HOMESEEKERS AND KERN COUNTY. 



177 



natural lakes and artesian basins. All the substan- 

 tial advantages available anywhere are offered here. 

 With the single exception of citrus fruits, every- 

 thing can be raised in Kern county that will grow 

 anywhere on the coast. Oranges and lemons will 

 grow there, too, but are not produced for commercial 

 purposes and probably will not be, except at a few 

 points along the foothills. 



THE THEORY OF DIVERSIFIED FARMING. 



When a family settles down on a twenty or forty- 

 acre tract in Kern county, upon what lines does it 

 proceed to make a living? Nine-tenths of the people 

 who come to California look to the fruit industry as 

 their principal means of support. The average far- 

 mer in Kern county will depend upon peaches, apri- 



on twenty acres, and still better, if a farmer has suffi- 

 cient capital and help, upon forty acres. A very 

 small garden patch will supply a family with vege- 

 tables and small fruits the year around. A few acres 

 of alfalfa will keep a modest number of horses, cows 

 and swine. All sorts of poultry, including the turkey 

 for Thanksgiving, take care of themselves very 

 readily on such a place. Enormous crops of grain 

 can be produced on these lands by irrigation. When 

 the fruit trees come into bearing it will probably be 

 better to buy flour, because it can be more econom- 

 ically produced on a larger scale, but during the first 

 few years, when money is precious and time of no 

 value except as it may be applied on the home acres, 

 it is decidedly better to produce everything possible, 

 up to the utmost limit, from the little homestead itself. 



THIRTY ACRE ORCHARD OF FRENCH PRUNES, ONE YEAR OLD. 



cots and prunes for his permanent income, but it 

 takes time for the trees to come into bearing. Furth- 

 ermore, the idea is growing every day that the 

 sensible way to farm is to first make sure of producing 

 as nearly as possible everything the family consumes. 

 Families who do this are at least independent. In- 

 dustries may be idle and markets prostrate, but fami- 

 lies so situated cannot by any possibility fail to live 

 comfortably. The writer has no doubt that upon so 

 small an area as ten acres, in the sunny climate of 

 the Kern delta, families can produce what they will 

 eat in the course of the year, together with some sur- 

 plus to exchange with the store-keeper for the things 

 they must wear. This can be done with industry and 

 economy upon ten acres, but it can be done better 



A dollar saved is a dollar earned most truly in the 

 case of the new settler who is trying to lay broad and 

 deep the foundation of his prosperity. 



THE SURPLUS PRODUCT AND A COMPETENCE. 



Next after the provision for what is consumed by 

 the family comes the production of the surplus, which 

 must be sold in order that the proceeds may go to the 

 credit of that competence which the farmer will need 

 to educate his children and provide for old age. 

 There is a wide range from which to choose in plan- 

 ning this part of the operations, but the matter should 

 be carefully thought out. A few years ago raisins 

 were the favorite crop, but they have ceased to be as 

 profitable as formerly. Kern county is famous for its 



