Pen pictures from the garden of the world, or Santa Clara county, California, Part 32

Author: Foote, Horace S., ed
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 844

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planted during the season of 1888-89. Mr. Rock's ex- hibiton of Santa Clara County nursery products at the New Orleans Expositon of 1884 received the award of all the principal premiums offered in that department. The capital stock of the California Nursery Company is $100,000, and John Rock is its President, and R. D. Fox, its Vice-President. Although these nurseries are just outside the county limits, we speak of them as belonging to Santa Clara County, for the reason that they are the result of Santa Clara County energy and Santa Clara County capital.

As has been previously stated, there was a consid- erable period during which there was a prevailing opinion that the Willows was the true fruit section of the county. In reference to this opinion very little planting was done outside this district except for home use. It was especially held that west and south, toward the foot-hills, where the water was so far be- neath the surface, trees could not grow and produce profitable crops. One of the first to break over this popular superstition was Mr. T. W. Mitchell, the re- sult of whose efforts is here given.

THOMAS W. MITCHELL is the proprietor of the San Tomas Orchard, the largest orchard in the San Tomas District. The property fronts the Quito road, and is situated about one mile southeast of Saratoga. Mr. Mitchell's residence, which is approached from the road over an avenue eighty rods in length, stands near the center of his one hundred and eighteen acres, of which eighty-three acres are in orchard. He bought the place in 1881. It was then in bad condition, having been devoted many years to grain culture, and sadly neg- lected. Years were spent in bringing the property into its present fine condition. Now (in 1888) it is no disparagement to others to say that no property in the neighborhood shows better care and skill in man- agement, or produces better results than does this- in fact, 'tis not saying too much when it is stated that no better orchard can be found in the country.

Fifteen acres are devoted to the culture of seventeen hundred cherry trees, principally of the Tartarian, Governor Wood, and Royal Ann varieties. No fruit of this kind in the county ranks higher than does Mr. Mitchell's in the San Francisco market. The crop of 1887 brought $2,500. Three hundred and fifty young peach trees comprise the peach orchard, and four thousand prune trees (chiefly French), the prune orchard. These, with six hundred almond trees, Oregon and Bulgarian prune trees, apple and pear trees, besides a vineyard covering twenty acres

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(planted generally in rows alternating with peach and prune trees), make the grand total of product and revenue. The entire property of one hundred and eighteen acres is made excellent in improvement and grand in productive results.

Mr. Mitchell was born in Fifeshire, Scotland, No- vember 29, 1825. He is the son of William and Eliza- beth Mitchell. The family came to the United States, and settled in Kenosha County, Wisconsin. There the subject of this sketch married Miss Martha Williams, in 1856. Later, they removed to Walworth County, and from Wisconsin came to California in 1861. They made Calaveras County their home for seven years, leaving it in 1868 to become residents of San Jose. There they lived until they took possession of their Santa Clara home (before described), in 1881.

Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell are the parents of three children, of whom two, Ada and Frank, are living. Carrie, the wife of Charles C. Worthington, died at the age of twenty-nine years. Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell have in their care her two children, Ada Louisa and Georgie May. Both Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell are con- sistent members of the Baptist Church.

Mr. Mitchell has been a steadfast supporter of the Republican party ever since its organization.

In 1880 G. W. Gardner purchased the tract on the Los Gatos road at the northwest corner of what is now called "Orchard Homes." It ran from the corner westerly to the narrow-gauge railroad. This he planted the same and the following years, about the same time. Henry Curtner, who had purchased what was known as the "Johnson Farm," situated to the south and east of Gardner's, sold it out in sub- divisions and it was planted in 1882 and 1883.

The Leigh tract was subdivided and sold in 1882 and planted the following spring.

Newhall's forty-acre prune orchard was planted in 1883. Most of the other orchards on Hamilton Av- enue were planted the year before. About this time also were planted the orchards around Campbell's Station, along the Infirmary road and Gruwell road.

Cozzen's large prune orchard on the Kirk tract was planted in 1882, and the one at the corner of the Stev- ens Creek and Infirmary road was planted in 1883.

