CALIFORNIA. 



110 



The climate of the State is most admirable 

 for the success of grain-crops. While farmers 

 in other parts of the world ore in constant fear 

 of ruin during haying and harvest, and often 

 lose the work of on entire year during one 

 storm, the California farmer has nothing to 

 tear from this source. Ho has from April to 

 October almost entirely exempt from storms of 

 any kind, in which to secure all his crops. 

 Even the dews do not fall to bleach his hay, 

 and his wheat may lie in the field in the bundle 

 or bunch or stack, or even in the sack, without 

 damage from rain. No time is lost from show- 

 ers or winds, or other natural causes, but the 

 work begun in May is continuously and con- 

 stantly pushed without interruption all through 

 that month and June and July, August and 

 September. In the Eastern States it costs 

 much more to cut and secure grain than it 

 does in California, because of the advantages 

 secured by its favorable climate. There they 

 can cut the grain with the header, taking only 

 the heads, which are elevated into an attend- 

 ant wagon with a capacious box, and depos- 

 ited directly into the hopper of the machine to 

 be immediately threshed, or into a pile to re- 

 main in bulk till a convenient time for thresh- 

 ing it. 



The lumber trade of the State has its chiet 

 center at San Francisco. The hard woods 

 used for wheelwright purposes, cabinet-work, 

 veneering, and ornamental work are imported, 

 with the exception of California laurel or myr- 

 tle, mountain mahogany, maple, and alder. The 

 staple lumber, used for house- and ship-build- 

 ing, street and dock work, fencing, boxing, and 

 the like, is obtained on the coast within the 

 limits of the State and the neighboring forests 

 of Oregon and Washington. The chief varie- 

 ties of staple lumber obtained on the coast are 

 sugar-pine, white cedar, redwood, spruce, Ore- 

 gon pine or fir, and yellow pine, named in the 

 order of their commercial value. White or 

 sugar-pine comes from the Sierra ; white cedar 

 from Port Orford north to Coos Bay, exclu- 

 sively ; fir or Oregon pine from Puget Sound 

 and many sections of Oregon, or more partic- 

 ularly from Coos Bay north ; spruce from 

 Coos Bay, Umpqua, Shoalwater Bay, and the 

 coast of Oregon, generally ; redwood, from the 

 great redwood region of the California Coast 

 Range. Oregon pine or fir, known commer- 

 cially as " Oregon," is used in Pacific coast 

 ship-building almost exclusively, and for the 

 rafters, beams, scantlings, furring, flooring, 

 and stepping of houses, for piles, planking, and 

 side walking, and for nearly all purposes where 

 lateral strain is an essential, and comparative 

 inexpensiveness desirable. Redwood is used 

 altogether for the outside construction of frame 

 houses, in the form of rustic siding, batting, 

 and shingles, and in inside finish, as " tongue 

 and groove " for ceiling, wainscoting, and the 

 like, and for cornices and moldings. For all 

 purposes where durability is not affected by 

 friction or strain, redwood is the most durable 



of the domestic woods, with the single excep- 

 tion of white cedar, standing exposure to the 

 weather as nothing else can. The receipts, 

 consumption, and stock on hand of lumber in 

 the San Francisco market for ten years ending 

 January 1, 1879, were as follows: 



Home consumption in which are included 

 shipments made to the interior, and from San 

 Francisco to foreign ports was highest in the 

 centennial year, 1876; falling off in the years 

 1877 and 1878 about thirty-seven million feet. 



The shipment of fruit to the Eastern cities 

 has become quite extensive. Its profitable- 

 ness or unprofitableness has depended chiefly 

 on the carefulness with which the require- 

 ments of success have been heeded. This has 

 been seen in those who have selected the kinds 

 of fruit that would bear shipping the best; 

 those who have taken the most pains in assort- 

 ing the fruit to be shipped; those who have 

 boxed with the most care; those who have 

 packed in the cars so as to secure the greatest 

 circulation of air through and between the 

 boxes ; those who have shipped in cars at- 

 tached to the express and passenger trains, and 

 thus secured the quickest transit. Pears and 

 plums have been found the best fruits to ship, 

 and of pears the Bartlett has proved a good 

 shipper and the most profitable to send to the 

 Eastern market. This pear can be picked in 

 California and placed on the markets in the 

 East before any other kinds of fruit are plen- 

 tiful there, and consequently is insured a good 

 demand and good prices. Plums are also a 

 profitable kind of fruit to ship. They stand 

 the voyage well, and meet the markets in a 

 good time for good prices. Peanuts are grown 

 largely in the State on sandy river-bottoms, 

 and some years ago they proved a very profit- 

 able crop, but the markets are now liable to be 

 overcrowded. Still they yield so well that 

 even at a small price there is room for some 

 profit. It takes from one bushel to a bushel 

 and a half of good seed to plant an acre. The 

 seed must be fresh, plump, and of a good bright 

 color. If the rows are put three feet apart, 

 and the hills eighteen inches in the row, the 

 best satisfaction will be given. 



A most important legal case came before the 

 State courts. It related to the injury done 

 to the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys by 

 the debrit from the mines. From surveys made 

 by the State Engineer it has been ascertained 



