California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



yielding a third crop they would be converts 

 to winter irrigation at onco. And just here I 

 would most earnestly urge my 8 anta Clara 

 neighbors and people of our bean tiful valley 

 to utilize the many streams of wa'ier that run 

 to waste even in dry seasons. When that is 

 done I predict a future for our owu valley 

 that few persons can conceive of.. As a .sam- 

 ple of what water has done nea r Woodland 



OH 



i FAEM OF 80 ACKES, 



which a few years ago could have been bought 

 for $G0O, and now owned by Mr. E. B. Blow- 

 ers. $10,000 worth of products was sold in 

 one season; expenses were $2,000. Another 

 farm owned by N. Wyokofl' seemed to be 

 equally productive. 



CORN. 



Last week I saw on the farm of J. Fowler 

 a fine sight of 70 acres of corn of dificrent 

 varieties, some of it planted the 2.5th of .Tune 

 and gi'owing from five to eleven and one-half 

 feet high. The soil, with proper cultivation, 

 would produce 100 bushels per acre. 



DAIRYING 



Is not carried on as largely as it might be, 

 but there is no reason why this county should 

 not be the " Orange County" of the State. 

 D. Faruham is one of the largest and best 

 butter-makers here. He makes about 100 

 lbs. a week, and for color and flavor it cannot 

 be excelled. 



THE WHEAT CROP. 



Has been good for this season. Summer-fal- 

 lowing is in general favor here, lands so treat- 

 ed yielding from 30 to 40 bushels, when win- 

 ter sown yields from 15 to 25. The gale of 

 last Spring did serious damage to wheat, con- 

 sequently many are looking for a variety that 

 will ripen after the high winds cease. Proper 

 wheat has been a favorite seed, but its ripen- 

 ing too early makes it objectionable. Club 

 seems to be the choice of many for next sea- 

 son. Land here is worth from $20 to $200 

 an acre, according to location and improve- 

 ments. 



FARMING MACHINERY. 



Farmers are using the best improved ma- 

 chinery. For thrashing, Eurights straw 

 burners are being introduced. Here, also, 

 derricks with horse forks are used with near- 

 ly all thrashing machines, also Jackson's 

 self-feeder and elevator ; a great labor saving 

 machine. I have seen Jackson's Traction en- 

 gine used for thrashing, propeled over a 

 rough road and drawing separator, traps 

 wagon, etc. Mr. N. Wyckoff has imported 

 from the East (and I believe it's the only one 

 in this State) a Detriek's Perpetual hay- 

 press, driven by horse-power. It makes com- 

 pact bales that I have not seen equaled. 

 Ten tons of it can be stowed on a single rail- 

 road box-car. 



PO0LTRT. 



I have visited the poultry yards of Dr. J. 

 W. Prather, and though his choicest birds 

 were away to State Fair, I saw enough to 

 satisfy me he has very choice poultry. His 

 yards are located in clover, so his poultry 

 have green feed the year round. 



RAISINS. 



Before closing this I must mention the 

 farm and vineyard of R. B. Blowers. I saw 

 sights there that would astonish even old 

 Ca'Hfornians. Mr. B. has 25 acres devoted to 

 table and raisin grapes, and if wine men 

 would visit his vineyard and see his " lay 

 out " of raisins, no other argument would be 

 needed with svich of them as desire prosperi- 

 ty and have the good or their race in view. 

 For bearing, size and flavor of Mr. B's. 

 gi'apes and raisins, it will be hard to equal 

 them anywhere. I saw vines bearing a second 



crop that had on at least 40 lbs., ofgi'apes ! 

 Mr. B. dries his grapes on the ground, but 

 this year he is trying a cement floor in the 

 fleld. He has 700 yards of this floor already, 

 and so constructed that in case of a rain, 

 water will drain off quickly. I also saw the 

 eft'ect of two methods of prunning of one 

 kind of grape vine. One way caused the 

 vine to be almost worthless as a bearer, the 

 other made the same varfety very prolific. 

 From 120 lbs., of gi'apes, Mr. B. has made 

 45 lbs. of raisins. 



There again I saw clover fields and the ef- 

 fect it had on stock, especially in its wool 

 and mutton producing qualities on some 

 graded Merino sheep belonging to Mr. B., al- 

 so some of the get of buck, "Silver Horn." 

 A lot of Merinos imported from Vermont and 

 owned by Mr. George Hammond were very 

 fine. A lamb 7 J^ months old get of ' ' Vigor ' ' 

 of Ohio weighed 107 lbs. On 10 acres of 

 clover, Mr. B., has had for five months, 1-50 

 heads of sheep and 10 of cows and horses, 

 and there will be feed enough for months yet. 

 Mr. B., discovered that cattle and sheep that 

 had access to his grape cuttings — of which 

 they ate freely in the spring — did not bloat, 

 showing, perhaps, that stock running on 

 succulent clover need dry feed as well. 



A. R. WOODHAMS. 



" Hayseed not all Chaff." 