The Bradley prune orchard was planted in 1875, and it was the great yield of these trees that induced much of the planting of French prunes. The product of this orchard, which contains ten acres, has run from $2,500 to $4,000 each season since the trees were six years old. The large plantings north and west of

Santa Clara date from 1880, and so with the Doyle, Cupertino, and other districts west. Although there are some older orchards around Mayfield and Mountain View, the real interest in fruit-growing is only about four years old. The same may be said of the Evergreen District, and the country to the south of San Jose, and along the Monterey road and in the vicinity of Gil- roy. Many years ago Mr. Hiram Pomeroy demon- strated the capacity of the Little Calaveras Valley as a fruit section, but as nearly all of that valley is owned by the Spring Valley Water Company, no extensive plantings have been made. The hill-sides and slopes to the east of Milpitas have long been noted for their peculiarly mild climate, the Portuguese gardeners growing peas, potatoes, and other vege- tables for the midwinter market. In the last six years many orchards have been planted in this region, as well as to the north towards the Warm Spring section.

It would not be profitable, even if possible, to give the names of the owners and dates of planting of all the orchards in the county. Among the biograph- ical sketches in this book will be found the experiences of very many of the leading fruit-growers, and these sketches are intended to fill up the details of this gen- eral history. It has been our endeavor to give starting points from which those interested can trace the growth of this great industry, which is evidently to become the destiny of Santa Clara County.

We have noted the transition of fruit culture from the apple and pear to the apricot, peach, prune, and other similar fruits, and we should here note the signs of another departure. The absorption of our grain and wheat fields and hill-sides by the horticultural in- terests has caused some people to predict that, in time, the pastures having been converted to other uses, meat will become as scarce as in Italy and the fruit and vine section of France. While the millions of acres of mountain land yet remaining may furnish range for cattle and goats for an indefinite period, they are sure that the days of the "American Hog" in California are numbered. Following the example of Eastern nations, they propose a substitute in the olive. Whatever may be the fate of our cattle and hog in- terest, it is a fact that the planting of olives has re- ceived a great impetus since 1886. The demands on the nurseries have been more than could be supplied, although their stocks have been greatly increased by large importations. These demands promise a large increase for future years, and point to a time when olive culture will be general throughout this country.

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In view of this fact it will be in place to relate what has been done in this direction to the present time. We have spoken of the olives cultivated at the mis- sions. Other trees were planted after California became a part of the United States, principally for home use by persons of French, or Italian, or Spanish birth or parentage. The first attempt of any magnitude at the cultivation of olives in an orchard was at what is now known as

THE QUITO OLIVE AND VINE FARM.

This farm of eighty-one acres, distant eight miles from San Jose, is situated on the Quito road near its junction with Saratoga Avenue. This particular spot in his great rancho was chosen by Señor Don Jose Ramon Arguello for his country homestead, and here, in 1865, he planted the first of the olives, a small vine- yard, and a fruit orchard. His death, in 1876, led to a division of the estate, and in December, 1882, the olive farm passed into the hands of the present pro- prietor. The development of the place has been car- ried forward slowly but steadily since that date. The olives had been planted at the extremely short dis- tance of sixteen and a half feet, and were suffering from insufficient soil and lack of air and sun, and in the month of March, 1883, twelve hundred and fifty of from ten to seventeen years of age were cut to the stock and transplanted, with but small loss. Some of these transplanted trees were in fruit the past season, while the remainder are in full bloom for a crop in the season to come. The trimmings of the trees were made into cuttings, and from the nurseries of 1883 and the two following years, nearly fifty thousand trees have been furnished to the farm itself, and to the new olive orchards of this and adjacent counties, and be- sides these many thousand cuttings have been sup- plied as such. The entire place is now planted in olives, and vines are planted between the rows of trees, as has been the custom for many centuries in Italy and Spain. There are twenty-five hundred trees of from fifteen to twenty-three years of age, and three thousand of five and six years' growth, from the cut- tings, and thirty-two thousand vines of standard wine varieties. During these years (1882-1888), everything has been made subservient to the development of the place, in the re-making of the old orchard, the making of the new, and the planting of the vines; but, not- withstanding this, the oil of 1885 stood first in the tests at the New Orleans Exposition, and received a diploma there, as at various California fairs, and the pickled olives of that and the following years met with a rapid sale.

