AGRICULTURE. 169 



for Calaveras, 40 for Fresno, 45 for Marin, 40 for Los Angeles, 

 20 for Mendocino, 31 for Merced, 33 for Monterey, 28 for Ne- 

 vada, 17 for Sacramento, 20 for San Joaqnin, 21 for Santa Clara, 

 30 for Santa Cruz, 16 for Shasta, 60 for Sonoma, 60 for Yolo, 

 and 40 for Yuba. 



Many of these figures are merely guessed at by the asses- 

 sors, who, however, are compelled to travel all over their re- 

 spective counties, and converse with all the farmers. Their 

 conjectures, therefore, are worthy of respectful consideration. 

 But an average of sixty bushels per acre for a whole county 

 looks almost too large to be believed unless supported by some 

 special authentication more than we have. Nevertheless, crops 

 of sixty bushels to the acre are not rare. In 1853, a field of 

 one hundred acres in the valley of the Pajaro produced ninety 

 thousand bushels, and one acre of it yielded one hundred and 

 forty-nine bushels ! It was grown by J. B. Hill ; was men- 

 tioned as undoubtedly true by the assessor of Monterey coun- 

 ty in his official report ; and a prize was granted by an agri- 

 cultural society for the crop. The field which took the prize 

 of the State Agricultural Society, in 1859, yielded sixty-seven 

 bushels to the acre. The field was a large one, and ten acres 

 (a fair sample of the wliole) were measured. The crop which 

 takes that prize is not necessarily the largest crop in the state, 

 but only the largest among those ofi*ered for competition. No 

 doubt, many laiger crops were harvested in 1857. In 1859, 

 ninety bushels of Nepaul barley were grown to the acre by 

 Mr. Burrell, in Santa Cruz county, but in a small field. 



There is probably no part of the world where volunteer 

 crops do so well as in California, and barley seems to produce 

 better on the volunteer system than any other grain. Volun- 

 teer crops are those grown from the seed which falls out in 

 harvesting; there is, therefore, no sowing or planting. Some- 

 times the land is ploughed and harrowed ; sometimes it is left 

 untouched. Large amounts of volunteer barley are grown 

 every year, and sometimes the yield is excellent. One case is 

 reported of a field in Yolo county which produced five siicces- 

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