alifomia Agriculturist 



Vol. e. 



Saxi Jos©, Cal., ITovemToer, 1875. 



No. 11 



FAIR NOTES. 



We did intend wriiiug up very complete 

 ■ notes of the exhibition of industrial interests 

 of the annual Santa Clara Valley Agricultural 

 Society's Fair this season, but owing to tne 

 lateness of getting out the November issue, 

 we will only call attention to the most striking 

 features, and note the steady advance of im- 

 provements. There wag much more interest 

 . felt in the exhibition of fine stock than ever 

 before, both by exhibitors and the masses of 

 the people. Although .the horse-racing was 

 set up as the great feature, there was a good 

 display of useful horses, and they attracted 

 .attention. No better cattle exhibit was ever 

 held in this State. A parade of these called 

 out a large attendance of people. 



The exhibit of swine was the best we have 

 seen, although Mr. E. S. Thompson and Mr. 

 Mills, neither of them, showed their fine 

 Berkshires. Poultry attracted a good deal 

 of attention, also. In fact, people are awake 

 to the valiTO of good breeds of all kinds of 

 live stock. 



Manufacturers stepped to the front with 

 some of the best implements ever before seen 

 on this Coast. The Straw-Burner thresher 

 was there, several improved gang plows put 

 on trial, and much interest shown in agricul- 

 tural machinery and implements. 



The wagon and carriage makers of San 

 Jose did much credit to themselves and to the 

 town by their large and handsome show of 

 excellent work. No person needs to import 

 work when such can be obtained at home. 



The furniture shown from our home manu- 

 factory was of a very superior quality. The 

 woolen goods were unrivalled by those made 

 anywhere. The gloves made by Wilcox & 

 Williams were as fine as any one ever saw, 

 and as good, too. The Angora Glove and 

 Robe Company exhibited goods th.at attracted 

 much curiosity and elicited much praise. This 

 company is doing more to develop the Angora 

 goat business and make it at once remunera- 

 tive and popular than has ever before been 

 done in Europe or America. 



Our nurserymen did much to show what 

 fine plants they are now producing. Many 

 species of tropical plants that are proving to 

 be hardy in our climate were shown. Partic- 

 ularly of the palm family there were many 

 varieties. Eock, Sanderson and Fox were 

 the principal exhibitors in this line. O'Don- 

 nell confined his show this season to a dis- 

 play of curiosities from his Public Garden. 

 The showing of fruits, though not so large as 

 sometimes, contained all the most choice va- 

 rieties. In fact, our growers have now got 

 the fruit business so reduced to a certainty, 

 that a few varieties-the best-are aU that 

 they care to cultivate for the market. 



In the fine arts we find that there is consid- 

 erable talent in San Jose. Mr. Brewer's 



plaster statue of S. A. Bishop, our " common 

 sense" and "age of reason" horse-raih-oad 

 man, was life-like and exhibited a good deal 

 of ability, both of artist and subject. Coombs 

 showed some superior sculpture work. Miss 

 Lotz deserves more than a mere mention for 

 her painting. As a painter of animals, she 

 is bound to gain fame if she perseveres, and 

 no mistake. There were many other very 

 notable improvements and worthy exhibitions 

 which deserve praise. One thing is sure, 

 there is no locality in the State of California 

 that can show so many fine animals and so 

 varied an array of productions of utility and 

 artistic merit, as can Santa Clara county. 

 The State Fair this year, so say good judges, 

 fell short of ours in point of worthy exhibi- 

 tions. All that our local Agricultural Society 

 needs is to reform some of the horse-race 

 gambling features and prohibit liquor selhng 

 on the grounds, to make our fairs worthy of 

 the name indeed. There is enough of indus- 

 trial worth here to draw everybody to see, if 

 the products were all on exhibition. 



Let our premiums reward the producers, 

 instead of entertaining a lot of black-legs, 

 and we will succeed in more directions than 

 one. The fairs can be so economically con- 

 ducted as to pay expenses without gambling, 

 and so conducted in the best interests of the 

 whole people as to pay largely in doing good, 

 at the same time that they afford pleasure to 

 all. 



