David Vaught shows how fruit and nut growers were neither industrialists nor agrarians. From the very outset, he explains, these "horticulturists" saw themselves as guardians of California's unique culture - raising crops for market while self-consciously building healthy and prosperous communities. Every grower was not, in fact, like every other, Vaught argues, whether one examines their labour systems, recruiting methods, harvest needs, marketing strategies, farm size, or their relationships with their communities, unions and the state. The hard work, foresight and devotion to detail required to nurture an orchard or vineyard made them, they insisted, cultivators of a better society. Over time, however, labour relations, market imperatives and changing political conditions undermined the growers' horticultural ideal.