The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-12-25
Horticulture
In the
Beautiful
Valley
OF Santa Clara
Written for
"The Call"
By j. r. Thompson

has to deal with nature IN her most charm
ing mood She is never shy, capricious,
sulen or resentful with him if he is intel
ligent and sympathetic with her. If he
carefully studies her ways and seeks to
win her confidence, she will always be lib
eral with her favors. There is no such
thing as failure for him then. Be it fruits
or blossoms that he desires, she gives to
him in profusion. Roses, pansies, carna-
tions, peaches, prunes, apricots, he shall
have them all in such abundance that his
garden and his orchard shall be the won
der and admiration of all beholders. All
her forces work together for his benefit.
The rain and the sunshine, the dew and
the bay breeZes, all come in their APP
pointed time to second his efforts and to
bring his trees and his flowers into perfec-
ton of shape, size, flavor and perfume.
The soil that he works in is the store
house of centuries for natures fertilizing
elements, all now ready to be transmitted
into vigorous buds, blossoms and fruits at
his command. He has only to keep it in
such condition that the roots can readily
avail themselves of its riches, and a growth
which is almost unprecedented in human
experience will be the certain result.
The horticulturist in Santa Clara Valley
cannot wholly escape the primeval curse.
He must labor, but labor in his case is for
the most part delight. It is like the la
Dor of mother that nurses her babe. Ev-
ery stroke of his spade or his hoe, indeed
every click of his pruning shears is ca
ress that finds a ready response from the
tree or the flower which he is tending.
Nothing responds more intelligently and
more generously to Intelligent and sympa-
thetic care than a flower or tree. 1t will
grow in almost any shape that may be de-
sired with proper pruning and training,
and the size and shape of its blossoms or
its fruits, as well as their flavor or per-
fume, may be determined in the same
| way. 1t is at the command of its owner in
every respect, and, with the abundance of
food and the genial air and sunshine of
Santa Clara Valley he can make OF 1t
whatever he WILL obtain from it the per-
| lection of blossom or fruit and the utmost
| of profit.
| Horticulture in Santa Clara Valley is
! therefore the most delightful of all occu-
pations. 1t is wonderful to note how the
trees and flowers display their confidence
| and intelligence TO those that love them
1t has often been said that one person will
| stick a root or a slip into the soil any
where and anyhow and it will grow and
| thrive, while another person cannot seem
| TO make anything grow, even with the
greatest care and attention. These differ
ent results in different lands, have always
| believed simply show that one loves
! plants and cares for them as for favorite
animal or beloved child while the other,
| though ready enough to admire perfect
rose, or to taste a luscious peach or april
cot, regards bush or a tree as a piece of
| inanimate. matter wholly devoid of SYM
pathy or intelligence. And this is a great
mistake in horticulture. The best results
are not TO be obtained from either flower
or tree without giving it the affection
which it so constantly Graves and SO
readily appreciates.
One OF the principal reasons for the
splendid success of horticulture in Santa
Clara Valley Is, am fully convinced, the
fact that the great majority of those en-
gagged in it, are intelligent lovers of trees
and flowers. The owners of the finest
orchards are highly cultivated people.
They have spent the greater pa TT of their
lives in other pursuits, always with the
| longing deep down in their hearts to be
done with the strifes and struggles of bust
ness or politics, and to retire to a garden
and orchard Of their own, where they can
end their days in comfort and indie
pendence. Most of them have spent all
! their lives in the harsh climate of the
| Northern States beyond the Rocky
Mountains, in which the extremes of heat
and cold, the billiards of winter and the
cyclones and tornadoes of summer, make
existence a perpetual burden, and they
| have always cherished the hope that they
might some time be able to enjoy more
| genial climate.
! And just as soon as they have acquired
a competence, or have in any way been
| able TO see their way clear to making a
| livelihood for themselves and their fam
| lilies, they have left the shop. the store or
the office and striven to realize their ideal
of life. In some way they have heard of
! the glorious sunshine, the fertile soil and
| the magnificent fruits and flowers of Santa
| Clara Valley, and they have come to see
for themselves. And to see was to resolve
| to spend the lest of their lives here, so
they have bought themselves a few acres
| of land, built themselves neat cottage
or fine residence according to their
means, and have gone to planting and
caring for trees and flowers with all the
pent-up enthusiasm of lifetime III the
/ change.
And how well they have succeeded IN
realizing their ideal of existence let the
thousands OF beautiful gardens and thriv-
ing and profitable orchards of Santa Clara
Valley testify. No one can go around this
county in any direction without seeing
evidences of the most perfect happiness to
! be found anywhere in this world. Every
where may be seen the retired physician,
| journalist, college professor, merchant,
manufacturer, lawyer, politician, etc., each
watching his roses as they grow and glory
ing in their perfection of beauty as they
bloom as never he gloried in his former
professional, financial or political success.
And each one has roses or pansies or
peaches or prunes such as never were seen
before, and wants all the world to love and
| admire them as he does.
These people are all in the garden or the
orchard from dawn in the morning to dark
at night, winter as we'll as summer, if in
deed there can properly be said to be any
| 1f