do plant thickly or
indiscriminately, be sure in after years to begin your thinning in time.

Ornamenting our country homes can be very much assisted by roadside
planting. Not by any means planting in single lines of trees about the roads,
but if the road is straight, then, by all means plant the trees in groups along
the road, and at every corner, especially, make a clump of trees. If the

156 American Horticultural Society.

road is irregular or is very winding, then one, or, still better, two or three
rows of trees along the line lends much beauty to the drive. But one straight
line of trees along a straight road is too much of a sameness, and especially
so if the land is very level.

Such planting adds very much to the beauty of our country homes, and
its tendency is to build up and elevate the tone and character of our people.
A roadside planted in groups gives a very pleasing effect to the traveler.
.\nd then you :ill know that trees do so much bettor when growing together
than in single rows. A road with a clump of elms here, a clump of maple
there, one of white ash, one of pine, one of larch, one of sycamore, one of
spruce and one of cedar will give such a delightful sense of relief to the
passer-by, that he invariably falls in love with the surroundings.

I wish that I might arrange a plan of planting and have a cut made,
with the number and varieties of each kind of tree, which would be of some
assistance to those who would learn ; but it is with this matter as with many
others with which the liorticnlturist has to deal. He is a teacher and a
preacher to every one whom he meets, both by example and precept. I be-
lieve that he is the most liberal-minded of all onr public men, and is able
and willing to give advice without money and without price, and yet the
people will not always follow.

I have given directions for the most simple manner of improvement for
our country homes, because in my own practical work I have found such
advice to be most generally followed, and have never yet failed when tidking
to a farmer in convincing him of the real money vrdue oi such an investment,
and have invariably had him follow it.

A word or two about forming our laAvns and I am through. I have
always had the farmer plow up the whole yard in the fall, level and harrow
well, as he would for a flower bed. Sow wheat and then timothy and then
blue grass, two bushels per acre, and in the spring two bushels more per
a("re. I do this that we may at once get a green yard, and then when the
wheat is cut we will still have a green surface, and that long before the blue
grass forms a sod. By the second or third year the blue grass runs out the
timothy, and we get a good sod by mowing only two or three times a year,
which is about as much as I find the farmer willing to do.

Do not undorstiind that this plan of forming a lawn or planting trees
can be apj)licable to our towns or cities, or even many of our larger farmers,
but it is the only practical way of improvement of our country homes, and
we may be sure if thus once started the love for it will grow and grow until
it has found something better.

Every one who visited San Rafael will remember with delight the long
winding road up to the top of the hill where we got the view of the ocean
and bay, and there on the top what a delightful view lay before us in the
V Uley, and how judiciously the planting had been done in clumjis and clus-
ters all over the whole hill. Hon. W. T. Coleman planted better than he
knew when that was done, and the 375,000 trees which he planted have been

Discussion on Mr. Goodman's Paper. 157

so beautifally arranged in clusters and groups that they add an hundred-
fold to the beauty of that beautiful landscape which lay before us on that
morning. I called on those near me at the time to be careful to notice the
beauty of the planting while they were admiring other things. Well, this
was just the object lesson I wanted to give, and the one I wanted to illustrate
in my paper.

DISCUSSION ON MR. GOODMAN's PAPER.

Mr. Smith, of Wisconsin — It appears to me that four bushels
of blue grass seed to the acre is pretty heavy seeding.

Mr. Goodman, of Missouri — Yes; but it pays in starting a lawn
to sow heavily of seed. I would sow at the rate of two bushels per
acre, in the fall, and re-sow at the same rate the following spring.

3Ir. Ohmer, of Ohio — I believe in liberal planting of trees. I
prefer to plant them in groups. Trees are a benediction to the
home. Even tramps will bless the man who plants trees.

Mr. Munson, of Texas — Blue grass will not grow everywhere.
In Texas, and, if I mistake not, even here in California, the Ber-
muda grass makes the best turf. Australian rye seems to be a pop-
ular lawn grass in California. It produces a sward almost equal to
blue grass.

3Ir. Van Deman, of Washington, D. C. — Spring is the better
time for seeding the lawn, and three bushels of blue grass seed per
acre is ample. Small grain should never be sown with the lawn
grass.

Mr. Munson — Burmuda grass is not propagated from seed, but
from small pieces of turf which are transplanted. It is effectually
killed by cold of five degrees below zero, and, therefore, will not do in
the northern states. It forms a good sod the first year, if properly
planted.

Secretary Ragan, of Indiana — This is a good paper on a good
subject. Simplicity is the beauty of landscape gardeuing. The
work is too often overdone. Walks and drives should never be
made simply for the purpose of exhibiting the artist's skill in mak-
ing graceful, but meaningless curves. Every walk should repre-
sent an idea; that of reaching an object — not in stiff, straight lines,
but by natural curves, such as the pigs will make through the clover,
in finding the best apples in the orchard. Over-planting of trees

158 American Hortlcnllural Society.

and slirubs is another coniinon mistake. It requires great skill and
foresight to guard against this tendency to crowding, and it takes
nerve and decision nf ])ur[)ose to thin out such overcrowded grounds
before serious consequences follow. Over-triniining also frequently
occurs. If I were to criticise California metlKnls, it woidd be in
this latter paiticular. Hedges and topiary training are admissible
to a limited extent only. The natural hal)it, but slightly restrained,
of the tree or shrub, as a rule, is far preferable to an excess of shear-
ing and training. A rich, luxuriant turf, well kept, with a few rep-
resentative trees and shrubs, is the acme of beauty and perfection
in the adornment of either public or private grounds.

Mr. liadi.sil/, of California — Deciduous trees are preferable in
countries where there is a large rain-fall. Here we have something
of an ai'id atmosphere, and evergreens succeed best. The pepper
tree is one of our best street trees. The eucalyptus succeeds well
also. The Monterey cypress is a very po))ular tree.

Prof. Biidd, of Iowa — Cypress and peppers are very handsome,
but why is it that we don't see more magnolias here?

Mr. Rndisill — Eleven years ago Magnolia avenue was planted,
but our climate has proved too dry for them, and they are now gen-
erally replaced with the pepper, eucalyptus, grevilleas, palms, etc.

Mr. Van Deraan — One of tiie vices of California methods is too
much trimming. Such mutilation is injurious to the tree, and bar-
barous in the sight of cultivated tastes.

Mr. Manson — The cypress hedges, as we see them in California,
may be excepted from the general rule condemning trimming. It
certainly seems admirably adapted to this artificial mode of training.
I am glad tliis discussion has sprung uj». Wv have been devoting
too nuich of our time to fruits in thesr meetings. This is the
dawn of an {esthetic atj^e when we should j;ive more attention to the
beautiful in nature.

Col. \\(il. of Texas — It seems to nie that the (lennneiation of
trimming has been carried too far. To niv eve <iieh training pro-
duces forms jdeasing to look upon.

Mr. V(in Dnnan — This is largely a matter <•(" taste, although it
iiiav sometimes be bad taste.

Our Neglected Native Fruits. 159

Dr. Parker, of California — A good lawn in this country is an
expensive luxury. I would rather plant and keep up an acre of
orange trees than an acre of blue grass lawn in this valley.

3Ir. Hubbard, of New York — One thing I like here, is the
almost universal absence of all fences. To my eye fences are an
abomination.

Prof. Budd — How do the Australian acacias succeed here?

Mr. Riidisill — Generally speaking they do well, requiring but
little water.

The following paper was then presented :

OUR NEGLECTED NATIVE FRUITS.

BY W. H. RAGAN, OF INDIANA.

During tl}e earlier years of American fruit culture all effort seems to
have been expended in seeking to adapt the domestic fruits of Europe to
culture in our climate and soil. With many of the orchard fruits this was
at least partially successful. Long since, however, most varieties of these,
of foreign origin, have been superseded by their more valuable American
oft'tjpring. This fact may be satisfactorily attested by a comparison of the
lists of Coxe and other earh' American authors, with lists now most popular.
A large per cent, of Coxe's list of apples are of European origin, while a still
greater proportion of his list of pears are foreigners.

Thus we may run the then short list of species, as well as of varieties of
fruits in cultivation, through, from the apple to the cherry, only to find that
American species were wholly neglected ; that the only grapes worthy
of notice wpre of the vinifera species; the only plums of species domesticus /
the only raspberries admitted to our gardens were foreign born; the
only gooseberry worthy was from over the waters ; the only strawberry
had its origin in the mountains of Europe. It is not strange that this
condition of affairs should have existed and should have been followed
up so persistently, even down to recent times, by our forefathers in fruit-
growing, since varieties introduced were supposed to be the best. As
for native species, there certainly could have been but little in them to tempt
even the curious to experiment when they were so manifestly inferior to
those from abroad.

With the larger tree-fruits, most of which have no native near relatives,
foreign species must continue to be our sole dependence, but even with these
we have learned to rely mainly upon varieties of American origin. Thus
the apple, pear, peach, apricot, cherry, and, in the semi-tropic portions of
the United States, the members of the citrus family, are all of foreign nativity,
and of these (with the exception of the apple, which has a distant relative in

160 American Ilorticullural Society.

our American crabs), we must forever rely upon the introduced species.
We can, therefore, only hope to acclimate and improve these several t^pecies
by culture, the origin of new varieties and the occasional introduction of new
blood from their native habitats, so as to the better adapt them to our cli-
mate and soils. Much has already been done in these directions, and much
more may yet be accomplished.

SPECIES WHICH HAVE IMPROVED AND UNIMPROVED NATIVE RELATIVES,

As has already been hinted, much valuable time has been lost, as the
results of the last few years will attest, by our forefathers in their efforts to
acclimate certain species of foreign fruits, to culture in our climate, and
(-specially where native relatives only awaited the results of trials. Mot-t
prominent among these is the grape. Prior to the publication of Downing'.-*
original volume, in 1S45, absolutely nothing had been done, in a systematic
manner, by way of improving our native grapes'. It is true, the Catiiwba,
Isabella, and a few others, were in cultivation, but, as Downing well and
truthfully remarks, "they are accidentally improved varieties, that have
sprung up in woods and lields from wild vines." But we were just then
bordering < n the era of improvement of our native species of grapes. A8
evidence of this, Downing adds to the above quotation the ft)llowing: " They
(these improved grapes) are, therefore, but one remove from a wild state,
and, as extensive trials are now being made by various cultivators to pro-
duce new varieties from these, there is little doubt that in a few years we
shall have many new native sorts, combining the good qualities of the best
foreign grapes, with the hardiness of the indigenous ones, and with also the
necessary adaptiition to the various soils and climates of the United States."
How well this prophecy has been fully verified the present large and rapidly
increasing list of splendid native grapes well attests. Foreign sorts are now
almost unknown and forgotten except as we meet with them in the markets,
shipped from Southern P^urope or from California.

These same remarks will apply to the plum, the native species of which
has been so wonderfully improved within the last f w years; to the rasp-
berry, foreign sorts of which are rapidly being superseded by improved
American varieties; to the strawberry ; to the gooseberry ; to the cranberry,
etc. But there are a number of our native fruits as yet wholly neglected.

THE IMPROVEMENT OF SPECIES BY SELECTION AND CULTURE,

Which was so ably advocated and practiced in the early years of this cen-
tury, by the late Dr. Van Mons, of Belgium, consists mainly in removing
the natural wildling from its native habiuit and transplanting it into culti-
vated grounds and surroumling it by all the domesticating arts of the horti-
culturist, always selecting specimens to propagate from which combine the
greatest and most desirable qualities. This operation, repeated from gen-
eration to generation, though not really so highly scientific and certain in

Our Neglected Native Fruits. 161

its results as that of cross-fertilization and hybridization, has ever been the
true basis of all successful improvements in the whole botanical kingdom.
Let such work as this become the leading features of our experimental sta-
tions, to be conducted at public expense and for public good. The time
and expense necessary to the most rapid progress in this work t-hould be
borne equally by all.

The marvelously rapid progress made in the improvement of our native
grapes, plums, gooseberries, raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, cran-
berries, etc., within the life-time of many who are present, should prompt
us to bring under our protecting care and influence still other native
species which have equally, if not even greater, natural promise.

OUR NA.TIVE CRAB. (Pyrus Coronaria.)

I first mention this species, more because of its relationship to the
king of fruits, the apple, than on account of any special promise it may
possess as a hopeful species in the hands of the horticulturist, whose arts
are siid, and upon well attested grounds, " to mend nature." There are a
few cases in which it is claimed, though somewhat doubted by botanists, that
hybrids between the cultivated apple and the wild crab exist. The Soulard
is one of these. If this is really true, one of the firtt steps in the improve-
ment of the native crab has already been taken, and should at least greatly
encourage further efforts. A serious obstacle to natural hybridization ex-
ists in the disparity of the blooming season of the two species. This may,
however, be overcome by artificial means, until a race of hybrids are once
established, when, assuming that their offspring may not be infertile, the
work of further development can progress without interruption, since
these first results would have a uniform period of blooming. But our
native crabs may be improved by other means than through hybridization,
viz. : by selections and culture.

THE PAPAW. (Asimina triloba.)

There is probably no native fruit of greater real value and more promis-
ing in its character as likely to yield readily to the domesticating influences
of horticulture than the papaw, which yet remains wholly unimproved. It
combines a natural disposition to vary greatly in size, quality, season of
ripening, fruitfulness, etc., all pointing to the ease with which it may be
trained to sport into varieties combining points of excellence adapted to the
tastes of the experimenter. I am aware that all tastes do not naturally ad-
mire the peculiar qualities of the papaw, but I think there are few persons
who may not readily acquire a taste for this rather singular fruit. There
certainly are but few native " Hoosiers " who do not like the papaw. There
is at least one venerable member of this Society who has been heard to say
that he was a " lover of all fruits from a sour Morello cherry up to a papaw."
The lamented Warder describes the fruit as " large, succulent, with many
large, shining brown seeds; a favorite of the raccoon, relished by men, but
rejected by swine."

162 American HorticuHurul Society.

THE PERSIMMON. {Diospyros Virginuma.)

Hero is another native fruit, probably of even greater promise than the
pajtaw, which still remains neglected. It has almost or quite sis great nat-
ural lendoncies to variation as the papaw, and the further assurance only
recently made evident through the introduction, into the south, of its Asiatic
relative, the Japan persimmon, that it is susceptible of a high degree of im-
provement. Many of us have already been ajjsurcd.by personal observation,
how wonderfully this Asiatic species has been jierfoctcd through the long
ages in which it has been subjected to improvement. Unfortunately, this
species is only hardy in the semi -tropic regions of the United States. But
in our native species we have every assurance that it may be equally im-
proved, and that it may be adapted to culture in all central, if not in north-
ern sections of our country. Central Indiana is about the northern limit of
the native persimmon, though it is possible to cultivate it wherever the
hardier varieties of the peach will succeed. In some of the southern states
it forms a staple article of food for man and beast. \ writer, in speaking
of "persimmons in Arkansas," has said that there " all living creatures re-
joice and grow fat when the persimmons ripen." Our native persimmon is
said to hybridize freely with the Japanese species, in the south, and that al-
ready many varieties of great promise have in this way been produced. If
this be really true, we may yet hope, by the infusion of this foreign l)Iood, to
secure ollspring which will combine hardiness of tree with the improved
qualities of the introduced species.

THE SERVICE-15ERRY. {Amoianchier Canadensis.)

Dr. Asa Gray enumerates several sub-species of the service, or June-
berry, as it is sometimes called. The one native to central Indiana is the
arborescent, or tree-like form, readily recognized in early spring by its pro-
fusion of white flowers, and later by the swarms of robbins and boys that
resort to its branches for its pleasant, agreeable and handsome fruit. I am
not aware that any eflbrt has been made to improve this fruit by cultiva-
tion. The dwarf forms, of which there are several, I believe, are not natives,
especially in central Indiana, if, indeed, in any portion of the state. Some
of these, however, have been cultivated, and at lejist partially improved.
Hon. H. E. Van Dcman, United States Pomologist, has cultivated a variety
ut his former home, in Kansas, which he speaks highly of as a valuable
small fruit. Our native service, the tree-like form, is worthy of a place on
the lawn, as a handsome ornamental tree, if not on account of its fruit. Let
us give it a trial and see if we can not afford to adopt it into our fruit
gardens.

THE HUCKLEBERRY. (Wtccinium.)

Notwithstanding Mr. A. S. Fuller, in his treaties on small fruits, written
more than twenty yenrs ago, devotes a chapter to the huckleberric-. of which
several species are native in diilV*rent parts of our connlry. .uid in \\ hw h he,

Discussion on Mr. Bagan's Paper. 163

with particular emphasis, praises their valuable qualities, there yet seems to
have been no systematic effort made looking to their domestication and im-
provement. Mr. Fuller says : " The huckleberry is one of those fruits which
have always been neglected ; none of our horticultural writers have deemed
it worthy of any particular description, and but very few have thought it
worthy of mention. Why this neglect I am at a loss to understand, for the
huckleberry possesses naturally better qualities than even the currant and
gooseberry." The wild berries are gathered and sold in immense quanti-
ties in portions of our country, where they form quite an article of trade
and commerce among the poor, who bring them to market. In view of the
naturally good qualities of the huckleberry, we may well repeat the inquiry
of Mr. Fuller, of twenty years standing, " Why this neglect ? " The species,
V. corymhosum, seems to be the one most valuable in its native state, and
probably worthy of greatest attention.

THE MULBERRY. {MoTUS.)

There is considerable horticultural literature devoted to the mulberry,
but it is mostly expended upon foreign species, to the neglect of our really
more valuable native species. After giving these foreigners an exhaustive
trial, as we did foreign grapes, raspberries, strawberries, etc., and finding them
wanting, we may discover that it is to our interest to look nearer home. Our
native mulberry is quite variable in its character. They are met with oc-
casionally that are really valuable. Aside from its fruit-bearing habits, the
mulberry is a most valuable timber tree. It is of rapid growth, of handsome
form and foliage, and probably the most durable timber which we can grow.
It may not be quite equal (especially on account of its larger habits of
growth, being, therefore, more difficult to gather the foliage from) for food
for silk-worms, but there can be no doubt but first-class silk may be pro-
duced from worms, fed wholly, or in great part, upon the foliage of our
native mulberry.

DISCUSSION ON MR. EAGAN's PAPER.

Mr. Smith, of Wisconsin — What kind of huckleberry is re-
ferred to ?

Mr: Ragan, of Indiana — There are several species of the huckle-
berry family (Vaccinium) which are good. I believe Vaccinium
corymhosum is generally conceded to have the most good qualities.

Mr. Van Deman, of Washington, D. C. — What is known in the
Alleghany mountain region as the blueberry ( V. Pennsylvanicum)
is one of the most valuable species. This and also the dwarf serv-
ice-berry, alluded to in the paper, are undergoing the process of do-
mestication and improvement.

164 American Horticnltural Society.

Mr. Ohiiier, of Ohio — I have the; .service-berry in cultiviitioii,
and we think a (^reat (U-al of it, althonifli the rcthins insist upon
takinj^ their share.

Prof. Badd, of Iowa — This is a favorable hjeality to experiment
with native frnits. Cross-fertilization is the safest and snrest
nu'thod of inij)roving onr wilil frnits. The paper cites many in-
stances of the efficicnev of tliis method of im|)rovini; our native
frnits.

A vote of thanks was tendered Secretarv Ratran for his valuable
paper.

The citizens of Riverside havinyj arraiiired foi' a earriaico ilrive
for the forenoon of to-morrow, the Society adjourned to meet at 2
o'clock 1'. M.

Fifth Oay— >Vediiesday.

Afternoon Session, February 8, 1888.
The Society re-assembled at 2 i-. m., President Earle in the
chair.

DEATH OF II. Y. HEEBE.

The President read the following letter:

Friend Rayan : Tallmadge, Ohio, February 1, 1888.

I had planned to leave to-night for Riverside, but am unable to do so. You
will doubtless l)e pained to learn that II. Y. Beebe died on the 20th and was buried
to-day. I have just returned from the funeral. In his death, and that of Mr.
Kendel, horticulture and the American Society have lost two tried and staunch
friends. Mr. B. wa.s active and useful almost to the day of his death, and few men
have so roiimled out the full measure of usefulness as did he.

With kind regards to all friends, I remain, yours very truly,

L. I'l. I'lEKCE.

President Earlc — This is, indeed, painful m \vs t<» us. I'^riend
Beebe was one of our true and tried n)embers.

Mr. Kinr/, of Ohio — This is sad news to me. I hail from the
.same neighborhood in which Mr. Beebe had so long lived, and in
which he was .so highly esteemed as a citizen. His virtues were
great, his faults few.

President Earle read the following pajK'r on forestry:

State and National Governmentfi and Forestry. 165

WHAT SHOULD THE STATE AND NATIONAL GOVERNMENTS

DO FOR FORESTRY?

BY B. E. FERNOW, CHIEF OF FORESTRY DIVISION, WASHIXGTON, D. C,

Your Secretary has called for short papers, but your worthy President
has proposed such a long title and so broad a subject for me that I have
found it diflBcult to be brief and yet tolerably exhaustive. To attempt to
compress the subject into small space has necessitated that I should forego
many valuable arguments, and has obliged me to state simply in terse sen-
tences and in dogmatic form the basis of forest legislation.

Before we discuss particular legislation we must agree, Firat, that legis-
lation, national or state, is not designed to adjust merely matters of to day,
but must often work with an eye to the future. Secondly, that legislation is
necessary whenever opposing private interests are not strong enough to so
mutually balance each other as to produce a natural adjustment; that is to
say, whenever the interests of the few lead to detriment, material or other-
wise, for the many, for the community at large in the present or the future.
And we must also ascertain whether the time for state interference in any
particular case has arrived, i. e., whether the selfish greediness which char-
acterizes the majority of single individuals in their economic relations has
gone so far as to make defense of the communal interests a necessity.

Foresi legislation naturally has reference either to the forest areas which
we find ready for use, a product of nature like mines and agricultural fer-
tility, or to such forest areas as we may artificially produce.

As simple sources of national wealth, the forests, it is asserted, can claim
no more, although certainly as much, recognition by legislature than mines,
for instance. Indeed, forests might well be compared to the latter were it
not that the forest resources are more limited, and, therefore, must become
exhausted within a comparatively short period in the existence of the nation,
and that they are capable of reproduction by human effort. The forestry
interests may, perhaps, be best compared with the fishery interests of a
country, both being gifts of nature liable to be exhaused by the wasteful use
of man.

Considering the material aspect of this source of wealth, at a rough esti-
mate, the position of the forest resources of this country at present is about
as follows : The annual consumption of wood products must be considerably
above 20,000,000,000 cubic feet, while the area from which this is drawn is
considerably less than 500,000,000 acres, and owing to the lack of attention to
the matter of reproduction, and the ravages of fire and cattle everywhere
prevailing, the annual growth can hardly be half our annual production.
This last conclusion we reach by comparing our forest conditions with those
of a country like Germany, which, with careful management and favorable
conditions for wood growth in all parts, produces on an average not more
than fifty cubic feet per acre per year.

160 Atiierican Hordntltural Society.

The /w'tnojrt/ aspect of this source of wealth may be stated thus: The
present annual innrket value of foro.st jtroducts at primary jx^ints of prtxluc-
tion exceeds j;l,()(l(),l»0(),Ul»t>, viz., in round ligures, not less than $.5(X),(.HX),000
for saw-lumher, $1(XX(XX),00() for railroad construction, |oO,(XH),CKX) for fence
material. Smaller wood-consuming manufactures demand a raw protluct
of $10,(X)0,0()0, fuel consumes $GO(),(RKVMK >, and naval stores over $5,00(),(W.
The exports of wood and wood nianufacturcs have lately ranged from $30,-
OOO.tXH) to .*40,0(X),()00 ; the import.s from .*lL',(»0(»,(lOO to :?](•),( )W,0(X).

It appears that there is no product in the country which compares in
magnitude of annual value to that of the forest. For if compared with agri-
cultural products, of which one or two seem to equal or exceed the wood
production, it must not be overlooked that in making up the value of forest
products no cost of production is charged, only cost of harvesting and pre-
paring for market the raw material, and to some extent soil rent. If we had
to add the cost of producing the lumber by artificial forestry, as we shall
have to in time, the values of agriculture and forest products would be more
nearly comparable. Compared with the values of mineral production,
although the present year's output is enormous, yet the forest products yield
from two and one half to three times as great a value.

If we inquire into the condition of forest areas and into the methods by
which the products are obtained, we find that there is but a comparatively
small part remaining which has not been cut over; that in the eastern,
northern and central portions of the country the most valuable timber has
been renujved; that almost nowhere is any regard paid to keeping fire out
of old or new growths; that the young natural growth is mostly inferior in
value, on account of neglect; that on large areas no reproduction of value
takes place ; that on account of ignorance as to the qualities and adaptations
of various timbers, but still more on account of enormous comjtetition,. spec-
ulation and other avoidable or unavoidable causes, a frightful waste of raw
material is going on, so much so that it would not be an overstatement to
say that, under present conditions, at least twice as many trees are cut as
would sufhce for the same wood production.

Thus we see that merely as an important factor of national wealth, which
is being immoderately consumed, the question of lumber and wood supply'
should attract the interest and possibly call for the activity of communities
and states, so as to insure a regular lasting supply of one of the most useful
staples.

The function of the state in iniluencing industrial activity is still a mat-
ter of controversy, and while, if a serious detriment threaten the interest of
the community owing to the neglect of any industry, the community should
be justified in tsiking measures against such detriment, just as we take pre-
cautions against detriment from other sources, it might be argiied that in-
dustries are apt to take care of themselves under the inlluence of the law of
supply and demand, and that private interests will be sufficient to guard
against any but temporary injuries. While this may be quite true with re-

State and Nathnial Governments and Forestry. 167

gard to indnstrien ihe material of which is capable of yearly production and
ready adjustments of supply and demand, especially when a knowledge of
over or under production is easily obtained, the forestry industry is not to
be compared with any of these.

Its essential difierences are, that the crop takes from twenty- live to one
hundred and fifty years to become useful ; that such long waiting for results
is not a feature inviting private investment; that during the long time of
probation accumulative risks to the investment are threating; that the pos-
sibility of utilizing the crop sooner or later will always tend to induce re-
alizition as early as possible and therefore keep the supply of heavier mate-
rial short. Lastly, a knowledge of the conditions of supply — or prop area if
you please — is more difficult, almost impossible, to obtain by private effort,
although the demand may be to a more definite extent determined. In
short, the scale which balances the supply and demand of forest products
adjusts itself so sluggishly that application of this economic law of adjust-
ment may be very beautiful in theory, but must in practice appear of prob-
lematical effect, and therefore a strong incentive for the community exists
to supply additional weights, which will hasten the adjustment of the balance.

While then, as an industry, forestry stands in more need of government
care than any other, the strongest claim for such care comes from the fact
that forest areas in certain positions have an undeniable influence upon ag-
ricultural, and, before you I should add, horticultural conditions. So much
has been said under this head th.it I take it for granted that at least the in-
fluence which the mountain forest exercises on equalization of waterflow
and the forest of the plains on the severity and force of winds, is well un-
derstood.

In this respect at least, if in no other, the fi^-ests are distinguished
broadly from any other form of natural wealth ; and in this respect even the
advocate of individual self-direction will not expect reliance to be placed on
private citizens to so use their forest property as to serve this special function
of it, in which his neighbors may have much more interest than the owner
himself. Indeed the history of all countries, not alone that of our own, has
shown that private interest can not be so relied upon ; that forest destruc-
tion and devastation is the only consequence of such reliance; that private and
financial interests alone can be expected to control the action of private
owners.

Such considerations, while existing in the eastern states to some extent,
are most potent for the mountain forests of the western part of United
States, notably, the Rocky mountains and the Pacific slope. I can not stop
here to describe the present conditions of these, or to enlarge upon the folly
with which they are squandered, nor to outline the legislation which the
national government should enact in regard to them. This I have done in
a separate paper. Suffice it to say that until this valuable forest property
has received that attention on the part of the legislators which will insure
its rational use, it is preposterous to speak of any other national legislation
in behalf of forestry.

168 American Horticultural Society.

Aside from this legislation, which places the timber lands of the nation
under a forest administration, and the natural consequences which inii^ht
culminate in the establishment of a national school uf forestry, and in the
planting to forests of the abandoned militiiry reservations, the rest is best
done by the several states. The time has come for everi/ state to make a be-
ginning in rational forest legislation, for tliose which b ive still large forest
areas of virgin timber, as well as for those who have their forest wealth
reduced to coppice and second growth, or, worse to useless brushwoods,
and for those who have to plant their first forests.

No sUile can afford to day to be without an energetic forest commissioner
or forestry commission, or somebody charged especially with the care of
her forestry interests. With such an office esUiblished and suitably provided
for, I have hopes that threatening dangers may still be averted, and that
reasonable measures may be effectively applied which will lead to a recog-
nition of the self-protective interest which the community his in the forest
areas. The first legislation then is for jirolection of what we have. Protec-
tion against fire is needed more than anything else. Though most states
have some such legislation, but few have satisfactory and eliective laws, and
hardly any the machinery to ])ut them into practice. To provide such ma-
chinery is the most import<xnt point in all legislation. With a forest com-
missioner to look after the execution of the law, desirable effects can be ex-
pected from either the Massachusetts, Pennsylvania or Canada plan for
dealing with forest fires, described elsewhere. These plans, which call for the
co<lperation of the community in an organized manner, can be set in opera-
tion in every state without involving any new ideas of state interference.

In some localities the forest cover is of such importance that its removal,
or even deterioration, brings, in time, hardships upon large districts which
depend for the regularity of their water sujiply upon such forests. Here
enters a new aspect of legislation, for which there seems to be no precedent,
unless we can find one in the control of waters and roivds, in which the higher
rights of the community allow interference with private rights. Such local-
ities, however, are not very frequent except in mountain districts. Moimtain
forests such as have been described, must either bo owneil by the state, com-
munity or county or else their interference in the manner of utilizing the
same is called for.

A state law which will encourage the holding of forest areas by town-
ships or counties, and their administration under direction of the forestry
commission or commissioners, is highly desirable. There is uj reason why
a township or county should not own and manage a forest, when it is in the
interest of the community to so own forest property, just as they own and
build roads, bridges and school-houses, or as a city owns its municipal build-
ings and other property. Next to such direct forest legislation, much can
be done indirectly, and in this the most import;intstep is todispel ignorjuice —
ignorance as to supply and demand ; ignorance as to technical value of
different timbers, as to value of forests in general ; ignorance as to the man-

State and National Governments and Forestry. 169

ner in which the natural forests ought to be treated in order to give a con-
tinuous supply of the best material; ignorance as to the manner of planting
new forests.

To some extent the Forestry Division of the National Department of
Agriculture, instituted partly for this purpose, answers to this need ; but it
might be better equipped, and, after all, it will be necessary for each state to
supplement and aid its work. Among the simplest and most easily accom-
plished institutions to that end. I propose that each state make an annual
or biennial report of its forest area and the conditions of the same, and of
its lumber business up to date. These details might be gathered by tax
assessors under instructions from the forest commissioner or commission,
and, together with other statistics, be digested by the latter, with the view
of keeping an approximate idea of supply and demand before the public.

Further, the state agricultural experiment stations, being endowed by
the general government, should institute, in connection and under advise-
ment with the forestry division or the state forest commissioner, such labor-
atory and field experiments as are needed to show the true value of timbers,
to show the dependence of their quality on the particular factors of site, to
ascertain their rate of growth, and other laws upon which a forest manage-
ment must be based.

Another method by which state legislation can dispel ignorance is by
endowing either forestry associations, or, in their absence, the horticultural
associations for active forestry work, in the same manner as the state horti-
cultural associations are now endowed. The collecting and distribution of
information may be accomplished through the aid of such associations. The
Kansas Horticultural Society is a shining example of what may be done in
this direction. If a wandering lecturer could be employed in addition, to
arouse to intelligent action and instruct the people in forest management
and forest culture, we might soon register as good results as this institution
has brought in Switzerland.

I do not consider forestry schools to be called for as yet, but every agri-
cultural college, to be worthy of -its name, should have a course in forestry
as one of the branches of soil culture. A national forestry school, for the
education of the officers of the -proposed National Forestry Department,
based somewhat on the pattern of the military schools, may become desir-
able when such department is instituted.

There still remains to be considered the legislation of direct encourage-
ment to tree-planting. This is the last to be attempted, the most difficult to
devise and to execute, but by no means impossible. Such laws should not
be enacted until the importance of forestry as a business has been fully
recognized, and we are willing to make adequate efforts, and until the proper
machinery to guard against misappropriation of such encouragement is pro-
vided. A release from taxation, or a bounty to the extent of a few pennies
or a few dollars as some states have enacted, is no encouragement. Such
12

170 Ajnerican HoriicuUnral Society.

imit<t be of a more substantial character. Nor do I believe in dispen.sing
charities where fair bargains are possible.

The community is not only richer than the j)rivate man, but it i.>< l(jnger
lived, and can more conveniently wait for returns. Let, wherever public
interest should demand afforestation, the community plant the forest, tak-
ing a lien upon it for the repayment of its loan, with the same rights which
pertain to any other lien or mortgage, the latter not to fall due until the full
crop is ready to be utilized, when principal and interest may be yati.«fied.
The distribution of seeds and seedlings from nurseries under contract can
also be made of service, either free of cost or at nominal charges; but we
must not expect much encouragement from the peddling out of a few plants
or ounces of seed, when acres are to be planted.

While little Prussia, with a model forest administration and largely sat-
isfactory private forest management, being not larger than three quarters of
the area of California, found it advantageous last lear to distribute over 38,-
000,000 seedlings (mostly conifers) free of charge, and 2.5,000 pounds of seed
at nominal prices, the Department of Agriculture of the United States is not
sufficiently endowed to devote more than perhaps $500 to the same purpose,
and for the entire forestry interest of the nation it spends about one-lifth of
what little Prussia appropriates for the purpose of forestry schools and forest
experiment stations alone. No wonder that in ten years of forestry investi-
gations we have accomplished nothing, practically. It can not be the pocket
that dictates such niggardliness. Is the heart or the intelligence lacking to
deal more wisely with this great interest?

Of all these various directions of legislations proposed, not every one
may be found desirable or needed in each stixte, but I would insist that be-
sides efficient protection against fire nothing of a limited nature is so full of
promise as the creation of a forest commissioner in each state — a salaried
officer, with facilities to gather and impart information, and to represent the
forestry interest in the execution of laws. The small expenditure of two or
three thousand dollars, which this would call for, will be returned a thousand-
fold in the fostering care which an intelligent community would learn to
bestow upon this great forestry interest.

•

President Earle — We have another paper mi tliis nio.st impor-
tant subject, which Mr. Kiuney, of California will now read in your
hearing:

THOUGHTS ON FORESTllY IN CAI.IFOKNI.V.

13 Y ROIJERT DOUGLAS, OF ILLIX0I.S.

The legislature of the state of California has granted an appropriation
for the establishment of experimental stations, for testing fruit, ornamental
and forest trees. This experimental work can not be commenced too soon,
for wliile individual enterprise has been employed in ihoruughly ex])eri-

Thoughts on Forestry in California. 171

mentmg with every kind of fruit, to an extent which is simply wonderful,
the noble indigenous trees of the state have been sadly neglected. Indeed,
with the exception of a few noble specimens in the capitol grounds at Sacra-
mento, we rarely find a specimen, except Cupressus macrocarpa and Pinus
insignis (the Monterey pine and Monterey cypress), planted everywhere,
while specimens of Seqitoia gigantea, S. sempervirens, Cupressus Lawsoniana,
C. Goveniana, Thuja gigantea, Libocedrus decurrens, Pseudotsuga Douglasii, Ahits
Menziesii, Picea litchensis of Engl., Abies concolor, and other noble silver firs
and nobler pines, are rarely to be met with.

Forestry is a subject of great importance to this state, and the time will
soon arrive when it can not longer be neglected. The conditions here differ
so materially from the Atlantic slope that our experience will not avail to
any great extent here. Forestry here must be confined mainly to desert
and hilly lands that can not be irrigated. A transient visitor from the east,
looking from the window of a sleeping-car, would see a very discouraging
prospect. The desert is certainly' not promising to him, and the hills look
little better.

This word desert is not well understood. Many agriculturists and horti-
culturists in Kansas and Nebraska claim that they have brought their land
from a desert to rich, fertile land within two or three decades. They tell
you that their states are a part of the great American desert, and refer you
to a school geography to prove what they say, but they do not seem to notice
the fact that in this same school-book there are wood-cuts of Indians chasing
immense herds of buffaloes, wading through very tall grass. When the emi-
gration of 1849 went through the territory of which Kansas and Nebraska is
now a part — and that was before there was a white settler in the territory —
the land lying between the Missouri river and the Rocky mountains was
called the plains. The desert of the " forty-niners " lay between the sink of
the Humboldt and the Sierra Nevada mountains, and many years previous
to that time, the Santa Fe traders crossed the plains from Leavenworth to
Santa F^. The settlers in Kansas and Nebraska claim that they can grow
cultivated crops where they could not be grown twenty-five years ago. This
is undoubtedly true, and can be readily accounted for.

Before the whites settled west of the Missouri river, the land thruugh
central Kansas and Nebraska was covered with buffalo grass, which kept the
rains from penetrating the ground almost as effectually as would a shingled
roof. I have run my cane into the ground a few minutes after it had been
flooded with rain, and found it dry as dust two inches from the surface. The
rain ran off in torrents into the ravines and draws, without having a per-
ceptible effect except on the surface. You might see the plains covered
with water, looking like a lake with man}' islands, and within two hours
from that time, scarcely a sign that there had been any rain at all. Since
that time millions of acres have been plowed in Kansas and Nebraska, and,
aside from this, 147,000 acres have been planted with forest trees in Kansas
(aside from a large number planted last year), and a great many more have
been planted in Nebraska than in Kansas.

172 American Horliciiltural Society.

Now, when we consider that an inch of rain is equal to 100 tons of water
per acre, and niuhii)ly the milUons of acres of plowed land by the number
of inches or hundreds of tons that have been absorbed in the plowing, which
formerly ran off, we can see that the settlers have materially chanired the
conditions of the plains.

While your desert lands look very unjjromising to the tourist, even when
compared with the plains, the close observer will see many things aside from
climate in your favor. Any one studying these det-erts carefully will see that
lying neglected they must be gradually growing drier and drier. This is
plain to be seen. We see where deep lakes once overflowed, no water stands
now; where monstrous trees once grew, as shown in the petrified forests,
only pigmies, in com])arison, grow there now. We see that the channels
of the streams are genenUly being cut deeper, which, of course, drains the
country more rapidly. We now and then see an article, very prettily writ-
ten, attempting to show that the iron bands laid across the continent pro-
duce electricity and increase the rain-fall. Unfortunately, I can not explain
to you just how this is done; neither can the writers of these articles. I
certainly think that the railroads have had a wonderful effect in increasing
the intelligence of the settlers. It is apparent to any one who has traveled
over the country to any great extent, that the people living along the line of
a railroad improve in intelligence more rapidly than those Jiving twenty or
more miles distant. Kailroads are good educators and civilizers, but I did
not suppose, until I crossed the Central Pacific last summer, that the rail-
roads are educators of the Indians as well as of the whites. I was surprised
to see the Indians, along the line of the road, in the vicinity of the Humboldt
river, looking strong and healthy and decently clad. Indeed, some of the
young men were dudes in their way — dressed in modern citizens" clothes,
high-heeled, calf-skin boots, a sombrero and fancy Mexican blanket. I had
not time to inquire into their general intelligence, neither did I think to in-
quire into their political proclivities, but judging from the way they put on
airs, I concluded that they must be mugwumps. I had traveled through
this same territory many years ago, and could not help drawing a comparison
between the Indians as thej' were then and as they are now.

Although a trille less than forty years had elapsed, yet the contrast was
very striking. I did not see them in any great numbe'rs at that time, and
we supposed that the better part of them kept away from the emigrant trail,
but those I did see were a cadaverous, half-starved looking lot, living on
large black crickets, kneaded into pounded green vegetable matter, resem-
bling wheat just at the time it is heading out. Their ajiparel consisted of a
thick, matted head of hair and a cloth around their loins; but this was only
when they were in full dress, as there were some exceptions where they
seemed to have sent their whole wardrobe to the laundry.

Although I have not had the opportunities for studying tree growth on
this side of the continent that I have had on the other side, I have yet seen
some very encouraging signs. I have seen changes recently in parts of the

Thoughts on Forestry in California. 173

country I went over in 1849 that are well worth noting, and give great
promise even on what were then desert lands, pure and simple. On the
other hand, I have carefully observed, especially in one or two cases, that
among millions of trees, covering miles on the side of a desert, I couldn't
find a single tree less than fifty to seventy-five years old, although these trees
are covered with seeds, and there are no indications of a fire ever having
visited them. This is proof to my mind that the climate is drier, as seeds
can not germinate now where they produced seedlings less than a century
ago.

Any one who has studied these desert lands, even when on a flying trip,
will see enough to convince him that if irrigation could be secured there
would be very little desert land in this state. I firmly believe that on any
•desert land where sage-brush and other shrubs are growing, even sparsely,
forest trees will grow, if the land is cleared and well plowed, which is a very
cheap and simple affair compared either with clearing grub land, timber
land, or breaking prairie in the eastern states. The forest trees must be
planted during the rainy season, and cultivated at least during the succeed-
ing season. It is surprising to see how the land in this state endures drought,
when compared with similar land on the other side of the continent. I have
seen our gravelly land in Illinois without apparent moisture at three feet in
depth, after a drought of only six weeks. I have noticed men digging only
two feet deep for telephone poles in this state, and the moisture was per-
ceptible, although there had been no rain for nearly six months! This is
not a solitary case, but is usual, as I have frequently noticed in new railroad
cuts.

In the east a hard-pan lies at a certain depth below the surface, through
which the moisture can not be brought up by capillary attraction. In this
state the soil generally is loose and porous down to the bed-rock, however
deep that may be, consequently all the deciduous fruits may be grown with-
out irrigation, but they must be thoroughly cultivated to get the best results.
All through the San Gabriel valley, and in other parts of the state that I
have visited, the indigenous trees thrive best on the north sides of the hills.
Indeed, they are generally destitute of tree growth on their southern sides ;
only shrubs, perennial and annual plants, and a scanty growth at that. Yet
I have seen eucalyptus growing where planted on the very summits of some
of these hills, and also on the south sides. In very many of these hills the
soil is quite rich enough for tree growth even to the very summit; indeed,
I do not remember an exception, except where the rock protruded.

As to irrigation, I touched that subject very modestly for awhile, as I
received quite a rebuff the first time I ventured an opinion. A gentleman
was irrigating a very fine auraicaria. He had the earth scraped away from
the collar of the tree, forming a basin about three feet in diameter and six
inches deep. He was flooding this with cold water in the heat of the day,
and threw the water with such force from the hose that the crown of the
roots was laid bare. I told him I thought he ought not to disturb the sur-

174 American Horticultural Society,

face so near to the trunk of the tree, as the feeding roots lay at some distance.
He told me that the Mexicans had irrigated for a hundred years, and he
guessed they knew more about it than a newcomer. I pocketed the atlront,
and asked him how long he had lived in the sUitc. He said over two years;
then I wontlercd he had not called me a tender-foot. I have always found
the old settlers very civil and kind, and ready to answer all questions freely.
I never saw more obliging people anywhere. No doubt a great deal has
been learned from the Mexicans, yet I think our people can soon make im-
provements on what they learn from tliem. I had the curiosity to go quite
a distance from the road near Santa F^ to see a Mexican plowing with a
wooden plow. He was doing it very well considering the implement he
was using, yet I could not help thinking that the work could be done better
with a light steel plow, and much easier, lioth for the donkey at the beam
and the one at the handles.

The more I observe and study this desert question the more I become
convinced that progress will be made in this direction much more rapidly
than the most sanguine can imagine. Scientists may attempt to prove to
you that according to natural laws the thing is impossible. Less than fifty
years ago scientists said and wrote that valuable trees could not be grown
on the Illinois prairies until many generations of willows and poplars were
grown to tit the land for the more valuable kinds, and at that time it was the
general belief of prairie farmers that trees and the tame grasses would never
succeed on prairie lands. Now we know, and have long known, that our
prairies grow every kind of tree and grass that will bear the severity of our
climate. You will make much more rapid advances than we made in the
Mississippi valley. Our settlers came in covered wagons: yours come on ex-
press trains. You have improved labor-saving machinery, which was not
then invented, and last, but not least, you have a staple currency, and are
not left to the mercy of wild-cat banks.

Reservoirs will be built to husband the waters that are now running
down the rivers into the ocean ; artesian wells will be used in many places;
thousands of acres of forests will be planted, that will not grow as rapidly as
if irrigated, but after they are planted and cultivated the earth will absorb a
great quantity of water that formerly ran ofl"; the trees will shade the ground,
which will gain both in moisture and fertility, as they will draw nutriment
from an immense dei)th, while our forests draw their nutriment from nearer
the surface. The eastern farmer and horticulturist has at best only seven
or eight months in the year, apd from this must provide enough to support
his family, secure fuel, and feed for his stock. Aside from this, his land is
decreasing in fertility, or kept fertile at great expense and labor, while yours
will for a long time be increasing in fertility if kept well cultivated and
worked deep.

It will require more experience than any of us have had to decide which
will be the most suitable trees for forest planting. Many of the most prolit-
able for eastern planting would not succeed well here. The soft foliage of

Thoughts on Forestry in California. 175

the white pine and the larch would unfit them for this climate ; also, the tend-
ency to rvin their roots near the surface of the ground would be to their
disadvantage. For desert planting trees must be used that can be grown
cheaply from seeds, so as to come within the means of the new settlers.
This would seem to be a necessity. I would place Eucalyptics globulus at the
front, as I have seen it growing in what would seem almost impossible places.
It would make fuel cheaper than any other tree that could be grown on like
lands. The common locust, Robinia pseudacacia, I have seen growing well
in Western Kansas and Nebraska, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and
at several places in this state, in every case making a good growth without
irrigation, and in all these cases I have failed to find traces of the borer, so
fatal to this tree in the eastern states. Would space admit, I might name
other trees I would deem as promising well. These two, however, will
furnish fuel and durable posts for the new settler, are grown very cheaply
from seeds, and transplant well.

For general forest planting there are two valuable trees that stand out
in bold relief. In their case there can be no mistake, for nature has suc-
ceeded in growing them almost everywhere between the eastern base of the
Rocky mountains and the Pacific coast, and man has used them more gen-
erally than any other trees over the whole western half of the continent —
Pinus punderosa and Pseudotsuga Douglasii, or Douglas spruce. The former,
Pinus ponderosa, ranges all through the mountains from British Columbia
down into Mexico, through Arizona and New Mexico to Western Texas,
growing on dry mountain-sides through Colorado and Montana. It forms
over 90 per cent, of all the timber in the Black hills of Dakota, reaches further
out on the plains than any other tree in Colorado, and is the only western
coast tree that runs east into Nebraska. Sargent says : " Next to the Douglas
spruce, it is the most generally distributed and valuable tree of the Pacific
forests." The Douglas spruce ranges through British Columbia, Oregon,
Washington Territory, all through the Sierra Nevada, the San Bernardino
mountains, Arizona, New Mexico, and on high dry rklges in Colorado, through
the Uintah and Wasatch mountains, and in Wyoming and Montana. Sar-
gent says : " It is calted yellow or red fir by lumbermen ; is more generally
distributed and said to be the most valuable timber tree on the Pacific coast."
This tree grows on high dry ridges in Colorado, Arizona and Montana, which
proves it to be, Yike ponderosa, a suitable tree for planting on dry lands. Like
P. ponderosa^ it is a rapid grower, and reaches to the largest size. These two
trees furnish nearly all the merchantable lumber, except redwood, from the
coast to the eastern base of the Rocky mountains.

The Sequoia sempervirens, redwood, is a valuable tree, but only adapted
to certain localities. It has a very circumscribed range, only reaching from
about the northern line of the state to the southern boundary of Monterey
county, and in a narrow belt along the coast. Experiments may prove that
this valuable tree will succeed far from its present locality. I noticed a fine
specimen on Dr. Cares' grounds in Pasadena, eight years planted, and over

176 American Horficultimd Society.

thirty feet high ; also, specimens on the capital grounds much higher. IHnus
insignis, although its timber is of no great value, may be named as having a
very limited range — only found inasandy spotat a single point on the coast —
yet we see it growing well wherever planted. We may hope from this
fact that others of limited range and more value may have their limits ex-
tended under cultivation.

DI.SCD.SSIOX, RESOLUTIONS AND REPORTS ON FORESTRY.

M)'. T. H. Douglas, of" Illinois — How does the black locust suc-
ceed iu California?

Prof. Klee, of California — It succeeds very well in many places
in this state, and is nowhere subject to the attack of the borer, though
it is a dangerous tree to cultivate on account of its breeding and
pro})agating the white scale. On this account it should be carefully
avoided, as the scale passes from it into our orchards.

Dr. Plummer, of Oregon — The locust does well in our state. It
is not subject to the borer nor the scale, which we hope our Cali-
fornia brethren will keep on their side of the line.

Mr. Lewers, of Nevada — The locust does well with u>, and is
free from all kinds of insects.

Prof. Klee — The eucalypti, of which we have a number of s])ecies,
all introduced from Australia, do well in California. Some are,
however, much more hardy and valuable than others. They require
but little water and are ra|)id growers. The redwood {Sequoia sem-
pervirens), and its relative, the big trees {S. gigantea), although con-
fined by nature to narrow limits, are, in my judgment, suscej>tible
of pretty extended culture in California. This is esjiecially true of
the redwood, which is an exceedingly valuable tree wherever it can
be grown.

Prof. Budd, of Iowa — The locust is an American tree, which
was introduced into Europe about a century ago, where it flourishes
and has spread all over the continent. It is a most valuable tree
both in Europe and at home. The Rocky mountain juniper I highly
recommend as a very hardy tree, and well adapted to the climate of
California. It requires very little watei, and is valuable for fire-
wood. The fact that it is now growing extensively on llie Mojave
desert is evidence of its ultimate success. It is a fact that the
mountains in California are rapidly being stripped of their timber.

Discussion, Resolutions and Reports on Forestry. 177

I consider that this will do an inestimable damage to the country.
It will affect the climate and the water sup^jly. The snows will not
be preserved in summer, but will go off in early spring. Already
I have been told the effect of forest cutting and destruction is sadly
felt at the head of the Sacramento, and in the Sacramento and Santa
Clara valleys.

Mr. Munson, of Texas — There is no tree that withstands the
droughts and suddenly varying temperature of Western Texas bet-
ter than the yellow cedar. It is a good grower, and valuable for
fuel and other purposes.

3Ir. Gutter, of California — We of Southern California realize
how valuable to us are the mountain reservoirs of snow and water.
Take these from us, and our fine valleys go back to a desert condi-
tion again. The native mountain timber is the preserver of these
water supplies. We look with alarm upon the present tendency to
strip off the mountain forests. If the present duty on foreign lum-
ber was taken off, it would tend to cheapen this staple commodity,
and thus take away the temptation to destroy our native forests.

Mr. Kinney, of California — I am glad Mr. Cutter has again
brought up this tariff question, for it affords me an opportunity to
offer the following resolution :

Resolved, That it is the sense of the American Horticultural Society that uo
question of a political character should be considered at its meetings, and that,
therefore, the political resolution on the tariff, introduced at San Jos^ by Mr.
Estee, be stricken from the records of the Society.

On motion of Mr. Ragan, of Indiana, the resolution was laid
on the table.

Secretary Ragan — Reverting again to the question of forestry,
I would say that I am glad the subject has been so ably presented
by these two papers. I am especially pleased with the paper by Mr.
Douglas. Twenty years ago I had occasion to refer to its author
as the veneraljle Robert Douglas. This paper gives abundant evi-
dence that time has not yet blunted his incisive wit and keen intel-
lect. We are pleased to renew our former acquaintance with this
leading light in the work of forestry reform.

Hon. Abbott Kinney, chairman of the State Board of Forestry

178 American Horticultural Society.

ot" Culit'oniia, made tlio following report as to the condition oi" the
work of that i>otlv :

The hoarci is now engaged upon a forest map of the state of California. This
map is l)eing prepared by the engineer of the board. It is founded on an accurate
survey with section lines. The timber on each section is marked and described,
so that any one by a glance at the map can obtain scientific information as to the
forests of the state. Accompanying the map there is a full account of the timber
and lumber value of the different trees. Prof. Lemmon and his wife are preparing
a scientific and popular account of the forest trees of the state, and with it colored
drawings of the foliage, flowers and seeds, with a section of the wood of each tree,
so that even those unfamiliar with botany can go into the woods and recognize
each tree. The board also has established several experimental stations, where a
record will be kept of each tree grown and distributed. Thus planters of trees can
act more intelligently than is now the case. The board's special agents, under Mr.
Ed. Collins, have been active in attempting to prevent the present robbery, waste
and <lestruction of the forests of California. Many cases have been reported to the
proper authorities, and a number of arrests of lire-setters have been made. The
board regrets the necessity of reporting that, under our i)resent laws and absence
of practicable means for managing our forests, no efficient action in protecting the
public forests is practicable.

A lengthy di.scii.s.sion on the subject of forestry ensued, partici-
pated in by a nuiuber of gentlemen, all of whom recognized the
importance of the theme. In this connection, Mr. Bradbury, of
California, introduced the following preamble and resolutions, which
were, on motion, referred to the Committee on Forestry :

Whereas, The natural relations existing between the forests and all the com-
plex interests of civilized society are vital and inseparable, and the conservation
of the one is a necessary coniiilion of the higher evolution, if not the very exist-
ence, of the other, therefore,

Resolved, That the state, in the exercise of its ultimate powers of eminent do-
main, is vested with the constitutional right, and is charged with the correspond-
ing duty, to maintain witiiin reasonal)lo limitations a restrictive as well as fostering
supervision over timber lands in the hands of private individuals and corporate
bodies, as well as those belonging to the public domain. Therefore, further

Rfunlved, That, in view of the incalculal)le public evils which must result
from the rapid deforestation of the whole country now in progress, it is the imper-
ative duty of the general and state governments of the United Slates to provide at
once, by such legislation as shall fully and seasonably meet the exigencies of the
public interests, for the prevention of unnecessary and wanton destruction of all
forests, whether under public or private ownership and control.

Report of the Standing Gomynittee on Forest?"!/. 179

In due time, the coaunittee, through its chairman. Mr. Kinney,
of California, submitted the following

REPORT OF THE STANDING COMMITTEE ON FORESTRY :

Your committee has carefully considered the resolutions of Mr. Bradbury
referred to it. These resolutions contemplate a wide extension of the theory of
eminent domain hitherto accepted in this country. While we are indisposed to so
suddenly indorse a radical departure of this kind, we are, nevertheless, in this case
constrained to recommend the adoption of these resolutions. We do this upon the
ground that the present private holdings of vast areas of our forests situated upon
water-sheds, whose integrity is of vital importance to communities near them, both
to secure a supply of permanent springs and streams, and the prevention of the
origin of destructive floods and torrents, to say nothing of a continued future sup-
ply of lumber and the general preservation of the equability of the climate, places,
these communities at the mercy, as to their very existence, of private persons. We
further recognize that the remaining government lands in timber are being so
rapidly taken up and purchased that we must anticipate that, before a bill can be
passed by congress to withdraw these remaining lands from sale, a great part of
them will have passed into private hands. Consequently, without some supervision
over such of this private property as is necessary to be maintained in forest for the
welfare of the community, the existence of considerable population and great
interests will be endangered for paltry benefits, or placed at the risk of ignorant
or careless management of such forest domain.

We are encouraged to think this conclusion to recommend the passage of
these resolutions is correct, from the fact that already every important continental
nation has found such control absolutely necessary for the welfare of the whole
people. We believe, further, that an intelligent control of all forests would add
to the profits of private holdings of such property. The agricultural decay, and
consequent decrease in population, of nations that have not cared for their forests
is before us, and we are convinced that the extension of government control over
private forests is essential to the welfare of the people.

Abbott Kinney, Chairman.

The report of the committee, after careful consideration, was
adopted.

Major Lauck, of the Southern Pacific Railway, in behalf of the
Atchison, I'opeka & Santa Fe Railway and citizens of San Diego,
extended an invitation to the Society to visit that city at the con-
clusion of its sessions here, which invitation was accepted.* Major
Lauck further stated, on taking leave of the Society, that he had
had the pleasure of being the guide of the Society during nearly
their entire trip in California, and he highly appreciated the ac-

*See Dr. Ridpath's report of excursion to San Diego.

180 American Horticultural Society.

quaintances he had made. Never had he met such wliok'-souled gen-
tlemen. He assured tliem he wouhl never forget them, and in all
their jonrueys and nndertakings might the blessings of God be with
them.

ELECTION OF OFFICERS.

Prof. Thomas, of Arkansas, from the Committee on Nominations,
reported, recommending the re-election of President P^arle, Vice-
President Munson, Secretary Ragan, and Treasurer Evans, which
motion was adopted and the above named gentlemen duly elected.
The same committee recommended the election of one Vice-Presi-
dent for each of the states, territories and provinces within the juris-
diction of the Society, whicli was also concurred in. (See list of
officers.)

Invitations from San Bernardincj, Jjugonia and Kedland.s, re-
questing the Society to visit those places, were received and accepted,
after which the Society adjourned to meet at 7 ; oU p. m.

Fifth Oay— Wednesday.

Evening Session.

At 7 : 30 P. M. the Society reassembled.

President Earle, of Illinois — Several years ago some prominent
citizens of the north and west became interested in the question of
procin-ing hardier varieties of fruits for tiie rigorous climate of the
states and provinces in which they lived. With a view to informing
themselves about the possibilities of northern fruits, they visited
Russia and other European countries, and after extended observa-
tions in those frigid regions they returned, bringing with them a
mass of practical knowledge as valuable as it was new to the Amer-
ican people. Chief among those engaged in making these foreign
observations, ami in transmitting to us tlie results of the same, were
Prof. .1. L. Ikuld, of Iowa, and Charles Gibb, Esq., of Abbottsford,
Quebec. Prof Budd is with us this evening, and has agreed to
give us a lecture on his trip.

Down the Volga. 181

DOWN THE VOLGA.

BY PROF. J. L. BUDD, OF IOWA.

If not dignified with the title of lecture, a few notes from personal ob-
servation on the scenery, cities, people and commerce of the Volga river may-
have some interest. This great drainage center is navigable for steamers to
Tver, 2,150 miles above its inflow into the Caspian. Tourists who can not
give more than six weeks to a study of this ancient highway of commerce
will do well to approach the river by way of Moscow, reaching Nizhni-Nov-
gorod about the 20th of August, when the great fair is fully stocked with the
varied and peculiar products of the far east, and its strange medley of a
quarter of a million of the merchants and traders of the Orient and the
Occident.

We alight from the cars at Nizhni, on the edge of the fair grounds, on
the west banks of the Volga, and at once observe that the city is built on the
bluffs on the opposite bank of the stream. We had been told that we would
gain time by first taking a bird's-eye view of the city, the fair grounds, and
the far-reaching valleys of the Volga and Oka, which here unite, from the
highest point of the bluffs back of the city. From this elevation of over 700
feet the clear air of this interior steppe region permits an extended pano-
ramic view that will long linger in memory.

Our attention from this point is first directed to the forest of masts and
smoke-stacks of steamers, intermingled with quaint barges, which cover the
waters of the Oka and Volga as far as the vision can extend. The eyes next
linger on the hundreds of steamers, vessels and barges, packed in like sar-
dines in a box, along the ten miles of wharfage of the fair grounds on the
borders of the two rivers. With the field-glasses at hand, even the faces and
the rags of the Tartar laborers who are discharging the queer cargoes may
be plainly seen.

Back of the wharfs the rows of trading bazaars of the fair grounds ex-
tend across the level plain from river to river, and extend westward as far as
the vision extends. Our deep interest in the river scenes, the great extent
and queer expression of the fair grounds, and the back setting to the north
and south of harvest fields, dotted with forests, villages and gardens, is such
that we quite forget to take a glance at the strange oriental city spread out
on the bluffs below us. When we come to this part of the picture, the gilded
domes and gaudily painted towers of the forty -nine cathedrals first engage
our attention. As to the expression of the domes, we can compare them to
that of our new Capitol at DesMoines, as it is truly oriental in size, shape and
gilding, but the rainbow colors of the towers and the roofs of the houses
have no counterpart in this country or West Europe. The uniform brill-
iancy of these colors, and the even whiteness of all whitewashed surfaces of
fences and walls, seem to be due to a degree of skill in mixing and preparing
colors peculiar to the east, and possibly in part to the aridity of the air dur-
ing a large portion of the year.

V

182 American HodicuUnral Society.

The arclied gateways of the outer walls of the city, and the liuge wall
surrounding the Kremlin and the main public buildings, are studied next
in order. The ancient wall surrounding the Kremlin, with its towers of de-
fense, in dinien-sions and style of building, is said lu be much like the great
wall of North China. Our next peculiar views are the gayly painted chim-
neys and roofs in the residence portions of the city, where they peep through
the thick green foliage of carefully i)lanled and well kejit gardens.

A drive through the streets on the way to the fair grounds shows them
to be wider, cleaner and better paved than those of most West Europe cities
of this size, but the business blocks have an oriental, toy-shop expression,
and are rarely more than two stories in height. As we pass the street corners
the great number of trifk-i)erforining jugglers of the east, and fortune-tell-
ing and singing gypsies, reminds us of fair times at home, with singular varia-
tions. But we were told that pocket-picking and petty thieving are hardly
known at fairs in the "land of the east." As we enter the fair grounds the
first impression is that of Babel-like confusion of tongues, people and products.

