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California AoRicuLTURist and Live Stock Journal. 



poor economy to buy what can be better 

 produced at home. Ho has given little 

 attention to any speeial breed of hogs, 

 but prefers the Essex and Berkshires to 

 any others for his own use. When he 

 wants meat ha always has a fat pig.sheep, 

 steer, or some kind of poultry at hand, 

 which cost but little to produce. 

 He has also a family (?) 



ORCHAED, VINEYARD AND GARDEN, 



which supplies the principle portion of 

 his fruit and vegetables. Owing to the 

 dryness of his soil, it is not protitablo nor 

 convenient to produce all sorts of vege- 

 tables without irrigation. For this pur- 

 pose, and to supply 



WATER FOR HIS STOCK, 



a wooden pipe runs back some two miles 

 to the hills. Large tanks, holding many 

 thousand gallons of water, are jirovided 

 as a reserve. From these, iron pipes run 

 to the several yards and stables, where 

 are ample watering troughs conveniently 

 situated. 



A LARGE BARN 



shelters several hundred tons of excellent 

 hay. Long sheds are winged on either 

 side to stable the stock ; also L's at one 

 end for stock, arranged into separate 

 stalls. In large corrls are 



IMMENSE STACKS OP STRAW. 



Every season all the straw produced on 

 the farm is carefully stacked for the stock 

 to feed upon whenever the feed in pas- 

 tures is short and when Winter storms 

 make the soil soft and easily poached. 

 We saw a portion of a straw stack ten 

 years old. Mr. Emerson says that the 

 straw improves with age. The cattle, 

 horses, and sheep like it best. It seems 

 to be easier masticated and digested after 

 it remains in stack a few years. Instead 

 of scattering his straw in the pastures he 

 lets the stock run to the stack and help 

 themselves. What straw is trampled un- 

 der feet makes 



EXCELLENT MANURE 



with the droppings of the animals. This 

 is applied to the surface in the hay fields. 

 This (last) season the Emerson farm pro- 

 duced 400 tons of hay, wheat and volun- 

 teer hay. Mr. E. says that when cut at 

 the right time he considers barley hay the 

 best. The only objection is the beards. 

 Wheat hay is better than any other be- 

 sides barley. Next ranks rye and oats 

 hay. Our California hay, from sown 

 grains, is better than Eastern timothy. 

 To his milch cows and work horses plenty 

 of good hay with ground barley and wheat 

 bran is liberally fed; and good hay is 

 given to other fine stock when pastures 

 are short. 



HOLDINO HAT FOR A GOOD PRICE 



is a regular practice in years of plenty. 

 In this way Mr. E. says that his hay has 

 averaged him at least $20 per ton ever 

 since ho commenced to farm. The same 

 with 



WHEAT AND OTHER GR.UN, 



of which, last year, he raised 24,000 bush- 



els. By holding for a good price when 

 it is cheap, he has made his wheat bring 

 him on an average not less than $2 25 per 

 hundred pounds. For instance, in 18C3, 

 wheat fell to 1/i, and by holding one year 

 it rose to 3}^. At another time he held 

 on to his wheat three years to get his 

 price, and got it. 



SYSTEM op CULTINATION. 



The soil on this farm is rather lighter than 

 the average of valley lands — such soil as dries 

 out quickly in unfavorable seasons. Mr. E. 

 says his experience is that the best grain is 

 produced when the soil is plowed not over 

 three inches deep. To cultivate deeper is a 

 waste of team power, and productive of no 

 good results. After plowing for grain, whether 

 it is done early or late, the soil is thoroughly 

 harrowed. A Buckeye drill is used to sow 

 the grain. Forty pounds of White Austr.alian 

 wheat is drilled in to the acre. The drills are 

 run as deep as the plow runs — about three 

 inches. An average of ten acres a day can be 

 put in with the drill. Much better results 

 are gained from using the driU than from 

 broad-cast sowing, to say nothing about the 

 saving of seed. Where grain is grown this 

 year, hay is grown next, and the third year 

 the iield is pastured. His stubble fields are 

 are also pastured every season. Mr. Emer- 

 son's farm is divided into convenient fields 

 for this system of rotation. He believes that 

 pasturing a field is better than summer-fal- 

 lowing it. His system of taking ofi' a crop of 

 hay and then pasturing leaves the land clean 

 of all foul weeds, so that his grain is always 

 clean. His hay is also clean, and of first 

 quality, and his pastures are always rich in 

 nutritious feed. This systen of cultivation 

 enriches his farm. It wiU produce better 

 crops now than it would twenty years ago. 

