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| Plastered all over the office building is "California Nursery Co." "Established 1865" 1919 Catalog |
Apparently there are papers for the incorporation of the California Nursery Company in 1884. Along with that goes stockholders? a board? etc.
But that is not the question. The question is when was the California Nursery Company established, perhaps as a private nursery.
Try as I might, I cannot verify that there ever was a California Nursery Company that was established in 1865, even a company that was owned by someone else than John Rock.
Here's the sticky point. What is the 100th anniversary of the California Nursery Company? It was celebrated in 1965.
Here is an article in the San Jose Weekly Mercury in 1883, written about Rock's Nursery, the year before the California Nursery was established in 1884 in Niles.
Various histories (to be found and put here) use 1865. But that date appears to only be the establishment of John Rock's Nurseries, in the Santa Clara Valley.
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| Even Burr did not get the acreage correct at 463 acres! |
"Rock's Nurseries" continued under that same name for several years after 1884. Rock had a catalog at least up through 1892. He obtained scion wood from his trees which can be seen from the old orchard books, "J.R."
In 1883, Rock's Nurseries article talks only about Rock's Nurseries
If there were a California Nursery Company in 1883 attached to John Rock, you would expect that it would have been mentioned.
OUR BONANZA. GROWTH OF THE FRUIT INTEREST OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY. Immense Tracts of New Orchards— Who Supplied the Trees-A Progressive Nursery.
We all know the admiration which our valley excites in the minds of strangers. Their warm praises and the diligence with which they go from one place to another, determined to see all the beauties of this favored land, and the large proportion of those who come among us as visitors and return to become permanent residents, all testify to the advantages which the Santa Clara valley possesses as a place for homes. These advantages are both natural and artificial.
Nature has given us a climate and soil unsurpassed on either continent, and our people have improved this opportunity by transferring hither from all portions of the globe the rarest and most beautiful flowers and shrubs, and the most delicious fruits. 'Twenty years ago this work was in its infancy. In fact, it may be said that it was hardly commenced. Some of our farmers had planted out orchards of apples and pears and such other fruits as they were accustomed to at the old home in the States, while their wives and daughters had set out a few rose bushes and other flowers. But it was left to the pioneer nursery men to develop the capabilities of our soil and climate in this direction. Chief among these was our old friend John Rock, who, coming to this country some years before, had found his way to California and to San Jose. In his native country, Germany, he had been a botanist, not only theoretically but practically. He had studied his profession in the schools and fields and among the orchards and vineyards of the old country, and by practical experience had become thoroughly conversant with the nature and capabilities of the soil and the effect of climate on vegetation. Having once come to this valley he naturally stayed here. He at once saw what we could do in the way of fruit and vine culture, and his experience told him that there would he plenty of business for the man who could demonstrate the capacity of our country in this direction. He secured a tract of three acres of ground near Alviso and began a nursery. The result astonished even himself. He could not begin to supply the demand. People flocked to his place from all parts of this and adjoining counties, and he found that instead of carrying on a series of experiments, as he had first intended, he would have to commence business at once and in earnest. His little three-acre tract was not large enough and he secured forty acres near San Jose, adjoining Lathrop's addition. He thought he would make sure of ground enough for all purposes for all time. It is from these grounds that most of the magnificent shrubbery and flowers have been taken to beautify the city, and have been started many of the choicest and most valuable orchards and vineyards on the Pacific coast. While attention to the improvement of the varieties of fruit of which our orchards then consisted he occupied much of his time in demonstrating the fact that we could successfully grow other kinds. Many an old fogy theory has been exploded by Mr. Rock. It was not unusual a comparatively few years ago, to hear people say in regard to many different , varieties of fruit, that they could not he , grown here. In nearly every instance has Mr. Rock demonstrated that they could be grown here, but in many cases he has shown that, with the proper method of cultivation, many of them would be better in this valley and on our foot hills than in their native country. In any case where there was any element that went against the production of any particular kind of fruit, he was enabled, by careful experiments, to get a variety that would suit. He early instituted a system of agencies throughout the world by means of which tie brought to his nursery choice specimens from all climes. France, Germany, Italy, Spain and other European countries, Asia, Japan, Africa and the islands of the sea have all contributed to his stock. In a few years the forty acres, which he had thought would always be sufficient for his business, became crowded and were still insufficient to meet the demands made upon its resources. He had made his first calculations on a wrong basis. In the northern and western States the nurseries keep in stock only a comparatively few varieties The character of the climate limits them in this