California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



California Dried Fruit. 



The following which we take from the 

 Bulkiin of October Sth, gives a timely hint to 

 the fruit raisers of the State, which we trust 

 they will in-otit by: 



A citizen of this State, largely interested in 

 fruit raising, w^ho has recently returned froui 

 New York, says that the inquiry for Califor- 

 nia dried fruit is on the increase. 



The New York fruit market is a very large 

 one. It can probably trade ten times as much 

 dried fruit at a good price as California will 

 be able to i)roduce. But fruit growers here 

 must study the market. Moreover dealers in 

 New York want some assurance that when 

 they sell a lot of California dried fruit, and. 

 find that the same pleases their customers, 

 other lots of the same quality can be furnish- 

 ed in a steady way to supply the demand 

 created. Unless that can be done the trade 

 would be injured, and would be quite unsatis- 

 factory. If for instance, a New Y'ork dealer 

 ■were to sell an invoice of California raisins, 

 he wants to know that he can keep right on sell- 

 ing the same. And so of dried peaches and 

 plums. If he sells to-day a brand of Malaga 

 raisins, he knows that he can stalk his store 

 to-morrow with another lot, or with any other 

 kind of dried fruit which is well known in the 

 market. 



Now these considerations are of great im- 

 portance to California fruit-growers. A few- 

 odd lots put up in variable packages will 

 never make much impression on the market. 

 The dried fruits of this State are so good that 

 the demand for certain sorts would be with- 

 out limit, if care is taken to put them into 

 the market in such packages as are provided 

 by the trade. 



If a fruit-grower this year could have had 

 fifty acres of Bartlett pears in full bearing, 

 and fifty acres more of apricots for drying, ho 

 could not have asked for a better thing. He 

 could have shipped all his pears or sold them 

 on the trees to others at round prices. His 

 apricots, which could be sun dried at small 

 cost and little trouble, would have brought 

 Tery large prices in the Eastern markets. 

 These may serve as hints of the direction in 

 which fruit-growers may hereafter find prof- 

 itable ventures. 



lian ami fevaiiu 



& 



GRAIN CULTUEE IN CALIFORNIA, 



LTHOUGH grain growing as conducted 

 ' in California, is too often a hap-hazard 

 business, it has nevertherless been re- 

 ^cj" duced to- it system in some localities, 

 upon a paying basis. The best grain growers 

 are not always the largest, in fact they are 

 usually farmers who believe in and practice a 

 diversified system of fai-ming, at least to the 

 extent of rotating from grain to hay and pas- 

 turage, with occasional summer fallowing, 

 governed of course by local conditions of soil 

 and climate. Many portions of the Santa 

 Clara Valley crops can be grown every season 

 without fallowing. Cropping to hay and 

 pasturage occasionally, is more economical 

 and every bit as good to clear the land of foul 

 stuff and insure a good crop of grain the 

 following season. On some of the rich soils 

 in the interior valleys, a diflereut system is 

 necessary. The soil must be left fallow every 

 other year, to be sure of bringing a crop 

 worth harvesting. On an average the earliest 

 sown gram is the best throughout the State, 

 but even in this there are exceptions. On 

 our rich moist soils, early sown grain will 

 lodge before ripening and rust badly. Spring 



sowing on such soil is best, excepting in very 

 dry seasons. The prudent farmer on such 

 soils will always sow some grain early, and 

 make hay if the season is unfavorable for 

 gi-ain, and sow a portion of his farm later, 

 that he may have a crop of gi-aia if the sea- 

 son is a wet one, or make hay and pasture if 

 it turns to be a dry season. There are many 

 little things that farmers in diftorent localities 

 have learned by hard experience about grain 

 growing in their particular localities that is 

 incalcuable to them. Grain growing is but 

 one branch of farming to be sure, and it is 

 generally thought that a man does not need 

 much experience or thought to sow and reap. 

 But it is an important item in this Stato to 

 grow a good crop of grain or hay, and prob- 

 ably as much hard work is needed to be suc- 

 cessful in this one year with another, as at 

 any other branch of farm industry. So far 

 we have only referred to growing grain with- 

 out artificial irrigation, where more or 'less 

 guess work has to be done. AVith any system 

 of irrigation, where the soil can be supplied 

 with moisture to produce sure crop, less close 

 calculation has to be done. But even then 

 the cultivation of the soil is an important 

 matter. We believe that for grain Winter 

 irrigation is the best always. As to cultiva- 

 tion, our grain growers aer very generally of 

 the opinion that thorough — not deep cultiva- 

 tion is the best ujiou almost any soil. 