The wonderful growth of the olive in the excep- tionally favorable soil and climate of Santa Clara Valley makes it necessary to give it unusually large distances, and, although the removal of one-half the trees of the older orchard on alternate diagonal lines, left the remaining trees at twenty-three and one- third feet distance, their growth has been such as to demonstrate the need of still further removals. In this season, in March, a number of trees were transplanted, all or nearly all trees now of twenty-three years, and all trees which had been previously transplanted in 1883. In the coming winter from six to eight hun- dred old trees will be transplanted from the oldest orchard.

It will be readily seen that it is quite impossible to give estimates as to the production of olives, and the profits of olive culture, whether for oil or olives in pickle, based on the experience of the Quito, be- cause, up to 1883, the trees were entirely too crowded to be productive, and because, since that date, the older trees have been recovering from those years of insufficient space, of abuse and neglect, or re-making themselves from the stock, while the younger trees have not as yet reached the year of bearing. The grove does, however, prove beyond a question that the soil and climate of Santa Clara Valley are exceed- ingly well-suited to the olive, and that the variety known as the "Mission Olive" can produce oil of a high grade, and olives in pickle which find a ready sale in the home market.

The buildings consist of an oil mill-in the upper' story of which the proprietor has fitted up a quaint apartment, with the crusher and press addition- winery, barn, and commodious houses for the force. A homestead lot between old oaks, olives, and peppers has been left for a residence; and an attractive feature of the place is the "Pergola," an arbor two hundred feet long by ten broad, made of heavy redwood posts and cross beams, on which climb choice varieties of table grapes, and to the south of which is a line of old olives and fruit trees alternated. In the coming year this will be so completely covered as to give a shady resort from summer heat. It was from vines of this arbor that astonished Eastern horticulturists gathered grapes still palatable, even after the extreme frosts of the season, on the day of their drive through the valley, January 27, 1888. Not far from this arbor are some old cherries which seem rather shade than fruit trees, in their extraordinary size. Señor Arguello showed himself well acquainted with his great estate when he chose this spot for the family country home,

An Olive of Sixteen Years.

A View from the Residence toward Los, Gatos Pass.

A Section of the Olive Orchard.

THE QUITO OLIVE AND VINE FARM OF EDWARD) E. GOODRICH.

QUITO OLIVE AND VINE FARM-VIEW FROM LANDING OF WINDMILL. THE PROPERTY OF E. E. GOODRICH.

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for its position, although on the plain, commands a view exceptionally extensive and beautiful, while its soil admits no rival for fruit culture.

Whether considered as a place of residence, as an olive farm, or as a wine farm, the Quito is one of the choice properties of the valley, and one of the most beautiful. Its position is such, as related to the many vineyards in the locality, that its plant for wine pro- duction and storage will, almost of necessity, be in- creased this year or the following year. In such case the arrangement of machinery would be so adjusted that in the future, besides a large wine production, it will be able to deal not only with its own olives, but with the olives of a large district, as the newly-planted olive orchards come into bearing; for in olive culture it is inevitable that the system of manufacture will be the same as in the vine and fruit cultures, and as in the olive culture of Italy-the product of many farms will be brought to central mills for the process of manu- facture. This is a most desirable economy of ma- chinery, and of skilled and experienced labor as well. This is the Quito's natural and seemingly inevitable evolution. It is clear that the increase of the olive interest in the State, but especially in Santa Clara County, will be very great in the next few years.

Besides the profit of the olive farm, this tree has cer- tain especial attractions. By its almost unlimited life an olive orchard is ever increasing in value. By its hardihood it can occupy much land unacceptable to other fruit trees, and almost valueless for general farm uses. The world's demand for olive-oil is so far in advance of the supply that few articles of consump- tion are equally adulterated or absolutely falsified, and the mere local demand of California for pure oil is to-day far in excess of the present supply, and increases more rapidly than the production. These facts seem to relegate the question of a possible over- production to a future so very distant that the olive farmer may safely leave it out of his calculation, even when thinking of his olives as his legacy to children and grandchildren. The olive-oil interest of Califor- nia is even safe from tariff juggling, which seems to threaten other fruit interests so dangerously at the present time, for it is competing only with adultera- tions and fabrications, and its patrons are such because it is what they demand-pure olive oil.

