STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 35 



Bat to reform and correct the evils and drawbacks attending stock 

 raising, seems to require a pretty thorough revolution in the whole 

 farming system. The owners of large herds and flocks will be compelled 

 to reduce them to such a number as they can provide winter food for; 

 and the fiirmers who have heretofore turned their attention almost exclu- 

 sively to grain raising, will find it much more pi'ofitable to raise a greater 

 variet}' of crops, and include in their annual sales of the products of the 

 farm, a few 3'oung horses, fat cattle, sheep, and hogs. The statement of 

 two or three facts will serve to illustrate the extraordinary and disastrous 

 condition of this branch of industry-, as it is now seen. During the last 

 sumjner, when it became evident that the hay crop in a large portion of 

 the State must prove a failure, and consequently command a high price, 

 many persons resorted to the tule lands at the mouths of the San Joa- 

 quin, Sacramento, and Cosumnes Rivers, in search of the desired article. 

 Here they found thousands of acres of natural meadows, upon which 

 were cut and secured, according to statistics collected by the Secretary 

 of this Board, and careful estimates made by men of good judgment 

 engaged in the business, not less than fifty thousand tons of a very fair 

 quality of hay. According to the same estimates, there were left stand- 

 ing uncut at least an equal amount. Yet within sight of these extensive 

 meadows, much of them unclaimed and unappropriated by anybody, large 

 flocks of sheep and herds of cattle have been reduced by starvation since 

 the rainy season commenced from twenty-five to fifty per cent in numbers, 

 and probably thirty-three per cent in the Aveight of those yet alive. 

 Again, when this hay was cut and freighted to localities where princi- 

 pally demanded for use, the expense upon it per ton, as a general thing, 

 amounted to more than an ordinary stock cow or bullock would sell for, 

 and consequentl}^ to winter such an animal upon it, would cost more 

 money than the animal would sell for when wintered. 



These are extraordinary cases in an extraordinary season, but to a 

 certain extent they occur every year, and to the full extent may occur 

 again. To prevent such recurrence, and to bring about a healtiiy change 

 in the management of this branch of agriculture, are objects worth}^ the 

 attention of those w^ho may hereafter control the transactions of this 

 society and the economies of the great interests of the State. 



The vast amount of staging on this coast, and the transportation of 

 goods and machinery from navigation to the various mining localities in 

 this State, Nevada, and the surrounding Territories, will, until such time 

 as railroads shall supersede these modes of conve^'ance, continue to cre- 

 ate a great demand for valuable horses and mules, and large quantities of 

 grain for their subsistence. To raise a horse or a field of grain may not 

 generally require a greater degree of skill than is possessed by any ordi- 

 nary farmer. But to raise and prepare for market a large number of 

 good horses, with profit to the owner, and well adapted to the business 

 for which they were intended, requires a good degree of knowledge of 

 the principles of breeding, the economies of feeding such animals, and 

 the judgment to apply such principles and economies for the attainment 

 of the end in view. 



To make a given number of acres of land produce the lai-gest amount 

 of grain and other food that it is capable of producing, without dcterioi-a- 

 tion of the soil, for a series of years, requires a much greater degree of 

 skill and scientific knowledge than is usually exercised, at least by the 

 generality of farmers in this country. 



The truth of this latter statement will be apparent when it is proved, 

 as it has been, by statistics collected by our Secretary during the past 