On the streets nearest the railroad stations, and the ten miles of wharfage,
the merchandise for exhibit and sale is on the move on the heads of men
and women, the backs of horses, asses, oxen, cows, camels and dogs, or loaded
on two and four-wheeled vehicles of styles of construction such as we had
never dreamed of. But after getting through this transit region

TO THE BAZAAR AVEXUES,

we find that horses and vehicles are excluded during the day, and even the
centers of the wide streets are occupied with the merchandise of humbler
dealers. We also soon discover that the exhibits are mainly in sections or
groups. For instance, if we wish to specially study the people and products
of Persia, we find them on certain avenues of the grounds, indicated on the
plats conspicuously posted in the languages of the east and in French and
German. In like manner the people and exhibits- of China, India, Thibet,
Bokhara, Afghanistan, Beloochistan, Siberia, and even the tribal divisions of
Asia and East Europe, may be separately studied on difTerent parts of the
spacious grounds. This division of the people and products of nationalities
and tribes of the east and west gives an opportunity for critical study of
habits, customs, dress, crops and handiwork of the people of Ea^t Europe
and Asia which could only be equaled by travel in their native lands, in-
volving months of laborious, expensive and even dangerous exploration.

The next general observation of the grounds is that rain is not expected
at this time of the year, as the fronts of the miles of thops are open to the
weather, and the centers of the hundreds of wide avenues are literally piled
with goods for wholesale, retail or exchange. Our encyclopaedias give many
of the facts and figures of this historic fair, which has come down from a
by-gone age, but they do not, and can not, give a clear idea of its influence
on the trade and commerce of a large part of the eastern continent, nor of
the queer medley of tongues, people, dress and products which is here

Down the Volga. 183

congregated during the six weeks of the annual fair. Yet we leave with the
fixed impression that from the stand-point of an advanced system of political
economy the whole thing is 500 years behind our times.

By the inexorable law of custom the merchant of Astrachan, 1,400 miles
down the river, is forced to follow the products and manufactures which pass
his door from Persia, Arabia and the Caspian provinces to the far-distant
point prescribed for their exhibit and sale by imperious and long-established
custom. In like manner the dealers of Perm, and the many cities on the
main lines of commercial travel, must follow the wares that pass their doors
en route to the great fair. The long and expensive journeys, and still more
expensive transport of the goods of buyer and seller, added to the long sys-
tem of credits between parties hundreds of miles apart, are only a small part
of the evils connected with the old custom. Yet, without a complete revo-
lution in system of commerce, for which the people will not be prepared in
our century, the fair must continue to exist, and even grow, in all its propor-
tions. As incredible as it may seem, it is the hoard of trade of a vast
region, and absolutely the ruling price of each year of tea from China, raw
cotton from West Asia, wool of East and West Europe, the ores and worked
metals of the Ural, and, indeed, all the main products known to the eastern
trade, is fixed each year at the Nizhni fair.

The estimated number of buyers and sellers on the grounds at the time
of our visit in 1882 was over a quarter of a million, and the number of
nations and tribal divisions represented exceeded one hundred.

When we came to talk of the steamer excursion down the river we were
advised to see the agents of the different companies with a view to securing
the best arrangements for stopping at points indicated, the best steamer
accommodations, and the lowest possible rates. But we were hardly pre-
pared for the active competition of the many companies. We soon grew
tired of the long stories, often told in fairly good English, of the unrivaled
one hundred and twenty steamers of the Mercury Company, the eighty-five
still finer boats of the Volga Company, the seventy incomparable steamers
of the Samolet Company, etc. We soon found that fully six hundred steamers
are regularly run for passengers and trade on the Volga and its tributaries to
varied points on the Caspian. If nothing is said about prices, the tourist
will pay the Russian price imposed for the uninitiated in every part of the
empire, except on the railways, where the fare is fixed by the government ;
but a Yankee system of bartering will secure the best cabin passage to
Kazan, 250 miles, for eight paper roubles, equaling about four of our dollars.

In size, finish and shape of bottom, the passenger boats of the Volga do
not differ materially from the best boats of the Mississippi and Missouri,
and, indeed, some of them were built by workmen from Pittsburgh and other
points in America. It seems strange in this far-off land to find the best
steamers with such names as Amazon, Missouri, Ohio and Montana.

From Nizhni to Kazan the outlook from the upper deck is much like
that of the Missouri from St. Joseph to Sioux City, but the breadth of stream

184 American Horticultural Society.

and volume of water of the Volga are much greater. Like the Missouri, the
blullrt are loefs in formation, but thoy are roumlcr, smoother ami better
adapted to cultivation, as a whole, than those of our great western rivers.
So, also, the color and sediment, and the ever-shifting sands and channel,
remind us of our Big Muddy.

But while the natural lay of the land and the a.spect of the water are
familiar, the changes wrought by man remind us constiiutly of very ancient
occupation, and at least partial civilization. On the higher bluflfs can be
seen the more or less perfect remains of ancient castles of defense of the
time when geographers gave the stream the classic name of Kha, and the
defense mounds of the ancient Scythians, Sarmatians, Huns, iiolgas and
Tartars are visible at every bend.

The steeper portions of the blufTs are covered with deciduous and ever-
green trees that give evidence of systematic planting and culture in their
first stages of growth. The undulating and level portions are dotted with
peasant villages, garden plats, cultivated lields, and orchards laden at this
season with high-colored fruits, as noted when the steamer followed the
channel often within stone throw of the trees.

At intervals of a few miles we pass neat and clean looking cities and
trading villages, with the never-failing accompaniment of expensive and
showy cathedrals. Near these cities, on selected elevations, the modern cas-
tles and residences of Russian, German, French, Italian and North Tartar
grandees and noblemen are as artistic in design and linish as those of the
Danube or the Rhine. The lawns, gardens and orchards surrounding these
homes of wealth also show the handiwork of the best modern landscape gar-
deners.

In this connection we may say that the number of nationalities repre-
sented by tht^ owners of these palatial residences on the Volga bluffs from
Nizhni to Saratov, a distance of over 1,0(X^ miles, was a surprise until we
learned that it had been the outgrowth of the wonderful commerce of this
river since the time of Peter the Great. Even England is here represented
by men who have amassed wealth from the steamboat, milling or manufact-
uring interests of this busy and populous valley. The peasant villages, seen
from the deck, or when rambling in the interior, are uniformly built of logs
or poles, chinked with a white and durable cement and thatched with long
hay or straw.

As in Germany, these peasant homes diller little in size, mode of struct-
ure, or interior linish and furniture. These villages are also alike in their
possession of a showy cathedral — quite out of keeping with the cabins and
their surroundings — which, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, is pre-
sided over by a priest of the Greek division of the Catholic church.

We should also adtl that the owners of cabins of each and all the villages
are alike in watchful care of the holy taper, which is kept burning from gen-
eration to generation in the holy corner of the main apartment. In connec-
tion with the holy taper, which must never go out, the holy corner contains

Down the Volga. 185

mementoes and relics from the holy city of Kiev, and manufactured articles
said to have been fashioned by St. Vladimir or his descendants. To enter
one of these cabins with covered head is the unpardonable sin, not on account
of incivility to the inmates of the cabin, but disrespect to the holy corner. To
such an extent is this accompaniment of the Greek church carried that every
railway depot of Central and East Russia has its ever-burning taper illu-
minating a relic corner; but its presence in such public places is only recog-
nized by the uncovered heads and the solemn demeanor and sign of the
cross of the ever-faithful who enter the room.

The only exceptions to the common neatness of expression of the cities
and villages from Nizhni to Kazan are those of the Finnish tribes of the
province of Cheremy. True to the habits and traditions of their fathers in
their natal land, these people are represented by dirt, awkward expression
of dwellings and extreme superstition. As an instance of the latter, in their
capital city on a public square is a great carved image of Nicholas, the " mir-
acle worker." In the open space in front of this statue the people meet to
adjust all disputes and differences without judge or jury. The assumption
is that in this august presence the parties and their witnesses can only tell
the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Our entrance into the ancient North Tartar city of Kazan was quite late
in the evening. As we had read of it as one of the main capitals of the North
Tartars, we were much surprised to find the streets neatly and smoothly
paved and curbed, and the neat and showy business fronts brilliantly lighted
by inner and outer electrical lamps, of the Ball patent, such as we had not
seen since leaving Moscow, 500 miles to the westward. Our first and last
impression of this Tartar city of near 100,000 inhabitants was that it was
singularly neat and clean, and full of interest on account of the queer min-
gling of Oriental styles of architecture with the best modern work of English,
German and Italian architects and builders. Its university is provided with
a library of over 100,000 volumes, a first-class museum containing thousands
of interesting relics from the cities without historic record of the great east
plain, and a student roll of over 500. The nihilistic tendencies of the English
and French speaking students were not hidden from the trusted American
visitors, and we have not been surprised to read since our visit that whole
classes of them have been sent to Siberia.

Kazan boasts of the possession of 130 manufacturing establishments, and
has long been enriched by the control, to a large extent, of the traflSc of the
Kama river, which for ages has been the main artery of trade of the Volga
region with Northeastern Asia, including North China, Mongolia and Siberia.
At the great forestry convention at Moscow we had met the manager of for-
ests of the province of Kazan, who promised to go with us to visit some
of the fruit-growing estates and peasant orchards of this interesting section.
He had assured us that we would here find hundreds of peasant orchardists
who derived their incomes entirely from the sale of orchard fruits, and that
13

18G American Horticultural Society.

a nunibtr uf tilled lainlhoKlers ilerived large incomes from conunercial
orchards. But we found the reality to largely exceed our expectations of
the possible in this far northern and interior region, near the 57th parallel
of north latitude.

The commissioner kindly spent three days with us, acting as guide and
interpretc r, giving us a constant succession of surprises in the way of fine and
well-managed estates, fine artificial forests of great extent, and large and
healthy orchards 'aden with handsome and good fruit, and this in a climate
where no variety of the apjile, pear, cherry or plum of any part of West
Europe would endure their mildest winter.

Our guide also gave u^ a fine opportunity to observe that official guidance
among the peasants was a good thing from the stand point of comfort, con-
venience and rapid transportation from point to point. He controlled the
selection of rooms at stopping points, the horses at post stations, and his sig-
nal would stop any steamboat on the river when we wished to return to the
city. Everything pertaining to these inland excursions was novel in the
extreme, and at times grew exciting. For instance, we were often driven
from point to point in a four-wheeled drosky without springs, sitting on
straw in the bottom of a long tlat basket woven from twigs of the willow or
birch. To this batket on wheels three spirited, long-winded black Tartar
horses were attached abreast in a way we would call awkward and danger-
ous. The central horse is in heavy shafts, and is guided by one-horse lines in
the hands of the driver ; but the two outer horses are without lines, and
only attached to the central horse with long light tether straps, which per-
mit them to run with their heads outward, giving rise to the constant im-
pression that they were utterly beyond the control of the boyish drivers.
We often thought that the drivers wished to astonish or frighten the Yankee
visitors by the breakneck speed often attained on a down grade by the
strangly geared up team. xVt first our long drives seemed a consUuit run-
away of the spirited horses, and to the last our faith in the system was not
much increased, as we constantly heard of deaths resulting from the wild
system of running horses on the ( fficial post lines.

But this wild habit of driving is not confined to post lines, as it is com-
mon and fashionable among the gentry in all parts of Kussia ; but the place
of the basket drosky in the city and on the estates is taken by the best car-
riages of West Europe styles. Yet even here the true Russian drives the
three horses abreast at a jiace not known, I think, in any other country of
the world. Our guide at one time, farther down the river, spoke of six wid-
ows among the upper classes of the vicinity whose husbands had been killed
by wild racing with Tartar horses with the two outer ones totally without
the control of lines.

Before leaving the capital of the North Tartars we must speak of the
unexpected uprightness of their persons, their fairness of complexion, and
their fine cranial development. As this does not apply to the Mongol Tar-
tars, the Magyars, the Don Cossacks, and other tribal divisions farther gouth,

Down the Volga. 187

we must attribute the physical beauty of person and mental development of
the North Tartars to climatic influences or to Caucasian descent. Without
reference to the opinions of ethnological experts, we can only add that in
every part of the empire the North Tartar is found as a provincial governor,
a political leader, or a trusted adviser.

A few miles below Kazan the river attains the width of two miles, but
skilled pilots and fiat-bottomed steamers are still required on account of the
ever-shifting sands. To Simbirsk — 150 miles — the principal change noted
is the increase in volume of water from the inflow of the Kama and other
streams, and the increased number of steamers and boats.

As we approach Simbirsk the blutfs on the west bank grow higher, and'
present the singular geologic formation of chalk rock resting on loose soil,
with a thick deposit of black sedimentary soil on the surface, even at the top
of the highest knobs. This singular succession of deposits can only be ac-
counted for by the change in the ancient level and sediment of the waters
of the Caspian and Black seas, to which we will again refer.

East of the river the bluffs have given way to an interminable dry level
plain, over which are seen trains of camels dragging carts loaded with wheat,
making their way to the wheat markets on the river. This extended use of
camels in a region where the winter temperature often reaches fifty degrees
below zero seemed out of place, but we were assured that these fine-haired
camels of the East were capable of enduring as low temperature as the North
Tartar horses, if provided with fur blankets to protect the fatty humps in
which the blood circulation is sluggish. That these camels would prove
valuable on our western plains we could not well doubt.

The city of Simbirsk is built on the summit of the bluffs, 550 feet above
the river, or, in other words, it is built on the level of the rich black-soiled
table-land stretching away to the westward for one hundred or more miles.
From the observatory on this summit the magnificent view presented will
convince the tourist that the name " Orchard City " is well applied. In all
directions, as far as the vision extends, every available space is planted with
apple, pear, cherry and plum trees. Even a large proportion of the street
and park trees are fine specimens of the silvery-leaved pear that appears to
be indigenous to the East. It was called the orchard city 800 years ago,
when the Russian poet likened the bloom of the maiden's cheek to the rich
color of the apples of Simbirsk, and the inhabitants of the city and its vicinity
seem anxious to retain the ancient name and fame of the " Orchard City " of
the Volga. From this point was introduced our well known Duchess apple.
It was sent to England by a steamboat captain under the name of Borovitsky,
and was introduced into its new home in the northwest after it had acquired
its new name of Duchess of Oldenburg in France.

The city of Simbirsk is the home of thousands of the owners of the rich
table-lands to the westward, and of other thousands who have made fortunes
out of some branch of the river trade. Hence, it is noted for its luxurious
homes, with every comfort and appliance known to Europe or America. In

188 American Horticultural Society.

this section we saw for the tirst time extensive fields of corn, melons and
toniatoer*: the summer heat and ariditj' of air seeming to mature them
about as well as in Central Iowa.

Our guide and interpreter here was an English-speaking lawyer, who
owned large estates in the province. We told him of our use of sweet corn,
and of our success in growing the Concord, Worden and other grapes. Re-
cently he has assured us by letter that the sweet corn we sent him has pro-
duced its first crop, and is regarded as a treasure, and that the grape-cuttings
were giving promise of a new era in fruit-growing in the Orchard City.

The importance of this introduction of the American grapes will be
understood in connection with the statement that we did not see a native
grape-vine on the Volga, and the West Europe varieties of the vinif^ra type
fail to endure the dry air and hard winters of this region, as they also fail
with us. While Dame Nature was lavish in giving us a number of species
of the grape, she wholly neglected this part of Europe. On the other hand,
the apple and the pear are indigenous to a large part of Russia, but nature
failed to i)lant them at any point on our continent. From Simbirsk to Sa-
mava, fifty miles, the high blufl's and elevated table-lands are continuous on
the west bank, and the low pastoral plain continues to stretch beyond the
visual range to the eastward. A single estate on the west table-land in-
cludes an amount of land about equal to three of our counties. This is the
home estate of the Orloff family, who have recently been discussed in the
papers as the purchasers of the finest diamonds thrown on the markets of
the world. Perhaps no estate of the east can show finer stock, a more com-
plete system of rotation of crops, or more varied and complete buildings,
equipments, agricultural tools and machinery than the Or loft' estates of East
Russia. Outside of the political influence and reported fabulous wealth of
the family, the estate is best known in this country as the breeding estab-
lishment of the celebrated Orlofi' horses.

On the Orloff" estates and on the elevated plain to the westward we first
begin to notice the high smoke-stacks connected with the beet sugar inter-
ests of Russia, and in our inland excursions we pass through thousands of
acres of sugar beets. The products of these factories are equal in quality to
any of the cane sugars of the world. In addition to supplying the home de-
mand and the immense Asiatic trade, the Russian beet sugars manufactured
in the great black soil region find their way to this country in large quantity.
Below Simbirsk, and in the vicinity of the Orloil' estates, we also begin to
notice immense mills for the manufacture of linseed-oil and, so-called, olive
or sweet-oil. The latter is expressed from sunflower seeds, and the visitor
here passes through hundreds and thousands of acres of what we know as
the Russian sunflower. Another extensive manufacturing interest of this
region, esjiecially east of the river, is the tanning of the celebrated Russian
upper leather, glove leatlier and purse leather, all of which are tanned with
the bark of what is known as the desert willow (Salix acuti/olia).

Opposite Stavopol are the famous Jigulef hills, from which the savage

Down the Volga. 189

natives of the Don at the westward preyed upon the commerce of the Volga
for over one hundred years. These hills are now divided into little free-
hold estates, on which fruits and vegetables are grown for the Volga trade.

At Samara the bluffs reappear on the east banks for a few miles as an
island remnant of the past flood periods in connection with the rise and fall of
the Caspian. Samara has been a central station of the caravan trade between
Asia and East Europe for centuries, and it still holds to some extent its old
traffic, though much modified by recentextensions of railways over the ancient
caravan routes. With its lessened eastern trade, its ancient business of man-
ufacturing the " koumiss " for the refreshment of the Caravan traders of the
far east has increased to a wonderful extent, but the fermented mare's milk
is diverted to a new use, as the place has become a fashionable Saratoga,
where rich and fashionable invalids run into all excesses while curing some
ill of the body, real or fancied, by the use of the famous "koumiss."

Below Samara for many miles we find rich and prosperous colonies of
German Mennonites, who have occupied their present lands since the time
of Peter the Great. These Germans much surpass their neighbors, the Cal-
muck Tartars, in the regularity and expression of their towns and cities,
their system of schools, and their modes and methods in agriculture and
horticulture. Yet they do not equal the Tartars in the breeding and man-
agement of horses, which are not excelled in speed, beauty and endurance
by any breeds of the world.

Passing many interesting cities and evidences of very ancient occupa-
tion by a dense population of this black soil region, we reach Saratov, also
on the bluffs of the west bank, which are here rounder, smoother and richer
than farther north. Though an old city, its expression is new and clean on
account of continued application of paint or lime washes to everthing ex-
posed to the air, and the extreme durability of these washes in this dry
interior climate. The streets are regular, wide, well paved, and systematic-
ally planted with trees. By methodic planting is meant that as we pass from
street to street we meet a constant succession of change of species and ex-
pression of foliage. This note on methodic planting of street trees brings to
mind the fact that we did not see a tree in the valley of the Volga which we
had reason to believe was planted by Dame Nature, except the willows,
alders, birches and elms on the sand-bars of the river, and these seedlings
are constantly utilized for systematic planting on the prairies.

At Saratov are located the largest and best flouring-mills we saw in
Europe, and they are not excelled by any we have unless it may be by some of
the mills at Minneapolis. On the table-lauds west of the city are found the
largest apple orchards we saw in Europe. One of these contains 24,000 trees
in one connected plantation, all of which are systematically watered in time
of need with water pumped by steam or wind mills from the valley below
into great cisterns on the highest points of the orchard. The estimated cost
of watering each tree twice during the growing season is only five cents, and
the increase in the size and quality of the fruit is said to average one dollar

1 90 Americdn Horticultural Society.

per tree. W ,tli the same method and ey:?tem the watering of orchards and
smill fruit plantations coulJ be made extremely jirolitahle in many jiarts of
our country.

Here we must sandwich in the remark that many of these great com-
mercial orchards are owned by members of the peasant class who have risen,
as in this country, by a process of development to the ownership of property
and the ability to wisely manage it. Again, it may be well to say that we
did not meet a i)easant orchardist on the Volga who was not able to read and
write, which are no mean acquirements in a land where only a small per
cent, of the peasant jiopulation can write their own names.

Below Saratov the river has an average width of three miles, and the
thrifty looking cities on the west bank are more thickly planted than at any
point above. On the east bank, however, the towns on the low, sandy plain
have a dingy business look, and their main uses are as headquarters for the
pastoral iuterestv--, and for storage of the grain brought in by the camel train>
from the east.

The city, of Kamyshin, a few miles below Saratov, is noted in the his-
tory of the Volga as the point where the robbers of the Don gathered, prior
to the time of Peter the Great, to prey upon the river commerce. To guard
the position Thomas Baillie, of English education and descent, wasemi)loyed
to superintend the erection of fortilications and extensive barracks for mili-
tary use, which are still supposed to be necessary to keep in check the
piratical Don Cossacks. Here, also, can be seen traces of an extensive work
undertaken in the sixteenth century to connect the waters of the Black sea
and the Caspian by way of the channel of the Don. Had the work been
completed, it would have made changes in the lower Volga valley not real-
ized at that time, when the difference of level between the two inland seas
was unknown.

The city of S.irepta was founded by the Moravian brethren of Germany
in 1765. It is yet communistic in management of property, and the general
arrangements as to board, common property, system of labor, etc., do not
diHer materially from the system adopted in the communistic colonies on
the Iowa river in Johnson and Iowa counties. This old German colony is
noted for the production of prepared mustard, sweet-oil from suntiower
seeds, and the growing of melons and fruits for shipment up the Volga and
by rail to the northeastward.

Astrachan, near the Caspian, is an ancient Uiwn of over oO,(iUi) inhat)it-
ants, mainly engaged in the sturgeon and general fishery interests of the
river estuaries and the Caspian. An idea of the extent of the business may
be gathered from the fact that the average catch of the city inhabitants is
over so,<>00 tons, and in 1.SS3 the number of fish caught was over l.ii ),<)()< i,(mX),
principally sturgeon, pike, sea i)L'rch, herring and bream. From this point
was brought the first specimen of the Russian apple, under the name of
White Astrachan, which Loudon dignified with the specific name Malug A8-
trnchanica.

Doivn the Volga. 191

At Astrachan we begin to be annoyed with mosquitoes and house flies,
which are rarely seen in the drier valley above. Here, also, fresh sediment-
ary deposits begin to attract attention as near the mouths of the Mississippi.
We also note that the bed of the river is being lifted up by the mud deposits,
and that in time of high water the whole plain to the eastward is flooded,
leaving successive deposits of sand and black earth sediment. We now be-
gin to fully realize the truth of the story we have read and been told, that
we have been sailing for days in a dry vallej', with scarcely an observable
trace of bayou, marsh, or wet spot outside the river banks — a valley teeming
with population and bus}' commerce, yet actually far below the level of the
Black sea or the ocean.

Literally the bed of the Volga, below Saratov, is below the ocean level,
and it empties into a great depression in the earth known as the Caspian
sea, which at the bottom is from 100 to 200 feet below the level of the Atlan-
tic or Pacific, ayid so far as known this great sink-hole is without outlet. Into
this great depression run the waters of the Volga and its many tributaries,
draining an area equal to many states like Iowa, with seven other rivers,
which drain a still larger area, including a large portion of the south slopes
of the Caucasus range, where the annual rain-fall is excessive.

With these facts before us we are ready to believe that the evaporation
from the 180,000 square miles of the Caspian can not equal the inflow from
the eight rivers and smaller inlets, and to fullj' believe the statement that
the water level of the Caspian has raised within a recent historic period
many feet. Alexander the Great passed his troops dry-shod over an arm of
the present sea, which now has a depth of water of over forty feet, and the
foundations of buildings erected by Alexander at Derbend are now fifty feet
below the water surface.

In view of these facts, some of our scientists believe that the Volga in
time will again resume its ancient course into the Black sea in the present
valley of the Don, and the whole level plain east of the Volga, and as far
north as Simbirsk, will again be flooded, and deposit a coating of the black
sediment brought down by the river and its tributaries. But all this need
not disturb the peace of mind of the present czar, nor the plans of tourists
who may decide on a sail down one of the largest, busiest and most peculiar
rivers of the world, as the present rate of fiUing up of the great area below
ocean level will require at least 800 years.

It may be of interest to add that the final filling up of the Caspian basin,
and the flijoding of the low steppes east of the Volga, will not, in the opinion
of experts, prove an unmixed evil. While millions of acres of the steppe
will be flooded, a still greater number of acres will be doubled, and even
quadrupled, in value by the change of climate wrought by increase of rain-
fall and atmospheric moisture. Indeed, the promise of added value to the
higher steppes of East Europe and Central Asia from this filling of the basin
below the Black sea is such that the project has been agitated for several
years of hastening the natural period of filling the basin by digging a canal,

192 American Horticultural Society.

permitting the waters of the Black sea to pour into the lower steppe levels.
We learn that engineers are now at work on surveys and estimates of cost,
and that the scheme has far more credit among European capitalists than
had the Suez canal, or the present great scheme of De Lesseps to unite the
Atlantic and Pacitic at Darien.

At the close of Prof. Biuld's lecture the Presiilent iutro<lueed
Mr. Cutter, of Riverside, who read the following paper:

LIMITATIONS OF RAISIN GRAPE CULTURE.

BY J. E. CUTTER, OF CALIFORNIA.

Physicists have divided climates into two general classes— continental
and oceanic. The latter are distingui-shed by equability, their temperature
having no wide annual range. In North .America they are found alon.ij; the
entire Pacitic cojist, extending inland as far as the great continental divide,
except where the Cascades and main Sierras interpose a previous barrier.
That of Florida and the close borders of the Gulf of Mexico belong to the
same class. Crossing the Atlantic, we find all of Western Europe and all
shores of the Mediterranean in the same order. Over all those sections most
members of the vinifera family of grapes range, except where northern
severity bars out their running vines. But the Muscat has hugged the ilry,
warm slopes that face this great inland sea from the time when wise Abigail
met the anointed but fugitive king of Israel with the present of " a hun-
dred clusters ' of its sweet fruit. If any one questions whether those raisins
were Muscatels, it is in order for him to explain of what variety they were!

No district of perennial rains seems adapted to its growth, and as in
Europe it will not thrive inland and along the cool wet coasts of the Atlantic,
go in America it does not succeed in Florida and along the gulf. Its lield
is in Arizona and California, and its capricious choice is not suited even
with all parts of these. We know that it requires warm air and warm soil,
but we can not tell why it succeeds at Orange, in Los Angeles county, and
fails amid the vast wine grape vineyards of the San Gabriel valley, and by
the base of the Sierra Madre ; then crossing to the eastern side of the great
San Bernardino valley, reaches its highest limit of production and profit on
the iron-grained silt of Riverside and Redlands, whose climate and soil ditfer
widely from those of Orange. Here in both of these unlike soils it thrives,
while it rejects their medium. Of all its family, the Muscat seems most sen-
sitive to cold, wet and disease. Wherever other members of the vinifera
species fail, it will also fail, but the converse is not true. It prefers to get
its water from a ditch rather than from the clouds. (The rancher prefers it
also when he has 3,("W trays of its sweet pellets drying under an October
sky.) Irrigable mesa lamls must ever form its principle fields, though there
are some warm lands that have water in sub-strata ten feet, more or less,
from the surface that bring the same by capillary action to the roots, suffi-
cient and not in excess.

Discussion on Raisin Culture. 193

Sensitive but not sub-tropical, the area of our state that is available for
it, though far less than the field of the cereals, is far greater than that which
is adapted to citrus fruits. From the upper limits of the Sacramento valley
southward through to the Mexican border are large districts where the rais-
ing of this grape is a proved success. We can also claim that, though its
culture may not be financially safer to engage in than that of the wine grape,
yet its products are safer to take ! Henceforward, all through the states,
long as our country shall live, the school-boy will think with sweetened
interest of the sunny land that raised the clusters his mother put with his
lunch.

DISCUSSION ON RAISIN CULTURE.

ilfr. Smith, of Wiscousiii — What is the average yield of raisin
grapes in California?

Mr. Cutter, of California — The price per box of twenty pounds
ranges from 75 cents to $2, while the yield per acre varies from 100
to 300 boxes. The usual net return per acre may be put at from
$125 to $150, though mine have averaged as high as $304. The
expense of culture, etc., including water, per acre, is about $25.
It is a fallacy to talk about succeeding without water. Irrigation
is sometimes overdone, but it is our only security against frequent
failures. Irrigation should not be frequent, but thorough. The
occasional fogs of this region take the place, to some extent, of
irrigation.

Mr. RudisiU, of California — Mr. Cutter's statements in regard
to the yield of raisin lands are very fair; indeed, they are somewhat
below what I have realized. Raisins grown in our foot-hills are
somewhat more difficult to cure owing to the greater rain-fall. In
Spain the raisin grape is grown without irrigation. There the yield
per vine is not more than two or three pounds; here we often pro-
duce from forty to fifty pounds per vine.

Mr. , of Fresno, California — Fresno produces about

one-half of the raisins sent out from California. The vineyards in
our county were about doubled in extent in 1887. The raisin crop
of Fresno county, last year, was in excess of 400,000 boxes.

Mr. Gutter — If you will guarantee us one-third of the present
prices of raisins and oranges, we will engage to increase our area of
plantations.

On motion, the Society adjourned to meet at 9 A. M. to-morrow.

194 American Horticultural Society.

Sixth Day— Thursday.

MoKNixo Session, Kebruarj' 9, 1888.

At 9 o'clock A. M. tlic Society rc-a>.scniljl. <l.

II. K. Bradbury, of Santa Barbara, rea<l the following i)ai>er :

KAKK FIU'ITS OF THE SANTA BARBARA REGION.

I;Y I'KOF. H. C. ford, of CALIFORNIA.

Tlial portion of Santa Barbara county lying between the SanUi Ines
range of mountains and the Santa Barbara channel, with an east and west
trend of the shore line, having a southern exposure, with pr<.)tection on one
hand from the north winds in a mountain wall from 3,0(10 to 4,000 feet in
height, and on the other in a chain of outlying islands that break the force
of th ^ summer trades, together with the close proximity of a body of water
whicli maintains a uniform temperature of 62°, renders this district fitted
to the production of certain fruits, some of which are not generally supposed
to thrive witliout protection within the limits of the United States. The
temperature of this region seldom falls below 40° or rises above 90°, with an
average rain-fall of seventeen inches. The cherimoyer, white sapote, avo-
cado, date, banana and guava will not thrive where there is much frost,
while the Japan persimmon, pomegranate and loquat will bear a greater de-
gree of cold, and consequently will lind a wider range of growth in our
country.

The cherimoyer (yl/io?ia c/i,mmo/ia) is a native of Peru, and Humboldt
on his visit there denominated it one of the most delicious fruits of the earth.
It was introduced to this region about twenty-five years ago. The parent
tree, now standing in the grounds of A. Packard, Esq , has attained its full
height of sixteen feet, and has produced abundant fruit for many years in
such perfection that the seeds have readily germinited, and trees thus prop-
agated are in successful bearing in several SanUi Barbara gardens. The
leaves are oval and pointed at both ends; tlowers solitiry, very fragrant, and
having a greenish color. Good specimens of the fruit are three or four
inches in diameter, often heart-shaped, grayish-brown or nearly black when
fully ripe. The flesh, in which thirty or forty brown seeds are contained,
is soft, sweet and pleasant to the taste, being highly esteemed in its own
land both by natives and foreigners. Like many other tropical fruits, it is
most palatable when near decay. By many persons in this locality it is pro-
nounced excellent, while others speak of it with indifTorence. .Vpparently,
it has no i);irticular season for ripening in this neighborhood, yet the best
specimens seem to be found at the April and May exhibitions of fruit.

In the grounds once occupied by one of the mission gardens is a tree of
the white sapote {Casimiroa edidU) about two feet in diameter, with sturdy,

Rare Fruits of the Santa Barbara Region. 195

upright branches, forming a beautiful head of dark green leaves. This tree
was planted by the mission fathers about ninety years ago, as near as can be
ascertained. Another tree of the same species is growing in a garden in
the lower part of the city of Santa Barbara that came from seed received from
Mexico, and planted by one of the Spanish citizens about forty-five years
ago. It is found growing both wild and cultivated in the states of Sinaloa
and Durango, and elsewhere, in Mexico, and is known there as the Zapote
hlmico. It belongs to the Rutacese, and is more nearly allied to the orange
than any other American plant. Our Spanish fellow-citizens also know it
under the name of zapote. Its leaves are palmate, three to five parted, with
glistening upper surface ; flowers small, greenish-yellow, growing in clusters
with short peduncles on the old wood. Here the tree is usually in flower
during January (often earlier), the fruit maturing in March or April. It
varies from half an inch to an inch in diameter, pale yellow in color, and is
not agreeable to the taste until in a soft state. It has a rich, sub-acid flavor,
our native Californians being exceedingly fond of the fruit. The older tree
is about twenty-five feet high, and has about the same spread of branches,
while the younger is nearly as large, both forming fine heads of dense ever-
green foliage, making it desirable as an ornamental tree for street or other
planting, and would no doubt bear the climatic conditions of many other
localities.

A tree of the tropical species alligator pear or avocado (Laurus persea)
is flourishing in the grounds of Mrs. F. Sawyer, of Montecito. It was planted
by Mr. Silas Bond sixteen years ago, and has borne fruit for the past three
years, which has appeared at our horticultural exhibitions. This tree is now
about twenty feet in height, and appears in a thriving condition. The bark
is smooth ; leaves oblong, with prominent veins ; flowers yellowish-green ;
fruit purple in color, with the dimensions of a medium-sized pear, but more
oval in shape. It contains a kernel inclosed in a soft rind and yellow pulp.
The latter has the delicate rich flavor of the peach, yet to most tastes much
more grateful. In the West Indies the inhabitants, on account of its richness,
apply some spice or acid, such as lime juice mixed with sugar. Of the three
varieties there grown, red, purple and green, the latter seems to be the
favorite. In its native habitat it is eaten with avidity, not alone by man, but
by birds and quadrupeds. The seeds of the fruit raised here are sufficiently
perfected to possess the germinating property, and other trees are being
propagated. A small tree that has not yet borne fruit is flourishing in the
garden of Judge Ord, in the city of Santa Barbara.

The date palm {Phcenix dactylifera) has perfected its fruit on the estate
of the late Col. W. W. Hollister for the past three years, fine bunches of dates
from this plantation having been exhibited at New Orleans at the late expo-
sition, at the state fair at Sacramento, at Los Angeles, and at the local exhi-
bitions of the Santa Barbara Horticultural Society. These palms are now
about sixteen years old. They are carefully cultivated, and irrigated several
times during the drier portions of the year. The suckers that spring from

196 American Horticultural Society.

the base of the trunk in the earlier years of the pahii are annually removed.
This palm being diiecious, it is necessary to hang the staminate lluwers over
the pistillate blooms in order to insure proper fructification where the male
and female trees are not planted in close proximity. Palms of this species
have fruited in a few other localities in the state, but the product has not
been as satisfactory as at the place under consideration. That the raising of
dates for market will ever be a profitable industry in this special district, or
any other locality in California, is a problem for future horticulturists to
solve, but the results already obtained certainly render further experimenta-
tion desirable.

Among the tropical fruits that find here suitable conditions is the guava
{Psidium pinriferuni), examples of which are found in numerous Santa Bar-
bara gardens. In its wild state in the West Indies it is a large shrub, but in
cultivation it attains the dimensions of a tree, with [\\q or six inches diam-
eter of trunk. The wood is exceedingly hard and tough ; the leaves about
three inches long, in pairs opposite each other, and the flower white, with
an agreeable perfume. The fruit is from one to three inches in diameter,
having a smooth skin, and a peculiar musky odor that is disagreeable to most
persons. The seeds are contained in a llesh-colored pulp, that is sweet,
aromatic and very palatable, the pleasant taste lingering some time after
eating it. It is used as a dessert fruit and is preserved with sugar. The
jelly made from this fruit has long been universally esteemed. Excellent
products from home-grown fruit have been prepared by Santa Barbara
housewives. To insure success in the preparation of the jelly, partially
ripened fruit should be used. The strawberry guava {Psidium catdeynnum)
is a variety that is now being planted quite extensively, being a more hardy
species. It has a smaller fruit than the preceding, being less than an inch
long, purple in color, and of delicious liavor, somewhat resembling straw-
berries. This tree attains the height of twenty feet at full maturity.

The banana {Musa sapierUum) has been planted in almost every garden
in our neighborhood, and fine bunches of fruit have been perfected. It is
not claimed that the fruit reaches so high a degree of perfection as in the
tropics, but certainly excellent, well-ripened and llavored specimens are not
uncommon, and it is believed that with more care in the selection of situa-
tions, and by planting in large groups, with high fertilization and proper
irrigation, much better results may be attained. One grower in Montecito
asserted that on every day of the 3G-3 his family were supplied with ripe
fruit from his plant;ition, principally from the Musa Cavendiahii, the dwarf
species. The noble Abyssinian banana {Musa ensete) is being quite widely
planted for its superb tropical appearance in the landscape, but its fruit is
pulpless and of no value. Of other fruits, drawn from subtropical regions,
the Granadilla {Rissijlora aiulis) or water-lemon, purple when fully ripe and
pleasing to many tastes; the Tuna {Opuiitia tuna), a refreshing fruit, intro-
duced by the Franciscan fathers, and much esteemed by the native Califor-
nians, and the Eugenia (£'»^<'/U'f nvirt ifdin), irorw Australia, a highly orna-

Rare Fruits of the Santa Barbara Region. 197

mental tree, with bright-green foliage and a pleasant flavored fruit, about
the size of a cherry, may be mentioned in this list.

The Loquat (Eriobutrya Japonica), which Rhind, in his " Vegetable
Kingdom," ranks as a tropical fruit, is produced here in as great perfection
as in its home climate. Being a native of Japan, it also thrives in the region
of our Southern States bordering on the Gulf of Mexico, as well as through-
out central and southern California. It is in blossom during the early win-
ter months, and by March and April the fruit is to be obtained in our mar-
kets, where it finds ready purchasers. Ripening at a time when other fruits
are comparatively scarce, with its delightful and refreshing acid flavor, it
promises to become still more popular. Efforts are being made to intro-
duce a new variety from Japan that is said to be much larger in size than
that now planted, having more pulp with smaller seeds. Belonging to the
Pomaceae, it may be grafted on any species of this genus. The long dark-
green and rigid leaves, the deliciously fragrant flowers, and the golden clus-
ters of fruit, render it a favorite in our ornamental planting. The fruit will
bear shipping, and would, no doubt, find favor in our eastern markets.

The pomegranate {Punica granatum) seems to have been first intro-
duced by the mission fathers to this region, and there are still living trees
of great age in some of the mission gardens. The tree at maturity is from
fifteen to twenty feet in height, having numerous slender branches often
armed with thorns. The leaves are opposite, about three inches long, and
of a beautiful green. The flowers are produced at the end of the branches
on the new shoots. The calyx is very thick and fruity, and of a fine red
color, the petals being crimped and scarlet. The beauty of the tree, not
taking the fruit into account, has caused it to be planted in many of our
gardens. The fruit is a large berry, covered with a hard leathery coat, and
crowned with the tube of the calyx, contributing to its singular and beauti-
ful appearance. A large number of seeds are contained in the crimson-
colored pulp, which has a sprightly sub-acid flavor, agreeable and refresh-
ing, though it requires some dexterity to separate it from its leathery cover-
ing without getting some of the juice or flavor of the latter in the mouth,
which, owing to this skin being very rich in tannin, is quite astringent and
bitter. It ripens here in October, but if not gathered will remain on the
tree in good condition for several months. To bring the fruit to its greatest
perfection careful cultivation is required ; in fact, a neglect of this will be
paid in a penalty of barren trees. Fine specimens are always shown at our
autumn exhibitions, and it is occasionally found in our markets. With
proper attention it might be profitably grown.

I will only briefly refer to the Japan persimmon {Diospyros Kaki), which
is raised in this district in its most satisfactory development. This fruit is
rapidly and justly growing in popular favor. Natives of the Southern
States who have been accustomed to our native persimmon are enthusiastic
when they taste the Japan fruit. Its astringent quality entirely disappears
when the pulp becomes soft. It is easily transported when picked at the

19S American Horticultural Sociity.

proper sUige, and doubtless it could be shipped to advantage to eastern
markets, where its splendid color would certainly make a unique adorn-
ment for the table. It is now sold in our markets at five cents per pound, but
often commands a higher rate. This fruit can be grown in any portion of
the United States where the temperature does not fall below 14 above zerij.
The Lichi of China, Huvenia diUcis of Japan and Carica papaya of Peru
have been introduced, but the trees are not yet old enough to produce fruit.
It need not be stated that the condition.^* that arc favorable to the growth of
such fruits as we have had under consideration are also especially congenial
to the whole citrus family, as well aa the fig and the olive. Add to these
the whole range of temperate-elimate fruits, where is the land that can
furnish a greater variety of such productions grown in the open air than
California ?

DISCUSSION ON I'ROF. FORD's I'Al'EU.

President Earle, of Illinois — The reading of this paper only con-
firms the opinion I had formed during a short visit to Santa Bar-
i>ara a few years ago, viz. : that for variety and extent of fruit ))ro-
duced that region excels almost any known locality on the earth*.^
.'surface.

Mr. Smith, of Wisconsin — Such papers as we are receiving will
add great interest and value to our forthcoming volume of trans-
actions.

Secretary Rac/an, of Indiana — The seemingly extravagant re-
mark has more than once been made in our meetings here in Cali-
fornia that the soils and climate of this favored state would rai.se
" anything." It would almost appear from this last paper that such
was really true. Wo have here what we shall accept as reliabh^
testimony, which is more than affirmed by the Santa Barl)ara ox-
hihit in the j)avilion, that many of the truly tropical fruits may be
successfully grown on California .soil.

Mr. Bradbury, of California — The statements of Trot. Foril
niav be implicitly relied upon, as he is a man of the highest veracity
and moderation. As a further testimony to the character of our
section for fruit-growing, I wish now to invite any of the members
of this Society who may remain in this state toattend our fruit
and horticultural exhibition to lie held in Santa liarbara in the
month of March.

Prof. Cofjuillette, of California, read the following paper:

Value of Arsenic as an Addition to Kerosene Emidsion. 199

THE VALUE OF ARSENIC AS AN ADDITION TO THE KEROSENE

EMULSION.

BY PKOF. C. V. RILEY.

In an address which I had the honor to deliver at Riverside last spring,
in continuing the question of washes, and more particularly the kerosene
emulsion, I made the following suggestion :

Again, if permanency can be given to the effect of a wash, so that the
few insects escaping the first application, or which would hatch oiit there-
after, would succumb, such addition would be invaluable ; and though the
arsenites are, as a rule, effective chiefly against mandibulate insects (or those
which masticate their food), in other words, although the action of these
poisons is mainly through the stomach, yet I happen to know from experi-
ence that they have also a direct effect by contact. Therefore, I recommend ,
with considerable confidence, that in this diluted kerosene emulsion there
be added a small proportion of arsenious acid, say from two to three ounces to
every fifty gallons of wash. This arsenious acid may be prepared and added
in various ways. Probably one of the simplest would be to take half a pound
of arsenic to half a pound of sal-soda, boil this in one-half gallon of water
until the arsenic is dissolved, and mix this with about 100 gallons of the
diluted emulsion. A quarter of a pound of London purple to 50 gallons of
the diluted emulsion, or even a still greater amount, would, perhaps, serve
the same purpose, and be less likely to injure the tree.

I am aware of the danger of making recommendations that have not
yet had thorough trial, but I have already made a few limited experiments
(and intend making more) which would seem to justify these, and, at all
events, if care be taken not to use too large a quantity of the arsenic, no
harm will result from it, either to the tree or to those who use the fruit.

It gives me pleasure to announce that, so far as the experiments go,
they confirm this recommendation, and I submit herewith a portion of the
report recently received from one of my agents, Mr. Albert Koebele, on ex-
periments in this direction. Also, some further experiments with resin
compound and arsenic acid.

MR. KOEBELE'S report.

In the main I followed your suggestions, while here in April last, in
preparing the kerosene emulsion, viz.: to emulsify with resin compound
and use arsenic acid in addition. I am glad that your hopes in this wash
are verified. In every instance where your proposed arsenic acid was added
either to emulsified kerosene or resin compound, there has been a complete
extermination of the scales.

At first too much of the arsenic acid was used, resulting in more or less
injury to trees treated, particularly so in weak washes.

The best results in preparing the emulsion were obtained by taking one

200 American Horticultural Society.

part of the kerosene to one part of lukewarm resin compound. Thus I ob-
tained two gallons of emulsion in less than three minutes that did not show
any trace of separation before the end of twenty-four hours. The result
would have been not quite so good if the resin compound had been used liot
in emulsifying, and still less so if two parts of kerosene had been used to one
of resin compound; but still this last will make a very good emulsion if
prepared properly, which is easily done. It has the good quality of si>read-
ing instantly over the leaves, if sprayed with dilutent, as well as do soap
washes. None of the experiments made during dry weather with this emul-
sion alone, i. c, without the additional arsenic acid, were appreciably etl'ect-
ive. The evaporation was very rapid, and in ten minutes after the applica-
tion no trace of the wash could be seen.

In addition, I include results of various experiments with resin com-
pound, especially upon Aphidx, which it aflfects admirably; and, at the same
time, a wash can be prepared which will destroy all aphids and not injure
the larvae of syrphus flies, nor prevent the parasites from hatching from the
mfested aphids.

Experiment 178 — Kerosene emulsion 167, with arsenic acid, of which
one pound in 55 gallons wash. Emulsion one part ; water fifteen part*. Ap-
plied August 30 on A. rapax on pear. September 1, leaves spotted, turning
brown. September 7, all leaves dead and dry ; bark not injured, except on
few smallest twigs; scales all killed. October 7, tree bringing forth new
shoots all over; some in blossom; all buds not dead growing. November
22, new shoots of eight inches in length had formed ; fruit did not set ; tree
in good condition, still growing. December 17, tree fresh and green ; no
scales whatever.

Experiment 179— Kerosene 167, with arsenic acid, of which one ])ound
to 52i gallons wash. Emulsion one part ; water twenty parts. Applied Au-
gust 30 on AspidiUus sp. on currant, and A. rapax on cherr^'. September 7,
leaves nearly dry and falling off; scales appear to be dead, but still have their
natural color. October 7, all scales and eggs dead ; young shoots forming on
currant. November 22, currant plant still growing; some blossoms and
young fruit; ditto scales. December 17, no scales; a few of the berries have
become mature, but are small.

Experiment ISO— Kerosene emulsion, with arsenic acid, of which one
pound to 55 gallons wash. Emulsion one part; water two jiarts. Applied
August 30 on Aspididus sp. on currant, A. rapax and M. pumorum on apple.
September 7, scales on currant where in thick layers not all dead ; a few eggs
and newly hatched young found; A. rapax on apple not all dead; gravid
females and eggs of M. p/nwrum not allected ; leaves of apple dry, and those
on currant nearly so. October 7, scales on currant all dry; plant growing;
A. rapax on apple all dead ; eggs of 31. porrmrum in good condition. Novem-
ber 22, no living scales on currant, this still growing ; eggs of M. pjmorum
still intact.

Experiment ISl — Kerosene emulsion 165, with arsenic acid, of which

Value of Arsenic as an Addition to Kerosene Enmdsion. 201

one pound in 55 gallons wash. Emulsion one part ; water fifteen parts. Ap-
plied August 30 on Aspidiotus sp. on currant. September 7, leaves of plant
all dry ; a few of the scales still living ; also, eggs.and newly hatched young
found. October 7, all scales dead ; plant in good condition. November 22,
no living scales can be found. December 17, no living scales on plant.

EXPERIMENTS WITH RESIN COMPOUND AND ARSENIC ACID.

Experiment 185 — Resin compound and arsenic acid, of which one pound
in 85 gallons wash. Compound one part; water sixteen parts. Applied
September 2 on Locanium hesperidum on orange. [All orange trees experi-
mented on were in poor condition, received no water during summer, and
leaves were curled.] September 7, most of the young and tender shoots
destroyed, a few leaves falling ; scales appear to be dead. September 13,
scales all dead ; leaves still falling, only few remaining on tree. November
22, no living scales; tree growing, full of young shoots, but very few of the
old leaves remaining. December 17, found four young scales, which evi-
dently have come from neighboring trees; tree in good condition again,
still growing.

Experiment 186. — Resin compound and arsenic acid of which one pound
in 90 gallons wash. Compound one part; water eight parts. Applied Sep-
tember 2 on' L. hesperidum on orange. September 7, scales dead, found a
few living young under mother scale ; a few leaves falling. September 13,
all scales dead ; about half of the leaves have fallen. October 7, no living
scales. November 22, about one-third of the leaves remaining ; tree other-
wise in good condition. December 17, tree in good condition ; no living
scales.

Experiment 187 — Resin compound and arsenic acid, of which one pound
in 100 gallons wash. Compound one part, water four parts. Applied Sep-
tember 2 on L. hesperidum on orange. September 7, scales all dead. Sep-
tember 13, no living scales; about one-quarter of the leaves have fallen.
October 7, tree in good condition, not injursd beyond the loss of a few leaves ;
all scales, lichens and fungus destroyed. November 22, tree in very good
condition; no living scales.

Experiment 189— Resin compound and arsenic acid, of which one pound
in 170 gallons wash. Compound one part, water sixteen parts. Applied
September 13 on L. hesperidum on orange. October 7, many scales still living;
nearly half of the leaves have fallen. November 22, all scales dead; tree in
good condition. December 17, no living scales on tree.

Experiment 190— Resin compound and arsenic acid, of which one pound
in 200 gallons wash. Compound one part, water four parts. Applied Sep-
tember 13 on L. hesperidum on orange. September 21, scales nearly all dry;
no leaves whatever have fallen. October 7, scales all dried up ; no leaves
have fallen. November 23, no scales on tree, which is in very good con-
dition.

14

202 Amencan Horticultural Society.

EXPERIMENT.S WITH RESIK COMPOLXD.

The strongest application of this was made on pear and plum, infested
with A.rapnx, August 27; three quarts of the compound to four of water.
(Experiment 170) September 4 all traces of waste had disappeared, not in-
juring the foliage of plum. The leaves of the pear were very brittle for the
first few days, and some tips of older leaves turned black, but none came
off, and otherwise no injury was done. An occasional living scale was found
October 7.

One part of the compound to two of water. Applied on February 2"^ on
A. rapax on pear. (Experiment 160.) Rain fell for two days following, and
the result, i)erhaps, was not as good as it would otherwise have been. A
careful examination on March 8 showed that a large part of the eggs had
been destroyed, also all the young and many of the older scales. On this
tree they did not increase, and on November 21 hardly any living scales
could be found. Other experiments were made of the same strength on As-
pidiottis sip. on currant, and A. rapax on pear, August 27. (Experiment 17o.)
All but a few gravid females were destroyed on pear, and very few remained
on such places where they had been in thick layers on currant. October 7,
a few young scales were found on both plants, but hardly any were living
November 22. The wash disappeared in ten days, leaving the trees in good
condition ; no leaves fell.

Three parts of compound to eight of water were applied on orange
thickly infested with Lecnnium heJiperuium September 2. (Experiment 184.)
In five days after application no living scales could be found, and on none
on November 22. The tree was not at all affected by the wash.

One part of compound to four of water applied on pear with A. rapax
February 28 (experiment 159) destroyed all the smaller and i>art of the older
scales, but soon after the scales were increasing again. The same strength
was also applied on Diapis ros,x on rose March 8 (experiment 162). This
effectively cleared the plant of scales; and again on L. hejiperidum on orange
September 2 (experiment 183). All scales were dead on September 7, and
none Hving could be found November 22.

One part of compound to eight of water on L. hesperidum on orange
September 2 (experiment 182) destroyed nearly all scales, but many living
young were found under mother scales September 7. Only very few living
scales were found in tree September 13 and October 7, but on November
22 the tree was covered with scales again.

Other experiments of this strength were made, and may be worthy of
mention: On L. dex on orange, and on several peach trees in full blossom,
infested with the Lfcanium bred from oak {A. ar/rifJia). Here, also, many
of the scales survived. The trees in consequence were loaded with fruit, as
well as those not treated.

E.XPBRIMENTS ON APHID.i: WITH RESIN COMPOUND.

The woolly Aphis {Schizonoura lanigera), the cabbage Aphis {Aphisbras-
sicse), the plum Aphis {Aphis pruni), and Aphis on ra-^e {Siphoiiophora rosa).

Value of Arsenic as an Addition to Kerosene Emulsion. 203

Two experiments were made at Berkeley on the woolly Aphis, in conjunc-
tion with Messrs. Klee and McLennan. One and three parts of the com-
pound were used to eight of water. Owing to imperfect spraying only the
last did eflfective work. The leaves of the trees were falling at the time of
spraying, and the effect of the solution, especially on trees where three to
eight parts of wash were applied, was very noticeable, as the first tree lost
about half, while the second lost nearly all its leaves. On my visit to the
place a month later, however, there was little difference in the trees treated
and others infested with woolly Aphis, for those also began to lose their leaves
about two weeks after, as I was informed by Mr. McLennan, the gardener,
who is a very careful observer. Mr. Klee recommends this wash in the pro-
portion of one and one-half pints compound to one gallon of water.

I have made numerous other experiments, and always had complete
success in killing this insect with one part compound to eight parts of water.
With this proportion, also, those on roots which were reached were killed.
I would recommend the same, viz. : one part of the compound to six parts
of water, on woolly Aphis. On the other hand, the plum Aphis, cabbage
Aphis, etc., are much easier to kill. Only one part of compound to eight of
water was used in experiments at Berkeley (August 10) on plum Aphis, and
none were living on examination August 17. At this strength the Aphis
will die instantly, and will not be able to move a leg if once wet. I have
killed them successfully even with a wash as low as one part of the com-
pound to sixteen parts of water, and would recommend one part of the com-
pound to twelve parts of water for plum Aphis, Aphis on rose, etc. At this
strength it may be safely used on any garden, and even on the most tender
hot-house plants, without the slightest injury to the plants themselves. It
should be used somewhat stronger on the cabbage Aphis. One part of the
compound to eight parts of water will be found effectual. At this strength
it was found that the larvse of Syrphus flies were not injured by wash, nor
were the parasites of the infested Aphis in any way affected, providing the
skin of the Aphis was dry when sprayed.

A lot of house-flies (Musca domestica) which had concentrated out of
doors were sprayed with this solution, and died almost instantly. A large
flesh-fly (Sarcophaga) thrown into a weak solution, one to sixteen, taken out
and set on board, never moved its legs again. Fifteen minutes after, slight
convulsive movements were noticed on under side of body, and soon after
all life was extinct. A codling moth {Carpocapsa pomonella) sprayed with a
solution of one to eight was dead in nine minutes. Cut-worms (larvae of
Agrotis saucia) dipped in this mixture were not affected.

It will be of interest to note that while in Los Angeles in April, 1887,
the following labels on trees treated for red scale {A. aurantii) were still
present: "Experiments wiih resin soap, 127, 147 and 149." All those trees
were free from red scale and L. olese, but full of Icerya. " Experiments with
resin compound, 133 and 156." No red scales could be found on these trees,
but L. olex were numerous on tree of experiment 133. Both trees were
badly infected with Icerya.

-"4 American Hortirultural iSociety.

DiscrssioN ox pKor. riley's paper.

3Ir. Okmcr, of Ohio — My experience in the use of arsenical
washes has been satisfactory. A weak infusion of London purple,
five or six ounces to a barrel of water, spravcd ov(!r my apple trees
has t^reatly reduced the damage from the codling moths. 1 use a
spraying apparatus which is mauutiictured at our place that is very
complete and thorough in its work.

Mr. Leicers, of Nevada — The only insect pest which wc are
seriously troubled with is the codling moth. Our method of war-
fare against them is to trap the larvse in bands of rags or other
substances fastened about the trunks of the trees. These are re-
moved occasionally and the larvae destroyed.

Prof. Klee, of California — Arsenic mixtures have been largely
and satisfactorily used in this state. White arsenic, London purple
and Paris green have each been employed. The London j)urple
must be used with care, as it will injure the foliage. Paris green
is effective and less dangerous to the foliage. Some trees will bear
a greater amount of the poisonous mixture than others. The Bell-
flower is more susceptible than the Pearmain. Sometimes a single
pound to 300 gallons of water will seriously injure the foliage. The
cotton sca';^ insect is the great enemy of the citrus orchards, but
even this can be successfully combated by the scientific applica-
tion of remedies. Hydrocyanic gas has been successfully used to
destroy the scale insect, and the experiments thus far seem to indi-
cate the practicability of the remedy.

President Earle, of Illinois — I apprehend that it is the micro-
scopic fungi that orchardists of California have most to fear. It
seems to me that it will take all your energies to guard your fruits
against such pests.

Prof. Cofjuildle, of California — Sprays of arsenic solutions are
injurious to the foliage of trees. The gas treatment is the best yet
tried. The tree is inclosed in an air-tight tent, which is lilled with
a mixture of hydrocyanic gas diluted with carbonic aeitl gas. If
the hydrocyanic gas be passed through sulphuric acid the proper
result will be attained. The cost of treating an orange tree amounts
to about ^L50, as retail prices are now, but this can be reduced at

Discussion on Prof. Riley's Paper. 205

least one-half. The fumigation should be kept up for about one-
half hour.

Mr. Hubbard, of New York — Arsenical sprays are largely used
in our state, and without iiarm to man or trees.

Vice-President Munson, of Texas — The ordinary fruit-grower
fails to see his potent but insignificantly small enemies. He, there-
fore, neglects to use remedies. Fungi can generally be destroyed
by the same agents which will destroy insects. Spraying is the
best method. There are a number of instruments used for spray-
ing; probably a French instrument is the most perfect. The de-
sideratum is a perfect spray. It must be ^fog, and no drops of the
mixture should be visible. Every pest from a mildew to the scale
oan be destroyed by careful spraying, and yet no injury result to
fruit or foliage.

Mr. Ohmer — The Dayton, Ohio, spraying apparatus I referred
to is the invention of a tobacconist, who first used it for moistening
his tobacco before working it. The spray from this instrument is
as fine as the dew-fall, and may be freely applied without danger.

The President — A cyclone nozzle can be applied to almost any
instrument. The codling moth may be destroyed by means within
the reach of all industrious orchardists.

Mr. Stevens, of Texas — By proper industry and skill we may
master such pests.

Mr. Rudisill, of California — The reason that the curculio is not
found in California is probably due to the fact that our climate per-
fects the insect at a season in which there are no fruits in condition
for it to feed upon.

Mr. Masters, of Nebraska — There are insects of the weevil
family resembling the curculio, which the investigator may easily
mistake for it.

Mr. Munson — We have a new insect pest in our Texas nurseries.
It is a small green beetle, and is very destructive, but may be de-
stroyed by the use of arsenical sprays.

Mr. Munson, of Texas, presented the following protest, and
asked that it be spread upon record :

We, as members of the American Horticultural Society, hereby place on
record our protest against the introduction of political questions at our meetings .

206 American HortlonUural Society.

We further express our disapproval of the political resolutions on the tariff"
adopted at San Jos«?, for the reason that it was an improper (juestion to l)e pre-
sented or passed on by the Society. Signed by T. V. MrNsoN,

J. ( . KlDI'ATH,

Abbott Kinney,
C. C. Brown,
W. G. Vkal,
Ross Leweks,

J. B. DURAND,

U.K. Bradbury,
H. B. Francis,
Preston Kider.

The following paper on hybridization was then read l)y Dr.
Ridpath :

HYBRIDIZATION.

BY PETER HENDERSON, OF NEW YORK.

In plants, as in animals, " the selection of the fittest," a^j Darwin terms it,
is indispensable to get at the best results. It is a curious fact, however, that
in many kinds of plants that the higher types of perfection that are obtained,
the individuals are less fertile. Last season we were fortunate in getting an
unusually tine strain of fringed double and single petunias, and though we
operated on nearly one thousand plants that were grown in seven and eight-
inch pots, tilling a green-house twenty by one hundred feet, yet it t<K)k one
man from June to November to get one ounce of hybridized double seed, so
that this ounce of double petunia seed cost us in actual labor alone about
$250.

Our plan of hybridizing was the usual one of removing the undeveloped
stamens from the single flowers, so that there could be no possibility of self-
fertilization, and then applying the pollen from the finest double flowers.
Done carefully in this way, we are safe to expect at least 75 per cent, of
double flowers.

We have the same meager results of seeding fruiii the new strain of
mammoth verbena, again showing that the higher the type the greater the
sterility. We planted out twenty thousand seedling plants of verbenas, cov-
ering nearly four acres, and only got some four pounds of seed, or about one
pound from each acre. Seedlings of the ordinary strain of verbena would
have given from five to ten pounds of seed per acre. I may here state a
fact not generally known, that seedling plants of verbenas produce seed
much more freely than plants made from cuttings. In 1S8() we set out over
twenty thousand mammolli verbena plants, matle from cuttings, for the pur-
pose of obtaining seed, and obtained less than half a i)ound from the whole
1 ot. Of course, in such a flower as the verbena, hand fertilizing by the

Discussion on Hybridization. 207

camel's-hair brush is impracticable, but we found it helped the seeding
greatly to brush the flowers lightly every day or two with a feather duster.

I have had no personal experience with the hybridizing of roses from
seed, but the grand results obtained by Henry Bennett, of London, were
obtained in hybridization by using, as far as possible, contrasting colors and
widely diflFerent classes; thus, crimson with white in color, and the hybrid
perpetual with the tea classes. Mr. Bennett found that the seedlings as a
rule partook more of the characteristics of the male than the female parent,
and hence in crossing was careful to obtain the highest standard of excel-
lence he could procure for that purpose.

