218 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



one engaged in grain farming ; one from Honorable Joseph S. Wallis is 

 inserted in full. It needs no comment : 



Mayfield Farm, ■) 



April 30th, 1864. } 

 To I. N. Hoag, Esq., 



Secretary State Agricultural Society, Sacramento : 



My Dear Sir : — After careful inquiry, I cannot learn that one acre of 

 land in this section of Santa Clara County has ever been summer fal- 

 lowed. I refer to all the land lying west of Mountain Yiew, within a 

 circuit of six miles, in which about three thousand five hundred acres of 

 land are annually sown to grain, chiefly wheat. I have met several per- 

 sons who for several years have been- engaged in farming in this valley, 

 who did not know what was meant by summer fallow. Others, not 

 fully understanding the benefits growing out of this method of cultivat- 

 ing the soil, thought it would be so expensive a process that they could 

 not afford to adopt it, or even attempt the experiment. They feared 

 the loss of time would prove unprofitable. I am satisfied the large por- 

 tipn of our agricultural population do not understand the great benefits 

 derived from this truly correct, scientific principle of working the pecu- 

 liar soils of this State. I am not a farmer, having always been accus- 

 tomed to city life till within the past six years, and during my residence 

 in the country have not raised a pound of grain, devoting my time 

 wholly to pomological and horticultural pursuits ; yet my experience in 

 working the grounds of my orchard fully satisfies me that if the farmer 

 in this country would be successful, he must summer fallow his grounds. 

 I am, my dear sir, yours very truly, 



JOSEPH S. WALLIS. 



Mr. William O'Donnell, of San Jose, says : 



" I am not very well posted as to grain raising, but I would say, from 

 my observation, summer fallow, put in in good time, will average fifty 

 bushels to the acre, while land ploughed and sown in the winter, in the 

 usual wa3 T , will not average more than twenty-five bushels to the acre. 

 There is nothing of so much importance to the farmer as to urge upon 

 him to summer fallow his grain land. The next important thing is to 

 plough deep and put the crops in in good time. It was astonishing to me 

 last summer, (eighteen hundred and sixty-three,) in driving through our 

 valley, to see so many acres of wheat and barley not worth cutting — the 

 effect of shallow ploughing and late sowing. 



" The next thing of importance is to save the manure, and use it before 

 the land is exhausted." 



Honorable A. Van Leuven, Assemblyman from San Bernardino, says : 



" "We do not summer fallow, on account of the drought and hot 

 weather, and only commence putting in our land after the rains in the 

 Call. In fact, we cannot plough our lands till then. We irrigate most 

 of the land we cultivate, to get a crop." 



Honorable Thomas Scott, member of Assembly from Alameda County, 

 says : 



