California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



About Bananas. — Few people who see 

 liauanas hanging in fruit stores think of 

 them as more than a tropical luxury. In 

 fact, they are a staple article of food in 

 some 2>arts of the world; and according 

 to Humboldt, an acre of bananas will 

 produce as much food for man as twenty- 

 five acres of wheat. It is the ease with 

 which bananas are grown that is the 

 great obstacle to civilization in some trop- 

 ical countries. It is so easy to get a liv- 

 ing without work that no effort will be 

 made, and the men become lazy and in- 

 tolerably shiftless. All that is needed is 

 to stick a cutting into the ground. It 

 will ripen its fruit in twelve to thirteen 

 months without further care, each plant 

 having 7.5 to 125 banan.as, and when that 

 dies down after fruiting, new shoots 

 spring up to take its place. In regions 

 where no frost ever reaches bananas are 

 found in all stages of growth, ripening 

 their fruit every month and every day in 

 the year. Colonel Whituer, near Silver 

 Lake, Florida, has probably the largest 

 banana plantation in the Uuited States, 

 containing fully 1U,U00 plants in bearing. 

 Some of these are large trees, which do 

 not die after bearing their fruit, but the 

 majority are of the dwarf species, which 

 are renewed every year. Slips are planted 

 about eight feet apart, and rapidly push 

 up leaves, disclosing six or eight small 

 bananas behind this jirotection. Some 

 plants will have sixteen or twenty leaves 

 and bunches of fruit, bending over as it 

 ripens, forming a most beautiful sight. 

 The banana is a very tender plant. 

 Says a southern correspondent of the 

 Prairie Farmer: "A statement is going 

 the rounds of the papers to the effect 

 that 'the old cotton fields of the South 

 are being planted to bananas.' It is as- 

 tonishing how much ignorance and mis- 

 representation have been published in 

 regard to this fruit and the cultivation 

 of it. In my article on the banana, pub- 

 lished in the Prairie Farmer more than 

 two years ago, I stated (and I repeat it) 

 that to be grown successfully it requires 

 a rich, m^t soil and tro'pical diimUe. 

 These conditions are not found in old 

 cotton fields. The only parts of the 

 United States where it caii be grown with 

 success, are the southern parts of Cali- 

 fornia and Florida. It is very suscepti- 

 ble to cold, and even on our gulf coast 

 it seldom matures its fruit without Win- 

 ter protection, and is not planted as a 

 crop for profit. 



Close Planting and Pkuning.— We 

 are more and more becoming converted 

 to the practice of close jilanting and 

 pruning. Take, for instance, black rasp- 

 berries, or blackberries, g.ow them close 

 in a row, and like a hedge, by keepint? 

 them well cut back as they grcjw. This 

 makes the brandies stitt', so that they do 

 not get down in the dirt, and are easily 

 passed among to pick the fruit, and, too, 

 by mulching the entire surface, the same 

 amount of mulch mulches a much larger 

 numlier of vines. The roots of all kinds 

 of plants run much farther than most 

 people have any idea of, and simply 

 mulching close around the plant does not 

 answer the purpose. The roots of a 

 Jilantatiou of raspberries and blackberries 

 or currants, or even strawberries, run 

 through the entire surface, and hence to 



Oeange Cultdee in Uppek Califor- 

 nia. — From a personal knowledge, de- 

 rived from a residence in both Los An- 

 geles and Napa counties, we will state 

 that it is our fii-m belief that Los Angeles 

 as an orange gi-owing county, does not 

 hold a particle of advantage over Napa. 

 We have frost here every Winter, and so 

 do they, and last Winter their orange 

 trees triumphantly passed through, over 

 and above frost, and are now hanging 

 full of golden fruit— a striking illustra- 

 tion of their power of resistance to frost. 

 Comparatively speaking, in a point of 

 fact, the orange trees of Los Angeles 

 demonstrated that they could stand the 

 same amount of frost that grapevines do, 

 without suffering an equal amount of the 

 blighting effect. Now, why not go into 

 the orange business? our market is close 

 and the next best thing is that they fre- 

 quently pay $1,00U per acre.— ,Sta;'. 



[What is true of Napa county is equal- 

 ly true of several other counties, in fact, 

 every agricultural county in the State, in 

 localities below the heavy snow line. — 

 Ed.] 



Ameeican Tea. —It is said that Georgia 

 is going to try her hand once more at 

 tea growing. Those who have investi- 

 gated the subject assure us that the ob- 

 stacles to the culture of tea successfully 

 as an article of commerce in the South- 

 ern States are the want of exi^erience 

 and, chiefly, the want of cheap labor. 

