162 EF. SOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 



year ; and the wild oat is cut for hay. The farmers generally 

 are anxious to make as much money as possible, and as soon 

 as possible, without regard to the future value of the land. 

 Some of them are not permanent residents of the state, and 

 intend to leave it so soon as they can get a certain number of 

 dollars together ; others are farming land the title of which is 

 in dispute, and, as they feel uncertain about its ownership, they 

 are indifferent to its exhaustion. Many of them come from 

 the Western states, where the land had not, previous to their 

 migration, become poor ; and as rotation of crops had never 

 been a necessity within their experience, they have never 

 adopted it. 



The soil of California is not exhausted ; much of it will con- 

 tinue tc produce large crops of small grain without interrup- 

 tion and without manure for a score of years to come. Pre- 

 vious to 1853, the valleys were filled with cattle, and their 

 manure had contributed for a lonjy time — along the southern 

 coast for half a century — to enrich the soil. 



The prominence of barley in Californian farming is owing to 

 the facts that it is an almost certain crop, produces largely, 

 can be grown on all the cultivated land in the state, yields 

 good volunteer crops, is excellent food for horses, can be kept 

 for years, and always commands a market abroad. 



§ 132. Ploughing. — Ploughing commences with the first 

 heavy rain. The heat and drought of summer and autumn 

 bake the ground, and render it too hard for the plough ; so 

 the farmer must wait for the rains. The sooner they come, 

 after the first of October, the more convenient for him, and the 

 more work he can do. The rain must be sufficient to wet the 

 earth down six or eight inches deep ; a little shower will not 

 suffice. The soils of loam and clay are so hard, that no ordi- 

 nary plough is strong enough to break through them ; and 

 ploughing would do no good, because the earth would be in 

 large clods, which would furnish little nutriment to the grain. 



§ 133. Advantages., etc. — ^The Californian farmer has a great 

 advantage over those of the Northern Atlantic states, in the 



