CALIFORNIA AND WESTERING SUN 309 



bushels were produced much of which, crushed, 

 was fed to domestic animals. Very little is used 

 within the State for malting but more than seven- 

 teen and a half million bushels were exported. 

 The average price at the farm last December was 

 sixty-eight cents per bushel. 



As a rule the grain-raiser does not till his land 

 nearly so well as the fruit-raiser. This is partly 

 due to the fact that not so much income can be 

 secured from grain and not so much capital has to 

 be invested to raise it; and partly because orchards 

 and vineyards may be intro-tilled throughout the 

 growing season. I have never seen better tillage 

 than most of the orchards and vineyards receive 

 in California. No rain falls during the period of 

 surface tillage and therefore every weed may be 

 destroyed and a fine earth-mulch maintained by 

 which moisture is conserved up to the time of 

 harvest. 



The acreage devoted to alfalfa is rapidly in- 

 creasing. Three to five mowings may be secured 

 each season with an average yield of a ton per 

 acre to each cutting. Milch cows and dairying are 

 also rapidly increasing and it may be hoped that 

 the alfalfa and the cows will stop the excessive soil 

 depletion which is the result of the grain-raising 



