STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 79 



SWINE DEPAETMENT. 



Thomas Edwards, Sacramento County : 

 One Essex boar, seven months old. 



> 



One Essex sow, seven months old. 



J. S. Curtis, Yolo County : 



One Westphalia sow, two years old. 



FAEM PEODUCTS ENTKY. 



In this department of the exhibition the entries were very meagre, 

 and there was scarcely any competition worthy of the farmers of Cali- 

 fornia. There were articles, however, entered under the above caption 

 which afford evidence that our State is constantly adding to her list of, 

 products valuable in the demands of commerce, and prominent among 

 these articles may be named hops, raisins, and prunes, the two latter 

 items of which have been referred to under the head of Fruit Depart- 

 ment. 



No other country in the world can excel our State in the production 

 of hops. The season being long, tbere is no danger from premature 

 frost; and as there is an entire absence of rains from the time the hop 

 goes into blossom until the strobels are ripe for picking, there is neither 

 mildew nor blight to be dreaded, and no part of the resin secreted in 

 the strobels is lost, as happens in rainy countries, by its being washed 

 out during violent storms of wdnd and rain. Brewers attest that one 

 pound of well cured California hops is equal in strength to two and 

 sometimes three pounds of those imported from countries subject to rain 

 storms during the ripening and gathering season. The hop culture 

 should be largely entered into all along our extensive river bottoms, as 

 there would grow up a home demand on account of our having a supe- 

 rior article of barley for brewing purposes. The markets for strong 

 beer and ales within the circuit of the Pacific Ocean and the Chinese 

 Seas should induce the establishment of extensive breweries in Califor- 

 nia. 



Among the exhibit of dried fruits were many samples of figs, in such 

 a perfect state of preservation as to encourage the development of this 

 branch of productive industry beyond the mere matter of experiment. 



In the list of new articles of California industry, making its appear- 

 ance for the first time this season, was manufactured tobacco. Exten- 

 sive fields of this plant have been successfully grown in various parts of 

 the State, and its future cultivation is destined to occupy an important 

 share of the attention of our farmers. Thus far the effort seems to be 

 to produce the greatest amount of pounds to the acre ; this is at the 

 expense of quality. A remedy, however, will be found in planting on 

 thinner, poorer soils. There are vast sections of land throughout 'the 

 State almost worthless for any other purpose than tobacco culture by 

 reason of an excess of alkalies, but which will grow this plant in great 

 perfection. Experiments indicate that the leaf of plants grown on alkali 

 soils is tougher than those raised on a rich vegetable deposit nearly free 