 The tea tree of China has been grown by 

 several persons in Georgia, from the 

 Piedmont region to the sea coast. The 

 shrub is a hardy and vigorous evergreen 

 and grows from three to five feet high. 

 It is a neat, compact, laurel-leaved shrub, 

 with pretty, white flowers in Spring and 

 is quite ornamental. It is perfectly hardy 

 and will stand any exposure to the cli- 

 mate, as has been tested in Athens ami 

 many other localities in Georgia. 



[We believe that Georgia, like Califor- 

 nia with cotton, tea and silk, will not 

 find tea a profitable plant to cultivate. 

 Whatever requires cheaper labor to make 

 ita success in competition with China, 

 we have no present use for, to any great 

 extent, at least. ] 



The Papaw Teee ok Shkub. — The pa- 

 paw is very common in the Western and 

 Southern States. The fruit is very nu- 

 tritious and palatable, much resembling 

 the banana. Its introduction here would 

 give us a desirable addition to the num- 

 ber of our fruits. The papaw is Jiulpy 

 and soft, and probably could not bear 

 long transportation or command an ex- 

 tensive sale in the market, but it would 

 be a very acceptable fruit for home con- 

 sumption. There are several varieties, 

 .some of which grow to the height of ten 

 or flfteen feet, while others are low 

 shrubs. The fruit of all of them is sweet 

 and very fragrant and the product very 

 abundant. The jiajsaw generally grows 

 wild, along the banks of streams, and 

 sometimes forms thickets of several 

 acres. — Vail. 



In Ceylon large apes arc now regularly 

 employed to pull cocoauuts. These an- 

 imals are imported from Acheen in 

 batches, and marched round the planta- 



Encoueaoing to Oeange-Geowees. 

 The cultivation of the orange in Louisi- 

 ana has of late attracted much attention. 

 One gentleman on Lower Lafourche has 

 an orchard just come into bearing, of 125 

 acres — said to be the largest in the 

 world. The same gentleman has a tree 

 on his plantation over sixty years old, 

 the fruit of which this year is worth on 

 the ground $100. For several years past 

 the income from this tree has been $50 

 to $75. The Co-operative JVews, from 

 which we learn these facts, adds that 

 California, Louisiana and Florida are the 

 only parts of the United States in which 

 the orange is now cultivated with suc- 

 cess. Its cultivation in South Carolina 

 and Georgia has been abandoned on ac- 

 count of frost. The market for the fruit 

 keejjs jjace with the increase of jjroduc- 

 tion. 



Tamarind. — This beautiful tree is a 

 native of the East Indies, but is now 

 considerably cultivated in warm climates 

 elsewhere. Only one species seems to 

 be known — a spreading tree, thirty or 

 forty feet high, with alternate pinnate 

 leaves, which have from twelve to fifteen 

 pairs of small leaflets, and fragrant flow- 

 ers with three petals, the pods brown 

 and many-seeded, as thick as a man's 

 finger and about six inches long. These 

 pods are filled with a pleasant, acidulous, 

 sweet, reddish-black pulp. 



the soil on condition that they paj' the 

 rent and please their landlord, are no 

 less slaves than were the negroes in the 

 South to their owners and masters. 



7th — That tlie idea that one man 

 should own large tracts of land to the 

 exclusion of others belongs to the old 

 feudal system, and should not exist in 

 free America. 



8th — That it is the duty of the press 

 of this State to show all frauds commit- 

 ted in land matters, by private individu- 

 als or public servants, giving the names 

 of all jsarties therein engaged, that they 

 may be held up to public view, not as 

 enterprising gentlemen, but as public 

 thieves and perjured villains. 



W. G. GuFFT, Chairman. 

 John Foutnet, Secretary. 



Paso Kobles, Cal., Feb., 1876. 



Pnml poWcr. 



ANTI 



RESO- 



he properly benefitted, tlie surface must | """s by thciir owners, who let them out 

 be mulched or worked by hoe and culti- 

 vator, and the part that most needs this 

 IS the extremities of the root. Currants 

 and gooseberries must have a cool, moist 

 place to do well, and if jilanted on dry 

 soil, this is best secured by a heavy 

 mulching of the entire surface. So, if 

 fruit, and of the best quality, is what is 

 sought for, plant close, prune close, and 

 mulch heavy, is our advice. -tImaU Fruit 

 necorder. 



on hire. A line is first .attached to these 

 peculiar laborers, and he is then sent up 

 a tree, and is said to select suitable fruit 

 with great discrimination, and to twist 

 the nut round ami round till it falls to 

 the ground. Each successive fall of a 

 nut is hailed by the hairy worker with a 

 sort of grim cliuckle of satisfaction. 

