California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



^ivcgtaffki/attniitU 



S. HARRIS HERRING & CO., 



Kditors and Publishers. 



OFFICFZ: Over the Snn Jose Saving's Bank, 

 BalbachN Duililin^, Santa Clara Street, 

 mear Firtit, San Jose. 



SPECUL TEEUS TO AGENTS. 



RATES OF ADVEKTISING. 



Pfrone Column ?!.=> 00 Per Month 



•• balf Coliunu 8 00 " 



*' tourth O'^lumn 4 00 *• " 



'* eii-lith Column 2 00 *' 



" Bixteenth Column 100 " " 



RfP" We are (leterininotl to adhore to to our rcHoIution 

 to aduii* none but worthy biii^ineHS advertising in our 

 colurane. and to beep clear of i)atent medicine, liquor, 

 and otbt^r advertiBenieutB of dnubtful influence. 



I'he lartio circulation, the desirable clans of readers, 

 and the neat and convenient form, renders thin Journal 

 ft clinice medium for reaching the attention of the 

 miiHseB* 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



We are glad to note, in the interests of pro- 

 ducers, that the pi'ice of wheat has advanced 

 very materially. We believe that the raise is 

 a healthy one and must continue until another 

 season. 



A report from Kansas says that alfalfa has 

 been fully proved to be as valuable in that 

 State for forage as in California. Neither 

 drouth nor grasshoppers kill it. It looks 

 luxuriant and is considered to bo the best 

 grass for Kansas. 



TIncle Ben acknowledges the receipt of 

 two letters from our little readers, but not in 

 season for the Boys' and Girls' department 

 this month. Next month he promises to give 

 the children a nice treat, and hopes every boy 

 and girl who ever reads the Agricultukist 

 will send him a letter. Cannot the fathers 

 and mothers encourage them to do it? He 

 wants lots of letters, so that ho can always 

 make up a department for boys and girls 

 worth reading — an original one, alivo and as 

 spicy as a nutmeg. 



It is a safe policy to always sell grain and 

 hay when it commands a i)rico a little above 

 an average, and generally safe to hold onto 

 these products when prices are low, for a 

 raise. Those who hold for a .big thing gen- 

 erally lose, while to sell at a very low {)rice is 

 not a sound financial transaction. The farm- 

 er who is nut a little sharp in such legitimate 

 matters is sure to bo taken advantage of by 

 somebody. We are often asked for advice. 

 Oiir answer must always be, watch the mar- 

 kets as rc))(irted in daily and weekly pajiers; 

 depend upon your own and your good neigh- 

 bor's judgment. 



Mr. Wm. Landrum, of Watsonville, re- 

 cently passed through San Jose, on his way 

 to Oregon with a lot of his pure-bred Angora 

 goats. Oregon promises to be a fine country 

 for these animals, and there bids fair to be a 

 lively demand for all the California breed- 

 ers can spare from their flocks. 



Pro-per Wheat.— This is a variety of 

 bearded wheat which has this season yielded 

 on dry soil at least one-third more than the 

 AustraUan and Sonora beardless varieties. 

 'This is the experience on Mr. A. Woodham's 

 farm, near Santa Clara, this season, and the 

 beardless wheat had the advantage of earliest 

 sowing, too. Another thing in favor of the 

 bearded wheat is this, it will not thresh out in 

 the field by the wind, as the beards protect the 

 heads from striking sharply together. 



Col. Younger thinks we did his stock an 

 injustice last month in the article about Mr. 

 Clark's farm. We did not intend to, and are 

 willing to make such correction as may be 

 proper. The Col. has been breeding for 

 fine form, and has taken more first premiums 

 at state and county fairs for fine cattle than 

 any other man in this State. In every fine 

 herd there will be some animal not so fine as 

 the rest. Mr. Clark's Younger cow was pur- 

 chased second-handed, and is not by any 

 means equal to his average run of stock. Col. 

 Younger has lately sold a yearling bull of his 

 Short-horn stock for $500, and a heifer and 

 two young bulls for $900. 



The Domestic Department, this month, 



will be found unusually attractive. A frank 

 acknowledgment on the part of a correspon- 

 dent last month that she had jioor success in 

 making bread has "brought down the house." 