respect. But in California and especially in this valley there is no limit, and the number of varieties necessary to be kept on hand together with the immense demand, called loudly upon Mr. Rock to enlarge his facilities. This he proceeded to do about four years ago, moving on to a tract of 190 acres about four miles from town, on the Milpitas road. There was another incentive to this action on the part of Mr. Rock. He saw the immense proportions to which the fruit interests of the State would grow, and the large demand there would be for trees for the new orchards which would be rapidly planted. It is now four years since he went into his present location, and of the 190 acres which he holds, 165 acres are covered with nursery, while the constantly increasing magnitude of his business looks to an early demand for the remainder of the tract for a similar purpose. Rock's Nursery has become famous all over the coast, and orders are filled to all parts that can possibly be reached. Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Oregon and Washington Territory all draw on this Nursery to a greater or less extent. Every county in this State, north or south, where interest is taken in horticulture, have had orders filled at Rock’s Nursery. There are two palpable reasons for this. First, Mr. Rock keeps so many varieties in such large quantities that the purchaser is sure to get what he wants, and as much of it as he wants. Second, he is sure to get good healthy stock, warranted to be just as represented. So particular has the proprietor been in this respect that a tree or plant needs no other guaranty than the fact that it comes from Rock’s Nursery. Of course the Nursery could never have commanded its present immense patronage except by a long course of the squarest kind of dealing, and this has caused the people to deal with it with the utmost confidence. A person can, with out seeing the nursery or inspecting the trees, send in his order and it will be filled to the letter, and every tree will be selected with as much care as though the purchaser was there to make his own selections. Rock’s Nursery makes a specialty of keeping constantly on hand all the different varieties of fruit and vines in large quantities, so that any order, no matter how large, can be promptly filled. The fruit business is drifting into specialties, as Mr. Rock, some years ago, predicted that it would. Instead of mixed orchards of all varieties of fruit, we find the horticulturist confining himself to one or two kinds- The result is that instead of fifty or a hundred apricot or prune trees, or apples, etc., the order comes for several hundreds or thousands. A person who plants a prune orchard of ten acres wants about 1,000 trees, and so with everything else. It was to meet this very contingency that Mr. Rock changed his quarters and secured sufficient ground to establish the largest nursery on the Pacific Coast.
Each year a depot for this nursery is established in San Jose to enable purchasers to examine samples and to make their orders without the trouble of visiting the nursery in person. Usually this depot has been located somewhere near the business center. This year, however, the increase in the business has been so great and the stock so large and varied that the proprietor has been obliged to go further out in order to secure sufficient room. For the present season the depot is located at the corner of Santa Clara and River streets, where can be seen the largest and finest display of fruit and ornamental trees, shrubs, plants and flowers ever presented in the State. It is, perhaps, well enough to say here that we have spoken more particularly in regard to fruit trees in connection with this nursery. We have done this because, as a business proposition, the fruit interest is rapidly becoming the foundation of our prosperity. But we do not wish to be understood that for this reason, other departments are neglected at Rock’s Nursery. On the contrary, due attention and care has been given to every department, as a visit to either the Nursery or depot will amply verify. The rarest exotics and different varieties of tropical and semi-tropical plants and flowers are found in green houses while almost every foreign country is represented in the same direction. We regret that our space will not permit us to give a detailed description in this departure, but we hope we have said enough to impress the reader reader with the magnitude of the institution. Rock’s Nursery is a point of interest which nearly every stranger visits and one in which all our people justly take pride."
Catalogs for the California Nursery Company and Rock's Nurseries
I’ve been keeping track of the catalogs that I find here and there on this page. Always glad to find others.
- 1886 CNCo catalog in Pacific Rural Press, but have never seen that early catalog.
- Bancroft Library has 1887-1888 which I probably photographed in 2014.
- 1888-1889 is on Internet archive.
The Fremont Main library has the first journal of John Rock’s that starts with entries in December of 1884 when he gets off the train in Niles.
(Apparently I found a reference in a SJ City directory in 1892 for Rock’s Nurseries.)
1887 San Jose City Directory
The California Nursery Company wikipedia page has the page numbers (x, xx) for Rock’s Nurseries and the California Nursery in the 1887 San Jose City Directory.(Apparently I found a reference in a SJ City directory in 1892 for Rock’s Nurseries.)
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| page x |
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| page xx |
RD Fox’s Nursery is Santa Clara Valley Nurseries, also still in business. (There might have been a falling out with R.D. at some time. Need to follow up with that. Seen in one of the letter books...)
Further references to Rock's nursery
- In 1876, it was one of several "Places to Go" in San Jose.
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