California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



A MILPITAS FARM. 



Who has not heard of llilpitas? We take 

 it for granted that everybody knows all about 

 the place. We took a stroll over that way 

 lately and visited the fine-slock farm of Chas. 

 Clark. Mr. Clark is breeding Short-horn 

 cattle, Berkshire swine, and also has some 

 fine farm horses. A yonng stud, sired by 

 Ben Franklin, and out of a fine bay mare be- 

 longing to Mr. Clark, the pedigree of which 

 we do not remember, is a likely looking ani- 

 mal, will weigh about 1,400 jjounds, and is 

 just the sort of stock a farmer needs — not too 

 heavy to be active, and with strength to work 

 as well as a gait to travel on the road. His 

 color is a dappled brown chestnut. The price 

 of service, $20. 



Mr. C. has not a poor or ordinary looking 

 cow on his place, while he has some very fine 

 ones. He finds it more profitable to raise 

 good stock, in fact, the best he can get; and 

 to that point he went East last year and, in 

 company with Mr. Emerson, of Mountain 

 View, brought out several head of Short-horns 

 of the Duchess strain of blood. His two- 

 yeai'-old bull, Duke of Manchester, is cer- 

 tainly a beauty, as well as of a fii'st-class ped- 

 igree. We give here the pedigree of this bull 

 that all can see for themselves the strain of 

 blood. The price for service of common or 

 graded cows is $10, and for pure-bred Short- 

 horn cows, $20. 



DUKE OF MANCHESTER: Red: oalYcil 33 Febraary. 

 1873; got by Sheriff f'J'.i'.ir.i) , [ShiTiff is now owned 

 by S. B. Emerson, ]\lountain View.] 

 Dam Dui-hess of York 3d by Moreton Duke, 5225, 



— Duchess of York by 11th Dukeof Oxford, 1506, 



— Eugenie by Grand Turk (129G9) , 



— Diicliess of Norfolk by Duke of Norfolk (5052) . 



— Duchess by 4th Duke of Northumberland 



(364',l) , 



— Duchess by Red Hisbflyer (2488) , 



— Duchess by Sir Charles (51411) , 



— by Harry Lorrequer (3985) , 



— by Blucher (841, 



— bv Magnnin Eonum (4322), 



— bv Styford (103), 



— by Son of T. Wetherall's Bull (r,90). 



We will also append pedigrees of his two 

 fine imported cows. It will be noticed that 

 they are nearly related to the bull. The ped- 

 igrees run into the same blood as the bull back 

 to where the list of dams ends. Mr. Clark 

 thinks his stock will bear close breeding. He 

 says this is the way to keep families pure, 

 and that the high prices obtained for Duchess 

 cattle never would have been realized had 

 they not been carefully in-bred. 



DDCHESS OF YORK 13tu: Ked; calved 21st Febru- 

 ary, 1873: got by Sheriff (299G4), 

 Dam Duchess of York 9th by Knight of Canada 

 [738], 6243, 



— Duchess of York 5th by 12th Duke of North- 



umberland 4744, 



— Duchess of York 2d by Stone's Grand Duke of 



Oxford 4402, 



— Duchess of York b» 11th Duke of Oxford 1506. 

 DUCHESS OF YORK ir>Tn: Roan; calved 6th of May, 



1873; got by Sheriff (29964). 

 Dam Duchess of York 5th by 12th Duke of Northum- 

 berland. 4744. 



Mr. C. has some or the Col. Younger "tho- 

 roughbreds," but always enters them as 

 "grades" at the fairs. They are fine-looking 

 cattle, but not up to the perfection of points 

 which fine-stock breeders ilemand. 



For some years Mr. C. has been breeding 

 Berkshire swine. Ho has now some good 

 looking sows and pigs, but gives little atten- 

 tion to them, as ho says it does not pay 

 to breed fine pigs for sale. Last fall ho re- 

 turned from exhibitions at fairs and at once 



altered some fine boars, as there appeared to 

 bo no demand for such stock at paying prices. 



But, he says, in a few weeks he had more or- 

 ders for hogs than he could fill. So much 

 for getting discouraged at a legitimate busi- 

 ness. 



MR. CLAKK's FAKM 



is worthy of some notice, as it is a represen- 

 tative of the better class of farms in that sec- 

 tion. He has some over a hundred acres. 

 The soil is black, rich adobe. Such soil can 

 be plowed when soaking wet, and when dry 

 will slack and crumble fine in the furrow. 

 There is a good deal of land of this character 

 around the bay. This farm is fenced into 

 several fields, the largest of which contains 

 thirty-three acres. Near the house he has a 

 strawberry patch and family orchard of about 

 five acres. From this, irrigated by an artesian 

 well and horse-power, he receives considera- 

 ble profit each year, besides family supplies. 

 Too many farmers neglect this portion of 

 home farming. Mr. Clark's 



SYSTEM OF FARMING, 



as to routine, is somewhat similar to that of 

 Mr. Emerson, which we naiTated last winter. 