 We wonder if the out-of-doors farmers would 

 be so ready to help a fellow out of trouble if 

 he would acknowledge that he did not meet 

 with success in any particular branch of his 

 farm labors? We honor those who are not 

 afraid to ask for advice. We know that there 

 are many farmers who are lacking in best 

 practical methods and application in import- 

 ant matters, and wo h.avo traveled enough to 

 know that good cooking among farmers' 

 wives is as often the exception as the rule. 

 An ambition to improve is always commend- 

 able. 



A good quality of butter depends quite 

 as much upon a good quality of feed for the 

 cows as a good quality of pork does upon the 

 feed the swine has to eat. The best butter is 

 not made from either the greenest grass nor 

 from dry feed, but is made when green feed 

 is rich in nutritious matter, say about the 

 time of blossom and before the seed is shat- 

 tered out. Dry feed of good quality like good 

 wheat stubble, will nuvke butter that will keep 

 well, but it has not the "grain" of butter 

 made on greener feed. Alfalfa will make 

 good butter the year round. Cows running 

 in stubble fields should have roots or some 

 green feed if you desire the butter to be first 

 class and of good color. It will pay any 

 dairyman to so plan it that ho can have dry 

 feed for his cows once a day when feed is 

 green, to give the butter substance, and green 

 feed when pastures arc dry, to givo texture 

 and color to the butter. 



Political corruption has it root in, and 

 draws its main support from the corrupt 

 newspaper press — a press that can be subsi- 

 dised by central committees and candidates 

 for office. An agreement to advocate the in- 

 terests of any man or party carries an obliga- 

 tion to oppose the opposite man or party. 

 The editor who is subsidised is hardly capable 

 of expressing an honest opinion, and is surely 

 not to be trusted. He gains the confidence of 

 the people by subterfuge, to carry out the 

 schemes of dishonesty, claiming at the same 

 time to be working in the interests of the 

 people. He is paid to deceive. The poli- 

 tician who pays him does so hoping for a 

 chance to get even when he gets into oiBce. 

 He who subsidises can be subsidised; and the 

 subsidised editor is paid to cover up as well 

 as to support. Honest poUticians and honest 

 papers are so scarce that we know not where 

 to point one out. 



The remedy for political corruption is in 

 a system that will drive out bad men by ceas- 

 ing to offer inducements to them to seek of- 

 fice, and that will at the same time offer in- 

 ducements to honest, patriotic and philan- 

 thropic persons to accept ofiices of trust and 

 duty. A strictly consciencious man cannot 

 consent to be assessed to pay whisky bills 

 and lying newspapers, but would be wilUng 

 to do what he could for the public good for a 

 workingman's wages at any time. The un- 

 scrupulous politician seeks office for the pay 

 it promises, and the more pay there is in it, 

 really and prospectively, the more corruption 

 funds he will dispense to obtain office. If 

 our premises are correct, then to reduce tho 

 salaries of public servants to the standard of 

 wages earned by the industrious farmer and 

 mechanic will bo expedient. One temptation 

 to use corrupt means to obtain office will be 

 destroyed. Monopolists may still endeavor 

 to elect men to further their ends, but even 

 their Sampson will be shorn of his strongest 

 locks. 



Our lady readers who are fond of flowers 



(and who of them are not?) will find it policy 

 to sow seeds of perennial plants either this 

 month or next, and have their plants blossom 

 next year. Pinks, Sweet Williams, Stocks, 

 Wall Flowers, Columbines, Snap-dragons, 

 Hollyhocks, Hibiscus Penstemon, Lark 

 Spurs, Daisies, Garden Rocket, Cannns, 

 Four O 'clocks. Campanulas, Foxgloves, 

 Shrubby Cyjiress, Oswego Tea, Polyanthus, 

 etc. It is best to plant in boxes. A peach box 

 six inches deep, with four inches of fine soil 

 in it, on which to pl.ice the seeds, then cover 

 tho seed oue-half inch with sand, is a good 

 thing to use. Set the box out of the wind 

 and where tho sun mil not strike it during 

 the heat of the day. Keep the soil constantly 

 moist by watering until tho plants are up and 

 growing nicely. Wlion tho first winter rains 

 wet tho soil you can transplant into the gar- 

 den if you choose; or, if the seeds come up 

 thickly, transplant sooner into some favorable 

 place. By a little pjiins, in our favored cli- 

 mate, you can have all these perennial plants 

 in beautiful condition to blosson early another 

 year. 



Tho coming woman — Annie Versary, 