A question was raised, a year or two ago, whether or not hybrid-
ization affects the fruit in such plants as strawberries, melons, etc. All my
experiments so far have gone to show that such is not the case. If you im-
pregnate a dark-colored strawberry with a light-colored, or a tart with a
sweet, or vice versa, as far as my observation has gone, no perceptible change
takes place in the color, taste or shape of the fruit. Nutmeg melons care-
fully impregnated with cucumber pollen showed no change whatever in
either flavor, color or shape. That the seed would be influenced there is no
question, but the pericarp or fruit-case — analogous to the womb in animals —
as far as my observation has gone, is in no way affected by hybridization.
Consequently, you may grow all kinds of strawberries as close as you please,
and if you only want the fruit you will get it practically pure. So, too, you
may grow alongside of each other cucumbers, melons or squashes, if their
fruit only is wanted ; but if grown for the seed product, keep them as far
apart as practicable. We are so impressed with the necessity for this that,
in Kansas, where we have the most of our cucumber and melon seeds grown,
we have only one variety grown by one farmer, and we also try that the
farms be as far apart as possible.

I beg to be excused for such a brief and imperfect treatise on such an
important subject, but the multitude of my duties prevents my giving the
necessary time that it deserves.

DISCUSSION ON HYBRIDIZATION.

Prof. Budd, of Iowa — Types of fruits differ Avith different sur-
roundings. The St. Michael is a smooth, thin-skinned orange, but
I find them often with welts or stripes of rough, thick skin, which
I believe to be the result of the fertilization of that particular lobe
of the fruit by the pollen from other varieties. This same feature
is often noticeable in the Roman Stem and other apples which grow
near those of different characteristics. Mr. Fuller and other high
authorities believe in this effect.

Mr. Wier, of Illinois — PoUenization will change the character

208 Aniencan Horticultural Society.

of the fruit. I liave gathered perfect Rambo apple?; from \\'ill(»\v
Twig trees growing near trees of the Rambo.

Prof. Klee, of California — Every orange-grower has observed
the tiu't that oranges impress themselves on their neighbors. I ran
not agree with Mr. Henderson.

Mr. Munson, of Texas — I have here some St. Michael oranges
with external markings which must be due to .some influence — |)rob-
ably to the proximity to oth^r varieties. It will be noticed that some
of these have the thicker-skinned lobes or .sections which have been
referred to, while others exhibit markings peculiar to the Wash-
ington Navel.

Major Hohinger, of Kansas — I have also found the Blood orange
very di.stinctly impressed with the character of its neighbors.

Colonel Veal, of Texas — I regret that this paper is going into
our printed report without correction in this important ])articular.

3Ir. Diirand, of Missouri — T have thousands of apple trees in
my orchards, with varieties mixed and planted ])romi.scuously
among each other, and I have never been able to recognize but
that the fruit of each was true to its own peculiar character.

Mr. Wier — Some varteties are much more susceptible of this
influence than others. The Willow Twig apple is changed by many
varieties, notably the Rambo, the Rhode Island Greening or the
Bellflower.

Mr. Diirand — I have frequently noticed what I regard as uports
on trees situated long distances from other varieties.

Mr. Klee — We should remember the distinction between a sport
and variations due to pollenization. Nectarines have often been pro-
duced as sports. The.se are i)tid variations or sports, and should be
so regarded. This is quite common with the orange.

An invitation by the Santa Fe Railroad Comj>any to visit San
Diego on to-morrow was accepted, after which the Socidy adjonrned
to meet at 2 o'clock P. M.

Fixing the Place of the Next Meeting. 209 .

Sixth Day— Thursday.

Afternoon Session.

The Society met at 2 o'clock p. m., President Earle in the chair.

Mr. Munsou of Texas, Mr. Johnson of Indiana, and Mr. Budd
-of New Jersey, were appointed a Committee on Resolutions.

It was decided to spend Tuesday next, the 14th, at San Bernar-
dino as the guests of that city.

FIXING THE PLACE OF THE NEXT MEETING.

Gol. Veal, of Texas — Presuming that the place of the next
meeting would be fixed before the adjournment of the Society, I
have taken it on myself to present the claim of Texas to this honor,
and to fortify myself properly have brought with me these letters.
I will not worry you by reading all of them, but will say that they
are from our governor, our secretary of state, from the sec-
retary of the state immigration committee, from the mayor of the
city of Fort Worth, from the president of the Fort Worth Immi-
gration Association, from the president of the Fort Worth Mer-
chants' and Manufacturers' Bureau and from the president and sec-
retary of the Farmers' State Alliance of Texas. These invitations
are all of the most earnest and cordial character, and I may add
that they are seconded, in spirit at least, by all our citizens. There
are many of our citizens who know something of this great Society
and its mighty influence for good, and they desire to know more
of it by having it meet in our midst.

Mr. Munson, of Texas — I wish to indorse everv word which
Colonel Veal has so well said in favor of holding the next meeting
in Texas.

Mr. Shiith, of Wisconsin — I move that we accept the invitation
to meet in Texas.

President Earle — I have been converted by the earnestness and
the eloquence of our Texas friends, and am now prepared to vote
for the motion.

The motion to meet in Texas in the month of February, 1890,
was adopted, and the Executive Committee were authorized to
decide upon the date and place of the meeting.

210 American Horticultural Society.

Mr. ^[tinson, of Texas, presented the following report :
SOCIETIES AND ORGANIZATION.

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON SAME.
(Compiled and presented by the chairman of the committee, T. V. Miinson.)

Mr. Prf^^ident: In pursuance of your appointment as chairman of this very
important committee, I early corresponded with each member ol it, requesting
reports upon the number of societies and members in each, in their respective
states an(i sections of country at large, giving also the general condition of ami
progress in such society work.

I likewise asked their views concerning cooperation in meetings and work
among our national horticultural societies of every character.

To this last every one responded, as shown in their letters given herewith; but
only one definitely concerning his state and local societies, that one being Mr. L.
A. Goodman, Secretary of the Missouri State Horticultural Society, who wrote:

" Westport, Mo., November '21, 1887.
" T. V. Munson, Chairman of Committee on Societies:

" We have now fifteen good societies in our state, all in good working order,
helping each other and the state in our work.

" We organized four societies last summer, and the good work is just begin-
ning. Our societies have held shows of fruits and vegetables this fall, and paid
good premiums. One of them oftered $400 in premiums, and about three thousand
persons attended. A good beginning for horticultural fairs I

" Our state society is prospering and doing good work, as never before. Our
membership and interest are continually growing, and it is our aim to have a well
organized society in nearly every county in the state. It takes individual work to
accomplish the best results, and to organize local societies.

" L. A. Goodman, 6ec'y."

I learn, Mr. President, that the state of Missouri gives her state society from
$2,000 to S3,000 annually to publish reports, prosecute society work, and pay an
energetic, competent Secretary. There is an example all our states may emulate
with great profit. We all know the high character and value of Secretary Good-
man's reports.

COOPERATION of NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETIES.

Mr. President, this is the main burden of this report, and I quote from a let-
ter to me from our good Secretary, written September 26, 1887, as follows, which
explains why I enter this part of the report so earnestly, with all candor and kind-
ness of feeling not only for our own great society, but as well for all our other na-
tional horticultural societies, having good friends in all, and membershi|) in most
of them, as also have the other members of the committee, and in fait nearly all
our members.

In that letter Secretary Ragan said, in referring to the idea of cooperation (not
consolidation, or obliteration, or loss of identity of any one. mind you), and a
name for the cooperation suggested by myself: "'American Horticultural Union. ^
Yes, that is the title. Certainly, no jealousy can arise over that name.

Societies and Organization. 211

"Now, I want to start this matter by placing you on the programme of the
next meeting to present the subject. The start made last year at Cleveland will
enable you to get the subject before the meeting. Prepare yourself accordingly."

But, at the very outset, I am met with the following seathing, unjust, unkind
and incorrect criticism, which appeared as an editorial in the Country Gentleman
of June 2, 1887 :

" 'American Horticultural Society.' — From Mr. W. H. Ragan, Green-
castle, Ind., Secretary of the society which has adopted the above name (formerly
the Mississippi Valley Horticultural Society), we have a copy of the transactions
for the year 1886, including the proceedings of the Cleveland meeting last year.
While we always hail with pleasure all successful efforts to promote the
improvement of horticulture, and to add to the substantial pleasures resulting
from increased skill in propagation, planting, pruning and culture, and to
extend the right hand to all engaged in giving these cheap comforts and luxuries
to the people at large, we can not help taking some exception to an unwise course
with so excellent an end in view. On looking over the volume before us, we
find ten pages occupied with a list of the seventy-two horticultural and kindred
societies in the Union, of which several are national in their character, with a
large number of state societies. Some of these have had nearly half a century of
active and influential existence, while this new society, with its scattered and
partly paid membership, jj/«ces itself at the head! A subordinate position is given
to the American Pomological Society, whose labors for thirty-seven years in
connection with its established state committees, and the continued revision of its
unequaled catalogue of fruits, have given it a place above any other association
of the kind in Europe or America. The Massachusetts Horticultural Society,
with its energetic and useful labors for half a century, the Pennsylvania society,
and several veteran state organizations, which have accomplished so much for the
cause in which we are all laboring, are to be at once assigned to a subordinate
place to this new society ! Secretary Ragan, in his published remarks, expresses
his desire to see ' an American Horticultural Society,' with its auxiliary branches
in pomology, forestry, floriculture, etc.; and, to favor this end, a letter from a well
known cultivator is published, in which he charges the late President Wilder
with ' being jealous ' of this new association, and remarks that as soon as the
president is gone he proposes to unite the two — one a veteran body, well organized
in every state, and the other a young claimant, the existence of which is yet
barely established.

" The proposition is made to unite under this new one the American Pomolog-
ical Society, the American Forestry Congress, the Society of American Florists,,
the National Association of Nurserymen, all under its leadership. Should this
conglomeration be accomplished, those who have had experience with bringing a
multitude of subjects inlo one general meeting may readily comprehend the nat-
ure of the confusion which would follow the crowding together such an assem-
blage of reports and discussions. The proposed advantage of saving travel by
the union may still be accomplished, if desired, by an agreed union of time and
place between the difierent and separate organizations, in the same way that the
American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Society for the

212 American Horticnliural Society.

Promotion of Agricultural Science meet at the same i)lace eacli year, on iHfferent
days. The C'onntry Uentlenian is always ready to extend a helping hand to every
agency for the promotion of so excellent a cause as the extension of horticultural
improvement in all its departments, liiit in doing so could not aid in any ill-
advised moveinent."

It will he ot)serve<l that the Country Gentleman ends by proposing identically
the plan of cooperation upon which we are working. So we are, fortunately, of
the same mind, and the criticism falls harmlessly to oblivion as simply the result
of a misnntlerstanding. So we feel more encotiriiged than ever to harmonize ami
cooperate our national horticultural societies.

Before discussing definitely a scheme of co<">peration, we should be assured
that there is really a need and demand for such a movement. To ascertain this,
I give here the judgment of a number of our best members and thinkers. Under
the present contlition of our organizations jealousies are said to exist, and the most
potent remedy for this canker-worm is thought to be co<"»peration. That cooper-
ation must be of such a character as not to kill or sink the identity of any of our
societies; on the contrary, it should conserve and strengthen each and all. Heed
the following counsel.

In a letter to Secretary Kagan, August 10, 1887, the Hon. T. T. Lyon, now
Vice-President of the American Pomological Society, wrote :

"The fact can not have escaped you that (while beneath the surface) the
jealousies which I years ago feared have come to have existence (though probaldy
altogether unwarrantable). I, in seconding the motion to make the Mississippi
Valley Society national, was moved by the wish to have a national horticultural
society in the full, general sense of that title. * » » *

"The coming meeting at Boston seems certain to prove a critical period in
the history of the American Pomological Society; one at which its future plans
must be considered and settled, and therefore the best possible time to bring up
the unification plan, with which you have been more or less connected. I can see
no sufficient reason why something of this character, not compromising the legal,
corporate existence of the society, may not be devised and be made advantageous
to all concerned. I am not sure but that the American Horticultural and Ameri-
can Pomological Societies might not hit upon some plan upon which they could
coalesce so as to insure the elimination of the present (and perhaps prospective)
jealou.sy between them. I earnestly hope that by some means the pomologists of
the whole country may be saved from the danger of divided counsels and antag-
onistic operations. Very truly yours, T. T. LvoN."'

The Hon. C. L. Watrous, President of the American Nurserymen's Association,
wrote me as follows, November 23, 1887 :

"My Dear Sir: Relative to the proposed co-operation, I am very free to
say that, in my judgment, the Horticultural Society, the Pomological Society and
the American Forestry Congress should be mergej and worked together. The
same class of men, and mainly also the same individuals, interested in one are
interested in the work of all, and would be glad to meet all congeni.il minds at
the meetings. This object can never be accomplished except by a unification. I
think the work of unification one of the most important of all those lying ahead
of us. Yours, very sincerely, C. L. Watrous."

Societies and Organization. 213-

C. M. Hobbs, Secretary of the Indiana Horticultural Society, wrote me, No-
vember 26, 1887 :

" Dear Sir : I believe we should have one American Horticultural Society,
covering the entire subject of horticulture in the United States, and, probably,
including Canada. With our county, state and national horticultural societies, we
have quite a heavy tax upon our purses and time. There should be an understand-
ing between neighboring states in regard to time of holding state meetings, that they
might not conflict, as is so often the case now. I trust you will put on foot at the
next meeting of the American Horticultural Society means that will result in the
union of the pomological and horticultural societies. Truly,

"CM. Hobbs."

" Westport, Mo., December 15, 1887.
"Friekd Munson: I objected to the renaming of our Mississippi Valley
Society, and always believed we could do more and better work by leaving the
American Pomological Society in the lead, and believe so yet. I think, if we
could all report to that society, aud make it more prominent than it is, giving it
greater influence and power, getting every state society to be a part of one great
central society, I am sure, almost, that such a society could have enough influence
with the Commissioner of Agriculture to induce him to adopt the central society
as the mouthpiece of the department in horticultural matters and publish its
reports, connecting the work of the United States Pomologist with it. I should
not like to see the officers and all controlled by the political parties, but leave the
society free to select its own officers and plans. Such a society would be an honor
to our government, our states, and our horticulturists. L. A. Goodman."

" Waban, Newton Highlands, Mass., December 14, 1887.

" Dear Sir : I have delayed answering yours of November 19 in hopes that
I might have clearer views upon the subject of ' the unification of our national
horticultural societies.'

"It is well known that the late Mr. Wilder was very jealous of the American
Horticultural Society, feeling that it encroached upon the ground of the Pomo-
logical Society. The characteristic enterprise of the Mississippi Valley Society
very naturally developed into national proportions, aud it has honestly attained
this jjosition. Our country is so vast, and the interest in horticulture so beyond
estimate, that it would seem as though the elder would hail the advent of the
younger to assist in cultivating so wide a field. * * * *

" The workings of the two societies, while separate, must be very similar, to
satisfy the members, and hence it hardly seems possible to keep up a proper
enthusiasm in both without rivalry and conflict of interests.

" On the other hand, it does appear that a union of the two would not only com-
bine strength, but would also awaken a new interest, which would place one organi-
zation on a more prominent and firmer foundation than either can occupy by itself.
I trust that it may so appear when you meet in California, and that a committee
will be chosen by the horticultural society to consider the subject, and, if deemed
expedient, to confer with the pomological society with reference to a union of the
two societies. Very sincerely yours, Wm. C. Strong."

214 Aiiicrica^i Hortlcu/furnl Society.

In a letter to Secretary Kagan, April 20, 1887, Prof. E. S. Goff, horticulturist
to the ]'x|ieriiueiital Station of New York, said:

" What 1 want to see is a merging of the two societies in the near future."

J. M. Smith, President of Wisconsin State Horticultural Society, wrote me
November 22, 1887, as follows:

"It has seemed to me, for some years past, that there is a tendency to too
many societies; that if tlie AnuMJtan Pomological Society and American Horti-
cultural Society could be consolidated into one good, strong and healthy organi-
zation, and could work in harmony with each other, and meet at least once in each
year, and have at least a four-days' convention, it might be productive of more
good than both are doing at present. Yet I may be mistaken.

" Our country is so large, it has so many and such a diversity of interests, that
perhaps it is better that they should remain as they are. One thing is evident to
all friends of both societies: we need more means in order to get out our jmblica-
tions. I do not see just how this difficulty is to be remedied. Perhaps you can
suggest some })ractical plan. I hope so."

Similar sentiments to those already presented were received from other able
members both of this and the American Pomological Society, and hence I am
emboldened to jiropose apian of cooperation of all American horticuUiiral societies, of
uhateier cliaracter, under Ibe yen end title,

THE AMERICAN HORTICULTURAL UNION.

Under this head it is proposed to show. First, that by disunited or separate,
individual action of the present national horticultural societies, of which there are
no less than si.x or seven, great expense of time and money is required to conduct
them, only partial and much inaccurate work is done by each, and much ground
gone over by one is again as ineffectually traced by others, thus unnecessarily
burdening and finally discouraging the members of each, and gradually, by lack
of support, the officers, burdened beyond all endurance, also become discouraged,
interest dies out, and these organizations, which should be perpetual and of great
value to every member and the country at large, soon will cease to exist. State-
ments in the communication just read clearly indicate this, and we must meet the
issue like philosophers and statesmen if we would survive.

Second, that the immense extent of country, climate and variety of interest
among all classes of horticulturists in North America demand distinct yet cooper-
ative organizations. Cotiperation in general eflbrt and object would reduce all ex-
pense of travel and time to members, and the working expenses of the societies in
securing data, announcing meetings, programmes, and publishing reports, and
demanding aid of the Department of Agriculture to assist in disseminating useful
information collected by tliem in all branches of these fundamental industries to
tbe lowest cost ; also, such vast interests in voluntary education in thaso highest
of all pursuits demand the most thorough division of labor, that no two will l>e doing
the same work and leaving undone other just as important work.

They demand the perpetual existence of an American Pomological Society
an<l American Horticultural Society, an American Forestry Society, an American
Viticultural Association, an American Nurserymen's Association, an American
Florists' Society, an American Seedsmen's .Vssociation, and a Society for the Pro-

Societies and Organization. 215

motion of Agricultural Science, all of which, by virtue of such need, are now in
existence. There is a demand for still another organization coextensive with all
these — an American Fruit and Vegetable Exchange, to discuss the preparation
for handling and distribution in all markets.

These organizations are for educative and cooperative purposes, to develop the
greatest good and happiness for the greatest number, not for competitive and
monopolistic objects.

There is no demand for an American Pomological Society, if truly such, and
an American Horticultural Society occupying the same field and doing the same
work. The misconception by some that this is the case with these two great
societies has unhappily led to some unnecessary jealousies, where otherwise there
should be the strongest friendship.

Third. Now, we wish to show that there is a scheme already in practical
operation which, with modifications to suit our needs, will accomplish the results
we so much desire :

The American Association for the Advancement of Science is such an organi-
zation. Each branch or division has its own head and organization. All meet
at one time and place, but for special work in separata rooms.

Topics of general and unusual interest, treated by the ablest minds, are deliv-
ered in lectures before all in one assembly. The work of this association is re-
spected throughout the world of science.

Here is a pattern we must follow if we would survive and become eminently
useful to the world. We occupy a field of work of equally vast imjjortance to the
"world as do the natural scientists, and reach more directly the toiling masses.
Then, let us not longer stand isolated, and yet in each other's light a-nd way, but
join heads and hearts most cordially and earnestly in this great cooperative work.

Let me suggest, for modification and improvement by wiser heads, the follow-
ing scheme :

Let this society to-day appoint a committee of three or five of its ablest, most
experienced heads in statesmanship, to urge upon the other national horticultural
societies already named in this paper the appointment of a similar committee by
each at its next regular meeting, with instructions to all such committees to as-
semble themselves together at the next meeting of the American Pomological
Society — it being the oldest of all, the most thoroughly organized of all, and thus
the most fitting to first announce the result of such a conference of committees.

Dare I suggest further? Should I, let it not be imputed to me for arrogance
or pedantry, but purely for the desire to hasten the day when we shall see all our
present national societies coming together in perfect harmony, annually or bien-
nially, at the same time and in the same city, but from point to point successively
in various parts of the continent where the best inducements for conducting meet-
ings can be ofiered.

Then let the conference of committees appoint a place of meeting for all the
societies to convene together in 1890, and submit to such joint meeting a scheme
of perpetual cooperation, to there and then be discussed, modified and adopted ,
and at once be put in course of active execution.

Might I suggest a name for such a cooperation? "American Horticultural
Union " let it be, as that truly and simply designates the action, and can arouse

216 American Hortieulturai iSocidy.

DO jealousies. Under that each present society would retain its name, its organi-
zation, officers, and all distinctive features. Into the charge of the Committee of
Conference, which should be perpetually renewed, ami might be called "The Gen-
eral Council" or "General Executive Committee" of the Union, would be placed
all matters of general interest, in providing places of meeting, securing excursion
rates, conferring with the Commissioner of Agriculture for appropriations to pub-
lish reports, etc.

Or this committee might be termeii the " Executive Council and Committee
on Organization and Societies." As such, it could also ascertain the names of all
state and local horticultural societies, secure rosters of their officers and lists of
members, for publication in the general reports, thus interesting all horticulturists
everywhere in the general work. Articles of unusual merit and general interest
could be culled from reports of such societies and repubiislied in the general
reports. Thus we would connect and harmonize our entire horticultural interests,
make our labors immensely more useful, at a greatly reduced expenditure, and
make the title, " Member of the American Horticultural Union," one to stand
equally respected the world over as is " F. R. S." or " F. L. S."

Fourth. Let us try to conceive what would be the actual working and effect
of such cooperation.

At first it might be that only the American Pomological, American Forestry
and American Horticultural Societies would respond, unless the committee be
composed of unusually able, influential and active workers, when we might
reasonably expect other societies to speedily join the Union. But after one joint
session I am sure the advantages would be so apparent and satisfactory that tiie other
societies would fall gracefully into line through necessity of self-preservation.
Then we would hail the announcement of meetings of the " American Horti-
cultural Union " with joyful anticipations. The prowess of such extensive
cooperation would secure the very best excursion rates, the lowest and best hotel
rates, likewise all other needful expenses would be reduced to the lowest possible
figures. As a first result, the attendance and membership all round would increase
amazingly, and thus means would readily be found to well pay the Secretaries,
whose burdens would be greatly lightened, while now they are overworked
beyond all reason and hardly paid a mere pittance. There being but one meeting
in every one or two years, every one would be eager to attend. With such great
saving of time and money, and receiving in return so much more ami better
matter and many times broader acquaintance, the annual dues could be some-
what increased, and more willingly and promptly paid than now. All would be
glad then to have meetings continue a week, instead of only a day or two, .is now,
and thus the work be far more thoroughly done, future plans of work fully
discussed and put into more eirectual execution, friendships more thoroughly
made, and, above all, in a business point of view, and which is not to be accom-
plished by the present state of things, would be the meeting of the nurseryman
and fruit grower, the seedsman and gardener, the florist and home-adorner, the
forester and farmer, the fruit and vegetable growers, and the commission men —
in a word, the producer and consumer.

They would be brought together under the most friendly aspect, and could
discuss together their special needs. In this way the good would be increased and

Societies and Organization. 217

thj poor culled out. This one feature alone would make the cooperation worth
attempting. Besides, the Department of Agriculture could most consistently
step forward and easily lift from the Union its greatest burden, the publishing
of reports, being well prepared to do such work at the least expense to the
country, and at the same time most effectually in the matter of illustrations, uni-
formity of good work from year to year and extensive circulation, and all the time
working :n its legitimate sphere, that of collecting and publishing useful informa-
tion. Then, instead of regarding the work of the general government as that of
ofBceseekers, and a mass of formalities and "red tape" without usefulness, a real
burden, we would feel that this arm, at least, of the government is '" of and for the
people."

Our national societies generally, I am led to think, are ready and anxious for
cooperation, if only the simple and feasible plan, which will bring success, can be
devised.

After communicating the above plan to various of our leading horticulturists,
I received a number of similar responses to the following :

" Westport, Mo., December 20, 1887.
'• I am glad to learn your plan. I thought of it in that way, but did not dare
to mention it. Such a union as that would control enough and have influence
enough to ask what it would and it would be granted.

" I am with you in that plan. Make your report in that way.

"L. A. Goodman."

" Waban, Newton Highlands, Mass., December 28, 1887.
" My Dear Sir : You have an admirable, a most comprehensive, a grand plan
for the union of all our national societies connected with terra-culture. Such
union should bring strength and create an interest which would bring together the
able men in each department at least biennially, if not annually. I doubt not
your suggestions will receive the hearty indorsement of the Society, and I trust
some steps will be taken to bring them to practical results.

" Very truly yours, Wm. 0. Strong."

But, Mr. President, suppose that, after all, we fail to engage our national
societies in a cooperative union. It will then become necessary to organize this
Society into divisions, if we would be a great and lasting institution. Novelty
nnd exciting excursions can not always secure the continued services of our best
workers. Great students, discoverers and authors can not be retained by such
chaff. We must have the thorough and systematic organization founded upon
the principles of cooperation of the different fields of horticulture with judicious
division of labor. Such an institution only will attract and retain the ablest
talent and extensive support, and will command the respsct of the whole country.
Thus, I conceive, we must have cooperative divisions- within our own Society, if not
obtainable by union with others, to be eminently useful and permanent.

My heart and hand shall ever be ready and enthusiastic in the sacred work
of cooperation.
15

218 Aiiuricaii ll<"ii('idlaral Society.

DISCUSSION ON THE REPORT.

Major Er((ii.'<, of Missouri — 1 move tliat thr report be concuried
iu as the sentiiiuMit of this Society.

31)'. Hubbard, of New York — I nni not quite sure of the prae-
licabilitv of the siiff";estions. Tiie American Xurservmen's Asso-
ciation, being quite distinctively a business (organization, would
probably object to coming into sucii an arrangement.

Secretary Rar/an, of Indiana — I have always thought that much
more good might be accomplished through the strcngtii of union
than in our present weak and scattered condition. This is all there
is of this. If we can, by uniting our energies, accomplish more in
the way of building up American horticulture T am in tavor of
making the effort.

Prof. Budd, of Iowa: — Tliere is doubtless a strong feeling in all
the bodies in favor of union. There are also many reasons why
such a step should be taken.

The motion of Major Evans was adopted and the following
committee of five appointed to confer with other organizations and
report at the next meeting of this Society : Mr. Munson of Texas,
Mr. Smith of Wisconsin, Mr. Strong of Massachusetts, Mr. Hub-
bard of New York, and Secretary Ragan of Indiana.

The following j-»aper was then read by its author :

LIAfl TS OF PROFITABLE CITRUS FRUIT CULTURE.

I5V H. J. RUDISILL, OF CALIFORNIA.

It is with much diffidence thiit I undertake the discussion of the sul)j<'ci
allotted to me by the officers of your Society, both on account of the great
scope of the matter to be considered and the limited time at my dispos il
from other duties to devote to it.

The cultivation of citrus fruits is unquestionably one of the most
attractive branches of horticulture. They do not fail, with their bright
evergreen foliage, fragrant blossoms and golden fruit, to stimulate even the
octogenarian in horticulture to a renewal of his interest in this occupation,
and to a desire to plant and own a grove.

Until within a comparatively recent period the Latin and Mongolian
races have possessetl a monopoly of citrus fruit cidture. Bi|t now the Anglo-
Saxon has entered the field in both continents, and, with his accustomed
system and energy, is infusing new life and new ideas into this calling, and,
true to the instincts of the race, makes the pertinent inquiry: " \\'liat
permanent prolit is there in it?"

Limits of Profitable Citrus Fruit Culture. 219

The family of citrus fruits is divided into five prominent branches,
to wit: the orange, lemon, lime, citron and the shaddock, or pomple mosse
or pumalo, and in the profitableness of their cultivation stand in the order
named. Therefore, in treating this subject I will consider only the orange,
as the representative of the family, the hardiest of the race, the most
generally cultivated, and the most profitable.

Originating, as it is now supposed to have done, in the warmer portions
of Asia, the foot-hills and table-lands of the Himalaya Mountains, it was but
little known, and only occasionally mentioned in myth and story, until
about the tenth century of the christian era, when it was first distinctly
noticed by Avicenna, a prominent Arabian physician of that period. From
that time it was gradually introduced and acclimatized along the shores of
the Mediterranean Sea. The sweet orange passed through Persia and
Syria to the Ionian isles, the shores of Italy, Sicily and the south of France,
and, according to Loudon, reached the south of England about the sixteenth
century,»where it was cultivated only for a short time successfully as a wall
fruit. The bitter orange passed through Arabia, Egypt and the north of
Africa to Spain and Portugal. Through the Spanish and Portuguese explora-
tions and conquests it was carried to the Azores and the Maderia islands, to
the West Indies and to Florida, Mexico and South America. In situations
favorable to its growth it is now found in a zone spanning the earth
extending from 40° south to 46° north latitude, and from the level of the sea
to an elevation of 5,000 feet above.

It is especially cultivated for profit in Syria, Turkey, Egypt, Northern
and Southern Africa, Greece, Italy, France, Spain. Portugal, the Azores,
West Indies, Brazil, Mexico, a portion of the gulf coast of the United States,
Florida, Southern California, and to some extent in Central and Northern
California, the Sandwich Islands, Japan, Atistralia, a portion of China and
India. If we were to judge, therefore, from the great area of territory and
remarkably diverse conditions in which the citrus fruits are found, we might
readily conclude that they could be profitably grown at any point adapted
to them within the latitudes named above. This is not the case, however, for
experience has taught, and is annually teaching us, that climate, soils, va-
rieties and markets influence and control the profitableness of citrus fruit
culture to a greater or less extent than mere geographical limits. We will
therefore consider these in the order named.

' CLIMATE.

That of the Azores has been considered by many of the authorities as
the best for citrus fruit culture. Possessing a moderately humid atmos-
phere, with a mean temperature of 58° in Avinter, 61° in spring, 68° in sum-
mer and 62° in autumn, and a minimum temperature of only 40° and
a maximum of 90°, and free alike from the desiccating winds of Africa,
and the cold northers that prevail throughout Southern Europe, the citrus
fruits are produced there readily, without irrigation, in great quantities and
of the best quality.

220 A iiirrh-d II Ilurtiriiffnrti/ Siirictt/.

The isothornial lines that indicate the hmit of the growth of the citrus
fruits along the northern thoros of the Mediterranean, under which naii^.e I
incUide all its arms or branches such as the J".v;ean and Adriatic Sens, etc.,
show a much greater diversity of location th \n those along the Pacitic coast,
!ind a greater range of temperature than the climate of the Azores. At
Joppa, on the coast of Syria, in latitude 32° north, the orange is grown
jirofitably near the sea-shoi-e and inland to an elevation of about SO(l feet
above sea level, but only extending about four miles distant from it. This
narrow belt, in varying widths, follows the shore line around the jE jean and
Adriitic Seas to Venice, Italy, in latitude 45", where, however, the orange is
not grown successfully for market, but what few are grown require 'expensive
winter protection. At Lake Garda, the largest of the Italian lak-:^s, and in
latitude 46° north, having a peculiar and exceedingly sheltered position, the
orange and lemon have been profitably grown for centuries. This, I believe,
is the extreme northern limit of profitable citrus fruit growing in the world.

The eastern shore of Italy is too cold for the citrus fruits, arfd only in
f ivored spots along the western shore, from Calabria north to Genoa, can
they be successfully grown. From Genoa the line passes westerly and
southerly along the coast of France to Barcelona. Spain, in latitude 4^°;
ihence in a narrow belt along the sea-coast to latitude 37°, and thence west
along that parallel of latitude to the Atlantic Ocean; thence north up the
coast of Portugal to latitude 41°. Near the southern limits of this isothermal
line there are large areas of coimtry in Asia Minor, Thessaly, C dabria, and
even Sicily, not adapted to citrus fruit culture, on account of the extremes
of heat and cold prevalent.

Elxperienced cultivators in these countries claim that a miximum
temperature of over 104° and a minimum temperature of 28° Fahrenheit
are both injurious to the growth of the orange. Wliile the limit of safety as
to temjierature may lie considered as located within this range of the ther-
mometer, orange-growers in S )uthern California have found th.it, under favor-
able conditions, both the tree and fruit will bear a much higher temperature,
and, for a brief period, a temperature of 22° without serious injury. Shelter
from strong winds from any quarter is also a conlition of successful culture
of this fruit, while sufficient moisture to keep the tree in a li*^altliy. vigorous
growth is a necessity.

SOILS.

Although the orange tree is found to flourish well in w.irm, fertile soils,
compo-sed principally of sand and loam or sand and clay, it will not continue
productive for even a brief i)eriod with'iut maintaining its vigor and strength
by liberal applications of manure; hence, the limit of profit in this direction
is very soon reached by the decrease of crops produced and the increased
cost of fertilizers. Orchards depending entirely upon irrigation for their
supply of moisture have, I think, a decided advantage over those dependent
upon the rain, as the waters used in irrigation, both winter and summer,
especially in ojien ditches, carry with them a large amount of fertilizing

Limits of Profitable Citrus Fruit Culture. 221

matter which can easily be placed by this system, to use a common
expression, " where it will do the most good."

VARIETIES.

It is only within comparatively a brief period that horticulturists have
recognized the necessity of adapting varieties to localities to make a success
of fruit-growing, and to-day there are many intelligent people who do not
know that there is any material ditference in oranges, and that they are not
ripe and edible as soon as they take on their yellow color.

It is now well known that the whole citrus family is prone to change
from differences in soil and climate, as well as from its natural tendency to
" sport," when cultivated from seeds after the manner of most of our orchard
fruits. It is also said that in many parts of the West Indies and South Amer-
ica the whole orange tribe is found growing wild, springing up spontane-
ously from the seeds of the trees originally planted by the Spaniards, vary-
ing in size, form, and in every gradation, from the lime to the shaddock.
Oranges are often found there equal in flavor and sweetness to those of the
Azores, though of much larger size, while others in the same grove vary
from these to a degree of sourness and acrid bitterness sufficient to draw
blood from the mouth accompanied by severe pain. There you may see the
lemon, citron, lime, shaddock, and sour, sweet and bitter oranges growing
ind'scriminately together in the same forest. They are round, flattened,
rough, smooth, obovate, pear-shaped, thick and thin-skinned, juicy, dry,
some with and others without seeds, some bearing seed at the end, outside
of the fruit, while others present a navel-like protuberance at the same point
with no seeds, and in passing through these groves it will be observed that
some trees will contain but little fruit, while others will be loaded to excess.

I consider this tendency of the citrus fruits to sport, and their adaptation
to localities, as one of the most promising aids, in the hands of intelli-
gent horticulturists, to the gradual extension of citrus fruit-growing into
regions now thought to be unfavorable to it. We have already the sour
orange stock and another from Japan as claimants for superior endurance
of low temperatures and moist subsoils, with the power to impart this
quality to seme extent to more valuable but much more delicate varieties,
grafted upon them. The claim for the Japan variety is that it will endure,
for a brief period, a temperature of near the zero of Fahrenheit. In the
foothills of the Himalayas, and also in the tablelands of the province of
Durango, Mexico, it is said there are varieties that are grown successfully
within the limits of the snow line, but the minimum temperature of the
region is not given. There is, therefore, much to encourage the fruit-
grower in less favorable localities in a search for varieties that may possess a
greater endurance of occasional low temperatures and yet retain the quali-
ties that will commend them to the great orange-eating public.

MARKETS.

Fruit-growers have long since realized that they may grow fruits suc-
cessfully, cheaply, and in abundance; but, owing to many and various causes,

222 American IJorlirtillaral Sockti/.

the Hnrtiicial result may be a failure, from his inability to secure a market,
or, if secured, the cost of i)lacing them absorbs the entire value of the ship-
ment, and sometimss requires an extra assessment to pay freight charges
and commissions. As with the deciduous fruits, so with the citrus fruits,
there are many localities producing the most delicious oranges, but entirely
too tender for transportation to distant markets. In Fayal and Treceira it
has ceased to be exported, not being able to comi)ete with oranges sent from
other coinitries in the mau'kets of Engl.ind. the only markets rcnlly within
reach of so delicate a fruit.

Ilninid ntmospheres and localities along the sea-shores produce this
character of fruit, while the more elevated and arid sections produce a fruit
equally rich in flavor, but of a tougher texture of skin, able to bear rougher
usage and longer transportiition. Another point to be considered in regard
to markets, especially of the United States, is its appearance in the mar-
kets in competition with deciduous fruits, and the seasons best adapted to
its use.

From July to December the great variety of deciduous fruits crowd the
markets, and hence at this time the demand for citrus fruits is usually quite
limited. .\<:ain, from December to March, throughout the northern states,
a prevailing temperature considerably below z?ro materially interferes with
the transportation and also discourages the use of oranges to a great extent.
It is, thprefore, only from March to July, when the increasing temperature,
especially in malarial districts, makes this fruit so desirable, that the great
demand usually exceeds the supply, and the profit enures to those localities
that can promptly meet it.

Much has been said as to prices and profits of citrus fruit-growing,
gathered from many localities. SuHice it to say that in Italy and the eastern
shores of the Mediterranean the profit is quoted at $80 to $150 per acre.
Taking into consideration the known longevity of the tree and its wonderful
capacity for producing fruit under favorable conditions— some 20,0t)0 to
38,000 si)eci mens from a single tree— it must be admitted that it is an ex-
ceedingly profitable branch of fruit-growing. A seedling orchard of eighty
trees per acre, in full bearing, producing an average of 3,-')(M) specimens—
about twenty boxes— could be sold for twenty-five cents per box upon the
trees, and realize to the owner some ;?400per acre; and the cost of caring for
such an orchard in cultivating, irrigating, pruning, including the price of
water, would not exceed $35 per acre.

In conclusion, it must be said that, while this fruit is grown in the ex-
ceedingly favorable localities named, yet, as a great commodity of com-
merce, the principal supply is furnished by points in the Meiliterranean below
the 38th degree of latitude. O » this continent, on the Atlant c coast, its suc-
cessful culture is below the .".0th parallel ; while on the Pacific coast, so far,
it is below the .'3.lLh parallel; but, as I have stilted in Oie beginning of this
article, the Anglo-Saxon has put his "hand to the jilow," and no one is wise
enough to limit his powers in this direction except by an arctic zone.

Evening Session. 223

Prof. Van Deman, U. S. Poraologist, Washington — I wish to
raake a few remarks about sports spoken of in Mr. Rudisill's paper.
Frequently such eccentricities and freaks are discovered in the
blossoms of plant life. It would be interesting, and of subsequent
value, to watch these «sports clobcly, as by so doing choice varieties
of new citrus fruits might be developed.

3Ir. Bradbury, of California — I am sorry Mr. Rudisill has not
had more to say of the importance of irrigation. In California, and
especially Southern California, irrigation is absolutely essential to
success in connection with crop productions. It is a subject of such
paramount importance that it demands the attention of practical as
well as scientific men.

On motion, the Society adjourned to meet at 7:30 p. m.

Sixtli Day— Thursday.

Evening Session.
The last session of the American Horticultural Society convened
in the assembly room of the Congregational Church, in the city of
Riverside, Cal., at 7 : 30 p. m., February 9, 1888, President Earle
in the chair.

President Earle, of Illinois — I desire once more to allude to the
important work this Society is doing. It is eight years since its
organization as the Mississippi Valley Horticultural Society. The
object of its organization was the promotion of all branches of
American horticulture. It soon became evident that it had out-
grown the limits of the great central valley of this continent, and
its name was changed to enable it to reach out and take in adjoin-
ing territory. Four valuable volumes of transactions have been
published, and each has met with a most cordial welcome from the
horticultural world. Volume V will be the proceedings of these
meetings here in California. A complete set of these reports will
be of great value, and worthy to adorn any library in the land. A
very few complete sets can yet be supplied by our Secretaiy, who
will mail them to any address on receipt of $1 per copy. Our pro-
gramme for this evening is short, and will mainly. consist in listen-
ing to the lecture of Dr. J. C. Ridpath, whom I now have great
pleasure in presenting to you.

224 American HoiiicaUurai >iociily.

THE TIIUH EVOLrTION— WHAT IT TEACHES AND WHAT I I'

DOES NUT TEACH.

I!Y J. C. RIDPATH, LF^.D., OF INDIANA.

[Note. — The Secretary regrets his inability to give nacre than a brief
synopsis of thi.-< exceedingly interesting lecture. The following is copied
from one of the city papers, and will convey only a vague idea of the scope
of the lecture.— Secretary.]

Professor Ridpath, being introduced, said, in substance, that it was nearly
thirty years since one of the greatest books of our century was published
on the subject of evolution, and since that day about three hundred and
twelve volumes had been issued on that subject, with a view to establi.'^hing
by proof the hypothesis of the evolution of life as an expre-^sion of the nuAua
operandi of those phenomena.

The natural history of life is a subject which can hardly fail to interest all
classes. The man of the orchard and the garden, the man of the shop and
farm, the man of the laboratory, must all alike be charmed by the history of
those phenomena we call life.

What, then, is the natural history of life ? what the law and forces which
determine its epochs and destiny ? and what, especially, is that universal all-
comprehensive phenomenon by which all life, as well as all human institu-
tions, has come into its present form of development? The speaker
meant, of course, the hypothesis of evolution from the lower into the highest
forms of existence.

He took it that the truest and most general expression of the true law of
evolution, as applied to the forms of life we see around. us, was that the life
of every species of things in the vegetable and animal kingdom is epito-
mized in the life of the individual of that species. The history of every f pe-
cies of living organism is summarized in the history of the individuals which
compose it. The same process of growth which wc observe in every organic
life in its germinal state to its complete development has gone on and still
goes on in the species.

The individual begins in the germ ; the rest of his career is determined
by the laws of evolution. His organs expand; he enters the state of con-
sciousness; perhaps from being prone on four feet he rises and walks. He
looks about him and beholds the boundary of the natural world. It reacts
upon his senses, and he begins to acquaint himself with the laws of his
environment. Me discerns the life of infancy in others, and he conjectures
that his own was the same. He reasons, imagines, and, perhaps, dreams ;
he grows old ; he dies, and the record closes with this — he nas. His life was
the life of the species.

The professor enlarged upon this view. He applied the germinal begin-
ning to the earth and the growth of the plant. At one time the earth did
not weigh ten pounds, but, like everything regulated by the God of nature >

Olive Culture. 225

it grew. Society grew, institutions grew, governments grew. It was wrong
to t^uppose that the wise fathers of a hundred years ago created — made — the
constitution. It grew. The germ was formed in European oppression and
came to this country.

The lecture was an exhaustive consideration of evolution, and at
its conclusion was warmly applauded.

President Earle — As a rule, I am not favorable to votes of
thanks, but if ever this Society was placed under obligations to any
person for contributing to its entertainment, it certainly is now to
Dr. Ridpath for his scholarly and entertaining lecture. This is
certainly one of the richest literary treats which I have ever en-
joyed. The Society, by a unanimous vote, extended its thanks to
Dr. Ridpath for his lecture.

Treasurer Evans, of Missouri, presented W. H. Ragan a purse
of .$160 in gold, the gift of members of the Society, in acknowledg-
ment of his long and faithful services as Secretary.

The following paper (slightly abridged), by one of California's
most extensive olive-growers, was presented, and, for want of time,
referred for publication without reading.

OLIVE CULTURE.

BY HON. ELLWOOD COOPER, OP SANTA BARBARA, CAL.

The common method of propagaticg the olive is to plant cuttings from
three quarters of an inch in diameter to one and a half inches, and from
fourteen to sixteen inches long. These cuttings should be taken from the
trees during the months of December and January. They should be planted
in permanent sites in February or March, depending upon the season. In
Santa Barbara, near the coast, no irrigation is necessary, but very frequent
stirring of the top soil with hoe or rake for a considerable distance around
the cuttings is necessary during the spring and summer. About three-
fourths of all that are well planted will grow. My plan is to set them twenty
feet apart each way, and pUice them in the ground at an angle of about
forty-five degrees, the top to the north. By planting them obliquely the
bottom end will be from ten inches to one foot below the surface. In Europe
the trees are planted from twenty-seven to thirty-three feet apart. The cut-
ting will throw up numerous shoots or sprouts, all of which should be left
to grow the first year. It will be advisable, however, where there are two or
more vigorous shoots of about equal size and height, to pinch the tops of all
excepting the one to be left for the future tree. In the following spring.

220 American Horticultural Sot-idy.

when the ground is warm and suffi'.'ienlly dry, all sprouts, excepting the one
to be preserved, should be carefully removed. In pruning during the first
years have only one object in view, that is, to force all growth into one
main trunk. This being done, the tree will naturally form a beautiful
shape. All branches to the height of five to five and a half feet should be
removed, so as to admit of close cultivation by horses.

Trees grown from cuttings will profluce fruit the fourth year, and some-
times, under favorable circumstances, a few berries the third year. The
habit (^f the tree is to overbear, and as a con.->eqnence will give but little fruit
the year following a heavy croj). There are, however, exceptions to this rule
in California. Mr. Davis, who had charge of the San Diego Mission orchard
in IS?'"), assured me that he had gathered from the same tree two years in
succession over 1 ")0 gallons of berries. I have also observed that some trees
in my orchard have borne well successive years. Fruit-bearing can be con-
trolled by proper pruning. The cultivator will not forget that the shoots
or branches must be two years old before they will give fruit; hence, partial
pruning every year will give p irtial crops. My oldest orchard was planted
February 21, 1S72. At four years I gatfiered from some trees over two gal-
lons of berries, and in 1878 over thirty gallons each ofT of a few of the best
trees. The tree mentioned in the San Diego Mission orchard as yielding
150 gallons of berries was more than fifty feet distant from those surround-
ing it. Our climate is congenial to the olive; it bloonis from the 1st t(j the
10th of May. At this season we have our best weather, free from the ex-
tremes of either heat or cold. Nowhere in the world are all the conditions
so favorable to perfect fruit-bearing.

The olive usually ripens in November. In Santa B.irbara the crop of
1880, as also that of 1S78, was unusually late in ripening, not being ready to
pick before the middle of January— a delay of fully two months, the cause,
no doubt, owing to the extraordinary rain-fall of these two years. The fruit
should be gathered as soon as it turns purple, and before fully ripe, as the
oil will be lighter in color and more fragrant, but somewhat less in quantity.
In Europe the common method of gathering the berries is to knock them
from the trees with poles. This plan has serious objections; the fruit being
more or less brtiised causes decomposition, and the contact with the earth is
liable.to give the oil an impleasant taste and odor. I have arranged on a wagon
platforms, with ladders securely fastened, so that the fruit can be gathered
from the wagon, which is driven along the rows. Leaves and imperfect ber-
ries are separated by passing the fruit through a winnowing mill. This proc-
ess leaves the fruit in the best possible condition for manufacturing the
oil. The berries are dried before crushing. If, however, they are left on
the trees until shriveled, no drying is needed after picking. By artificial
heat the necessary drying can be done in less than forty-eight hours.
Crushing and j)ressing should follow without ilelay — that is, the fruit taken
from the drier in the morning should be crushed and pres.><ed the same day.
All fruit picked during the day should be in at night, cleaned the following

Olive Culture. 227

morning, and go into the drier immediately after. The temperature of the
drier ought to be so graded as to complete the work in forty-eight hours, and
the limit of heat should be under 130°. Economy will necessitate a system
in the different branches of the process admitting of no delays from the be-
ginning to the end.

The almost universal method of crushing the berries is by a heavy
stone, similar to a millstone, which is rolled around on the edge in a deep
circular groove or trough, and by its weight does the crushing. A beam
passing through the eye of the stone, and working on a journal in the cen-
ter of the circle, with a horse attached to the outer end of the beam, is the
simplest way to do the work. To make one hundred gallons of oil each day
would require two good presses. The crushed olives are put in the press in
cheeses about three feet square and three inches thick, with wooden slats
between each cheese. Ten or more cheeses can be put in at each pressing.
I use coarse linen cloth to contain the crushed olives. The fluid that is
expressed is put in large tanks and left for from sixty to ninety days, when
the oil will separate, and, being lighter, will rise to the top, where it can be
drawn off. The pomace, after the first pressing, is recrushed, and, by
pouring hot water over it, a second pressing is made.

The most common method of filtering, or clarifying, is to have a series
of five or six boxes, one above the other. I use cylindrical tin vessels, hold-
ing about three gallons each, one fitting in the other in tiers of three, with
fine wire sieves in the bottom of each. On these sieves I place two or three
layers of cotton-batting. The oil is passed from one tier to the other until
clear. It should not be exposed to sunlight or heat ; neither should it be
handled any more than is absolutely necessary in the filtering and bottling,
and it should not be shaken after bottling. The mucilage contained in the
oil will not separate for a long time after the oil is ready for use, and, as it
does not injure it, is not, therefore, objectionable. It will sometimes form
in the bottles like globules of water, or in films settling to the bottom as
sediment, and, when shaken, will give it a muddy appearance, which, with
the common prejudice against all table oils that are not perfectly clear,
renders it unsalable. The oil is better when new and fresh, and what is
gained in the appearance by its remaining a longer time in the tank is
more than lost in its freshness and delicacy of flavor.

There are different methods of preparing the fruit for pickles. The
one adopted in Santa Barbara is as follows : The berries are put in fresh
water, which should be changed every day for forty or fifty days; then put
ill salt brine, not very strong, and, after remaining a few days, drawn off, a
second brine substituted, made nearly strong enough to bear an egg. Keep
the olives well covered with the brine. Great care should be taken in
handling the berries not to bruise them. The easiest plan, when picking
from the tree, is to drop them in water. They are usually picked when
they begin to turn a purplish color. Another method is to " pick the olives
as soon as they begin to show a reddish cast and rinse them in clean water.

228 Aniirican Jlorticultural Societi/.

Then take one ounce of concentrated lye and dissolve it in water. To
one-third of this solution add water enough to cover one gallon of olives.
After a day or two pour ofT this water and add another lye of the same
strength. This may bo repeated once more, as live or six days are consunjod
in taking out the bitterness with the lye. The lye should be used until the
fruit suits the taste. Then the olives are put in pure, fresh water until the
alkali is well removed. This can be ascertained by the color of the water
and by the taste. In salting, use about ton pminds to the barrel of olives, water
enough being used to cover the fruit. Barrel up tight and keep in a cool
place. The process should be conducted in the dark, as the light is apt to
injure the color. The celebrated olives pickled after the manner of Picho-
lini are put under a treatment of lye made more alkaline by the addition of
quick-lime. After leaving the olives a certain length of time, until the pulp
separates easily from the seed, a condition wlych depends upon the strength
of the lye and the size of the olives, they are then washed and put in strong
brine."

My attention was called as early as 1874 to the condition of the trees in
and around Santa Barbara from the ravages of the accux t//ett', commonly
known as the black scale, and which was always followed by the black
fungus. An olive tree once attacked with the scale bug, unless cleaned,
will soon be infested so that it can not bear fruit.

Pruning is the mcst essential thing, and the remedy of the greatest vital
importance. If trees are properly pruned, so as to admit of free circulation
of air and the sunlight, more than half the battle is gained. In fact, trees in
such condition, where the ground is well tilled and kept free from rubbish,
are not so liable to the attack, and if attacked each scale insect can reailily
be seen, and should be removed without delay. Orchardists who adopt this
plan will have very little trouble, even in badly infected districts. The in-
sects will be found to inhabit that portion of the tree where the foliage is
most dense, where the sunlight is shut out, and free circulation prevented.
There is not so much in the remedy as in its application. While certain
remedies may be etlectual in the hands of some, in the hands of others they
will not be sufficient. Constant watching and constant fighting is the only
sure plan to prevent the si)read of insect pests in localities where trees !iro
atl'ected. The remedy that I have linally adopted as being the most ellectual
is the application of kerosene-oil.

The olive will thrive and do well in almost every part of California, and,
while there may be fruits t"liat yield better incomes, no tree offers so much
and so certain as a permanent investment. Oil-making can not be over-
done. The demand for olive-oil, at good prices, must increase more rapidly
than the production. But those who embark in the business must remem-
ber that no trees require greater care to insure profit. In olive-growing we
are independent of high-priced laln)r, the picking being done in the winter
time after all other fruits are gathered. We are, comimrativoly .-peaking,
independent of the freight question, as the value is great in small I ulk. The
fruit is not perishable.

Olive Culture. 229

I have visited at Santa Rosa the hills of Captain Grosse, where he has
probably five or six thousand trees, two years old from planting, and I must
say that he deserves great credit. He has conferred a lasting boon on
the people of Santa Rosa, clearing land that, to my eyes, was absolutely
worthless, and planting olive trees. These ohve trees on the ridge of the hill
are probably not more than from five to ten rows wide, following the shape
of the hill, and in that respect there will be a great advantage in regard to
insect pests, because they will have better circulation of air and more sun-
light.

I have growing on my place olive trees in the black adobe, in deep bot-
tom land, in sandy land, made from the wash of the mountains, in stony
hill-sides and adobe hill-sides, and in table-land, where the subsoil is probably
twenty feet deep, dark clay, and, so far as I have known, there is no difier-
ence in the bearing of these trees, or in the oil made. The only test I have
ever made in regard to the quantities borne by an orchard showed 122
pounds of olives per tree throughout the orchard, the trees being seven years
old from the cuttings. The best result in making oil has been twelve and a
half pounds per tree; the poorest, ten and fifty-five hundredths pounds. I
could not say whether this was caused by the different years, or by less care
in drying. We have for the tree seven years old at least ten bottles of oil,
and those bottles will sell readily anywhere at $1 apiece.

We commence picking in December, as soon as the olives turn a purple
color — some of them probably only a reddish color, with one side partially
green. They then require more drying than if picked in the months of
March and April, when the water will have evaporated mostly from them.
The oil is of a lighter color if made earlier than it is later in the season, but
in practice we make it all in the same tank, and I do not apprehend that
there is very much difference as to the color of the oil, nor as to the quality.
In Europe they dry the berries almost altogether in the sunlight. In the
coast counties here that is impossible, because we may have a series of foggy
days during the process of drying, and then it would be impossible to carry
on the work.

I have spent probably a dollar to a dollar and a half a tree each year in
fighting: the black scale, and can only barely keep it in subjection at that.
This black scale seems to have been created for the olive, to make us careful,
energetic and persistent. While one washing each year with kerosene
emulsion will keep an orange tree, a lemon tree or a lime tree free from the
scale, the olive tree requires two or three or four washes to have the same
result. My orange trees are just as clear and clean as those grown at River-
side, where they have no black scale at all. Of course, there are insects
there on the inside, but they are easily kept down by washing with the kero-
sene emulsion once a year. On the olive tree, I confess I do not know yet
the proper time of year to do this washing. For two or three years we have
had so much rain in the winter time that I could not get on the ground.
Our wagons were so narrow in the tire, and the ground so soft, that there

230 American HorticuHurdl Sociify.

was iiu j)ii.s.-il>ilily of getting a washing apparatus over the fielil, but imw I
have wagons made with the tires six ami eight inches wide. so as to be inde-
pendent of the soft state of the ground ; and this winter I am going to prac-
tice, in the months of December and February, washing with the kerosene
emulsion, to see whether it will not l)e more etfective than it has been ap-
plied later— in April and August. The insects commence hatching in June,
and if they would all hatch out in .June or in July it would be an easy matter ;
but I have known them to hatch as late as the month of February, and while
simjile washings will kill the little ones after they are just hatched, it will
not atloct those that are half gr(jwn. If you defer the washing until after
they are all hatched, the first hatching is more 'han half grown, and has al-
ready formed its shell and allixed itself. That is the great difhculty with
the black scale ; it has but one brood a year, but that brood takes four or five
or six months to appear upon the scene.

FINA L ItF.SOr.nTIO.NS.

Whereas, The members of the American Jlortirultiiral r^ociety have been
cordially received by the citizens and Board of Trade of Riverside, ami many
courtesies extended them in a reception at their citrus fair, a grand drive through
their unexcelled orchards, and a most pleasant house for our meetings, therefore
we most heartily tender them our sincere thanks. We also desire to, and ilo.
tliank the press for so freely advertising our meetings here, and publishing reports
of our proceedings. T. \'. MrxsoN.

S. Johnson.

U. I. Brmi.

The report wa.s heartily concurred in hy the ."Society.

A motion to adjourn sine die wa.s adopted.

Before announcing the vote, President Earle said :

I hope we .shall meet again, that you will come and meet with
u.s at our variou.s meeting.s at the Ea.st, and that perchance we may
even some time come acros.s thi.s long continent — thi.s broad conti-
nent— once more to meet with you. Thi.s Society has lione much
.since its organization — very much — to promote tiie interests of
horticulture in this land. We have done it in many ways — in
our meetings, in our published reports, and in the exlnbitions we
have created. Our first meeting was connected with the largest ex-
hibition of horticultural j)roducts that at that time had ever been
held upon this continent, and this Society organized and carried for-
ward to comi)letion the greatest of all horticidtural exhibitions that
has ever been held in the world, at the World's Fair at New Or-
leans. It was entirelv oriranizcd and maintained bv this American

Meeting of the Executive Committee. 231

Horticultural Society. I was told Ity a geutleman thoroughly con-
versant with the fjicts that he bel'.eved, and had good evidence, that
the exhibits that California made in the Palace of Horticulture at
Xew Orleans had turned into Southern California alone more than
thirty millions of dollars since that time — a result which can be set
down to the credit of this Society. That fair was not alone in the
interests of Southern California, but in the interests of industry in
the southern states and the northern states. But I can not dwell
upon this. In parting, ladies and gentlemen, I think I voice the
views of the members of the Society when I express thanks for the
cordial and hearty manner in which we have been received through-
out the length and breadth of California. The American Horticult-
ural Society is now adjourned.

MEETING OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.

At the close of the sessions of the Society, the Executive Com-
mittee was called to order. Present: President Earle, Vice-Pres-
ident Munson, Treasurer Evans and Secretary Ragan, and State
Vice-Presidents Thomas of Arkansas, Budd of Iowa, Johnson of
Indiana. Holsinger of Kansas, Samuels of Kentucky, Elliott of
Miunesota, Goodman of Missouri, Barnard of Nebraska, Lewers of
Nevada, Budd of Xew Jersey, Hubbard of New York, Lindley of
North Carolina, Hewson of Nova Scotia, Ohmerof Ohio, Ca'rdwell
of Oregon, and Smith of Wisconsin.

The Secretary reported the names of 450 members now enrolled.

The Secretary was directed to publish 1,000 copies of Vol. V.

A motion was adopted authorizing the Secretary to sell full sets
of past volumes (Vols. I, II, III and IV) for S4 per set so long as
the supply lasts.

Dr. J. C. Pidpath was allowed the sum of |50 for assisting the
Secretary at the late meetings of the Society.

The Secretary was authorized to draw warrants on the Treas-
urer for such amounts as have been allowed by the Society at its
■recent meetings.

There being no further business, the Executive Committee ad-
journed.

232 American HorticuHural Socicti/.

AGRKTI.Tl k,\l, AM) IIOKTICULU R \l. I'RliSS.

Tlie i'ollowiiig journal.^ ami luauaz-inc.- and luaiiv dlhcr.s have
placed tliu iSoeiuty under oljliiiations by iiuiiu'roiis friendly rei'ei-
eiiees, and .some of them by llieii' i-cunlar visits to tiie Seci-etary's
office. To this list niiglit (were it iiere ajjiinipciate to enumerate
tlieni) he added a large list of secidar papers which are also entitled to
the thanks of the Societv for manv favors and Hatterintj notices:

AgricxiUurist, Racine, Wis. ; AgvicuUiiral and Jforticultural
Journal, Chicago, 111.; American Garden and Floral Cabinet, New
York ; A)nerican AgricuKurisf, ^cw York ; Calijornia Fruit- G rover,
San Francisco, Cal.; Canadian Horticulturist, St. Catherines, Ont. ;
Colman's Rural World, St. Louis, Mo ; Country Gentleman, Albany,
N. Y. ; Drainage and Farm Journed, Indianaj)olis, Jiid.; Eastern
Farmer, Augusta, Me.; Farm and. Home, Springfield, Mass. ; Farm
and Garden, Philadel|)hia, Penn. ; Farmers Home Journed, Louis-
ville, Ky. ; Farmers'' Revieiv, Chicago, 111.; Farm and Fireside,
Sj)ringfield, (). ; i'ann /oMrna/, Philadelphia, Penn.; Florida Dis-
patch, Jacksonville, Fla ; Fruit and (T/-(/y)f-(r/vj»Y'/', Charlottesville,
Va.; Fruit- Grou:ers^ Journal, Cobden, 111.; Garden and Forest,
New York, N. Y. ; Green's Fruit Grower, Rochester, N. Y. ; JLir-
tieultund Art Journed, Rochester, N Y. ; Horticultural Times,
London, Eng. ; Illustrcded Pacific States, San Francisco, Cal.;
Indiana Farmer, Indianajiolis, Ind.; Industrialist, Maidiattan,
Kan ; Journal Columbus Horticultural Society, Colnuibns, (). ;
Journed of Agriculture, St. Louis, Mo. ; Kansas Farmer, Topeka,
Kan.; Maine i^armt'/-, Augusta, Me.; Nebrask'i. Farmer, Lincoln,
Xei). ; Nev England 7/omcs/('(^(?, Springlieltl, Mass. ; Kortli western
Farmer, Portland, Ore.; Orchard and Garden, Little Silver, N.J. ;
Our Country Home, Greenfield, Mass.; 0/</o /'Vt/v/ic/-, Cleveland, (). ;
Pacijic Rured Press, San Francisco, Cal. ; Popular Gardening, Buf-
falo, N. Y. ; Prairie Farmer, Chicago, 111.; Rural (.'(difornian, Los
.•\ngoles, Cal. ; h'ur(d Home, Rochestei', X. Y. ; Rund New Yarher,
Now York, N. Y.; San Diego Magazine, >6ix\\ Diego, Cal. ; SoutliPrn
Cultivator, Atlanta, Ga. ; Texas Farm and Ranch, Dallas, Tex. ; The
World, N^ew York, N. Y. ; Tree-Planter and Fmit-Grou-er, Klgin,
111.; The Citrogra/jh, Redlands, Cal.; Western Farmer, Madison,
Wis.; M'ine and Fruit-G rower, New York, N. Y.

