36 



California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



It has, however, demonstrated the happy 

 action of manures in prolonging the life 

 of the vine, though without preserving 

 it. The submersion of the vines, for 

 thirtj' days at least, with running water 

 in autumn or winter, and the subsequent 

 application of fertilizers— known as the 

 Falcon plan — is the sole efficacious rem- 

 edy up to the present demonstrated, and 

 so highly is it appreciated that a project 

 is on foot to construct a canal, to be fed 

 from the Rhone, so as to enable several 

 million acres of vineyards to be tempo- 

 rarily inundated. A special commis- 

 sioner has left for the LInited States to 

 study a variety of American vine stocks, 

 known in Pennsylvania as the "corn 

 grape," and reported capable of resisting 

 the phylloxera. 



VINEYARDS IN CALIFORNIA. 



Grape growing in this State can be 

 made a very profitable business, notwith- 

 standing the fact that the so-called ' 'wine- 

 growers" have not made money, and 

 many of them have been obliged to give 

 up everything, after some years of hard 

 work, to foreclosers of mortgages upon 

 the property. Raisin and table grapes 

 have paid well right along; ,ind as the 

 State increases in population and trans- 

 portation facilities increase, so will the 

 business of shipping fine grajjes and 

 making raisins become more and more 

 important and surely remunerative. 



We advise the planting of new vine- 

 yards of best varieties, and the grafting 

 of the "wine" vai'icties to table 

 and raisin grapes, instead of tearing up 

 the old vines as some are doing. There 

 is policy in the matter of grafting, as 

 the well established roots will soon make 

 new vines that will bear abundantly of 

 superior fruit. A grajje vine produces 

 better fruit after it is a dozen or more 

 years old than when it is younger. The 

 old vines, if cut back and grafted, will, 

 the second or third year after, produce 

 as well as old vines. The maturity nnd 

 strength imparted to the new top by the 

 well grown roots make grafted vines 

 equal in value to vines of same age as 

 the roots. There is only one difficulty 

 about grafted grajjes, and that is the lia- 

 bility of the old stalk that is gi-afted to 

 send out suckers. If grafted above 

 gi'onnd there will be a good deal of trou- 

 ble to keep those sprouts below the graft 

 from outgrowing the scions. To obviate 

 this, the old vine should be cut oflf from 

 four to six inches below the surface. Re- 

 move the earth from about the vine with 

 a spade and saw the old stalk otl' as 

 smoothly as possible with a small, fine, 

 hand saw. The root stumps may be 

 split grafted or splice grafted — it makes 

 little difl'erence, so long as the inner 

 bark of the scion and the stump come 

 together to form a union of growth. If 

 the scion is set into the stump so as to 

 touch the vital sap in only two or three 

 places, it is enough to give circulation 

 to the living juiees in both stalk and 

 scion. The stronger the cuttings are 

 that are used for scions the better. 

 Slender, weak cuttings are not good for 

 scions. Choose them from the strong- 

 est growth of last year's wood. Make 

 the split or cut in the stalk, then wedge 

 the scion to fit and insert it firmly, with- 

 out bruising the bark on either scion or 

 stalk. One or two buds above ground 

 g are enough, and the scions should be 

 . shortened so as to admit of not over two 

 / buds above ground. Common grafting 

 j) wax can be used. It is best applied 

 ^ warm with a brush. A vessel holding 

 Ihe wax can be kept over a portable coal 

 stove such as linkers use. Any one can 

 iiiakfi one that will answer the purpose 

 ji out of a joint of stove-pipe. Some per- 

 I, sons press the fine earth flnnly about 



the graft and use no wax, and with very 

 good success. The best time to graft 

 grapevines is just as soon as the new 

 leaves get to be about the size of your 

 thumb-nail. Then the vines will not 

 bleed. If grafted before the leaves start 

 the old roots will bleed badly. About 

 the first of April is a good time to graft 

 in many localities. The vines may be 

 grafted earlier, but experience has proved 

 that it is better to graft after the bleed- 

 ing season is past. The cuttings should 

 be prepared as soon as convenient, and 

 put in a cool shady place out of the 

 wind until time for grafting. 



We hope that none of our readers who 

 may have inferior vines will neglect to 

 graft them this season. It will p.iy to 

 do it. We are ^villing to admit that the 

 wine business is the poorest paying us 

 well as the most demoralizing business 

 that a poor honest man can venture into. 

