TWELFTH DISTRICT AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 521 



They can be grown successfully on any land that will raise a good 

 crop of corn. Select positions sheltered from heavy winds, and jjre- 

 pare your land thoroughly, for a hop yard should be permanent, and 

 will be if you manure the yard every Spring, and, by repeated plow- 

 ings, mix the dressing well with the soil. Remember, the hop plant 

 must have lime. An admonition tiiat should not fall unheeded, as it 

 will not hurt some of you to sow a few bushels next year, judging 

 from the result of my inspections. 



SPECIAL CROPS. 



From the westernmost point of Mendocino, beat upon by the surges 

 of the ocean, to the eastern limit of Lake County, where the rushing, 

 eddying waters of Cache Creek burst through the mighty cliffs of 

 naked sandstone in their passage to the parched plains of Yolo— all 

 over tliis immense district are fertile, well watered valleys, peculiarly 

 adapted to the raising of special crops. Vegetables of all kinds, alfalfa, 

 the sugar beet, and the much more easily grown and more ])rofi table 

 sorghum or Chinese sugar cane, a plant well suited to our climate and 

 soil, rich in sugar, its cultivation no longer to be considered in the 

 light of an experiment, as the researches and efforts of the Agricult- 

 ural Department at Washington, as well as those of Doctor Collier, 

 have fully demonstrated its practicability. In answer to the inevi- 

 table question, "will it pay?" I reply— the cultivation of any plant by 

 which we can produce our own sugar, must pay. We consume annu- 

 ally fifty-seven pounds of sugar to each person in the United States, 

 and of this vast amount only twelve per cent is grown on our own 

 territory. Nearly sixty million of inliabitants, fifty-seven pounds of 

 sugar to the person, and then compute for yourselves the huge pro- 

 portions of our sugar trade, and decide if it willnot pay to cultivate a 

 plant that has been proven can be grown profitably on our soil and 

 accomplish the desired results — satisfy the immense and continually 

 increasing sugar demand. 



The great tule fields along the borders of Clear Lake could be dyked, 

 reclaimed, and devoted to the growth of rice, sorghum, and even the 

 cranberry, wrth great gain to the grower and advantage of the whole 

 community. 



VINES. 



Tourists traveling through our district, viewing the miles upon 

 miles of rolling hills covered with manzanita and chemise, must 

 wonder what use can be made of them to benefit the condition of man. 

 On examining their structure, we ascertain that these same despised 

 hills are composed of light soils, formed from ignean rocks deeply 

 impregnated with iron, and are peculiarly suited to fruit trees and 

 viticulture. 



Actual thermometrical measurements, continued for a series of 

 years, have shown that these hills, especially in Southern Lake, are 

 in the so called thermal belt, being even from three to five degrees 

 warmer than St. Helena, the great grape growing center of the 

 State. Having the soil and climate, there is nothing to prevent these 

 immense tracts of waste (?) hills being utilized for grape culture and 

 fruit growing. Already has a commencement been made. At Mid- 

 dletown. Upper Lake, and Lower Lake there are hundreds of acres of 

 thrifty, vigorous young vineyards growing upon hills that four years 



