1874 San Diego City Directory
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CITY OF SAN DIEGO.
and pronounce them at least equal to the best in those countries.
One planting suffices for generations; their fruitfulness is unfailing, and time increases their productiveness.
One tree near Nice is said to have been recorded in 1516, as one of the oldest trees in the neighborhood. Others have been known to live six or seven hundred years.
Another important fruit, one that requires less labor than any other to cultivate, is the fig. It gives a quicker return than the olive, the cuttings often bearing fruit the same year they are taken from the tree. In San Diego two crops, and sometimes three, are taken from the same tree in a season. The fruit is of a superior size and flavor. The expense of planting a fig orchard is very small, and the investment a profitable one.
No atmosphere could be better adapted to the curing of figs, grapes, and all other fruits; and whoever makes this a specialty, will be abundantly rewarded.
The smaller fruits, especially the strawberry, are marvelous bearers in our soil. Three crops of strawberries are taken in a year from the vines, the season continuing from March to December, and a few ripening through the winter. A small plat of ground devoted to this delicious fruit gives pleasant and profitable employment to those unable to engage in more laborious work. This fruit requires a large quantity of water, and can only be successfully grown where it can be applied when needed.
OTHER BRANCHES OF INDUSTRY.
Probably as many branches of industry may be as advantageously pursued in San Diego as can be in any other place in America. From what has been accomplished in the last five years, we are sure of the possibilities of the future. Time, capital and energy, if wisely applied, will produce comforts and luxuries not excelled by any portion of the earth.
Sericulture, without doubt, might become a leading feature of our industries. The mulberry tree grows with little care, and the even temperature is precisely what the
