C22 Transactions of the 



CULTIVATE SMALLER FARMS. 



In many portions of tho valley crops aro not as fruitful as they might 

 be. What is the trouble? Farmers, do you not undertake more than 

 you can successfully perform? Do you not attempt to cultivate im- 

 mense tracts, and for want of proper attention your crop fails? Land 

 requires different usage in different locations. The Summer fallow sys- 

 tem and utilizing of the subsoil, practically illustrate their remedial 

 properties. Could you not profit by the advice of Virgil? "A farmer 

 may praise large estates, but let him cultivate a small one." Seek for 

 tenants among those who come to our shores for a home, many of whom, 

 I am sorry to say, have left disheartened during the past season, for 

 want of encouragement. A small farm, well tilled, is better than a 



large one unfruitful 



TRESENT CAPABILITIES. 



It is estimated by the London Times that the English wheat crop is 

 deficient ninety million bushels. This statement has been disputed. But 

 if it bo true, the deficiency must be supplied in part by the United States. 

 Our valley must be a prominent contributor. The foreign hop crop is 

 also reported a failure. This must be measurably supplied by California. 

 The grape, hanging in rich clusters and in endless variety, should never 

 fail for want of careful culture. Farmers, include the arbor with the gar- 

 den. It has been estimated that the product of our vines will average six 

 hundred gallons of wine to the acre, which is fifty per cent greater than 

 that of France, and three times that of Germany. The fruit crop is 

 larger than ever before. The report from the dairy is good, but it is 

 believed that with the factory 83 r stem, founded on scientific principles 

 like that of New York, the yield would be increased nearly or quite 

 twenty per cent. Where the garden is cultivated the yield is all that 

 can be desired, and Eastern products are pigmies in comparison with 

 ours. 



Amador Count}' comes with a story that tho wild coffee berry is flour- 

 ishing there, and we are hopeful soon to afford our aged maidens, of both 

 sexes, their comfortable cup of tea free from import duties. 



When evening closes 



" The lowing herds wind slowly o'er the lea." 



The sheep eke out a comfortable life upon your valleys, plains, and hills, 

 bountifully fleeced with wool. The Angora and other goats pay well 

 for their sustenance. The grunters, always on the lookout for some 

 friendly cesspool in which to indulge their independent tastes (for 

 Charles Lamb says they are the only gentlemen), are not strangers, and 

 the shrill clarion of the cock announces that the henery is not neglected. 

 And still another, the truest friend of man, tho sagacious horse, seemingly 

 graded in his social life, as is the human race. First he comes with 

 glossy coat, expanding nostrils, arched neck, his value commanding 

 thousands .as his fleetness is increased by seconds, while behind him 

 appears his more humble brother, less lordly, but more contemplative, 

 of value measured by a hundred or less, but which, for all utilitarian 

 purposes, no farmer would exchange for Occident, Purdy or " Old Thad." 

 himself. We have also a good supply of the long-cared animals— four 



