The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-12-25
BIG THINGS IN CALIFORNIA.
Gigantic Fruits, Flowers and vege-
tables Grown on the Pacific Coast.
From the New York Sun.

From the New York sun.
Los Angeles, Cal, Dec 1O.-"We have
some big things in California" said l..
German of Los Angeles. "Of course,
you have heard of the big grapevine at
Santa Barbara, which covers three acres.
Then there is the monster rose-bush at
Santa Rosa. 1t grew to an enormous
hight and completely covered the house
where 1t grew. During my lifetime here
in California I have handled squashes
running all the way from 15O to 800 pounds
each. Watermelons / have seen weigh
ing from thirty-fve to 100 pounds. Beets
are frequently known on this coast weigh
ing all the way from forty to seventy
live pounds. | remember one beet raised
at San Rafael which weighed about
eighty pounds Last fall l saw three
onions the aggregate weight of which
was nearly five pounds. In the Pomona
valley | have known of onions weighing
from one and three-quarters to two and
one-half pounds. Tomato vines frequent
ly grow ten or twelve feet across, and l
have often seen radishes that looked
like big turnips.
Il have seen specimens of the Humboldt
county potato which weighed from two
to see cabbages Weighing from thirty
five to seventy-five pounds. Some years
ago Mr. Fox, who lived down in the
Santa Cruz mountains raised a carrot Of
the white Belgian variety which weighed
about twenty-eight pounds. 1t was the
biggest carrot on record The largest
pears that come to the San Francisco
market are what they call pound pears,
but have seen them weighing two and a
half pounds"
At kelsey's orchard, near Santa Bar
bara is plum tree known as the Japan
plum, which was planted in 1876 The
fruit is heart-shaped and of a rich yell
low color. The plums are frequently
from eight to ten inches in circumfer-
ence. In Los Angeles II. l.. Barker dis
plays a rose bush which has reached a
hight of sixteen feet. Grated upon it's
branches are twelve varieties of roses
The parent stalk is twelve years of age
The stalk a few inches above the ground
is five inches In circumference S. H.
Shaw of Ontario recently discovered an
apple blossom on one of the trees in his
orchard which resembles a large-sized
rose, measures nine and one-half inches
in circumference, and is what may be
called a second-crop blossom. An or
binary apple blossom contains FIVE petals,
while this one has thirty or forty
The big grape vine at Monticello, near
Santa Barbara, is famous. The vine was
planted about forty years ago. The grapes
are Of the Mission variety. The parent
stalk is fOrty-six inches in circumfer-
ence one foot from the ground Where
IL commences to branch. three feet from
the ground its circumference is sixty
three inches. The vine yielded four and
a half tons of grapes in a single season.
The vine covers an area of 100 by 80 feet.
At the rooms of the state board of
trade in San Francisco. some remarka-
BILE products Of California soil are on ex-
hibition. Last year, when the season
was well advanced, pumpkins Weighing
PSF pounds were upon exhibition there.
There were also cabbages weighing So
pounds. onions that tipped the scales
at 5 pounds, and huge sweet potato,
raised near Santa Ana, that weighed Is
pounds. Apples weighing 20 ounces are
frequently on exhibition. and five-gal-
Ion glass jar contains eight pears the
weight of which is 331s pounds. These
eight pears completely fill the jar Flor
lists say they have seen lilies in Cali
fornit IA feet high, while geraniums that
look like trees are common.