California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



ittixmpn&tntt. 



UETTER FROM KERN ISLAND. 



fD. AGBioDLTnnisT: Reading the ar- 

 ticles of your San Jose correspond- 

 , ents in reply to Mr. Burrel's cri- 

 j tique, reminds me of the word-war 

 , some years ago on pruning. Both 

 parlies are right, or very nearly so. 

 Twenty years ago I was a strong advocate 

 of the subsoil plow, and on lands in Ala- 

 meda county produced the most satisfac- 

 tory results by deep culture, causing the 

 land to retain so much moisture that a 

 crop of potatoes, planted the first of 

 June, did well and made a fine yield 

 without rain or irrigation, and a wonder- 

 ful growth of vegetables was thus pro- 

 duced. 



I took that "hobby" to Pennsylvania, 

 and there subsoiled a large field of yel- 

 low clay soil eighteen or twenty inches 

 deep, using three and four yokes of oxen 

 — expense, twenty dollars per acre more 

 than ordinary plowed land beside it. I 

 next took the subsoil plow — an invention 

 of my brother's superior to anything of 

 the kind I have seen (no i^atent on it) — 

 to the rich land on the plains of Tulare 

 county, expecting to put the soil in such 

 condition that irrigation would not be 

 needed; but there it failed me, and after 

 repeated trials I laid the subsoiler one 

 side, and found six inches as good, or 

 better than a foot. So I think, perhaps, 

 both your correspondents are right. 



I believe in will be of use on this Keru 

 Island land, and hope to try it another 

 year, then look for accounts of growth. 

 Some of the laud may not need it, for 

 to-day I saw a peach tree that was plant- 

 ed last year, when it was less than an 

 inch in diameter, that is now about as 

 large as a New Jersey peach tree at five 

 years. I wish I had measured it for you. 

 I think this Island about the best place 

 for a man to get a start, if the chills will 

 let him alone, and though we came here 

 at the worst time of the year for that 

 disease, it was not so bad as represented 

 — bad enough, but with the help of the 

 "specific practice" of medicine intro- 

 duced by Dr. Scudder, of Cincinnati, we 

 can manage. Aided thus, we hope to 

 keep moving until the health of the 

 country is improved by clearing the land, 

 planting gum trees, etc. 



I will introduce your journal to all my 

 friends. Farmers do not read such pa- 

 pers enough. Yours, 



Isaac B. Eumfokd. 



'\ 



WORKING FOR TEMPERANCE. 

 Way-Side Watering Places. 



Dear Editok : Have you room for an 

 idea about temperance work? If the best 

 of lectures and noblest of .tracts could 

 make this world virtuous and temperate, 

 the work would be nearly done. But 

 lectures and tracts contain the theory 

 that needs to be followed up by earnest, 

 self-denying hard work and cash outlay. 



I once heard of a noble woman who 

 was devoting time and money to the dis- 

 tribution of tracts among the outcasts of 

 a great city. She met a poor child still 

 following the road to destruction and re- 

 proachfully said to her, "Did yovi not 

 read the warning tract I gave you?" 

 "Yes," retorted the girl; "but I could'ut 

 eat it, and I was hungry." 



In the race for souls, since the world 

 b.igau, the devil seems literally to have 

 had possession of the inside track. Good 

 advice comes plentifully and earnestly 

 from the elect, but the square meals are 



too often furnished by the devil. I am 

 aware that "the Lord's people," in many 

 of the large cities, are fast waking up to 

 the necessity of taking this inside track 

 out of the hands of the devil and using 

 it for God's glory. 



I wi.sh to suggest an investment of 

 some of our missionary zeal and money 

 that would relieve the tired, dust-choked, 

 and in many cases sin-st. lined traveler 

 from the necessity of calling at the cor- 

 ner grocery for a drink, where often if 

 he takes water it is so warm antl un- 

 wholesome that if he has a "bit" he is 

 tempted to take a glass of more loath- 

 some drink to wash the water from his 

 mouth. Even if he finds a wholesome 

 drink of cool water, a few meaning 

 glances of "Bar-keep" will make him 

 feel mean if he enjoys a few moments' 

 rest and leaves no cash as he walks on. 



I believe twenty-five earnest, patient, 

 temperance men, owning water tanks 

 near the public roads in different parts 

 of the county, could head off two hund- 

 red drinks of liquor per day during hay- 

 ing and harvest. 