 But a good vinej'ard of useful grapes, 

 for raisins and for the table, is at once 

 respectable and remunerative. The 

 White Muscat of Alexandria is the best 

 raisin grape, though there ,ire other 

 good ones. The White Corinth or Zaute 

 Currant grape is bound to prove very 

 valuable also upon this Coast. The busi- 

 ness of shipjMug fine grapes to the At- 

 lantic States will always be a remunera- 

 tive one. The Flame Tokay, Rose Peru, 

 Black Hamburg and others are good for 

 shipping. 



Planting a vineyard in this State is 

 not necessarily a very expensive job. It 

 is not necessary to cultivate the ground 

 any deeper than for a crop of grain. 

 The rows should be laid ofl' six to eight 

 feet apart both ways, and may be struck 

 out, after measuring accurately, with a 

 plow in complete squares, by running 

 straight furrows at right angles. Then 

 in the ditch where the furrows cross 

 plant the cuttings. A long handled spade, 

 run down the length of the blade, at an 

 angle of forty degrees, will be deep 

 enough to plant the cuttings. Remove 

 the soil enough to insert the cutting and 

 then pack the dirt back closely about it, 

 and it is done. One or two buds above 

 ground are enough. Two men can plant 

 several thousand cutting in a day when 

 everything is ready. The after cultiva- 

 tion should be with harrow and cultiva- 

 tor and hoe, so as to leave the surface 

 soil light and fine and free of all weeds, 

 for the first two years particularly. 



This is a very favorable season for 

 planting cuttings, because the soil is so 

 thoroughly filled with moisture, and 

 Mareh and April are good months to 

 them. If you have to plow under a lit- 

 tle patch of green grain to make a vine- 

 yard, it will not hurt anything but will 

 leave the soil in good condition. Every 

 farmer upon dry land should plant a 

 vineyard for faniily use, for raisins, and 

 for an investment to pay dividends as a 

 branch of farming. 



f hccp and ©oab- 



A PROGRESSIVE INDUSTRY. 



G.Ci, 



t^"*'HE Angora goat business, which a 

 few years ago was sneered at by 

 some journals that should have 

 known belter, has been brought 

 forward and placed upon ft footing 

 that insures for it a grand success and a 

 s]>lendid future. 



There was a time when but little mo- 

 hair was produced here, and there was 

 but little demand for that small quantity. 

 Now the manufacturers are making good 

 bids, in fact there is a wholesome rivalry, 

 which places the jiroduct in demand at 

 good figures, and as the supply increases 



the prices will become better and stead- 

 ier. The sales of the fleeces for the last 

 two years have proved that, for the mo- 

 hair alone, it will pay to raise goats. 

 But the mutton is as good, some say 

 better, than that of the sheep, and the 

 pelts are much more valuable for tan- 

 ning. The common goat skin is little 

 better than the sheep skin, but the An- 

 gora skin is fine grained and very strong. 



During a late visit to the Angora Robe 

 and Glove Manufacturing Company, in 

 San Jose, we gained several points of 

 information. The workmen can tell by 

 the feel of the tanned skins whether the 

 goats- were half, three-fourths or seven- 

 eighths Angora, also by the looks, so 

 striking is the difference. The skin is 

 not so thick and rough — it is fine, soft 

 and tough. We have before mentioned 

 that for strings and belt-lacings they are 

 found to be very excellent, and are being 

 largely used already. 



There is about one-half the increase of 

 every flock that are males, and as they 

 are not used for breeding, unless the 

 mohair is very fine, they are killed at 

 from six months to two years old for 

 mutton and pelts. The half and three- 

 fourths breed goat sldns are now worth 

 from 40 to 60 cents each for tanning. 

 The finer breed pelts are worth 75 cents 

 to $3 each for making into robes, trim- 

 mings, etc. This jniee will soon ad- 

 vanco. The manufacturing company, 

 having only lately started into the busi- 

 ness, cannot aiTord to pay, this year, what 

 they will be able to as soon as the people 

 find out the actual merits of the goods, 

 and there are more pelts to be tanned 

 and make up. 



It is estimated that there are now 

 240,000 gi-ade Angora goats on this coast, 

 but probably 200,000 is nearer the mark. 

 This number will soon increase to one 

 million, and as they increase in numbers 

 so do they increase in purity, as only 

 pure-breed bucks are used for breeding 

 purposes. Not less than one-fourth of 

 the entire number will have to be slain 

 annually, on an average. 



