520 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



To my surprise I find, on examination, that over one half of the 

 cultivated land in Mendocino and Lake Counties is used for the pro- 

 duction of grain; and, alas, that although the acreage sown is con- 

 tinually increasing the production does not keep pace with the acreage. 

 Is it possible that this comparatively new county, fifty years ago 

 almost unknown and unexplored, except by Lewis and Clarke and 

 an occasional trapj)er, is wearing out? If so, what a sad commentary 

 on our styles and methods of farming. The truth is, that the land, 

 instead of being worked to death, is not half worked. Fields, that a 

 few years ago thrashed fifty and sixty bushels of wheat to the acre, 

 now yield us but twenty and even fifteen bushels., Hence, we say, 

 "farming is a poor business," alid "the land is worked out." The 

 true difficulty is with the farmers — the land is all right. The nitro- 

 gen, phosphoric acid, potash, and other chemical ingredients neces- 

 sary for vegetable life, are all in the soil, but the shallow manner in 

 which we cultivate the land renders the plant food unavailable — it 

 is dead capital. Labor is so high" we cannot afford small crops. We 

 must raise large crops in order that we may live. To do this, we 

 must harvest our lands less frequently. I most earnestly advocate 

 Summer fallowing, and deep thorough stirring of the soil. Stirring 

 the soil is the basis of successful agriculture. 



I mean Summer fallowing — not the Spring scratching system how in 

 vogue, but a good deep plowing — just after the Winter rains, and two 

 plowings at different times in the course of the next three or four 

 months. The land will thus be more frequently exposed to the benefi- 

 cial action of the atmosphere, and we will obtain greater returns from 

 the same land on alternate years than we now receive by cropping it 

 each year in succession. 



We must do one of two things — wait on the land or else apply 

 manure. But is grain farming the most profitable? High wages, 

 high taxes, high priced land, necessitates high farming. By high 

 farming I wish to be understood as recommending that judicious 

 husbandry that causes to be produced the largest and most profitable 

 crops with the smallest outlay.. 



I have but little patience with the slovenly economy that stores 

 plows, thrashers, reapers, and all the farm machinery under a tree or 

 in an open corral, for hen roosts and pig pens. No thrifty farmer 

 will allow his tools to be exposed to the weather from one season to 

 the other. As soon as the year's work is done he will clean up his 

 header or reaper, have it repaired whilst he remembers which bolt is 

 broken, or what box heats, put it away in a safe, dry place, and thus 

 have it ready for the next season's work. It pays. Try it, some of 

 you who cleave to the out-door system of storage, and see if your 

 blacksmith's bill next year is not lighter than common. 



But is wheat the most profitable crop we can raise? At the best we 

 cannot expect to net over $20 per acre. Are there not more profitable 

 uses to which we can devote our lands? 



HOPS. 



Many farmers in the district have engaged in the cultivation of 

 hops. On favorable years they expect to clear from $200 to $700 an 

 acre from their hop lands. There are thousands of acres of the best of 

 hop land in Lake and Mendocino Counties as yet put to other farm 

 uses, which I hope ere many months to see planted in hop vines. 



