113 



ecouomy. El Dorado: Not Diucb. Amador: The most marked iuiprovemeut is the 

 . method of dry sowing ; the ground being plowed and sowed during the three or four 

 months following the harvest, or before the winter rains have made the ground soft, the 

 grain remaining dormant the while. By this process a large area of land is put in 

 before the winter rains have softened the ground. It is believed this method has ad- 

 vantages over summer ftillowiug ; inasmuch as the first rains cause the ground to 

 become exceedingly mellow, while not nnfrequently summer fallow is rendered hard 

 and clammy by the late spring rains. Lalce : Bat little. Contra Costa: The use of im- 

 proved machinery, also improved methods of tillage, rotation, manures, and adaptation 

 of crops to conditions. Tuolumne: None. Douglas: A greater desire on the part of 

 farmers to obtain accurate information in respect to their calling; hence, the agricul- 

 tural papers are being freely subscribed for and read. Stanisluus : Little or none. 



Okegon. — Josephine: None. Douglas: Little or none. Lane: Large use of grain- 

 drills and gang-plows. Waseo : Improved breeds of live stock. Linri : Great improve- 

 ment in wheat-culture ; the drill becoming common. 



Nevada. — Esmeralda : Not far enough advanced to have much improvement. 



Teriutokies. — El Paso, Colo. : There is a general and manifest desire for im- 

 proved methods of agriculture, and for that which will most develop and advance the 

 interests of farmers. Weld, Colo. : As an evidence, we have oi'ganized a territorial 

 stock-growers' association, with auxiliaries in each county, for tlie protection of the 

 stock interest, with a system of "round-ups" each spring, which greatly facilitates the 

 liandling of stock, and finding of strays. We are also improving our system of irri- 

 gation, and acquiring more system in farming under that system. Douglas, Colo. : 

 The greater care of stock, and the introduction of improved breeds. Box Elder, Utah : 

 Labor-saving machinery has relieved the farmer from bondage, and given him time to 

 improve in intellectual culture. There is an improvement in building, field and 

 garden^culture, securing gootl breeds of stock, and also connecting various branches of 

 Lome manufacture with farming. Eich, Utah: We are distant from a market, and have 

 not much to sell, and cannot, as yet, procure the most economical means, to any extent, 

 for building up or improving; still, we are tiist advancing, all things considered. E'on, 

 Utah : Drilling has proved to be a saving of one-third the seed, and an increase of from 

 five to ten bushels per acre. Taos, N. Mex.: None whatever; our people are a long 

 ■ways behind the present progressive age ; the old plow is used in all cases ; they never 

 pretend to fertilize their land by manuring or otherwise, but depend solely on irriga- 

 tion for supplying the deficiency in the fertility of the soil, and yet, with all their 

 primitive manner of pursuing their avocation, they reap yearly golden harvests of all 

 kinds of grain. Dona Ana, K. Mex.: The few American farmers here use plows pur- 

 chased in Saint Louis, and a marked improvement appears iu the productiveness of 

 their land, and the destruction of the noxious weeds. Mexican labor is cheap and un- 

 skillel, and great difliculties are found in inducing the laborers to learn to use the labor- 

 saving tools ; still, a marked improvement is apparent among them, as they are brought 

 into contact with the American farmer. Considerable skill is shown by some enter- 

 prising Americans in growing grape-vines, whereby the yield has been nearly doubled 

 over the Mexican method. Santa Ana, X. Mex.: Labor is the same as it has been for 

 the past fifty years ; the Mexicans do not improve much in making labor as easy as pos- 

 sible. TValla Walla, Wash.: Farmers are building better dwellings and larger and 

 more convenient barns, and are also building comfortable public school houses at almost 

 every cross-road. Lincoln, Dak.: Much has been saved by the proper use of the various 

 kinds of farm-implements, seeders and harvesters particularly. The land iu this 

 county is all new, the most of it having had only two crops taken from it. Missoula, 

 Mont.: The land here being new, and naturally very productive, no particular system 

 has been adopted. 



PEACTICAL EESULTS OF ASSOCIATION. 



The March returns contain many fiicts illustrating the saviui^ result- 

 ing from co-operation the past year iu purchasing supplies or selling 

 products ; the advantage derived from association iu '• extending '• or 

 manufacturing raw products, the accomplishment of which could not be 

 undertaken by single individuals, as in flour-milling, pork-packing, wool- 

 working, butter or cheese making, and similar enterprises. These state- 

 ments lead to the belief that many millions of dollars have been saved 

 to the farming interest by the simple initiation of union for protection, 

 a begiuuing of what should result not only in greatly enlarging the va- 