[Note.— The Secretary reluctantly omits the usual " r«i>tcr of otiicers,"
in view of his inability to secure such data us would warrant him in claim-
ing for it even approximUe correctness. Tliis is pirtly du > to iho indiller-
ence of officers of the .several societies in making ilvir rcjioris to the Secre-
tary, and to the overwhelming amount Of labor required in (jblaining correct
lists. — Secretary.]

APPENDIX,

]6

EXPLANATORY N'OTl-.

The following sketch hy Professor J. C. Kitlpath, LL. D., while not strictiv
and legitimately a j)art and parcel of this report, seems so a(lmiral)ly fitted to fol-
low, if for no other purpose than as an embellishment to the volume, that the
Secretary herewith presents the same, believing that all will read with interest,
especially those who were of the fortunate numbers that acconipanie<l the Doctor
across the continent and through the golden valleys of California.

Secretary A. H. S.

BEYOND THE SIERRAS:

A TOUR OF SIXTY DAYS

THROUGH THE

VALLEYS OF CALIFORNIA.

BY —

JOHN CLARK RIDPATH, LL. D. ;
Author of a History op the United States, a Cyclopaedia of Universal

History, etc., etc.
17

COFYKKMITED BY

JOHN CLARK RIDPATII,
A. D. 188S.

TO THE OFFICERS AND MEMBERS

OF THE

American Horticultural Society,

CONTENTS.

Chai'TKR I Eu Avant

Chapter II From Yuma to Los Angeles

Chapter III Tlu^ S;m Joaquin Valley

Chapter IV In ilie Santa Clara

Chapter V To the Base of Shasta

Chapter VI Santa Rosa and San Rafael

Chaptiir VII Riverside and Finis

Chapter VIII Backwards March

BEYOND THE SIERRAS.'

CHAPTER I.

EX AVANT.

The Rendezvous. — The Start.— Land of the Creeks. — Denison. — First Reception. —
To Fort Worth. — The City, — Westward Bound. — Dunder ami Blitzen. — Land-
scapes of Western Texas. — El Paso and Paso del Norte. — Tor-r-ro ! — Across the
Gadsden Purchase. — The Arizonian Plateau. — Tucson. — Tlie Sage-Bush. —
The Marquis (f Leap. — Giant Cactus. — Shining Atmosphere. — Adobe Villages.

It has fallen to the part of the writer to put into ferm for the present
volume some observations relative to the recent excursion of the American
Horfcultural Society to the Pacific coast. He is not certain that within the
limits of a few chapters he shall be able to present even an adequate sum-
mary of the many objects of interest, and the thousand recollections and
comments that rise to view whenever this great tour or overland voyage of
the Society is mentioned. On the whole, it is doubtful whether any other
company of people of equal numbers and equal abilities to see and to learn,
to appreciate new conditions, and to estimate the value of the new facts and
phenomena peculiar to the vast regions constituting the western borders of
our country, have ever had such an extended and favorable opportunity for
taking in an almost infinite variety of scene and circumstance, or have more
fully enjoyed the advantages thus arising, than have our membership in the
case of their California excursion.

The present work will, of course, be confined to general views, and to
such comments and observations as f-prang from the larger facts of our tour,
and will drop into details only as it respects certain particular parts of un-
usual interest. It will not be expected that the writer has in all cases him-
self been most interested and instructed with the same facts and conditions
that have appealed most strongly to other and more observant members of
the company ; but since his office is to make a picture of the whole, the draw-
ing must be, of course, after his own conception, and the coloring from his
own poor assortment of tints and pigments.

A s has been stated in the opening paragraphs of the present publication,

-Copyrighted by John Clark Ridpath. All rights reserved.

(239)

240 Beyond the Sierras.

the biennial meeting of the American Horticultural Society for 18SS was
planned to take place at the two cities of San Jos6 and Riverside, California.
The sessions were to cover a space of six days — the iirst three being the '24th,
2oth and 2Glh of January, at San Jos^, and the last three the 7lh, Sth and
9th of February, at Riverside. From the very first the reader must begin
to make a liberal allowance for distance, and this is, at the beginning, brought
forcibly to his attcnti(jn by the fact that the twoOalifornia cities which were
to be the termini of the excursion are no less than 570 miles apart

In arranging the excursion, it was provided that the rendezvous of the
various groups of members and their friends should be at Kansas City, on
the 12th of January. A great many persons outside of the Society availed
themselves of the opportunity offered by it to make a journey to the Pacific
coast. These, however, were quite exclusively a superior class of people, who
amalgamated well with the members of the Society, so that the company as
a whole, large as it was, and representing as it did so many districts of our
country, was especially homogeneous and friendly from the start.

It happened that the ingathering of the excursionists was coincident in
time with the oncoming of the first formidable snow-storm of the winter.
Nearly all who left their homes on the 10th and 11th of the month did so in
pleasant weather, but the gathering in Kansas City on the morning of the
12th was in the midst of a tempest of snow-flikes, portending still more
seriotis conditions in the atmosphere.

When it came to make up the trains, it was found that no fewer than
twenty-live Pullman coaches were required for the accommodation of the
excursionists; nor was there any unoccupied space. The company was fully
as large as the room which had been provided for it. The train was made
up in three sections, and late in the afternoon of the 12th headed for the
south and west. The routes which had been determined on were: outward-
bound, the Missouri Pacific from St. Louis, via Kansas City, to Fort Worth;
the Texas ife Pacific from Fort Worth to El Paso; and the Southern Pacific from
El Paso to San Francisco and other points of destination. On the return,
either of several routes might be selected. Most cf the excursionists ex-
pected to return by the Atchison, Topeka it Santa F6; others, by the Central
Pacific and Union Pacific to the points of departure ; others, still, by the Cen-
tral Pacilic and the Denver it Kio Grande. Tiie option was even extended of
coming home by way of the Northern Pacific; but, owing to the season, few,
if any, availed themselves of this provision. It should be said, once for all,
that the arrangements made by the oflicers of the Society and railroad offi-
cials for the transportation, the comfort and advantage of the excuraionists,
both in going and coining, were all that could be desired.

In making a voyage of two or three thousjmd miles by rail, the traveler
must content himself with riding half tlie distance through tunnels. Every
night is a tunnel. With the coming of evening, the voyagers plunge into
darkness, and for the next twelve hours the outer world is as though it were
not. With the coming of morning, exit from the tunnel. The scene is

En Avant. 241

reversed. The attention of all is directed to the external landscape, and for
the twelve hours ensuing each tires his senses with observation of the vary-
ing scenes through which he whirls along, or stores his memory with such
facts and fancies as have pleased him most.

Our first twelve-hour tunnel reached from Southeastern Kansas to the
central part of the Indian Territory. The morning of the 13ch found us in
the country of the Choctaws and the Creeks. The scene had already changed
from the conditions out of which we had come. An occasional village of the
red men took the place of the accustomed country station, with its post-
master, its express agent and its company of loafers. The red man, how-
ever, is not above loafing with the rest of us. At the time of our passage
through he was also enjoying the advantages of another peculiarly American
virtue. He was in the midst of an election. This is said of the Creek nation.
The citizens of that commonwealth had just closed the polls after a great
contest in the choice of a governor. The writer was surprised to learn, in
a conversation with ex-Governor Ferryman, of the Creeks, that the issue
involved in their election was also peculiarly American. It was a kind of
state rights or nationality question. With this, also, was mixed up a certain
amount of bloody shirt. Ifseems that some of the civilized Indians of the
territory were, in their antecedents, strong Union men, while others had
sympathized with the Confederates. It is true, moreover, thai the questions
thus arising have their roots in old differences of tribal organization existing
among the Indians before the present order was established. This is to say
that, in the most ancient times, the Indians were strongly state rights in
their methods and proceedings. The nations were broken up into tribes,,
and every tribe did as it would. From all that I could gather from the ex-
governor, it would appear that the Indian races of the territory are greatly
in need of some Hamilton or Madison to set them right in the fundamentals
of politics.

On the afternoon of the 13th the sections of our excursion drew up at
the first major point of the journey, that is, Denison, Texas. Here arrange-
ments had been made for a reception of the Society by the authorities and
people of the city. A sufficient reason for this courtesy could be found in
the fact that Denison is the residence of that most genial, able and popular
gentleman, Mr. T. V. Munson, Senior Vice-President, past, present and future,
of the Society.

Denison chooses to call herself the Gate City. This is to say that here
the traveler passes as under an archway, and enters the empire of Texns.
The city has a population of about 15,000, and is rapidly growing in extent,
enterprise and wealth. She is fairly specimental of what the jargon of our
times calls the New South. One of the characteristics of Denison is the
activity displayed by her merchants, business men and citizens. It is a
handsome place, and the inference is easily drawn that the city is backed up-
by a region of great productive resources. Here are situated some of the
shops, including the great round-house, of the Missouri Pacific Railway; and
it should be mentioned that on the night after our departure the last-named

'242 Beyond the Sierras.

structure was consumed by fire, together with twenty-three (jf the stalwart
engines belonging to the company.

There is coal in this country, and the rumor of coal. Much manufacture,
hirge fruit-growing interests, and many other elements of prosperity, are dis-
cernible to the actual eye; and there is much more to the eye of faith. The
Texan of this region has a good eye of faith, and his ear is of that variety
which hears the tramp of the coming millions. All this is to say that Den-
ison, as well as many other places in the Lone Star State, has a vast and vig-
orous boom; and to the casual observer her people seem.to be preeminently
worthy to enjoy its advantages.

The reception of our excursionists had been prepared under the auspices
of the North Texas Horticultural Society. Garner & Haynes' Hall was
selected as the place for the reception and banquet. As soon as the three
sections of the excursion train had reached the .station a committee of recep-
tion met and conducted the Society to the commodious hall, where, under
the direction of the ladies of the city, eighteen tables, all crowned with
flowers, groaned under the weight of the banquet which had been prepared
for the city's guests. Three evergreen mottoes adorned the walls : " Wel-
come to Denison," "Texas, the Lone Star State," " Welcome to our Guests.'
Fruits and blossoms were heaped on every hand, and the handsome ladies
of the city stood ready to serve the guests. The entertainment and banquet
the first of many which we were destined to enjoy, were as generous as this
favored region of country and the liberality of the citizens could make them.
The banquet was hardly ended at night-fall, and an evening reception was
added. The music and dancing were continued until the hour of departure.

We have now arrived at that great North American necessity — the mak-
ing of speeches. In the afternoon the guests were welcomed to the city and
the banquet by Hon. Samuel Hanua, mayor of Denison. A brief address was
made by a member of the Society in response. In the evening, while the
entertainment under the auspices of the Choteau Dancing Club was on, for-
mal resolutions by the Society were read by Mr. Sylvester Johnson, of Indi-
ana. These were enthusiastically adopted. Cheers were given for the
ladies of Denison, for the city, for Texas, and for whatever else was reckoned
worthy of a cheer; and the entertainment concluded at eleven in the even-
ing. As the excursionists gathered into their berths, and the hum of excite-
ment subsided, the Titanic engines headed away to the west of south for Fort
Worth. As the last section was drawing out from the station, an alleged
poet, who chanced to be among the excursionists, handed to the editor of the
Sunclay Gazetteer, the following stanzas, as expressive of the sentiments with
which the guests of Denison took leave of her hospitiility :

OUR ANSWER.

I.

How brighter is the traveler's devious way,
For frieiuliy faces and tiie warmtli of meeting 1

The grateful hand records tiie hour anil day
Anil memory of every gracious greeting.

En Avant. 243

II.

For ns this night the fair Gate City throws

Her portals wide; she spreads her fruits and flowers

For stranger guests, escaping from the snows;
She makes her sunshine and her blessing ours.

III.

N From borders far the gardener is here,

The man who prunes, whose trees bring daily duty ;
Your Lone Star meets him with a feast and cheer ;
Her mistletoe is his from hands of beauty.

IV.

Not ingrate we; not cjuick to taste and go ;

Not idly at your feast our sense regaling ;
But bearing with us to the overflow

A cup filled ever from a source unfailing.

V.

And this we seek in other days from you —

Some look cast backward from the far hereafter-
Some thought for us, as ours for you" is true,

Of this fair night of welcome, dance and laughter.

A'l.

Oh, men and women of this southern land,

Oh, sons and daughters who have smiled and spoken.

Receive our hearts, in trust, with parting hand.
And be your peace a day-dream never broken.

The night journey of the 13th brought us to Fort Worth. By the court-
esy of the weather clerk we had enjoyed sunshine and balmy air during
our afternoon in Denison. Of this, however, we took a sudden leave, and by
the time of our arrival at Fort Worth had plunged into what may be called
a spell. The city was spattered with rain and mud, but, under cover of the
dismal morning, it was easy to see that the place was one of great enterprise
and progress. From a manufacturing and commercial point of view it is
likely that Fort Worth leads all the Texan cities. It is substantially built,
with broad streets and some attention to sidewalks. At Fort Worth the
Society had no reception. Some preparations had been made for a consid-
erable stop and a drive about the city, but certain delays of the train, the
intolerable splutter of the rain-storm, and other untoward circumstances,
defeated the project. So, for some hours, the inost venturesome of the ex-
cursionists beat about the principal streets, while the timid were glad to
remain in their Pullmans, reflecting on Noah's flood.

It should be said that the country which we had traversed thus far from
Kansas City to Fort Worth is almost continuously beautiful and fertile. The

-44 Bei/ond the Sierrat<.

3i\ircity ui umber .ind ui waier-oourses strikes the attention of those wiio
liave been iiccustomed to i)lentiful tlistribution of tliese benelits; but the
mind iniineilintely reverts from the disiulviuil^i^es just named to the Krand
expanse of prairies, still matted with last year's grasses, and sugi^esting a
reserve of productive power in comparison with which the puny resources
of our smaller fields and pastures in the Middle and Pyistern States .••re as
nothing to infinity. Of the regions thus far traversed, the Indian Territory
surjjasses in beauty, while Texas excels in the promise of production and
wealth.

.\t F.)rt Worth our trains were whirled onto the tracks of the Tex.i- oc
Pacific Iv.iil way. Oar engines set their Titanic eyes toward the sundown,
and we were off on our journey along the longer diameter of the Lone Star
State. It was from this time forth that new ideas, never to be ell" iced, of the
imperial expanse of our western country, of its limitless horizon and bound-
less skies, were impressed upon us. No one who, for ten hours t )gether, on
the rapidly flying train, sits by the window of the coach and gazes out on
the spreading prairies and far-off horizon of the Texan landscapes can ever
fori^et the impression of sublimity and infinite extent which they leave upon
him. One must needs hear the voice of prophecy and the murmurs of a
half-.iudible apocalypse as he views the scene, and dreams of the coming ages.

A strange experience, however, not wholly agreeable and totally unex-
pecteil, awaited our excursionists as they traversed the Texan plains. Men-
tion has been made of th it immense snow-storm which bkntered and ro.ired
around us on our way from Kansis City to the south. Out of this we
emerged in the southern part of the Indian Territory and through the first
stages of our Texas pilgrimage. But a low barometer, striking the United
States very anomalously about a thou.sand miles west of Manitob.i,at a jilace
called Medicine Hat, and sweeping down the Rockies as far as Cheyenne,
whence its course was deflected to the east, had, in the mean time, got in its
work ; and a ferocious blizzard of cold and snow, howling like a grizzly bear
out of the Yuba mountains, cam^ rushing after, striking Texas squarely in
the side, and, in a tornado about fifty miles in breadth, swept on to the south,
until its boreal mine of icicles and sleet was melted oil' in Mexico.

Through the pathway of this monster, at right angles, the three s?ctions
of our train were obliged to pass. It struck us on the northern side. The heavy
Pullman coaches rattled in the blast. The thermometer went down into the
cellar. At Abilene a })iece of frozen mercury hanging by the door of the
eating-house said something about 10^ bilow zero. But the temperature
might well have been borne by people inured to cold had it not been for the
accompanying storm. The writer has had the pleasure and excitement of
several blasts in his life, but he deliberately declares that of all the bitter,
biting tornadoes that ever he was struck withal, the most terrible and mer
ciless was that which gnawed his overcoat and bit ofl'his beard on the night
of the 14di of January, out on the Texas Pacific. Our people sufl'ered
severely. Women cried with the cold, and some of their husbands used

En Avant. 245

language. Numbers of the excursionists lay awake all night in their berths
shivering and shuddering. Thus did the writer, \yho, in his desperation,
offered the porter of the Anchoria twenty-five cents apiece for every article
which he would pile on him during the night. One passenger, putting his
hand on his froaen forehead, said he thought he was dead. Another, when
a hot box was announced, suggested that it be put in his berth for five min-
utes! Another said that he never had until then discovered the advantage
of Elijah's going to heaven in a chariot of fire. But the bit'er night went
by, and by ten o'clock of the following morning the trains had swept out of
the blizzird, the most terrible ever known in Texas, and had found again
sunshine and genial air.

By the time the traveler on his way to the Pacific coast reaches the
western parts of Texas he has sufficiently ascended the great plateau to
bring him into new classes of phenomena. By this time nature has changed
her aspect ; the elevation above the sea has become so great as to give to the
atmosphere ttiat shining transparency which he has never seen before. Dis-
tant objects begin to draw near, and in the horizon are seen at long inter-
vals the first suggestions of the mountains. As a rule, the train skims ever-
more the surface of the earth ; there is neither cut nor fill. The sky is a
blue canopy overhead, and the earth is an infinite pasture of coarse grass,
broken with patches of sand.

We now pass the tributaries of Red river and the Brazos. If our vision
could stretch 150 miles to the north we should see the head-waters of the
Canadian. Yonder, far to the south, are the gathering streams of the
Colorado. Still farther before us, and at right angles to our course, is the
Rio Pecos. Within these wide boundaries I estimate an area of 35,000
square miles. It is the Llano E-itacado. As we journey westward the
vast plateau lies mostly on our right. Verily it is the Staked Plain— staked
by nature with multiplied millions of yucca stems, weird and still on the
vast expanse. Hence its name. They are veritable stakes of the desert.
Sparsely scattered on the borders, they thicken in the distance and blend in
a dark, low wall along the far horizon.

But let us note with ever-increasing admiration the glory and splendor
of this luminous air. There is certainly nothing like it in the world —
except, of course, in California. The effect of this atmospheric transparency
can not be appreciated or understood save by experience of the senses.
When the vision first reaches out through the shining air you siy, " Well !"
Your seat-mate says, " Hello!" The lady who sits in the next seat lifts her
small kid glove toward the window and smiles. The effect out yonder is
nearly like that of a first-class opera-glass, say one of Le Maire's, of Paris.
The difference is that when you look through an opera-glass you know you
are looking through something, and that there is the illusion of the lenses.
But here there is no illusion at all : you just see. The gain in visual distance
is just about what you would gain from a good opera-glass. Of course, they
tell you all sorts of li— hyperboles about how far it is to this and to that

246 Beyond tin .SV/va-s.

wliich you see out there toward the horizon. It is as easy to say forty miles
a8 ten. Neverlhelcs.*, you do see with Hniazmg distinctness to an amazing
distance. Beyond, <>n our right, for inst«nce, at tliis little station on the
plateau, is old Sierra Blanca. If the train would stop for a half or three-
quartersof an hour (and you consult willi the conductor abtut that matter),
you could walk over to the foot of Blanca and touch him. You could look
up his shining front and say, "Hello! old fellow, how long have you been
here ?" But the train is going to pull out in live minutes, and so you do not
go. Presently the question is, " How 'ar is it to Blanca, anyhow ?"' Some
guess a mile and a-half; .some, distrustinij iheir senses, say three miles, or
four miles. You ask the natives on the platform, and they tell you the
thing that is not. But the honest and straightforward Capt. W. J. Maltby.
of Baird, who knows about these things, siiys it is fourteen mUfS. Still, to al
seeming, Blanca stands ju.-^t out there. Y'ou could go in half an hour and
salute his great toe. Farewell. Blanca, perhaps forever!

After Fort Worth, the ne.xt formal stage (what the old Greeks called a
stalhmas) for the excursionists was El Paso, Texas. Look at its jilace on the
Tiiap. For a good reason, those discerning old Spaniards called it The Pass.
Here is the Bio Grande; and yonder, to the north, only a few miles away, is
the bold and gigantic heel of the Rocky Mountains. Through here you
must pas.s if you would go to the sundown. The railroads have found it so.
They also Tiiust traverse this notch 'twixt river and mountain if they wouKl
find their way to the west. So I believe the city of El Paso is wi-sely
planted. It appeared to me to be a good place for establishing an enterpris-
ing population of some hundreds of thousands of people. I did not inquire
into the census, but I suppo.se that ten or fifteen thousand have already
gathered here: and there is the hum of business. Here we stopped for half
a day. Very courteous attentions were given to the Society by the authori-
ties of the city. We were escorted to the hotels, and shown the principal
objects of interest as soon as practicable. Many of the company made for
the bridge of the Rio Grande, and most of them were for the first time on
the soil of a foreign people. This is Mexico; that is the Rio Grande, a
broad, flat stream, skimming along over sand-bars, with low banks, or no
banks at all ; and beyond, and just before, is the low Mexican town of Paso del
Norte. A strange sight to the thrifty, blustering American is this quaint,
half-silent, sunshiny place, with its adobe houses and musical eihoes of the
Spanish tongue in its streets. 1 have been surprised to note how soon the
general tone and rhythm of a foreign language will fix themselves in the ear
of a stranger. One needs only hear the natives of a foreign city speak their
own language for a single hour, an<l the sound thereof will remain with him
forever, like a voice in the tree-tops.

Not a little amusing was it to see the manner in which the good Mexi-
cans of Paso del Norte had pl.-inned to entertain us. We were horticulturists,
you know — men and women of the garden and orchard. What, forsooth,
should the del Norte people do for us to please and instruct our company ?

En yivant. 247

This is what they did. They provided for us a bull-tight. The arena was on
one side of their principalstreet, at the western end -and their old cathedral,
built, as they allege, in 1640, was on the other side ! These two facts were
what they had to show us — an old cathedral and a bull-fight; strange
mixture and jux aposition of what remains to us in these last days of the
ancient cruelty and persistent faith of the old Latin race.

Some of the more reputable of our companj'^ stayed away from the bull-
fight; but the rest of us, reckless of reputation, went. The ticket was
a dollar. It was strictly a horticultural show ! An arena, boarded up to the
height of ten feet and about eighty feet in diameter, was the scene. The
seats of the spectators rise in rows from the top of the arena, so that the
latter appears as a pit. Over the seats, on high, are stretched thin awnings,
through which the ^Mexican sunshine in many places manages to get its
yellow feet on the benches. Here is the crowd ; and the band of Paso del
Norte blows brass music across the arena. The cat-call is " Tor-r-ro ! tor-r-ro !"
Soon a gate inside the pit is opened, and tor-r-ro plunges in with a snort.
He is of a size, shape and general architecture wholly repugnant to the
great American idea of what a bull ought to be. Moreover, he has been
trained to this sort of business. The scars of fifty old fights are on his neck
and shoulders and sides. He inspects the arena, knowing what is to come.
Here are the picadores, on foot— gorgeous creatures in green and red, with
fiat caps on their heads and a tassel. But they are active as cats. In the left
hand each picadore takes a red streamer, and a little pike in his right hand.
He flings out the streamer in the face of tor-r-ro, who plunges at it. The
picadore jumps aside and prods his four-footed superior in the side or
neck. There is much of this sort of business. The picadoi'e takes two
arrows embossed with colored paper and little streamers. He runs squarely
into the face of tor-r-ro, who plunges at him, and when between the very
horns of his enemy reaches over and plants his javelins in the taurine
shoulders. There they stick. At the last the matadores come in on horse-
back, either with lassos to throw the bull and relieve him of the tormenting
spikes and arrows in his flesh, or else to kill him with a saber-thrust in the
side and drag him out of the arena. During the afternoon there were four
of these fights. The sympathj^ of one of the spectators was wholly with the
bull, and doubtless many others entertained the same sentiment with regard
to the essential merits of the contest. Is a white man ever justifiable in
going to a bull-fight? Rarely, if ever. There is one pretty thing to be seen
in Paso del Norte, and that is the Spanish baby sitting in the window on the
south side of the principal street, seven doors east of the crossing of the
Mexican Central Railway.

Over in El Paso the excursionists suppered after the manner of Amer-
ican citizens, and then betook themselves to the trains. It was already the
gathering shadow of evening, and we must now tunnel through another
night. It was matter of regret to most of our company that the darkness
fell upon us on our entrance into New Mexico. . Nor did we make our exit

248 Beiiond t/ie .Sicrrax.

into light until we had entered Arizona. We know where we are going,
however, as well as if it wore day. We know that on leaving El Paso we
are to cross the Rio Grande and traverse from end to end the celebrated
Oadsden Purchase. It is the old Mesilla valley, south of the River Gila, em-
bracing an area of •ij,.53-3 square miles. This is the country which was
'• pitro/irtaw/ " from Mexico by the United Suites in 18.13. The transaction
was a sort of amicable finale to the treaty of Guadalupe Hidaldgo; that is,
our mild-mannered Uncle Samuel took a few millions in his left hand and a
rusty sword in his ri^hl, walked up to Republica Mexicana and said: "A
fair day to you, my sister. Pve bought another of your little farms. There's
the money ; take it, or — "

With the morning of the IGlh of January, our vision took in, for the
first time, the landscape of what the last generation chose to call the Great
American Desert. The atmosphere above this Arizonian plain shines like
crystal. The plain is almost absolutely treeless and void. Except some cot-
ton-woods on the margins of far distant and ambiguous streams, nothing
worthy of the name of tree is seen. Still we continue to traverse that limit-
less expanse of coarse, but nutritive, grass on which the millions of bullalo
once inhabiting this infinitude fed and fattened and nourished. BuHalo
grass is the alfalfa of the bison, as the clover is the alfalfa of the Jersey heifer.

It were hard to conjecture the outcome of this strange and marvelous
Arizona. What is it to become in the future ? Can large populations plant
themselves, expand with enterprise and quicken under the stimulus of great
resources here on this seeming waste ? Can cities be built, and trees be
planted, and mines be opened and hamlets scattered through this vast
region, with its arid surface and flashing atmosphere ? I know not. Doubt-
less the accessible supply of water lies at the solution of the problem. This
American desert, be it known, is not the desert of Cobi, not Sahara. These
latter are merely infinite plains of juiceless, lifeless sand, heaped here and
there in dunes and tossed by reckless whirlwinds. Not so these plains of
Arizona. They luve in them, on the contrary, every condition and element
of boundless fertility and fruitfulness, except— except water. It is wattr,
fellow citizens, that you must have. If we could, we would rain upon you :
but we can not. Our humidity is hardly enough for ourselves. Therefore,
we can not be wrung out for your sakes. You must either drip or dig. If
you will, mayhap you shall flourish; but without some artilicial contrivance
for watering your desert, it appears to us that it is destined to lie there blie
tering in the sun, flashing briefly with its springtime expanse of buflalo
grass, and then drying up like a furnace for ages yet to come. May you be
watered, 0 my brethren!

From the entrance into Arizona the ascent is gradual, but generally
perceptible, as you journey to the middle and western parts of the terri-
tory. Our excursion made one import;int stop in the region here described.
At Tucson, about midway of the Arizonian plateau, our sections drew up
for dinner. The hotel piazza skirts the railway tracks. It is called the San

En Avant. 249

Xavier, and is in everj' respect a reputable place for eating. Under the
porch, when we were pilgrims there, were set up the bones of an enormous
saurian, taken from a sand-bed not far away. They were, indeed, gigantic
fragments, and were, evidently, constituents of a frame that would have
been appalling in its entirety. From some hasty proportions I figured his
length at ISO feet. You could have put a six-inch stovepipe through the
foramen in his cervical vertebra. As to the rest, we were not a little inter-
ested with the horticultural display which the wide-awake people of Tucson
and vicinity had extemporized for us on the platform. Benches were set,
and the products displayed after the manner of a fair. Several ladies were
present, who were, evidently, in sympathy with their country and believed
in its resources. Especially did the t^ffable and polite Doctor expa-
tiate to us on the excellence of what Central Arizona was able to produce
and exhibit. As a matter of fact, the vegetables shown were by no means of
an inferior quality. Some pumpkins sat there serenely, as big and yellow
as those of the Ohio valley. There was also some corn, well developed, but
rather small and flinty. There were squashes and beets, both of superior
quality, and Lima beans not to be excelled. Some other beans, manufact-
ured after the Spanish pattern, were exhibited on the benches, and several
succulent plants completed the fair — and a good article of celery must be
added to the list.

What else may be said of the Arizonian landscape ? Over the buftalo
grass is seen ever and anon a vast area of sage-bush and cactus. * Of the
former much has been said and written. It is a peculiar evergreen sort of a
growth, as high as yotir breast or head, and having somewhat the general
shape of an arbor vitte. It is not bright green in color, but dirty looking
and melancholy. The bushes are scattered irregularly at an interval of a
rod or five rods in the thinner thickets ; but in the denser parts they crowd
up against each other like the evergreens of a nursery. In such places you
see no longer the plain, but the level top of the sage growth stretching for
miles awa3^ This scraggy bush seems to subserve two general purposes in
the economy of nature. First, it furnishes the Arizonian cow with a dernier
ressort in the way of browsing. For a great part of the year, indeed, it is
her principal resource and comfort. The man accustomed to the sweets of
civilization enters some objection to this kind of forage for the reason that
it taints those curious substances alleged to be milk and butter. It should be
observed, however, that even this flavor of sage is not as bad as that infamous
weed called the ramp, which the cow of the Ohio valley used to get to the
utter disgust of all who lived upon her bounty. Clumps of cattle are not
infrequent on the Arizonian plains. They are more plentiful here than in
Southern California. A week or two later than the time here referred to I
saw these Arizonian bullocks, rather blue as to their meat, hung up in a
denuded state in the market-house of Los Angeles, a spectacle to gods and
men. It should be said, in this connection, that the cattle all the way along

•JoU llojund the Sierras.

from Eisteni Texas to the spurs of ihc Sierr.i Mudre are r ipi ily losing iJkmi-
wild ami ferooiouo aspect, and, under the impact of fon-ign breeds, are tak-
ing on the civilized countenmce and leahetic architecture of the Durham
and the Holstoin. The Toxan st^er, famous for years in the cattle tradi-
tions of mankind, with his six-font spreading hi>rns and speed of a race-
horse, has already become a specter, ami in another decade he will have
gone to join his friend, the bull do, in the limbo near the moon.

The second general use of the sage-bush is to furnish a necessary covert
and castle for his excellency the Marquis of Leap. Vulgar people call this
noblennn Jack Rabbit, a low and undignili\l name, totally out of keeping
with the charact'^r of him to whom it is applied. Tiie Marquis of Leap
lives in the sage-bush. It is his keep. His manner of life is that of a feudal
lord. He goes forth on expeditiotis, and then returns to his own place.
The L-i-aps constitute the largest family known in the blue-books of nobility.
The fact is that, unless the laws of primogeniture and the doctrine of entails
shall be adopted by then\, it appears that the whole family and tribs will de-
generate into a gross democrac}'. Still, from the passing trains of civilization,
the danger seems not imminent. A single marquis or duke is seen, at in-
tervals, sitting unarmed near his residence or careering away on sonv
romantic expedition. As he rides, he rises in the saddle.

Concerning the other vegetable growths of Ariz^ni. the most conspic-
uoits are the cadi. Of these, the name is legion. Without attempting to
discuss varieties, I will mention only a single species, and that the most
conspicuous. The giant cactus {Cerms girjarUcm) is, I balieve, one of the
most interesting objects of natural growth to be seen in the world. It is
certainly one of the most peculiar. From a poetical point of view, it has
the quality of adding to the solitude of the desert. Its asjiect almost makes
you afraid. Under the moonlight it becomes a veritable ghost. The plant
consists of a single column, rising with perfect perpendicularity from the
ground to the height of ten, twenty, even forty or fifty feet. It is a fluted
column of pale green, covered all over with small, white clusters of nettles
and quills porcupine-like and barbed. It stands in perfect stillness. A
group of them in the shadows of evening are as woird in apitwranco as the
standing rocks in the Garden of the Gods.

I^esides the sage-bush and the cactus, many other varieties of such like
half-desert growth are found as you continue your journey. When the train
stops to water, you skurry out for ten or twenty rods and pUu'k oil' or pluck
up a half-dozen kinds of semi-evergreens. You guess at their names. You
ask your learned friends in the Pullman what they are, and your learned
friends do not know. You lay them uj) in the hatrack till the next stop,
when the same observations arc repeated. The next day all your specimens
are gone. Nobody brought anything home with him, except the indefat-
igable Vice-President Munson, who is still considering the subject.

Our course now lay through the western parts of the territory, where
we were still more astonished with the brilliancy of the views, the absence

From Yuma to Los Angeles. 251

of vegetation, the infinite expanse and the far-off mingUng of earth and sky.
It is in this region that the Arizonian towns and hamlets of the mud-builders
are so frequently discovered. I do not mean archaeological ruins, but living
towns, full of Mexicans and people. You see them at a distance of a mile or
two, these low adobe buildings set in a row, as if fronting on a street — per-
haps it is a street. The houses are as cubical as a die block, and about as
high. They have square doorways, and in these the traveler is likely to see
several walnut-hued, Indian-like faces, half-covered around with long streams
of the blackest hair. In fact, the hair of these people, especially the women,
is so black that it is white. But I was speaking of the houses. They are, to
all intents and purposes, an exact reduplification of the structures that
covered the ancient Babylonian plain a thousand years before Nebuchad-
nezzir was a boy. The only difference, as I understand it, between the
houses on the banks of the lower Euphrates and the Tigris, as they were built
and inhabited almost 4,000 years ago, and these adobe huts of the mixed races
populating Western Arizona is that the rule of building among the old
Babylonians required that ah structures should be set with their corners,
rather than their sides, to the cardinal points of the compass. All the
modern people, so far as I know, choose to set their buildings so that the sun,
at rising, at noon, and at evening, shall strike the three sides rather than the
angles of the structure. Canst thou tell me why, 0 man that knowest ?

CHAPTER II.

FROM YUMA TO LOS ANGELES.

The Colorado Desert. — Committee from Escfwl. — Fruit Banquet en route. — Ontario
and Pomona. — Orange Orchards Galore. — First Glimpse ai The Angels.—Dmvn
to Santa Ana. — Glance by Daylight. — Excursion through the Valley. — There-
fore, Resolved. — The return to Los Angeles. — Sketches of the City. — Good-night.
The Southern Pacific Railwaj'' as it reaches from the plateau of Arizona
for the southeast corner of California descends with some rapidity to a lower
region of countrj-. On this part of our route we again ran into the darkness.
Our trains entered the Golden State at Fort Yuma about midnight. At this
point the railway bends northward to reach an approximate parallel with the
Pacific coast. During the remainder of the night we ran through what is
called the Colorado desert — a long, low trough between the Sierra Madre
and the Coast Range mountains; and with the coming of dawn we found
ourselves in a region of lifeless aspect which might well merit the designation
of desert. The route from Yuma to a short distance north of Indio is nearly
all below the level of the sea. At one place the track descends to a depth of
300 feet below that level. From this great sag the train creeps up, through
a course of some 120 miles, to the little town of Indio; and h^re, for the
18

252 Beyond (he Sicrnifi.

lirst time, the traveler from the aouth strikes the rciil CiiHlornia. In early
murning uur excursiunistd were breakfiisted at Indio; and here tlitre had
been i»rei»ared for ud a rare and modt agreeable surprise, first of many
which the enuaing month had in store for tlie members of the Society.

The enterprising citizens of Riverside, some sixty miles further on and
to the left of our course, had prepared fur our company its lirst feast of
fruits, and had sent the same by a committee to meet us at Indio. Here,
on our arrival, we found a commodious room at the station stored with
beautiful baskets laden with the choicest fruit, one basket for each member
of the Society. Each of these packages contained surh a store of samples
and varieties as would be hard to i)arallel anywhere in the world. First of
all, there were in the basket three or four of those tremendous and luscious
Washington Navel oranges, as big as cocoa-nuts, entirely seedless, and rich
with meat and Hivor. Next, a half-dozen little mandarins, with their kid-
glove fmi^h and pungent juice, were added. Tlien came two or three splen-
did bunches of that great grape called the Muscat^ famous everywhere in
California as the best of the raisin-producing varities. To these were added
clusters of the raisins themselves, made from bunches of the same grape-
Finally, there were in the interstices some excellent sjiecimens of figs, jirunes,
ajiricots, English walnuts and almonds, the whole covered with flowers.

All these choice fruits were grown at Riverside, in that splendid citrus re-
gion which we were afterward to visit. It is not impossible that the people who
sent us, in advance, these three hundred baskets of fruits and the committee
who delivered them into our hand.s, and who rode with us on our way as far
as Colton, hid 3om3 justifiible pride in their contribution to our knowledge
and happiness. I say happiness, my friends; for you should have been par-
takers of thvt lunch of Paradisa. Th3 appetite of a m in who has traversad a
thousand miles of plateau and desert is fearfully and wonderfully made.
The travelers took each his basket to his respective Pullmm, and there he
did devour it as to its contents till nothing thereof rem lined. Some thought
to preserve a residue for the future ; but, like humm wrath, which is said to
disappear with sundown, that fruit melted aw.iy. The Riverside committee,
with the companionable Mr. H. J. Rudiaill as its chairman, made the ac-
quaintance of our company, and left us for their own place at the t(»wn of
Col ton.

This pirt of the journey was still through a region which was only a
modified form of the desert behind us. At Colton you p;iss between the two
flourishing towns of Riverside, on the left, and San Bernardino, on the
right, both almost in sight of the train. Immediately after leaving this
place the scene begins to change. The landscape shows evidences of reviv-
ing vegetable life. At the town of O.itario these traces of revival are
distinct, and promising young orchards appear of oranges and apricuts.
To most of the excursionist*, this was thgir first glimps3 of that great fact
in the prophecy of California, the orchard of orange trees. The sight
especially in midwinter, is baautiful, inspiring. The orange is a tree of

From Yuma to Los Angeles. 253

dark-green foliage, and the contrast in color between its leaf and its fruit is
restful to the eye, pleasing to the taste. But of this mu'^h more hereafter.
At the little town of Pomoni, with her mythological na ne and p'easant
gardens, the evidences of fruitfalness were still more abundant. The
orchards grow almost continuously on either hand. They stretch away to
still greater distances. They fl.ish up green and luxuriant again and again
as the delighted excursionists sweep on through their first surprises at the
spectacle of green leaves and ripening fruits in the middle month of winter.

We were now in the valley of San G ibriel, an 1 were nearing the^
metropolis of Southern California. The railway here bends to the west-
ward, as though it would plunge down to the Pacific. In the mid-afternoon
of this 18th of January, as we whirl on through what is now an almost con-
tinuous grove of orange trees, alternatir\g with orchards of apricots, peaches
and prunes, instinct touches our elbow and says, "City!" It is a great
distance back to the last one! But yonder are the spires of another; not
many spires, but many roofs, and even the beginning of noise on the streets.
Here, then, we are at the station of La Ciudad de la Reina de Los Angeles,
the City of the Queen (f Angels, or, for short, Los Angeles. Our stay in the
western metropolis, however, is to be but brief this afternoon, for we have
been invited by the officials of the Southern Pacific Railway to accept the
courtesy of a free excursion down to the town of Santa Ana, and the citi-
zens of that place have added their invitation. It is thirty-eight miles
distant, a little to the east of south. And here we go.

It gives one a shudder, however, to be transferred from the luxurious cush-
ions of the Pullman to these bare and ratthng day-coaches; and, by the way,
what are these black-looking spots on the floor between the seats f But the ride
is a joyous one. You have to sit close together ; ladies or no ladies, it is all the
same. There is none of the stately distance and cold disdain of the sleeping-
coach, where everybody has a square yard to himself ; so we are happy on the
way. And here is the town of Anaheim ; and three or four miles further on is
the pretty Santa Ana herself. We can not see the lady, hoxever, to-night ; she
has retired. The excursionists are quartered on the town, and many of
them in the Hotel Brunswick. With the morning light they peeji out
of their windows, and, lo ! a vision is there— yards, not green, indeed, but full
of flowers, roses blooming, calla hlies standing with their big cups open to
the sunshine, and orange trees o;i every hand. Under those trees what do
you see? It is the scattered golden fruit. January and February are the
months of the ripening of the orange. Recently there has been a wind, a
high wind, a dreadful wind, in all California. Much fruit is shaken down,
but much more hangs on the bough. The orange stem, by the way, is,
fortunately, the toughest stem in nature ; you may pull and pull to no pur-
pose. It even resists your knife-blade as though it were of whalebone.
Nevertheless, this ill-omened wind twisted off much fruit, and there it lies.
Never the like of that did you see before, my friends. Those oranges lying
there under the trees on every hand are as thickly strewn and as little

254 J>cyo)id tlu iSicrruti.

noticed jvs the black walnuts where they fall in autumn under their parent
trees in the Wiibash valley. When ynu lii>t gaze upon this fruit-covered
groun 1 you hear a voice much like that wliich came to St. Peter when he
saw the sheet full of things, saying, " Arise, slay and eat.''

After breakfast we observed this scene with wonder. Up and down the
•street on either hand, everywhere, you have this semi-tropical display. Here,
too, are palm trees and an occasional banana. Here are long lines of the
beautiful, smooth and while-barked English walnut, shaped like an ajiple tree,
but handsomer. I do not mean like a California apple tree, but like an old
orthodox Puritan Pijipin or Vandeveer. Now we are taken up by this train
of free carriages and driven about the young city and its environs. It is
what the Californians call a valley. Insidi' the compass of the foot-hills we
have here an area of about 20,(100 acres, all adapted to the raising of oranges
and other fruits of the semi-tropics. Figs grow here, lemons, apricots,
prunes, English walnuts, almonds, and even the banana a little. The people
of Southern California claim the banana, and even the ilate p;\lm : but these
are truly tropical fruits, and I doubt whether they will li jurish as far up as
this region. But there is enough here, and to spare. Without going beyond
the range of home products you can make up a Uible to set before a king.
We are driven through beautiful avenues, with orange orchards everywhere,
vineyards there and apricots yonder. These S.uita Ana p"!ople claim that
they can do the business without artificial irrigation. Doubtless they can ;
indeed, it is manifest on every hand ; but perhaps a controllable supply of
water would add somewhat to the regularity of their production and the e.\-
cellence of their products.

There is, on this lOlh of January, a sale of lots and properties going on
in the city. Part of the motive in bringing us here was that we might be
present at these auctions. Some of us attended the sales ; others concerned
themselves simply with the productive resources of the region. All were
delighted with this iirst of many journeys aside into the blooming and fruit-
ful towns of California. We were treated in a hospitable way by the citizens
of S.inta ,\na, and, before departing for Los Angeles, had the pleasure of
telling them what we thought of it in the following words of hearty formality :

The ppople of Santa Ana have just reason to be proiitl of what nature hag pro-
vided for them, and what they have so diligently improved. \Ve tender them not
more our thanks than our congratulations.

It is our delilicrate ojiinion that they have planted themselves in an environ-
ment as favoral)le for |irolital)le industry as it is ins|)iring to the highest faculties
of taste and beauty. Their wide and mountain-girded valley seems to us to be
almost an ideal home for man, and the promise for the immediate future is that
it will become a veritaliie garden to its utmost limit.

To the people of Santa Ana we are indehted for a view of the most novel and
beautiful landscape that most of us have ever seen, and we take this imperfect
method of expressing to them our sense of satisfaction and gratitude.

From Yuma to Los Angeles. 255

The return to Los Angeles on the afternoon of the 19th gave us oppor-
tunity to see the country by daylight. There was much variety of scenery.
Here and there a hamlet or small town, httle valleys with considerable ele-
vations in the distance, recurring orange orchards and farmers' ranches.
On arriving at the city we availed ourselves of the remaining day to visit its
places of principal interest, and to drive through some of the beautiful
suburbs. This was our first contact with the real city life on the Pacific
coast. The aspect of everything is sufficiently ditterent from what we should
meet in the Middle or Eastern States. It was our misfortune to reach Los
Angeles at a time when excessive rains had reduced everything to a loblolly.
The streets fairly sloshed with their currents of mud. The sidewalks, how-
ever, are good ; and little does the Queen of the Angels care for such a trifle
as mud. Of all the cities built by men, none has had a better opinion of
herself than this Los Angeles; and not often, I beUeve, has the opinion been
founded on better reasons. Perhaps the city has already reached a popu-
lation of 65,000. Her census is increasing at the rate of about 1,200a month.
She believes in herself and in her future. She goes with a rush. Here on
this principal street the throng is as great as on Fourth street in Cincinnati.
A regular funeral procession of hurrying citizens is on either side; and as
for business, the roar is like that of an incipient Babylon. She has her ex-
travagances, too. She has staked out all the circumjacent country and named
her streets and numbered her lots for miles away. She has put up the
price of these properties until the mention of the figures on a corner lot
would strike a millionaire with hiccough.

The people talk of cutting California in twain about the midriff, making
a southern State withal. Of this, Los Angeles is to be the capital and glory.
She is going to do for herself, moreover, what nature has failed to do, that
is, scoop out a harbor down yonder on the Pacific, twelve miles away. No
matter what it costs, she will have a harbor. She will make one as good as
that of San Diego; and then, like ancient Athens, she will have a kind of
Pirreus and a Boulevard des Nations leading up to the metropolis. The fact
is that what Los Angeles has not dreamed of doing, and imagined herself
capable of doing, is inconceivable. The average visitor, as he scrutinizes all
this business, at first makes up his mind that all these booming schemes will,
one of these days, ^plit like a balloon, and that the fellows careening in the
basket below will find the earth by a sudden and accelerated descent. Da-
rius Green decided that flying was easy and delightful, but that the critical
point was when you came to alight. It is due to say, however, as it respects
this Queen of the Angels, that she has $15,000,000 on deposit in her banks,
and that she considers her present swell no more than a premonitory
symptom of the bigness of her destiny. The resources of this beautiful
valley of San Gabriel may, perhaps, justify her confidence and fulfill her
dreams.

As we were not going to leave the city until midnight, many of the ex-
cursionists spent the evening as they would in seeing the sights. As tl:e

*i56 Beyond the Sierra.f.

hdurd passed ami the necessity came for getting to our coaches, we found
tlie rain pouring down, and as the eUition was at considerable distance, it
became a serious matter how we shouKi reach it. Part of the excursionists
got dolefully lost in the rayless streets of Chinatown; and some otherwise
dignitied gentlemen came to the train that night in such plight of mind and
person as they were never in before. Under .>-uch circumstances the warm
and gr;'nial apartments of a Pullman car at midnight are among the most
grateful refuges that a mad ami muddy wayfarer ever sought or found. For
the present, Oh, Queen of the Angels, au revoir.

CHAPTER III.

THE SAN .lOAc^flN VALLEY.

Tilt" Mojave D'iert. — A Cdlifirnin Vdllfii. — Th»'. Sierras ami Coast Rang< . —
Tehacha'pi. — Feat uf Engineering.— The San Joaquin and the Sa/ranwniu. —
The Sijciety Mikes an Impression. — The Tulare Reception.— Sketches (f and
about the Citi/. — Products. — Temperature. — Fruit-Dniing, Natural and Arti-
ficial.— Invited to Fresno. — The Receptum There.. — Carriage Vifics of the
Environs. — Barton Viniyard. — The Vineijard Typical. — Off jor San Fran-
cisco.— View if the City.

It was almo3t day-dawn on the morning of the '20th of January when
our pilgrims left Los Angeles behind tiiem and struck out through the
valley of S.in Fernando for the mountains. The reader must here examine
the map and note the course of the Southern Pacific Railway from the south
to Central California. He will observe that some thirty-live miles from Los
Angeles the railway strikes the mounUiin range, through which it makes its
pa-*sage down the northern slopes into the Mojave desert. The contrasts in
the forms and features of the landscape in this region are sufficiently strik-
ing and memorable. In emerging from the canon to the plain you find
yourself in a veriUvble desert. But here, as everywhere, the reader must be
on his guard with respect to the meaning of this word. Desert in Califor-
nia means simply a waterless plain. You must not think of sterility in this
connection except as superinduced by the lack of water. .Vs like as not
you are whirling along over a soil of infinite fertility and fifty feet in depth.
So it is, doubtless, in this Antelope valley, through which we pass after leav-
ing the mountains, and so, also, in the desert of the Mojave itself. But as
the case now stands this waste, much like some parts of Ariz aia, seems in-
capable of any production whatever. I have little doubt, however, that just
in proportion as the water sujiplies of yonder mountains are tapped and led
down in life-giving streams to this barren plain, the borders thereof at first,
and all parts afterward, will burst out blooming with all those things which
the senses of men desire and their appetites consume.

The San Joaqum Valley. 257

Here is the town of Mojave. In a subsequent part of his own journey- •
ings through CaUfornia the writer was lodged at this place for eighteen
hours. During that time he did as much as his natural parts would bear in
traversing the desert stretches and in climbing the mountain-slopes six
miles away. The latter experience gave him opportunity to study in its
first conditions the wonderful process by which these vallej^s have been
formed. The Californian valley m totally different from the fact so called
in the countries east of the Mississippi. The former is simply a level plain
between the mountain ranges. This plain is sometimes a half mile and
some times a hundred miles in width ; but whatever be its extent, the proc-
ess of formation has been the same. The substance of the valley is the
detritus of the mountain-slope. Yonder, on the right and left, at an average
distance of from five to thirty miles, rise the sloping walls of the Coast Range
and the Sierra Nevada. They are made, for the most part, of granite.
Here and there they are of porphyry or sandstone. The latter is Hugh Mil-
ler's famous old rock, and the former, along with gneiss, is, I believe, a
member of the granite group. Now, this granite, exposed to the action of
the elements, gradually decays. In vulgar language, it rots. It breaks off
in small blocks, perhaps an eighth of an inch, may be half an inch, in big-
ness. These, in their turn, disintegrate under the action of the elements.
The needles of sunshine and of frost penetrate them till they are reduced
first to sand and then to soil. Meanwhile, the rains come. Heaps of snow
are piled up in the gorges. With the return of spring these melt and rush
down in turbid floods, carrying with them the material with which the
valley is filled up. Of course, a lowland formed in this way will be nearly
on a water-level. As a general rule, the California valleys are as plane as
the surface of the sea. In this respect, their appearance, until broken by
vegetation and the works of man, is less varied than that of the smoothest
prairies of Illinois or Iowa.

Our Society was borne on through this Mojave desert — and now the map
is again in requisition. The reader will note that the Sierra Nevada and the
Coast Range mountains bend together at the northern extremity of the Ma-
jave desert, thus constituting what is virtually a continuous chain. The two
ranges are like the link of a log-chain laid on the ground. At the apex of
these mountains which you now approach is the great pass of Tehachapi.
Through this famous mountain gorge we now make our way, climbing up
to a height of more than 4,000 feet, and then winding around the summits
on our way down by the little Swiss-like town of Caliente into the great San
Joaquin valley. It is at this place that Mr. Hood, the distinguished engineer
of the Southern Pacific Railway, in order to gain distance in the descent
from Tehachapi down to the plain, has performed the difficult feat of con-
structing a loop. That is, the track of the railway is carried around a series
of declivities until it passes under itself nearly at right angles. On the descent
you see before you, and far below, the tunnel under the track through which
you are to pass in winding down. At the same time the track is visible be-

258 Beyond the Sierraf>.

hind you on the mountain-side, and far above. To one unaeru^iuintd to
siuh wild and niagnilicent scenery, and such astonishing windings about of
the rushing train, the scene before and beliind, above and below, on the
right and on the left, leaves on the niind an inii)rcssion of sublimity and of
the triumph of human genius over the tremendous obstacles of the natural
worlil which can never be removed by circumstance or dimmed by the lapse
of years.

We now Hnd ourselves at the bottom, or cul-de-sac, of the great valley
of San Joaquin. Again, 0 reader, consult the map. This splendid valley
stretches, as you will see, from this bottom against the mountiiins to the
latitude of San Francisco. There it is joined from the north, jvs you
will further observe, by the equally magnificent valley of the Sacra-
mento. These two plains are the glory of California. They are formed
as follows: The San Joaquin river, taking its rise in the mountain ranges
of Mariposa, flows down into the i)lain, and thence makes its way to the
north through a distance of more than a hundred miles. In like manner
the Sacramento, gathering his waters from the great ranges about Mt. Shasta
and Mt. Cloud, and, indeed, from all the mountiiin spurs as high as the lati-
tude of Goose lake under parallel 42^ N., descends to the level, and flows
with full volume to the south until, at a point due east of San Francisco, the
two rivers join their waters and fall into Suisun bay. Thus it is that one
great valley, fully four hundred miles in length and in some places nearly a
hundred miles in breadth, sweeps from north to south ami from bculh to
north through the center of the Golden State.

This region is the foundation, the basal fact, of those tremendous pro-
ductive resources which, as much as her geld, aye, more than her gold, has
justified California in calling herself the Eldorado of the world. This is the
region where, aforetime, the older men of the California of to-day became
the kings of the flocks and herds. It was on this magniticent plain, espe-
cially in the northern part of it, that twenty years ago the traveler might see
the expanse clouded, here and there and everywhere, with thousands and
hundreds of thousands of cattle and sheep. Such ranges as were established
in this limitless valley were never seen otherwhere in the world, except in
New South Wales and Queensland, and there only for sheep. Even to-day ,
as you sit by your window journeying from Caliente to Fresno and from
Fresno to Lathrop, you see, ever and anon, the shades and ghosts of the
magniflcent herds which once flourished on this beautiful plain.

By the time our excursionists were well on their way to San Francisco
we became aware that we had had the good fortune to attract the favorable
attention of the people of the Golden State. Everywhere we were met with
marks of favor and esteem. Doubtless, to a certain extent, the Californians
were, for interested reasons, desirous that we should be well impressed with
their country and themselves; but the members of the American Horti-
cultural Society are the last of mankind to remember or consider this part
of the subject. We recall only the hospitality with which we were treated

The San Joaquin Valley. 259

by the citizens of the great commonwealth where we were strangers. They
made friends with us. They took us to their homes. They showed us their
cities and country. They spoke with pride and exuberant spirits of what
they had and what they expected to have hereafter. There was nothing
small or meager about any part of the treatment which they bestowed upon
us. They invited us here and there and everywhere, and welcomed us as
guests and kinsfolk.

On our way through the valley of San Joaquin we were met, first of all,
by a delegation from the town of Tulare. We were asked to stop and ban-
quet with that people and to ride with them through their vineyards, or-
chards and fields of alfalfa. We soon learned, in such cases, to extemporize
little official and semi-official meetings on our train. We then and there
resolved that we would do this or would not do that. In the case of the
invitation from Tulare, we gladly accepted the call. Our train reached the
station about sunset, and we were received by the citizens with the greatest
cordiality. They had prepared for us a banquet at their principal dining-
hall, where we found the tables loaded, as usual, with substantials and fruits
and flowers. Nearly everything had been gathered from the gardens and
orchards and fields about Tulare. After the banquet a formal reception was
tendered to the Society in the Odd-fellows' Hall. We were welcomed in
good speeches, and replied as best we could. Resolutions were tendered
to the authorities, and guests and hosts fraternized after the manner of our
kind.

Tulare is one of the newer towns of the San Joaquin plain. It is not a
large place, but flourishing and full of pluck. Here, as almost everywhere,
the great question is water; how to procure it and how to distribute it are
the problems. Artesian wells are successful in the neighborhood, and
mountain reservoirs and Tulare lake and river are expected to do the rest.
It is a great region for alfalfa. We were assured by the gentlemen who
welcomed us at the reception that as much as eleven tons to the acre had
been produced in the vicinity. Apricots and French prunes grow well in,
this part of the valley. The summers are hot here, the thermometer rising
with facility to 108° and 110° in the shade. This, however, is no uncommon
report in the matter of California temperatures; but all Californians do
solemnly affirm that in their dry, light atmosphere a summer heat of 110°
does not oppress the human system, and is by no means so dangerous to
health and life as is a temperature of 90° in the lowlands and heavy, humid
air east of the Mississippi.

The chief resource of Tulare is, I believe, in her production of the
raisin grape. The whole region is well adapted for vineyards. The
grape crops are profuse and rich in sugar, and the weather, in the drying
season, is so hot and dry as to cure a crop with the greatest facilitj- and
perfection. It may be remarked in passing that this is about the latitude
where the traveler from the south touches the wine-producing districts
of California. In general, the south is favorable to the raisin grape

260 Beyond the Sierras.

anil the north to the wine irrape. Perli.ips I mistiike in giving tlie hrst
place to the raisin grape in tlie Tulare district. The apricot orchards are
among the finest. Here we become acquainted with the process of drying
this fruit, and other fruits as well, by the action merely of sun and air. Be
it known that in this California atmosphere vegetiible and animal tissues
alike are exempt from decay. Fruits and living bodies of all sorts simply
dry up into untainted mummies of themselves. No artificial means of
preservation are required; and the best of it is that the essential essences,
flesh and flivors of the fruits are preserved within the unbroken skins
which held them when they were gathered in summer. It thus happens
that a California Muscat grape has a raisin for its next form. So, also, of the
apricot and the prune, fresh and dried.

We were now introduced to the processes of thus preserving the Califor-
nia fruits by mere natural agencies, and also in the great drying-house of Mr
Morton, of Tulare. It is the simplest thing in the world. The fruits are gath-
ered, in their season, into shallow wooden trays about three feet sfjaare and
three inches deep. When the trays are filled they are set on the ground in the
open sunshine between the rows of the grape-vines, of apricot or prune trees,
and in a few days the work is done. In the case of the apricots the fruit is cut
in halves and the seeds are taken out. The eastern man will immediately im-
agine the hazards of dews and rains; but the Californian smiles with confi-
dence. He knows that the rain-storm is not going to visit him at this time of
the year. He knows that the mere water-juices of his fruits will be carried olT
by this dry, hot air and contributed to the lakes and snow-banks of the'Sierras.
His fruits mainly dry into a beautiful wax like substance, semi-transparent as
it respects the apricot and raisin, and delicious in the highest degree. As
for your cured prune, he remains, as he was before, a veritable Ethiopian.

Before leaving Tulare a message had reached us from Fresno inviting
us to stop at that place and enjoy an entertainment. This invitation was
also accepted. In the forenoon of the Slst we arrived at this thriving young
city, and made our headquarters at the Hotel Hughes. Almost the only
drawback upon our enjoyment on several of these reception occasions was
the fact that we were there in the season of rain-fall. The California valleys
are capable, like other parts of our poor planet, of becoming muddy on slight
provocation. This is especially true in places where the soil is much worked
up, as in roads and streets. The boulevards of Fresno were canals of mud
when we were there, and there was much slopping around ; but the people
had out their carriages and cabs, and the under-foot condition was as nothing
to us.

One thing should be added in this connection, and that is that a Cal-
ifornia mud-bath is of short duration. .Tust give the clear air and sun.shine
a few hours of executive freedom, and away goes your nuul. I noticed one
thing peculiar about the thin slop of the.se broad streets in Fresno, and that
was that the shining wheels of the vehicles rolling through it were almost
as little defiled by its contamination a^ though thoy had been driven through

The San Joaquin Valley. 261

shallow lakes of quicksilver. It does not stick at all. The spokes and felloes
and hubs come out absolutely clean. At our hotel we enjoyed an excellent
lunch, and were then taken up for our drive through the suburbs and coun-
try. It was at Fresno that we struck the grape-producing region in its full
glory. One of the finest, but by no means the largest, vineyards in California
is that called the Barton, just north of the city. Yonder it is, before you. It
is as four-square as Babylon, exactly a mile on each side, and along each side
is a shining row of Lombardy poplars. They make an inclosure of just a
section of land. It is almost a water-level as to its surface, and one of the
darkest and richest soils to be seen anywhere. This land sold, seven years
ago, for $20 an acre, but the vineyard was recently purchased by an English
syndicate for an even $1,000,000. In the middle of each side of the square
is a great gate-way, arched over, with the name Barton on the arch. Two
splendid boulevards leading from gate to gate in either direction thus cross
each other in the middle of the section. At the crossing, and in one corner
thereof, forty acres are appropriated to the buildings and small orchards
connected with the vineyard. The remaining six hundred acres are all in
grape-vines. Near the northeast corner a canal enters the vineyard, bearing
its various channels of water throughout the whole. In this connection it
may be said that the distance to which water will percolate the soil from the
trench in which it flows depends largely upon the character of the soil.
Under favorable conditions the moisture will extend two hundred to four
hundred feet without further distribution than the natural percolation of
the water. If, however, the soil have any considerable percentage of clay
in it, the distribution is by no means so free ; and in such cases the channels
have to be multiplied.

