California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



That Flock of Goats. — AVe Eoticecl some 

 clays ago the passage of a flock 2,500 goats 

 through Napa on their way to MeBcloeino via 

 Saula Eosa, since which time the Seuoma 

 Driniicnd has gained the following information 

 concerning them : 



Ju the band there was 500 thorongh-bred 

 Angoras, that will clip five pounds each on an 

 average, in February, and the projjrietors, 

 Jlessrs. J. W. & E. L. Eeed, informed lis that 

 they had the Spring clip sold in New York 

 for §1 50 a jjound. Among the thorough- 

 breds are five bucks imported from Asia. The 

 Messrs. Iteed will t.ike their flock to Pine 

 Mountain, eight miles east of CIo\erda!e, 

 whiire they have purchased sufficient pasture 

 land to graze them. This is the largest and 

 finest flock of Angoras on this coast. Mr. 

 Itued informs us that there is a good market 

 for Cashmere wools. Messrs. Reed purchased 

 the band from E. K. Marsh, a banker of Sau 

 Francisco, and paid $22,000. Mr. Marsh 

 paid for the same band, exclusive of the spring 

 kids, §27,400. There are five thorough-bred 

 Asiatic bucks in tha band, two of which were 

 presented to a Mr. Cheunery, of this State, 

 by the Sultan of Turkey; also, eight thor- 

 ough-bred Cashmere and thirteen Angoras 

 from the celebrated Alexander Blue Grass 

 farm in Kentucky; also, sixty -four full-blood- 

 ed nannies from the same place — making the 

 most celebrated collection of the kind on this 

 coast, or the United States, quality and quan- 

 tity considered. — Napa Tieqkter. 



A CnEE FOE HooF-AiL. — Richard Peters, 

 Jr., Georgia, writes to one of our contempo- 

 raries as follows: During the Fall of 1869 we 

 purchased some high priced Merino ewes in 

 Vermont. On their arrival here they inocu- 

 lated our entire flock with that fell disease, 

 the hoof-ail (Randall). In a flock of 200 

 Merinos and 100 Angora goats, it had almost 

 full sway for four years, notwithstanding 

 constant and almost daily applications of blue 

 vitriol, sulphuric acid, pine tar, coal tar, and 

 over $75 worth of crude carbolic acid. Noth- 

 ing would cure it permanently. We finally 

 thought death would be the best, and last 

 remedy. However, our shepherd suggested 

 nitrate of silver, used in very strong solution. 

 It has proved an effectual cure, and for three 

 months we have seen no sign of the foot rot. 

 We api:)lied by inserting a quill in a cork and 

 wetting all parts of the foot with the caustic 

 solution; then applying a little powdered 

 burnt alum between the feet. Of course the 

 feet must be trimmed, and the remedy applied 

 once each week. Stables should be kept 

 clean and sprinkled with lime. Pastures 

 should be changed until the fall rains wash 

 the pus from the leaves and grass. I hope 

 this remedy will prove as valuable to other 

 sheep breeders as to us. When sheeji are 

 infected with hoof-ail, they neither grow fat 

 nor breed well, neither do they shear heavily; 



Shkep Killed. — Another singular disaster 

 occurred to a flock of sheep in Washington 

 township recently, by which fifty-three ol the 

 animals were killed. The Alameda county 

 Intlcpmthid says the she])herd atlenipted to 

 drive the flock of about 2,000 in number to a 

 new pasture field in the neighborhood of 

 Alissinu Peak. Tiie ground is here much 

 broken by gullies and deep ditches, ami a 

 portion of the sheej), frightened by some un- 

 known cause, turned back and tried to reaidi 

 their old pasture. While hurrying helter 

 skelter, one sheep fell into a deep ditch, and 

 before they could be tiirned several hundred 

 and followed. On extracting them, fifty-three 

 were found to have been killed or so Vjadly 

 ill jured as to necessitate jmtting them to 

 d.'ath. 



At the first meeting of the creditors of the 

 Ames Plough Company at Boston. October 20 

 it was decided that the company should con- 

 tiiiiie business. The creditors will either 

 grant an extension or the company will avail 

 ilsilf of the offer of responsible" parties to 

 tui-ni--li the ready cash needed. 



Raisin Culture. 



A. SANDERS, a gentleman who is 

 widely known as the "raisin man," 

 in Fresno county, writes to the Ex- 

 posilor, of October 10th, a valuable 

 communication, in which he gives informa- 

 tion as to the value of one year's product 

 from one acre of raisins, from which we take 

 the following: 



I have iu a single instance made forty pounds 

 of raisins from a single vine jiruued in the 

 usual manner of vineyard pruning. These 

 raisins sold at a country store, retail for 

 twenty-five cents per pound, or §10 jjer vine 

 for the year. An acre of land would i^roduce 

 700 such vines, giving a gross ineome"_of $7,000 

 per acre. But this is a result far above what 

 anybody must expect from raisin production. 

 An acre of grajies of the Larga, Tokay, 

 Fiber Zagas, or what brother Wells calls the 

 "White Malaga," will produce in our superior 

 climate and from our best soil, with an abund- 

 ance of water and good culture, on matrue 

 vines, from 10,000, to 10,000 pounds of grapes 

 per annum. Gen. Negley gathered from an 

 acre of six-year-old Reisling vines, at San 

 Jose, 40,000 jiounds last ye.ar. There is no 

 reason why vineyards in our county should 

 not do as well. 



You will observe that I do not use the term 

 "drying." llaisins are cured not dried. Every 

 person who has examined the quidities of 

 raisins has observed that instead of the juice 

 hi-ving been merely expelled in the jirocess of 

 curing, that it has been changed to glucose 

 or grajjo sugar, and that instead of the raisin 

 being Jnit dried fruit-fibre, as is the case with 

 dried apples, plums, peaches, etc., that is 

 almost a sold mass of granulauted sugar. 