 He sows a field to grain two years, then cuts 

 two crops of volunteer hay, pastures one or 

 two years, then crops to grain again. Mean- 

 time the same fields are used for pasture every 

 season several months, or from the time the 

 hay or grain is taken ofl' until the next crop is 

 put in. Land left to volunteer is not even 

 harrowed. He can plow either deep or shal- 

 low and get good crops. He uses all the 

 manure, applying to the surface. He finds 

 that it takes at least two years of constant 

 pasturage to clean foul lands suitable for a 

 crop of grain. He goes over his pastures 

 with a scythe to cut down each year such 

 weeds as the cattle do not destroy to prevent 

 them from scattering seeds. 

 One of the finest crops of 



HAT, 



and some of the best that we have seen, is 

 now stacked on Mr. Clark's farm. From 

 less than thirty acres there are one hundred 

 tons of fine hay, cut in season and stacked 

 before the late rain. Mr. C. gave us his man- 

 ner of curing hay. He cuts before over ripe, 

 and lets it lie in swarth in one or two days' 

 sun, preferably one, then he cocks it up and 

 lets stand ten or twelve days to cure, then 

 puts into stacks thirty feet wide, and in about 

 ten days it commences to "sweat," and at the 

 end of eighteen or twenty days, or longer, it 

 is ready to bale. We examined the hay in 

 stack, and found it a nice green color, and 

 must approve of his system of curing for this 

 climate. 



His cow-hay was cut quite green. Mr. C. 

 says the cows like it better when cut quite 

 green, and that it is better for them. For 

 horses it needs to be a little riper — more 

 solid, and not so loosening to the bowels. 



Whenever we find an old California farmer 

 of experience who follows a system success- 

 fully, we like to notice it, and also to give 

 such men as prefer fine stock some credit for 

 their enterprise. We have often advised far- 

 mers to either purchase fine bulls or to co- 

 operate iu purchasing them. And in this 

 connection wo add the advice to iiatmnizo 

 j)ersous who do own fine stock when within 

 reach of your own. It pays to git good 

 blood into any herd, and the way to do it is 

 only a question of means and economy. 



BEIGG'S SAN JOSE ORCHAKD. 



The name of Briggs wiU always be con- 

 nected with extensive pioneer orcharding in 

 California. George G. Briggs was, from 1855 

 for several years, the principal orchardist in 

 California. Although his several old orch- 

 ards near Marysville were long ago disposed 

 of to his brothers and others, he is still in the 

 business in several localities. One of the 

 brothers, J. W. Briggs, himself an old Cali- 

 foriiian and experienced orchardist, has just 

 started a large orchard of 120 acres in our 

 valley, about half way between San Jose and 

 Alviso, on the west bank of the Coyote. We 

 lately visited the place. The soil he has se- 

 lected is a deep, light loam, easily worked, 

 and watered by three artesian wells that will 

 flow water enough to irrigate the whole easily, 

 and more too. The locality and the soil we 

 believe to be very excellent indeed for the 

 purpose, in fact, as good as there is in our 

 valley, and we must give the gentleman credit 

 for wisdom in making the choice. The land 

 cost him $200 per acre, and under Mr. 

 Brigg's hand it will not be long increasing in 

 value three fold. 



We felt interested in finding out the kinds 

 and varieties of fruits that Mr. Briggs thought 

 most profitable to cultivate. The principal 

 portion he has jilanted with the design of 



GROWING FRUIT TO SHIP EAST. 



He has set a large pear orchard. The va- 

 rieties are Bartlett, Buerre Hardy, Buerre 

 Clairgeau, and Winter Nellis. These varieties 

 have been proved the best for profitable ship- 

 ping East, and are standard varieties every- 

 where. Mr. B. is too practical an orchardist 

 to cultivate many different varieties. In his 

 large plum and prune orchard, the prunes are 

 made almost a specialty. This jiart of the 

 orchard is not yet completed- The Gross and 

 Petit prunes De Agen and the Fellenburg are 

 the leading sorts. A thousand cherry trees, 

 mostly Black Tartarians, wUl about complete 

 the list of trees. 



In a portion of the orchard a fine plantation 

 of strawberries is started. These will do as 

 well in the orchard as out until the trees arn 

 full gi-own, and even then they will jield well 

 with proper care. On such light soil, irriga- 

 tion will not be likely to injure the trees as 

 it would in flat, heavy soil. We noticed that 

 there is quite a fall from the upper to the 

 lower side of the orchard. This will facilitate 

 (bainage, and the roots of the trees will run 

 deeply into such soil even when plentifully 

 irrigated on the surface. 



While the trees are young, crops of vegeta- 

 bles will be grown. With plenty of water on 

 such soil large crops can be grown as well as 

 not. The trees will not be injured, and the 

 soil can be made pay for cultivation hand- 

 somely. Wo saw in cultivation onions, beets, 

 carrots, squashes, potatoes, etc., between the 

 rows of trees. We remember when Mr. 

 Briggs, at Marysville, cultivated water-melons 

 in his orchard before the trees were large 

 enough to bear much, and many thousand 

 dollars' worth did he sell to the "lousy min- 

 ers" in early times. Brigg's melon patch was 

 as noted as was his famous peach orchard a 

 few years later. By the way, it was some- 

 thing of an accident, as well as good luck, was 