A piece of ground ten or fifteen feet 

 square, thickly shaded by trees, vines or 

 other shade, provided with some sort of 

 stationary seats, a barrel or small tank 

 filled with water cooled by slowly run- 

 running during the night from the irri- 

 gating tank, and a bright, new tin cup 

 secured to the tank.by a chain, would be 

 the first, and perhaps least part of the 

 investment in behalf of those needing 

 the ' 'cup of cold water, ' ' for tramps and 

 hoodlums would sometimes steal the cup, 

 let out the water and foul the place made 

 for their comfort. Gratitude is not the 

 heathen's first sentiment. If he lives in 

 the south sea islands ho may eat his 

 woiild-be benefactor; in California he is 

 very apt to insult and plunder his best 

 friends. 



Could these cool water resting places 

 become one of the institutions of the 

 country, and be furnished with enough 

 water for the use of horses, they would 

 do much towards regulating the water 

 supply that is placed by the roadside, 

 not for the sake of the weary, thirsty 

 animals, but for the chance to sell their 

 drivers a drink. 



That part of a jjleasure ride endured 

 by the lady sitting in the buggy subject 

 to the stare of from one to a dozen pairs 

 of red eyes whoso owners are smoking 

 and swearing on the porch whilst her 

 gallant is watering the horse and making 

 his acknowledgments to the "bar-keep," 

 is not the pleasantest part of the ride. 



A "well-to-do Mr. Hayseed" might get 

 into the habit of leaving his daily paper, 

 after reading it, alongside the cool water, 

 for even time enough to rest and look 

 over a paper would be no loss to a home- 

 less man looking for work. 



It would be a proper place to post a 

 notice of where wrrk could ba had. 



It might be a good business invest- 

 ment where fruit is sold from the orch- 

 ard, as a locked door could be controlled 

 by the orchardist, .and an order box like 

 a drop-letter box be made to receive a 

 customer's order as he drove into town, 

 and his fruit be ready for delivery on 

 short notice as he came back. 



There are other benevolent, sanitary, 

 and Christian items easily connected 

 with this matter, but this article is al- 

 ready too long. 



In the above I aim no shaft at the le- 

 gitimate country store or wayside inn. I 

 would h*lp a traveler to avoid the water- 

 ing place eslnbthhed for the purpose of sell- 

 ing liquor. C. A. AV. 



Cozy Nook, June, 1876. 



COOL WATER. 



Ed. Agkil i;ltl'1!Lst : Have you room 

 for a few lines about cool wat^'r, and a 

 few hints about how it can be easily sup- 

 plied on every farm? 



Our nights are so cool that a small 

 stream of water running slowly a few 

 rods will become cold enough to be very 

 refreshing all through the diiy. 



The arrangement may be very simple 

 and cheap. 'Two syrup barrels and forty 

 feet of trough will do it. The barrels 

 will cost about two dollars, and should 

 be thoroughly scalded and washed to 

 take out the syrup tasle. Set one near 

 the water supply, and fill it. Set the 

 other in the best cool place within reach. 

 Hop vines will grow and cover an arbor 

 for the barrel very quickly. Leave the 

 shelter open on the north side. Before 

 going to bed at night turn the faucet at 

 baiTcl No. 1, so a small stream will run 

 to No. 2, at the same time draw oft" the 

 water left over in No. 2 to moisten the 

 surrounding shelter. 



The plan can be modified to suit cir- 

 cumstances. The water may bo located 

 in the milk house, but should be so ar- 

 ranged as to leave no permanent damp- 

 ness about the floor. Where there is a 

 tank raised from the ground a small pipe 

 can be inserted and the water run any 

 desired distance, and the larger the body 

 of water thoroughly cooled by the night 

 air the cooler it will keep through the 

 day. 



I have practiced for years drawing a 

 barrelof water out of my irrigating ditch, 

 taking care to fill the barrel in the morn- 

 ing before the sun shines on the ditch. 

 If wo ever doubt its paying for the bother 

 we haue only to neglect to fill the barrel 

 one day and we have no doubt aliout it 

 rfterwards. 



In the cities where ice is plenty per- 

 haps a tank of cool water is not so 

 necessary, yet I think there are many 

 places where its cool waters and sur- 

 roundings would be welcome. Where 

 the city water comes into the chambers 

 it would ho easy to pass a small pipe 

 through the wall and around the house 

 into a lower room provided with a tank 

 that would have a cooling influence on 

 the whole house, and by passing the 

 water through a filter before ft entered 

 the tank it would be improved in every 

 respect. C. A. W. 



