82 



GEAPE CULTURE — PEODUCE IN STOCK. 



was paid out by shippers for grapes during that season, which was much beyond that of any 

 preceding year. 



Most of the fine graperies near the pueblo Los Angeles extend along the river side. One 

 proprietor^ Don Luis Vigne, had 42 acres under his vineyard, the largest in the county. The 

 vines are planted in rows of hills, the plants being about 6 feet apart each way. They are 

 watered by sequias or open drains from the river, which roll in a channel down one side of an 

 allotment with side sluices for allowing small streams to flow in between the rows and irrigate 

 the ground. The water is allowed to lie on the surface from 4 to 6 days, and then shut off, and 

 this process of irrigation repeated several times during the early growth of the fruit. 



But little attention was bestowed upon the manufacture of the wine, and the article, until within 

 the last few years, was not what either the climate or the variety of vine would warrant. A 

 Mr. B. Wilson has commenced the manufacture of a sparkling wine, which is said to be equal 

 to if not superior to the Catawba. 



The natural gramineous and leguminous plants indigenous to these plain support an immense 

 number of stock of a wild, shy and intractable character. But little attention has been 

 bestowed upon the rearing of cattle, and no cultivation of dairy produce has yet been attempted. 

 These plains are the headquarters for the supply of stock to the northern parts of the State, 

 and since the number of cattle driven over the plains into California has sensibly diminished, 

 it is to these extensive prairies that the supply of Sacramento and San Francisco is due. 



A local paper of credit* places the amount of beef stock then (1855) in California, exclusive 

 of arrivals during that year^ as follows : 



Counties. 



Los Angeles 



San Bernardino 



San Diego 



San Luis Obispo •- 



Santa Barbara — 



Monterey 



Alameda 



Conti'a Costa 



Add three tenths for other coiinties 

 Total of native stock 



No. of cattle. 



101,800 



27,000 



8,100 



12,500 



40,050 



32,900 



8,200 



4,000 



234,550 

 67,365 



301,915 



The natural increase of 1855 was large ; in San Bernardino it was, over and above sales, 

 21,000 ; in Santa Barbara 7,000, and in Monterey 3,000. 



The cattle brought over land during the same year was calculated at 100,000 head ; one third 

 of those sent from the east usually perish on the way. 



The geological structure of this plain is somewhat different from that of any region which 

 has been described. Its northern boundary are the sandstones which lie on the flanks of the 

 granitic axis of Kikal Mungo mountains. As these sandstones extend westward in a continuous 



* California Times and Transcript, 1855. 



