California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal, 



FROM SAN BENITO COUNTY. 



Peach Tkee, San Benito Co., | 

 November, 1875. \ 



Deak AoRicrLTUEisT: Noticing your varied 

 correspondence, I tboutjlit a letter from this 

 out of the way place might not be amiss. 



This is most exclusively a stock country; 

 being so far from market that grain, etc., 

 could not be transported for what it would 

 bring in the market of the world, even if 

 raised. 



Cattle, hogs, dairy products and poultry 

 form the staples here. Barley is SJj cents a 

 pound; wheat is hard to get at any price; hay 

 is evidently plenty, notwithstanding the dry 

 season. 



Hogs are made quite a speciality of. We 

 have talked with several men who have had 

 experience, and they all consider the berkshires 

 the most paying hogs; because they are so 

 much more hardy than the Essex, and the 

 meat commands a higher price when cured. 



Such a thing as an orchard is almost un- 

 known np this far in the mountains. There 

 is but one in Peach Tree, and that is a small 

 one. 



About twenty-five miles toward HoUister, 

 here in a steep-sided canon, near San Benito, 

 is a grist mill, belonging to Gough & AVagner. 

 It is doing a good business in gi-inding feed 

 and flour; the latter, good in quality, as we 

 can testify from experience. Mr. Gough has 

 a cosy little place, about a quarter of a mile 

 above his mill, where he raises all kinds of 

 vegetables, and has a small orchard, which 

 will soon be in bearing; also, about four acres 

 of alfalfa, which corroborates all that has 

 been said in praise of it. He has cut, we 

 understand, twenty-five tons of hay, and 

 pastured twenty-five head of cattle on it since 

 July, and still it presents an appearance of 

 good feed. Altogether, Mr. Gough's place 

 seems like an oasis in the desert. 



.About twelve miles north of here is the 

 Bitter "Water valley, and the water is charac- 

 teristic of the name, for it is as bitter as mod- 

 ified gall, owing to the presence of peculiar 

 salts, which render it purgative in character. 

 A. gentleman here, showed me a piece of rock 

 composed of shells and sandstone. This for- 

 mation is very plenty here, forming quite a 

 feature in the geology of the country. He 

 found several pieces of fossil bones, which he 

 sent to the State Normal School; but has not 

 learned as yet to what ancient monster they 

 might have belonged. 



Society here is rather mixed. 

 "Men of every uatiun; 



Birds of ever.v f'-atlier, 

 Oa a common level," 

 associate and fraternise much more freely 

 than one would suppose possible, from the 

 diversity of tongues spoken. 



It seems to be no disgrace to get drunk, 

 especially among the Spaniards and Mexicans. 

 Ihe state of the Temperance question is well 

 illustrated by the following anecdote. An 

 old Mexican lady was describing a fandango, 

 and in particular the supper, said she; "have 

 cake, have pie. have chicken, and (with spec- 

 ial accentl hetYe piaiaty whisk-y." F. G. 



Letter from Lompoc Temperance 

 Colony. 



Editor Ageiculttkist and Live Stock 

 JouENAi: I have had several proofs that the 

 Ageicultueist is a good paper to carry around 

 news. 



Since my last letter from this place, inquir- 

 ies come from all round the country, asking 

 further information. A gentleman who takes 

 a prominent part in advancing all good causes 

 here, gives me this extract from a letter re- 



cently received from Silver City, Idaho. 



"Seeing an account of the Lompoc Tem- 

 perance Colony in that excellent paper the 

 AoKictrLTnBiST, I take the liberty of asking 

 you a little more about it, " etc. The writer 

 j never dreamt of seeing his own words re- 

 I peated in your columns, no doubt. But I 

 feel that you and your subscribers are entitled 

 to the encouragement the}' incidentally con- 

 tain. 



I have only time to add that our laud is 

 selling off so rapidly and the valley filling up 

 so fast, that another Temperance Colony is 

 projected from a neighboring ranch or two. 

 If the plan succeeds, it will help us much. 

 We shall soon know, and your advertising 

 columns no doubt will give "full information 

 to the many families that it will accommodate 

 and prove attactive to. I like this coloniz- 

 ing on the temperance plan. It has so far 

 successfully kept out the sale of whisky in 

 our valley. People see we mean it, and value 

 the exemption from the curse and expense of 

 tippling and intemperance. 



We have had a fine rain for a starter. Weath- 

 er just lovely; health excellent; everyboby 

 preparing to put in large crops of potatoes, 

 beans, corn, pumpkins, beets, barley, wheat, 

 etc., as possible, and some orchards and al- 

 falfa. All feel sanguine. 



Yours trulv, 



J. P. Eoss. 



Deep Plowing. 



The question of diep and shallov: plowing 

 is one, which though often discussed, seems 

 to be an unsettled one in the minds of a large 

 number of farmers. 



Perhaps a farmer of twenty years experi- 

 ence in England and California may be per- 

 mitted to express an opinion on this question 

 based on careful and repeated exijeriments. 



