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Monterey wheat is sown from November to March, according to the amount of 
rain. Our Tuolumne reporter says ‘the land should be summer-fallowed, and 
the grain sowed before the first rains ; it may be sowed as late as March, but is 
liable to injury by the drought; harvest last of May or June.” In Yuba they 
sow from October to February, and harvest from Ist of June to 15th of July. 
None drilled. 
Our San Francisco correspondent writes : 
Seeding on summer fallow and dry-ploughed land has been done in September and Octo- 
ber, but the experience of our farmers is that wheat sown prior to March in good seasons 
produces favorable crops. Harvesting of barley commences in the southern part of the State 
early in May ; wheat is generally two weeks later, most of the crop being gathered in June, 
new wheat coming to market about the 1st of July. Ploughing is, on an average, not over 
four inches deep, some being only three inches, while in exceptional cases the soil is disturbed 
from six to twelve inches, but such instances are very rare. A practice called ‘‘ volunteer- 
ing” prevails among farmers, which consists of simply harrowing by implement, or, inmany 
cases, brush-harrowing, viz: dragging limbs of trees over stubble, so that the waste grain 
of one harvest is made the seed for the next. 
The average yield of wheat is reported at 20 bushels to the acre. 
6. Of the natural grasses of California our Monterey correspondent says : 
The most of our pasture plants are annual. In most places the Erodium cicutarium, or 
‘‘alfileria,” grows first, and immediately afterward the wild oats, Avena fatua. But inmany 
places the first spring pasturage is furnished by two or three species of Boraginacea, viz: 
Eritrichium chorisianum and two other species. The cattle of all kinds eat these greedily 
and fatten on them. After these come up the annual grasses; two or three species of Poa; 
Reardum jubatum, Polypagon monspeliensi, &c.; and later in the season the perennials, 
such as the ‘‘bunch-grass,’’ Festuca scafrilla, ‘‘grama,’’ Bizopyrum spicatum, and Elymus 
arenarius, &c. Stock cattle are not fed at all here. They pasture 12 months. 
Wild oats, when cut at the proper time, are said to make the richest hay. 
When there is sufficient range, horses, cattle and sheep pasture the entire year, 
the rainy season not excepted. In the greater portion of the State the natural 
grasses are turned into hay while standing, the extreme dryness of the elimate 
being the cause. Cattle feed on this dried grass, which is very nutritious until 
the rains come, which destroy all the nourishment. When the rains come early, 
in October or early in November, the new grasses spring up in a few days, and 
if they get three or four inches high, frost does not stop their growing, and stock 
have excellent feed the season through. When the rains come in December, 
followed immediately by frost, cattle suffer greatly, and large numbers of horses, 
sheep and cattle are lost. The crop of natural grasses, when not fed down too 
much, seeds itself and yields from one to two tons of hay per acre. 
Our Tuolumne reporter says that pasture is good from March to October, 
but stock will subsist the entire year. Usually the only expense is cost of 
herdsmen. Several correspondents estimate the cost of pasturing stock at from 
50 cents to $2 per head per month—the average $1 per head. 
7. The fame of California as a fruit-growing State is too widely extended to 
need lengthy notice in this chapter. The capabilities of the entire valley lands 
of the State, and also the foot-hills of the mountain range, to produce fruit, are 
perhaps unsurpassed if equalled in any part of the world. All the fruits of 
the temperate zone flourish well, and such semi-tropical fruits as oranges, figs, 
limes, citrons, olives, almonds and pomegranates are produced in great abun- 
dance. It is difficult to say which kind of fruit is most profitable, as all pay 
well until the supply exceeds the local demand. At present it is said that 
almonds and Madeira nuts pay best, though figs and oranges are quite profitable. 
Our Toulumne correspondent says that grape-vines bear a good crop the third 
year from the cutting. Vineyards produce from four to five tons of grapes per 
acre, or from 500 to 700 gallons of wine. Grapes for wine-making sold last 
season at $30 per ton. ‘The price of wine one year old varies from 40 cents to 
$1 25 per gallon, according to quality. Apple, pear, peach, plum, cherry, fig, 
orange and pomegranate come into bearing the third year, and produce good 