 And just in in'oportiou as this change of the 

 juice to sugar is affected w'ith least loss of 

 Weight is the grajie suitable for making rai- 

 sins. 



The Larga loses 50 per cent, in curing; the 

 Tokay (iO jier cent., and other varieties, in- 

 cluding Muscats, from 00 to 70 per cent. Or 

 in other Avords, 1,000 pounds of grapes will 

 make 'M to 50 pounds of raisins, according to 

 the variety of grape used. Yon will thus 

 observe that the amount of raisins per acre 

 will range from 3,000 pounds of a light crop 

 of Fiber Zagas to 20,000 jiouiids from a heavy 

 croj) of Largas. From this it is easy to d(;ter- 

 mine the amount of cash from an acre. 



And right here we wish to have it borne in 

 mind that we are writing about "raisins," not 

 the tougli, ill-flavored, hard-seed dried grapes 

 made Irom Catawbas, Mission, Zinfindels, 

 Sweetwaters, Hamburgs, or any other wine, 

 table grapes, or trash that hapjiens to be 

 growing on the farm; but raisbt.^, fine, large, 

 bright, bloom-covered, plump, luscious, 

 sugary raisins. And for such, when once 

 they become known to the world, we do not 

 think that we are over-estimating the price 

 when we assume that wo can only rely upon 

 receiving at least ten cents per pound for 

 them delivered at the railroad. That the sales 

 will amount to from $:iOO to $2,000 per acre, 

 gold coin. 1 have data of tho positive char- 

 acter which leads me to rely upon clearing 

 $1,000 per acre annually from my vineyard, 

 when in full bearing. 



To plough the ground well, construct dis- 

 tributing (Utches, furnish the best of cuttings 

 on the ground, and s( I them in the best pos- 



sible manner, is worth $30 per acre. The 

 care for the first year, irrigating, etc., would 

 be about the same as for corn — say $10 per 

 iicre. Added to this after the first year, is an 

 additional expense for pruning, or a total cost 

 yearly of about $15 per acre. In addition to 

 this there is the cost of picking, curing and 

 packing, which makes a total of about one- 

 half per cent per pound for each pound of 

 cured raisins, not reckoning the cost of boxes, 

 which would be an additional expense, and 

 could be made to amount to much or little, 

 according to the manner in which they are 

 jiacked. 



And now let me use your columns to an- 

 swer a few questions that are constantly being 

 intruded ui)on me from my reputation of 

 being the "raisin-man" of the country. 



WHY I AM HEEE. 



1st. Because all the vineyards of our val- 

 ley can be so arranged as to be flooded. And 

 this, when practiced judiciously, is a sure cure 

 for the phylloxera and other ailments of grape 

 vines. 



2d. Because the summer heat here is suffi- 

 cient when fully utilized bv properly con- 

 structed drying floors, not only to speedily 

 cure the raisins, but to destroy all insects 

 there may be in the grapes, thus insuring the 

 raisins against injury or loss by insects, and 

 relieving us from the expense of scalding, 

 steaming, or running thorough an Alden dryer, 

 or any other patent process, as they are com- 

 pelled to do where summers are less hot than 

 in our valley. In this respect we surpass 

 every other part of the State. 



3d. Grajjes ripen earlier here than else- 

 where, and the full rains are lighter and not 

 so early as in most jiarts of the State, thus 

 giving us the benefit of a greater amount of 

 heat and greater dryness of atmosphere 

 than is found in other localities, thereby en- 

 abling us to cure raisins so as to produce a 

 quality that shall surpass anything that can 

 be iiroduced under less favorable conditions 

 of temperature and dryness of atmosphere. 



4th. The railroad, affording easy and speedy 

 transportation to the city; and the prospec- 

 tive canal, which I hope to see built, and 

 which will give us very cheaiJ freight to the 

 to the seaboard by the time our vineyards shall 

 produce more than a local supply and a sup- 

 ply for the mining region east of the moun- 

 tains. 



5th. The superiority of our land for grape 

 production and the ability to raise here oranges 

 lemons, limes, pine-apples, and most other 

 tropical fruits, in conjunction with our vine- 

 yards. 



QUESTIONS AND ANSWEES. 



What is the best soil for grapes? Any of 

 I he valley land that is not lo sand}-, is not 

 alkaline, and has a depth of soil ranging from 

 four to ten av fifteen feet above the hardpan. 



AVill almonds and alfalfa grow on such 

 lauds? Yes, both to perfection. 



What can good vineyard land be bought 

 for? From $2 50 per acre uj) to $20, accord- 

 ing to location. But none of it is worth a 

 cent without water. 



What is water worth? Whatever tho Fres- 

 no Canal it Irrigation Company choose to ask 

 for it. They claim all the water of Kings 

 river and their right of ownership has been 

 eonfirnud liy the Courts. They are now sell- 

 ing rights to irrigate ICO acres at from $250 to 

 $500 each, the purchaser to construct his own 

 ditch from their canal, and to pay from $25 to 

 $100 annually for keeping tho ditch in repair. 



The Amfiican Grocer, of New York, is do- 

 ing a great service for the raisin interest of 

 California. Every number of the paper con- 

 tains some favorable comment, and now if 

 our people will put themselves in a position 

 to supply the demand which is likely to fol- 

 low the eminent endorsement which our pro- 

 duet is receiving, the raisin crop will soon 

 become of more "importance to our agricultu- 

 rists than the cereal- now is. 



'-f.Ss&'^^^j 