But now as to the vineyard itself. I did not see a solitary trellised
grape-vine while I was in California. No frame-work is employed in
its support, except a stake when the vine is young. The idea with the
vineyardists of these regions is to produce a grape tree, and not a branch-
ing vine; they trim and prune accordingly. All the vineyards are of
a common type, as it respects the form and general character of the
growth. The vine, on its planting, grows rapidly, and is at once cut back
to a low stump. The idea is that the tree shall be from two to three feet in
height — hardly more. From this, as the low stump increases in size^ vigor-
ous vines are thrown out each year to the distance of from six to ten feet.
But these vines, in the following January after they have borne their fruit
for the season, are cut away, carried out of the vineyard, heaped in piles and
burned. Then you see only the rows of low stumps or stools remaining.
These are set about nine feet apart ; and the appearance of the vineyard to
him who is not familiar with it is sufficiently novel. Such is this Barton
vineyard, and such are all the rest. The California grape tree grows in rows.
It becomes four inches, six inches, ten inches, in diameter. In such a case
it is like the low, tapering stump of a tree. At the Centennial Exposition
of 1876 a section was exhibited, sawn from a California grape tree, eighteen

'262 Beyond the Sierras.

inches in diameter. In the vicinity of the old mission of S.in Diego there
are vines 120 years old, and too large for the circumference of the arms.
The av6rage California vineyard of to-day shows a tree of from two to live
inches in diameter. There are thousuid.s of acres of young j^lantiiigs, and
occasionally an old vineyard that has seen its day. In some places the rows
of trees are as close as six feet together; but, as I remember, Prof. George
Husmann, of Napa, told me that nine feet is the proper distance. Here,
in the middle of the Biirton vineyard, stands the great winery. Fresno is on
the border line between the raisin grape and the wine-producing varieties;
but the Barton makes wine. Last year the product of the establi.>?hment
was 385,000 gallons. Here it is, stored in these enormous casks. You pass
between them. If their contents should happen to gush out, you would be
in a worse condition than was the Duke of Clarence on the day of his sui-
cide.

VVe are driven through other enormous vineyards in the neighborhood,
through apricot orchards, through orchards of prune trees and peach trees,
with some English walnuts, almonds and tigs.

Fresno is quite a city. There is enterprise here. The fact is that, along
this line of the Southern Pacitic, there is still a vast opportunity for the in-
vestment of money; but, thou simple soul of man who readest it, I have not
a cent invested in the neighborhood, and never expect to have! But if I
had the money, you know !

At ten o'clock on the night of the 21st we were away for San Francisco,
and the next morning we saw spread out on our right a sheet of living
water. Welcome, 0 lake or bay, or whatever you are! At any rate, you
are shiny and wet, and I hope you have lishes in you more numerous and
happy than these thousands of skimming water-fowl on your surface. The
world without water would be a dry place .' Our commandant, of whom I
will tell you by and by, says that it is Suisun Bay. We are heading straight
for Oakland. Yonder, on the other side of the water, is the town of Benicia,
where the boy John Heenan developed his biceps and pectoralis major be-
fore the days of Duke O'SuUivan and the Prince of Wales.

By the map you will see the peculiar configuration of land and water in
the vicinity of San Francisco. Suisun bay, you will note, is furthest inland.
It is cffnnected with San Pablo bay by Martinez strait ; and the San Pablo
opens out into the still greater bay of San Francisco. The latter swings
inland and drops to the south twenty- live miles or more, dividing the penin-
sula of San Francisco from the mainland on the east. It is like a great
aquatic leaf, having the Golden Gate for its stem. These .shining waters are
among the most capacious and splendid of their kind in the world. Nature
has been very unequal in her distribution of harbors around the shores of
this mundane sphere. For some reason the eastern coasts of continents are
generally much more favored than the western. The latter are gener-
ally snooth and bayless for leagues on leagues away. So it is along the
•western coast of the United States. The harbors are few and far between-

In the Santa Clara. 263

California has but two worthy of consideration. These are the great bays
of Scin Francisco and San Diego. It is hard to conceive of any mor3 beau
tiful and safe waters for them that go down to the sea in ships. That of San
Francisco is manj' times the larger; but the San Diego haven is so smooth
and deep and sunny, and even capacious, as to invite all wayfarers of the
deep to anchorage in its waters.

Here, then, is Oakland; but for the present we concern not ourselves
with her, pressing on to the metropolis. Your train strikes the waters of the
bay. You run out on the stone causeway and pier till you reach the wharf,
with its depot and station of the great ferry-boats. As you piss up into the
waiting-rooms and make your exit for the boat you may casually behold
some of the most stunning advertisements which the genius of man has j'et
devisrd. San Francisco would have you, at the very threshold, to under-
stand that she has her enterprises and her valuables. You walk around to
the prow of the Oakland deck, and the bay stretches before you. To the
left it reaches to the horizon ; to the right you see, in the harbor, Goat Island
and Alcatraz ; across yonder, there she is :

" She looks a sea-Cybele fresh from ocean,
Eisiug with her tiara of proud towers
At airy distance with majestic motion,
A ruler of the waters and their powers."

CHAPTER IV.

IN THE SANTA CLARA.

At San Francisco.— Reception by the Board of Trade.—Glimpse of Santa Clara
Valley — Spanish Names. — Hispanio- Mexican Element in Society. — At San
Jose. — The Citrus Fair. — Fruits and Other Products. — California Jealousies. —
A Work of Art. — Sketches of San Jose. — B mquet to the Society. — The Local
Excursion. — Views of the Santa Clara Orchards. — Suburban Civilities. — Pros-
pective Tours. — Dotvn to Monterey. — Typical California Orchard. — A Criti-
cism.— The Live Oaks. — Trees for the Hightvay.— Monterey Bay. — Hotel del
Monte. — Historical Places. — Cypress Point. — The Cypresses. — Sublimity of the
Coast. — Sealdom. — Shells. — To Santa Crus. — Sketches of Shore and City. —
The Return. — Rediwods En Route. — Lick Observatory. — Oakland Reception. —
^ The Banquet and Excursion. — The University. — Professor Hilgard's Work. —
Metropolis Again. — The Palace.

The passage across the Bay of San Francisco requires half an hour.
Landing on the other side, you are stunned with the vociferations and clamor
of the cabmen and hotel-runners ; but, with all their noise, they stand in
rows, and do not take you by violence. Outside you enter the commodious

2<)4 Beyond (he Sierraa.

cars of ihe lirst street cable road ever laid on this planet. It required San
Francisco to do that thing. We are whirled up to our hotel and rendezvous.
It is the Pidnce, my friends, and of the Palace something more by and by
Our journey from Kansa.s City, with the delays occa^jioned by the blizzird
and our .-several stoi)s and excursions a<< tH/trtm, has occupied eleven days;
and we are already hard run for time to reach San Jos^ in seasDn for the
opening of the session of the Society on the day after to-morrow. Our pres-
ent stay in San Francisco, therefore, must be merely a pause on the way ;
but before we go our reception must not be neglected. The California
Buard of Trade had provided for our coming. They had arranged all things
for our comfort and progress. Several of the officials of the board and other
distinguished men of the city and State were present to meet us and to greet
us. The board has its own rooms and halls of exhibit in the tirst story of
that part of the Palace formerly called the Grand. Here we were received
in a body, and announcement was made for some local sight-seeing on the
morrow.

The softest bed in ihe world is that of a tired traveler. You sink upon
it with an inlinite sigh. Your ideas lose their form and swim into indis-
tinctness. Meanwhile, your body spreads out Matter and flitter on the bed
till, in the language of my friend, James Whitcomb Riley, you "drip over
the edges just like molasses.'" For ten days past we had done our sleeping
in the Pullmans— a pretty good job, too, in its way, but, after all, dry-land
sleeping is the best. It has more body and stability. A man asleep in his
close berth in a palace car will dream a long time before he sees the angels
or hears a voice out of paradise.

On Monday morning the San Franciscan committee had us out bright
and early, or, rather, dark and early — for there was a bad rain, mixed with
fog and other ingredients— to see the city. The cable car lines of San Fran:
Cisco are among the best to be found anywhere. They carry you out yonder
to Golden Gate Park, and are there in a twinkling. It is said that when
John Wit Tee Man lirst saw the cable car he walked up to it, touched it, ex-
amined it, and then said: " Melican man makee funnee sing, allee samee.
Xo horsee, no mulee ; no pushee, no puUee ; go like h — ee, allee samee."

This morning we have our first glimpse of the great park which San
Francisco has created between herself and the Pacific. We look out from
the famous Cliil' House to the Seal Rocks in the oiling, inhale the sea breeze,
walk a few minutes in Sutro's Garden, which may be said to have more fresh
air to the square inch than any other place in the world, and then return to
the city and the rooms of the Board of Trade. The Californians are great eat-
ers, but they never drink— hardly ever. A really sumptuous lunch has lieen
spread for us, and many distinguished personages are convened to welcome
us to the repast. Hon. M. M. Estee, of Napa, is present, and makes us a
speech. Sj, also, President Hatch and Professor Hilgard, and several other
gentlemen from ditlerenl parts of the State. The good things arc taken with
free hands, and Johnson, the prohibitionist, of Indiana, is discovered to be

In the Santa Clara. * 265

in a hopeless minority. Tlie San Francisco men have fixed up a fine pro-
gramme for us to be followed out on our return from the south, and many
incidental plans are made for our future comfort and delight. These things
are announced to us, and then we spend an hour in the halls of the board
inspecting some of the finest fruits and vegetables which this poor planet has
ever yet produced.

So, tarrying a single day at San Francisco, the Society hurried on its
way to the place of its first formal meeting. In going to Sa,n Jose we passed
down the peninsula, beyond the bottom of the bay, and made our exit into
the valley of Santa Clara. The county of Santa Clara considers herself the
favored region of the Golden State. There are many grounds for such a
sentiment and belief. As we skim along the perfectly flat surface of the
country, almost on a level with the Pacific, we can but be astonished at the
evidences of fertility on every hand. Such a soil is, according to my judg-
ment, hard to parallel anywhere in the world. It is a black, damp loam in
the lower parts, with an element of sand and drier constituents at the higher
levels. Sometimes pebbles and small stones are scattered over the surface,
and, indeed, constitute a part of the body of the soil. The color of this earth
is not that blue-black hue which sometimes deceives as to its real fertility ,
but it is the dead black peculiar to the richest loam or humus. It is evi-
dent, too, by the first glance, that this promise of fertility in the Santa Clara
valley is fully verified by the facts. It is fifty miles from San Francisco to
San Jose. We make the run on the afternoon of the 23d of January. In
going down the peninsula, we see on the right the foundations of what is to
be the great Lelard Stanford, Jr., University. I have made a careful study
of the charter of this instituticn, and say, deliberately, that I regard it as the
best organic form that has ever been devised for a university of learning.

Here we are at the old town of Santa Clara. Everything in California
is either San or Santa. It is evident that in the prehistoric ages the saints
and saintesses were in the ascendant on this coast. The old Spanish padres
had the finest and best assorted lot of saints that were ever catalogued. They
did them honor, too, when they distributed their names on these mountains
and valleys and rivers of California; but whether it is an honor to a saint to
put his name to an old adobe mission house, or even to a town, is, at least,
questionable. Some of these saintly names are musical, and grateful to the
tongue and ear; but others, say San Buenaventura, for a specimen, are
tedious and drawling forms of speech that ought to be abbreviated or abol-
ished in the general interests of civilization. As for Santa Clara and San
Jose, their names are exquisite. It is three or four miles from the former
to the latter city. Toward evening we are at our destination. Great prep-
arations have been made for our reception and entertainment. Delegations
are in waiting at the station to receive us and conduct us to our places in
the city. Most of the members are taken to private homes. Beautiful
places they are, too, and rich in comfort. Others are lodged in hotels — the St.
James, the Lick, and others. The comic g of night finds everybody comfortably

266 Beyond (he Sierras.

ensconced. Here, agiin, liowever, as the horticultural pilgrims lind to their
grief, the nuulof the streets is quite intolerable. It has arisen and overfl >wed
the crossings, and the word loblolly is again in requisition to describe it. Sin
J 1)8^ apologized ronmlly for this condition of atlairi^. It was her rainy sea-
son, she .siiid : and not once in years were the .skirls of her girments so be-
draggled and soiled. She was sorry. If she could have foreseen it she would
have had a force at work to clean the crossings. All this, however, passed
in a day or two, and the streets became first passable and then dry and neat.

Here, then, is the first terminus of our pilgrimage to the Pacific coast.
San Jos^ is a beautiful city. Here about us are a few traces of the old Spanish
civilization which was planted in these lovely valleys before the coming of
the man who speaks English; but these remnants and traces of the ancient
regime are rapidly passing away. That project of Louis N.ipoleon to restore,
as he said, the equilibrium of the Latin races in the new world has ended
in thin smoke. The Spanish element in all the western slope of the United
States is subsiding. Like the adobe walls of the old mission houses which the
padres aforetime reared, with infinite labor, in this region, this southern
stock is crumbling down, and will soon be mingled with the soil. It may
interest the reader to know what he would easily infer to be true, namely,
that the Hispanio-Mexican population in California is most thickly distrib-
uted nearest the southern limits of the Slate. As you journey to the north-
ward the distribution, especially away from the coast, grows thinner and
thinner, even to nothing. In the vicinity of San Diego from 25 to 30 per
cent, of the population is still of Mexican blood. As far up as Los Angeles
nearly 20 per cent, of the people are of this stock; but with the latitude
of San Francisco it falls off to less than one-half of this proportion. Mean-
while, however, the Oriental has rushed into the place of the Spaniard— that
is, the Mexican Spaniard. It was a bad swap in most respects, but in other
points of view I am not sure that civilization has been injured by the ex-
change. Whatever may be said of the Chinaman in other respects, he is at
least industrious and frugal.

On the morning of the 24th the first session of the American Horti-
cultural Society for 1888 was opened in the auditorium of the Baptist taber-
nacle. Everything had been arranged for the comfort and convenience of
our meetings. It had been one of the misfortunes of our excursion to Cali-
fornia thai the distinguished President of the Society, Mr. P.irker Eirle, of
Cobden, 111., had not been with us on the journey. He had, however, in due
time, arrived at San Jos^ on an excursion of his own, and w.is in his place at
the opening of the session.

It is not the business of this general sketch of what we saw and heard and
imagined while on the Pacific coast to enter into the details of the horticult-
ural meetings held at San Jos^ and Riverside. These details, of course, con-
stitute the subject-matter of the interesting vo'ume to which the present
sketch is only an addendum, or afterpiece. This is what the old playwrights
used to call an epilogue— a piece to be spoken afterward, or omitted alto-

In the Santa Clara. 267

gether without injuring the sense. The report of the proceedings of our
meetings is full of interest. Scarcely a single paper or speech was delivered
at these meetings that was not in some sense spoken by one who was an
authority on the topic presented. The very best horticulturists of the United
States, and, indeed, of the whole continent, were present to participate in
the discussions and to add, from the rich stores of their experience and learn-
ing, to the value of whatever was said or suggested.

A word, however, should be added in this connection relative to the great
citrus fair which had been provided in the city as one of the leading induce-
ments to the Society for holding its sessions at this place. Citrus fair means
an exposition, first of all, of the six species of fruits constituting the genus
■aurantiacea. These are, first of all, the orange ; second in importance of the
group, the lemon ; then the lime ; then the citron and the shaddock ; lastly, the
pumalo, or so-called grape-fruit. Each of these has its respective value, but
the first three are the important species. These are produced in great
abundance and perfection in many parts of Southern and Central California.
The fine hall where the fair was held was filled to its capacity with one of the
richest imaginable displays of the fruits here named, and of other species bet-
ter known to the people east of the mountains. It was evident on entering the
hall that the genius of woman was dominant in the arrangement of the fruits
and flowers. Not satisfied with merely heaping these around or setting the
floral contributions in miscellaneous disorder, the ladies of San Jos^ had
arranged everything after the manner of art. On some tables the oranges
were heaped up after the style of cannon balls in an arsenal yard. Some,
times they were so arranged as to make a cottage or grotto. Sometimes
fhey were made into festoons, or intertwined with evergreen. So of the dis-
play of lemons and limes, and so, likewise, of all the other myriad fruits
which the splendid fertility of the soil and the equable climate had ripened
for the occasion.

The citrus fair was primarily the exhibit of the fruit and vegetable prod-
ucts of the Santa Clara valley. Other regions, however, had sent in their
contributions. This is especially true of Northern California and Oregon.
That part of the display which had been sent to the exposition from the
counties of Sutter and Butte was among the most attractive of the various
exhibits.

The fecundity of the soil of this country about San Jose is as well illus-
trated in the character of its vegetable products as in its frui<.s and flowers.
It is doubtful whether the specimens of vegetable growth displayed in this
horticultural hall could be surpassed for magnitude and perfection of devel-
opment in any garden or field of the world. It is not my purpose to enter
into details, but a reference to one single species of vegetable may suffice.
Take the beet. Have you an idea, 0 reader, of the size and appearance of
one of the beete of Santa Clara ? Here they stand, with the bottom roots
jesting on the floor, against the side of this pyramid of garden products. It
19

268 Beyond the Sierra-^.

reaches to the top of your cane. I should have said he reaches, for this huge
Titan is certainly entitled to the distinction of sex. There, next the floor,
are his two short legs, and at the ujiper parta of his body his arms branch
out somewhat after the style of the arms of an East Indian deity. He looks,
for all the world, like an image of Buddha. You might properly set him on
a bracket and pour a libation to his divinity. His body is more than a foot
in diameter, and he weighs a hundred and seventeen pounds. How is that
for a beet? Many other products are of almost equally astonishing propor-
tions and quality.

The feature of the display which most astonishes the observer is ita
variety. Here is almost everything: oranges, lemons, limes, apples, apri-
cots, olives, peaches, prunes, plums, citrons, cherries, figs, walnuts, almonds,
pecans, the whole range of vegetable products, products of the field, corn,
wheat, barley, oats — why, man, everything that grows in the ground or on
top of it, and some things belonging to the deep sea, are here at this exposi-
tion; and the Californians are actually aware that they have made a fine dis-
play ! They smile when they tell you so, and when you tell them so they
smile.

I have now reached a delicate point in this essay. I mean the jealousy
of the California towns. No girl was ever as jealous of her first lover as one
of these communities is jealous on account of its good parts, and the danger
that they may be disparaged by comparison. Really, my dear people of the
California cities, it seems to us that this thing is misplaced and absurd.
Why should your civic communities here and there have envy and enmity
toward each other ? I can not conceive that any legitimate, right-minded
competition should engender such a feeling. On the whole, the exhibition
of these jealousies and bickerings is prejudicial to you in the eyes of strangers.
Really, you are too great, and have too many of the good things of this world,
to indulge in local spites. This envious disposition I have noted reaches to
a great distance. One town is jealous of another a hundred miles, aye, four
hundred miles, away. You act and sometimes speak and write as though
your town and city were the very loadstone toward which all the magnetic
atoms of enterprise in the world must be attracted; and when any atom^
anywhere, persists in standing crosswise to the lines of your attraction, you
get mad and spit.

It is all nonsense, my friends. I can not perceive any legitimate causes
for enmity between San Jose and Riverside, Napa and SanUi Rosa, Los
Angeles and San Diego. Of course, in so far as there is mere jocular
emulation between your difl'erent districts and towns it is all right, even
amusing. There is no malice in fun. There is no incendiarism in a
joke; no bloodshed in a sarcasm. Your jokes at each other's exjiense
are highly entertaining. This great work of art, for instance, which the
genius of San Joso has put up in the j)rincipal show window of her principal
street, to illustrate the prcKlucts and manner of life at Los Angeles, appeared
to me to be rather harmless — altogether harmless if inspired and understood

In the Santa Clara. 269

as a piece of fun at the expense of the southern city. I hear that a year ago
Los Angeles began this business by the construction of a painting of the
satirical order, the motif oi which was a sarcasm on the resources and civiliza-
tion of the Santa Clara valley. It must be confessed that the San Joseans
have got even with the Queen of the Angels. This alleged painting is
highly entertaining. It has mountains in the background, sharp and peaked,
and covered with snow. They are marked on the summits, "Summer re-
sorts of Los Angeles." Up there in the inaccessible glaciers are laid out lots —
" For sale— a thousand dollars per front foot." Down here in the valley are
some of the products of Los Angeles— a tarantula, a horned toad, two or three
little blasted oranges, some pieces of prickly-pear and bits of broken stone.
The artist has had his revenge on the people of the south, sure enough; but
I trust he had no malice. Malice is the meanest reptile in the world. It has
a head on each end, bites without provocation, eats its own offspring, and
hates the daylight.

There are many things about the city of San Jose to hold the delighted
attention of the visitor. It is a beautiful place, and a beautiful country. In
ancient days there was an old Spanish mission here, but that has been swept
away by the incoming tides of civilization. Progress, refinement, enterprise,
wealth, all the benefits born of industry, and all the virtues born of intelli-
gence, have taken the place of ancient immobility and superstition. San
Jose is well and substantially built. The streets are wide and straight. Her
public structures are highly creditable. Her people are keenly awake to the
benefits of their situation, and are reaping a golden harvest by the develop-
ment of the limitless resources which nature has put at their disposal. The
people of the country round about are adding orchard on orchard for miles
away, to the foot-hills of the mountain ranges. In these orchards are planted
such a variety of fruits as it would indeed be difficult to parallel in any other
region ; and the annual yield from these beautiful, bright trees is so great as
to be incredible.

Besides the sessions of the Society, besides the valuable addresses which
were delivered, besides the rich and variable display of fruits and flowers in
the hall of the citrus fair, besides the beautiful city herself, with her endless
hedges of square-trimmed cypress, her lines of eucalyptus and her nodding
palms, besides our formal reception on the night of our first day, with the
music, and speeches, and promenade — besides all this, two or three matters
of the first interest remain to be mentioned in connection with our sojourn
in San Jose. First of these was the banquet. On the last evening of the
sessions of the Society, in the fine Turnverein Hall of the city, a feast had
been prepared for us, and to this, in due time, we were conducted. Many
invited guests besides ourselves thronged to the hall. Rarely has such good
management been seen, as it respects a great crowd at a banquet. Fully five
hundred guests were present. On entering the vestibule, ladies to the right,
gentlemen to the left ; well ordered cloak-rooms; everything conducted by the
compass and square. It was most admirable in the beginning, and the rest.

270 Beyond the Sierras.

was splendid. On being ushered into the hall, the banquet tables, r(i\v after
ruw, stuod before us. Here it was that the ladies of San Jose did themselves
proud, indeed. The guests were admitted to the banquet hall section by
section. All were seated at the signal. The perfume of rich flowers was in
the air. The tibles were crowned with blossoms. Great lilies rose to their
queenly height. Vases were heaped with fruits. All manner of viands were
distributed on every hand. Ladies, whose rerined manners were as con.-pic-
uous as their executive skill was manifest in the feast, had charge of the
various sections, and smiled a welcome to the guests. It has been the good
fortune of the writer to be present at several banquets in his life, but it is
his deliberate judgment that in the richness of the feast, and the delightful
ease with which it was administered, the banquet given by the ladies of San
Jos^ to the members of our Society on that genial evening of the 2Gth of
January was the richest and most varied that he ever beheld. By this it is
not meant to disparage the score of other fea.^its to which we were invited in
the cities of California. Each of these had its particular excellence, as, for
instance, our delightful banquet under the dome of the Capitol at Sacra-
mento, which surpassed in elegance and the exquisite taste displayed in its
administration. To each of these I hope to gire its meed of praise, but I say
still that for richness and abundance and variety, as well as for its orderly
programme and added circumstances, our feast at San Jos<? is entitled to first
praise.

Past prandia sermones. In the American vernacular eating and speaking
are correlatives. If7ii/# he is eating your citixen speaks not, but after-
ward—then it is he breaks forth into utterance. At this San JoS(5 banquet
Mayor Breyfogle, to whom so much of the success of the whole enterprise
was due, presided with the grace of a diplomate. After his introductory re-
marks President Parker Earle responded for the American Horticultural
Society, speaking with that dignity and grace for which his name had already
become a proverb. Prof. George Husmann, of Napa, followed with an address
on California, and then Judge M. N. Myrick spoke of "Our Visitors," prais-
ing us more than we deserved. The toast, "Our Overland Journey," was
answered by Secretary William H. Ragan, who sketched the story of our
progress by rail across the continent. "The Santu Clara Valley " furnished
the theme of an address by Prof. Charles H. Allen, and then the alleged poet
of tlie company was called up to read the following verses:

HORTICULTURE— THEORETICAL AXD PRACTICAL.

To study much a fact called chemistry,

To learii earths, acids, tlkiilis am! all,
To know all seeiis, and name all bugs you see —

Is Horticulture Theoretical.

To reason much about the cause of things,

To make analyses and classify
All buds and bodies, leaves, legs, scales and wings,

And give them titles tlint may pass for high ;

In the Santa Clara. 271

To talk for weeks how much of this and that

Is necessary that a plant may grow;
What rain-fall, dew-fall, sun, wind, cloud are pat,

And then tell others what you do not know;

To raise within a busy cranium

At least six crops before you plant at all ;
To write long letters, and for papers some,

Is Horticulture Theoretical.

To feel the sunshine and the morning dew ;

To smell the ground in the first days of spring;
To have for company yourself and you ;

To hear the robins and the bluebirds sing ;

To hoe and harrow, and to put plain dirt

On living seeds, and then to wait awhile ;
To be afield in democratic shirt, .

And use your muscles in plebeian style;

To take all nature in your hardened hands.

Train trees, train vines, plant, prune, protect and pluck,

Believe in self, and in your fertile lands,

And have more faith in living than in luck ;

And then at last to sit in welcome style.

With golden fruits heaped up in royal state,
Offered by beauty, with a gracious smile.

To strangers dwelling in the city gate ;

To taste, to eat, to feel the throb of pride,

To rise rejoicing from the festival ;
To clasp new friends with old ones by your side,

This, this is Horticulture Practical.

Hon. M. M. Estee followed with an address on the glorious climate of
California, in the course of which he spread wide his arms — in metaphor —
to embrace the coming millions. E. J. Hickson spoke for " The Press of
the Golden State; " and Mr. T. S. Hubbard, of New York, of " The Successful
Past." Vice-President T. V. Munson was regarded by us as the prophet of
the Society, and he was accordingly assigned the toast, " What of the Future ?"
to which he responded with his proverbial ability. The delicate part of the
evening's exercises, under the title of " The Ladies," was assigned to the dig-
nified J. M. Smith, of Wisconsin, who handled his angelic subject with the
courtesy of a knight. The last speech of the evening, and the most witty of
all, was made by the good-humored and perfectly correct Nicholas Ohmer,
of Dayton, Ohio, who responded to the toast, " When shall we meet again ? "
That question, permit me to say, is difl&cult to solve. Alas ! when shall we
meet again ? Certainly, not this side of the shadows. That crossing of mul-

272 Beyond the Siei^ras.

tifarious lines of life down at San Jost? on the evening of January 26, 1888,
formed a plexus of human hopes and interests and allections which will
never be woven again this side of the mist-covered valley which Mirza be-
held in his vision. Meanwhile, Tuck's orchestra, after much sweet music,
gives us the blessed refrain of " Home, Sweet Home," and the banquet is at
an end.

The next theme of interest connected with our stay in the Santa Clara
valley was our excursion into the country round about on Friday, the 27th.
Promptly in the morning we were tivken up by a retinue of carriages and
driven countryward. The calvacade broke up into sections. Each turned
hither and yon through the valley as it would. This whole country might
be defined for short as the Orchard of Santa Clara. Taken altogether it is an
orchard. On either hand, orchard after orchard, vineyard after vineyard —
apricots, prunes, lemons, peaches, figs, English walnuts, limes, almost every-
thing called by the name of fruit. Here it is, for miles on miles; and the
trees are bright, even to whiteness. Rows of English walnuts shine as
though they had been polished by hand. The lig trees are almost as white
as they. Along the roads are the deep-green pepper trees, and the tall euca-
lyptus. In the yards and lawns rise the feathery palms, and around all the
homes of men is the square hedge of well-trimmed cypress.

One company makes its way out to the Quito Ranch, where Mr. E. E.
Goodrich has developed one of the finest olive orchards in California, and the
proprietor made all happy who visited his line establishment. The writer
can not testify as to all that was seen in these valley excursions about San
Jos^. He knows that a second division of the Society was driven to Los
Gatos. That, 0 reader, means " The Cats." It is the name of the narrow
gauge railway station and the adjacent hamlet. The tradition is that the old
Spaniards called it Los Gatos because of the fearful prevalence of wild cats
aforetime in this region. Well, " The Cats" had made a banquet for their
company of excursionists, and the eaters thereof declared that the feast was
good. The section to which the writer belonged was driven to Campbell's
Station, among some of the best apricot and prune orchards in California.
He had the pleasure of going with Major Foote, a Hoosier of former days,
through his orchards, and of hearing from the Major the almost apocryphal
recital of how much his trees produced. The citizens, meanwhile, had made
for us a dinner in the village church. Here we had feasting and talk and
speeches. The table at which the writer regaled himself was absolutely laden
with its vases of fruits and nuts and other edibles, under a crown of flowers.
I could not now enumerate the endless variety of what our feast jiresented,
but my old friend, the Captain, who presided at our table, and who has been
more than sixty times across the Pacific, assured me that only om^ article on
the board was not produced within a mile of where we sat. This was a
single small dish of foreign oranges. The Captain's wife, I may add, served
her guests, before we rose, with a section of excellent fruit-cake, fresh and
good, which had been twice across the Pacific ocean, and had spent one sum-

In the Santa Clara. 273

mer with the Captain in Siberia. Farewell, ye good people of San Jose and
the valley of Santa Clara. May you all live long and still have something to
eat. May your city flourish and your orchards still abound, and your boom
boom on forever !

Before the close of our session at San Jose our spirits rose to enthusiasm
with the announcement that after our return to San Francisco we were to
be favored with an excursion into Northern California. The Southern Pa-
cific railway arose, by its representative, Mr. J. B. Lauck (of whom I have
several things to say anon), and announced the programme of our journey
into the Napa and Sacramento valleys as far north as the city of Redding.
Be it known that this muniticent otter on the part of the railway included
everything in the way of expense through a journey of several hundred
miles. Of course, the company did not propose to furnish us provisions, but
we had now learned that the California towns along the way were an ever-
recurring picnic, each vicing with the other in its abundance. The propo-
sition was, of course, accepted with enthusiasm; but in the mean time still
another excursion had been provided for us down the coast to Monterey,
and this latter came first.

Accordingly, on the morning of Saturday we bade adieu to San Jos^,
and took our course for that old town where the hoisting of the stars and
stripes first announced the domination of a new power over the effete civ-
ilization of the Spaniards. The distance down the valley, and with a sudden
turn to the coast, is ninety miles. Through this region the same scenery and
aspect prevail as in the upper parts of the valley. While we roll along on
our way I will offer a comment or two about the general features of the
orchards of the California valleys. I have already spoken of the trees, as to
their freshness, thrift and beauty of color, but not as to their shape.

The Californians trim everything low. They cut back the growing
tree, of whatsoever kind it is, until its whole development is so near the
ground as to be almost in reach of the unassisted hand. Travelers from the
older States are astonished at the low stature of all the tree-growths on the
Pacific slope. Take the apricot or prune tree for example. Yonder they
are, by hundreds and thousands, and all alike as to their form. The Cali-
fornian, with his tremendous nursery shears or clippers, or his big knife
with the aquiline beak, in the first place cuts off his tree when it is trans-
planted, or a year thereafter, at the height of about two feet from the ground.
Around this section a cluster of vigorous shoots spring up. Of these from
three to five of the best are selected to constitute the major divisions of the
tree. They, in their turn, are allowed to grow for one or two years, when
they too are cut off about three feet from the lower stump. Each of these
branch sections acts like the original stump in sending out laterals, and thus
the trees develoD in almost perfect symmetry and regularity. It surprises
the foreigner in these parts to notice the beauty of this tree development in
the orchards of California. As to setting, the distance from row to row is
an average of twenty feet. Some orchardists place their trees nearer than

274 Beyond the Sierras.

this, and some, perhaps, a Uttle farther apart. In general, tlie apricot, the
prune, the peach, the apple, the pear, the English walnut, the fig, the cherry,
and even the orange and the lemon, are set at about the same distance. I
think that the rows of the citrus trees, however, are set a little closer on the
average than in the case of the other species.

I will oti'er one criticism on the methods of the California orchardists.
Why have they not — why do they not — reject the parallel row system of plant-
ing in favor of the hexagon ? I was surprised to note in how few instances
the hexagonal method has been employed. The planter ought to remember
that a sort of general architectural taste is to be observed in the arrange-
ment of his trees ; nor should the much more material circumstance be
neglected that a given area will contain a very considerable number of trees,
when they are set on the hexagon, in excess of what the same ground will
bear in parallel rows at equal distances. I believe that the average Califor-
nia orchard would gain a hundred trees in number if the hexagonal method
were emploj'ed. I do not know whether the cultivation of the spaces be-
tween would be hindered in working among the hexagons, but certain it is
that there would be a great gain in space and a greater gain in beauty; all of
which is respectfully submitted.

Let us turn for a moment, then, from the orchards to the natural land-
scape. The valley which we are now traversing is better wooded than any
we liave thus far seen. The live oak is the principal native tree. It were
hard to say whether in this famous tree the element of beauty or of value is
predominant. It has a novel appearance to one who has not seen it often in
the native state. It rises to the height of about seventy-five feet, but the
native trunk is not tall and grand like the trunks of our close-set forests in
the Mississippi valley. The live oak branches out to a great extent. Its strong
arms, somewhat gnarled, reach wide, like those of the eastern elms in old
age. But the live oak without its foliage is a more picturesque tree than the
elm; with the foliage I think the elm would surpass. In the still imculti-
vated regions of the Santa Clara valley, and below, the live oaks may be said
to abound. You will see to the right or to the left tracts of fifty or perhaps
a hundred acres still covered with them, as in the days of the Spaniards.
The most striking feature of the tree, as discriminated, say, from the winter
elm or black oak of the Middle States, is that it is hung with moss. I am
confident that this covering is of a ditierent species from that of the moss
which hangs in long festoons from the great live oaks in the southern lagoons
and everglades. The latter is longer and coarser, and of a darker color. The
former is a light gray, and seems to crown and wrap about the scraggy
branches rather than to depend therefrom.

But the most striking thing of all about the live oak woodlands of Cali-
fornia, and, indeed, of nearly every kind of sparse forest growth which pre-
vails in this comparatively treeless country, is that the trees have, for some
reason, been distributed by nature with almost the regularity and precision
of a planted orchard. I was astonished, and, at first, deceived, by this singu-

In the Santa Clara. 275

lar appearance. When the phenomenon first caught my attention I thought
that the trees in question had been set equidistant by hand. It is difficult
to impress the reader with a notion of the extreme regularity which is dis-
played in the distribution of the thin, small woods of California. When they
were planted nature must have been just fresh from a recitation in geome-
try. At intervals you will behold, from the car window, as you pass along,
an area of perhaps a half mile in extent where the live oaks, rising above the
pasture lands, have almost precisely the appearance of an old orchard in
which the trees have risen to rather gigantic proportions. In the California
landscapes, at least in all of those before you reach the real forests of the
mountains, you never see a clump of trees crowded together or scattered at
the capricious intervals which characterize such growths in our States of the
Mississippi valley.

I have still time, before we reach Monterey, to speak of another general
feature of the California method as it relates to trees. The people of these
valleys have done admirably in the matter of bordering their highways-
Rarely will you find a road in a well settled district without its two rows of
trees. These are already well grown, and as you bowl along you are com-
forted by having on either hand a long line of well developed trunks and
branches. For this admirable purpose the Californians have chosen two
kinds of trees. These are the pepper tree and the eucalyptus, both ever-
green and beautiful in form. The pepper tree is a daisy in its way, having
the general features of a willow as to its trunk, and a cypress as to its top.
The foliage is fine, and depends from the branches most gracefully. One of
the greatest merits of the tree is found in the wax-like or varnish-like finish
of the small, bright leaves. It is to this circumstance that it owes its power
of shedding the dust. Your dust, of what sort soever, finds a difficult lodg-
ment in this dark-green top. Great clouds of that fine sand and pulverized
soil, blown up by the wind and driven against these long rows of pepper
trees, go over them and through them, and leave them clean and bright^
Very diflerent is the eucalyptus. This is a tall and aspiring tree, tapering
as it rises, like the Lombardy poplar. The body has something of the ap-
pearance of a sycamore as to its color, though not so white; and the cinna-
mon-like bark on the lower parts curls up from the trunk or falls away. The
eucalyptus is a rapid grower. I believe that it outgrows any other tree with
which I am acquainted, unless it should be the Japanese Pawlonia tmperi-
alis. At the age of ten years the eucalyptus is already a fine tree, eighteen
inches in diameter, and from sixty to eighty feet high. The planting of these
highway-border trees is going on everywhere in the valleys of California. It
is an admirable enterprise, and the spirit that begat and promotes it is worthy
of all praise.

Before reaching the old town of Monterey you skirt the bay of the same
name, leaving it on the right. The town itself stands at the bottom of the
haven. It is by no means a large or commodious body of water, and I
should think that its wide mouth, open oceanward, would swallow a pretty

276 Beyond the Sien-as.

large section of a Pacific storm. The waters, moreover, are not deep enough
for the best results as it respects ocean vessels. We did not run down at
first tn tlie ancient city, but stopped some two miles above, at the station
called Del Monte. The reason of the name Del Monte is not far to seek, for
yonder, at no great distance, on a beautiful plateau slightly raised above the
bay, is the great hotel from which the station has been named. There among
the trees crowned with the richest foliage, and approached by exquisite
winding drives rising to the acclivity, stjinds the great Del Monte herself.
Suffice it to say that as it respects the beauty of the grounds, the delirious,
balmy air, the shrubs and flowers— great roses putting the Marechal Neil to
shame, tulips and lilies and blooming plants unnamable — the really tall
trees that rise above it all, the lovely walks that wind among the hedges and
into the evergreen labyrinth on the margin of the lake beyond, this magnifi-
cent hotel by the bay of Monterey is one of the most admirably situated for
the comfort and pleasure of its occupants to be found not only in California,
but anywhere in the world. The hotel itself is a marvel without and within.
Rarely will you find such spacious halls and reception-rooms and parlors, and
such elegant chambers, in a building for the public. Everything, moreover,
is as quiet in these halls and about the premises as a summer day. True,
the dining-room, a magnificent apartment, has a capacity for about live
hundred guests at a sitting; but there isno twenty-minute business for dinner
about this. Gentlemen and ladies are these who sit down to lunches and din-
ners fit for a palace of royalty. I have neglected to say that we were brought
down to the Del Monte in charge of the accomplished Mr. Judah, one of the
managers of this part of the Southern Pacific system. Of course, our friend
Mr. J. B. Lauck, in whose charge we had been all the way from E\ Paso, was
still with us, and that by our own request; but Mr. Judah was responsible
for our comfort and pleasure on this part of our journey. In taking us to
the Del Monte to pass a single day as guests, he conferred a favor which will
not be forgotten.

After a brief rest in the delightful grounds, we were taken up in a cav-
alcade of elegant carriages and driven around the bay. At the lower part
of the harbor we passed through that old and quaint city to which the Sj^an-
iards gave, aforetime, the name of King's Mountain, or Monterey. Here we
saw very many remembrances of the people and times by whom and in
which the city was planted. Many of the buildings are adobe. There is
nothing grand about the place, but it has its memories and traditions not a
few. Here where we pause on the corner are the old headquarters of that
gallant American squad of adventurers and heroes who wrested California
from the Spaniards. Here stands that memorable old llag-stall' from which
Sloat and Stockton and the still greater Pathfinder of the Rockies first floated
the stars and stripes in token of the new era of independence and political
freedom in the west. Yonder, on the summit, in plain view, are the ruins
of the fortification on whose walls the brave little cannon of this heroic band
were planted in that day.

In the Santa Clara. 277

Whirling on, and ascending the peninsula, we pass into and through the
•great camp-meeting establishment known as Pacific Grove, and then emerge,
or rather immerge, into the dark pine woods lying between the grove and the
more famous region beyond. After a drive of some miles, with the perpen-
dicular walls of pines on either hand, we come to the edge of that celebrated
forest called the Monterey Cypresses. Of these wonderful trees there is here
an area of about five hundred acres, through which you pass to Cypress Point
on the Pacifie. According to Professor Gray, this is the only place in the
world where the Monterey cypress is found in the native state. The trees
so called are among the most picturesque and grand of all the growths on
our planet. They much resemble the ft,mous cedars of Lebanon ; but the
Monterey cypress is flat on the top, spreading wide, banyan-like, on its upper
surface. One of the most inspiring spectacles I ever beheld was that of these
great cypresses growing down to the very rocky margin and precipice of
the Pacific and leaning back from the deep as they had been driven and
pressed by infinite storms blowing landward through the ages. And yonder
before is a wonder still more sublime. It is the Pacific itself, rolling in, in
tremendous waves, her thunder and roar resounding among these giant
rocks that stand defiant around the bleak promontory, as if to guard it and
protect it from the assaults of everlasting warfare. Of all the places along
the sublime margin of this majestic sea, I saw none that could quite equal
the grandeur and magnificence of the tumbling and booming waves as they
broke and rushed and receded from the granite barricade and battlements
which nature has planted and reared against the rage of the infinite waters
at Cypress Point.

During our stay of an hour at the Point we had the pleasure of seeing
and watching the maneuvers of the great marine democracy of the Com-
monwealth of Sealdom. They had a convention on the afternoon of our
arrival, and some of the leading orators were vociferating to a crowd of some
five or ten thousand assembled citizens. The meeting was held on some
granite rocks half a mile from the shore. The old Norsemen of Iceland
used to hold their Allthing, or Congress, in a natural concavity or amphi-
theater in the mountains, about the center of the island. The place, un-
doubtedly, was sufficiently solitary and sublime. I am not sure, however,
but that this granite areopagus of the seals, with the roaring waters at its
base, is a grander place for discussing the affairs of government. Ever and
anon, while the orators were still under way, new delegations arrived and
climbed up into the crowd. There were old men and women and boys. A
few sal silent and weighed the reasonings and declamation of the speakers
in a critical and judicious way ; but the younger and more aggressive ele-
ment wriggled about in the throng, and created great disturbance. One
commendable feature of the convention was the absence of brass bands!

Cypress Point is one of the best places on the coast for the gathering of
shells. Down yonder some hundred feet over these precipitous and almost
inaccessible walls of granite, where the surges slosh among the rocks, the

278 Beyond the Sierras.

ocean people have their abodes. The finest of all is the abalone, which here
grows to great size and perfection. He is a univalve, not a bivalve, as his
one-sided house would suggest. He lives on the side of a rock, to which he
fastens himself, his position being determined by the level of the surf. On
his rocky hinge he turns back his house like the top of a cab ; and when the
marine creatures which constitute his food drift into his establishment he
closes doors and regales himself with something to eat. The shell of the
abalone is one of great brilliancy as to its inner surface. It has all the
beauty and variegation that laminated pearl can exhibit, and the naturally
rough exterior is susceptible of a polish which fairly dazzles by its radiance
and beautiful spots. Many of our company availed themselves of the op-
portunity to gather specimens of this shell; and they are now safe in distant
regions, on the center-tables and among the bric-a-brac of our homes east of
the mountains.

So much, then, for our stay at Monterey. On the afternoon of the 28th,
after the customary conference at the Del Monte, we decided to return to
San Francisco by way of Santa Cruz. Thither we now betook ourselves,
arriving near nightfall. This city is also, primarily, another of those old
settlements which the Spaniards planted on the Pacific coast. It is another
Santa; and, to tell the truth, there is more evidence of the original Santa
about it than many of the other cities of equal size. We were here on
Sunday, the 29th, and did as much as good people could do to inform our-
selves of the characteristics of the place and the surrounding region. Santa
Cruz has a very picturesque and wonderful coast. It is not high and bold,
like Cypress Point. The valley here runs out to the deep on a sort of
level, and when you come to the ocean the land is broken ofi" square down
to the surf. The bodj' of the projection on which Santa Cruz is built is a
kind of a half-stone, variable in its hardness and resistance to the waves. As
a consequence, the ocean has eaten into the shore in a curious, even mar-
velous, manner. In some places the surf has wrought its way under ground to
a great distance, and then has made itself manifest by the dropping in of the
earth from above. Great and dangerous caverns have thus been produced.
Really, one must be careful about his footing as he adventures along these
precipitous and treacherous banks. The billows here, as at the Point of
Cypresses, break high, with their everlasting monotone, against the rocky
barrier that constitutes the thus far of their aggressive warfare.

At Santa Cruz we enjoyed the rare luxury of paying our bills. We had
a drive on the same terms, and the mud was a serious drawback to our ex-
pedition ; but the country thnnigh which we passed was beautiful antl^fruit-
ful, after the manner of nearly all the California lowlands. One of the in-
ducements of our coming to this region was that we might return through
the redwood forest that interposes in the mountain belt between Santa Cruz
and San Josd We had been told that by taking this route (a narrow-gauge)
we should have ample time and opportunity to see the big trees of the high-
lands. Our expectation on Monday morning was accordingly high ; but we

/n the Santa Clara. 279

were doomed to some disappointment. The authorities of the narrow-
gauge railway, or some of them at least, had promised us to make a stop at
the redwood forest, that we might see the wonders ; but, up to the present
date, that promise has not been fulfilled. We were driven right through,
and had to catch such glimpses as we could of the big trees of the mountains.
The better part of the grove was so situated that we could not see it from
the train ; and of the rest you can, of course, have no more than a glance as
the train rushes along, whirling around knobs and diving into tunnels. Of
the latter I may say, as a matter of interest, that there are two on this little
road from Santa Cruz to San Jose that are each more than a mile in length
It was after debouching into the valley on the other side that we passed The
Cats already referred to on a preceding page. On coming to San Jos^ some
straggling and unadventurous members of our company were taken up ; and
then we whirled on toward Oakland, where another grand banquet and re-
ception had been planned for the Society.

As we passed on our way thither, a short distance north of Santa Clara,
a sudden movement of the passengers to the right-hand side of the coaches
indicated that something unusual had appeared in the horizon. Indeed, it
was something unusual. There, at the distance of six or eight miles, were
the foot-hills, and, beyond, the more aspiring elevation of the Coast Range
of mountains. Above all the heights in this part of the chain, there stood
old Mount Hamilton ; and on its clearly defined summit, scalped somewhat
and flattened for the purpose, was seen the sharp outline of a structure reared
by man. It was a building, square and long, and low toward the southern
extremity, but rising at the northern end into a dome of perfect regularity
and beauty. Everything was sharp and fine and shining in the morning
light. Why should I name this famous structure, known already in the
annals of mankind ? Everywhere on this mundane sphere, where the heav-
ens are seen above by the intelligent eye of man, there the fame and pros-
pective renown of the Lick Observatory have already extended. And the
day comes, 0 my reader, when the huge Patagonians, bounding among the
rocks of the Land of Fire ; when the black villagers now drinking out of
their ivory cups in their huts above the falls of the Congo; when the sav-
ages who dash in reckless nakedness out of th» forest to plunge into the
waters of the Victoria N'yanza ; when the swarthy folk who beat down the
three-cornered pods from the cocoa trees in the groves of Ceylon, will gather
with eager haste into their academies of science to hear the reports of their
secretaries concerning the latest revelations of the great equatorial on old
Mount Hamilton.

Think of this, my friends. Only a quarter of a century ago it was
believed and taught by scientific men that the limits of our knowledge
of the heavens had been almost reached — that the peculiarities of the at-
mospheric enveloi^e of th^ earth, and the difficulties insuperable in the
nature of the material substances out of which telescopic apparatus must
be constructed, had established an everlasting barrier against the further

280 Beyond the Sierras.

penetration of liunian thought and perception among the mysteries of the
stars. Vain chimera and foolish hyp<jthesi.s! This side of that (juartcr of a
century Hne lies the spectroscope, with its astounding revelations. This
side of that line lies the great 27-inch objective of the royal observatory
of Russia, made by the unrivaled hands of Alvan Clark. Aye, better still,
this side of that line lies yon tremendous triumph of the human genius over
the conditions of its environment. One of the old Hebrews burst out, saying*
" How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth glad
tidings ! " 0 man, how beautiful upon the mountain are the form and sub-
stance and prophecy of that glorious instrument up yonder, through whose
3G-inch all-seeing eye, with only the eye of man at the aperture below, the
sky has opened to infinity, the mighty planets have stooped down, and the
eternal stars have become an apocalypse of glory !

It is of interest to note that the magnifying powers of lenses are to each
other as the squares of their diameters, which gives us for the great objective
on yonder height a capacity as compared with that of the telescope of St.
Petersburg a proportion of sixteen to nine, and as regards the almost infi-
nite spheres of space which they respectively penetrate and resolve, a pro-
portion of sixty-four to twenty-seven. So vast has been the advance of sci-
ence at a single stride.

All this while the Oakland committee are waiting for us at the station.
Here we are at one of the handsomest cities on the continent — not a great
city as yet, but a real city and beautiful. Oakland is, for short, the Brooklyn
of San Francisco. By no means w'ould I disparage the resources and
achievements of the city as it respects commerce, manufactories and mone-
tary enterprises. In these respects the Brooklyn analogy is somewhat
broken. Oakland is not merely a city of residences. It is a city in other
respects ; prosperous for the present and promising for the future. On our
arrival we were immediately marshaled to the principal restaurant, with its
capacious dining-hall, and were there feasted after the style to which we had
now conformed by practice. The Oakland banquet was a superb alliur, marked
with the usual abundance of fruits and flowers; but to this feature of the
dinner were added certain touches peculiar to the city banquet as distin-
guished from the barbacue-like abundance of smaller festivals.

We were welcomed to Oakland in excellent speeches by the Mayor and
other distinguished oflicials, and to these our own officers responded, as they
always did, with good taste and eloquence. As soon as the banquet was ended
we were taken up for our drive through the city ami its environs. This was
one of the finest and most instructive minor excursions with which we were
favored during our stay in California. The fact is, the writer himself was
rather broken up in his emotions and sentiments l)y his ride through the
streets of Oakland and out to the villas of the foot-hills. The residences
here are of the highest order. Everything that wealth of resources and ex-
quisite taste can produce has here been amply planted and developed
around the elegant homes of the people. The largest private flower garden

In the Santa Clara. 281

which 1 saw in the Golden State was in the south-eastern suburbs of Oak-
land. I regret to say that the malicious and unprecedented winter, which
the Californians had just been visited withal, had nipped many of the flowers
with its frosty teeth and blackened others with its breath. It was a piece of
business of which any decent and well-regulated winter would be ashamed
for a hundred years.

One feature of our Oakland excursion was the visit to the University of
California, situated at the town of Berkeley, about seven miles away. The
location is one of the most picturesque imaginable. Some goodly mount-
ains rise from the very skirt of the campus — and apropos of them several
of the heights have their traditions and history. The buildings of the uni-
versity are not especially imposing, but inside there is every evidence of
efficient work and rapid development. At the time of our visit to the insti-
tution the Regents were wrestling with the question of a new President,
the issue being, before our departure from the State, the election of Hon.
Noah Davis as Chancellor. The peculiar nature of the resources and prod-
ucts of California has impressed itself upon the university. It has a certain
industrial and agricultural aspect and tendency as yet. This feature of the
institution, upon which I found no criticism, has been emphasized, I believe,
by the great talents and reputation of Professor E. W. Hilgard, by whom
this department of the university work is inspired and directed. There is
an art gallery here of much promise, and a library already well developed.
In fact, I was much impressed with the extent and variety of the works and
the skill with which they were arranged for consultation and reference.

Another feature of note is the establishment specially devoted to what
may be called the analysis of products. California is rich in what our friend
Tacitus would call "the things sown." It is important that these things
sown should bring forth something of value for the sower. That this value
may be of the highest degree it is requisite that the fruit and grain products
of the earth shall be perfect, each in its kind. Now Professor Hilgard has-
an elaborate establishment for determining the qualities of fruits and other
products of the soil. Take, for instance, the question of wine. He and his
well educated assistants, whose acquaintance I was glad to make, receive the
products of the various wineries of the State and pass upon the quality
thereof as it respects their purity and other elements of excellence. This
work, I perceived, is doing a vast deal of good in the way of establishing a
high standard of merit, not only as it respects the uses and abuses of juices,
but also for the perfection and value of all manner of fruits.

With the oncoming of evening the various sections of our party returned
to the city, and thence across the bay to the metropolis. Again we found
ourselves ensconced at the Palace — rightly so named. Be it said that Cali-
fornia is the land of hotels. To a stranger coming into these regions for the
first time it seems almost absurd to witness the rising in the midst of some
village town, which as yet exists only by hypothesis, of a vast hotel. In the
towns of the older States the hotel has an importance directly in proportion

282 Beyond the Sierras.

to the square of the distance. The character of the old-time tiivern, or puh-
hc house, is estabH.<hed in tradition and song. Since the time when Chau-
cer's pilgrims set out from the Tabard, taking mine host with them, on their
way to Canterbury, the inns of the English-speaking race have been nothing
to seek. With the rise of the great comniereial age the city hotel has come;
and, with the progress of civilization to the westward, it haa become an in-
stitution, certainly an integral part and parcel of all cities.

In the great cities of the east, and of the Middle States, the first-class es-
tabli.shments for the entertainment of guests have Uiken a high rank l)oth for
architecture and furnishings and style of service: but it has remained for San
Francisco to claim and, as I think, to take the palm of excellence. At least,
her Palace Hotel proclaims herself as the first uiul best, not only in the
United States, but in the world. I think it may not be controverted that
the Palace is the largest and most commodious establishment of its kind. It
occupies, besides the addendum known formerly as the Grand, a whole
square of the city, having its principal front on Market street. It is seven
stories high, is superior in its architecture and elegant in adornment. It
has no fewer than a thousand and fifteen rooms for the accommodation of
its occupants. The dining-hall and hall of the restaurant are among the
finest apartments of the kind; and the superior methods of caring for the
guests and the details of accommodation are worthy of the highest praise.
The building is a quadrangle, having a magnificent court in the center.
This is entered at one side by the carriages, which find ample room within
for the delivery and reception of guests, and for exit. Around the four sides
of the court, which is covered with a glass canopy on high, are the interior
balconies, or promenades, supported by rows of Corinthian pillars. These
aflbrd to all the guests the opportunity of looking down upon the marble
floor of the court, where throngs of strangers are passing and rejKissing, and
where, on every evening, one of the finest of bands discourses excellent
music. I can not enter into minutiie, but will sum it up by saying that
whoever will seek or find the ideal of enterUiinment, the luxury of rest, the
exclusivenpss of absolute privacy in the midst of the most active tides of
civilized life, may enter with confidence, as he will certainly remain well
pleased, into the great Palace of San Francisco. 0 thou skeptical cynic,
dost thou think that tlie poor writer of this panegyric had gratuitous benefits
at the Palace? Indeed, it is not so. He paid his bills like a gentleman, and
had no favors alK)ve the rest.

To the Base of Shasta. 283

CHAPTEE V.

TO THE BASE OF SHASTA.

Northward Bound. — San Pablo Bay. — Napa City. — The Wine Question. — St. Hel-
ena.— Banquet and Excursion. — The Boom Business. — En Route to Sacra-
mento.— Hydraulic Miners and Riparians. — Issue of Their War. — Effects of
Mining along the Rivers. — Sketches of Sacramento. — The Bancjuet. — ToMarys-
ville. — Reception and Drive. — Notes of the Country. — Oroville. — The Mining
Region. — Climatic Peculiarities. — Loccd Excursion. — At Chico. — General Bid-
ivell. — Excursion Through His Ranch. — The Diggers. — The City. — Greetings
of the People. — Vina. — Standford Vineyard and Winery. — Redding Reception
and Banqu£f. — Speeches. — Shasta. — Red Bluff Excursion. — The Country. —
Woodland. — Tlie Blowers Ranch. — Transformation of California'' s Industries.
— The Day of Gold.— The Day of Cattle.— The Day tf Wheat.— The Day of
Oranges.

On the evening of the 30th of January we held in parlor A of the Palace
Hotel a somewhat formal meeting, and heard the details of our great excur-
sion beginning on the morrow. We are to go into the Napa and Sacramento
valleys. Mr. Lauck announces the programme and names the places which
we are to visit. Several distinguished persons have dropped in to the meet-
ing. Bishop Charles H. Fowler, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, is one
of the number, and he makes us an interesting and happy speech. Dr. A.
F. White, of Santa Rosa, is there, with his committee, inviting us, on our
return from the north, to visit the county of Sonoma and the redwood for-
ests lying between Guerneville and Cloverdale. It was decided to accept this
invitation for the following Friday. After adjournment our company di-
vided on the line of the tired and the tireless, the latter going out on an ex-
ploration of the city and the former to the quiet and rest of their chambers.

On the morning of the last day of January we left, in sunny weather,
the metropolis and its shining haven, on our way to the valley of Napa and
the Sacramento. The Society was in full force; and many gentlemen and
ladies from the Pacific States and beyond the mountains joined our com-
pany. No part of our tour was a happier voyage than that which now lay
before us. At the first we skirted the San Pablo Bay, and then crossed Mar-
tinez Strait by ferry. 1 shall not forget the sullen humor with which the
old English captain of our ferry declared to a company of us, whom he had
invited to the upper deck, that he had never but once in his life been six
miles from the sea, and if the Lord should forgive him he never would do
that again. He was an Englishman by birth, a sailor, first to the Indies,
afterward to Australia, and then a Forty-niner in these harbors of Eldorado.

Our first stop on our way northward is at the town of Napa. This is
the residence of Hon. M. M. Estee, late Eepublican candidate for Governor
20

284 Beyond the Sierraa.

of California, ami alt^o of our friend Professor George Husmann, one of the
mosteminent grape culturists of the Golden State. We are met, ajj usual, at
the station by committees, with carriages and hacks. In these we are whirled
away on our local excursion through the vineyards of Napa valley. It is,
indeed, a delightful region. I should think that, as it relates to grape pro-
duction, this is one of the best in all California; and as toother products, it is
scarcely second to any. Our drive through the country was completed with
a banquet, given us by the citizens, at which, again, we could but be amazed
lit the variety of fruits and flowers.

It was evident from the festival that the wine interest is here in its
highest estate. The extent and varietj' of wines displayed and freely
poured at the Napa banquet would astonish, and did astonish, the travelers
from beyond the mountains. The people of this region make a great point
of producing light, pure wines, that is, acid wines, as distinguished from
the heavier and sweeter varieties, such as port. They strongly advocate
the use of the beverage, and their tables and sideboards are, everywhere,
burdened with the product of their wineries. It is due to say that I saw
no evidences of intoxication or of the demoralization of character by the
use of this world-renowned drink. I may add that the question of the use
of this variety of light wine was much and ably debated during the sessions
of our Societj' and by our members and California friends while on our
travels. Whether the road to the perfect sobriety of our American people
lies by the way of these lighter fermented beverages, or whether we are to
reach the desideratum per saltern, and, as it were, a single leap upward from
the marsh of drunkenness to the salubrious plain of a sober life, I know
not; but one thing I do know, that the condition of the people as it
respects sobriety in the midst of these vineyards and wineries of California
is very greatlj' superior to that which we see so painfully and shamefully illus-
trated in the streets of our Middle-State cities and towns. By this I mean
that the drinking of the fiery waters of whisky and brandy and gin, the hor-
rible decoctions bearing these Satanic names, is, to my mind, infinitely
worse, as it is exemplified in the E:i5t,than the home and table consumption
of wine, as it is illustrated in the daily life of the Upper Californians.

Taking leave of Napa, we returned to our train and resumed our jour-
ney to St. Helena, which was our next place for stopping. On arriving
there, in an hour or two from our departure, we were astonished to find an-
other banquet ready spread for our consumption. The consuming power
of man, as it respects banquets, is inversely as the square of the number.
The department of the interior is not of infinite capacity. The human
stomach has its metes and bounds. Doubtless, the greatest increase of its
capacity is due to travel and excitement. However this may be, we again
feasted at St. Helena, and I doubt whether the good ladies who administered
to us of their bounty, and the officials who welcomed us in speeches, were
aware, from any manifestations on our part, that only three hours before we
had, in like manner, suffered in the cause of civilization.

To the Base of Shasta. 285

St. Helena is another of those beautiful valley towns which so abound in
the lowland regions of California. These towns are in a state of rapid de-
velopment and progress. Of this there can be no doubt. Nearly all of them
have their boom, and are defiantly declaring, in the face of heaven and earth,
that that particular spot is the original Eden and the coming Paradise.
Much allowance must, of course, be made for this exaggeration; but after all
necessary deductions have been made on the score of the hyperbolical lan-
guage of the Californians, it must still be allowed that in respect to substan-
tial enterprise and public spirit, and real confidence in the future, these ris-
ing cities of California are worthy of the highest praise.

The majority of the towns which our Society visited during its stay on the
Pacific coast range from three to ten thousand inhabitants to each. The peo-
ple of these communities are wide-awake, progressive, and especially indus-
trious. I am free to say that I think a lazy man in California would starve to
death in a fortnight — that is, starve or steal. On the other hand, enterprise
has a golden reward. There is a vast deal of speculation on every side, and
in all kinds of properties. The first form which it takes is the speculation in
real estate. All the towns are thronged with real estate brokers. Their
•voices are on every corner. They are a shrewd class of citizens; but, after
all, most of them whom we met were gentlemanly in their manners and
straightforward in their discourse.

The same remarks made with respect to the wime interest at Napa may
be applied to St. Helena. The vineyard is here the principal thing, and the
vines are of the wine-producing variety. It is the one great interest of the
people of the Napa valley — not that they are incapable of producing an
almost endless variety of other fruits, but the region is specially adapted bj'
nature to the production of the wine grape. The consequence is that as
this interest is developed the wineries more and more abound. I doubt
whether any census could gather the precise details of the wellnigh infinite
production of wine in this valley. The people of St. Helena gave us a mag-
nificent dinner, and our ride through the region round about was one of
continued interest. It was at this point that the eminent Secretary of the
Society, Hon. William H. Ragan, of Indiana, rejoined our company, after an
absence which had covered the whole space of our journey from San Jose to
St. Helena.

