AGRICULTURE. 197 



1. Californian vineyards produce ordinarily twice as much as 

 the vineyards of any other grape distiict, if general report be 

 true. Here, twelve thousand pounds of grapes per acre is a crop 

 as common as six thousand in France, Germany, or Ohio, Why 

 our vineyards should produce so much more than those else- 

 where I know not, but the fact is indubitable. Crops of twenty 

 thousand pounds per acre have been seen here, but never else- 

 where, if witnesses, generally considered credible, are to be 

 believed. 



2. The grape-crop never fails, as it does in every other coun- 

 try. This is owing partly to the fact that we have no severe 

 frosts, no hail, and no storms of rain and electricity from the 

 time the vine buds until the grape is gathered, each of which 

 often causes a total loss of the crops in Europe. There is abun- 

 dant time for gathering the grape, while in other vine coun- 

 tries the rain and frost destroy the fruit after it is ripe. The 

 oidium — the disease which has done such o-reat dama^^e in 

 France — appeared in 1859, but has done no injury as yet save 

 in a iQ,\Y small, young vineyards. I have heard of it only in 

 Santa Clara, Sonoma, and Alameda counties, where the vines 

 are planted in a Avet, black loam, or stilf clay. Bugs and in- 

 sects, which do much harm in European vineyards, have as 

 yet done no injury worthy of note in California. 



3. Vineyards in other countries require more labor than in 

 California. In Europe, the vine is trained with a stalk four 

 feet high, and supported by a pole, which has to be set down 

 every year, and to which the vine is tied. Here the stalk 

 stands alone. 



4. The equability and warmth of the climate render it easy 

 to make wine by fermentation without artificial heat during 

 the winter ; whereas in other grape countries fires must be 

 kept up in the cellars through the winter. 



5. The great variety of grapes which thrive here as com- 

 pared with every other grape country. 



The disadvantages of California consist in the high price of 

 labor (three times as high as in Ohio, and four times as high 



