STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 195 



and ditches made at many places along this river, that can be operated at 

 a cost of $1 per acre, each wetting, and irrigate as great an area. A ditch 

 on Mr. J. S. Cone's ranch in Tehama County, measured recently by a com- 

 petent engineer, gave 43(> miner's inches, or 4,300 gallons per minute. It 

 is 6 feet •"> inches on top, and 2 feet 6 inches on bottom, and 2 feet deep, 

 and runs 100 feet in 65 seconds. Pumps are now built which with a 100- 

 horse power engine, at a moderate speed, are claimed to raise from the 

 Sacramento River to the adjacent lands, 30,000 gallons per minute, which 

 is equivalent to more than six such ditches, and the entire cost of such 

 plant, engine and pump, is not much over $5,000. Here we have 2,500 

 miner's inches of water at a cost within the reach of any Sacramento River 

 rancher who is able to carry on his wheat culture of these acres as he is 

 now doing; or is easily attainable by a combination of farmers of small 

 area. If they don't know how to plant and prune a tree, and don't want 

 to learn, let them sow their broad acres to alfalfa and feed it, I do not 

 want to be misled or to mislead in this matter, but I invite investigation. 



I know, however, that Colonel Peart, near Woodland, has a plant on 

 Cache Creek costing -$3,000, with which he thoroughly irrigates 10 or 12 

 acres per day of orchard, at a cost of $1 per acre; or 5 to 6 acres of vines, 

 or from 3 to 5 acres of alfalfa, for the same cost per day. His vines did 

 not require water this year. His clover he irrigated twice and cut four 

 crops. It cost him $3 per acre each time, or $6 per acre for four crops. 

 Compare this with wheat raising and see where you come out. I invite 

 attention to Colonel Peart's letter, which I append to my remarks. He 

 says with his plant he could " keep 100 acres of clover in good shape, and 

 100 acres of trees and vines." 



I venture the assertion that with 200 acres thus farmed this gentleman 

 can make twice the money that he can with his farm of 800 acres grown 

 to cereals, and do it more easily. 



In further verification of my views upon this subject, I wrote to Mr. 

 Kenyon Cox of Anaheim, who has tried the system of pumping from 

 "driven wells." His plant, at a cost of $2,500, proved itself capable of 

 covering 30 acres per day 2-k inches deep. Assuming that lands required 

 such irrigation once every thirty days, he can cover 900 acres once every 

 month. This is a much better result than Colonel Peart obtains, which 

 may be due in part to the difference in lands. 



The City of Brooklyn, New York, of over 600,000 inhabitants, is supplied 

 from 200 two-inch driven wells connected in one group. By the same sys- 

 tem also, the great breweries on the Trent, near London, are supplied. 



The subject invites me to more elaborate treatment, which obviously I 

 must forego at this time. 



I ask the careful perusal of Mr. Cox's letter, which I beg to submit with 

 these remarks, and I ask you to visit the Pearson Reclamation District on 

 the Sacramento River, where you can see 36,000 gallons of water raised 

 10 feet high each minute, with a development by the engine of 130 horse 

 power nominal, consuming 12,125 pounds of average Sydney coal in twenty- 

 four hours. 



TENDENCY TO FLOCK TO THE CITIES. 



There is a thought in this connection which I wish to emphasize — it is 

 the tendency of the youth of the rural districts to flock to the towns and 

 cities as soon as the parental restraint is taken off. In this State espe- 

 cially, and everywhere to an alarming degree, the desire is to get away 

 from the country and engage in the more lucrative and attractive employ- 

 ments offered in the cities. In 1880 one fourth of the entire population of 



