CALIFORNIA 77S 



Agriculture. In 1910 the farm acreage was 27,931,444 (11,389,894 improved), and the 

 average acreage of each, farm was 316.7 all these being a little less than in 1900. In the 

 decade the total value of farm property increased from 796,527,955 to $1,614,694,584 (land, 

 $1,317,195,448; buildings, 133,406,040; implements, $36,493,158; and domestic animals, 

 $127,599,938), and the average value of a farm from $10,980 to $18,308 and of farm land 

 per acre from $21.87 to $47.16. In 1910 about four-fifths of all farms were operated by 

 owners or managers and only one-fifth by tenants. The most striking change in crop acreage 

 was in wheat, of which in 1899, 2,683,405 acres (less than in 1889) were harvested, but in 

 1909 only 478,217. In 1909, 39,352 farms (out of 88,197) were irrigated; in 24 of the 58 

 counties more than half the farms were irrigated; and of the total irrigated acreage (2,664,- 

 104) 961,136 acres were individual or partnership enterprises, 779,020 acres co-operative, 

 746,265 commercial, 173,793 in irrigation districts, 3,490 under the Indian service and 400 

 under the United States Reclamation Service. In its first season, 1911, the (Federal) 

 Orland project (begun 1906; 85% finished in November 1912) irrigated 2,600 acres; and 

 preliminary examinations for the Needles (Colorado river) project are not completed. The 

 cost of irrigation up to 1910 was $72,580,000 ($20.05 an acre) and the estimated final cost 

 of enterprises begun is $84,392, 344. 1 



In 1912 (preliminary estimates) the principal crops, excluding fruits, were: Indian corn, 

 i ,924,000 bu. (52,000 A.) ; wheat, 6,290,000 bu. (370,000 A.) ; oats, 7,800,000 bu. (200,000 A.) ; 

 barley, 41,760,000 bu., about one-fifth of the country's crop (1,392,000 A.); rye, 141,000 

 bu. (8,000 A.); potatoes, 10,140,000 bu. (78,000 A.); hay, 3,825,000 tons (2,500,000 A.); 

 cotton, 9,000 bales; rice 70,000 bu. (1,400 A.); sugar beets, 1,037,283 tons (99,545 A.). In 

 1909 (U. S. Census) the value of tropical fruits was $16,752,101 (oranges, $12,951,505; 

 lemons, $2,976,571; olives, $401,277; figs, $260,153; pomeloes (grapefruit), $143,180); of 

 hemp, $39,000 (300 A.); of vegetables other than potatoes, $6,886,885; of flowers and plants, 

 $1,388,513; of nursery products, $2,212,788; of small fruit, $1,789,214 (strawberries, $1,149,- 

 475; raspberries and loganberries, $304,169; blackberries and dewberries, $282,383); of 

 orchard fruits, $18,358,897 (apples, $2,901,662; peaches and nectarines, $4,573,775; plums 

 and prunes, $1,660,963; cherries, $5,473,539; apricots, $2,768,921); of nuts, $2,959,845; 

 and of grapes, $10,846,812. On January I, 1912 there were on farms: 493,000 horses, 

 72,000 mules, 505,000 milch cows, 1,515,000 other neat cattje, 2,656,000 sheep and 830,000 

 swine. In December 191 1 an act was passed for the promotion of horticulture and to prevent 

 the introduction of insects or diseases injurious to fruit trees, etc.; it provides for the inspec- 

 tion of nursery stock, etc., brought into the state. 



The University of California received an appropriation of $30,000 to enable it to hold 

 farmers' institutes; $15,000 every two years for research work in viticulture; the same sum 

 for the improvement of cereal crops and the same for the study of plant diseases not already 

 arranged for by the Southern California Pathological Laboratory 7 . Experiments in rice 

 culture point toward the possibility of large crops of this cereal; important investigations 

 have been made of orange thrips and scale insects; and it has been proved that the bubonic 

 plague was carried by wood-rats and ground squirrels. In 1911 a new bird reservation was 

 established at the Clear Lake reservoir, S. E. of Lake Klamath. 



Mineral Products. Total value, 1911, $90,517,566. The state ranked first in petroleum 

 with an output of 81,134,391 bbls. ($38,719,080), in asphalt, mostly oil asphalt, $2,104,421 

 (50% more than in 1910), and in gold, $19,928,500 (a little more than Colorado's output in 

 1911 or California's for 1910). The North Star mine near Grass Valley and the Kennedy 

 at Amador City ranked 9th and I4th respectively among the largest gold mines in the 

 country. There was an increase in placer production and quartz mining, but a decrease in 

 deep mining due to the decrease in mining copper and lead. In silver, $686,300, there was 

 a decrease of nearly one-third compared with the preceding year. The output of copper 

 was 35,835,651 Ibs. (20% less than in 1910), of lead, 615 tons (less than half that of 1910), 

 and of zinc, 1,404 tons (mine reports; 959 tons, smelter reports; none reported in 1910). 

 The state produced in 1911 about nine-tenths ($867,749) of all quicksilver, more than one- 

 seventh of all pyrites, all the magnesite (including that from a new deposit at Bissell, Kern 

 county), most of the crude platinum (511 oz.), practically all the borax ($1,569,151) and all 

 the chromic iron ore ($1,629; from Shasta, Siskiyou and Tehama counties) produced in the 

 country. Important absolutely were: salt, 1,062,813 bbls. ($543,917); clay products 

 ($4,915,866, mostly brick and tile); Portland cement ($8,737,150, ranking next to Penn- 

 sylvania); stone ($4,676,902, ranking fifth), the larger items being granite, $1,738,094, and 

 trap rock, $2,055,930; sand and gravel, $416,980; and lime $564,175. Natural gas was 

 valued at $800,714, much more than in any previous year and about 12 times as much as in 

 1901. Mineral waters, bottled at 40 springs, including 18 resorts, were valued at $578,439, 

 almost a half more than in 1910. Brine in Searles Lake, San Bernardino county, has 6.78 % 

 of potash and may furnish a supply for fertiliser. 



Manufactures. Between 1904 and 1909 the number of establishments increased from 

 6,839 to 7,659; the number of persons engaged in manufacturing from 120,040 (100,355 wage- 



1 See F. W. Roeding, Irrigation in California, and Victor M. Cone, Irrigation in the San 

 Joaquin Valley (both Washington, 1911). 



