STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 197 



Washington City, and old Isaac Newton, the Commissioner of Agriculture, 

 was regarded as a good natured old barnacle, and his department a sine- 

 cure — a sort of vegetable fungus on the political body. It is a little better 

 now; but the fanners of this country, through their agricultural societies, 

 and by direct effort, should demand that they no longer be made to delve 

 in the soil and develop its resources without the direct aid and encourage- 

 ment which the Government owes them. The farmer is sought out period- 

 ically by the politician, himself generally a city man; he is flattered by a 

 call at his house once in these intervals of the politician's hold upon office; 

 some interest is shown in his crops, but a great deal more in his vote. This 

 class of voters has always been the great conservative force of the country, 

 and yet the man has not risen with breadth of vision to see this great want 

 of the nation. If I were in public life I would deem immortality secure, 

 and it would fill the cup of my ambition, if I could associate my name 

 indissolubly with the establishment of a department, with scope and 

 means to properly represent and conserve the great industries embraced 

 under the wide meaning of agriculture. 



SMALL FARMS. 



I have already spoken of the desirability of cutting up our great ranches. 

 Let me say a word more in the matter of small farms. In 1880 we had 

 in our State about 36,000 farms, with a total acreage of about 17,000,000, 

 of which about 11,000,000 acres were improved. From 1860 to 1880 we 

 had only added to our farm acreage about 8,000,000 acres, and had in- 

 creased our improved farms about the same amount. The average size of 

 our farms did not in twenty years materially decrease; it was 466 acres in 

 1860, and 462 acres in 1880. In 1880 we had 10,081 farms under 100 

 acres; 20,214 over 100 acres and under 500 acres; 3,108 over 500 acres 

 and under 1.000 acres; and 2,531 over 1,000 acres. Twenty-six States in 

 the Union had more farms than California, and two — Georgia and Texas — 

 alone had a greater number of over 1,000 acres. While our State had 

 2,531 farms of 1,000 acres and over, the great agricultural States of the 

 West show a much less number. Illinois had 649; Indiana, 275; Iowa, 

 364;, Kansas, 235; Minnesota, 145; Nebraska, 118. The full significance 

 of this comparison is felt when we remember what a large ranch means 

 here, and what it means in Iowa or Minnesota. Here one may travel for 

 hours in one direction on land of a single ownership; there a few thousand 

 acres is an exceptionally large farm. In 1880 only fifteen States had a 

 greater acreage of farms than California, but the average size of our farms 

 was greater than that of any State or Territory. Most of them fall below 

 200 acres, while seven fall below 100 acres. Only ten States exceeded us 

 in the value of our farms, namely, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Mich- 

 igan, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. With the 

 approaching irrigated agriculture of this State our valleys are capable of 

 almost indefinite expansion if we pursue farming on small areas, and that 

 is the end to be attained. 



LAND LAWS AND LAND ACQUISITION. 



I do not suppose my views upon this subject will receive the ready assent 

 of our great educators, the newspaper press, and yet I believe I shall state 

 the true interest of the home seeker in this country. 



We have several general laws under which title to public lands not 

 mineral may be acquired: the Homestead, Preemption, Timber Culture, 



