STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 213 



assisted by art, the conditions laid down by reason as necessary to suc- 

 cess. And here, too, we have nature's conclusive evidence in favor of 

 the superiority of California as a grain growing country — for wh at other 

 country, in a state of nature, has over been known to produce such mar- 

 vellous crops of grain as old Californians have seen growing on our 

 plains and on our hill sides? 



It is true, the natural crops sometimes failed ; but, as intimated above, 

 reason and art should be called in to assist nature, and not to change or 

 thwart her operations, and should be so applied as to remedy nature's 

 weak points — so to speak, to remove the cause of her failures. 



The principal cause of failure in these instances, every farmer will 

 agree, is to be found in the fact that the ground, being too hard and 

 compact, the moisture contributed to it during the rainy seasons evapo- 

 rates in the beginning of the dry, before the grain has time to come to 

 maturity. What, then, is the remedy ? Certainly it is not to be found 

 in the mode of farming now generally practiced here, for by this mode 

 the grain is not in the ground until much of the most favorable season 

 for growing has passed, and then the soil is frequently left full of lumps, 

 clods, and inequalities of surface — a condition least favorable for retain- 

 ing the moisture; or in other words, in the most favorable condition for 

 rapid evaporation that can be imagined. Though disconnected with the 

 subject of moisture, yet closely connected with successful or unsuccess- 

 ful farming, it may be mentioned here that the system of winter plough- 

 ing and annual cropping from the same ground entirely loses sight of 

 another important law of nature most rigidly adhered to in her system 

 of farming above described — namely, compensation. While nature re- 

 turned to the soil annually as much as she took from it, our California 

 farmers are annually taking all they can get, and giving nothing in re- 

 turn, thus violating every important consideration necessary to success. 

 Then, will summer fallowing remedy the trouble? To a great extent, 

 we think, it Will. It may secure all the advantages of early sowing, 

 the full benefits of the first rains, and, wdien properly done, leaves tho 

 ground in the most favorable condition possible for retaining the mois- 

 ture, and gives the land every alternate year to recuperate. Both reason 

 and nature are in its favor; but to settle the question conclusively, wo 

 appeal to facts as found in the answers received from reliable farmers in 

 every part of the State to the following circular, addressed to them by 

 this Department : 



[Circular.] 



Rooms California State Agricultural Society, ) 



Sacramento, 1864. J 



Sir : — Will you do mo the favor to forward to mo by letter at your earliest convenience, and as 

 nearly as you can, the relative amount of grain, say wheat and barley, per acre raised in your 

 neighborhood during the past year, or few years, upon land summer fallowed and that sowu iu 

 tho ordinary manner. I desire to estimate the annual loss to the State by bad cultivation. 

 Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 



I. N. HOAU, Secretary. 



We give extracts : 



Hon. William L. Dickinson, Assemblyman from Stanislaus and Merced 

 Counties, says : 



" I am safe in saying that a difference of ten bushels per acre is saved 

 by spring ploughing (summer fallowing) the uplands. I am of opinion 

 that this difference will not be made on the bottom lands, as they are of 

 a loose and sandy nature, and are kept moist by the fullness of the 