Dear Editor Agriculturist and Ln'E 

 Stock Journal : — I think your article in Oc- 

 tober number on " Short Weight Cheats," 

 taken from the Pacific Orocer, is liable to 

 mislead a stranger to the average " 5Ir. Haj'- 

 seed." Most of the butter retailed from the 

 groceries is sold by the roll, the same as soap 

 by the bar, or cream tartar by the paxier. So 

 long as this is the custom, "Mr. Hayseed" 

 has the same right to its advantages as he 

 has to the loss of the bar and paper custom 

 or system. It is very proper that " one 

 hand should wash the other." Most of the 

 butter in market is moulded in moulds sold 

 by the grocer to the butter-maker, and if the 

 butter is light the grocer deducts when he 

 buys, and then makes off of his customers 

 when he sells.. "Mr. Hayseed," in this case, 

 is not the swindler. I do not claim that two 

 wrongs make a right, but that established 

 custom is custom. "Mr. Hayseed" should 

 be, as charged, entitled to his i^art of the 

 benefit. In regard to " short cords of wood," 

 it is impossible to take an honest cord as 

 piled by the chopper, load it on a wagon, 

 haul it from ten to twenty miles, throw it oft' 

 and pile it up a full cord again. Every stick 

 has shrunk in drying, the bark fragments 

 have rattled oS, there is an unavoidable loss 

 in Z/»i/t' for some one to lose, if "lose" you 

 can call it. 



In regard to ' ' clods and stones in the baled 

 hay." With the best of intentions on the 

 part of "Mr. Hayseed," it is impracticable 

 to keep them all out. Hay is usually raked 

 and bunched with a horse-rake, the rake 

 gathering all the loose material on the gi-ound. 

 Many a heavy clod is never seen by the r;\ker 

 or stacker; and any one who has seen those 

 fierce, sweat}' athletes baling hy the ion, pitch- 

 ing, rolling, and stamping the hay into the 

 press, knows thoy have neither time nor incli- 

 nation to put in or throw out clods; it would 

 not pay them. Some of the last bales raked 

 up round the press contain fine stuS' but of- 

 ten jiiore actual feed than the long straw bales. 

 I am writing of honest work only, and 

 wishing to defend an honest "Hayseed" from 

 unfavorable appearances. I would not defend 



any dishonest practice, on the part of either 

 producer or middleman, and should not trou- 

 ble you with these remarks now if it were not 

 a notorious fact that Mr. Middleman is usu- 

 ally very yiii in his own defence, and "Mr. 

 Hayseed" is usually stronger in his spinal 

 column than in his to/iyue. 



Yours for fair play, C. A, W. 



Tree Planting. 



Now is the time and the season of the year 

 or our farmers to engage in planting trees 

 Our liberal Legislature has proposed to pay 

 out of the State treasury one dollar for every 

 tree planted and living four years after ihe 

 work is done. This sum will reimburse the 

 farmer for all his time, labor and expense in 

 the undertaking, and he will have the trees 

 clear at the end of the four years to]?beautify 

 his farm, afford a welcome retreat from the 

 hot Summer's sun to his cattle, and a cool 

 and refreshing shade to the footsore and 

 weary traveler. Besides, it has been demon- 

 strated that when a country becomes treeless, 

 it becomes dry and rainless. The earth be- 

 comes parched and the springs dry up; but 

 when the whole face of the country is covered 

 with forests, the rain that descends from the 

 clouds remains in the soil, evaporation is 

 checked and the springs bubble forth their 

 bright and sparkling waters forever. Whole 

 regions of the earth's surface have been ren- 

 dered rainless by the destruction of theii- for- 

 ests. There is no doubt but that the rain- 

 fall of Oregon will be materially lessened in 

 the course of time by the gi'eat destruction 

 which is now taking place in her immense 

 forests. By a parity of reasoning, it might 

 be greatly increased in California by planting 

 on a large scale, as contemplated by the Act 

 of our Legislature. Every farmer, then, who 

 plants a tree, not only lends a hand to the 

 adornment of the landscape, but assists, by 

 so much, in inviting from the clouds and re- 

 taining in the soil that most indispensable 

 element — life-giving water. 



[The above, submitted for our editorial ap- 

 proval, meets it with the exception of the old 

 notion about trees influencing the rainfall. 

 We very much doubt any such theory, but 

 are none the less in favor of tree-panting. 

 Plant trees, everybody!] 



Gophers antj Aifalfa. — One of the most 

 •destructive enemies to alfalfa in this State is 

 the gopher. This little rodent digs into the 

 soil and works his way along under the sur- 

 face from root to root, cutting each one oft as 

 he comes to it. The only way to make alfalfa 

 a good success on land where are plenty is to 

 •destroy the gophers. This seems to be a very 

 dlticult problem. Irrigation, however, is cer- 

 tain destruction to them. To alfalfa irriga- 

 tion is very beneficial in other ways than kill- 

 ing gophers. Irrigation, then, in such cases 

 works a double benefit, and is doubly impor- 

 portant. Where land can be irrigated at 

 pleasure during the year the amount of alfalfa 

 that eau be produced is almost incredible. It 

 can be cut as many as six times in a year, 

 yielding as many as two to two and a half 

 tons each cutting. With a good start in the 

 fall, it grow almost as rapidly during the win- 

 ter mouths in this State, especially where pro- 

 tected from severe winds, as in Summer. 

 ■WTiere land cannot be irrigated, or the gophers 

 kept out in some other way, it has to be seed- 

 ed every fourth year. As it is thinned out 

 from year to year it is a very good plan to 

 sow some oats or barley each fall, after the 

 fir.st rains, and harrow thoroughly with a 

 sharp-tooth harrow. As the clover gi-ows 

 thinner this will keep up the crop to a paying 

 standaid till it becomes necessary to reseed. — 

 Sacramenii} Mecord. 



