STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 221 



First — Yery nearly if not quite the same amount of grain would bavo 

 been raised, and that of a much better quality. 



Second — One half the seed would have been saved. 



Third — One half the money paid out for labor and team work in pre- 

 paring the ground would have been saved, for every farmer could bavo 

 done "nearly all this within his own family, at a time when, by the present 

 system of working, they have had nothing to do; and each year he has 

 been compelled to hire a large number of men and teams in order to 

 rush things, and plough, prepare, and sow during the short time each 

 winter the ground was in a proper condition to work. 



Fourth — One half the expense of cutting and gathering the crop would 

 have been saved. 



Fifth — All the land cultivated in this manner would have remained 

 strong and vigorous, as good if not better than new. 



Sixth — The "farmers and their families would have become more and 

 more attached to their occupation, each year more independent and 

 more happy, instead of more and more disgusted with it, and poorer 

 and more miserable. 



Seventh — Our State would then have gained an agricultural reputation 

 unequalled and unrivalled, a much larger immigration would have flocked 

 in upon us, all other dependent industrial pursuits would have been 

 invigorated with a proportionate increased success and prosperity, and 

 in their time would have contributed to the general advancement of the 

 whole. 



Although this article is already much longer than we intended to 

 write, still we feel called upon by the importance of the subject to 

 remark that there never was a better time than the present for the 

 farmers of California to inaugurate a much needed reform in grain rais- 

 ing. Many of them will have to commence the world again this fall, as 

 it were, anew; will have to buy their seed, and food for themselves, 

 their help, and teams, at a high price. Instead of attempting to put in 

 a large number of acres, then, put in a smaller number, and put that in 

 well; thus save in buying seed, and paying help and feeding them. 



The land that was sown to grain last year, and upon which the, crops 

 have failed, though, to give it the advantage of the summer fallowing, 

 should have been cross ploughed and harrowed well in April or May, 

 and thus put in a condition to collect the greatest quantity of fertilizing 

 agencies from the heat of the sun and the circulation of the atmosphere 

 during the summer ; yet if ploughed early and deep, and w T ell pulverized, 

 may still be in a favorable condition for a crop. 



After sowing the grain and covering it well, let the roller (every 

 farmer should own and use one in this country) be put on, and with it 

 pack the surface well together. This presses the mellow soil compactly 

 about the kernel, thus giving it the most favorable condition for a quick 

 and lively germination, so very necessary for its future health, and 

 placing it at the same time in the best state to induce the vigorously 

 started roots to penetrate so deep and obtain such a hold in the ground 

 before the dry season commences as to render a good crop almost a cer- 

 tainty. 