There is another important consideration favorable to an increasing olive industry which is being slowly recognized. It seems as if this interest must be pushed to a great development as offering a solution, and at the present the only solution, of the labor question as

related to the harvesting of the fruit crop. What other than a very extensive olive interest, with its winter harvest-namely, November 15 to May I-can take up the great mass of floating labor needed for the fruit and vine industries, as these set free in No- vember, and carry it on until they call for it again in May? Such there may be, but as yet it is unknown in California. If such a development should come, in but a few years the little Quito will be unnoticeable among the many and larger groves of the county; but it will always have its modest place in the history of the valley as the first (that of the American excepted), and that where the experiments, always necessary in a new industry, and often, for a time, disappointing and unsatisfactory to the beginner, have been tried out; and to those who read the history of their home, their long lines of somber green will stand for years, per aps for centuries, a pleasing memorial of the cultured Spanish gentleman who alone of his genera- tion foresaw the wonderful future of his beloved and beautiful valley; nor will they forget to bless the memory of the old Spanish Padres who brought the olive with them from their Iberian home across the sea. Lovers will bide tryst under the spreading branches, and brides, perhaps, meet their grooms at the altar, as did Beatrice the immortal Dante, in pur- gatory, "above the veil of dazzling white, bound with the olive wreath;" for through all the centuries it has come down to us as the emblem of wisdom, and has been borne by the herald ever as a sign of peace.

The proprietor of the Quito Olive Farm, Mr. Ed- ward E. Goodrich, was born at Malden, Massachusetts, August 12, 1845, but is of the New Haven branch of the Connecticut family of the name. He was gradu- ated at Yale College in the class of 1866, and at the Albany Law School in 1867. April 23, 1878, he was married to Miss Sara M. Shafter, daughter of the late Judge Oscar L. Shafter, of the Supreme Court of this State. Mr. and Mrs. Goodrich have four children -one boy and three girls.

The citrus fruits have been cultivated in Santa Clara County for a period antedating tradition. Or- ange and lemon trees early found place in the mis- sion orchard, and many were brought here by the earlier immigrants from Mexico. They were com- mon in the door-yards and gardens of the old Span- ish homesteads, and bore abundant fruit, although not of the best quality. Orange and lemon trees of a better variety werc, many years ago, planted on the grounds of W. H. Rogers and W. S. McMurtry at Los Gatos, and grew thriftily and bore well. Chris-

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tian Feldstadt, on the eastern foot-hills, had an or- chard of oranges and semi-tropical fruits, which was a source of considerable profit.

In 1880 Mr. Harvey Wilcox planted sixteen acres to oranges in the hills overlooking Los Gatos, on the property now occupied by the Catholic fathers. At six years of age these trees brought a large harvest of beautiful fruit. As a rule citrus fruits were not planted for the market, but as an ornament, and to furnish a home supply. For this reason public atten- tion was not called to this branch of horticulture un- til the winter of 1886-87. At that time the San Jose Horticultural Society called a citrus fair, when or- anges and lemons were presented for exhibition from one hundred and sixty-three different localities in the county. Many of these exhibits were from orchards of considerable acreage, whose owners testified to healthy growth and satisfactory fruitage. This ex- hibition was made, not for the purpose of showing citrus culture as a leading industry of the valley, but to demonstrate to Eastern visitors that Santa Clara County possessed a soil and climate suitable to the growth of those fruits.

It is very doubtful whether orange culture ever be- comes a very important branch of Santa Clara County horticulture. This will not be for lack of adaptability of soil and climate, but because it does not pay so well as other departments of fruit-growing, nor is it so sure or capable of being conducted with so little labor. Oranges must be marketed in a fresh state, and must be transported long distances at high freight rates, while the profit is not in proportion to the risk. In other fruits the producer can place his crop in an imperishable state, and hold it until the condition of the market suits him to offer it for sale. The profit on the stardard fruits grown in Santa Clara County, runs from $150 to $200 per acre, which is large enough to suit any reasonable disposition.

