82 TRANSACTIONS OF THE " 



bccojno an oTiginal investigator, to add now facts and establish new 

 theories in the agriculture of the State. 



In this light the farm becomes as necessary to the success of the stu- 

 dent in agriculture, as the diagram to the student in geometry, or the 

 slate or blackboard to the learner in written arithmetic. An agricul- 

 tural college without a farm attached, would, indeed, be an absui'dity, 

 and particularly so in California, where the agricultural theories appli- 

 cable to other countries are of so little value, and where experimental 

 farming is but in its infancy, if, indeed, it can be said to have been com- 

 menced, and where the entire future success of agriculture depends upon 

 intelligent and accurate experiments in the soils and climates of Cali- 

 fornia. 



Having decided upon the necessity of a farm in connection with the 

 college, tet us consider the circumstances that should guide us in the 

 location of that farm, aside from, but not forgetting, its accessibility to 

 the agricultural and mining portions of the State. 



Agricultural experiments, to be of the greatest practical value to any 

 particular farmer, should be made in the same or similar climate and 

 soil to those in which that particular farmer is to conduct his agricul- 

 tural operations, with those experiments as a guide. 



But California possesses so many soils and climates that it will be 

 impossible to exactly suit ever}^ individual or every location in this 

 respect. The nearest wo can come to it as to climate will be to select a 

 medium — something between the damp fogs of the coast counties and 

 the drj' heated air of small valleys, surrounded by ranges of hills or low 

 mountains. A location in which these two general extremes meet, and, 

 as it were, neutralize each other, and j^et where the essential properties 

 of both are retained, w^ould be the most appropriate as to climate. 



As to soil, we can do much better. There are localities in tlie State in 

 which a farm of four or five hundred acres can be found, embracing 

 nearly all the varieties of soils we have. The rich alluvial river bottom, 

 the mucky tule land, the stiff adobe, the red clay and decomposed 

 granite, the dry sandy soil, and the alkali. A location embracing all 

 these varieties of soil and a medium climate, central and easily reached, 

 from the agricultural portions of the State, should undoubtedly be the 

 one selected. The selection of any other would be a grave error, and 

 would jeopardize the advantages we hope to derive from the college. 

 But no location should be selected until all desirous of securing it have 

 had fair and full opportunities to present their claims and advantages, 

 and have them, fully and faii-ly examined and canvassed; noi- until all 

 have had an opportunity to make the best pecuniary propositions they 

 can afford, and then the matter of location should be decided in a man- 

 ner to give no reasonable grounds for complaint from any locality or 

 class of citizens; for, to make the institution what it should be, a benefit 

 and a source of pride to all our people, it Avill need the hearty good will 

 and active co-operation of all. Nothing should be done in this respect 

 hastily, or with a view to benefit an}' particular locality at the expense 

 of the general interest. The Industrial College w-ill be a State institu- 

 tion, will be to a certain extent, for sometime at least, dependent on the 

 State for pecuniary aid, and will therefore be under the general super- 

 vision of the Legislature, and should be as convenient and accessible to 

 the members as it can be, other considerations being equal, or the combi- 

 nations of circumstances and conditions above enumerated being also 

 secured. 



