STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 59 



Of tobacco, it may well be said tbat no country of equal population 

 is so large a consumer, nor its inhabitants more exacting in the selection 

 of the choicest varieties, than are the people of California. Hence, a 

 country which, after one or two seasons of experiment, has succeeded 

 so well in the raising of unparalleled numbers of pounds to the space 

 planted, will have no after difficulty in bringing the qualit} r to the high- 

 est standard of excellence. In this article on the schedule of State 

 bounty, there were several competitors for the awards of the State Board 

 of Judges. , 



A ropewalk on an extensive scale has been in successful operation for 

 several years in San Francisco, and as this gives a certain market for 

 hemp, the day is not far distant when premiums for the latter will be 

 claimed, as the extensive alluvial lands of the great interior valleys are 

 well adapted to the growth of this valuable fibre. 



Ales brewed and bottled in the State, suitable for shipment on any 

 voyage at sea, have long been an article of extensive production in Cali- 

 fornia; and there is every reason to hope that, with our unrivalled crops 

 of barley and hops, all countries within the scope of the Pacific Ocean 

 may before long get their supplies of ales and beers from our State. 



Of cotton culture, but little can be said of an encouraging nature. 

 The State offers of premiums for this fibre, however, have had the effect 

 of instituting a great deal of newspaper discussion, and awakened atten- 

 tion to it to such an extent that numbers of enterprising citizens have 

 made large experiments, with the hope of success. 



Samples of silk cocoons, of "very superior excellence," to quote the 

 report of the Silk Society of Paris, after they had examined samples 

 sent to them from California for their opinion, have been repeatedly ex- 

 hibited at our Fairs by an amateur silk grower of San Jose\ Mons. L. 

 Provost. Some time will elapse before the premiums on silk will be 

 called for, solely because it will take time to grow the mulbeny trees in 

 sufficient quantity to feed the requisite number of worms to produce the 

 cocoons. It may be stated, however, that one party has already in plan- 

 tation three thousand trees, and proposes to very greatly extend it, so 

 sanguine is he that silk culture is destined to become a lucrative branch 

 of business in California. 



Some of the premiums for the manufacture of boots and shoes were 

 claimed this season, and as the tanning of leather has attained to great 

 importance throughout the State, the time ought to be near at hand 

 when the entire demand for boots and shoes should be met by home 

 manufacture. 



A portion of the premiums for printing paper were obtained by the 

 Pioneer California Paper Mill. The premiums yet remaining open for 

 competition for printing paper, to be made from other fibre or material 

 than cotton, are inducing costly experiment with various substances to 

 meet this demand. 



The premium for the first one thousand dozen of glass wine bottles 

 has alread3 T been claimed, and it is but justice to the enterprising pro- 

 jectors of the Pacific Glass Company to state that their works were not 

 erected merely for experimental purposes. Their investments involved 

 in the construction of buildings and appendages the outlay of nearly one 

 hundred thousand dollars, and it is a gratification to be able to report 

 that the owners are being genei'ously repaid for their risks in this new 

 undertaking. 



The exhibit of woollen goods, in accordance with the terms of the 

 State Bounty Law, was, perhaps, without disparagement to any other 