CczY Nook, June, 187G. 



^M\ |5vccdcc* 



FINE STOCK and INTELLIGENT 

 FARMING vs. RANCHING. 



ANY persons here and in the East 

 who read about stock raising in 



, ... California seem to have an idea 

 Co.* that it must be very nice to get 



Yi>§^l^ol'l of " f^"' thousand acres of 

 wild hill lands and cover the same with 

 stock a Id Mexicanci. But we who have 

 resided on this Coast for years have seen 

 reasons for harboring a different opinion. 

 There was at one time an excuse for this 

 loose method of ranching, when the 

 lauds were open and without settlers.and 

 not in demand for settlement. The old 

 vaqueros could better ati'ord to take their 

 chances of losing by drouth the increase 

 of years of plenty. And if the cattle 

 could live through short feed the hides 

 and tallow when it was flush would pay 

 well enough to satisfy an indolent ambi- 

 tion. Such stock raising has about 

 ceased to be desirable in this State. Only 

 a few half-civilized adherents to it are to 

 be found. Slowly and reluctantly they 



have fled before settlers and the no-fence 

 law, which forced stock-owners to take 

 care of their stock and not allow them to 

 eat up the farmers' crops with impunity. 



These old stock ranchers have been 

 the worst enemies the real settler has 

 had to contend with. Any advance that 

 has been made upon public lands that 

 they have ranged over, has been stoutly 

 resisted in every way they could contrive 

 by trickery and persecution. Within a 

 few years — just prior to the no-fence law, 

 which we made enemies as well as friends 

 by advocating — it was as much as a 

 man's life was worth to pre-empt and 

 occupy such lauds. The settlers' crops 

 were destroyed, and armed men would 

 threaten, and often execute threats, with 

 pillage, rapine and murder. Nothing 

 less than a colony, or strong combina- 

 tion of armed settlers, backed up by law, 

 could protect them from all sorts of 

 abuse and damage from these cattle and 

 sheep herding laud monopolizers. They 

 made no improvements upon the lauds, 

 and little or none in their own herds, but 

 generally were content to, Arab-like, 

 prowl over the plains a wild, pastoral 

 people. They combined, as much as 

 long distances would admit, to hold their 

 "vested" rights. But thanks to the 

 pluck of a few daring spirits, and to ad- 

 vancing civilization, they are fast suc- 

 cumbing. 



As they retreat before cultivation the 

 real stock interests of the country ad- 

 vance. With cultivation comes a higher 

 branch of stock farming— better breeds 

 of stock, lietter pastures, and something 

 to eat when pastures are short. A di- 

 versified system of intelligent fanning is 

 always favorable to stock raising and 

 stock gromng, and to improvement in 

 the breeds of stock. 



Until very lately our breeders of fine 

 stock as a specialty could find no enconr- 

 agement in their business. Several per- 

 sons from the East who have come here 

 with best breeds have met with nothing 

 but disappointment. They supposed 

 that this State, being a stock country, 

 would furnish a market for their fine 

 breeds. But they have found that it 

 requires civilized men to appreciate and 

 patronize the best stock. As the cattle 

 men are obliged to contract their herds 

 before the eucroachments of settlers, 

 some of the most enterprising have pur- 

 chased fine stock to breed up their scrubs 

 a little. But, as a general rule, the far- 

 mers who till the soil are the ones who 

 demand better breeds and make it pay to 

 improve. Every alfalfa field creates a 

 demand for better stock. Every well- 

 conducted farm needs better stock, and 

 the better the system of farming the 

 greater the need, and the demand also. 



During a portion of the year only the 

 uncultivated lands aflford valuable pas- 

 turing. We know of several, valley far- 

 mers who also own hill farms where they 

 turn a portion of their stock during good 

 pasture, and provide feed on the valley 

 farm for them to eat during the balance 

 of the year. They find it a money-mak- 

 ing business. 



Another element against stock im- 

 provement is the aW-ic/ieuf rancher. There 

 is no improvement of any kind about 

 such an one, only to get the best machin- 

 ery to run things on a grand scale. He 

 may make money, or lose it. He is a 

 chance-taking farmer, and regards his 

 undertakings as a speculator in mining 

 stocks does, as either a winning or a 

 losing game. He is just one step, and 

 only one, in advance of the wild stock 

 raisers, and must eventually give way to 

 a better system. He stands in the way 

 of settlement, and as long as the big 

 land Bionopolists control things and ob- 

 tain high rents for lands for such pur- 