 He says that one year with another his farm 

 produces forty bushels of wheat to the acre, 

 and it is not uncommon that sixty bushels are 

 taken from a single acre". While the raising 

 of stock is profitable, it makes his farm, for 

 hay and grain, much more valuable. No far- 

 mer can aflford to carry on a farm in Califor- 

 nia without stock enough to make some such 

 system practicable. Think of a drj' farm of 

 7.50 acres producing 400 tons of hay, 24,000 

 bushels of grain, mostly wheat, and keeping 

 130 head of horses and cattle, besides. And 

 what this man has done, cannot others do? 

 There is as much in system, or, in other 

 words, in the man, as there is in the soil. 

 And what is done on a large farm, where so 

 much hired help is necessary, surely can be 

 better accomplished on a small farm, where a 

 man can at once supervise and do the most of 

 the work himself. 



We must not forget to mention the imple- 

 ment house, or shed, where the Pitt's thi-esher, 

 thresher engine, header, grain cleaner, plows, 

 harrows, drill, wagons, etc., are sheltered. 

 Also, the blacksmith shop, where all the tools 

 necessary to repair and mend any machine on 

 farm can be found. Mr. Emerson himself 

 learned the use of tools and the carpenter 

 trade when a bej', and he has a handy man 

 whose business it is to keep all implements, 

 buildings, etc., in repair. He was making 

 steel plow points the day we were there. The 



saving that any farmer can make by having 

 shelter for his imi^lements, and a set of tools 

 so as to be able to repair the most of his own 

 farm machines, is worth considering. Mr. E. 

 remarked, " H we did not take care of and 

 repair our own tools and machinery, it would 

 take all wo can make to pay blacksmith and 

 store bills." 



There are many other particulars that we 

 might mention in connection with this farm. 

 Our object is to give some of the main points 

 of Mr. Emerson's experience and practice. 

 Our readers can take them for what they are 

 worth. There is no practical farmer who has 

 followed the business for over twenty years on 

 this Coast, but has learned from experience 

 something that would add to the ganeral store 

 of useful knowledge on the subject of farm- 

 ing here, if it could be brought out and made 

 known. We wish our farmers were more 

 communicative and ready to write their expe- 

 rience. H we can get at it in no other way, 

 we propose to visit one or more places each 

 mouth, and report as nearly as we can in our 

 own style the facts we can gather; such as 

 will, we think, prove of interest to our own 

 farmers, and to those in the East who are 

 thinking of coming here, and are on the look 

 out for just such information as hundreds of 

 our most experienced farmers are abundantly 



able to give. 



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Jerseys vs. Durhams and Ayrshires. 



Our contemporaries of the Sacramento 

 Valley Agricullurhii say : 



" As for fattening, our experience and ob- 

 servation shows that they (Jerseys) take on 

 fat more quickly than the Durhams or Ayr- 

 shires, which is a great point, when we con- 

 sider that the steers have to be fatted for the 

 slaughter-house. ' ' 



This may be the extensive (?) experience of 

 the writer, but, if so, it is in exact opposition 

 to that of the great majority of other stock 

 breeders. As milkers, and for the very best 

 quality of rich milk, the Jersey is ahead, but 

 there the merits of the animal rest. 



Japanese Maples. 



The Rural Press mentions a recent importa- 

 tion of twenty-four varieties of maples from 

 Japan by a gentleman of San Francisco. The 

 Press says. 



The trees were accompanied with beautifully 

 colored plates descriptive of the foliage of all 

 the varieties. These plates were executed by 

 the Japanese, the coloring as well as other 

 parts being done by hand. A leaf of every 

 one of the 24 varieties is given, its form and 

 color being represented in all their miuutia. 

 The varieties of foliage displayed here is re- 

 markable, many of the leaves being extremely 

 unique in form and color. 



The importation consists of sis trees of each 

 variety; all grafts, and all in excilleut condi- 

 tion for planting in Cahfornia. The growth 

 of this interesting family of maples will be 

 watched with a good deal of interest by horti- 

 culturists generally, as well as by those who 

 were fortunate enough to procure them. 



A Vermont lady fainted away at a partj',and 

 when a young man cried out for some one to 

 saw her corset strings in two, she arose, drew 

 a pair of shears, and said she'd Uke to see 

 'em saw. 



One may live a hero, a conqueror, or king; 

 but he must die a man. 