This, it will be seen is to be a great 

 and growing industry. Already the An- 

 gora robes and gloves are found to be the 

 jirettiest and most useful of any. Some 

 of the finer pelts of kids and full grown 

 wethers, when colored black or some 

 shade of brown, by Mr. Henry T. Welch, 

 resemble the richest furs, and are much 

 admired and prized for rich trimmings 

 to ladies clo.aks, etc. As the finer furs 

 are getting scarce all over the world, and 

 continually dearer, these fine Angora 

 kids furs will come more and more into 

 demand at fine prices. And as the buf- 

 faloes and foxes and wolves are disap- 

 pearing, the robes of the beautiful full 

 breed Angoras will not go begging for a 

 market. In fact they are superior to any 

 other robes, and civilization is no loser 

 by substituting the Angora furs for those 

 of the wild and lower animals. Any 

 person who will take the trouble to ex- 

 amine the Angora goods will be satisfied 

 that what we say is even so. 



The manufacturing company at San 

 Jose are giving employment to man}- 

 women and girls in making up their 

 goods. Their machinery for cutting out 

 gloves is quite no\el. They have dies 

 made for cutting out gloves, complete in 

 every part, and can cut out dozens at 

 once. But we will not attempt to de- 

 scribe the workings of the manufactory, 

 which is sil\iated on the eastern bank of 

 the (iuadahqie, near the San .Jose Wool- 

 en mills. 



The company have lately sent samples 

 of their goods East, and with the most 

 flattering prospects. The only thing we 

 fear is that the demand will soon be so 

 far in advance of the supply that we 

 Californians will not be able to keep 



enough of the goodB at home. From 

 the Green Bay, Wisconsin, Gazette, we 

 quote a portion of an article in which 

 mention is made of some goods sent by 

 C. P. Bailey, President of the manufac- 

 turing company, and also a breeder of 

 Angoras. Says the Gazette: 



"Of late years the efibrt has been 

 made to colonize this valuable quadruped 

 in some parts of this country. It has 

 been tried in South Carolina with some 

 success, but the strike seems to have 

 been made in California. Under the 

 auspices of a stock company, some three 

 thousand of these beautiful animals have 

 been induced to graze in the vicinity of 

 San Jose. If it is really the fact that the 

 true Angora goat can be reared on the 

 Pacific coast, we see not why it should 

 not prove a source of wealth beyond 

 mines of gold. Our native furs are 

 growing scarce. The march of civiliza- 

 ts driving back the buffalo, the wolf, the 

 mink, the otter, etc., and but a few ye.ars 

 more of "jirogress" will make furs of 

 any kind a rare and costly luxury. It 

 looks as if Providence was sending 

 these four-footed Angorans from that far 

 land of Turkish barbarism to warm the 

 back of the great Republic during its 

 second century. 



' ■ We advise any who have a curiosity 

 about such goods to visit the office of 

 W. C. Bailey, Esq. He has received 

 from his brother, in California, some 

 elegant specimens of this fur, and we 

 understand is verj- willing to have the 

 public look at them. That very white 

 robe and mat would together constitute a 

 graceful present for your minister or the 

 editor of the Gazette, or some other pub- 

 lic benefactor." 



One mistake we notice in the forego- 

 ing. The stock company own no goats, 

 although several of the individual mem- 

 bers do. The companj' is organized for 

 manufacturing, and proposes to confine 

 itself solely to that and the selling of its 

 goods. 



We hope the company will make a 

 showing of their goods at the Centennial 

 fair in Philadelphia. The^ have made 

 no calculation to do so as 3'et, but the 

 breeders on this coast cannot aftbrd to 

 allow such an opportunity of showing 

 the products of this business to the 

 world to go by without some concerted 

 action. There is not a more important 

 industr5- on this coast we feel satisfied. 

 The monthly report of the Department 

 of Agriculture for February contains the 

 the following: 



"California, in pursuance of a charac- 

 teristic fashion of doing what cannot be 

 done elsewhere, has not only persisted 

 in keeping considerable flocks of Angora 

 goats, but multiplies their numbers and 

 utilizes the fleece. There have been 

 placed in the museum of this Depart- 

 ment some specimens of dressed skin 

 with fleece intact, of divers colors and 

 great beauty, such as are used for fancy 

 robes, rugs, mats, fur gauntlets, and for 

 other purposes. These gloves are very 

 strong, durable, warm and showy. The 

 leather is also used in strings for belt- 

 lacing, and appears from its great strength 

 to be very suitable for such use. This is 

 the work of the Angora Kobe and Glove 

 (-'ompany, located at San Jose, nnd de- 

 monstrates the availability of Angora 

 products for successful manufacture into 

 articles of comfort and utility. Their 

 gloves, unlike those of buckskin, are 

 dressed with the grain left on. Mr. 

 Frank Leavis, the secretary of the com- 

 pany, is a part owner of a flock of six 

 liundred ewes which were sheared last 

 spring. In one county, Monterey, there 

 are no less than twenty thousand re- 

 turned by the assessors, and they con- 

 stitute a portion of the stock of twenty- 

 eight other counties." 