 » [In California the fruit growers find 

 it cheaper to import Chinamen to gather 

 fruit. -Ed. J 



LAND MONOPOLY 



LUTIONS- 



^}[ 



«?7TD. Aoricdltueist: The following 



qlf resolutions were adopted at a meet- 

 jjilT. ing of the People's Deliberative 

 {y]\ Association, held at the Estralla 

 <0^ school-house, on the 29th of Janu- 

 ary, 1876 : 



Wheeeas, under existing laws, large 

 bodies of agi'icultural lauds have been 

 procured by a few individuals who hold 

 them for speculative purposes; and 



Whekeas, it is an acknowledged fact 

 that great frauds have been committed 

 to procure titles to land in California 

 under the guise of Mexican grants, 

 swamp iuid overflowed lands, Sioux scrip, 

 soldiers' bounty warrant, lien warrants, 

 college scrip, and other scrips; and 



Waeeeas, the i)ublio journals are the 

 educators of the people; therefore, be it 

 Resolved, First — That it is apparent 

 that the laws governing land matters 

 have failed to secure the rights of the 

 people; and to say that all that is neces- 

 sary is a faithful execution of the laws, 

 is but to throw dust in the eyes of the 

 people. 



2d — That upon the principle that the 

 Government has the right to grant to 

 individuals or corporations one million 

 acres, it has the right to grant the whole 

 public domain. 



3d — That a system of taxation that 

 would force monopolists to sell their lands 

 would be no remedy to these evils. Noth- 

 ing less than such a change in our laws 

 as would force them to surrender their 

 stolen propertj' to the rightful owners 

 would be adequate to remedying the 

 evil. 



ith— That no legislative body has the 

 right to grant any of the public lniu]§ to 

 individuals or coipiuatioiis, excepting 

 to the actual settlers and cultivators. 



5th — That, according to American 

 ideas, no man is in the full enjoyment of 

 liberty without a home that he can call 

 his own. 



(ith--That the thousands of our best 

 citizens who are only i)ernuttcd to till 



GOVERNMENT LANDS IN 

 CANADA. 



In conti'ast with the way settlers are 

 generally treated in California, we quote 

 the following from a Canada paper as 

 showing how settlers are encouiaged. 

 The Canadians believe that individual 

 prosperity insures the prosperity of the 

 State. They guard the rights of indi- 

 viduals, and no selfish monopolist can 

 defraud the people of their public domain. 

 It is held sacred to actual settlers, as it 

 should be everywhere. 



'•The conditions of settlement are as 

 follows, according to the latest arrange- 

 ments: A married man with a family 

 can ijre-empt 100 acres, and is allowed 

 to purchase the same amount, to com- 

 plete the half section, at 50 cents per 

 acre; and all single men or women over 

 18 years of age can get 160 acres free, but 

 are not allowed to purchase any at any 

 price. The terms of settlement are, to 

 clear on each ICO acres, 15 acres, and 

 build a log house within five years after 

 executing the same." 



MAINE STATE LANDS. 



There is a large Sweedish settlement 

 in Maine upon lands granted in quarter 

 sections to settlers. The State surveyed 

 the lands, laid out the public roads, built 

 school houses, and a log house on each 

 quarter section, also cleared a few acres, 

 as a starter, and required each settler to 

 clear a given number of acres within 

 five years to become free owner. The 

 result of this is, that the State is gainer 

 by a thrifty and increasing population, 

 and taxable property, while the settlers 

 are well-to-do and independent, gaining 

 in wealth, intelligence and comfort each 

 year. 



How different this policy from that of 

 California! Here grabbers get all the 

 State lands. Settlers are fenced out of 

 this country, or bled of more money than 

 they can make in ten years, before they 

 can get hold of any. Nature has made 

 a paratlise which man has rendered for- 

 bidden ground to the deserving. 



Federal Land Guants. — The grants 

 of land made to California by the United 

 States are approximated at 7,5'J0,03a 

 acres. Classified — 500,000 acres are en- 

 tered under the head of internal improve- 

 ments, 1,553,115 as swamp and over- 

 flowed lands, 5,220,1.10 for Thirteenth 

 and Thirty-sixth sections, 40,080 as 

 seminary giant, 0,100 for the erection of 

 public buildings, 150,000 for the benefit 

 of agriculture and the mechanic arts, 

 and 105,000 as salt marsh and tide lands. 

 This makes a territorial area of 2,508,030 

 acres, or 50 per cent, greater than that 

 of the State of Alassachusetts, which 

 State covers but ■1,902,000 acres. 



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