-r \ I E A.GRK ULTUBAL BOCIE I V. 



HORSE BREEDING. 



Within the past few years there has been greal progress made in raising 

 fine horses and cattle in this State. The climate in California is favorable 



to the mosi splendid animal development. It may be admitted that we do 



not vet occupy the first place among the States which produce the besl 



stock, but we "can produce the hist, and we will. We produce some of the 

 best now. and we will soon produce more of them. Speaking of horses. 1 

 fear sometimes that we forget the great value of tin- native mustang. I 

 shall always look upon this animal as one of the most remarkable of the 

 species. After running wild for a century upon the great plains of Califor- 

 nia with no care or attention, it developed more speed and physical powers 

 than most horses do in the East by prudent attention. It has been a great 

 mistake that we are breeding out that famous race of horses that was but 

 one step below the Arabian horse iii fleetness and exceeded him in endur- 

 ance. 



CATTLE. 



The Spanish cattle of California, unlike the Spanish horses, were the 

 most inferior of their species, and theexhibits at your State Fair this season 

 show a marvelous improvement in cattle. The Jerseys, the short horned 

 Durham, and the Holstein, occupy a justly conspicuous position among 

 your cattle exhibits. There may be equally good, and even better cattle. 

 but there can be no mistake in breeding Jerseys for butter and milk, and 

 a strain of the short horned Durham for butter and beef, and the Holstein 

 for beef and cheese. 



SHEEP. 



California will always be a sheep raising and wool growing State. There 

 is such a vast area, composed of steep hills and mountain sides, incapable 

 of being plowed, which produce an abundance of grass; and the further fact 

 that the ground does not freeze and thaw here as in the East, and, there- 

 fore, that its richness does not leach out, although the hills are ever so steep, 

 renders hill pasture land for sheep valuable. The fertility of these hills, 

 strange as it may seem to our eastern friends, increases by pasturing. 



FRUIT CULTURE. 



The future agricultural wealth of California, however, will depend, in a 

 great degree, upon its fruit and grape culture. Wheat, barley, oats, and corn 

 will always be raised' here in quantities. Fine cattle and horses, and vast 

 numbers of sheep will be grown here also: but the peculiarities of our soil 

 and climate make California the favored spot of the Western Continent 

 for the production of fruits of almost every kind, and for the producing of 

 wine and brandy. Fruits, such as cherries, peaches, pears, plums, and apri- 

 cots, and the orange arid lemon, have already rilled the first place in our 

 productive industry. That I might know the exact progress made in 

 California during the past fifteen years, in fruit culture, the most accurate 

 way was to find out what fruits we had shipped out of the State, and the 

 yearly increase of such shipments. I, therefore, sought Mr. A. N. Towne, 

 Manager of the Pacific Railroads, who very courteously compiled for me the 

 statistics hereafter presented, and which may be taken as correct. 



I present these figures in exactly the form I obtained them. 



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