80 



CALIFORNIA. 



Agriculture, properly so called, is very ex- 

 tensively pursued in its several branches, and 

 assuming each successive year vaster dimen- 

 sions, both in the raising of .fruit-trees and 

 small grain, above all of wheat. Besides fur- 

 nishing the people with a supply for home con- 

 sumption, there are considerable quantities 

 left for export. 



The grape-crop, in 1871, when a large num- 

 ber of new vines came into bearing, was better 

 than in the previous year ; though it was in- 

 jured to a very great extent by frost and grass- 

 hoppers. These two seem to be the greatest 

 dangers threatening the grape in California. 

 The quantity destroyed by them in 1871 was 

 estimated equal to the yield of 600,000 gallons 

 of wine. The value of the surplus of wine for 

 export, from the vintage of 1872, is estimated 

 at $1,000,000. 



The " California Vine Growers' and Wine 

 and Brandy Makers' Association" held a meet- 

 ing at Sacramento, near the close of February, 

 1872, when the Committee on Statistics sub- 

 mitted the following figures of the production 

 in the State for the four years next preceding : 



1868, Wine, gallons, . . 1,884,000 



Brandy, u 253,643 



1869, Wine, 

 41 Brandy, 



1870, Wine, 

 " Brandy, 



1871, Wine, 



" Brandy. 



2,636.000 



169,811 



8,800,000 



157,050 



6,000.000 



200,000 



The committee estimate the wine of 1872 at 

 thirty cents per gallon, the brandy at $1.50, 

 and say that table-grapes were sold to the 

 amount of $600,000, making a gross yield to 

 the vineyardists of $2,700,000, exclusive of 

 grapes wasted, or used for home consumption. 

 The price of the wine and brandy to consum- 

 ers out of the State is three times as much as 

 the grape culturists receive. 



The raising of wheat surpasses in extent nil 

 other agricultural products in the State. In 

 1863 she had no wheat for export, but, to sup- 

 ply the wants of her people, imported consid- 

 erable quantities from Chili. Crops sufficient 

 for home consumption, and more, were subse- 

 quently obtained, and the largest of any previ- 

 ous year was that of 1870, when the export 

 amounted to 6,000,000 sacks. In 1872, which 

 has been a very good season, the surplus wheat 

 for export has reached 12,000,000 sacks ; 

 the amount of money to be realized from its 

 sale being estimated at from $20,000,000 to 

 $24,000,000. 



There are three wheat-farms in the San 

 Joaquin Valley, with areas respectively of 

 3fi,noo acres, 23,000 acres, and 17,000 acres. 

 On the largest of these farms the wheat-crop 

 for 1872 is reputed to be equal to an average 

 of forty bushels to the acre, the yield running 

 up on some parts of the farm to sixty bushels. 

 The product of this farm for the year is 1,440,- 

 000 bushels. The boundary on one side of 

 this farm is about seventeen miles long. At 

 the season of ploughing, ten four-horse teams 



were attached to ten gang ploughs, each gang 

 having four ploughs or forty horses, with as 

 many ploughs, were started at the same time, 

 the teams following in close succession. Lunch 

 or dinner was served at a midway station, and 

 supper at the terminus of the field, seventeen 

 miles distant from the starting-point. The 

 teams returned on the following day. The 

 wheat in this immense field was cut with 

 twenty of the largest reapers, and thrashed 

 and put in sacks. It would require over forty 

 ships, of medium size, to transport the wheat 

 raised on this farm to a foreign market. Even 

 the sacks required would make a large expen- 

 diture in the surplus of money of most farmers. 

 Touching the product of the two other farms, 

 the average is not much below that of the 

 first. There are thousands of tons of wheat 

 which cannot be taken out of the valley before 

 winter, and must remain over as dead capita], 

 or, what is nearly as undesirable, will only 

 command advances at heavy rates of interest. 



The raising of cotton has begun to engage 

 the attention of agriculturists in California ; 

 some portions of which are said to be well 

 adapted to its growth. It was estimated that 

 about 1,000 acres of land were devoted during 

 the year to the culture of this plant. 



Notwithstanding its copious rains, Califor- 

 nia is subject to drought. With a view to 

 counteract its injurious effects by the employ- 

 ment of artificial means, and thus facilitate the 

 operations of agriculture, a law was enacted 

 by the Legislature, providing for and regulat- 

 ing irrigation. The provisions are applicable 

 to all the counties, except four, in the State ; 

 the substance of the act being summarily as fol- 

 lows : " It authorizes the formation of irriga- 

 tion districts to which one system of irrigation 

 is applicable, and authorizes the appointment 

 of trustees, the assessment of benefits, the 

 levying and collection of taxes, and the con- 

 demnation of water needed for the district. 

 It recognizes irrigation as a public pursuit, 

 and gives it the benefit of the use of the pub- 

 lic treasury. Fresno, Tulare, Kern, and Yolo 

 Counties, are excluded from the operations of 

 the act." 



The aggregate amount of all the industrial 

 products of California for this year, allowing 

 $20,000,000 of the gold-crop in Nevada to be 

 on her account, was estimated at $80,000,- 

 000, against $61,000,000 in 1871, and $53,000,- 

 000 in 1870. 



The means of transportation for passengers 

 and merchandise within the State and connect- 

 ing with those without, as also along the coast, 

 are furnished by several railway lines which, 

 chartered separately at the time of their con- 

 struction, are now merged into one corpora- 

 tion, owned, it is said, by three persons. This 

 company keeps also a number of steamers on 

 a^water-route of many hundred miles. A list 

 giving the names of the said railways, and 

 showing their capital stock and amount actu- 

 ally paid in, as taken from the reports of the 



