The Valley of Heart's Delight
BERNAL's FRUIT AND VEGETABLES-
transcribed from :Sunshine, Fruit and Flowers- 1896
Ygnacio Bernal owns, on the Monterey road,
about nine miles southeast of San Jose, 395 acres of land. The
soil here is exceedingly fertile, as it consists largeley of silt
washed down from the surrounding hills. In this vicinity were
located immense cattle and slaughtering pens, and the great pits where
the refuse meat was thrown. Here hundreds of tons of bones and
been mouldering for more than half a century, and bone dust is one of
the richest fertilizers known. Here Ygnacio Bernal planted his
orchard. He could scarely have found a richer spot, and his trees
show a remarkable growth. The peach trees, now but three years
old, are about ten feet in height, and vore this year a large crop,
considering their age. The prune trees are much larger than
ordinary trees of their age also, and bore a few prunes last
years. Mr. Bernal has about 400 prune trees, 100 peaches and 100
apricots.
Mr. Bernal utilizes the space between the rows of trees by
planting corn, peas, beans, melons and pumpkins. The
pumpkins produce on a an average ten tons to the acres. The
price received for them variies with the season. The lowest price
is $1.50 per ton in the field, the hightest $5 per ton delivered in San
Jose, and the average price about $2.50 per ton. The peas
raised are the Spanish garvanzas, or soup pease. The product
ranges from ten to fifteen 100 pound sacks to the acre. The price
is usually low, but last season rose to $4.75 and $5 per hundred
pounds. Thr corn averages twenty sacks, or 2,000 pounds, per
acre. Lowest prices received $1.50 per hundred , $2 per
hundred. Muskmelons sell for $3 to $5 per hundred. The
usual cop of hay upon Mr. Bernal's valley land is two tons per
acre; upon the hillsides, less. The price of hay varies from $8
to $20 per ton, the average being about $12.
About 300 yards from Mr. Bernal's residence a strong spring of
water gushes out from beneath a ledge of slate. It is about
seventy-five feet higher than the house and the water has been piped to
the house, barn and garden. At the spring a reservoir has been built in
the rocks which hols 35,000 gallons Mr. Bernal was born ujpon the
farm which he now owns, as was his father. The land was formerly
owned by his grandfather, who came from Mexico.
SANTA CLARA HISTORY -The Valley of Heart's Delight
July 21, 2005