During our tour to the north, through the various towns en route, many
persons of distinction in this part of California, as well as committees and
delegations froin the towns ahead, were constantly joining us for a part of
our journey. Our dejjarture from St. Helena was in the mid-afternoon, and
we now made our way at full speed for the capital of the St ite. The distance
from San Francisco to Sacramento is ninety miles, and the schedule re-
quired our presence at the latter city at 5 p. m. After all our local excur-
sions and banqueting, and other unforeseen delays, we reached the capital
on time. On going into the commodious station we were greeted by a great
throng, drawn thither by curiosity to witness our arrival. A deputation

286 Beyond the Sierras.

from the city authorities came to meet ViS, and in a short time we were dis-
tributed thruugli the city, partly at our own will and partly at the will of
others.

The companion of the writer, as we walked up to the principal street,,
said to him, "On an old counter in a little house standing on that corner I
one time saw a bushel of gold dust in a single heap." There are some mar-
velous things not only about the history of Sacramento, but also about its-
present conditions and surroundings. When the city was built the valley
here was at a much lower level than at present. In fact, the first stories of
the houses are now underground, so that buildings on principal streets ap-
pear to be lower by one story than they are. That is, the floors of the
second stories are now on a level with the streets— and thereby hangs a tale.

Know then, 0 reader, that gold has been produced in this State of Cali-
fornia. At the first the method, as you know, was the simple placer mining,
which so easily enriched the tirst adventurers. The accessible free gold, how-
ever, became scarce at length, and new methods of procuring it had to be
adopted. About twenty years ago hydraulic mining came into vogue. Reser-
voirs of water were established in the mountains. This was brought down in
great conduits, ending in a tremendous nozzle, sometimes as much as nine
inches in diameter. Few processes in the practical arts have ever more strik-
ingly illustraied the force and vehemence of natural agents than did the tre-
mendous, irresistible column of water shooting from the nozzle of the hy-
draulic apparatus. This water, directed against the hill-sides and mountain-
sides, knocked everything to right and left, and dashed and poured down the
solid earth and tumbling rocks in chaotic torrents into the sluices. The latter
were sometimes miles in length. A sluice resembles a mill-race. It is virt-
ually the same. Across the bottom are nailed the cleats, over which the
rushing torrent of muddy water pours along in its precipitous descent, but
deposits, as it flows, its heavy particles of gold. These lodge against the up-
per sides of the cleats, and afterward are gathered, a veriti\ble golden harvest.

Now, the debris and detritus of all this business found its way, of course,
into the tributaries or main channels of the upper California rivers, and
they began to lill up and overflow their banks. The process continuetl,and
the streams spread wider and wider over the bottoms. These low lands
were the agricultural lands of the State, rich and valuable. In many places
the farmers along the banks of the rivers were at first disturbed, and then
ousted from their ranches. The towns and cities were frequently built on
the river banks, and these likewise felt the disastrous effects of the over-
flowing waters. Thus it was that here at Sacramento the river rose to a
higher and higher level. Dikes were used, and these in their turn were
overflowed. The streets were raised, and still the process went on.

Here, then, was a conflict. The agricultural and commercial interests
were arrayed on one side, and the hydraulic miners on the other. The ripa-
rian Franks went to war with the gold-gathering Burgundians of the mount-
ains. The contest waxed furious. Never was a suit in any court pressed

To the Base of Shasta. 287

•with more vigor and determination. Tlie issue was made along the old lines
of the common law. The people below asked that the people above be en-
joined from ruining the California plains by their nefarious business. The
miners resisted to the utmost, contending for the rights and interests of
their great industry; but the other party prevailed. The cause was carried
to the Supreme Court of the State, and the injunction which had been
granted below was declared valid for all time to come. As a result hydraulic
mining came to a sudden end, not, however, until a considerable modifica-
tion had been effected in the river levels of Upper California. This is why
we find to-day on the banks of the Sacramento, where he traverses the capi-
tal city of the State, these high dikes to prevent his ravages in times of
flood, and this is why the city of Sacramento in all of its older parts has a
squatty appearance.

During the interval between his arrival and nightfall the writer enjoyed
the pleasure of a brief call upon that distinguished California senator, New-
ton Booth, whose voice, some years ago, was among the first and clearest to
ring out like a clarion against the encroachments of those tremendous mo-
nopolies which have become, in some sense, the menace and nightmare of
our republican institutions.

Sacramento is a large and flourishing city. Its present population is,
according to my estimate, some forty thousand. It is a commercial metrop-
olis. I am not aware that manufacturing enterprises have obtained much
foothold ; and I should think that merchandising is here the most profitable
pursuit. One thing impressed me as peculiar to the situation, and that was
that Sacramento is less given to hyperbolical diction with respect to her
own merits and prospects than almost any other city, big or little, in the
Oolden State. Civic modesty is not a virtue generally distributed in the
municipalities of the West; but Sacramento is an exception. She respects
herself, and has the confidence of a well-bred lady who knows her merits,
but is rather too proud to say much about them. The city is well laid out.
The State-house, at which the citizens have prepared an evening reception
for our Society, is an admirable structure as to its architectural qualities
and adaptations. It is in the Hall of Representatives that our banquet has
been spread, and here, in the evening, we are greeted and welcomed by one
of the most elite and hospitable throngs of people that we have ever met.
They treat us as their friends and acquaintances. They escort us to the
banquet hall There we are seated at elegant tables, each for six guests at
a sitting.

I have already referred in advance to the elegance and refinement
of our Sacramento banquet. It was a nonpareil artair from beginning
to end. The arrangement of the tables, with their beautiful flowers and
■elegant array of fruits and viands, gave unmistakable token of woman's
hand and taste. An excellent programme of speeches and music had been
prepared for the occasion. The principal address of welcome was delivered
by Postmaster R. D. Stephens, A^ho gave us a cordial greeting and all hail to

288 Beyond the Sierras.

the capital of the State. One attractive feature of the evening's entertain-
ment \va^ the tine music on the piano-forte ami zithern, by Professors Ollort
antl Lennet. A|)i)ropriate addresses were also delivered by Hon. .\. L. Hart
and Hon. L. W. Maslin; and then came the presentation to each member
of the Society and visiting guest of an impression of the great seal of Cali-
fornia, tlie s.ime being made by Hon. W. C. Hendricks, Secretary of State.
The addresses in response were made by President Parker Earle, who, on
such occasions, always did honor to the Society and himself; also, by Vice-
President T. V. Munson ; J. M. Smith, of Wisconsin; Hon. M. M. Estee, of
Napa: Hon. Nelson Bogue, of New York, and the writer of this sketch. It
shouUl be said in this connection that by the time of our arrival in Upper
California our abilities as post-prandial rhetoricians had been much im-
proved by practice. It is an old saw of Dr. Johnson that repetition brings
facility. After the speech-making of our banquets our hosts always roundly
applauded us, and we applauded them. Since we were generally in the
majority, our applause prevailed. It is a great thing to be Americans.

Let this also be recorded, that we did not at our Sacramento banquet
simply sit down and eat and eat. Many of the most distinguished ladies of
the city did us the honor of their company to the tables, where the conver-
sation and merriment were more pleasing to us, who still had a memory of
Napa and St. Helena within us, than the good things which were disposed
in the vases around us.

It was part of the magnificent accommodations furnished us by the
Southern Pacific Railway that we should have the^. benefit of our sleeping-
coaches everywhere and at all times. It required but a few minutes for us,
at any time, to have the rest of our Pullman cushions by day and the privacy
of our berths by night. After the Sacramento banquet we bade our hosts
farewell and were soon asleep in our coaches. With the coming of morn-
ing we rolled away from the capital, not without regret. .\t the middle of
the forenoon we passed the town of Marysville, where, at a later time of day,,
we were to have — what do you think, O reader ?— a banquet.

For the present we whirled on to the north, and a little before noon
reached our present destination, at Oroville — that is, in the tongue of our
fathers. Gold Town. Senator Jones, of this county of Butte, and a delega-
tions of citizen with carriages, met us at the station. Oroville is another of the
newer towns of Upper California, though the piace has been known and in-
habited .since the time of the first excitement following the discovery of gold^
Indeed, it is only a short distance from this place to where the great dis-
covery was made; that is, the alleged discovery. The Spaniards had for a
long time known of the existence of gold dust in paying quantities in this
region ; but it remained for Captain Sutter's mill-race and the spring of '48 to
set the news a booming round the world.

Our hosts at Oroville were anxious for us to see and admire the
horticultural resources of their country; and we saw and admired. The
reader will be surprised to know that away up here on the banks of

To the Base of Shasta. 289

Feather river, .it a distance, as the crow flies, of four hundred miles
from Los Angeles, and over live hundred miles from San Diego, the
orange trees, and even the lemon trees, growing in the open yards were
laden with fruit, as in the far south, and that the evidences of the winter's
f rose were scarcely more distinctly seen on the leaves and branches here
than on those at Santa Ana and Riverside. A strange climate is this. You
can not generalize about it at all. The climate of every little district is
its own. It is astonishing to find away inland little whorls among the
mountains and patches of valley so situated as to receive the warm breath
of the far Pacific and to feel the genial caresses of that influence the
year around. I say you can not generalize about anything in California.
Everything is local and peculiar. Each district is a study. The very
mountains are personal. Each river has its caprices and individuality.
One of our company frankly and fully summarized the whole business
by saying, " This country beats the dickens." That is true, my friends.
Whatever that great philosophical fact called the dickens may be, it is, I
think, the precise term with which to define the climate of California; and
I am obliged to the genius who first made the application.

Meanwhile, we are bowling along through this somewhat broken but
very beautiful country around the town of Oroville. We have a drive of
two and a-half hours. We see the young city with its orange trees in the
yards and orchards. To tell the truth, however, we had now become so
much accustomed to this thing that it had somewhat palled on our senses ;
and we were delighted when our cavalcade drove into the great gold-mining
plateau northwest of the town. Here every faculty was keenly awake, and
our people quickly jumped from the carriages to inspect the field where the
great hydraulic engines had done their work and then disappeared after
their battle with the riparians on the banks of the Sacramento.

The scene was really wonderful. Yonder are the mountain-sides against
which the tremendous torrents of water had been directed ; and here, over a
vast area almost level, are spread the bowlder wrecks of the devastation.
Here are sections of the old sluices down which the torrent rushed. They are
still filled with running water, but it is now directed to the distant fields and
orchards, where its fertilizing power is to be manifest in fruits and flowers.
Turning again to the city, we see in the distance, to the right, the little
town of Thermalita, recently platted, and already claiming its place as a
flourishing young community. At Oroville we did not banquet, for the
reason that the Southern Pacific had kindly provided otherwise. Certain
it is that the city could have fed us, and then taken up twelve hundred
baskets-full of fragments.

The town of Oroville is on a branch line of the railway leading from
Sacramento to Redding. Ic is the present terminus of that line. After
leaving the place we returned at once to Marysville, where we were received
in the usual way and were banqueted with the usual profusion. Here again
the abundance of wines was noticeable at the festival. It is needless to re-

290 Beyond the Sierras.

peat what has been said of the other civic banquets tendered to our Society
with respect to our feast at Marysville. It was as bountiful as the rest, and
as full of good will and generosity on the part of them who gave it. Our
stay in the city was brief. The schedule made it so; and as a consequence
our view of the town and its surroundings was less extensive than at many
other places. It is due to say, however, that our brief glance at the growing
town and the products of the country around it satisfied us as to its prosper-
ity and promise.

Eiirly in the afternoon we whirled away on our ascent of the valley as
far as the town of Chico. At the outset of this sketch the author begged the
privilege of painting his landscapes with his own paint and brushes. He
assumes that that privilege was granted ; and so here is what he sketches of
the city of Chico: He thought, and thinks, that there was manifest in this
town, and by the people thereof, more enthusiasm and, if he must descend
to vulgar speech, more get-up-and-get than at any point which we visited in
Upper California. To begin with, the whole population were out to greet
us on our arrival. The streets about the station were black with people.
The balconies were full of them, and some were on the house-tops. They
had the best band which I heard in all California, excepting only that of
the Palace Hotel. As we rolled into the station there was a regular blast of
music. The platform blossomed with handkerchiefs; and a long row of
elegant carriages flashed in the sunshine.

A great part of the excellence of our reception at Chico must be at-
tributed to the energy and influence of its most distinguished citizen,
General John Bidwell. He was at the head of the delegation to receive
us, and gave direction to our course through and about the city. I must
say, en passant, that General Bidwell is, in his personal appearance and
address, one of the most impressive and dignified characters whom we
met in California. He has not only a magnificent physique and urbane
manners, but also a notable history. In his youth he was the owner of an
estate in Missouri, but lost it by some fraudulent process directed against
his title. Disgusted and angered with this disaster, he left what was then
the extreme west of the United States and took his course toward the
sunset. He was with a small company of adventurers, like himself, search-
ing for fortune in some land where legal technicalities could hardly stand
against equity, particularly when the latter was backed by physical courage.

This was in 1S41. It is thought to have been the very lirst comijany
of white men that ever crossed the Sierras into Upper California. General
Bidwell procured, at length, here at Chico, a vast claim to one of the most
fertile regions imaginable. His ranch to-day has an extent of 23,000 acres.
It is one of the best, if not the very best, estates of its kind in California-
It is a fruit-growing ranch, not a vineyard, and is in a better state ol devel-
opment than any other which I visited during our stay on the Pacific coast.
By this I mean that General Bidwell's orchards are older and more matured
than any other through which we passed on our tour. The General himself

To the Base of Shasta. 291

tieaded our company on the drive through the grounds about his residence
and through the long avenues separating orchard from orchard, until the
eye was actually weary with measuring their extent. The ranch produces
almost every variety of fruits, but the stone fruits are predominant.

I believe that General Bidwell lays no stress upon producing oranges or
any of the genus citrus ; but you should see his apricots, and plums, and
peaches, and French prunes, and cherries, and figs, and English walnuts, et
id omne genus ad infinitum. These are the largest and finest trees that I
saw in California. Of all the positions which the private citizen may occupy,
I know of none in the limits of my observation which can quite compare in
independence and real dignity with that of this leading citizen of Chico.
While sweeping along through one of his lanes, bordered with fruit trees,
the General pointed out to us one of his cherry trees which, in the summer
of 1887, yielded him 1,750 pounds of cherries!

On one part of the great ranch is a colony of civilized Indians. They
are the descendants of those Diggers who have been regarded as among the
least promising of all the Indian tribes. Here, however, their character and
circumstances are greatly changed. They are polite, well informed and
fairly educated. Their village has- its school-house and its church ; and I
should judge that the relations between them and the General are most
amicable and mutually desired. One of the leading red men of the settle-
ment rode with us, in our vehicle, about the ranch. On our course I noticed
■a fine establishment of bees in a little glade among the orchards. In those
parts of California which we visited the apiary was more rare than I had
expected, and the sight of the well-arranged colonies in General Bidwell's
grounds was delightful to all philapians, of whom the writer claims to be one.

The city of Chico is a credit to this part of the Sacramento valley. It is
a delightful place as we saw it. The country is level as a floor. The soil is
dark and rich and deep. There is an appearance of enterprise. Our whole
out drive, it is true, was within the limits of the Bidwell ranch; but when it
is remembered that this of itself covers almost exactly the area of one of our
Middle-State civil townships of thirty-six sections, it will not surprise that
we did not see beyond it. On our return through the town to the station
we were again greeted by the great throng there assembled, who, with
music, and waving handkerchiefs, and ringing cheers, bade us adieu as we
steamed away on our voyage.

Late in the afternoon of this day we arrived at the little town of Vina.
Perhaps the name village might better define it. Indeed, we might have
run through it without noticing the station, but in that event we should
have passed without heed one of the most interesting places in Upper Cali-
fornia. It is made so by the fact that here is situated the great vineyard of
Senator Leland Stanford, said to be the largest in the world. It contains in
a single body 3,575 acres. If my computation was correct, the vines num-
ber 2,860,000. These figures convey no adequate impression of the extent
of this marvel among the vineyards. The grapes are of the wine-producing

292 Beyond the Sierras.

variety, I think exclusively so. The winery is established in the town, not
far from the stivlion. A short walk brought us to it. It is of almost incon-
ceivable dimensions and capacity. In the season of vintage the grapes are
brought in wagon-loads to the winery, and carried aloft in elevating cars,
where they are discharged into four great crushers. These are capable of
receiving and crushing four hundred tons of grapes per day. I suppose
that a large wagon-bed would not hold more than a thousand pounds of
grapes in the bunch. At this rate you see that the crushing apparatus has
a capacity of eight hundred wagon-loads per diem I It is almost incredible;
but our information was received from the superintendent of the winery
himself, and can not be doubted. After the crushed grapes have fermented
with their own juice in the vats they rise to the surface, and the wine is
drawn off below. This is then stored in the great casks to await maturity.
The capacity of these casks in the Stanford winery is l,50n,00(t gallons: and
we were told that at the time of our visit more than a million gallons were
in the casks.

After a brief examination of this marvelous industry, and just at night-
fall, we hurried away to Redding, which was the northern terminus of our
tour. On our arrival it was already dark, and the evening was rainy, greatly
to the chagrin of the people. The citizens had prepared for our reception,
and had spread a b-n-q-t for our benefit. They had done their best, too,
and, I believe, were justly proud of the display which they were able to
make. You will see from a glance at the map that we had now reached the
uppermost limits of the great valley of the Sacramento, and from the eleva-
tion it might well be inferred that we were out of the range of fruits and
flowers in their season. But not so. The fine reception cards which the
committee had provided for us had pinned to each an orange leaf taken
from trees in full exposure in the yards and orchards of the place, and every
leaf, notwithstiinding the unprecedented severity of the recent squall, was
as darkly green and fresh as though frost had never been. These cards were
brought away with us as trophies, and mine is now before me. Our banquet
was in an upper hall. Redding is, as yet, a sort of frontier town, but the
evidences of that fact around us abated no whit from the excellence of our
entertainment, and its enjoyment by the recipients. The speeches this
evening were unusually good. One delivered by a young lawyer and poli-
tician, whose name I regret to have forgotten, was really a piece of elo-
quence and good sense in rare combination. The officers and members of
our Society were also fairly happy in their responses — not happy because of
anything they had taken, but their speeches had the quality of happiness.
The festival ended, and again we sought our berths.

The cards of invitation just referred to were very elegant in their way,
having a fine engraving on each of old Mt. Shasta. ShasUi, we soon found,
is the tutelar divinity of Redding. True, his lordship is sixty miles away,
in his habitation of snow, but in this clear air that distance is only a span.
With the early morning we are out to see the town, not much of a city as

To the Base of Shasta. 293-

yet, but declaring herself, with great emphasis, to be in the line of the suc-
cession, aye, to be first in the succession of great places. At the eastermost
end of the principal cross street is a rise, toward which the straggling tour-
ists took their way at sunrise. They went thither to get a view of Shasta. His
place yonder above the mountains is plainly visible, but the giant himself —
ah ! miserable misfortune for us to have it so — has this morning pulled his
cowl of clouds around his head and shoulders, and will not be seen.

S'l with the morning we turn our faces to the south, from this upper
end of the Sacramento valley, and begin our voyage of return. Only two
stops are contemplated now until we shall reach San Francisco. A deputa-
tion from the town of Red Bluff and another from Woodland had joined us,
to urge our stopping with them on our way. Red Bluff is similarly situated
to the other towns already described. It is also similar in appearance, in re-
sources and in promise. It has its things to boast of, and its boom. We
were received with the greatest cordiality, and the speaker who addressed
us from a hack did himself honor, and closed by proposing to ride with the
handsomest lady which the Society could furnish him. She was promptly
brought forth, and her name was — ? Her residence ? The writer and his
immediate companions had the pleasure of being taken up by Andrew
Knetzer, Esq., an old-time Hoosier and a Forty-niner. Away we went
through the town suburbs, across the level plain, somewhat sandy in this re-
gion, and slightly reddened, as I supposed, with protoxide of iron. It is an
agricultural and fruit-growing region, rich enough to satisfy, and in a state
of progress and development. Our stay was brief, as our schedule required
our presence at Woodland by the middle of the afternoon. So, with the
usual hurry and farewells, we are again aboard, and rapidly whirling on.

I will venture to send the greetings of the Society to the deputy of
Woodland, who came to meet us, Mr. W. M. Coward. I do so not more as a
compliment to the most magnificent physique I saw in California than as a
word of respect for those excellent qualities of mind and heart without
which physical manhood is of little use. At Woodland we had our last ban-
quet in the Sacramento valley. It was a good one, too, and was administered
with wholesale generosity. I will not enlarge upon the promise of the young
city, or the fruitfulness of the country round about. On these topics the
narrative, I fear, has already dropped into repetition. But Woodland is as
good and pleasant as the rest. Our local excursion carried us to the inter-
esting ranch of Mr. R. B. Blowers, who gave us an instructive experience in
the matter of irrigation. Woodland's specialty, as she claims, is her abun-
dance of water at a very limited depth underground. From fifteen to thirty
feet generally brings the digger to a supply which might well satisfy old
Aquarius himself. It is on this line that Mr. Blowers has supplied his ad-
mirable ranch with water for irrigation. His well was certainly well enough,
for the purpose — the biggest and most copious lever sxw. Near by were the
engine-house and a tremendous double pump, and yonder, at the distance of
thirty yards, was the issue pipe, about fourteen inches in diameter ; turned

294 Beyond the Sierras.

up as to its end. Out of this came bulging and boiling, to the height of sev-
eral feet, a column of water sufficient to wet a desert. From this source of
supply conduits extend to the various parts of the ranch. Nor do I forget,
ere wo tjiko our way for tht> metropolis, to mention what th(» ladios of the
mansion, tho daughters of Mr. Blowers, I believe, had prepared f^r vi:« in the
Avay of souvenirs. They had gathered some of the beautiful ivy leaves from
the yards, had varnished them to an exquisite finish, and put thereon, in
gold loaf, their monogram of welcome. Thank you, 0 ladies and maidens of
Woodland, and good-by.

We are now on our way to San Francisco. It is not yet night, by any
means; and if Vice-President Munson and Mr. J. H. Wheeler, Chief Viti-
cultural Officer of California, and Mr. Bogue, and other disMnguished
friends, who occasionally gather in the lobby of the Pullman to settle such
little questions as the origin of life, the genesis of nature and the rirst prin-
ciple of human action, will excuse me for a little while, I will indulge in a
brief reverie about the transformation which has taken place in the indus-
tries of California.

At the lirst, you know, the old American Californians, as distinguished
from the Spanish-Mexican Californians, were diggers of gold. That is what
they crossed the plains and the mcuntains for. They poured into these
regions as adventurers, and flourished as miners; that is, they flourished at
intervals. I learned ttie history of many of these old mining heroes. It is'
sometimes, most pathetic. One of the lines of Defoe, I believe, runs in this
wise:

" Full thirteen times have I been rich and poor."

This statement of the case will hardly do justice to the career of mari^'
an old Forty-niner. I have heard, from what I consider good authority
that more than one half of the brave fellows who rushed from the older
States to yonder gold diggings in the summer and fall of 1849 are now in
indigent circumstances, and that many of them are the recipients of public
aid and support. I am sorry to hear it. I have not seen one of the old fel-
lows in all this journey without a kind of warming of the heart for him and
his career. They were a brave band, and, with all their recklessness and
prodigality and wasteful dinging away of their gold dust in folly and hazard,
they deserve to enjoy a full sliare of that wealth which thoir hard hands
grabbled from the sands of tho rivers and the dtbris of the mountains. To
every Forty-niner whose worthy hand I had the pleasure of shaking in the
Golden State — golden to him, I hope, in memofy— I send a cordial greeting

So, then, the first industry in California was the mining of gold. Every
other enterprise, at the beginning, was .second to this. The early com-
munities arranged themselves with respect to the 8Ui)ply and distribution
of gold. Gold made Sacramento, and gold converted the Spanish Verba
Buena into San Francisco. Little or nothing else was thought of as it
respected the possible industries in the Eldorado. I was told, by those who
saw the California valleys in that day, that no one would have imagined

At the Base of Shasta. 295-

them susceptible of reclamation from the wild dominion of nature. As for
the mountains, they have not yet been reclaimed, and I hope will never be.
They say that the lowlands, in the times of the mining fever, were covered
with such rank growths out of the fecund bosom of the earth as could not
be paralleled or imagined. A gentleman told me at Pasadena that he saw
that valley when it was covered with a growth of weeds so high that a brig-
ade of cavalry would have been swallowed up in the brake. Thus, mining.-
was everything. And the evening and the morning were the First Day.

But, in course of time, a change swept over the industrial landscape.
It was found that another source of wealth, as golden as that of the hills,
existed in the soil. As the valleys were cleared of their weeds rich grasses
took their place, the succulence of which invited all them that chew the
cud to fill themselves with the juices and fibers of this tender vegetable life.
So came the cattle, and so came the sheep. Their name was legion— herds
here and herds there and herds everywhere. They multiplied to thousands.
They lay like shadows on the distant plain. They yielded all manner of
profit to the rancheros, who scarcely knew their own, for multitude. So
came the heyday of cattle-raising in the valley lands of California. It was
one of the greatest of harvests ; but, like many other of the rich things
which crown the industry and enterprise of man, it endured but for a season-
Not, indeed, that the resources upon which it was founded failed, not that
the products of the herd, yielding some sixty, some a hundred fold, were
less valuable than when the new industry was in its prime ; but the epoch
passed by natviral evolution into a new phase of industrial life. And the
evening and the morning were the Second Day.

A third form of enterprise now made its appearance, promising, if pos-
sible, still greater rewards. It appears at the present day, through our clear
backsight of the situation, that the great fertility of the soil of these valleys
would have been one of the most patent facts, even to the first inhabitants ;.
but such was not the case. Adventurers ran pell-mell over the riches un-
der foot, to find the more glittering, but hardly more palpable, wealth of the
hills. Long before the beginning of the decline in the great stock interests
of California the third phase of industry had appeared in the cultivation of
the soil. The old Californians were at first dependent upon importation for
almost everything which they consumed. They produced nothing, and
purchased everything. The things eaten were a foreign product. Even
the meats, with the exception of game, which then abounded, were brought
from foreign markets. But, with the beating about of enterprise, the people
came at length to discover the wealth of the soil ; and here began the third
great era of the industrial life of the Pacific coast. It was farming on a large
scale. It is needless to say how great was the yield in this form of industry.
The leading products were wheat and barley and oats ; and all the cereals came
in the train. Then it was that fields, the vastness of which made the eye of
the beholder ache with the distance of their further borders, spread out on
every hand. The agricultural resources of the State became enormous, and

296 Beyond the Sierras.

it was not long until foreign and disUml markets felt the impact of new
tides which had their rise in the granaries and mills of California. And the
evening and the morning were the Third Day.

With the increased agricu'tural development of the State there came to
pass a conflict between the farmers and the cuttle ranchers, similar, some-
what, to that already described between the riparians and the hydraulic
miners. This is to say that, as farming increased, the difficulty of conduct-
ing the cattle and sheep ranches Wiis augmented. The fence question was
at the bottom of it. The immense farming regions could not be fenced in.
Where was the timber for it? Where was anything else in sufficient abun-
dance to bound po vast inclosures? The herds, wandering over the valley
plains, drifted into the growing fields; and the farmers cried out against
the herdsmen. About a decade ago the No-fence Law was passed, by which
the farmers were relieved of the necessity of fences and the whole burden
was thrown on the ranchers. It was a crushing blow. Since that event the
business of herding has, I think, rapidly declined in nearly all parts of Cali-
fornia. It has given place to the third and, more recently, that fourth form
of industry which remains to be noticed.

This fourth form is the horticultural phase. I suppose that it originated
in discovery; that is, it became, in course of time, a patent fact that California
was the place for raising fruits. It was found that the garden, as well as the
vast field of the farmer, was a source of limitless revenue. In the oUl Spanish
times it was already well known that the grape abounded and lluurished in
these regions; but the fact was of little utility to them. From the days of
Philip II. to the days of Don Carlos the Spanish race has been about the poorest
in the world in the way of applying knowledge to the benefit of men. It ap-
pears that the discovery of the fruitfalness of the lowlands of the Golden Suite
in the products of the garden and orchard came on as Shakespeare's descrip-
tion of love, like a rose in the night. One morning the Californians woke up
and found themselves famous on account of their fruits. It was almost like
the finding of gold in Sutter's mill-race. The fruitgrowing boom came on,
and California entered the present stage of her industrial development. And
the evening and the morning were the Fourth Day.

Thus we find that four tolerably distinct epochs, or, as a son of Israel
would say, four i/ouis, have successively appeared in the industrial history
of California. The first was the Day of Gold, the second was the Day of
Cattle, the third was the Day of Wheat, and the fourth (he Day of Oranges —
.sometimes called the Day of Grapes. According to my horologe the Cali-
fornians are now about ten o'clock in the forenoon of the Day of Oranges.
These reflections may serve, perhaps, to explain the fact that Sunday is so
little observed in California! The Golden State has not yet reached the Day
of Rest in the cycle of her creation. Meanwhile, our engine has plunged,
headforemost, into Oakland.and issues on the pier with his eye on San Fran-
cisco.

Santa Rosa and San Rafael. 297

CHAPTER VI.

SANTA ROSA AND SAN RAFAEL.

Vcdley of Sonoma. — Cattle. — Horses — Landscapes. — Guerneville. — The Redwood
Bottoms. — Reception at Santa Rosa. — Banquet and Speeches. — Local Excur-
sion.— Return to San Francisco. — Invitation to San Rafael. — Hon. Wm. T.
Coleman. — The Reception. — Excursion Through the Coleman Estate. — The
Mouydain View. — BidVs Head Breakfast. — Menu and Speeches. — Back to the
City. — Compliments to Messieurs Coleman a)id Lauck.

Once more we have a night in the metropolis. If we should fail in the
early morn to be off for Sata Rosa, the people of that fine city would never
forgive us. After a night's rest in the Palace, we are again on our way
through the agreeable landscape north of San Rafael. This is the county of
"Sonoma, one of the oldest and most fruitful divisions of California. This is
said especially of the production of grapes. There is a rivalry between So-
noma and the Napa valley as it respects the excellence of their respective
•vineyards. The traveler through either might call it the best until he had
seen the other. The country between Saucelito and Santa Rosa pleased me
•very much, because of its green, Hoosier-like pastures and slight irregulari-
ties of surface in the vallej' lands. I have already referred to the general
dead level of the California valleys. This fact is a great good fortune to all
those districts dependent in whole or in part upon artificial irrigation. I
•believe that the people of Sonoma county have no need to go beyond nature
lor their supply of water in due season.

I saw some fine cattle in this region, on the sloping pastures. As a
general thing, my impression was, and is, that the California herds are not
well bred up ; that is, the cattle are of lower grades than ought to have been
reached years ago. This is not true of the sheep. The flocks seen in the
San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys were largely of Merino extraction ,
well formed and fine as to their woolly coats. I may add that the California
horses present two phases of equine development. In the outlying districts
the bronco is prevalent — an unlovely quadruped as to his temper, and of no
taste in architectural construction. The bronco, 0 reader, is a cross between
an actual horse and the wild pony of these western plains. In size he shows
some evidences of civilized descent ; but his manners and moral character
are deduced from the pony side, and have in them many suggestions of
sage-brush and chaparral. The other aspect of horse-life in California is
very diflferent. These are the fine, well-bred animals, Normans, and Clydes-
dales, and Cleveland Bays, which j'ou see about the liveries and parks of
the larger cities. Here we find some of the finest horses in the United
States. I think it was at St. Helena that I rode behind two splendid dark
bay Norman colts, about two and a half years old, each weighing nearly
sixteen hundred pounds. They were splendid fellows, gentle as Newfound-
land pups, still a little awkward as to their harness, but perfectly tractable

298 Beyond the Sierras.

in the hands of their driver, who was an old Forty-niner. The carriage and
saddle-horses seen on the boulevards winding out from San Francisco to the
Golden Gate are as tine and swift as those that dash with uplifted heads
through the drives of Central Park, or the Bois dv Boulogne, at Paris.

The schedule for the Santa Rosji e.xcursion carries us tirst through the
city and onward to the little town of Guerneville. As you ascend the valley
that unevenness of surface of which I spoke above becomes more pro-
nounced. In fact, by the time we reach (iuernoville we are again among
the mountains. At least, they press us pretty clusely on either hand, espe-
cially the right. It is a general fact in the landscape of California that the
mountain chain begins from the valley. There does not seem to be any
broken region or hill country between the range and the lowlands. I saw
only a single hill in all California, and that was a mound. It rises on the
east side of Pasadena. Here, about Guerneville, are some mounds. You
might call them hills, but the language is not orthodox. On their slopes are
vineyards clear to the top. There is running water in this region, a thing
most grateful to the eyes of our people, and willows grow on the banks, and
cotton-woods— which brings us to the subject of trees again.

It was the tree that brought us to this place, the big tree, the redwood, on
his native heath. And here, sure enough, before we reach Guerneville, and
still more abundantly beyond, is the redwood forest — that is, was the redwood
forest before it was murdered by the lumbermen. 0 man, whoever thou art,^
thou shouldst see the stumps thereof. Here is the big bottom about the little
town of Guerneville, and the whole area is covered with the stumps of the
giants fallen. " It came to pass on the morrow," saith the Scripture, " that
the image of Dagon was fallen from his place, and his hands and his feet
were broken off, so that nothing was left of Dagon but the stump of him."^
So it is, alas! with these gigantic trees.

The general good fortune that attended us on our excursion now failed
us for a day. The railway which has brought us hither is called. I believe^
the Pacific and Oregon Railway ; at any rate, it is the road owned and con-
trolled by Mr. Donahue, who honored us with his presence on the following
day at San Rafael. On the night before our excursion to Santa Rosa a heavy
rain fell in the district between Cloverdale and Guerneville and washed out
some bridges. This accident prevented us from reaching the living redwood
forest. We were obliged to stop at the town and content ourselves with
wandering among the stumps ; but the scene was enough to astonish as an
indication of what had been, before the devastating saw-mill had done it&
work.

The reader must understand that the big trees, so-called, of California
are of two species : the redwood, Serjuoia sempervirens, such as we found
among the low mounUiins between Santa Cruz and San Jos^, and such as we
find here about Guerneville. These, however, are not the true big trees of
Mariposa. The latter are called the Seqiuda gigantea,i\u(\ are considerably
larger and more grand than any true redwood. The stumps which we find

Santa Rosa and San Rafael. 299

in the bottoms about Guerneville range from eight or ten to twenty-one feet
across. It is proper to say, however, that the stumps of these trees give a
somewhat exaggerated testimony as to the size of the trunks. The redwood
flares out as it approaches and enters the ground. It does not come straight
down to the earth, as a black walnut or yellow poplar, but widens and sends
out flanges. The lumbermen saw the trees down by a section about eight
feet from the ground, but even at this height the tree is swollen considerably
beyond its diameter, say fifty feet from the earth

The wood and bark of the redwood have been a hundred times de-
scribed. I will add, however, a touch or two to former contributions.
The great mass of brown bark lying between the outer and rough coat
and the sap of the tree is susceptible of some of the finest appearances
imaginable when it is properly cut. Take a piece of it, thoroughly dried,
and cut it in cross section with a fine and rapid band-saw, and the surface-
will present a seal-brown velvet, fluctuating to the touch like plush, and
giving oft" rich gules when held at an angle with the light. In this form
it makes most elegant cushions for pins, needles, and, indeed, all such in-
struments of torture. A remark may also be added with respect to the
wood. It is, certainly, the most splitable of all vegetable fibers. With a
good, strong pocket-knife you can rive a fence-rail into long fine splinters,
so perfect and free is the grain. Nearly all the wooden buildings in this
part of the country are made of redwood. The yield of lumber from one of
these forests reaches out toward infinity. The Santa Rosans, later in the
day, showed us a handsome and commodious church in the city which was
made, from sill to pinnacle, from the lumber of a single tree.

After a stay of an hour or two at Guerneville, we returned to Santa
Rosa, which was, indeed, the principal aim and end of our journey. I
should estimate the population of the place at six or seven thousand, may
be more. One of the best of our receptions and banquets had been made
ready for the arrival of the Society. A delegation of leading citizens con-
ducted us to the opera-house, and there made to us elegant and appropriate
speeches. Thus did Colonel M. L. McDonald, and thus did Dr. A, F. White
and Mr. H. W. Byington. The responses were by Vice-President Munson
and Messieurs J. H. Masters, of Nebraska ; Professor Van Deman, of the
Division of Pomology at Washington; J. M. Smith, of Wisconsin; G. P.
Pefter, of the same State; Dr. O. P. S. Plummer, of Oregon ; and J. C. Rid-
path, of Indiana.

The local excursion through the city and surrounding country was
under the direction of Hon. M. L. McDonald. It was a delightful drive,
through a region most fertile, rich in growing fruit trees, and beautiful
by adornment. One of the most exquisite views I had in California was
from the high ground in the cemetery, looking toward the sundown. On
our return to the city our section of the cavalcade passed through the
beautiful grounds of Mr. McDonald, where everyth'ng that artistic taste
•21

300 Beyond iJn Sierras.

and rolinement could suggest had contributed to the variety and orna-
mentation of the premises.

S.mta R J3i\, with many other of the C.iUfornia towns, has pvid and is
still paying close attention to the tree-growths in her streets. They are
lined on both sides with Hne rows of eucalyptus and pepper trees, and fur-
nish as handsome drives as may be found in any of the outlying towns of
"^California. Before reaching the city, I noticed in a suburban p.isture the
finest Jerseys that I saw in the State.

The banquet over, and the sights seen, we gather again to our coaches
and are away. Now, for the fourth time, does our journey bring us to San
Francisco for the night. I have not yet attempted to say anything in
externa about the metropolis, and will not for the present. Our st^iys, thus
far, in the city have been so brief as to prevent a general scrutiny of its
points of interest. For the present, it is better that we take a nap at the
Palace, or run out, at the risk of small-pox, to Chinatown, or see a play, or
hear a concert, or trav3rse the brilliantly lighted streets, according to our
several ta.stes, until the suggestions of tired limbs compel all to the quiet of
slumber.

The 4th of February was a red-letter day for the Society. Not that
the sensation lay in the direction of horticultural refmemeats, or meretri-
cious exhibitions of art; but a novel experience was in waiting for us. An
invitation had been extended to the Society, by Hon. Wai. T. Coleman, to
visit him at S.ia Rafael, and to accept at his hands the compliment of a buU's-
head breakfast. But what is or was or might be a buU's-head breakfast,
anyhow? It was a conundrum to our company: and, as the event proved,
some grotesque suggestions were made as to how we should demean our-
fielves on the occasion. Of a certainty, it was a royal piece of business from
beginning to end. None who were participants will ever forget it— none
cease to smile with the rising memory of that novel and delightful feast.

At the wharf, with the early morning, we receive our tickets. We Uike
the San Rafael and cross the bay. The breeze in this harbor of San Francisco
is exhilarating, and the waters flash out from your boat in long lines of
light. Mr. Coleman has provided everything conducive to our pleasure
and profit. On our reaching the station, the carriages are in waitini:. and
we are received for an excursion through the precincts of the beautiful
town. It is one of many, but perhaps the most delightful of the suburbs of
San Francisco. Everything here is villa-like; that is, outside of the busi-
ness parts of the little city. Nature was certainly in an aesthetic mood when
this valley was planned and executed. Ouf party, in their carriages, are
carried round and round, through exquisite drives winding between rows
of transplanted trees, and climbing upward by a kind of mountain road,
which Mr. Coleman has constructed through his estiites. I believe that the
premises embrace about four thous ind acres of land. Part of it is valley
and part mountain, and the mountains look on the sea.

Among the many magnificent views which I had in California, I call up

Santa Rosa and San Rafael. 301-

two as preeminent over all — one preeminent fc- beauty and the other for sub-
limity. From the plateau of the Raymond Hotel, in Pasadena, I believe the
scene to have been the most beautiful of any that linger in mj^ senses ; but
from the top of the green mountain to which we wound our way through the
■ever-changing landscape as we climbed its picturesque slopes to the summit —
and which I venture to name Mt. Coleman — the view is absolutely unri-
valed in every element of the picturesque and sublime. Mr. Coleman told
us, on this summit, that Albert Bierstadt, standing on that spot, had
•declared, with 'enthusiasm, that for artistic efiect the landscape spreading
across the valley and to the opposite mountain slopes and summits was the
best he had ever seen.

After drinking in this glorious view for a brief season we descended the
slopes, and were driven through the city. Meanwhile our novel banquet
had reached perfection, and was awaiting our arrival at the Grand Hotel.
On reaching the same, and entering through the cloak-room to the dining-
hall, we did not see such evidences of style in the way of patent leather, cut-
away coats, and unctuous waiters as we had expected. Though we were
cared for in all essentials, it seemed for the nonce that Oscar Wilde had had
nothing to do with it. The fact is, that already in passing to our seats at the
long tables we sniffed the first fresh breezes of emancipation. Glancing at
the tables, we discovered that they were laden with a few staple articles, such
as bread, but not a knickknack from one end to the other, not a flower, not a
napkin, nor any other token of nonsensical civilization. But think thou not,
O reader, that there was nothing to eat. Per contra, there was much more
than much.

Mr. Coleman, our host, from whose abundance and generosity the
whole thing had been prepared, took his place at the head of table num-
ber one. There were fully two hundred of us. By this time the prim and
poker-like demeanor of the men, and what might be uncharitably called the
the fashionable simper of our ladies, had given place to a male grin and a
female smile. The grin spread out until it was like the entrance to Fingal's
cave, and the smile became a rainbow. Explanations, were now in order,
and Mr. Coleman made them. He said that it had occurred to him to give
us, instead of a fashionable dinner, an old-time California feast — an affair of
bonhomie and good cheer instead of formalities and refinements. He ex-
plained that we were about to be served with a bull's-head breakfast, such as
the men of forty-nine and their confreres used to have while civilization on
the Pacific coast still retained something of its masculine vigor and vehe-
mence. The affair, he said, would correspond more nearly to what in the
older States is called a barbecue than to any other ceremonial of eating. It
was the peculiarity of the bull's-head breakfast that all formalities were
thrown away, and all constraint abandoned. He hoped his guests would
conform to this standard of demeanor. They were here at his invitation to
enjoy themselves, and he hoped they would make free with each other and
with the banquet, after the manner of his friends in the olden time. The

302 Beyond the >>h'rr<is.

banquet itself wa;; a thing of Spanish ilesoent, wiili .Mexican nioJirtcations
ami development. He would, accordingly, introduce his head cook to us to
announce the bill of fare. That gentleman, accordingly, stood a moment at
Mr. Coleman's right, dressed after the manner of his profession, and told us,
in fair American English, what he had to serve to us. It was as follows:

1. Cabasa toro con chili e frijoles. This, being interpreted, means bull's
head with red pepper and beans.

2. Chili con carni, which signities red pep))er with meat ; or, in com-
nion language, what is known as a Spanish stew.

3. Poyo con chili, which signifies chicken with red pepper. ^

4. Boyrago chicito sin chili, which is lamb ivillu.ut red pepper.

Here, then, we had four cour-ses announced, three of which were with
chili, and one without it. There is nothing chilly about chili ; it has a warm-
ing efl'ect. Doubtless the lamb was thought by the old Mexicans to be too
young to bear the excitement of chili I

But let us go into details a moment. The cook explained to us how the
bull's head or heads (if there are more than one) are prepared. First, toro
is decapitated; and the head, just as it is, is thrust into a bag like a collee-
sack and sewn up. The bag is then plastered over to a considerable thick-
ness with mud, and the whole is lowered into a furnace or earthen pit,
where red-hot stones have produced the requisite heat. In due time the
head is cooked, and is taken out; the earthen shell is broken oil", the bag
opened and the hide stripped away ; and there you are. Then comes the
seasoning, in which chili is used to an extent which no American throat
could bear without an educational course in pepper. To the Mexican, how-
ever, and to the old Calif ornian as he was in the days of mining, the red
pepper, which is the only seasoning used with meat so cooked, was merely
a pleasant exciUxnt to the appetite. Mr. Coleman told us that in our case he
had ordered only about a fourth of the usual amount of red pepper to be
used. He had tempered the wind to our constitutions.

Now, all ye men beyond the mountains, hear this well. The cooking of
meats, as it is practiced among you, that is among tis, is one of the lost arts.
I repeat and emphasize what I believe to have been the unanimous judgment
of the two hundred of us who breakfasted with Mr. Coleman, that the bull'.s
head served to us in this Hispanio-Mexican fashion wiis the most delicious
of any meat ever offered to our palates ; and the same may be said of the
other courses. The whole was one of those life-giving barbacucs which the
stomach of man understands better than his other faculties. Nothing could
have added to the reckless freedom in the enjoyment of which we soon
found ourselves. We helped each other and called for more; and so on, to
the end of the banquet. The festival was like Homer's Iliad in one respect :
it did not conclude, but merely ceased.

Then we had some speech-making, which was, in like manner, emanci-
pated from the formalities of rhetoric and the precise forms of the syllogism.
Our host made us an address full of cordiality and good will. He also intro-
duced to us Mr. Donahue, president of the railway over which we had jour-

Santa Rosa and San Rafael. 303

sieyed the day before to Santa Rosa. He, too, made us a happy speech.
Two of U3 responded; and what we said is no matter. The echo of it has
died away, and its substance, no doubt, has floated out to sea.

In the afternoon of this memorable day we again boarded our train and
returned through the delightful valley, skirting the bay on our right, to the
boat, which, in due time, carried us over to the metropolis. It is Saturday
night, and we are obliged, according to the programme of the Society, to be
in Riverside Tuesday morning. It is more than twenty-four hours thither,
and we must make ready for the journey. Mr. Coleman accompanied us to
the city. On our way across the bay we had the pleasure of presenting to
him the following brief address :

" The Hon. William T. Coleman has to-day added a personal compliment to
the many official and public favors which our Society has received since coming
to California. At the beautiful mountain garden, San Rafael, which he himself
more than any other his made one of the most charming spots on the globe, we
have been welcomed and entertained in a manner as hospitable as it was unique.
The banquet which he has provided for us has had all the charms of novelty and
informality. At his board nature has taken the place of art, and food has been
substituted for confections. We shall carry with us to our homes beyond the
mountains and recite to our friends no other incident of our stay on the Pacific
coast so satisfying to the natural man, so free in its administration and so appro-
priate in its kind as the banquet given us this day by one whom we shall ever re-
member as our friend."

In the mean time, and for many days, the Society had been nurturing a
grudge against a gen tlemm who had been with us on all of our journeys
from El Paso onward. I refer to Mr. J. B. Lauck, in whose charge we had
been placed on our start from El Paso across the plains. He held, and holds,
the office of traveling passenger agent on the Southern Pacific Railway.
We had not been two hours in his charge, on our way to the Golden State^
until we felt the impact of his management and high qualities as a gentle-
man. He was, in every part of our journey, tireless in his attentions to our
comfort and convenience. His activity in duty foreran our wants and de-
veloped many things for our pleasure and interest of which, if they had been
omitted, we would have been none the wiser. He gained the confidence
and then the friendship of our whole company, and, while retaining a sense
of his official duty, made himself as one of us from beginning to end of our
tour. We had already made up our minds to request of Mr. T. H. Good-
man, general passenger and ticket agent of the Southern Pacific, the ad-
vantage of Mr. L\uck's presence with us on our way to Riverside, and this
was cordially granted In return for what the latter gentleman had done
for us, and as a token of appreciation, the Society availed itself of the oppor-
tunity furnished in crossing the bay to gather Mr. Lauck into the cabin, to
make him a speech and to put into his hand a few double eagles of Cali-
fornia gold. We also invited him to bring Mrs. Lauck among us for intro-
duction and congratulations, and tendered him a certificate of membership
in the Society. May they live long and be happy.

304 Beyond the Siirni.s.

CHAPTER VII.

RIVERSIDE AND FINIS.

The Upper San Joiujuin. — Appearanci- nj the. Muuiitdin Ranges. — Noted Peaks. —
Remarks on the Clinuitt i/ Otlifurnia. — TempenUure. — Atnwtpheric Ten-
sion.—Humidity. — Rttinfidl in V'uriuiis Regions. — Climatic Variatiuna >i»
Affkteil bji Man. — The Sea niul Muunlains in Relation to Climate— Dry-
ness of Ccdifurnia. — DistribiUvm af Animal Life. — The Goplier. — Thi' Mar-
(jiiis. — The Tehaehapi. — Big Locumnlives.— Death Valley ami Us Borax
Beds. — Cheerfid Names. — The Angels Again.— An Ideal Indian. — CoUun. —
At Riverside. — A Lint of R'rsonalities. — Riirrside Herself. — Tlie CUrns Fair. —
D'tails of the Exhibit.- Th- Recf'ptiuu. — Speeehf's.—L>ccd Excursion.— M"g-
ndia Avenue. — Highway and Border Trees. — Orange Orehanls Galort'. —
Species of TJiem. — Break-up of the Excursion. — Slight Heart-aches. — Habits
if the Man-Animal. — San Diego E.tcursion. — Tlie Country Thitherward.—
Arrival. — The Del Cownado. — Ocean Outside.- ElK-trictd Cars.— San Di>go
and Los Angeles. — The Two Harbors. — The Gre<d Hotel. — Ostrich Farm. —
Habits (f tlie Alleged Birds.— The Bicific as He Is.— Country About San
Diego. — Old Missions. — Good-by, E.ccursionists.—A Farewell Stroll. — Certain
Competitive Quadrupeils. — San Bernardino Trip. — Rccej^ion There. — Eheu,
Vale! ■

After another pleasant night in San Francisco, we are again away, on
the morning of the oih of February, across the harbor, through Uaklanil, to
our Tulbnans; and we head for distant Riverside, where the second session
of the Society is to be held. It is nearly five hundred miles to Los Angeles,
and ninety miles additional to Colton, which is the Riverside station on the
Southern Pacific. Again the darkness of night makes a long tunnel for us
through the upper portions of the San Joaquin valley. It happened to us
that in traversing this region three successive times we were in the dark»
and, therefore, had no opportunity of scanning the particular features of the
country of the great county of Merced. A compensating advantage existed,
however, in our passage of the Tehaehapi by daylight. Of coursf', some-
thing must be done with these twenty-four hours interposing between the
metropolis and our destination. The ladies of our company were always its
delight; but even with them conversation sometimes finds an end, and you
seek the limited solitude of your own Pullman window to muse in silence
on such topics as the landscape may suggest or past associations bring to
memory.

Again I say that the philosophers of our section must excuse me from
the lobby while we take a brief survey of some subject appropriate to
our voyage — say the mountain pictures of California. These ranges lying
out yonder and bounding the San Joaquin valley <in the east, and on the
west as well, are typical of all the chains in the Gt)lden State. They have a

Riverside and Finis. 305

common feature. Once more I emphasize the fact of the clear revelation of
all the forms of nature in the California landscape. You see everything
as through your Duchesse opera-glass. It is from twenty to forty miles to
the foot of those mountains yonder on the eastern side of the valley. These
are not the mountains which the children, and adult people too, find and
study in their geographies. The latter run up in inaccessible peaks, and
have nothing at all of the vast wall-like appearance of the actual range.

The true mountains rise from the valleys in three successive banks. The
first of these in California, and, I believe, everywhere, are known as the foot-
hills. They are plainly discernible at a distance of five or ten miles, and if
you use your glass you can see cattle and sheep here and there upon the
sloping pastures. Above and beyond the foot-hills the second bench of
mountains appear. These rise about two-thirds of the way to the crest line
of the chain. We may call them the middle range. Beyond these rise the
true Sierras, looking like the cumuli of a June sky in the Middle States, for
their summits are covered with snow and shine with wh teness. The mid-
dle range has no snow, but generally bears a forest of spruce, fir and pine.
The trees along the line of this range may be generally seen with the naked
eye, giving a slightly jagged appearance to the line which defines them from
the snow-capped mountains beyond them. Now, all three of these ranges,
so far as the eye is concerned, constitute a single wall or battlement in the
horizon, dark colored at the base and gradually growing lighter with the
ascent to the glittering crest line of snow. If you look carefully you will be
able to note the two lines along the mountain-side which define respectively
the limit of the foot-hills and the division between the middle range and the
true Sierras.

Distance throws all three of these banks together, and makes them,
to the casual glance, a single bulwark in the horizon. It rises, as a gen-
eral thing, to a height of about thirty degrees, where the crest is defined
in a long, wavy line of light against th« sky. If, however, you journey
thither and climb to the crest of the foot-hills, or first bench, you will find
before you a descent into another valley, btretching laterally before you,
and beyond that valley a wall which consists of the middle range above de-
scribed ; and if you go further and traverse the valley between the foot-hills
and the middle range, and ascend to' the summit of the latter, you will see be-
fore you the still greater descent between those summits and the still more
aspiring heights of the snow mountains beyond. Go back again to your
train in the middle of the valley, and all three ranges melt again into one,
and stand there as a single great wall, rising up in the horizon and dividing
earth from heaven.

A word as to individual mountains seen in California. Two of the very
best are the great heights of San Bernardino and San Jacinto, standing to
the right and left as you enter San Gabriel valley from the south. San Ber-
nardino is rather the finer of the two. He is really a sublime monarch, look-
ing down on the lowland.*, and high enough, I believe, to see over his rival

306 Beyond the Sierniti.

to the i'iiciiic. lijlli lie antl his friend on the opposite sule of the valley are
covered on their upper sides and crests with ccilars and epruce. So clear is
the air that the traveler in the valley between them sees everything on the
slopes and up to the crest with the distinctness given by a spy-glass. The
whole surface iA these mountains shines, almost glitters, in the br.lliant light.

After you enter the S.in .Foaquin valley the best mountain of the Sierras
isMt. Wiiitney. He is clearly visible from Tulare, standing nearly east of that
part of the valey, at a distance of about seventy-five miles. Further to the
nortli, as you journey toward San Francisco, are seen the fine heads of Mt.
GoJdard, Mt. Ritt-r-r, Ml Dun and C istle Peak: but these lie so far back
from the line of the S.in Jo.iquin river as to be less conspicuous than Whit-
ney. The glory of the Sacramento valley at its northern limit is Shastji and
the Lassen Buttes, both plainly visible from Redding. Tiie highest and best
mountain of the Coast Rmge is Ml H imilton, overlooking the valley of S.inta
Clara. A glance at the map will show the reader th it the latter named
■chain of mountains is really a prolongation of the Mexican Sierra Madre,»^.\-
tending at a coast ward angle from F.»rt Yuma to S ui Francisco.

References ha^^e novv been mide L) the general chiracter of the C ili-
fornia valleys, to the ranges of highlands that girdle them in, and, in many
preceding paragraphs, to the Iu;ninous air which bathes all the landscapes
west of the Rocky Mou \tains. Bui I h we not, thus far, enlarged to any ex-
tent upon the peculiarities and special merits of the "glorious climate of
California." Climate, I supp«?, miyb3 called the general result and co-
ordination of the forces of nature as it respects the atmospheric conditions
of a given country. Tnis will embrace, of course, the special considerations
of temperature— as to hot and cold; of barometrical pressure — as to heavy
and light; of humidity — as to moist and dry; of air currents— as to wind and
calm; an I of th3 min )r details of diw fall and frost and the rate of vicissi-
tude by which one condition is changed into another. First, then, as to tem-
perature:

California has a mild and eq lable r.uige, especially along the coast.
In some favored situ itions the variation of the therm mieter is only a few
degrees during tiie whole year. In the valleys east of the Coast Range the
climate is also mild but here the temperature rises to a great height in
summer. On the Sm Joaquin and Sicramento plains the degree of 110
F.direnheit is comm )n in th? hotter m )nlh-i. Twocirctrnst.uices, however,
greatly modify this extreme heat in its etl'jcts on animal life. The air is so
dry and light, and evaporation so rapid, that the human frame suHera
but little from the extreme heat. It is the unanimous testimony of the
people of these districts tint they do not sutler greatly even from theexpess-
ive temper.Uure just named. Statistics attest this assertion, for sun-strokes
and prostrations are more infrequent in these valleys than in many parts of
the country where the upward r.uige of the temperature is less by 20°.

As a general fact, there is neither freezing nor frost in any of those dis-
tricts visited in our journeys of mi)re than seven hundred mile^ from north

Riverside and Finis. 307

to south. At intervals both may be expected, but neither is severe. The cur-
rent winter has been exceptional. The lowest temperature acknowledged to
us at any point was at Chico, where a creditable witness reported 11° F. on one
morning about the middle of January. In the northern part of the Sacra-
mento valley the register on the same day ranged from 16° to 21°. In . the
southern valley, even as far down as Sm Diego, there was frost everywhere,
and some freezing, the temperature being within the limits of 21° to 28° F.
I believe that so far as the present winter is concerned the places most nearly
■exempt from frost, so far as the evidence of vegetation may be trusted, were
Riverside, Santa Barbara, Santa Ana and San Diego. .

In the California valleys the atmosphere is everywhere light and elastic.
This quality is especially sensible to those who have come from beyond the
mountains. There is something really inspiring and invigorating in the
California air. I think that, on the whole, the barometer must show a
lower average register in California than in places of equal elevation in the
countries east of the Mississippi. I note that the average barometric range
along the coast, from San Diego to a short distance north of San Francisco,
is from 30.00 to 30.05. I do not know whether or not there is anything of
hygienic value in these natural conditions beyond the necessary increase of
pulmonary action on account of the lighter air; but the latter circumstance
is, or itself, a great advantage to all animals of small oj restricted lung
capacity ; and so far as man is concerned, whether he be sick or well, he
immediately feels the revival of his powers and activities.

It is evident from history that the humidity of the atmosphere has had
much to do with the development and progress of the human race ; but the
value of this fact depends upon its correlations with other climatic condi-
tions. In a country situated as Great Britain or Iceland, or the Baliic
regions, the prevalence of moisture has been greatly favorable to the powers
and dominating force of the Teutonic family of men. Fog is not to be neg-
lected in the history of civilization. The prevalence of ocean mists, tossed
up into great masses of nimbus, and then split and poured down in copious
showers of rain, has been a pxrt of the constitution of some of the strongest
representatives of the race. In other regions the presence of occasional
humidity, alternating with a succession of arid conditions, has proved dis-
advantageous to the vigor of mankind. And still again, we find certain
pirts of the world of exceeding dryness that are, nevertheless, highly favor-
able to the development and inv'goration of the physical life of man and to
the q.aickening of his intellectual faculties. It is with such situations as
those last named that several parts of the Western United States are in
analogy and likeness. The climate of California is dry— very dry— but its
aridity seems to exercise a beneficial effect upon the people. All animal
life, indeed, in these valleys of the Pacific coast is of extreme vigor, quick-
ness of development, strong fecundity, and of full power in its maturity. I
do not know whether statistics have, as yet, tested the average longevity of
the people of the Pacific coast. I should jiidge, however, that, notwith-

308 Beyond (he Sierras.

standing their extreme activity, they are lont;-lived. I noticed that the age
of the older citizens— .say the Forty niners ;us a clasa — wa.s generally under-
guessed ; but whether this was due to the climate and manner ui life, or to
a vigor which the adventurers had inherited from an unusual parentjjge
beyond the mountains, I do not know.

Now, as to the matter of rain, there is only a slight precipitation in
nearly all the cultivable parts of California. I believe it will prove of inter-
est to the reader to sketch briefly the amount of rain-fall of the various
districts through which we pas.sed on our way to the Golden State and at
different points therein. At Kansas City there is already a diminution of
the copious rains peculiar to the Ohio valley and even the southern parts of
-Missouri. The range in dilfbrent years at that place is from thirty two to
forty-four inches. In the extreme eastern part of the Indian Territory the
rainfall is about the same, but the western parts grow drier, and next to
New Mexico it is only twenty inches. In the valley of Red river the vnri-
ation,sayat Denison, is from forty to fifty-two inches per annum. The
valley of the Brazos has the same range as the Kansas City region. Central
Te.xas averages about thirty-two inches; and the Llano Estacado from
twelve to sixteen inches. Where we crossed the Pecos the average is
twenty inches; and at El Paso abo'it sixteen. A part of Eastern Arizona,
covered by the upper waters of the Gila, has a rain-fall of from twenty to
twenty-four inches, but the western part sinks to less than half that amount.
In the Colorado desert, which we traversed from Fort Yuma toward San
Bernardino, the precipitation is only from four to eight incho<. .\t Los
.\ngeles the range is from twelve to sixteen inches; and the San Joaquin
valley has an average of sixteen. At Napa the rain-chart shows twenty
inches; and at San Francisco the average is from twenty to thirty-two. The
rain-fall in the Sacramento valley is from twenty-four to twenty-eight
inches; and nearer the coast as much as thirty-six inches. When we
remember that the average of the Mississippi valley is from forty-four to
fifty-six inches, and that the more humid parts of the United States have a
precipitation of fifty-six inches and over, we shall be able to estimate the
vast difference in the hygrometric conditions of the eastern and western
parts of our country.

