STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



229 



cattle, and that no effort will be made for the further increase of the 

 latter. Under the present system, cattle for some years past have left 

 nothing to the stock raisers but loss, and many of them have aban- 

 doned the business ; some because they have lost most all their cattle, 

 others because they lack the means to carry on the business, and not a 

 few because they consider the cattle exposed to loss by other causes 

 than those generally known or expressed. Sheep being ever under 

 M^atch, are not ex]K)sed to similar dangers. The nature of the country, 

 likewise, seems to be better adaj)ted for sheep than any other stock. 

 Befoi-e the last two years, they have alwaj'S been doing well, and 

 graduall}^ increased. The loss of sheep from August, eighteen hundred 

 and sixty-four, to March, eighteen hundred and sixty-five, from starva- 

 tion and exposure, may be calculated at seventy-five thousand. Many 

 sheep owners lost one half of their flocks. Part of the lambs of last 

 year had to be killed to save the ewes. The class of sheep mostly raised 

 in this county are the French merino and Australian sheep, crossed with 

 American of several kinds, and the common Spanish or New Mexican. 

 The latter, although ver}' inferior for wool, seem to be more profitable 

 for mutton, needing less care and capable of more endurance than the 

 more improved kinds. The clip of wool this year has been somewhat 

 below tiie average The assessment of sheep for eighteen hundred and 

 sixty-five has been as follows : 



American. 

 Spanish.... 



Half-breed and improved. 



Merino ewes 



Merino rams 



Total. 



32,540 



11,670 



48,796 



6,791 



1,360 



101,157 



FISHERIES, 



Two whaling companies are established on the Bay of Monterey, and 

 one on Carmelo Bay; another company formerly established at Mon- 

 terey left about a year ago. The remaining three companies number 

 about fifty men, mostly natives of the Azores or Western Islands. Each 

 company, when fishing, man two boats, with six men for each boat. 

 Formerly the}'' did a successful business, but for the last two seasons 

 whales have been very scarce. Each company made two thousand five 

 hundred barrels in one year, but this is nO more the case, as may be seen 

 in the table of statistics. The whales have also become so shj^that they 

 cannot be approached to use the hand harpoon or lance ; every boat 

 now is armed with the harpoon swivel and lance gun, the only imple- 

 ments useful. No whales have visited the bay since March last. Other 

 fisheries have likewise been very indifferent. Mackerel have not made 

 their appearance this year. The Bay of Monterey during the fishing 

 season swarnis with fish of a great variety of species ; many of the 

 tropical kind make it their resort during the months of August and 

 September. Nine species of the viviparous kind are known here. I do 

 not give a description of them, thinking this not the place or opportu- 

 nity to extend on this subject. 



