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DISEASED CATTLE. 



Id our last biennial report we called the attention of the Legislature to 

 this subject, and suggested, that as it was well known that there had 

 existed for several years back a disease among the cattle of Texas, called 

 the Texan fever, that this disease was very destructive wherever it spread, 

 and that there was danger of its being introduced into our own State 

 with droves of Texan cattle, proper legislation should be had to avoid 

 the danger. We repeat those suggestions, and would now enforce them 

 by stating as a fact what what we then could state only in anticipa- 

 tion, viz : That large droves of cattle are already arriving in this State 

 from Texas. Though no disease is reported among them, yet, coming 

 from an infected country and being in the hands of those whose interest 

 it would be to keep such reports from the public if disease did really 

 exist, they should be watched with vigilance. While we cannot inter- 

 fere with commerce between the States, we can protect ourselves or our 

 property, our cattle, from exposure to contagious disease, and when dan- 

 ger exists it becomes our duty to do so. 



FISH BREEDING. 



In some of the New England and Middle States the breeding of fish 

 in artificial ponds or lakes has become not only a very pleasant but val- 

 uable industry. In some instances it has been so profitable that the land 

 covered by the water of these lakes, and devoted to the production of 

 fish, has yielded, within two years from the time the lake was made and 

 fish introduced, at the rate of one thousand two hundred dollars per acre 

 a year. 



California presents almost an endless number of localities where lakes 

 can be very cheaply made, and stocked with the finest varieties of trout 

 from our mountain lakes and elsewhere, and a profitable business thus 

 introduced. Such localities may be found all along the various natural 

 and artificial water-courses leading down through the foot-hills of the 

 coast ranges of the Sierras. Artificial lakes or ponds for this purpose 

 may also easily be made in those valleys where artesian wells furnish a 

 constant flow of living spring water. 



TREE AND FOREST CULTURE. 



We have frequently called the attention of our agriculturalists to this 

 subject, and have at different times urged action in its behalf by the 

 Legislature. No more important subject can be named for legislative 

 encouragement or for energetic action on the part of our people. We 

 are all interested in whatever affects the comforts of individuals and the 

 prosperity of the country. The subject of a plentiful supply of lumber 

 and wood for the various purposes of life is one that we cannot much 

 longer neglect. Whoever takes the trouble to look this subject fully in 

 the face, and reflects upon the future of California, must feel as we do, 

 that something should be done, and that immediately, looking to the 

 substitution of new forests in the place of the old ones in our State, now 

 so rapidly being consumed and destroyed. A full discussion of this 

 subject cannot be entered into in the short space allowable in a mere 

 report, where so many subjects of interest claims attention. But we 

 propose to notice some facts, and make some suggestions, which may 

 lead to further investigation, and we hope to energetic action. 