We have spoken of the operations of the Alden Fruit and Vegetable Preserving Company, as giving a great impetus to the orchard business. The com- pany met with no success in its work, because the machine used was incompetent. It, however, dem- onstrated what could be done with proper apparatus. After the Alden Company retired, Mr. W. W. Coz- zens took up the business of fruit evaporating, erect- ing a drier at his place in the Willows, and conducted it successfully until his death, when it was taken in hand by his sons, who have made great improvement in machinery and methods, and are still carrying on the work. Geo. A. and C. F. Fleming, of the Wil-

lows, soon went into the business with an evaporator of their own invention. In 1887 they erected exten- sive branch works at Campbell's Station, and in 1888, at Marysville, Yuba County. More particulars of these operations will be found in the personal histo- ries of these gentlemen, elsewhere recorded in this book.

The rapid increase in the yield of the orchards led to apprehensions that the production would outrun the capacity of the canneries and evaporators. It had come to be a popular belief that an evaporator was necessary to the proper drying of fruit, and there was a great demand for this kind of machinery. Many inventions were presented, but they either lacked in ability to do good work, or in capacity to do enough of it, or were too expensive to be operated with profit. The idea that fruit must be machine-dried to secure the top market prices, was gathered from compara- tive quotations in Eastern prices current. It did not occur to the people that the Eastern sunshine was different from the sunshine in the Santa Clara Val- ley; that, in that country, they had frequent summer rains and heavy dews at night, while in this valley there was a high barometer, no summer rains, and no dew, and that here sun-drying was equivalent to evap- oration, with the only difference that it was a slightly longer operation. To offset the difference in time was the fact that all out-of-doors was available to the sun-drier, and that the amount of fruit that could be exposed at once more than made up for the time re- quired for its curing.

But the people came to know these things in a natural way. The apricot crop of 1887 was unusu- ally large. Many new orchards came into bearing that year, while the older trees had more capacity. Every tree of three years of age or more was bend- ing beneath its load of fruit. The canneries and evaporators could not handle one-third of the crop, and the orchardists were compelled to resort to sun- drying or permit their crops to rot under the trees. They chose the latter, and the result was a revela- tion. By properly preparing the fruit it came from the drying trays bright and luscious in appearance, and, in the opinion of experts, fully equal, if not su- perior, in quality to that cured by machine. The experience of that year settled the problem of pre- paring fruit for market, and settled it in a manner most satisfactory to the orchardist.

The experience of 1887 also solved another problem that was causing considerable anxiety on the part of the fruit-grower. The thoughtful ones had for some

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time been working with the labor question. They foresaw the time when the fruit yield would be too large to be handled by the available workmen then in the valley. When the large crop of this year came on they concluded that the crisis had arrived. And so it had; but it did not bring the disaster that had been anticipated. The trustees of the different schools extended the summer vacation, and women and chil- dren went to the orchards. The crop was all har- vested in good shape, and the children earned a great deal of money. Girls twelve years old could earn $1.00 a day, and others older or more skillful earned from $1.00 to $2.00 per day. Boys learned habits of industry, and, as working in the orchards was popular, none were ashamed of the labor. Besides showing the fruit-growers where to secure their future help, the moral lesson of 1887 was invaluable.

In 1886 the consumers of fruit in the East became convinced that the prunes grown in Santa Clara County were superior in quality to those grown in France, when similar grades were compared. This superiority is due to two causes: First, because the peculiar soil and climate of this section induces a thriftier growth and a more perfect ripening of the fruit, and complete development of the sugar; second, because of the method of curing practiced here. In France the process through which the prunes are carried results in cooking the fruit to a greater or less extent. This renders it soft and pleasant to eat in a raw state, but when made into sauce it loses much of its flavor. In the California process, where the fruit is cured by exposure to the sun, no cooking results, and the fruit retains its full flavor.

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Pen pictures from the garden of the world, or Santa Clara county, California, Part 32

Author: Foote, Horace S., ed Publication date: 1888 Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 844

Author: Foote, Horace S., ed
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 844