SOMETHING FROM NEVADA. 



Mr. I. T. Wood, of Carson City, Nevada, in 

 a letter containing two new subscribtions says : 

 It is a great pleasure to recommend the Cali- 

 FOKNiA AoKicnLTUBisT, it givcs Buch good 

 satisfaction. It is destined to have a large 

 circulation in the State of Nevada. Every 

 new subscriber here says th^t is is just the 

 paper that they need. 



Our correspondent also adds the following 

 intelligence: The last few years have estab- 

 lished the fact that we are at the head as an 

 apple-growing State. Nevada apples com- 

 mand one cent more a pound than California 

 apples, and will keep two months longer than 

 some varieties of California apples. Ours 

 are finer grained texture, are crisper and of 

 superior flavor. Nevada is not surpassed in 

 the production of hardy fruits, and many 

 thousand fruit trees will be planted this sea- 

 son in our State. Nevada is something more 

 than a mining State. 



[We have long known this, and advocated 

 it too. We spent two years in Nevada some 

 nine years ago, and carried a lot of trees there 

 and helped plant an orchard on Tolle's ranch, 

 near Eeno. Also took twenty-four hives of 

 bees into Nevada. We found it up-hill work 

 to introduce fruit trees or bees there, as but 

 few persons would have any faith 



that they would amount to anything. But 

 we saw fine fruit grow there, and took as 

 high as seventy-five pounds of good honey 

 from a hive of bees in a single season, besides 

 leaving enough for the bees. The sage brush 

 and other wild plants furnish fine pasturage 

 for the bees, as well as live-stock generally; 

 and the sage brash soil, where it can be irri- 

 gated, is generally very productive of vegeta- 

 bles, hay or grain. Alfalfa, of which there 

 was not probably fifty acres in cultivation in 

 Nevada, when we were there, is now one of 

 their most valuable crops. — Indeed it is some- 

 thiug more than a mining State. It is fast 

 being developed into one of the finest agricul- 

 tural districts on this unsurpassed Pacific 

 sloiJe.] 



■ ■* * » 



An Apology is what any publisher of a 

 periodical dislikes very much to make, and, 

 also, what readers don't care to be bothered 

 with. They would rather see every thing run. 

 ning smoothly and to their satisfaction with- 

 out it and so would we. But we believe that 

 the relation between publisher and patron 

 should be such that perfect frankness and con- 

 fidence can at all time be maintained between 

 them. It is your paper as much as it is ours. 

 Ours to produce, yours to appropriate. There 

 is no middle man in the arrangement except- 

 ing the postmaster. But this is not apologiz- 

 ing. What we wish to say is that we owe our 

 readers some explanation for being so lato 

 this month. It was owing to a conflicting co- 

 partnership that had to be settled before pro- 

 ceeding. It is settled now, and we move on 

 with increased assurance of giving satisfac- 

 tion to our readers and of making a general 

 success of the enterprise. The AoKicnLTU- 

 KisT will keep right on in the path of progre* 

 and our readers may rest assured that it will 

 not only prove itself worthy of their patronage, 

 but will induce them to take a deeper interest 

 in its advancement. Let every friend feel a 

 personal interstin this matser for all the good 

 that can be accomplished. 



List of New Advertisements. 



Furniture — Bennett & Co., San Jose. 



Books and Stationery — E. H. Guppy, " 

 Goodenough Horseshoes — T. H. Larcom, " 

 Angora Glove and Eobe Company, " 



Hardware — Henry B. Alvord, " 



Nursery — John Eock, " 



Seedsman and Florist— T. W. Mitchell, " 

 Plows— Chris. Bergstrom, " 



Nursery — Hanna Bros., " 



Eeal Estate — Eucker & Brown, " 



Physician — Dr. J. Bradford Cox, " 



Seeds — B. F. Wellington, San Francisco. 



Windmills and Pumps — C. P. Hoag " 

 Farms for Sale— G. Guerinot, Los Gatos. 

 Eailway — Chicago & Northwestern. 

 Dentist — Arthur Gore, Santa Cruz. 



