The Placer herald., 1871-04-15
LETTER FROM JUANITA.
Jas. r. Nickeson's Rancho Once
Again.

Editor Placer Herald:-We took great
pleasure in sending to you our previous let
ter partially descriptive of Mr. Nickeson's s
Rancho, but when doing SO, felt how feeble
our talent to convey to your readers any
thing like an adequate description.
The gentleman, as we may probably have
mentioned before, does not irrigate his vine
ward but has abundance of water through
out the year TO fructify his grand orchard.
The water Of the great Bear river ditch or
canal which you will, flows through the
entire length Of lis Rancho, thus ahording
every facility for irrigating his fruit trees.
Mr.. Nickeson has no less than 80, 900 good
bearing vines now, besides rs 900 more
planted short time ago, the greater number
tonish you, doubtless, when we tell YOU the
fact that he has no less than 276 varieties of
e-bearing v;nas now. Foty other va
rieties will bear this and next year, and
those of choicest selection At the State
Fair of last year, he exhibited no less than
1900 varieties Of fruits, including 216 OF
grapes. He will have, perhaps, this fall
the large number of two million rooted vines
for sale of careful and choice selection. His
orchard contains no less than 5000 fruit
trees, including one thousand planted this
year. lie has, in all, 400 varieties Of
fruits including grapes. The orchard, when
we were there, presented a magnificent sight
truly, laid out as it had been in broad ave-
nues-the branches Of every tree be-
ing laden with foliage and blossoms of
wondrous beauty, emitting fragrance on
the circumambient air. The soil is simply
decomposed granite. Berries Of great vari-
ETY. flourish there, and the Almond, Black
and English walnut and a great variety OF
other nut trees yield abundantly. Every
thing that flourish in this climate, with the
exception Of the Orange and Lemon may be
found at Nicl<eson's. But there cannot be a
doubt that those will grow there luxuriantly.
He will experiment veey seoa. lie has
wondrous a, enues bordered 'by grand fig
trees and even down to the persimmon. He
has had two depots-one at Reno and an
other q. TrucSte, both east of the Sierra Ne
vad.s. i.a paid in 1869 to the C.P .R.R.
COMPANY So 800 exclusive of a large amount
paid 10 Wells, 'argo O. Co for fruit sent by
Express. Ok wine.. he has the muscat,
uamLarg. Peru, falestine, St. Peters,
Iram;nor, Champagne Lrspe) Los Angeles
Angelica, (inade from choice nnscat grapes)
Catawba, lsabca, &c, &c. ard Others that
9e cenaot stop to speak Of. CT 5randies he
nae froa The grape pear, appie, peach end
yarou4 ether frulie Nc wish to say tha.
Mr.. Nclosou's opinion is, that the malaga
is ,he best rasin grape. He puts up tons
and tons Of dried fruits which are sent to all
portions Of the county. We had the pleas
ure of seeing THREE gold medals, received by
him. and the walls Of his parlor are literally
adorned by diplomas for his great exhibition
at various Fairs. His grand depot is at
San Francisco and his name is known as a
fruit grower through the United States and
Territoiiec The region where he dwells is
said to be Ees,t y-he water excellent and
any amount of timber contiguous to his
Rancho, while lis facilities for the trans-
mission of produce by Railroad are all that
could be desired. We may have mentioned
in this letter some matters described before,
but it will be long while before we forget
our visit to his hosptable home.