In a recent article in the London Times, 

 Mr. James Caird, after showing that the Brit- 

 ish harvest of 1874 is deficient, gives some 

 figures sho%ving the effect in Great Britain of 

 a plentiful harvest in 1874: The benefit to 

 consumers in this country of a good harvest, 

 can now be definitely stated by the realized 

 result of that of 1875. This is the only 

 country in which foreign corn can always 

 meet with a market, and in a year such as the 

 past, the abundance of all foreign countries 

 found this the only outlet. The weight of 

 foreign corn of every kind imported during 

 the last two harvest years has varied extreme- 

 ly little, being in round numbers -1.500,000 

 tons and 4,000,000 tons respectively. The 

 cost of this in 1873-4 was £54,000,000, and 

 in 1874-5, £45,000,000; the larger supply of 

 the past year thus costing about 'J, 000, 000 

 less than the somewhat smaller import of the 

 previous year. To this difference must be 

 added a considerable saving both in the quan- 

 tity and price of foreign potatoes imported. 

 When we add the saving in the cost of the 

 home supply corn, the total gain to the Brit- 

 ish consumers from the fine harvest of 1874 

 can not have been less than £:20,000,000. 



Beemdda Gkass Hat.— We have frequently 

 been asked writes our Home Journal whether 

 Bermuda grass, (so much esteemed for pas- 

 tm-e and lawn), can also be made into good 

 hay; and we have always answer<^, that 

 where the soil is rich enough to produce a rank 

 and heavy growth, there can be no question 

 of the value of this grass for hay and forage. 

 In corrobation of our views, we find the fol- 

 lowing suggestive item in -i late number of the 

 Atlanta, (Ga.) ConstituUon: One of the largest 

 farmers of Greene county, Ga., Dr. Walde- 

 mar Moody, is devoting his entire attention 

 to native grasses and stock-raising. He has 

 seventy head of cattle, and the first cutting of 

 his Bermuda grass crop yielded 125 tons of 

 excellent hay. He expects to gather fiftj' tons 

 more. This crop was secured at little expense. 

 The doctor is very well satisfied with his 

 abandonment of cotton culture. He does not 

 propose to return to it. Grass ano' stock- 

 raising pay better. A few such men in every 

 coun;y would hai^pily revolutionize onr agri- 

 culture. 



The Wheat Crop of 1875. 



Everybody knows that times are hard and 

 that business of all kinds is dull. On the 

 whole the farmers have had the best o f it for 

 a year or two past. 



The general good condition of our wheat 

 crop is an important element in the calcula- 

 tion as to the probabilities of the future, and 

 that gives some encouragement to look for 

 better times. We shall have a surplus to 

 export and the world will certainly want nil 

 spare. According to Mr. Alexander Delmar 

 the average requirement, supplv, and deficit 

 for many years past in the difterent European 

 countries are shown in the following table, in 

 which the fcueigu weights and measurements 

 are reduced to bushels: 



The table shows an average deficit in the 

 European wheat crop of 18,000,000 bushels, 

 which has been made up by importations. 

 For 1S75-G, however, the deficit is estimated 

 at 49,000,000 bushels, a careful estimate given 

 the following table : 



Totals . . . . | 852,000,000 | 803,000,000 | -19,000,00 3 



To rceet this deficiency we have a suii^lus 

 of about 65,000,000 bushels, the total crop 

 being 265,000,000 and the home supply 200,- 

 000,000. At an average of 70 cents per 

 bushel for tlie producer, this would amount 

 to §45,000,000. 



These figures show that the . raising of 

 wheat for export is a very dangerous specu- 

 lation, and that while in some cases it mav 

 pay, the chances are that it wiU not. The 

 slender average defi(-it of 18,000,000 busheli^ 

 in Europe may at any sea.son be turned into 

 a surplus. — Xcio Emjland Fanner. 



■ — » • >■ X p 



The Sachamento Beet Sugar Cojipa.ny.-- 

 The Record-Union of October 30th has the 

 following in regard to one of Sacramento's 

 enterjirises: "The Sacramento Valley Beet 

 Sugar Company h.ave about completed their 

 manufacture for the year, the result being 

 about 300,000 pounds obtained from about 

 3,000 tons of beets. The ground planted 

 this year yielded four and a half tons to the 

 acre; the beets l\li per cent, of sugar. At 

 Davisville the beets lacked moisture, and were 

 burnt up by the sun. The cost of transpor- 

 tion from that point was S5 pet ton. The 

 company have secured 1,400 acres on the 

 Cosumues, near McConnell's, and 200 acres 

 of American river bottom for the operations 

 of next year. No more will be planted at 

 Davisville. The plowing will commence as 

 soon as possible, say about January, if the 

 rains prove propitious. A dividend wUl be 

 declared this year for the first time since the 

 establishment of the factorv." 



A New Foddeb. — We want new grasses in 

 California now that irrigation is beginning to 

 interest us. They are now introducing into 

 Great Britain what is called the prickly corn- 

 fry, a native grass of the Caucasus. It yields 

 in several cuttings thirty tons to the acre, the 

 grass is propagated from the roots and is per- 

 ennial. Cattle eat it readily and thrive upon 

 it. There is reason to believe that it wUl suit 

 •our climate. — Southern California. 