I am persuaded that the first principle in 

 agriculture is deep plowing, but circumstances 

 must determine when to plow deep. 



The philosophy of deep plowing may be 

 briefly stated thus : It furnishes a large amount 

 of porous soil, whose absorbent qualities 

 capacitate it for drawing moisture from below 

 and drawing in the plentiful showers from 

 above. 



Where deep plowing and thorough cultiva- 

 tion go together, the finely commixed condi- 

 tion of the soil, makes it more receptive of 

 the influences of sun, air and moisture, and 

 more retentive of each — as well as becoming 

 a mass of the most assimilable food for plants. 



The mineral elements of the soil being 

 found largely in the subsoil, cannot be brought 

 into acquisition but by deep ploirinq, which 

 disintegrating that hard mass, and freeing its 

 elements, presents them for oxygenation, 

 and by the free circulation of air, decomposes, 

 pulverises and makes assimilable. 



As the wheat crop depends largely on the 

 mineral constituents of the soil, other cii'- 

 cumstances being favorable, deep plowing is 

 essential to the supply of its necessary food. 

 The wheat plant is provided with a long lap 

 root, which on deeply plowed land often 

 reaches to the depth of twelve inches or more. 



Barley sends out its roots more latterally 

 and will thrive better with shallow plowing, 

 than wheat or oats. 



It does better after root crops and on light 

 or shallow soils, matunng earlier, and is more 

 remunerative in a dry season than wheat or 

 oats. 



The conditions of success in deep plowing, 

 are earliness, and thoroughness of after culti- 

 vation. 



In California if done as late as January, it 

 had better not be done at all as a rule, as there 

 is no time to weather the furrows, or break it 



up into a fine assimilable shape. 



In this condition it is neither ahsorbatice nor 

 retentive of moisture; and wheat may as well 

 be sown among stones. 



Much of the prejudice against deep plow- 

 ing in California arises from the difficulty of 

 securing such a mecftani&il condition of the 

 soil — such a fine tilth as promotes such com- 

 pactness as the wheat plant demands. 



To ensure success, the land should not be 

 plowed during heavy rains nor too early after 

 them, but if the condition of the soil warrants 

 it, as early in November as possible. 



If practicable, sowing should not take place 

 before nor much after the first week in Feb- 

 ruary. A. cultivator should then be used as 

 well as a harrow, and if the weather will admit, 

 the last operation before seeding should be 

 followed with a good roller, the seed-drill 

 following after, and finishing off with the 

 harrow. 



Such cultivation, other things being equal, 

 will insure a good crop. 



As supplementary to the above, when the 

 crop is about four inches high and the sur- 

 face dry enough, roll down with a heavy roll- 

 er, which accomplishes the thing— consolida- 

 ting the soil, assisting the plant to start out, 

 and producing an even surface for the reaper 

 at harvest-time. 



Our old correspondent, J. B. Rumford, 



formerly of Piano, Tulare county, has moved 

 to Kern Island, and reports to us that he 

 has found an excellent locality for all kinds of 

 vegetation. He says that land seeded to al- 

 falfa will yield immensely, and will pay 18 

 per cent, or $100 per acre, auuually above ex- • 

 penses. Corn and vegetables grow without 

 irrigation. .\ud there is no more sickness 

 from ague than along the Sacramento or San 

 Joaquin rivers. We expect a long letter from 

 Mr. Rumford soon. 



FLECKS OR SCUDS IN BUTTER.- 

 aUERY. 



-A 



Ed. Ageicctltobist and Live Stock Jouk- 

 nal: — Can you, or any of your dairyman 

 readers, inform me what the scuds in butter 

 are? I have come to the conclusion that they 

 are nothing but cream, while a great many 

 think that they are sour milk. However, I 

 would like your ideas on the subject. 



Enquibee. 



We have often noticed these "scuds," as 

 our correspondent calls them, in butter, and 

 in our experience in dairying have noticed 

 that sometimes they have been composed of 

 particles of cream — tough cream that had 

 been exposed too long and had become flecked 

 with a sort of mould which caused the parti- 

 cles to adhere, and prevented the globules 

 from separating and coming together as but- 

 ter as soon as the good cream, free from such 

 tough mould. We have also known mould to 

 form a sort of membraneous substance, like 

 tough skin, on or under cream that has stood 

 too long or been exposed in a tainted atmos- 

 phere. These, like pieces of thin cuticle, 

 would remain in the butter. The remedy is 

 to have a clean dairy-room, thoroughly scald 

 the pans, etc., and not allow the cream to 

 stand too long before or after skimming. We 

 give this as simply our own observation, and 

 ask our dairy subscribers to send in their 

 ideas on this subject, that we may compare 

 notes and amve at the true solution. 



To know how to keep a tidy house and well 

 aired apartments, to know how to select the 

 best kinds of food, to know how to prepare 

 them in the best manner — these are first 

 things, and every daughter should learn them 

 before marriage. 



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