John Rock (nurseryman)

Bailey's Cyclopedia of Horticulture[7] He said "John Rock's scientific spirit, his wide and ever-increasing knowledge, his very high standards of business and his unselfishness made him during his long life the leader of Pacific coast nurserymen.

His passport in 1889 indicates that he immigrated to the United States aboard the William Tapscott from Liverpool in June 1857 and arrived in New York on August 19, 1857.

A tract of 500 acres of land near Niles, Alameda county, has been purchased and leased for 15 years to the association, and improvements will begin at once.

Messrs. Rock & Fox will continue to sell their present stock, and will propagate no more fruit trees in their San Jose establishments but will confine their attention to ornamental growths.

[31] The 1902 catalog[32] describes the fruits and nuts that were grown in the nursery's specimen orchard shortly before Rock's death.

Roeding wrote about John Rock's "Mother Orchard" and his own specimen trees from his Fancher Creek nurseries in a 1926 publication, "Budwood, scions and cuttings : (embracing over 1000 varieties) from record performance fruit trees" [33] Rock's specimen orchard book from the late 1800s describes fruit varieties and where they were obtained.

[34] John Rock had the largest collection of figs on the Pacific Coast as reported by Gustav Eisen in 1901.

[35][36] The figs came from Thomas Rivers & Son, from France, from the USDA (which had obtained the whole collection of the Royal Horticultural Society of London), and from local nurserymen.

As a result, the Rio Bonito orchard contains 156 varieties of olives, which include all the standard and valuable kinds known to man."

A familiar name and figure has gone-- a man and friend of sterling qualities is no more; one in whose judgment and abilities vast numbers of people and even governments have securely rested in horticultural matters can advise no longer.

The San Jose Daily Mercury wrote[45] "In the death of John Rock the county of Santa Clara loses one of the pioneers in the development of the fruit industry in this section of the state.

For the past twenty five years the name of John Rock has been a household word among those who were planting the orchards and developing the gardens of this and adjacent counties.

In fact, the extensive nursery business which he developed from small beginnings has gained him a state wide reputation, until there is, probably, next to Luther Burbank, no name better known throughout California."

Wickson, at the 1911-1912 Pacific Coast Association of Nurserymen:[46] "He has gone to his reward, but his memory will always be honored by every nurseryman who ever knew him — Mr. John Rock, who began in this community in a small way and built up the nursery business and finally extended his interests into large commercial enterprises which I hope we shall visit while here.

Mr. Rock has always stood to me as an example of what a nurseryman ought to be in his position as an educator to the community, because he possessed at the time when he was most active and energetic, a fuller and truer knowledge of the nursery business than any other man in California.

He was a good student and possessed himself of all sources of information; he was a wonderful observer, had a keen eye for fruit or for a plant and, above all, had a sterling honesty and conscientiousness which led everyone who knew him to place implicit confidence in any statement which he might make, and you could trust Rock to give you facts, although it might not be immediately to his interest to do so.

I see it every day that I am at home and never pass it without thinking that that palm stands as a monument to the life and service of John Rock in its community.

"[47] Henry W. Kruckeberg wrote, "John Rock: a Tribute" in the proceedings of the 1912 California Association of Nurserymen.

He had, in a marked degree, the mind and temperament calculated to stimulate fruit growing along sane and intelligent lines.

Intensely in love with his work, it is no wonder that he spent thousands of dollars in exploiting new and little known fruits and plants, many of which proved worthless; nor that, on the other hand, his untiring zeal in the development of California horticulture has been the direct means of introducing a larger number of varieties of fruits and plants into this State than any other one man.

For upwards of forty years he was untiring in his efforts to stimulate, broaden and intensify the importance of California horticulture."

During his forty years of California life, his leadership in his chosen art and industry and the quality of his manhood and citizenship were unquestioned.'