200 



some general system wliich shall include the entire portion of the State 

 lying between the Coast range and the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and 

 unite in one plan the threefold design of irrigation, prevention of floods, 

 and reclamation of swamp lands. It is thought that such a system 

 must provide additional channels to conduct through the great valleys 

 the vast quantities of water that fall on the widely extended water- 

 sheds sloping into them, and that these channels must have outlets at 

 some distance from the natural one, through which all the waters of a 

 flood must be discharged. It is represented that an area of not less 

 than 5,000,000 acres within the contemplated limits of such a system 

 is now, in some parts, so liable to frequent droughts and floods, and 

 in others so swampy, that it is unfitted to support any more than a 

 scanty and unthrifty population ; but the soil is of such a quality that 

 if the proposed system were carried iuto efiect it might easily support 

 in a condition of permanent agricultural j^rosperity one person to every 

 acre ; that is, a population of 5,000,000. 



Wood and timber. — According to careful estimates, which are deemed 

 reliable, one-third of the wood and timber existing in California twenty- 

 two years ago has been consumed. The requirements of the State for 

 forest products will be, at least, ten times as great for the next twenty- 

 two years. To dispense with the use of timber for fencing is to so far 

 prevent the destruction of forests, and since the costliness of fencing 

 material is now a serious drawback to the agricultural interests of th« 

 State, the subject of fence laws demands the immediate consideration 

 of the legislature. At the same time no more important subject can 

 occupy its attention than that of forest-culture. The most enterprising 

 of the European states began, long since, to encourage by legislation 

 the planting of forests. As the result, England and Scotland now have 

 thousands of acres of majestic pines, beeches, and oaks; Germany has 

 in government forests large groves of California redwood, with other 

 valuable timber trees, collected from different parts of the world, and in 

 France, Austria, and Eussia, planted forests are among the most valued 

 of government possessions. The scarcity of hard-wood timber in the 

 State retards its agricultural prosperity by restraining the manufacture 

 and enhancing the price of agricultural machinery and vehicles. Ex- 

 periments, made through the eflbrts of the State Agricultural Society, 

 have proved the groundlessness of a prevalent impression that the cli- 

 mate is unfavorable to the growth of hard- wood timber. These experi- 

 ments have been sufdciently protracted to demonstrate that the best 

 varieties of hard wood, including different species of locust, walnut, b\it- 

 ternut, chestnut, orange, mulberry, and maple, will grow in the State 

 more thriftily than in the Atlantic States, without any depreciation in 

 durability, elasticity, or strength. Furthermore, some of the best varie- 

 ties of hard wood indigenous to Australia have been imported and 

 tested, with like results. 



Products outside the ordinary limits of agriculture. — The manufacture 

 of castor-oil, it is claimed, is becoming in the State a remunerative bus- 

 iness, and that there is no reason why it should not be largely produced 

 for export, all parts of the State being well adapted to the growth of 

 castor-beans. In 1871 over 700,000 i)ounds of them were produced in 

 the State; in Yuba County alone 000,000 pounds. Their estimated 

 value is 4 cents i)er pound. 



The cultivation of chiccory, successfully carried on for several years 

 in Yolo County by a German firm, is represented as growing into an im- 

 portant business. In 1871 that firm luoduced of it, in a cured state, 

 135 tons, valued at over .f 20,000. Other counties are beginuieg to en- 



