STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 227 



holders having already made a great outlay, are confident of ultimate 

 success. 



A discovery was made a sliort time since in the southern part of 

 this countj^, in the vicinity ef Peach Tree Valley, distant about seventy- 

 two miles from Monterey City, of a certain substance having all the 

 appearance of coal. The specimen exhibited was shining, had the grains 

 running horizontally, and thin layers. It was rather brittle, but whether 

 really coal or crystallized asphaltum, has not yet been determined. Opin- 

 ions differ on the subject. It has been tried in several forges with 

 no favorable results. It must be remarked tbat the specimen brought 

 for examination was said to have been taken from the surface. Should it 

 nevertheless prove to be coal, there will be a drawback in the great dis- 

 tance from its locality to the place of shipment or market, 



TELEGRAPH. 



The State Telegraph, from Monterey to Watsonville, connecting with 

 San Judn and San Jose, has about fifty-two miles of line in this county. 



LIVE STOCK. 



Two successive years of drought have almost swept the country clean 

 of cattle, horses, and sheep. Out of seventy thousand head of stock 

 cattle existing a few years ago, only twelve thousand seven hundred and 

 twenty-four, as shown by the assessment, are left. This j'ear the account 

 of stock having been taken with great care, there can be no doubt in 

 regard to the correctness of the number. The total absence of rain 

 during the greater part of the winter of eighteen hundred and sixty- 

 three and eighteen hundred and sixty-four, made pasture last year exceed- 

 ingly scarce; its scarcity was felt as early as the month of May, when 

 already valle^ys and hills were bare, and the cattle and horses left for the 

 mountains, where, among the shrubbery, they did well during the sum- 

 mer, but when in the month of December they were visited by severe 

 weather, snow, and hail, all that were not too Aveak moved to the val- 

 leys again, the rest, with few exceptions, died from exposure. A great 

 number of those that had come down again to the lowlands died of star- 

 vation, or were killed by the owners in order to save the hides. 



About five thousand head has been killed during last summer, at an 

 establishment erected near Monterey, fpr their hides and tallow. Their 

 average value was from two dollars to four dollars per head. 



That so many cattle perished will surprise no one who saw the country 

 during the latter part of the summer of eighteen hundred and sixty- 

 four; it is rather a matter of surprise that so many escaped, where no 

 vegetation proper for feed could be discerned. The remaining cattle 

 are most all young, two and three years old. Cows with calves were 

 the first to die. In many instances the calves were killed in order to 

 save the cows, and but very few calves of last 3'ear are to be found. 

 Bulls did not hold out better than other cattle; their number is also 

 much reduced. 



The common Spanish stock is fast disappearing. The twelve thousand 

 seven hundred and twenty-four head of stock cattle remaining are classi- 

 fied as follows: American, one thousand seven hundred and twenty; 

 Spanish, four thousand five hundred and thirty-three; half-breeds, six 

 thousand four hundred and seventy-one. 



Drought and its consequences have not now been seen for the fii'st time 



