STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 303 



section of land like the one in which I live, Woodland and vicinity, will 

 make an increase in the productions of twenty per cent ;\ in ordinary 

 seasons from thirt}' to fifty per cent ; in seasons like eighteen hundred 

 and sixty-four, one hundred per cent. 



A crop that yields twenty bushels per acre, or less, gives no profit to 

 the farmer, all being consumed in its production. Therefore, whatever 

 is added by irrigation in such cases, should be the measure of value to 

 the farmer, and must lead him to admit that his profit has been wholly 

 made by irrigation. The certainty that the farmer would have of making 

 a crop every year, sufficient for his feed and seed, should be a conclusive 

 argument for the construction of ditches to irrigate all latixls possible. 



There are other reasons that present themselves. The farmer usually 

 gets through hauling off his crop in September. Now (should he have 

 the opportunity) in October he might put water upon twenty or forty 

 acres of land, which, in a few days, is fit to plough. When that is 

 finished, he irrigates more, and thus when the rain comes, and the season 

 for seeding, he finds his work half done for the winter, and well done, 

 for his land has been fertilized. 



This mode of operation enables the ftirmer of small means to perform 

 more of the labor himself, as the season for ploughing has been length- 

 ened, thus avoiding so much hired labor found necessary when the crop 

 has to be put in during the short time usually enjo^'ed for ploughing. 

 When the land has been wet down to the moisture below, in this neigh- 

 borhood, we have not failed to make a crop ; therefore, the land irri- 

 gated early in the season, having the benefit of the after rains, will make 

 a good crop without further irrigation. 



Water is a fertilizer. It matters not how limpid it may flow from the 

 mountains, it holds in solution those ingredients so necessary for a vigor- 

 ous and perfect growth of the cereals. This county might be made one 

 of the most certain to make a crop in the Sacramento Valley, for it may 

 obtain water for all the land needing irrigation. It needs much less 

 capital than many suppose ; but the difficulty will be found mainly in 

 the concentration of mind, there being such a diversity of opinion as to 

 the best mode of obtaining the water. 



I trust that the present Legislature may do something towards obtain- 

 ing a subsidy in lands from the General Government, to assist in reclaim- 

 ing some of the arid lands in the north part of our county, and in other 

 parts of the State. These lands must remain unproductive and yield no 

 revenue to the State, if not reclaimed from their sterility by furnishing 

 them with water. The utility of water for the purpose of irrigating 

 lands is no longer an experiment, but a thing proven. 



I am, yours, 



N. WYCKOFF 



