Jackson & Perkins Co. v. Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors

168 Cal.App.2d 559 (1959) JACKSON & PERKINS COMPANY OF CALIFORNIA (a Corporation), Appellant,

v.

STANISLAUS COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS et al., Respondents.

Civ. No. 9515. California Court of Appeals. Third Dist.

Mar. 10, 1959. Ralph M. Brown and Brown, Brown & Bacon for Appellant.

Frederick W. Reyland, Jr., County Counsel, David G. Dunford, Assistant County Counsel, Clayton M. Ham, Deputy County Counsel, J. F. Coakley, District Attorney (Alameda), and R. Robert Hunter, Chief Assistant District Attorney, for Respondents.

VAN DYKE, P. J.

Appellant corporation appeals from a judgment adverse to it rendered in an action brought by it against respondents to recover ad valorem taxes paid under protest.

Appellant is a Delaware corporation, which does business in California and elsewhere. It is in the nursery business and has approximately 10,000 acres of land in cultivation in various states. In its nurseries it principally raises and sells all types of products produced and sold by such a business, including rose plants. For the latter purpose it operates about 800 acres of land in Stanislaus County. Its president, Mr. Clarence Perkins, testified as follows: Although it is possible [560] to plant rose bushes from seed, that method is followed only for a few varieties because generally roses do not come true from seed. It is necessary to adopt the method of budding on wild stocks and this method has been common for at least 50 years. The nurseryman intending to raise roses first prepares the ground after testing the soil for fertility content. The ground must be leveled for irrigation, must be subsoiled and preirrigated. It is then furrowed and planted to cuttings taken from wild stock. The cutting is first deeyed by removing the bottom eyes to keep the cutting from throwing out wild shoots. The cuttings are about 8 inches in length, are planted in rows 4 feet apart and are placed 5 to 8 inches apart in the row. This work is completed in the fall. During the winter the land is kept weeded. In the spring and through the summer the cuttings are budded to the specific types of roses desired. It takes from one to two years to complete the plants to the point where they are salable. Plants intended for greenhouse culture to produce cut flowers are matured in about a year. Those intended for open air planting are ready in two years. If the plants stay in the ground longer they become commercially valueless. The plants require constant care up to harvest. When land has been used to produce rose plants and the plants have been taken off another crop is put in the land to fertilize the soil before it is again used for roses. During culture the plants are subject to many hazards, such as spring winds that dry cuttings, frost, excessive rain, drought, adverse soil conditions, nematodes, vernacular, wilt, Crown gall and the like. Appellant's experience in one year showed that out of two and one-half million plants about one-half million were lost during the growing season. Nurserymen plant, cultivate and propagate plants for sale rather than seeking profit from the product of the plants. Harvesting is done with a machine called a digger that is hooked on the back of a tractor. It has a large U-shaped blade that goes into the ground about 2 1/2 feet. It has a lifter on the blade which lifts the plants and soil up as the machine runs and from there they are pulled out of the soil by hand. The plants are then bundled and sold. They are dormant when harvested.