374 
the county in 1860, as compared with those of 1866, with the cash value of the 
latter. 
1860. 1866. Value, 1866. 
Wheat, bushels -.2..2 /25.2%. 140.3 55, 196 13, 000 $10, 333 
Barley, bushels...-. ee Ns tae 46, 455 150, 000 108, 000 
Hye eens. 3.2 i1s.o tit) ee ete 95 400 320 
Cornsitastels: Sc0 52 22238. pope poe <' 85, 010 180, 000 112, 500 
Beanssand..peas, bushels... #- <j.02).2- <=. 2, 465 5, 000 4, 500 
Potatoes, .(irish,) bushels ..2 3252 --. .,. 4. - 15, 034 250, 000 125, 000 
Potatoes, (sweet,) bushels: 22. ..-...--. ASO ree 5 oe oe eee ee 
Binal abst ete ete ee es Sc wise 209, 869 405, 000 60, 750 
Wine, gallons Po PERIOD 3 COC RO oe 162,980 1, 000, 000 400, 000 
EaMey Wed LGN eee oleic a = oi sone maaan ees 100, 000 250, 000 
Oranres, -caimnated “value Of. . 4 2,2tskws <2 ose <n ceReeeeeEe 527, 940 
itemons: cotunated value Of. 26. 002’. 22 cscs owes cx sne eee "88, 920 
Wernaute, estimated value Of.22.5 2. 226s sect 2S ee see eee 105, 240 
15794. 003 
It will be seen that in the above table no account is taken of the grazing or 
stock interest, with the exception of the wool product, nor of anything but the 
staple articles of produce. <A large decline in wheat culture is shown, but in 
all other products named the increase is marked, especially in wool and wine. 
The culture of the tropical fruits appears to have almost entirely grown u 
since 1860, yet yielded to the country nearly three-quarters of a million of dollars 
in 1866, and, with the large increase of trees in bearing, the amount must be 
considerably larger the present year. There are sufficient young trees planted 
in the county to double the orange crop in two years, and with the interest dis- 
played in other tropical fruits as well, Los Angeles promises even more for the 
next five years than the above figures show for the past. 
THE COMPOSITION AND FEEDING VALUE OF STRAW. 
The above was recently the subject of a very interesting and instructive address 
before the “Athy Farmers’ Club,” Ireland, delivered by Dr. Charles A. Cameron, 
from which are condensed some facts and figures which may prove of practical 
value to our American farmers, who generally have regarded straw as of little 
value for fodder, and in some sections burn it to get rid of it. Dr. Cameron 
said that while many farmers consider straw the most valuable constituent of 
home-made fertilizers, chemical analysis proves that it is perfectly insignificant, 
and that as a constituent of stable manure it is chiefly used as an absorbent of 
the liquid egesta of the animals whose litter it has formed. Straw has been re- 
garded as almost entirely innutritious, but within the last few years it has been 
largely employed by several of the most intelligent and successful feeders in 
England, who report so favorably upon it as an economical feeding stuff that it 
has risen considerably in the estimation of a large number of the agricultural 
public. Dr. C. thinks that, unless urgentiy demanded for litter, straw should 
be used as food for stock, for which purpose he considers it equal, if not superior, 
to hay, when relative prices are considered. From analyses quoted it appears 
that straw is more valuable when cut in the ripe state than when permitted to 
overripen, aud that green straw contains a far greater amount of nutriment than 
is found in the ripe article. It appears, also, that the most nutritious kind of 
straw equals the best varieties of turnips in the amount of flesh-forming priuci- 
ples, and greatly exceeds them in its proportion of fat-forming elements. The 