This sketch is by no means a plea for the climate of California : but the
advantages of the drier air must be considered, as well as its drawbacks.
Two of these have already been referred to— the exhilarating effect upon
animals, including man, and the facility with which all vegetable and animal
tissues are put in a state of preservation. One other circumstance of vast
importance remains to be considered, as it respects the climatic condition
of California. It is this: In the older States of the Union the influence of
man in his civilizing work has had a general tendency to deteriorate the
climate. In the Ohio valley, for instjince, the early climate was better
than the climate of to-day. Many conditions have here been superinduced
that have been vastly injurious to our environment. The tendency has been

Riverside and Finis. 309

to introduce extremes. The temperature of our winters has descended to
lower and lower levels, and our summer has sniffed the clouds. Our rivers
have bfecome eccentric under the same influence. Within the last quarter
of a century the fluctuations of the Ohio in excess of former measures are
for flood height about ten feet, and for low water about three feet, making a
total variation toward extremes of fully thirteen feet above the record, say,
of 1850 and before. The same is notable in the Cumberland, and the Wabash,
and in all the secondary rivers of the Ohio valley. The Mississippi himself
is feeling the same tendency, though his volume is such as to make the
change more slow. Of course, the bottom circumstance in this unfavorable
transformation of climate in the Middle States is the denudation of the
country of its forests. To be sure, civilization demands the abolitiun of the
forest, but it is the folly of man which has demanded its destruction, neglect-
ing at the same time to redistribute the tree-growths of the country for the
preservation of original — that is, natural — conditions. It is a pitiable fact
that man, as it respects his friend the tree, has been a fool.

Now, this general tendency to evil which we are experiencing in the
Middle and older States is exactly reversed in California. Here the work of
man and the progress of all civilizing forces are, in the very nature of the
case, working for good. Instead of cutting away forests, where no forests
existed the people of the Western States have, from necessity and instinct,
extended their tree-growth where it did not exist by nature. It is not that
they are wiser in their generation than we, but the natural condition of
their country has driven them to it. They are improving rather than dete-
riorating their climate ; not, forsooth, by forethought and purpose, but of
necessity.

All this is traceable to one great underlying condition : in the Golden
State the mountains, and not the forest, are the fundamental fact — the
mountains and the Pacific ocean. The permanence of the mountains and
the sea, and the impermanence of the forest, are the natural circumstances
which have given them an advantage. Whatever modifications they effect
in nature are tending strongly to improve their climatic condition. As they
fight their way out into their broad valleys, which differ not much from
deserts, they carry with them, and introduce everywhere, a widening area of
better natural environment. While the people of the older States eft'ect an
unfavorable modification in the surface of the earth, the people of California,,
as a rule, effect, and can but effect, a favorable change in their climate and
surroundings. These, then, are the circumstances, I think, which may be
truthfully alleged to the advantage of the Californians.

On the other side, a word. The country is very dry — too dry for com-
fort. In many places the sand is an enemy and the dust a nuisance. It
invades not only the habitations of men, but the men themselves. During
our winter stay in the State there were no high winds, such as our previous
information had led us to expect ; but there are high winds in California,
distressing winds that blow up clouds of dust and whirl them through the

^10 Beyond t/ic SicrraK.

valleys. In some places these winds in summer are hot as a furnice blast,
at least for a few hours in the day. Scarcely can men endure the h<;l breath
of this semi-simoom. The vicissitu le, however, is grateful. With the com-
ing of evening there is always a rapid fall of temperature. It becomes cool
with nightf.ill: an i in nearly all pirts of California your midsummer slum-
bers depend for their comfort upon the comfort.

I will mention one other circumsUmce relative to the climate of this
Pacific State. The atmosphere has a very high electrical tension. I think
that a good part of the physical inspiration which the traveler from other
parts experiences on coming to these valleys and coasts is traceable to what
may be called the lire and lizzie of the atmosphere. You are magnetized ;
but the electricity is of the static, not the galvanic, variety. You .sparkle and
snap and stand up as to your hair. The sensations of the thing range all
the way from funny to instructive. I believe th.it the spirits arc greatly
exhilarated by this condition, and that a in \n feels better for it, whether he
is better or not.

So then, on the whole, I praise the glorous climate of California; I join
in the chorus with the Californians themselves; but man is a fault-finding
animal; and they mu^t permit me to say that in their country there is on
the whole a scarciti/ if life/ I mean a scarcity of animal life. What there is
is vigorous to the last degree; but I was everywhere struck with the absence
or infrequency of those multifarious forms and varieties of living creatures
which we have in our Ohio valley forests. I believe I never saw a country
with so little life to the square acre as California. It gives to the close ob-
server a strange suggestion of calm and quiet unlike the chattering loq lacity,
the flutter and splash with which he is familiar, and without which he has a
certain sensation of lonesomene.ss. There were times during my stay in
California when, on waking in the early morning, I would have given live
dollars to hear a bravura or two from the grand bird concerto in C major,
with Madame Li Thrush and Fraiilein von Lark in the leading parts. True
enough, California has some birds, but they are not our kind. Here, for
instance, is that universal genius, the great North American crow. He is
everywhere, from the rivers to the end of ihe earth. I siw him on a Yucca
palm in Arizona watching the Marquis of Leap. I saw him in the Colorado
desert, and circling around a sheep ranch in the S.icramento valley. At
Pasadena they have a Hock of blackbirds and some robins. On my return,
by the Central Pacilic, I saw at Clipper G.ip some vultures, and in the
mountains behind Colfax one or two eagles. Down on the coast there is an
abundance of water-fowl, strangely diU'jrentiated into (to me) unknown
varieties; but the land birds in California seem to me conspicuous by their
alisence

So, also, of the four-footed forms of life. I speak of the scarcity of varie-
ties rather than of paucity of numbers in a given species. Here and there
the ground animals of certain tribes are monotonously abundant. But these
thick patches of life are sparsely scattered over the land.scapc. In the mid-

Riverside cmd Finis. 311

die San Joaquin country the universal gopher gets in his work. He is a
sort of subsoil surveyor who lays off ground plans for orchards and vine-
yards and alfalfa fields wholly different from the plans of the proprietor.
He obeys the injunction to multiply and replenish the earth. And this
brings me to speak once more and finally of the Marquis of Leap, consid-
ered in his tribes and generations. I should judge him to be in his chosen
districts the mo^t multiple animal in the world; that is, of his size. I esti-
mate that the Marquis, in his full development, weighs anywhere from ten
to fifteen pounds. We are here (so long has the reverie continued) nearly
to the bottom, or cul-de-sac, of the San Joaquin. The station is Sumner
Off yonder to the west, at a distance of some ten miles, is the little town
and district of Bakersfield. In this neighborhood the Marquis has organ-
ized a republic; and the last census showed about a himdred thousand in-
habitants.

On the Sunday before our first passage through the valley the people
of Bakersfield made a rabbit drive. They build a sort of corral, with wings
like the wings of a quail net. Then they surround quite a dibtrict of coun-
try, and procet d after the manner of a fox-drive in civilized countries. They
beat among the yucca palms and cacti until the Marquis is scared from his
covert and driven in. It was said not to be a good day for rabbits on the
occasion of the drive referred to, but no fewer than 5,800 were slaughtered
in the corral. Two weeks before, as I was credibly informed, G,200 had
in like manner, been sent to the Land of the Happy Rabbits. At Sumner
station I was shown large photographs of the scene of the butchery, and
purchased a copy, which is now before me. The thing is a verity, though
it might seem to be drawn from the last edition of Munchausen.

So again we are at the Pass of Tehachapi. In ascending the mountain
heights two engines are required to each train ; and they are monsters in
their kind. The majority of them weigh seventy to eighty tons apiece; but
the better class weigh ninety tons. El Gubernador, standing here, on a
side track, at the pass, is a regular Goliath of Gath; he weighs 105 tons— the
largest locomotive I have ever seen. The ascent to the pass is for many
miles slow and toilsome ; but, when we have once attained the summit, the
going down is as easy as coasting. These mountain passes are the marvel
of nature's work, such as she gives us in her higher moods. I suppose that
all mountain ranges have their passes, if the engineer can find them. The
method of it is this: You enter, from the plain which you have just
traversed, the mouth of a canon. The canon narrows and ascends as it re-
cedes into the mountain. It also winds about. There is a rushing stream
of water in the bottom of it. You would think that the whole valley would
be watered with this volume; but not so. As soon as it touches the plain
it widens, flattens, creeps out into diverse channels, dwindlss, sinks, and is
gone. Here is the reason why the lowlands of California are so feebly
supplied with running water. It is all far below, in that infinite accu-
mulation of decayed granite which has been descending from the mount-

312 Beyond the Sierras.

ain slope.s and lillinc; iiji the vallo}' for ages after ages. The engineer car-
rie-j the track up this canon and Ihids his way to the crest. Tiien he winds
about the peaks, as best he may, until he linds an opening for a descent
on the other side, which is, also, through a canon, to the plain beyond. The
ascent and the descent are, alike, so steep as to oilier a great difticalty t<j
the locomotive and its load. On the northern slope of Tehachapi the track
drops down 1,700 feet in a distance of eleven miles; and the southern de-
clivity is almost as great.

In passing again through the Mijjave desert, I will only pause to men-
tion a single fact. It seems that in those places on the earth's surface which
appear to be least auspicious there is still, a.s if by caprice, some great ele-
ment of wealth. While stopping, on a subsequent journey, at the town of
Mojave, I siw some heavy wagons coming in across the desert from the
east. They were discharging their load at the station into some freight cars
for San Francisco, and the load was borax, pure enough to be put into the
druggists' jars. Those wagons had come across the desert a distance of a
hundred and twenty miles, from Death Valley ; and I learned that the borax
miners at that place are now taking up ten tons of their mineral daily.
Death Valley is one of the cheerful names which the Californians, that is,
the American Californians, frequently bestow on their places of importance.
I had the pleasure of looking on a town near San Bernardino which goes by
the exhilarating name of Tombstone. How great is the diflerence in the
temper and spirit of the men who have conferred these names to that of the
old tonsured padres who called everything San and Santa! The rough ad-
venturer, vehement in manner, bearded like a pard, pick on shoulder and
shovel in hand, defiant alike of nature and her fiercest creatures, with a
half-sarcastic and half-humorous recklessness, calls one place Death Valley
and another Tombstone ; but your ancient padre called his mountain San
Bernardino and his town The Queen of the Angels. Such is the contrast
of national life in its native aspects.

Speaking of the Angels, we arrive there on our south bound voyage on
the afternoon of the Oth of February. We have a stop of less than an hour,
and do not venture into the city. On the platform of the stiition the writer
had the pleasure of seeing, for the first time in his life, an ideal Indian. I
had become skeptical about the existence of such a creature anywhere in the
world. I now denounce myself before you all for my unbelief. The ideal
Indian is a fact, for I hive seen him with my eyes, though I did not touch
him with my hands. Here is his portrait, as well as I can draw it in words :
He is a Yuma, about six feet and two inches in height. He is absolutelj'
straight. He is symmetrical in every part. I think I never saw so perfect
a form except among the old Greek mirbles of the Castellani collection at
the Centennial Exposition. His movement is indescrib.ible. It is an ani-
mal movement — leopard-like. Though he maintains his upright position
perfectly in walking, he seems to give down and rise with a kind of spring
from foot to foot. He is swarthy to the last degree, and has a truly Indian

Riverside and Finis. 313

face. He has that jet-black hair which we saw on the heads of the dwellers
in the adobe villages of Arizona. I hive forgotten how many pounds of hair
Absalom is said to hive worn about his neck and shoulders, but this Indian
might give him the advantage of a false balance and then outweigh his pro-
totype. His hair is twisted up in long curls, which hang down his back,
such a mass of them as I never saw on a human head before — that is. on a
human head behind.

We are now away to Colton. The region about this town seems to be
rather sterile from the drift of mere sand in the vicinity. California sur-
prises by her sudden transitions from one scene to another quite unlike.
So it is in this neighborhood of Colton. We are met here in the early even-
ing by a deputation from Riverside, six miles away. The cro?s-line of the
Santa Fe railway carries us over thither, and, in the midst of much excite-
ment as to the possibilities of a night away from our Pullmans, we reach
the second principal terminus of our excursion. It is at this Riverside that
the last three days' session of the Society is now to be held, beginning on
the morrow.

The two cities of San Jos4 and Riverside W3re selected by the officers
of the Society, and their correspondents on the Pacific coast, for the reason
that each is favorably situated for the production of the citrus fruits, and
that each proposed to hold, for the benefit of the Society and themselves, a
citrus fair coincident in time with our visit to California. In both cases the
programme was carried out to perfection. I have already spoken, in that
connection, of the fruit exhibit of San Jose; and it will remain, in the fol-
lowing paragraphs, to describe the like exposition given by the people of
Riverside.

First, however, a word as to the meetings of the Society at the latter
place. On the morning of the 7th of February the first session was promptly
opened in the auditorium of the elegant Congregational church. The
formal proceedings are presented in detail, in loco approprio, in this volume.
Some general features are all that need our notice in this place.

The President of the Society, Hon. Parker Earle, of Cobden, 111., has
again rejoined the Society, after several days of absence. He is in the chair
this morning, and opens the proceedings in his usual aftable and dignified
manner. Mr. Earle is one of the best of presiding officers. He is courteous
in the last degree — a man of fine presence, graceful, and easy in his man-
ners and speech. He is a long-time favorite among American horticult-
urists, and has been the presiding officer of their leading Society for many
years. His unanimous re-election, at the close of the three days' session,
attests his continued hold upon the respect and esteem of his fellow-work-
men from the gardens and orchards of our country. Hon. Wm. Henry
Ragan, of Indiana, the Secretary of the Society, must also come in for a
note of well-merited pr.iise. It is to his exertions, more than any other,
that we are indebted for the advantages arising from our great excursion
to the Pacific coast. He planned it, contrived it, managed it. He, too, has

314 Beyond (he Sierras.

the confidence of his co-laborers in the liighest degree. By many years ot
assiduous application he has won a place among the foremost horticulturists
of the United States.and is justly entitled to the deference and respect which
are shown him by all members of the Society. Before the close of the
meetings, the President was directed by a committee to hand to Mr. Ragan
a package of double eagles, as a testimonial from the membership. Of Pro-
fessor T. V. Munson, Senior Vice-President of the Society, I have already
spoken more than once. Mr. Munson is a scholar and a gentleman, a pro-
found thinker, a close observer, and a most companionable friend. He has
a vast fund of information, relative not only to the botanical phenomena of
the world, but to other pans of human knowledge. He is ready, with
reference and fact and example, for almost any topic of speech or composi-
tion. Several of the most interesting extemporaneous addresses made
during the sessions of the Society were by Mr. Munson. His good nature,
his philanthropy and generous disposition win for him the cordial esteem
of all his associates.

Similar praise is due to the Treasurer of the Society, Major J. C. Evans,
of Kansas City, Mo. Major Evans, at the present time, is, I believe, the
oldest born inhabitant of the city from which he hails. He, too, has gained
a permanent hold upon the respect, even the devotion, of the body whose
money matters he is appointed to manage. In some parts of our journey
he, as well as Mr. Munson in other parts, was the presiding officer ; and on
such occasions his management of affairs was highly satisfactory. His
experience in horticultural pursuits has, like that of the other gentlemen,
been very extensive ; and I was informed that his own orchards at home
illustrated and established the Major's claim to a high rank among the
growers of American fruits. Nor can I dismiss his name without a bow to
Madame Evans, who accompanied him and us on the larger part of our
journey. She is a woman of unusual culture, a Parisian lady by birth and
education, who enlivened and enlightened many a passage of our talk as we
journeyed hither and yon thn ugh the valleys of California,

The constitution of the Society provides for a retinue of Vice-Presidents,
one for each State, besides the senior officer named above. Of these not a
few were of our party: Mr. N. Ohmer, of Ohio; Mr. J. M. Smith and wife,
of Wisconsin ; Professor J. L. Budd,of Iowa; Mr.Wyman Elliot,of Minnesota :
Mr. J. H. Masters, of Nebraska; Major F. Holsinger, of Kansas; Mr. L. A.
Goodman and wife, of Missouri ; Mr. W. S. Thomas, of Arkansas; Mr. lloss
Lewers, of Nevada ; Mr. J. M. Samuels, of Kentucky ; Mr. T. S. Hubbard, of
New York; Mr. H. I. Budd, of New Jersey; Dr. and Mrs. J. R. Cardwell, of
Oregon ; Mr. J. Van. Lindley, of North Carolina ; Mr. Sylvester Johnson and
wife, of Indiana. All of these gentlemen participated ably in the proceed-
ings of the Society, and attested by their manners and talents the possession
cf high personal character.

To the above list of official names the writer is now impelled to add a
few other personalities. He wishes, as far as he is able, to })iy a compli-

Riverside and Finis. 315'

ment to a few of the many extra-official friends without whose presence our
journeys and receptions and banquets would have lacked a large part of
their charm. First, of the Californians who joined us en route, and made
us happy in the daily curriculum. Among these one of the foremost places
belongs to Mr. A. T. Hatch, of Suisun, President of the California Board of
Trade, and to Mr. J. M. Davies, of San Francisco, Secretary of the same
board. Several of the distinguished gentlemen under whose direction we
enjoyed the advantages of local excursions in fifteen or twenty places of in-
terest, have already been mentioned. To these must here be added Mr. N.
Cadwallader, of San Jos^ ; Hon. M. M. Estee, of Napa, whose conspicuous
abilities have made him one of the foremost citizens of the State; A. A.
Hibbard, of Chico ; Mr. George T. Myers and wife and daughter Fannie, of
Portland; Professor and Mrs. J. D. Smith, of Livermore College ; Mr. L. M.
Holt, Prrsident of the Board of Trade of Riverside ; Mr. H. J. Rudisill, a
leading orange-grower; Mr. J. Vandegrift and Mr. C. W. Filkins, of River-
side; Dr. 0. P. S. Plummer and Mr. Thomas Paulsen, of Oregon; Mr. Geo.
P. Petfer, of Wisconsin; Mr. I. N. Stone and wife, Mr. Henry Avery, of
Iowa; Hon. Nelson Bogue, President of the New York Board of Benevolent
Institutions ; Dr. C. J. Holmgren, of New York ; Mr. Geo. D. Hewson and
wife, of Nova Scotia ; Mr. C. Van Zandt and wife, of New York ; Mr. S. Ber-
nard and Miss Dolly Gilman, of Nebraska ; Mr. A. B. Matthews, of Kansas
City ; Mr. J. B. Durand, Mr. H. B. Francis and Mrs. Wade Burden, of Mis-
souri ; Mr. and Mrs. J. T. Grimes and daughters, of Minnesota; Mr. C. Har-
rington and wife, Mr. C. M. Shefler, Mr. M. E. Sweet and wife, Mr. Charles A.
Townsend and wife, of Ohio; Mr. F. C. Johnson and Mr. D. B. Weir and
daughter, of Illinois; Captain W. J. Maltby and Nat. Stevens, of Texas; Pro-
fessor J. G. Lemmon and wife and Professor Abbott Kinney, of California ;
and especially, Professor and Mrs. H. E. Van Deman, of Washington, D. C.

In the interim between our sessions we have full opportunity to wander
about the little city of Riverside, and inspect her places of interest and prom-
ise. Of course, we make our way, at the earliest opportunity, to the hall of
the citrus fair. We are already prepared by our experience at San Jos^ to
expect much of the exhibit which the rival city of the south has prepared
for our inspection. I am here on delicate ground. The comparative method
is the one great method of reaching scientific truth ; but in matters of social
and civic emulation comparison is generally offensive to the comparees and
fatal to the comparer. Nevertheless, the thing must be done in the cause of
truth — done judicially and with an impartial hand. The San Joseans had
the advantage of a larger and more commodious hall for their exposition _
They also drew from larger districts of country than have the people of Riv-
erside. Moreover, the San Jose exposition was more extensive in the variety
of things exhibited. It was primarily a citrus fair; but the exhibit of
oranges, lemons, limes, etc., was flanked on every hand by other fruits and
nuts and products of the garden and field, ad infinitum. The managers at
9-2

316 Beyond the Sien-as.

Riverside have chosen to make their fair more specifically an exhibit of the
citrus fruits. It is here that the Riverside region stakes her all. She wagers
all her real estate, her bank account, her household and kitchen furniture
and her wearing apparel on the proposition that her citrus belt surpasses
•everything on the Pacific slope; and, if you tease her, she will bet you the
same array of valuables that it surpasses any other slope on the hillsides or
in the bottoms of the world. I say, then, with some hesitation, that the San
Jos^ans beat the Riverside exhibit in variety and extent, and that the River-
side exposition was distinctly and unequivocally superior in the specialty of
citrus fruits. It is not meant by this that the exhibit of the latter was weak
in the show of other fruits and products ; on the contrary, it was in every
respect a magnificent display, worthy of the most favored and fertile regions;
but my judgment is that the extent and variety of non-citrus fruits and
vegetables at San Jos^ surpassed, by a considerable measure, the correspond-
ing features in the fair at Riverside. In oranges and lemons, however, the
southern show is entitled, according to the judgment of one committeeman,
to a gold medal bearing on its obverse side a Washington Navel orange tree,
and for its reverse inscription, Primus inter Pares.

The arrangement of the exhibit in the hall at Riverside was equally
meritorious with that at San Josd- In one or two points it was especially
artistic. I noticed a grotto constructed of Mandarin oranges, and a solid
pyramid of the Washington Navel which might well elicit applause from any
judges, however critical. There was, also, an orange pagoda, built up in
complete imitation of an oriental structure, that might have evoked the
enthusiasm of all China. The distribution of the fruits showed excellent
taste, even to the details of every table. The evergreen decorations were as
elegant as those of the rival display by the San Joseans. The exhibit ex-
cited great local interest ; and large numbers of visitors from the surrounding
valley and neighboring towns thronged the hall during the whole time of
our stay in the city.

Riverside is, undoubtedly, one of the most booming of the smaller cities
of California. The discovery of the fact of the prominence of this region in
the production of oranges has brought hither a large amount of capital and
enterprise. Rapid development has followed. The men out yonder in those
orange orchards mean business. It is not merely an lesthetic alTair to plant
and develop these dark green trees. Money value and profit are at the bot-
tom of it; the land capable of bearing such orchards is, out of the necessity
of the thing, of very great value. The yield per acre from a first-class orange
orchard runs up well toward a thousand dollars. It is no exaggeration to
say that, with good trees and good cultivation and good care of the fruit,
half the above sum may be expected as an annual yield. It is a big thing to
have such an orchard, especially when it covers many acres of ground. The
Riverside valley is not very extensive. I wi?h it were larger. From the
best information, I estimate that twenty thousand acres, hereabouts, will
embrace the better part of the Riverside citrus belt, and I think that five or

Riverside and Finis. 317

six thousand acres of the region are already developed or developing. The
population of the city may reach six thousand ; but the people believe in
sixty thousand, and are preparing to receive them. Yonder, on the west
side of the valley, and almost half way up the mountain slope, on a plateau
which nature must have designed for the purpose, are already laid the foun-
dations of what is to be the great Robidou Hotel. I climbed up to where
the construction is going on, and obtained through my glass a general view
of the whole valley. It is one of the most beautiful places to be found any-
where ; and the evidences of this sea of green trees in midwinter are better
than an affidavit as a proof of prosperity.

The sessions of our Society extended through the 7th, 8th and 9th of
February. On the evening of the first day a formal reception was given to
the Society at the Congregational church. The welcome address on behalf
of the citizens was delivered by Rev. G. H. Deere, and the response on be-
half of the Society by President Parker Earle.* In the forenoon of the
second day came the local excursion, one of the very finest which we enjoyed
in California. Carriages called for the members of the Society at their ho-
tels and private lodgings, and we were away. Among the many scenes of
pleasant association and beautiful prospect which arise in my memory from
the landscapes of California, I recall with peculiar delight the beauties and
pleasures of Magnolia avenue. In the outlying towns of the state I saw
nothing to equal this drive. The avenue is a magnificent boulevard stretch-
ing out in a southwesterly direction from the city, almost in a straight line,
to the distance of seven miles. It is about 120 feet in width. Through its
whole extent it bears four rows of ornamental trees — two in the middle of
the avenue and one on either side. The center rows are generally eucalyp-
tus, and those on the border pepper trees and palms. This delightful thor-
oughfare was called Magnolia avenue from the design to border it through-
out with magnolias grandiflora ; but it was found experimentally that the
magnolia does not flourish here, not, indeed, from cold and frost, but from
lack of sufficient humidity of atmosphere. The magnolia requires an air
more given to dripping than can be found in the California valleys. So the
eucalyptus, the pepper tree, the palm and the gravellia were substituted ;
and I, for one, am satisfied with the substitution, especially as it relates to
the palm. These, to right and left, are still young and flourishing; but
you can see in each vigorous stem and outbranching of glorious leaves the
prophecy of the hereafter.

It was along yonder borders of Magnolia avenue that we saw the finest
orange orchards to be found in California. Into some of these we turned,
and drove among the trees bending with the burden of ripe fruit. It is, in-
deed, a spectacle, this vast area of dark-green leaves interspersed with globes
of gold. Such is the abundance of the fruit in these vast orchards that I am
confident, could the beholder look down upon them from a distant height,
they would present a tinge of rich yellow like a phosphorescence on the sea.

♦See proceedings of the Society for these excellent addresses.

318 Beyond (he Sierras.

Here it is that the marvelous Washington Navel orange ripens iu full per-
fection. As I have already said, in speaking of the visit of the Riverside
committee to us at Indio, on our first entering the State, the Washington
Navels are well-nigh as large as cocoa-nuts. They are as large as cocoa-nuts
of the smaller size. They are almost without seed, either in the great glohe
of the fruit itself or in the protuberance at the blossom end, which has given
them their name. And the meat is most delicious, totally unlike the con-
tents of those cotton-batting and vinegar products which we see, and some-
times taste, from the eastern fruit-stands.

I am not a connoisseur in the matter of oranges. I know that the Flor-
ida oranges are excellent for their fine flavor and sweetness. Among the very
best which I tasted on our journey to the West and through some thou-
sands of miles of travel along the Pacific coast were the Sonora oranges, which
were sold to me in Paso del Norte, at the entrance to that i)lace where the
Tor-r-ro comedy was enacted. I think that by far the best oranges which
I sampled in California were the Riverside Navels above mentioned. After
these I liked the flavor of the Mandarins, the Tangerins and the Maltese
Bloods. Indeed, almost all the improved varieties were fine. And I repeat
that those alleged oranges which we buy in our eastern markets are no
oranges at all in comparison with the real article, as it is found in the or-
chard where it grows.

I will avail myself of this connection to say that, notwithstanding the
vast improvements which the Californians are making in their orange or-
chards, by grafting the native stocks with better fruits, there still remains a
large excess of seedlings. In many places I saw orange trees that were very
unprofitably engaged in delivering to the public such specimens of fruit as
ought to have sunk them into the earth ; but I also noticed that such trees
were generally in neglected situations, and older in growth than these of the
improved and cultivated orchards. I beseech you, 0 Californians, to make
haste with this business, and eradicate all your dwarfed and gnarled seed-
lings from the face of the ground wherever they still remain. They cumber
it with a disgraceful mockery of fruit quite disparaging alike to your coun-
try and yourselves.

There was a kind of heart-ache among the members of our Society as
our last session at Riverside drew to a close. All foresaw that after the even-
ing of the 9th our large company of people, recently, but most favorably,
acquainted with each other, must disperse, first into smaller conii)anies, then
into groups of two or three, and finally dwindle to one. Man, at the last,
makes all of his exits alone. A great excursion is like the fool's description
of Broadway, who, when asked what was the terminus of that mighty thor-
oughfare, replied that it split into two streets at the park, divided into
wagon roads in the country, and finally dwindled to a squirrel path and ran
up a tree. An excursion is all frazzled at the after end. It has what the
anatomists call a fimbriated extremity, and at the tip end of each filament
hangs some poor human heart, sorrowfully seeking its home.

Riverside and Finis. 319

But I was saying that the break-up was by no means agreeable to us.
We had been together much longer than it requires to cross the ocean, at
least that little ocean called the Atlantic.' We had formed such ties as peo-
ple do a-shipboard, and they did not break without a pang. Strange is that
necessity which drives us ever onward— strange are the forces blowing up
from the unseen world, driving us first into association and then asunder.
All the animals except man may be classified according to a certain pre-
dominating disposition to live together in groups or live singly. Of the
former sort, sheep among the quadrupeds, and pigeons among the birds,
furnish the best examples ; and of the latter, our brother bear is the anti-
type of all. For downright solitude and selfishness, for compact enjoyment
of his own company and cynical disregard of all other living things,
including his own wife and children, the American brown bear stands pre-
eminent over all the creatures that walk or crawl or sprawl. But man is
neither the one nor the other. He is neither gregarious nor non-grega-
rious. Sometimes he swarms, and sometimes he hibernates by himself.
Hence, our tribe has two great fields of activity, society and solitude. These
reflections, however, obstruct the narrative ; and I hasten to say that our
formal work was completed on the evening of the 9th of February, and an
adjournment without day ended our union as a body.

Meanwhile, however, several invitations had come in to visit other cities
in Southern California. The principal of these was the call to make an
excursion to San Diego, and this was formally accepted. A large number
of our friends gathered at the station on the following morning, and were
away to the southwest angle of the State. It is a hundred and twenty miles,
and requires a larger part of the day. Arriving at Col ton, we take a taste
■of riding on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe. As we turn to the south,
and the Riverside valley drops behind us, we enter a country somewhat
different from any which we have hitherto traversed. The mountain
ranges in this part of California sink to a lower level. They are now only
the spurs of the Coast Range, trending out here and there toward the
Pacific. I noticed another feature different quite from the aspect of any of
the northern valleys. The lowlands of the country, as you approach San
Diego, grow green with pastures ; and, though the scene has not a familiar
aspect, there is something analogous in it to what one might see in Penn-
sylvania or Kentucky. Occasionally the train passes between rounded
heights that rise on either side and are green to the summit. Here again,
as in the Sonoma valley, I noticed small herds of cattle of good breeds help-
ing themselves to rich pasturage. There is, also, a more plentiful distribu-
tion of water on the surface — a running stream here and there, or a pond
that a Californian might dignify by the name of lake. In these low parts
there is everywhere an abundance of water-fowl. As the train passes they
skim out on the surface at a right angle and leave an agitation on the water
like a rippling harrow drawn by the bird. We shoot at them now and then,
a sport which is doubtless more amusing to the ducks than to ourselves.

320 Beyond the Sierras.

It is well towards night-fall when our train aiiproaches San Diego.
There is a little flurry of preparation, a little excitemont for a view of the
ocean on our right, and here we are. The greater number are expected at
the Hotel St. James; but a few of us take the ferry, cross the bay, and make
with ;ill speed for the famous Del Coronado. Time is not for anything,
tonight, except to provide for the morrow's comfort and pleasure.

Those of us who crossed the harbor to spend the night on the Coronado
beach were astonished, on entering our rooms at the hotel, to hear a sort of
thunder and roar as if a battle and rain-storm had combined their energies
outside. Up with the window, and here it is. The Pacific lies below, tum-
bling and roaring against the very battlements of the hotel. All night long
the sublime symphony goes on and on, as it has done for infinite ages — even
before the epoch ©f man. Welcome to its roar ! Welcome to its majestic
thunder, its rhythm of the surf and its perpetual beating on the shore ! It
was the throb of the sunny sea, the p'Jyphloisbuia Thdussa of Homer on the
sands of the jEgean Islands, and around the coasts of the ancient Pelopon-
nesus that put into the ears and spirits of the Hellenic bards of old time
the pulse-beat and music of their sounding hexameters.

With the morning light we are all astir, on both sides of the bay, to see
what things soever San Diego has to offer. The writer, in early morning,
took the street-cars and ascended to the highland north of the city, from
which a fine view can be had of all below. The car that carried him up to
the summit was propelled by electricity. Even so it is that we have lived
so long, and journeyed from the older States of the Union, deep-rooted by
time and development, and boasting much of the accumulation of the pro-
gressive forces of society, to this far southwest and extreme verge of our
country, to what was an old Spanish town, to take our first ride in an electric
car. Perhaps, after a while, the street-cars in Boston will be propelled in
like manner; but not yet. Albeit, if San Diego had remained a Spanish-
Mexican town, a century would not have brought the electric railway to her
streets. It is the tumbling surf of American life that flings such things into
the thoroughfares and plazas of old towns.

San Diego is a living competitor with her fellow cities of the California
valleys for the prizes of the future. I had expected, however, to see a better
equipoise to Los Angeles in population and enterprise than San Diego is able
to present. The Queen of the Angels has fully three times as many peoi)le,
according to my estimate, and the southern city will have to travel far
before she comes up with her rival. Nevertheless, many things may be
truthfully said of the vigor recently displayed in the development of the city
of the south, and to the efforts which her citizens are putting forth to raise
her rank and influence must be added the ever-memorable fact of her mag-
nificent harbor. I have already remarked upon the scarcity of havens along
the Pacific coast, and have said something as to the relative merits of the
bay of San Diego and that of San Francisco. I repeat that the former is, for
its extent, as fine and safe a sheet of water as may be found on the shore of

Biversicle and Finis. 321

any ocean. While we were in the city one of the government iron-clads
came to anchor at the pier, and the heaviest ship on any sea might do the
same. Besides, the bay, though not of the largest dimensions, is sufficiently
capacious. If Los Angeles should be arrogant in her boasting, San Diego
may well respond by showing a map of her splendid harbor.

The first local excursion of our company was across the bay to the Hotel
Del Coronado and along the beach beyond. Only a few years ago this Cor-
onado beach was merely a long, low plain of sand. Nothing could be less
promising in its natural aspect than was the desert beach. But the shrewd
eye of enterprise saw the possibilities of the situation ; the peninsula is al-
ready reclaimed; palm trees ai-e here; a park is there; flowers are bloom-
ing in the new-made lawns ; and yonder rises one of the finest hotels in
America. It is not yet completed at the time of our visit, but is sufficiently
advanced to receive some hundred or two of guests. The structure is of
wood. The building is a great quadrangle, including, within, the largest hotel
court between the Atlantic and the Pacific. The court is a sward crossed
with stone walks and having a fine fountain in the center. The most fra-
grant flowers and beautiful shrubs are planted here and there; and the air
brings to the senses of the guest the sweet perfume of early or perennial
blossoms. The marvels of the hotel are this magnificent court, the ample
theater in one part of the structure and the beautiful dining-hall, not yet
built. The latter will be one of the most elegant in the country. It is to be
a parabola in shape and finished throughout in redwood ; whether of the
Sequoia sempervirens or of cedar, I am not certain. The Hotel Del Coronado
as a whole is worthy to take equal rank with two others in California— the
Del Monte, of Monterey, and the Raymond, of Pasadena. These three con-
stitute a group by themselves ; and above them is seen only the Palace, of
San Francisco.

A walk of a few minutes from the north steps of the Del Coronado
brings us to an ostrich farm. Why the word farm is applied to it, I hardly
know. It has a comparatively small area of ground, perhaps an acre. It is
bounded with a close fence, high enough to prevent the escape of the os-
triches. Of these there are thirteen, in a sort of corral, inside the inclosure.
Their two-pronged, grotesque feet have beaten every sign of vegetation from
the arena ; and they have the pleasure of sauntering about over the sand as
in their native desert. Some of these solemn creatures are black as to their
wing feathers and tail, others a kind of saffron color ; and both varied with
patches of white. Some parts of their bodies present only a surface of
wrinkled skin. The beak is rather useful than aggressive in its construc-
tion ; and the eye is the most strangely introspective organ that I ever saw
in bird or beast. It suggests to you that the possessor has been studying
into the mysteries of Buddhism, and expects, in due course of time, to enter
into Nirvana.

A male ostrich of good development can reach over a large horse and
get an orange out of the stirrup on the other side. Having done so, he swal-

322 Beyond the Sierras.

lows it whole ; and you can see the globe majestically and slowly descending
the gullet. Doubtless the ostrich has a longer taste than that of any other
living creature, except the giraffe. He will swallow five or six such thiags
as oranges one after another, and you cnn see the protruding knots in his
long and twisted esophagus as they gradually work their way down stairs.
He could perform several curves of a minuet before the last disappears from
sight.

What is an ostrich farm for? It is for the production of ostriches. And
what are the ostriches for? They are for the production of feathers, and the
feathers are for sale. Your vigorous, well-grown ostrich may be plucked
every six months, and the less thrifty birds every eight or nine months.
The yield of feathers from each is from one to one and a half pounds, and
the farmer receives for his product from forty to sixty dollars a pound. An
extra bird sometimes yields a hundred dollars' worth of feathers at a time.
When the plucking season arrives, the birds are harnessed up in a narrow
stall and carefully blindfolded, for fear the officiating clergyman may \ e
kicked through the fence. The ostrich becomes exceedingly angry with the
pulling of his feathers, and his kick is one of the most swift and dangerous
reactions ever excited among the muscles and tendons of animated nature.
When the bird is angry he lifts his wings, throws forward his head some-
what, ami utters a sort of hiss, which he bites off with a snap of his bill.
About this time look out for action.

After our visit to the ostrich fiiriii we made our way down to the beach
and spent some hours on the shore of the Pacific. Here, for the first time
in my life, I had an opportunity to study and compare this majestic water
with the other seas and oceans. One might well suppose that an ocean is an
ocean without its characteristic features ; that one is as the other; but not
so. The ocean is glorious in its individuality as in its strength and grand-
eur. In the first place, the shore has an ever-varying condition. The Pa-
cific coast is totally dillerent from that of the Atlantic, in that it is almost
everywhere precipitous, broken oH" square down to the deep. Sometimes the
precipice is hundreds of feet in height. Sometimes the square wall, which
is the thus far of the surf, is long and low ; but rarely do we have the gentle,
.sloping, shingly beach peculiar to the Atlantic shores. If you stand upon
the precipice of the Pacific and look down to the surf you shall find almost
everywhere a quarter or a half mile of shingle, which is the debatable
ground, alternately covered and uncovered by the tide. At high tide the
ocean roars agaiu'^t the foot of the precipice, and no beach is seen; but
at low tide the surf line is out at a considerable distance, and thousands
of people may gather down there on the strand between the ocean wall and
the break of the sea. Such is the general aspect of all those parts of the
Pacific coast which I have visit^^d. The next fact is that of the greater
grandeur of the Pacific as to the visual expanse, the length and height of
the billows, and the majesty of the ocean symphony. I do not know how it
is that the Pacific can suggest its extent and almightiness to the beholder

Riverside and Finis. 323

on the shore. It may be his own knowledge that infinity is before him ; but
the scene does inform him, in some way, that the infinite is there. The in-
coming billows, even when the sea is most calm, are, according to my esti-
mates, from ten to twenty feet in perpendicular height. Each wave stretches
laterally for miles and miles. The ocean rhythm has its mathematical and
musical succession. It has its mighty poetical feet. It has an anapest or a
dactyl, an amphibrach or a molossus, according to the mood of the spirit
that broods upon the waters.

" Break, break, break.

At the foot of thy crags, O sea ;
But the tender grace of the day that is dead

Will never come back to me."

After delighting ourselves for a while with a free stroll up and down
the beach (for the tide was out), we returned across the bay to San Diego,
and were favored by the citizens with an excursion through the country.
The region round about the city has the same general aspect as that de-
scribed above, on our approach from the north. It is a fruitful region. Some
of the oldest vinej'^ards and olive orchards in California are found here, and
vines are known which were certainly planted by the padres well back in
the last century. Out yonder, at the distance of some miles, is the old adobe
mission, which was, doubtless, the nucleus of Spanish civilization in this dis-
trict. I have never seen a structure which is more difficult to describe than
the ruins of one of these ancient mission houses. As you approach across
the plain you see in the distance what might be mistaken for the outlines of
an abandoned fort. The missions were generally defended by a wall of sun-
dried bricks, standing at a distance of ten or twenty rods from the buildings
within. The wall is four feet thick at the base, about twelve feet high, slop-
ing to the top. Here and there were openings or sally-ports, which I sup-
pose to have been closed by heavy wooden gates. In the valley of San Fer-
nando I saw some evidences of a kind of portcullis arranged for defense in
connection with the wall of the mission. The mission house proper is also
adobe, generally two stories in height, and, withal, a rather formidable sort of
building. The walls are very thick, the windows and doors small and easily
defensible. The roof is constructed of tiles, which must have been burned
in a kiln, as they are red. They are of half cylindrical sections, about six
inches in diameter and two feet in length. I have no doubt that some of
these roofs, undisturbed for a hundred years, still shed the water without a
dr©p of leakage. In many places the mission houses have tumbled down.
Sometimes the corner or end of the structure has fallen away and the roof
caved in. In hardly any localities do the outer walls stand in even tolerable
perfection. They have generally sunk to the earth, and are traceable only
by the long mole, or agger, which they have left behind them. In a few
places, I believe, the missions are still occupied bj' a company of priests, but
they are only a shadow and memento of their former estate. It was within
these structures that the Hispanio-Mexican civilization of the Pacific coast

324 Beyond the Sierras.

found its last refuge when Fremont and Stockton and Sloat, with the flag of
the United States over their heails, came in, {lell-mell, as explorer?- and con-
querors.

On our return to the city of San Diego on this Saturdaj- evening, Feb-
ruary 11, what was still worthy to be called our California excursion came to
its finale. After that night the break-up was complete. A part of the company
remained in the city for some days afterward, but the remainder took to
the outgoing trains and made for the north. There were hand-shakiogs and
farewells, and I do not know but that a few tears were dropped here and
there on this sandy southwestern shore of the United States. As for myself,
I can not take leave of the place without a final stroll incugnito through the
streets. I went into Chinatown, along the shore of the bay, through the
streets where citrus fruits are packed and transported, and down the track
toward National City, some three miles away. On one of the street corners
I was much amused with the antics and foot-races of a half-dozen grey-
hounds that had their maternal abode in a yard near by. They were by far
the handsomest fellows that lever saw; of a dark mouse-color, trim and
fine as to their delicate limbs and head ; all chest and spine ; agile as gazelles.
There are four California animals that compete with each other for the first
rank in swiftness of foot and flight. These are the greyhound, the deer-
hound, the deer himself, and the Marquis of Leap. It is sometimes a little
difficult to determine which of the four is the most expeditious on his go-
ings forth, but on the whole the palm belongs easily to the greyhound. With
a space of ten rods between him and the Marquis of Leap he can catch him
in three-quarters of a mile— that is, he can run over him, for the Marquis
doubles and goes back. In a quarter of a mile the greyhound runs over
him again, and on the next turn picks him up. So, likew'ise, the deer has
no escape from his pursuer except by eluding his sight. The nose of the
greyhound is an aesthetic organ rather than an instrument of utility. He
sees, but smells not. The deer-hound has less speed than his rival, but can
overtake his game by scent. As to the Marquis, his great organ is the ear.
It is a great auricular trumpet set up to gather all sounds of danger, and to
indicate the direction of approach.

On our leaving Riverside a considerable number of our company re-
mained at that place, and, presently, crossed the country by way of Colton,
on a visit to San Bernardino. Before leaving our homes a formal invitation
had been extended to the Secretary of the Society, and the invitation was
repeated before the adjournment at Riverside, to visit San Bernardino, and
the call was now accepted. Straggling members from San Diego joined the
party en route, and the San Bernardino excursion proved to be one of great
interest and profit. The young city to which the company turned its course
lies but a short distance to the east of the line of the Southern Pacific Rail-
way, and immediately on the line of the Santa F^ Railroad. Colton is the
nearest station on the former road. The town is situated in the upper \yxri
of the Santa Ana valley, and the region is one of the most productive and

Riverside and Finis. 325

beautiful of its kind in the State. This should be said for the people of San
Bernardino: that nowhere on our journey was greater hospitality shown us
than by them. Provisions had been made for our reception and entertain-
ment. The headquarters of the Society were at the elegant new Stewart
Hotel, where a retinue of carriages was in waiting for the drive among the
orchards, vineyards and gardens of the valley. The writer has availed him-
self of the eyes — the observant eyes — of our Secretary to obtain a glimpse of
the circumjacent country and its products. One circumstance, at this stage,
should be mentioned as detracting from the pleasure of the broken excur-
sions which remained for the various squads of our members who still held
together. President Earle and Vice-President Munson had already set out
on their journey homeward, and their absence was regretted by all. But
under the lead of Major Evans the party at San Bernardino still rejoiced
with the spirit and panorama which had become habitual. Certain it is that
of the many entertainments given to the Society in California that at San
Bernardino was among the best. The local excursion carried the visitors to
Lugonia and the Terrace villa hotel. Here a banquet had been spread, at
which our companions regaled themselves for the remainder of their jour-
ney. They then passed, by way of Terracina, to the Barton villa and the
old Spanish mission. The morning was beautiful, and from the Prospect
House a splendid view was obtained of the valley below. The scenery
here is romantic. On the one side rises the sublime form of old San Ber-
nardino, and on the other spreads away to the southwest the valley which
has taken its name from the sparkling Santa Ana. On returning to the
Stewart the fragments of our company, some twenty or thirty in number,
held their last formal meeting, and passed their last resolutions of respect to
the cities and citizens whose bounty we had so greatly enjoyed. Before
leaving San Bernardino, a beautiful souvenir in the shape of a gold bronze
token of the Board of Trade of the city was bestowed on each of the guests.
San Bernardino has a population of about six thousand. She is ambitious of
a first rank among the competmg communities of the Golden State. On the
obverse of the little token which she gave to our company was this con-
fident line :

" We take jurisdiction of every enterprise." May all your ambitions be grat-
itied, O handsome city of the Upper Santa Ana !

32<) Beyond (he Sierras.

CHAPTER VIII.

BACKWARUS MARCH.

The FituU Break up. — Rdiuiume ti> Gj. — C/iitiese New-Vear in Los Angeles. —
Firecrackers nd libitum. — Tli< Old Bad One arul Red Paper. — Enterprises of
The Angels. — The UiiiversHi) of SnUhern Calif /rnia. — .San Fenvindo: Her
Water Supply.— A Dry Mill-pnul. — The Sania B'lrharians. — The Majavc
Desert Again. — The Mirage in Deith V'dlei/. — Tlir Vwca Bdm. — An Old
Sleeper. — Scene.- Abuut Mojaee. — A Muuntain Cluud-burst a7id its Cunse-
(jaences. — Ome Mare at San Francisco. — Heaping up if Radicxdiam on the
Coast. — General Sketch (f the CHy. -Snyid-HUls ami Dane Grass. — The Park
a7ui Cunsrrvafcri/. — Harb(/r and Military Stations. — Vessels at Anch<)r. — Cal-
ifornia Wind. — Shops and Marts. — Manners and Morals of the City. — S^m
Franciscan Methods ami Enterprises. — Big Men. — Ltland Stanfonl. — Old
Jimmy Lick. — VisU to John at Home. — H'ls Place and Style. — //w Restau-
rant and Juss-House. — Mumh > Jumb i. — The Chinese Situation. — Out-tf-Door
Life in San Francisco. — Gathering (f Brica-Brav. — Dfparture. — At Sacra-
mento.— Climbing the Sierras. — Mining Camps ami Mountaineers. — Salt
Lake City. — Aspect of the Valley. — Water Supply. — Z. C. M. I. — Smith and
Polly. — Essentials (ftlie Morrmm Questum. — Amo7ig the Saints. — The Temple
and the Tabernacle. — Tendency (f L<^dter Day SaintluKnl. — Again En Route. —
Some Persmalities. — Entrant (f the Gunnism. — Ascent (f the Caiion. — Im-
pressions.— Castle Gate. - Marshall's Biss. — Amojig the Snotv Peaks. — Begin-
ning the Descent.— Black Carvm and Royal Gorge. — The Arkansas Cail'm. —
Pueblo. — Onward to CvU/rado Springs — Manitou and the Garden <fthe Gods.
— To Denver.— Characteristics (f the City. — Speech making. — The Argo and
Grant Smelling Works. — New Process (f Separating Mttals. — Scenes and
Sketches. — Institutions. — The Denver Climate atid Lung Diseases. — F\ir Gtxjds
and Mineral Brica-Brac. — Bancnft Ranch.— A Colorado Sunset. — Homeward
Bouml. — Kansas City and Fareivell.

Returning from the San Bernardino excursion, those of our company
■who still hung together in clusters of three or four made their way, some to
Los Angeles and the north, while others tarried until the Santa Fe and
Southern Pacific trains came by to take them up for the homeward journey.
One considerable band, ambitious of having a last view (and perhaps a last
banquet), wandered off to Sunta Barbara, on the coast. But the excursion
as such, was now hopelessly broken up, and after this day we saw each
other only by accident. For some weeks, here and there in the California
towns, we occasionally met each other by twos or threes on the streets ; but
our gre;it voyage was at an end. It, therefore, only remains for the writer
to summarize as much as ho may of the return across the mountains. In
doing so he must, of course, sjieak almost exclusively of his own t>xperience
en route over the Central Pacific and the Denver (t Rio Grande.

Backwards March. 327

The traveler about to return from a tour in California will find many
things to hold him back. He feels a good deal like those little figures of
men and animals with iron feet which I have sometimes seen standing
immovable on different parts of a magnetic globe. You can slip them, but
hardl}' pick them up. So your traveler in this country, yearning to be at
home again, still finds some object to detain him. Like Goldsmith's pil-
grim in the Europe of a hundred years ago —

" He drags at each remove a lengthening chain."

The best proof, which I had for myself, of the general merits of California
was my reluctence at the last to leave its scenes and places. I found that,^
half unconsciously to myself, a vast and interesting panorama had passed be-
fore me, and that unexpected associations of interest had sprung up here
and there which, I confess, it cost me a pang to break.

In the first place, the writer tarried for three or four days in Los Ange-
les. Here he extended and rectified his impressions of the city, which have
already been given in a former chapter. An incident of this our third visit
to the Queen of the Angels may be of interest. It was the Chinese New-
Year, and all Chinatown was in a state of jubilation. Every mother's son
was clad in his best, and taking a holiday. Chinese headquarters in Los
Angeles are on the southeast corner of the plaza. It is a kind of hotel and
joss-house combined. Other local centers here and there gave token of
their existence by minor volcanoes of noise ; but the great eruption was on
the plaza. Here, on my arrival, in the middle of the afternoon, some ten or
fifteen thousand people were gathered to witness the display from the bal-
conies of the alleged hotel where John was doing his work. Gay banners
were hung out over the balustrade and from the eaves of the house ; but the
principal fact was the explosion of fire crackers and torpedoes. I am sure
that in the course of the hour which I wasted in this crowd there were
more fire-crackers annihilated than I ever saw before in my life. The Chi-
nese arrange these little diabolical explosives in a great cable, the fuse of
each cracker running into the center. The cable itself, which is several
rods in length, has a fuse in its center, from end to end, so that when the
great fuse is tired the infinity of smaller fuses are ignited, and every indi-
vidual cracker and torpedo goes oS ad libitum. Four or five of these cables
were hanging out from the balcony when I arrived on the grounds, and all
were in a state of active eruption at once. It was a din to wake the dead.
It will convey some idea of the extent of these explosions when I say that
the whole street running along the south side of the plaza was almost shoe-
mouth deep with the litter of the combustion.

Why is a fire cracker red, anyhow? For this good reason : The Old
Bad One, according to the Chinese theology, is always greatly interested
with anything that is red. He never passes a red object without stopping
to examine it. No bit of red paper is ever omitted from his scrutiny. The
Chinese theory is that by a plentiful distribution of red things up and down
the pathways of this world the operations of his majesty are retarded. His

328 Beyond (he Sivrras.

attention is distracted from more important work by every red trifle which
he rtnds in the road. For this reason, at a Chinese funeral, ihe route from
the house to the depository of the dead is always 6>trewn by the mourners
and their friends with bits of red paper, so that if the devil should come
that way hunting for a victim his faculties will be occupied with the red
paper until the burial is safely over. There are many citizens in our own
dear country to whom I recommend the same admirable expedient as a
protection against the legitimate consequences of death.

I spent the following three or four days in looking about Los Angeles,
and especially in gathering some information about the University of South-
ern California. President M. M. Bovard made the writer his guest, and
furnished every opportunity to visit the institution, note its workings, and
estimate its prospects. The Californians are wide awake on the question nf
education. Institutions of the higher grade are springing up everywhere,
in attestation of the spirit of the people. The university recently founded
by Hon. Leiand Stanford has already been mentioned. Our visit to the
State University at Berkeley came in for its share of notice in a former
chapter. I neglected to say that the University of the Pacific, at Santa
Clara, is also in a state of prosperity and rapid development, and that the
State Normal School at San Jos^ is a highly repuUible institution. This
University of Southern California, at Los Angeles, is already strong in con-
dition and prospects, and especially so in the matter of endowment. I be-
lieve that a fair estimate of its resources will at the present time reach
$2,500,000. And yet less than eight years ago President Bovard himself,
with a single companion and a spade, turned np the first shovelful of earth
for the first insignificant building of the institution.

I have already spoken about our p:issage through the valley of San
Fernando. On my third journey through these parts I had the pleasure of
stopping at the little town which has taken its name from the valley, and of
inspecting the country. It has the same general character of many of the
lowland districts already described. It is a very arid region, the annual
rain-fall being almost at a minimum ; but I did not visit any region in any
part of the State where the means of artificial irrigation are in process of
better development.

A description of the method adopted for this purpose will prove of
interest. The town of San Fernando is situated about four miles from the
baae of the mountains, lying transversely across the top of the valley.
Beyond, alittle to the northeast, is the mouth of one of the principal canons,
opening on one of the lowlands and bringing down from the snows of the
.summits a stream of water that might be dignified by the name of river. No
sooner, however, does this reach the plain than it divides into channels,
skims the surface, wanders around over a brief space and sinks out of sight.
To economize the water of this stream was the main end proposed by the
company having the matter under consideration. And (his is the plan
adopted : Across the mouth of the cafion, from mountain spur to mountain

Backwards March. 329

spur, a distance of six hundred and eighty feet, a trench about six feet in
width was digged down to hard-pan. Hard-pan, in this region, means a
kind of tough, putty-hke clay whiich resists the pick and shovel as shoe-
maker's wax resists a knife. It is totally impervious to water. In the
middle of the canon, where it is crossed by the ditch, the depth to hard-pan
is about fifty feet. On either hand, toward the mountain spurs, the depth
is less and less up to the surface at each end. In this deep trench a stone
wall laid in hydraulic cement is reared to the surface, and above the stone
wall, in what may be called a dry mill-pond, are digged two enormous wells.
They reminded me of that tremendous reservoir shown us in the Blowers
estate at Woodland. Into these wells are dropped two twenty-inch pipes,
and great pumps are attached capable of lifting eighteen million gallons of
water per day. The water is thus carried from the bottom over the wall
and is distributed by conduits to the plain below. The land owned by the
company covers an area of twenty thousand acres. It is divided into lots of
forty acres each. On two sides of each lot are laid six-inch pipes full of
water from the works. From these pipes smaller lines are extended across
the land until all is supplied. The company guarantees the purchaser to
furnish to each acre a maximum of fifty-four thousand gallons of water per
day. This enterprise is a specimen of the work which the Californians in
many parts of this State are doing in the way of making up for the disad-
vantages under which they are placed by nature. After all, I do not know
that the irregular and frequently deluge-like rain-storms, which pour out
their floods in unseasonable seasons upon the fields and pastures and
orchards in the States east of the Mississippi, are an unmixed blessing. Per-
haps, if man could manage the whole business himself he would satisfy him-
self better in the distribution of his water supply, and especially of his
showers.

Before we begin our ascent of the mountain range which divides us
from Antelope valley and the Mojave desert, it only remains to refer to that
part of our company who, on the return from the south, made their way down
to Santa Barbara. They came back from that excursion with not a little
praise on their tongues as to what they had seen and enjoyed at the ocean
side. I gathered from authentic sources that two facts belonging to the
Santa Barbarians were worthy of special note. The first is of much interest
to horticulturists. I think it is conceded that Santa Barbara has a climate
more nearly tropical than that of any other town in the State. She can
produce bananas and similar varieties of fruit with very little apprehension
of injury from frost. At the Riverside exposition some fine products of
this kind were shown in perfection ; and they were from the low, warm
country about Santa Barbara. The other fact is the circumstance that this
city is the residence of Hon. EUwood Cooper, president of the California
State Board of Horticulture. Mr. Cooper had been from the start one of the
most active promoters of the enterprise which resulted in our going to Cal-
ifornia and holding our sessions at San Jos^ and Riverside. His reputation

330 Ileyond tlu hurras.

in the Ujlden State is of the bent, ami it wan a matter of universal regret to
the Society that circunastances prevented his presence with us at our gen-
eral sessions.

What I was aboul to say was llial tla- S.mta Birbara excursionists re-
turned to the Southern Pacific trains and there broke up, some going south,
and others north, by way of Sin Francisco, oa their return to their homes
beyond the mountains. The writer belonged to the north-bound band, and
we now make our way over the lower branch <jf the Coast Range into the
Mojave desert, and take our course for the metropolis.

I have already spoken more than once of the character and appearance
of this low, waste region between the mountains. Here for the first time I
saw the veritable mirage. I do not believe that the science of physics hag
yet explained this strange phenomenon. Looking off yonder to the east and
south of D3ath Valley, there is a landscape of water and palm trees and vil-
lages. The vision is a little spectral in its outline, but all plain enough, and
you would like to be there on the border of the lake. But the vision drifts
from you, and takes another form. I must try my hand at a little poem on

THE iMIRAGE IN DE.\TH V.\LLEY.

I.

() lake that sleepest on the glimmering plain !

() noliiing palms in the horizon dim !
( ) teats that vanLsli and return again !

O shining spires above the desert's rim !

II.

How do ye gleam and fluctuate and float,

And yet hang motionless ! No life is seen.
There stands the castle o'er the drawbridge moat.

But prince or princess there is none, I ween.

Ill
There shining villages lie slumbering !

Over the walls a spectral donjon towers,
But casts no shadow ! There the fountains fling

Their pictured waters on the pictureil flowers.

IV.

No whirring wing, no bounding font, goes by,

No wild fowl ruHles that mock-water lake ;
No tall reed (piivers with a song or cry;

No girl nr fawn stoops down her thirst to slake.

V.

Over the glistering desert swims and drifts

Yon town of Tantalus, with silent gates —
An air-built image that recedes and shifts

Vcros-^ Mojave where Henth Valley wiiits I

Backwards March. 331

I make a note of one other thing as I traverse this region going north.
It is that ghost of the desert called the Yucca palm. As a specter it may be
said to rival the giant cactus. The Yucca palm is the indescribable. It rises
from the sand like a round post, with a rough, chaparral -like gray-green
bark curling out upward from the stem. A squirrel might run up to the
fork easily enough, but would have trouble in coming down. The trunk
branches at the height of from eight to twelve feet, and puts out weird, long
arms, which look as though they had been straight at first, but several times
broken and re-set by Mrs. Apache Squaw, M. D. At the end of these con-
torted elbows appear stunted bunches of pseudo-tropical leaves, and that is
your Yucca palm, your ghost of the Mojave desert.

It is a long ride from Los Angeles to San Francisco, especially when your
sleeper is the old " Peoria." This vehicle of human transportation was built
by the Pullmans in 1867, and is, I believe, a venerable relic of the first year
of their manufacture. I could but reflect, as I inspected the narrow and in-
commodious apartments of this primitive sleeping-coach, how great a trans-
formation has taken place in the apparatus of civilization since the reign of
Andrew II. Your colored porter takes his manners and character from the
coach which he has in charge, and you take your temper from him.

During the night I have an indistinct consciousness that the train is
still. After some turns I awake, expecting to find myself in San Francisco,
but on looking out it is only the desert town of Mojave. There has been a
cloud-burst in the mountains just ahead, the track has suffered a wash-out,
and a ninety-ton freight engine, lying dead, with his nose in the sand, is
awaiting the first resurrection.

All day long I wander around the desert. Yonder to the east I see some
heavy ox-wagons coming in, laden with borax from the mines in Death Val-
ley. Here I find a miserable tent, inhabited by some Digger Indians — the
most squalid human abode I ever saw. The leering, dirty squaw has two
daughters, mere animals; the elder about ten, the other may be seven years
old. There is a sort of dog-wolf sneaking around the tent, and a magnifi-
cent tortoise, about a foot across the back, is drilled through as to a hole in
his parti-colored shell, and is tied with a strip of intestine to a stake. Charles
Darwin, F. R. S., come and take her away !

After a cloud-burst have a care how you scurry out on this desert, or in
you go. Ankle-deep or knee-deep, in you go; but if you will wait till the
afternoon you can run everywhere, so quickly does this superficial slush of
sandy water go down forever. It did not rain much here at Mojave last
night, but six or eight miles up yon canon there was a water-spout that
would have drowned Deucalion. Out of that canon comes a river. It is a
yellow, plunging flood of turbulent waters, headlong, desperate, broad and
deep. But at the mouth of the gorge, where the angry delui^e issues on the
plain, the roaring river suddenly spreads out flat, and then flatter. It finds
many shallow channels, and makes others for itself. For a certain distance
23

332 Beyoiiil Ihf Su mis.

out into the desert it rushes and roars along, then skims the surface a few
inches in depth, and then dives into the sand-beds. If the sand could be
scooped out of this so-called desert there would remain a salt lake, intoler-
able to all forms of life. If the water could be pumi)ed up from the basin
and distributed on the surface, there would spread over this plain a veritable
gurden of God. But the sand is here, and the water is down there, and so
the Mojave hangs suspended midway between the Dead Sea and Paradise.

During my stay beyond the mountains I had it ever in my mind to
pause for a considerable season in San Francisco. I wished to study this ex-
treme aspect of American life, and to test, by personal experiences, its
rhythm and timbre. I can but regard this far verge of the United States
with the deepest interest. I can easily perceive thai on this edge of the
Pacific there is an accumulation and massing of forces the like of which has
never been seen otherwhere on our planet. The radicalism of mankind has
for many centuries taken a westward fl )w. That aggressive part of our race
which always feels the draught has followed the sun in his course, until at last
it has heaped up on the precipitous edge of this infinite water. The cumu-
lative tendency of these powerful human elements is, I believe, jw str(ing as
ever. The influence which has carried the most active and adventurous of
mankind to the west is a cosmic force, and can no more be stayed than the
mighty tides that throb along the surface of the sea.

Great, therefore, is the intensity of human life in San Francisco. But 1
was about to say that my expectations of an extended acquaintance with the
civic manners and the social and moral geography of the Pacific metropolis
were disappointed. Many circumstances had supervened to cut short my in-
tended expeditions, incognito, around the ways and by-ways of Verba Buena.
But I saw something of the city, and remember something of what I saw.

