State Agricultural Society. 191 



granary of the world, and to-day the valley of the Nile produces two 

 and three crops a year, one or two of them by irrigation only, and that 

 irrigation of the rudest and simplest character. 



In China, in Italy, in Spain, in India, and in Rome parts of France, 

 irrigation dates dack to the commencement of land culture. 



It commenced in necessity, and has been pursued ever since for profit. 

 It is not an experiment, resting upon the future to prove its advantages 

 or uselessness, but a success, tested by the most careful inquiry, made 

 by the most civilized nations of the world. These experiments have 

 been so numerous and so varied, that they give us authority upon every 

 side of this, to us, intricate problem. 



CLIMATE AND IRRIGATION. 



In general, irrigation will not succeed where the AVinters are long 

 and cold; indeed, it has been shown that only in such mild and balmy 

 climates as Egypt, Italy, Spain, India, and California, will irrigation 

 prove successful. This arises from the facts: 



First — Where there is hard freezing, the ditches and canals require 

 expensive repairs every Spring before using. 



Second — That when the Winters are long the Summers are short, and 

 the soil so moist that irrigation is not required. 



Third — Irrigation will not in general pay, when but one crop can be 

 raised in a year. 



HAS CALIFORNIA SUCH A CLIMATE? 



We have in this State over two hundred cloudless days in the year, 

 and, according to the statistics furnished by Mr. Hittell, in his admir- 

 able work on the Resources of California, on an average not over sixty 

 rainy days. 



In San Francisco the difference between the average temperature of 

 July and January is only eight degrees, in Monterey six, in Sonoma 

 twenty-one, in Sacramento twenty-eight, and in Santa Barbara eighteen; 

 while in New York it is forty-two, in Naples thirty, in Genoa thirty- 

 one, and in Algiers twenty-three. 



In San Francisco the average mean temperature in January is forty- 

 nine degrees, in Los Angeles fifty-two degrees, in Sacramento forty-five 

 degrees; while in Naples it is forty-five degrees, in Genoa forty-six de- 

 grees, and in Algiers fifty-two degrees. It will thus be seen that our 

 climate is the perfection of all that Providence has bestowed upon any 

 land. 



Our Summers are long and rainless, grain never rusts from moisture, 

 nor is labor ever stopped by storms. We have neither snow nor ice to 

 retard cultivation. There is not a day in the year that grain cannot be 

 sown, if the land be moistened by rain or artificial means. 



Our Winters, under our present system of dry culture, are our seasons 

 for planting, and May, June, and July for harvest. 



By irrigation an enormous crop of wheat, barley, oats, or hay can be 

 raised in the Winter and Spring, and in the Summer, corn, potatoes, 

 tobacco, cotton, and garden vegetables. 



There will be no limit to our production under a system of irrigation 

 as extensive as that in India, Italy, or Egypt. 



It may be safely admitted that no place where irrigation is extensively 

 practiced is as well situated in all respects as California, in the universe 

 of God it is said there are no accidents. 



