B. M. BRERETON S VIEWS. 311 



tion is much less and dew is deposited; consequently, grain, under 

 the influence of irrigation, grows better, and will mature sooner than 

 grain sown under present auspices. 



The great drawback to wheat cultivation on the west side of this 

 valley, in addition to the loss from shriveling, is the cost of trans 

 portation. The river is only navigable for a few days during the 

 winter freshets, and during May and June, when the snows are 

 melting. If the grain were harvested in May, it could be shipped 

 during the period of high water; and if it were harvested in October 

 and beginning of November, it could be shipped during the winter 

 freshets, or on the first rise of the water in May. 



If my ideas are correct, the farmers of this valley can, with irriga 

 tion at their command, make agriculture a perfect success, and seed 

 time and harvest will follow the year throughout, without failure. 

 It would be better, I think, to build at once the main canals right 

 through to tide-water, for the sake of transportation and cheap com 

 munication with San Francisco. Irrigation from such canals will 

 follow by a gradual process, as population flows in, and the fact of 

 these main canals meandering for two hundred miles through this 

 immense valley, and offering facilities of transportation to the farmer 

 at rates of two dollars a ton, where it now costs eight to ten dollars, 

 will tend to encourage a more rapid settlement of the lands, not 

 withstanding the serious drawback which now exists in the fact of the 

 large bulk of the best lands being in the hands of a few land specu 

 lators. 



The average yield of wheat from irrigation, where the grain has 

 not been affected by north winds, has been over thirty bushels an 

 acre, and where the north winds have affected it, sixteen bushels. 

 In European countries I find from recent records that the average 

 of wheat in bushels per acre in different countries is as follows: 

 England and Scotland, 28 bushels; Ireland, 23; France, 14; Bel 

 gium, 21; Russia, 17; Silesia, 10; Austria, 15. 



I am sure that the farmers in this valley do not pay sufficient at 

 tention to deep plowing and working the land to secure a good 

 tilth. 



Where land has been much cultivated and tramped by stock, the 

 soil lying immediately below the two or three inches of cultivated 

 surface has a hard layer or pan, caused by the pressure of the jole 

 of the plow, and by the treading of stock. It is difficult for grain- 

 roots to penetrate this hard layer, and therefore they have only this 

 depth of soil to depend upon for moisture and nourishment. In 

 loose, rich soil I have seen wheat-roots over three feet long. Below 

 this hard layer the soil is more open, and contains moisture held 

 there by capillary action. Farmers can see for themselves the prac 

 tical workings of this capillary action in the soils by observing a 

 flower-pot filled with dry soil, and placed in a saucer containing 

 water. This action is precisely that of an oil-lamp fed by the wick. 

 If the ground is not plowed deep, the rain falling on the surface will 

 not penetrate this hard layer, but will either run off the surface or 

 become evaporated. By plowing deep and surrounding the fields 

 with levees, so as to cause the rain to be absorbed into the soil, far 

 greater farming results can be obtained than at present, even with 

 out irrigation. 



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