San Francisco is pleasing to the vision. It is built on ridges and high
grounds at the northeastern extremity of the peninsula. It is a picturesque
city, especially as viewed from the bay or the opposite mainland. These
elevations, on which the principal parts of the metropolis are aggregated,
are, or were, the celebrated sand-hills, and these you may still see in their
unmodified condition between Golden Gite Park and the sea. They are
mere ridges of loose sand, of a yellowish color, drifting and whirling under
the pressure of the wind. In the absence of experience one might take his
affidavit that no living thing could exist in these beds of loose, capricious
and juiceless sand. You would sooner expect to see violets growing in an
ash-heap. Yet there is one form of life which is a match for the sand-hills,
and that is the dune grass. Only by courtesy can it be called grass. It is
so hard and sharp and bony that a prudent rhinoceros would reflect long be-
fore he would attempt to eat it. The roots are as much like whalebone as
the blades. Where they go to I do not pretend to say, but I will venture the
opinion that each root is fastened on the under side of the peninsula with a
screw-tap.

Your dune grass grows in small tufts or bunches. That is its method.

Backwards 3Iarch. 333

On the side of yon sand-hill the tufts are scattered with perfect regularity.
I do not know whether they were planted there or " just growed." But one
thing is certain : give this grass a hold and all the apparatus and tackle of
nature can not jerk it or shake it loose. Each root is a real-estate pin, and
whenever you get it driven you may buy your corner lot with a reasonable
certainty that it will stay with you over night. I never could understand
how real estate fluctuates until I saw the sand-hills back of San Francisco !
Golden Gate Park was built or created, or, at least, organized, on these ridges
of sand, and the park shows conclusively what the genius of man is able to
accomplish when assisted by dune grass and water. Ah, but it is a green
and lovely place ! And the conservatory ! I was never before inside of such an
inclosure. Oh, the palms, and the ferns, and the tropical luxuriance ! Never
before did I breathe an atmosphere so dead -drunken with the fragrant effluvia
of exhaling leaves and the drowning perfume of flowers. I thought of Per-
sia, and Ceylon, and the Arabian Nights, and finally of . My schol-
arly friend, Augustus L. Mason, was always by my side in my hurried ram-
bles around San Francisco. By the courtesy of Captain D. D. Wheeler, of
General Howard's headquarters, we two were armed with tickets and took
to the water — that is, we took to a little government cutter and made the
circuit of the bay. Every day at noon this cutter goes the rounds of the
military stations about the harbor. They are three or four in number, and
are sufficient, I suppose, to give a sort of mythical sanction of force to the
doings of civil society. But as an actual protection against, say a fleet of
iron-clads, they would not amount to a scarecrow. The first station, which
is on the peninsular side of the bay, is a sort of military prison, in which
every poor fellow who gets off his base is shut up under penal regulations.
A squad of oftenders were just being brought in as we passed. They were
quite chop-fallen. I noticed one of the prisoners who stepped off the gang-
plank under guard still holding to a little bouquet of roses and pinks. The
guard knocked it out of his hand, and I saw through the pallor of his fore-
head these letters, which I could not for a while make out, r-i-a-p-s-e-D.

On the north side of the harbor is another post and drilling station for
cadets. The shore-line is very beautiful here, and the mountains make, as
everywhere, a fine horizon. The officers of the cutter and they on the land
side exchange salutations, and away we go into the city. In one thing I am
disappointed. There is not in the harbor nearly so much shipping as I had
expected to find. The display was not at all comparable with that to be seen
at all times of the year along the wharves and around the lake-shore at Chi-
cago. The few ships anchored here and there are of a highly respectable
character —foreign and American vessels of large size, just in from long voy-
ages in Pacific and Australian waters ; but the array is insignificant in com -
parison with the forest of tall masts and black smoke-stacks stretching from
Fulton Ferry around to the Battery and along the east bank of North Eiver,
at New York.

It appeared to me that the general outside conditions of life in and

334 Beyond the Sierras.

about San Francisco were altogether pleasant. I had been told fables about
the wind, and had expected tu run into bits of gale too strong for tenderness ;.
but the fact difVered from the fable. I found the air in California generally
astir, and on the immediate bench of the Pacilic it might be called windy;
but in other situations 1 do not recall that our pilgrims were ever troubled
with too much breeze. When we first traversed the San Gabriel valley
there was a wind blowing at Ontario; but in all our journeyings up and
down the San Joaquin and Sacramento plains we went unvexed and un-
blown to our places. I conclude, therefore, that the bad reputation of the
California wind clerk is based on slander; and the allegation that he consid-
ers it mere pastime to blow the soul out of a hippopotamus is a campaign lie
started by the opposition. I candidly declare that I never saw him in any
other role than that of a gentleman.

The shops along the principal streets in San Francisco are beautiful
and brilliant. There is much variety. The Japanese store near the Palace
is perhaps the best in the country. There are many places where you can
gather bric-a-brac to the full capacity of your trunks and boxes. Human
life in the street flows at a rapid rate. The San Francisco pulse is several
strokes to the minute above the average; and the temperature of the biped,
especially about the exchanges and real estate offices, is above the normal.

My stay in the city was too brief to furnish the daUi for a fair general-
ization on the subject of San Francisco morals. That old pessimist, Tliey
Say, calls it a bad place, and I should not be surprised if there is much
ground for his bad opinion. I think that San Francisco swears and drinks,
that she gambols a good deal and gambles some. I think that her society is
by no means conservative, as it respects the practice of several of the civic
virtues. I think that her human breixst contains a good deal of machination
and not a little passion. But I have some things to sjiy also in her defense.
I believe that her drink is largely wine, and that she consumes less lire-
water than any other American city of her size. This, as far as it goes, is
good. To be sure, I do not justify wine-bibbing, but I only say that, if the
human animal must administer some sort of oblivion to himself, it is better
to take it in fermented grape-juice than in the form of hell-tire. Again, as
to San Francisco sin, it appeared to me that there was something manly and
robust about it which half transfers it to the column oh the other side of the
ledger. The old Enemy became a snake at the gate of Eden, and goes on
his belly to this day. He is a sneak. He slips around into all the coverts of
the world, and is constitutionally ashamed of himself. The wickedness of
cities is generally of this sneaking variety. It slips around in the dark, and
squats, and hides, and lies. I confess that there is something exhilarating,
or at least exciting, and half-manly in the open street manners of San Fran-
cisco wickedness. There is an efl'rontery about it that astonishes you and
tiikes your breath, and I should not be surprised, withal, if the reformation,
which we hope for in all of our American municipalities, will find easier

Backwards March. 335

work with the half-honest wickedness of San Francisco than with the down-
cellar, smutty and cowardly degradation of some other great cities.

Such is my diagnosis of the case. As to the average mental force of
society on the Pacific slope, and particularly in the chief metropolis, I should
rank it very high. I am inclined to believe that the San Franciscans are
among the most intellectual peoples of the world. They seize industrial
and social problems with a vigor and ability quite unparalleled, and their
courage is equal to their intellectual vehemence. It is not the policy of this
people to trifle long with any Gordian knot. They simply cut it, and then
'boldly claim that a cut is better than an untie, anyhow. I am willing to rat-
ify this opinion myself. To show skill in disentanglement and to save whip-
cord is a good thing in its way, but takes time, and time is money and de-
velopment and fortune. Inasmuch, therefore, as life is ghort, out with
your sword and cut. The knees of all complication knock together when-
ever you get out your knife.

It is needless that I should review the tremendous enterprises which
are a part of the history of San Francisco. Her public life has been one of
■extraordinary power and persistency. She has her gr'^up of millionaires,
scarcely less conspicuous, and not at all less fertile in resources, than are the
financial nabobs of New York. These men, nearly all, came into the State
as mere adventurers. They were big-boned, big-brained, reckless boys, who
looked upon this western world as a battle-field. Their minds, in the strug-
gle that ensued, had all the splendor of freedom and the gratification of
victory. They wrought as they would with the turbulent elements which
roared in the chaos along the shores of the sea. Perhaps they have been
unscrupulous ; doubtless their hoppers have swallowed up hundreds of
smaller fortunes and thousands of human lives ; but they have had the
virtue of vigor and the worth of an untrammeled manhood that is entitled
to no small meed of praise.

Some of these men, like Stanford, have turned philanthropists in their
old days, and are endeavoring with all their might to regenerate the society
of California by means of their money. I hope that they will succeed. My
sympathies are greatly enlisted with the Stanford University ; and I have
already had occasion to try my hand at prophecy respecting the Lick ob-
servat ry. Old James Lick was himself a character. He was what the peo-
ple of the Wabash valley would call a hard case. In process of time the
biographers, after their usual manner, will try to lie him white ; but they
will have a hard task on their hands. One time he directed his workmen
to set out a prune orchard for him, putting the tops of the trees in the
ground and the roots in the air ; and when about two-thirds of them broke
his orders by planting the trees as they ought to be, he drove every one of
them out of the orchard. It was he who, in his old age, built a mill at San
Jos^ in which the hoppers were made out of rosewood and mahogany — this
for the reason that in his youth he had loved a miller's girl, or thought he
did, in Pennsylvania, and the miller had incontinently kicked him out.

33G Beyond the Sierras.

Young Lick, tliua licked, hiul gone forth swearing that before he died he
would build a mill in which a single hopper should be worth more than the
whole esliiblishinent of his cussed old hypothetical father-in-law. So, after
fifty years, when the old miller was long dead, he maile this mahogany-rose-
wootl hopper at San Jos6, thus doing the thing he had sworn to do when he
was kicked out of the Pennsylvania grist-mill. Such was the real Lick.
The biographers will, by and by, veneer and mythologize his character, but
they can never make him other than he was. Nevertheless, this quaint old
genius of the Santa Clara valley could ai)preciate the glory of the heavens,^
and could contribute to mankind an apparatus for the starry apocalypse of
the hereafter. I trust that all millionaires will do likewise, and that the
caprice and inconsistency of human life will in its last act always enudate
the philanthropy and generous impulses of old Jimmy Lick.

The Melican man in San Francisco always goes to see his brother John.
Chinatown is a marvel. It is an oriental city set on the breast of a larger
American city — a spot of the profoundest conservatism on the surface of the
most vehement radicalism of the human race. The Celestials in this urbs in
urbe number fully 50,000. They come, and go, and trade, and get gain,
and sing out their attenuated metallic speech, until the stranger in their
midst may well imagine, if, indeed, he is not forced to believe, hin-iself to be
in China. Nor is the place far away from the heart of the metropolis.
Chinatown is no ragged edge, no mere depraved out8kirt,of San Francisco,
but right here in the midst of the occidental Babylon.

A walk of only three or four squares from Market street, and here you
are in Asia. I believe that the two populations around the rim ol the Chi-
nese quarter do not mix and mingle except for purposes cf trade. China-
town IS your splotch of oil on the watery surface of Americanism; it Hoats,
but mixes not. I am not sure but what the figure might be expanded until
it embraces the idea of a scum.

John is an unsolved problem. He is a sort of " x " in the incomplete cubic
equation of universal progress. Solve him who can. The Californians are
at loggerheads about his place and value. I found that all inland industries
are largely dependent upon him for their practical ])romotion. The grape-
growers about Fresno declare him to be a sine qua mm of their success. The
superintendent of the Land and Water Company at San Fernando tokl me
that, of all his men, only the Chinese laborer could be relied on for steady and
profitiible work. The fruit men and farmers hold the Siime opinion. They
laugh at the stupidly imitative character of their Chinese tree trimnurs and
plowmen; but, at the same time, they pronounce him invaluable to their
enterprises. In the cities, however, these sentiments are utterly reversed.
Here the tune is sung in a high and piping key of bitter antagonism. The
fact is that the city folk hate the Chinese with a cordial and unequivocal
hatred which I could not quite understiuid. They despise them. They
think of them in the same category with rats and other vermin.

I perceived that a part of this malignity was trftceable to politics. The

Backwards March. 337

politicians are down on John, with a violent, stamping sort of animosity,
which makes you think of the rabies. Albeit, the bottom of the business is
the fact that the other laboring classes in California, made up mostly of
Irish and Scandinavians and the miscellaneous poi-^Jowm of all nations, con-
ceive themselves to be ruined by Chinese cheap labor. It is simply the
moral of Bret Harte's poem exemphfied and illustrated in practical life.
Paddy and Fritz and Bjorne all vote. John does not vote. • Paddy and Fritz
and Bjorne are, thereforej/erwmsf poor John, and are anxious for his destruc-
tion. They call him a dirty haythen — and I believe it is a true bill.

My scurryings around Chinatown convinced me that human dirtiness
is not one of the lost arts. Nevertheless, the better class of Chinese are clean
enough, and dress with a certain elegance. You may even see nabobs among
them. I could perceive, here and there, unmistakable evidences of a kind
of filthy luxury, which one might possibly admire with his eyes, but would
not care to touch with his fingers. I went, under direction of an intelligent
guide, and accompanied by my friend Mason, through several bazaars and
shops, and especially on a visit to the great upstairs restaurant, so called,
and the central joss-house. Our cicerone explained everything to us, in
tolerable English, as we went along. Nor was he devoid of wit in his pun-
gent comments on the things Asiatic which he had the pleasure of show-
ing us.

The restaurant might well deserve a chapter and the joss-house another,
if we were to do justice to the peculiar interest which they excited. In the
former place I saw the most elegant woodwork which it was ever my pleas-
ure to examine. The establishment is rented out, night by night, to groups
of oriental revelers, who pay 1600 a session for the use of the hall and the
appurtenances thereto. This, of course, includes the table d'hote and all
incidentals ; and I learned that some of the incidentals were of such horrible
wickedness that it would agitate your hair if I should tell you about it. In
the joss-house I saw Mumbo Jumbo himself and all of his family. I learned
from the guide that the Chinese theory of Mumbo is that he is not present
in the wooden idol which sits up there solemnly before you. He is out in
the air. When you want him to come in ard inhabit his effigy, you ring
the big bell which hangs by the vestibule.

Mumbo hears it, and in he comes, invisible to mortal eye, and ensconces
himself in his wooden semblance up there on the platform. Thereupon
the worshiper makes known his wishes in prayer. He gets down and hits
his forehead on a cushion on the floor, and then, after having expressed his
wants, he casts lots, whereupon he is able to discover, by cabalistic writings
on little slips of bamboo or red paper, what the answer of Mumbo to his
prayer may be. One Mumbo is for Day, another for Night; one is for the
Wind, and another for Thunder. It is all very beautiful, but I was much more
interested in watching the expression of my guide's face and the tones of his
voice, to ascertain how much stock lie took in the business. It was not much.
I could see clearly enough that he was far gone into the purlieus of skep-

336 Beyond the Sicrran.

ticism. I neglected to say that the whole theory of Mumboism.aa practiced
by these Chineae, is merely the notion of advantage. The estimate of their
gods is based on the idea of their usefulness. The most devout worshipers
in the joss-house are the gamblers, who, almost every morning, may be
found there, taking counsel of Mumbo as to whether they shall or shall not
speculate on that day.

Turning to tiic industrial aspect of Chinatown, I was gratified to note
the excellence and artistic finish of nearly all their work. Their skill is
something to be astonished at. Never otherwhere will you see such wood
engraving as in these little shops and stall.s. 1 watched one old artisan,
fairly rickety with age, grasping a blaile like a shoemaker's knife in his right
hand and cutting away at some Chinese types. The pieces were about the
size of ordinary dice, and the skill and accuracy of his cutting surprised me
beyond measure. I suppose he was making five or ten cents a day. I ran
the imminent risk of small-pox by taking in the Chinese quarter of the city.
But all's well that ends well : I saw ihe sights, and the small-pox has not
yet claimed its victim.

The happy climate of San Francisco puts her people much out of doors.
Even in midwinter they throng the streets and sally forth into the park. I
insist that the boulevards and arena (jf Gulden Gate Park are, of a sunny
afternoon, as brilliant a scene as may be witnessed anywhere outside of the
Bois de Boulogne at Paris. In the evening the city is brilliantly lighted.
Electric burners fling their clear radiance through the air, and the streets,
with their gay throngs j)ouring out of the opera-houses, flash in the sun-
shine. San Franci.sco goes late to bed : and I should nol be surprised if she
sometimes wakes up with the headache.

I repeat the expression of regret that my visit to the Pacific coast and
to this metropolis of California is here and now cut short. I can not stay
any longer. I must catch a few hasty greetings and frirewells with my friends
at the Palace, and be ready for the morning train. Fur many weeks this,
to me, new panorama of nature and of life has been passing before me ; but
the backward tug of duty and alFection, stretching so far beyond the mount-
ains, must now i>revail over the natural wish to stay longer and see more
along this margin of the Pacific.

One must needs take home with him from the transmontane regions
something in the way of souvenirs. Nothing pleases me so much as the
brilliant shells, and pearl goods manufactured therefrom, which may be plen-
tifully gathered at almost any point on the coast, but particularly at the great
manufactory of R. W. Jackson, of G14 .Market street. Here you may find
the most beautiful specimens of laminated pearl and delicate fabrics made
therefrom. Across the way the Japanese bazaar will also contribute to your
store. But if any man thinks that I am advertising these shops, let him be
disabused. It is very wrong, my fellow mortal, for you to suppose that 1
would do such a thing I I merely say that I gathered my trunks full of these
beautiful wares, antl on the early morning of the 19th of February made my

Backwards March, 339

•way alone to the Oakland boat and the Central Pacific tiain. The sun is up,
and the bay is as bright as that sea of glass which St. John saw at Patmos.
The water-fowl are skimming its surface. The air is balmy, and the heaven
is blue as I take my last look at the beautiful water and the surrounding
shores. 0 Yerba Buena, fare thou well, and be thou happy, and be good,
also, if you can !

My programme for the home run is by way of the Central Pacific and
the Denver & Rio Grande. I still promise myself much admirable scenery
and many points of interest on the journey. By noonday we are again at
Sacramento. I say we editorially and out of courtesy to my fellow unknown
travelers. As for our own pilgrims, they are all scattered into isolation and
silence. Not one is aboard this train, except the writer, and he by no means
enjoys his own company, being rather melancholy at the backward turn.
At Sacramento we dine ; and here I meet, by accident, at the table, my friend
Hon. M. M. Estee, and also the popular Governor Waterman, whom we did
not have the pleasure to meet on our former visit to the city.

After leaving Sacramento, the Central Pacific heads for the mountains,
and strikes them at the little town of Colfax. You enter the Sierras proper
-at Clipper Gap, and begin an ascent through a series of scenes of great beauty
and grandeur. At this place I first saw, in its full native sublimity, the
mountain forest of California. It is of pine and spruce, and one must needs
be greatly impressed with these splendid trees, crowded together in vast
areas and prevailing even to the summit of the Sierras. The passage of the
Central Pacific over these heights carries the traveler through some of the
wildest landscapes to be seen in California. I greatly enjoyed the passage,
and, being in a day car, almost by myself, I found opportunity to study the
scenery, and presently to observe the mining camps and mountain towns
with more care than I had been able to bestow on many other localities.
You may see in these parts the sluices which the miners have constructed,
their reservoirs of water, and their mining apparatus, on either hand, as you
fly along between and around the Nevada heights. I have not anywhere
seen American life in so wild and free an aspect as here in the mouxitain
camps and Swiss-like hamlets of the Sierras. In our brief stops at the sta-
tions I noted with pleasure the tone and rhythm of human character in these
almost inaccessible places. I like the mountaineers. There is a stalwart
honesty and patriotism about them which will long preserve a nest for
human freedom in the hill-tops and fastnesses. It was to me a matter of
regret that the after part of this section of the homeward journey was cov-
ered by darkness. I had no opportunity to take a view of Ogden, being
obliged to satisfy myself, or rather dissatisfy myself, with a mere glimpse of
the city as she sat obscurely in the gloom of night.

From Ogden to Salt Lake City the run is brief. You are already trans-
ferred to the splendid narrow-gauge road called the Denver & Rio Grande.
About midnight you are lodged at Salt Lake, and, with the early morning,
gain your first view of what is perhaps the most marvelous landscape in the

340 Beyond the Sierrati.

United States. You tind yourself circled entirely around with the mount-
ains. The air is exceedingly clear, and the mountain wall seems to rise
almost perpendicularly from the valley. The lake is not visible from the
city, and the aspect is very desert-like and oriental. A few trees have been
planted here and there along the highways issuing from the city ; l»ut other-
wise there is no symptom of vegetivble life. Still, you perceive from the
markets that the region is productive in the highest degree, and doubtless a
traveler in summer would find everything green and flourishing. I take it
that the facilitie.s for irrigation are as great as the exigency, and alreadj' the
Salt Lakers have availed themselves of the water supply of the mountains.

Hundreds of correspondents and book-writer.s have already described
the running water in all the gutters of Salt Lake. Here it goes, in quite a
sluice, between the broad sidewalks and the still broader streets. I discov-
ered in and around the city a large display of municipal common sense.
The thoroughfares are hardlj' less than a hundred feet in width, and every-
thing is as clean as a pin. The place impressed me as being especially-
orderly and well-directed in all civic matters. I do not know who is respon-
sible for the good management displayed in this Mormon metropolis; but
the management is here, and I suppose it must be set down to thf- rredit of
the saints.

Over most of the principal establishments in iSalt Luke City you tind the
cabalistic Z. C. M. I. The writer was green enough not to know at first
what they stand for, but soon discovered that the meaning is Zion'.-^ Co-oper-
ative Mercantile Institution. I was not aware, until visiting the place, that
co-operative industries were a part of the Mormon system : but that is their
idea of doing the business. I found, however, by a little close inquiry, that
the co-operation is generally run in the interest of the co-operators ; and
that means that little syndicate*, organized after the manner of white
men, have got control of what were intended to be really popular institution*
of trade, and are running them for their own benefit. So the saints are even
as the rest of us. But I found that prices were materially lower under the
influence of the system than in other places where the cupidity of the sell-
ers has no check at all. I went through the largest mercantile establishment
in the city, sizing it up in a casual way, as to its methods and peculiarities.
All the employes are Mormons; but I could not discover any particular
symptom of sanctimony. The young saints behind the desks and the ]>retty
saintesses at the counters were not perceptibly difl'erent from the young
people who sell and chat and court a little in the other big store- of the
country.

It came to pass, in ancient times, in the reigns of King Tyler and King
Polk, that a certain Smith, whose surname was Joseph, arose and did
strangely in the land. He found a certain book of the prophets which he
took for the man of his counsel, and thought himself a holy man after his
kind. On a certain day, as he walked among the tents of the patriarchs, he
saw a ccrtiiin woman whose name was Poly Gamy. Her he took unto him-

Backwards March. 341

self and made hf r his wife. This seemed strange to the people, for a younger
sister of Poly, whose name was Mono Gamy, was more fair to look upon than
her sister, and was much more favored by the young men of the people.
But Joseph clave to Poly, and took her with him to the far western lands
whither he journeyed; and about him he gathered other folks who thought
as he did and did as he thought, until a tribe arose. He also named their
wives Poly — and here endeth the first parable.

During my stay in Salt Lake I sought diligently to get at the bottom of
the situation. As a summary of the whole business, I express the opinion
that the polygamous aspect of Mornionism is on the wane. It is said with
confidence by those who are friends to the saints that not more than two,
or, at most, three, per cent, of them are now dabbling in multiple marriages.
Still, the doctrine of polygamy is stoutly, even vindictively, maintained by
all the leaders of Mormondom. At least, that is my judgment of the situ-
ation. I made the acquaintance of several of the foremost men among them,
and found them as debonair gentlemen as any one might wish to meet. By
the courtesy of my friend Dr. Iliflf, I was introduced to the president and
faculty of Deseret University, and had the pleasure of an extended informal
talk with them relative to the institution. They were at work with their
classes as in other colleges, and the young people appeared in no wise differ-
ent from the common type of American students. I also visited the edito-
rial sanctum of the leading Mormon newspaper, and was cordially received
by the editor, Mr. NichoUs, who had recently suffered severe penalties under
the Edmunds bill. Of course, I could not well converse with these gentle-
men on the tender point of multiple marriage, but I found a few persons
with whom I might talk on the subject without violating the proprieties.

I was much impressed with the form and substance of the Mormon Tem-
ple. It has the finest stone walls of any structure I ever saw. For the present
it consists of walls, and nothing more. All within and above is open to
the sky and elements. I was struck with commiseration as I thought upon
the vast amount of money which had been here expended, and the hard toil
of thousands wasted, as it seemed to me, upon a hopeless symbol of an effete
form of thought. In the adjacent Tabernacle I found a great and practical
interest. There is no other such structure in America, or in the world.
Viewed with respect to its adaptation as a place for public gathering and
speech, it has no equal. All that has been said relative to the marvelous
acoustic properties of this hall is strictly true. There can be no exaggera-
tion as to the facility with which you speak and hear in this vast parabolic
assembly room. The seating capacity is for ten thousand people. Anything
above an ordinary conversational tone on the part of a speaker occupying
the rostrum, which I take to be placed in or near one of the foci of the
ellipse, would be wholly superfluous. A whisper, or the falling of a pin, can
be distinctly heard at any station on the floor or in the gallery. The taber-
nacle is the work of Brigham Young, and I emphatically declare it to be the
only common sense public hall that is in the world. It is cheap, economical

342 Beyond the Sierras.

of space, perfectly accessible in all parts, ejxsy of exit, secure against acci-
dent, solid Jis a rock, and susceptible of decoration. It must be a positive
luxury to a speaker to occupy tlie platform of this marvelous hall.

Over yonder, against the mountain-side, to the south, is Fort Douglas,
but I find no time for a visit. About eighty per cent, of the voters in Salt
Lake are Mormons. I dare say that in all local affairs they have their own
way, even to particulars. I incline to the opinion that the religious system
professed by these people is no longer espoused and gloried in as it was
aforetime, but is accepted as the proper thing, pretty much as formal munic-
ipal christians sometimes accept th'^ir church. Meanwhile, a spirit of en-
terprise hiis appeared in Salt Lake, which is leading to the rapid develop-
ment of the valley. Here is an open secret : the biggest of the booms is
going to be, erelong, in this city of the latter day saints. If the reader has
any money to invest in speculation here is the place. Doubtless he does not
like the Mormons, but it may be that he is willing to turn an honest penny
by dealing in their real estate.

The time has now arrived for our departure from the valley. I say
" our," for by this time I have had the good fortune to make some new
friends, as agreeable and generous as those whom I left behind in Califor-
nia. The elegant little narrow-gauge sleeping-coach which takes us up for
the passage of the Rocky Mountains has among its passengers several per-
sons whom I shall always be glad to have known. Here I unexpectedly
became acquainted with Dr. Pitt Cobbett, one of the law lecturers at the
University of Oxford. The Doctor has been out on an extended trip to
Australia, and is now making his way back across our continent. I tind
bim a thorough-going English radical, something I should not have ex-
pected in an Oxford man and a lecturer on law. Many are the good things
which we tell each other relative to the political and social systems of our
respective countries. I was able to post him up with respect to the work-
ings of American colleges and universities; and he told me much more than
I ever knew before about the inside of Oxford and the molecular oscillations
of the English mind in its higher realms of activity. If these words should
ever meet him at No, 4 Kings Bench Walk, Temple, E. C, I hope they
will revive for him as many pleasant memories as the recollection of him-
self and his conversation does now for me.

I should be wicked not to add the names of Mr. and Mrs. F. G. Hellling
and little Claudia, their daughter, of Chicago, and, also, Mr. and Mrs. Frank
A. Anderson, of Kansas City. Than these I met no people more agreeable
and happy-minded. We journeyed together in a little clump of extempo-
rized friendship all the way from Sacramento to Colorado Springs and Den-
ver, and my own enjoyment of the sul)lime mountain scenery, into which
we were now about to plunge, was greatly enhanced by their presence and
company. As we entered the shadows of Gunnison Pass and began to whirl
between the tall clifTs which overhung our way, the song of little Claudia

Backwards March. 34«J

brought vividly to mind the recollection of my own girl face beyond the-

Father of Waters :

" I'm going to write to papa,
And, oh, how glad he'll be
To get a little letter

That is written all by me I "

I do not know how many notches there are in the mountain wall around
8alt Lake valley ; but the Denver & Rio Grande makes its way out to the
eastward through the gorge of the Gunnison. The ascent of this canon is
rapid; and the river, half bound in most parts with its rugged fetters of ice,
plunges down headlong to meet you. It is a full, roaring stream of dark-
colored water, reminding you of the pine-stained streams of Wisconsin and
the north. The gorge is crooked to the last degree. Nature had her throes
and pangs and travail when this great chasm was torn asunder for the pas-
sage of the river. Up and on you go ; and the precipices on either hand rise
to higher and grander elevations. Their face is of blasted granite, weird and
dreadful. It was not often, amid the sublime scenes of the coast, that my
imagination had been really oppressed by the wildness and magnificence of
the landscapes ; but in the pass of the Gunnison I began to feel a certain
awe, under the shadow of solemn nature. Here she sat in her glory and
silence among the terrors of the mountains. Her features were beetling
cliffs and dark gorges and overhanging rocks and the glory of distant snow.
As you begin to approach the continental divide your attention is drawn to
one startling view after another, until wonder is paralyzed and perception
loses its sweep.

I had been told that the Denver & Eio Grande would bring us through
the wildest and grandest scenery of the continent ; but words are impotent
symbols when it comes to conveying an impression of the sublimity of these
Rocky Mountain fastnesses. I will try, however, to particularize by men-
tioning a few of the principal features of the inspiring journey from the
valley of Salt Lake to Denver. Here we are at Castle Gate. The day is rap-
idly sinking into night. The gorge is full of shadows. Yonder, before us,
is the Gate itself. It is a vast wall, for all the world like the projection of
the Colosseum at Rome. Above its ragged edge some stars are shining, and
the rising moon yonder casts its faint light through the rifts of ruin. I
could not shake off the illusion that it was the Colosseum itself ; and pres-
ently, when we had returned to our Httle Pullman and extemporized a party
for declamations and songs — when Dr. Cobbett had told us a story, after the
manner of Dickens, and little Claudia had sung a song, and Mr. Anderson
had given one of his excellent pieces — the specter of the Colosseum was still
before me; and, in my turn, I recited for the company the splendid verses
from Byron's Manfred descriptive of the ruins of the Flavian Amphitheater.

Morning found us still rushing along among the higher peaks of the
Rocky Mountains. We were coming to Marshall's Pass, which is the true-
continental divide. Ah, such engineering as it has taken to bring this little

344 Beyond the Siej'ras.

railroad, twisting around tlie mountain summits, and rushing up and up-
ward, through the very clouds and snow! It is cold at this great height.
Here we are, at la.st, amid the bleak sublimity of the pass itself. We are
1U,S56 feet above the level of the sea. Conversation has ceased; the hand!>
of many of the piissengers are swollen; and the faces of some are livid from
the outbursting blood. As for myself, 1 experienced no sensation except a
slight tendency to drowsiness. But I notice that the action of the lungs is
accelerated and abnormally vigorous. Now it is that if you have a good
breathing apparatus it stands you well in hand. You are among the incipi-
ent glaciers of the Rockies. Tour train winds round and round; the heavens
spin, and the earth totters, but regains her balance, and stands fast. Fain
would the conductor, who is used to view on every trip these tremendous
aspects of nature, call your attention to this and that. You answer him not.
Y'ou have enough. I confess that my recollection of these magnificent
heights is a kind of glamour which does not resolve itself into clear outlines
of form and substance.

Over the crest you go. Your second engine is cut loose, and flies ahead,
plunging downward at the rate of 211 feet per mile. Presently you see the
little giant in a valley away below you, and coming back, apparently, to the
train. Here is the track and yonder is the track ; above you is the track
and below you is the track; and even j'our own train seems to go in all
directions at once. But down you go, and your excited respiration begins
to subside, and the world comes back, and with it the current of your natural
thoughts.

If I had any reserved fragment of language or list of images for what
may be considered a special emergency and demand, I should now, once for
all, draw upon the same, in the hope of conveying to the reader my impres-
sions of the Black Canon and Royal Gorge. But I have no unexhausted
resource, and the vision will have to pass without a transcript. Still, the
vision is before me. It rises above all others of its kind, and is conspicuous
in the halo and vista of memory as something not to be duplicated or com-
pared. At the bottom of the great chasm, narrow, dark, and ominous, lies
the little double band of iron, riveted to the rocks by the puny hands of
man. The rushing stream, new-born out of the mountain snows, plunges
and foams by the side of the track ; and the abys.s winds before you and
behind you, through a labyrinth of shadows.

It is gloomy here. Specters and spirits, and even dragons of the nether
world, might arise out of the cavernous recesses and somber notches in the
granite clifls beside you. The roar of the little train is swallowed up in the
oblivion of the gorge. On eithsr hand the almighty clifls rise perpendicu-
larly from the edges of the river and the track, to the height of 3,000 feet.
Thirty tall trees, standing one above the other, would not reach from the
bottom to the open air and heaven on high. The granite battlements over-
hang the way. They form a bridge above you. They shut out the light.
The sky above is only a narrow ribbon of blue. Down here are silence and
darkness— and might be death.

Backwards March. 345

For four miles you plunge along, and wind through this infinite ravine,
overawed by the shadows and terrors that hang around you ; afraid to speak^
lest God might hear your voice and answer. These visions, 0 my friend,
are not fictitious, but real ! I will say no more of what I see by this back-
ward look into the gloom and glory of the Royal Gorge. All the rest I leave
to your own thought and to the hope that some time you, also, may feel the
overpowering grandeur of the scene, and issue to the world again, as I did,
with a sort of changed purpose and spirit for the rest of the journey of life.

This side of the continental divide the traveler strikes the source of the
Arkansas. He journeys down that river from the crest behind him to the
open world beyond at the old town of Pueblo. Many things are of interest
here ; but one on his homeward journey hurries along. Sometimes observ-
ant and sometimes dreaming, he relinquishes the sight-seeing spirit, and
begins to take up his old threads of thought and weave them again into
some practical web of present and prospective action. At Pueblo a brief
stop gave me opportunity to look about the old camping-ground of those
adventurers who, first drifting from the Middle States and fetching up against
the mountain wall, paused for a moment ere they plunged into the unknown
gorges before them. I insist that man is an ambitious little animal, and his
enterprise, as manifested in his conflict with the tremendous forces of the
material world, shines out conspicuous over the apathy and inaction of other
forms of life. If he were not such a rascal, you might admire him much
and — love him a little.

Issuing from the Rocky Mountains, the traveler feels that he is again in
the United States, or at least in North America. Yonder spreads the Colo-
rado plain, looking as broad as Texas and as innocent as Kansas. We make
a formal stop (alas, how few we are by this time!) at Colorado Springs, and
take a rest over night at the hotel called The Antlers. As matter of fact,
the antlers are set up over the fire-place in the lobby. Once they belonged
to my lord the mountain elk ; but they have been torn from his magnificent
head and planted against yon wall to give a name to a Rocky Mountain car-
avansary, in which the accommodations are first-rate and the charges fabu-
lous.

My friends, tbe Hefiiings and Dr. Cobbett, do not stop— only Mr. and
Mrs. Anderson and myself ; and them I am to lose at Denver. One more
day, however, we pass together. We visit the springs, three in number-
White Sulphur, Soda, and Iron — in the order of your ascent of the valley.
And splendid springs they are, too— among the very best of their kind in
the world. I should think that any alleged invalid, drinking out of their
waters, breathing this mountain air, and regaling his vision with the snowy
top of Pike's Peak, only a few miles away, would have to show good reason
for dying ; he would, at least, be on the defensive.

From these springs of Manitou you take a brief and pleasant drive into
the Garden of the Gods. This world-famous arena of silence and spectral
forms of rock lies between the valley where the springs are and the open

34(J Beyond the Sierras.

Colorado plain. If you would get an idea of it^ appearance, you may con-
sult the photographs or visit the place yourself. I am wearied with the at-
tempt by means of this poor vehicle of human speech to convey to you, my
reader, in any proper sense, an image of what you see, or may see, among
the sunimit.s or aloiip the base line of the Rocky Mountains. I bid you go
thither alijo, and witness for yourself what nature, in her grander moods, is
able to display.

For myself and ever-narrowing company of friend.s, we take the train
at evening and are away for Denver. They do say that the writer is expected
there on the evening of the anniversjiry of the Father of his Country, to
standi up behind a desk, after the manner of a mortal man, resuming the
attitudes and methods of the people in the Ohio valley, and to tell them —
that is, an audience — what lie knows about A Fight with Force and Catharine
the Orent. Meanwhile, he does not know whether the old currents of thought
and speech will come again, or whether they have disappeared forever among
the solitudes of the Sierras and the Rockies.

A few words about my stay in Denver, and I have done. I was im-
mensely pleased with the city, and venture to express a judgment, which I
believe to be well warranted by the facts, to the etlect that Denver is one of
the most prosperous and promising cities in the United States. To begin
with, she is solidly built. Her streets are broad and straight. The level
plain round about gives opportunity for indefinite expansion. The river,
to be sure, is not good for much, and is at times exceedingly ill-behaved.
But it bears some water, and that is in the nature of a blessing.

The industrial conditions of the city are exceedingly good. The two
principal lines of enterprise lie by way of the railroads and the smelting fur-
naces. At the head of the former stands the veteran millionaire, ex-Governor
John Evans, who has recently succeeded, after a long struggle, in complet-
ing his line from Denver, by the way of Fort Worth, to the gulf, at Galveston.
The first of the mining furnaces are the Grant works and the Argo. At the
latter I was greatly interested in observing as much as any outsider is per-
mitted to know of the new method discovered or invented by Superinteml-
ent Pearce, by which the combined ores, gold, silver, copper, lead, and
what not besides, are separated from each other, as if by natural ditierentia-
tion, on their issuance from the smelting process.

By the courtesy of Mr. Pearce, I was admitted into the private rooms of
the works, and saw with my own eyes, but by no means understood, the
beautiful liberation of the precious metals by the superintendent's method.
I should not be surprised if it is one of the most valuable secrets known in
the practical arts of the century. It is not only much more expeditious
and cheap than the tedious and costly work of assaying by the old methods,
but the result is more valuable, in that the metal on its issuance, by Mr.
Pearce'a method, is exceedingly pure. Just before going into the bullion
room, a gold brick had bepn turned out, which I was permitted to inspect
and handle. It was about twelve inches in length, four and a half inches

Backiocwds March. 347

broad and four inches in thickness. The weight was 128 pounds, and the
metal was so pure as to rate at $20.65 per ounce, making the value of the
brick about $45,000.

Such things are mere trifles around the Argo; and the Grant works
are only second in their output. In either you may see a trough full of
pure silver-sponge, as big as a good-sized manger in a barn. I think that
the ores which are worked in these great establishments are, as a rule, very
refractory ; and their treatment requires the greatest pains and the best
watchcare of scientific skill.

I was delighted with the character of the Denver people. The news-
papers are of a high grade; and every public aspect of civic life indicates,
unmistakably, the presence and endeavor of a high-minded and vigorous
community. There is in Denver a considerable aggregation of distinguished
men, and they exhibit a public spirit worthy of the highest commendation.
I am constrained to say that of all the considerable cities which my winter
tours of some ten thousand miles have brought me to, I think I should on
the whole prefer Denver. I hope you will not repeat this statement to Los
Angeles, for she would be indignant, you know, and declare that the writer
is a Denver real estate speculator, which I would he were ! Nevertheless, he
sticks to his assertion. The solid brick houses of Denver city, her fine pub-
lic buildings, her magnificent schools, at the very head and front of any with
which I am acquainted, and many other elements of human happiness and
progress, constrain him to believe that the rational man would prefer this
Rocky Mountain Queen to almost any other divinity of the times.

For a full week I stayed in Denver, and familiarized myself, as much as
I could, with her nature and variety. There is nothing stale in these brill-
iant precincts. Much there is, doubtless, which might be fitly defined as
reckless. But beauty is prevalent over ugliness, and worth has a clear vic-
tory over worthlessness. I found the bar of Denver to be a body of men
peculiarly able, scholarly, and eloquent. I should be unworthy of the many
favors which I received at his hands if I did not especially acknowledge my
indebtedness to my host, Judge 0. B. Liddell, a well-tried Hoosier of old
days, who, from his pleasant home on Grant avenue, looks out each morn-
ing on the city of his choice. To Madame, also, and Olivia, I send a poor re-
turn of grateful thanks. Nameless, I suppose, must be the accomplished
ladies of the public schools whose delightful society I enjoyed for brief
periods during my stay; but not nameless my friend Superintendent Gove,
of the city schools, and Chancellor More, of Denver University.

Of one thing I satisfied myself, while tarrying in the city, and that is
that the supposed benefit, aye, the actual, undeniable benefit, to persons
laboring under pulmonary disease, by residence in this fine, dry, highlj'
electrified air, is in no sense medicinal, but a purely mechanical matter.
The atmosphere is so light that much more is required to satisfy the de-
mands of the system for a current supply of oxygen than is demanded at a
24

348 Beyond the Sierras.

lower level. The result is that the luiiga are automatically expanded. It is
simply a matter of compulsory pulmonary exercise, neither more nor les-s.
The air piussages and lunj,' structure 7/ijw/ open here and now, or the pos-
sessor of them must perish on the spot.

As a result, all animals begin to get a larger chest capacity. Take a
horse, well grown, from St. Louis to Denver, and in six months his girth will
have expanded five or six inches. It is this natural and inevitable enlarge-
ment of the chest and its consequent freedom of action that bring back
your asthmatic and your consumptive from the shoals of suflboation. Added
to this mechnnical and necessary exercise of the breathing organs, the pa-
tient has also the advantiige,if he is at all able to bear it, of the high electrical
tension of the atmosphere. I believe that Denver is more surcharged with
electricity than any other city in the world. You are so full of this " mode
of action ' that you know not what to do with yourself. If from the barber's
chair jou glance into the glass, you see that, under the manipulations of the
artist's hands, your hair is sUinding up like quills upon the fretful porcu-
pine. Timid people are constantly jumping and stiirting under the freaks
of the electrical current. On a favorable day you can walk up to the gas
jet, and set it oMwith your linger. Shake hands and you will feel the shock
to your elbow. Touch anything, and you snap and sparkle. For the first
day or two these sensations make you uneasy. Especially, if you try public
speech, do you experience inconvenience. Your chest seems to be puH'ed
up, and the supply of air on the vocal chords is beyond your management
and control.

Denver is a good place to complete your collection of oddities. Here
you may still obtain a respectable buffalo hide, dressed or in the raw. In
another year, I presume, the traffic in the woolly covering of Sir Bison will
have ended forever. You can also buy (but will have to pay a round price
for it) the great coat of Brer Grizzly Bear, or Brer Coyote, or Brer Red Fox
of the mountain. I observe that the shopkeepers are by no means back-
ward in their tariff rates; and you are forced to stop short by the specter of
bankruptcy.

Denver is also the place to collect minerals. My special friend at the
Whittier school gave me a box full— most beautiful and rare, and correctly
labeled. Yon great battlement of mountains to the west is full of all man-
ner of treasures. As a general fact, it appears to me that the supply of
precious metals and rare stones and minerals piled and scattered in the
gorges and clilfs of the Great West is absolutely inexhaustible.

Before leaving the city I was taken for a drive by my friends, Judge
Liddell and Dr. Bancroft, out to the (me stock ranch of the latter, near the
foot of the mountjiins. Here I inspected the best horses and cattle which I
had seen since leaving the green pastures of the Wabash valley. The Doctor
is proud of his herd and his st^ibles; and I blame him not for his frank ad-
miration of the well-developed and well-kept animals about his ranch.

I mention this visit in part because of the splendid sunset which marked

Backwards March. 349

its conclusion. I liave witnessed two really glorious sundowns in ray life.
Once, of an October evening, on the crest of Walnut Hills, back of Cincin-
nati, when the natural haze of the autumnal atmosphere had blended in
perfect harmony with the dust and smoke of the city below, I watched the
orb of day sink to his rest as to a death-bed of infinite glory. Great bars of
light flashed out from his setting to the very zenith of heaven, diverging
from the focus of t^plendor over all the western sky. The radiating bands
of light were of amethyst and vermilion and purple and gold. Nor could
any feeble expressions of human speech convey to another an adequate idea
of the beauty and sublimity of the scene.

How totally different, in all of its characteristics, is this magnificent
sunset behind the Denver mountains! Here, everything is as clear as
crystal. The air is fairly lustrous in its transparency. You have no pre-
monition of the coming eclipse. The last moments before the sundown are
as bright with day as high noon itself. You are bowling along on the plain
toward the city, five miles away, but distinctly visible in all its outlines. All
of a sudden, a great shadow, stretching from left to right, overtakes you,
more swift than the flight of eagle's wing or passage of sailing cloud. The
shadow-line rushes ahead across the plain, swallowing everything into the
duskiness of an instantaneous twilight. I halt the carriage, and watch with
intense interest to see the obscuration of Denver.

Swiftly the line of darkness sweeps on, and suddenly the spires and
roofs change from glitter and sheen into the half oblivion of coming night.
^Farther and still farther the great shadow floats over the plain, until it
reaches the horizon, and all is dark. In process of time an evening shall
come for you and me, O my fellow travelers, when a shadow like that
shall oversweep the evening landscape, and the whole world, instead of
one peopled plain, shall pass from our vision into the mystery of eclipse
and the curtain of friendly darkness. May that sundown of life find us
all in peace, and wrap us in the drapery of a happy slumber !

Here, then, with the great wall of the Rocky Mountains behind us, I
take leave of Colorado and her principal city. The flying train is ready
to receive us and bear us away to the Kansas line, and thence through the
longer diameter of that State, to our place of starting. I still say " our," for
the associations of the past sixty days bring back the now well-known faces
of a hundred friends; and they, too, seem journeying across these limitless
plains of Western Kansas to the place of our departure.

It is a twenty-four hours' ride from Denver to Kansas City. Approach-
ing the eastern limits of the State, I meet old acquaintances, former college
boys, who step on and off" at the stations. They are no longer boys, but in
full estate of manhood, and are making themselves felt in developing this
great commonwealth, where the battle of freedom was begun, full thirty
years ago.

I notice, as the day wears apace, that we come by easy descent into the
lower levels of the Missouri river valley. Presently you perceive that a

350 Beyond tlw. Sierras.

great city is at hand : and here, at hvst, you are. Your train stops, and you
step ofl'on the platform. Here, on the 12th of last January, more than five
hundred of us were gathered, to nearly all uf whom the Great West was then
a mystery and a dream. And it is still a dream and a mystery. In our
brief sojourn and tour beyond the Sierras we have caught no more than
passing glimpses of the great natural ]>henomena which abound in that new
world uf wonders, or of the vigormis and )iroirressiv(> civilizHiion that is there
in process of development.

This, then, is the end of my poor story. It may interest the reader to
know, ere I bid him good-by, th»it wliat I have here written is simply the
revival of pleasing recollections. During the whole of our winter suiy be-
yond the mountains I made not a single note or memorandum. I have de-
picted the scenes and incidents of our Western anabasis merely as they have
arisen on the dappled screen of memory.

I meet on the platform of the Kansas City station no single pilgrim of
our former happy company. They are all, all, gone. But with my well-
worn traveling hat in hand, I swing it on high and recklessly propose three
cheers and a tiger for the success and honor and inefTaceable memories of
our journey beyond the snow-crests of the Nevadas and through the flower-
scented valleys of California.

My friends, farewell.

INDEX.

Page.

American Horticutural Society, Proceedings of 25, 140

Augur, P. M., paper by — Expansion of Small Fruit Culture 72

Agnew, A., remarks by 78

Albrecht, Dr. Joseph, paper by — Palms 98

A California Year, poem by Mrs. Field 121

Address of Welcome 142

Agricultural and Horticultural Press, list of 232

Buck, L. W., remarks by 53, 54, 57, 81, 95, 98

Blackwell, Mr., remarks by 54

Budd, H. I., remarks by 56, 90

Breyfogle, Dr. C. W., remarks by 58

Blowers, R. B., remarks by 70

Barnard, S., remarks by 89

Baird, David, letter from 93

Bettner, James, remarks by 107, 108

Barbour, Mr., remarks by 108

Banquet at San Jos4 121

Brackett, Col. G. B., letters from 124

Brown, C. C, remarks by 152

Bubach, J. G., committee on 152

Budd, Prof. J. L., committee on 152

Barnard S., committee on 152

Budd, H. I., committee on 152

Budd, Prof. J. L., remarks by 158, 159, 164, 17(i, 207, 218

Bradbury, H. K., resolution by 178

Budd, Prof. J. L., paper by — Down the Volga 181

Bradbury, H. K., remarks by 198, 223

Combe, L. D., remarks by 54

Committee on Forestry appointed 64

Coates, L., remarks by 82, 88

Cassell, W. H., letters from 30, 91

Cold Storage, discussion on 110

Committee on Nomenclature, report of 124

Curtis, Prof. G. W., paper by 134

Committee on Finance appointed 141

Cutter, J. E., poem by— Ode Conventional 145

Committee on Finance, report of 146

Colfax, invitation from 147

Committee on Nominations appointed 152

Cardwell, Dr. J. R., committee on 152

352 Index.

Pa<;e.

Cutter, J. E., remarks by 177, 11)3

Cutter, J. E., paper by— Raisin Culture 192

Coijnillette, Prof., remarks by 20i

Committee on Societies and Organizations appointed 218

Cooper, Hon. Eliwooii, paper by— Olive Culture 225

Discussion on Pres. Earle's address- 42

Discussion on Prof. Tlusmann's paper 52

Durand, J. B., remarks by 53, 2U8

Discussion on Mr. Smitli's paper 69

Discussion on Small Fruits 78

Discussion on Mr. Van Deman's paper 81

Discussion on Peach Culture 87

Discussion on Ornithology 94

Discussion on Forestry Resolutions 97

Discussion on Palms 100

Discussion on Cold Storage 110

Deere, Kev. G. H., Address of Welcome by 142

Discussion on Mr. Lewers' paper 151

Discussion on Landscape Gardening 157

Discussion on Secretary Ragan's paper 1()3

Death of H. Y. Beebe announced 104

Douglas, Robt., paper by — Thoughts on Forestry.. 170

Discussion and Resolutions on Forestry 176

Douglas, T. II., remarks l)y 17G

Discussion on Raisin Culture 193

Discussion on Prof. Ford's paper 198.

Discussion on Prof. Riley's i)aper 204

Discussion on Hybridization 207

Discussion on Mr. Munson's report 218

Earle, President, remarks by 20,27, 43, 47, 52, 53, 55, 57, 65, 7S, 82, 87, 91, 146

180, 198, 204. 225, 230

P^arle, President, address by 32

Evans, Treasurer, committees on 42, 120

Evans, Treasurer, remarks by 57, 90, 94

Earle, President, response by 60, 144

Estee, Hon. M. M., remarks' by 9.5,98, 108

Estee, Hon. M. M., report by 109

Evans, J. C. reports by 109, 110

Experiment Stations, report on 127

Elliott, Wyman, committee on 152

Election of Officers 1^0

ICarle, Parker, elected President 1^0

livans, J. C, elected Treasurer 180

Evans, J. C, motion by 218

Executive Committee, meeting of '-31

Feeley, D. C, remarks by HI

Index. 353

Page.

Final resolutions 1-20. 230

Financial Statement 141

Finance, Committee appointed on 141

Fernow, B. E., jjaper by — Forestry 165

Ford, Prof. H. C, paper by— Rare Fruits of Santa Barbara 194

Fixing place of next meeting 209

Grimes, J. T., remarks by .55, 95

Goodman, L. A., remarks by 57, 90, 157

Gish, D. E., remarks by 78

Gray, G. M., remarks by 90

Goodman, L. A., committees on 120, 152

Goodman, L. A., paper by — Landscape Gardening 152

Hubbard, T. S., motion by 27

Hubbard, T. S., report of 32

Husmann, Prof. Geo., remarks by 45, 53, 54, 55, 71, 88

Hubbard, T. S., committees on 4fi, 64, 120, 152, 218

Husmann, Prof. Geo., paper by — Grape Culture 48

Hubbard, T. S:, remarks by 52, 53, 57, 159, 205, 218

Hatch, A. T., remarks by .53 57

Holsinger, Frank, remarks by 87, 90, 94, 109, 208

Hilgard, Prof. E. W., paper by — Education of Farmers... 112

Hart, E. H., letter from 127

Holsinger, Frank, committees on 141, 152

Holsinger, Frank, report of 146

Hewson, Geo. D., committee on 152

Henderson, Peter, paper by — Hybridization 206

Invitation to Oakland, received 58

Invitation to State Normal School, received 58

Intensive Culture, paper on, by J. M. Smith 65

Invitation to Phoenix, received 146

Invitation to Colfax, received 147

Invitation to Tacoma, received 147

Invitation to San Bernardino, received 148

Johnson, Sylvester, motion by 42

Johnson, Sylvester, committees on 42, 152

Johnson, Sylvester, report by 110

Kinney, Prof. Abbott, remarks by.... 42, 46, 177

Kimball, Dr. E., remarks by 43, 69, 72

Kinney, Prof. Abbott, motion by 46

Kinney, Prof. Abbott, committees on 46, 64, 152

Klee, Prof. W. G., remarks by 71, 82, 110, 111, 176, 204, 208

Kinney, Prof. Abbott, reports by 96, 178, 179

King, J. D., remarks by 164

Lauck, Maj. J. B., remarks by 27, 64, 119, 179

Letter from Horticultural Times 28

Letter from Prof. T. J. Burrill 28

354 Index.

Paoe.

Letter from Hon. Chas. (iiljb 28

Letter from Prof. S. A. Forbes 29

Letter from E. S. Carman .. 29

Letter from Rev. E. P. Roe 30

Letters from \V. H. Cassell 30, 91

Letter from Elhvooil Cooper 30

Letter from Prof. VVra. Saunders 31

Letter from Prof. E. W. Hilgani 31

Letter from David liaird 93

L?tter from J. H. Wheeler 147

Letter from Prof. Kizo Tamari 148

Letter from L. B. Pierce 164

Letter from L. A. Goodman 210

Letter from Hon. T. T. Lyou 212

Letter from Hon. C. L. Watrous 212

Letter from C. M. Hohbs 213

Letter from W. C. Strong 213

Lemmon, Prof. J. G., remarks by 47, 95, lUti, 108

Liniiley, J. Van., remarks by oo, 82, 110

Lanik, Maj. J. B , committee on 120

Lyon, T. T., report by 124

Letters and invitations received 14(>

Lewers, Ross, paper by — Fruit-Growing in Nevada 149

Lewers, Ross, remarks by lol, l.")2, 17(J, 204

Lewers, Ross, committee on 152

Lindley, J. Van., committee on 152

Landscape Gardening, discussion on 157

Mnnson, T. V., remarks by 44, 55, 57, 70, 151, 157, 158, 177, 205, 208, 209

Miinson, T. V., committees on 4(5, 64, 218

Myrick, Judge, address by 58

Masters, J. H., remarks by 82, 109, 205

Munson, T. V., paper by— Will the Future Man Eat Peaches? 83

Minier, Rev. Geo. W., paper by — Birds and Forests 92

Masters, J. H., report by 109

Munson, T. V., motion by 119

Munson, T. V., report by 120

Myrick, Herbert, report by 127

Marvin, D. S., paper by — Color of Grapes 138

Munson, T. V., elected Vice-President ISO

Munson, T. V., protest by 205

Munson, T. V., paper by — Societies and Organizations 210

Nomenclature, report of committee on 124

Obmer, X., cnnimittees on 42, 141, 152

Oakland, invitation to 58

Ohmer, N., paper by — Educational Influence of Societies 61

Ohmer, N., remarks by.. 78, 89, 157, 164, 204, 205

Index. 355

Page.

Ohnier, N., reports by 110, 146

Officers, election of 180

Piummer, Dr. O. P. S., remarks by 43, 109, 176

Paulsen, Thos., committee on 46

Paulsen, Thos., remarks by 46, 78

Paper on Influence of Horticultural Societies — N. Ohmer 61

Paper on Intensive Cultivation — J. M. Smiih 65

Paper on Expansion of Small Fruit Culture — P. M. Augur 72

Paper on Dewberry Culture — I. N. Stone 77

Paper on Diospyros Kaki — Prof. H. E. Van Deman 79

Paper on Peach Culture — T. V. Munsou 83

Pryal, A. D., remarks by 88, 98

President Earle, remarks by 88, 89, 94, 106, 107, 110, 111, 151, 164, 205, 225

Paper on Birds and Forests — Rev. O. W. Minier 92

Paper on Palms — Dr. Albrecht 98

Palms, discussion on 106

President Earle's Address, report on 110

President's Address, publication of — Authorized 110

Paper by Prof. Hilgard — Education of Farmers 112

Paper by C. L. Watrous — How to get Hardier Fruits 129

Paper by Prof. Curtis — Agriculture and Horticultnr- 134

Paper by D. S. Marvin — Color of Grapes 138

Proceedings of Meeting at Eiverside 140

Phcenix, Arizona, letter from 146

Paper by Ross Lewers — Fruit-Growing in Nevada 149

Peffer, Geo. P., committee on 152

Paper by L. A. Goodman— Ornamentation of Homes 152

Parker, Dr., remarks by 159

Paper by W. H. Ragan — Our Neglected Native Fruits 159

Pierce, L. B., letter from 164

Paper by B. E. Fernow — Forestry , — ..... 165

Paper by Robt. Douglas — Thoughts on Forestry 170'

Paper by Prof. Budd— Down the Volga 181

Paper by J. E. Cutter — Limitation of Raisin Culture 192

Paper by Prof. Ford — Rare Fruits of Santa Barbara. 194

Paper by Rrof. Riley — Insecticides 199

Paper by Peter Henderson — -Hybridization 206

Paper by T. V. Munson — Societies and Organizations 210

Paper by H. J. Rudisill— Limits of Citrus Fruit Culture 218

Paper by Dr. Ridpath— Evolution, What it Teaches 224

Paper by EUwood Cooper — Olive Culture in California 225

Ragan, W. H., remarks by 45, 81, 94, 151, 163, 177, 218

Ridpath, Dr. J. C, committees on 46, 64, 120

Ridpath, Dr. J. C, remarks by 47, 69, 95, 98

Reception at Horticultural Hall 58

Ridpath, Dr. J. C, response by 59

25

35b Index.

Ri(l|):itli, I)r. J. f., motion l»y (J5

Reports of Coturuittee on Forestry yy. 17<»

Resolutions on Fruit Tariff' 10!» 177

Report of Coniaiillee on I'resiiU-nt Karle Ailtiress 1 10

Ridpath, Dr. J. C, report l>y \2{\

Resolutions, Final 120

Riil|>ath, Dr. J. C, poem l)y I'j-j

Response to Welcome, President Earle 144

Rutlisill, H. J., remarks by 15S, !.')!», lit.S, 'J05

Ragan, W. II., paper by— Our Neglected Native Fruits 159

Ragan, W. II., motion by 177

Ragan, W. II., elected Secretary ISO

Riley, Prof. C. V. paper by— On Insecticides 1«)9

Resolutions, Final, Committee on 209

Ragan, W. II.. committee on 218

Rudisill, II. J., paper by— Limitation of Citrus Fruit Culture 218

Ridpith, Dr. J. C, vote of thanks to 224

Ri(il)ath, Dr. J. C, paper by— Evolution, What it Teaches 225

R:igMn, W. H., recipient of purse 225

Ridpath, Dr. J. C, sketch by— Beyond the Sierras 285

Secretary, notes by 32,61, 96, 232, 234

Smith. .J. M., remarks by 42, 53, 55, 56, 72, 78, 95, 157, 163, 193, 198

Smith, J. M., committees on 46, 64, 141, 218

Stone, I. N., remarks by 57, 78

State Normal School, invitation to 58

Sacramento, invitation to 65

Smith, J. M., paper by — Intensive Cultivation 65

Stone, I. N., paper l)y— Dewberry Culture 77

Smith, W. W., remarks by 88, 89

Sweet, M. E., remarks by !tO

Stevens, Nat., remarks liy 90, 205

Secretary Ragan, remarks by 107, 157, 198

Santa Rosa, invitation to 108

Smith, J. M., reports by 120, 146

Secretary's report, financial 141

San Bernardino, invitations to 148, ISO

Samuels, J. M., committee on 152

Stevens, Nat., committee on 152

Smith, J. M., motion by 209

Strong, W. C, committee on 218

Sketch, Beyond the Sierras, by Dr. J. C. Ridpath 235

Thomas, Prof. S. W., remarks by 54, 108

Tariff', resolutions on 109

Turnverein Hall, ban<iuet in 121

Treasurer, report of 141

Tamari, Prof. Kizo, letter from 148

Index. 357

Page.

Thomas, Prof. W. S., committee on 152

Thomas, Prof. W. S., report by 180

Texas, the place of next meeting 209

Van Deman, Prof. H. E., remarks by 44, 56, 57, 81, 82, 89, 94, 95, 97, 107, 108

111, 152, 157, 158, 163, 223

Van Deman, Prof. H. E., paper by — Diospyros Kaki 79

Van Deman, Prof. H. E., committees on 120, 152

Veal, W. G., remarks by 158, 208, 209

White, Dr. A. F., remarks by 44

Wilcox, I. A., remarks by 53, 54, 55, 70, 78, 82, 108, 111

Welcome Address — Judge Myrick 58

Wheeler, J. H., remarks by 70

Watson, W. P., remarks by 90

W^ickson, E. J., remarks by 107

White Dr. A. F., invitation by 119

Watrous, C. L., paper by — How to Get a Hardy Kace of Fruits 129

Wheeler, J. H., letter from 147

Wier, D. B., remarks by 207, 208

New York Botanical Garden Librarv

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