California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



cripple; but through her energy and love 

 of doing good she has adopted several 

 children. These she supports, besides 

 teaching many others and caring for 

 fatherless and motherless ones for very 

 little compensation. This good lady's 

 name is Miss Otterson, and her school 

 i.s called the Children's Home, and as 

 she loves children and is very good to 

 them. Aunt Polly promises to tell you 

 about her school next month ; she would 

 do so now, but the room in, Our Corner 

 is already pretty well occupied with 

 other matters. 



THREE imPOR TANT QUESTIONS. 



Ed. Agkicultubist : Observing from 

 your editorial notes that you are always 

 willing to disseminate information to the 

 people, but more especially for the bene- 

 fit of you numerous subscribers, allow 

 me to suggest, for your consideration 

 and approval, appropriating a small 

 space in your columns to the promulga- 

 tion of three laws passed by the last 

 Legislature of great interest to the agri- 

 cultural community, viz. ; Amendment 

 to the Fence Law, Amendment to the 

 Road Law, and Lien on Stock for Pas- 

 turage . 



The No Fence Law was brought into 

 existence to promote immigration quite 

 regardless of tne interesests of the early 

 settlers, and which has been fraught 

 with much annoyance and vexation. 

 Smith's fence was blown down by the 

 winter blasts. He was protected from 

 going to the expense of repairing it, and 

 his neighbor, Jones, was compelled to 

 fix it, or sell his six cows he kept for 

 family use, or Smith would impound 

 them. 



The Road Law is another vexatious 

 question. Persons having laud back 

 from the county road have to purchase 

 their way through, after a delay of six 

 months in petitions and surveying. 



Farmers who take stock in on pasture 

 are at great loss by dishonorable men 

 who withdraw their stock surreptitiously 

 by moonlight, and they are protected by 

 inability to attach that by which he ob- 

 tains a living. 



Without further comment, I remain, 

 Yours, repectfuUy, P. Hanson, 



Clayton, Cal., June, 187G. 



[We invite our readers to discuss these 

 three questions. Our columns are open. 

 Now let everyone interested give his 

 ideas. — Ed. ] 



Fruits retail at higher rates in San 

 Jose than any stranger, knowing how 

 much fruit is produced here, would sup- 

 pose. Strawberries average higher than 

 in San Francisco, as our retail dealers 

 ask a higher profit, and have to pay San 

 Francisco wholesale prices. Other small 

 fruits are governed by the same rule. 

 Every year the fruit crops, as they are 

 growing in Uhe orchards, are nearly all 

 bought up by either local or San Fran- 

 cisco dealers, mostly Italians, and the 

 combination thus formed extorts high 

 prices for everything at retail. The 

 cherry crop has been very fine this sea- 

 son, but prices have ranged from 12 to 

 35 cts. per pound, in the midst of plenty. 



The fruit canning factories consume 

 large quantities of excellent fruit, wjiieh 

 they contract for mostly months ahead. 

 It seems the more fruit there is produced 

 the greater the demand, and at advanc- 

 ing prices year by year. There is now 

 better encouragement for planting orch- 

 ards and taking good care of them than 

 ever before. 



A friend that you can buy with a pres- 

 ent can be bought from you. 



Grand Summer Resort — Lake 

 Tahoe. 



Our readers will notice the advertise- 

 ment of our friend, Dr. Bourne, a vener- 

 able philanthroijist and common-sense 

 practical physician, who has established 

 a cure at Lake Tahoe. As a guide to 

 health and pleasure seekers, wo copy 

 from the Nevada City Transcript of June 

 13th, some remarks by that editor, who 

 has just visited Lake Tahoe. He says: 

 Lake Tahoe ought to, and will be, at 

 no distant day, the great sanitarium of 

 the Pacific Coast. It possesses climate, 

 scenery, and means of health-giving 

 pleasure for the care-worn and debilitat- 

 ed, far ahead of any other place of re- 

 sort. Everything around it is intended 

 to afford quiet rest and pleasure. The 

 business man is bound to forget his busi- 

 ness while there. The scenery is too 

 grand, the air too quieting and dreamy 

 to allow business cares to absorb the at- 

 tention. Last week we had the pleasure 

 of visiting the spot for the first time. 

 The season for tourists has just opened 

 there, and it is expected the number of 

 visitors will be greater than any previ- 

 ous year. There are ample accommoda- 

 tions for all who may visit the place, 

 The best way to reach the Lakois by way 

 of Truckee. 



There are row, sail, and steamboats on 

 the Lake for the use of tourists. A per- 

 son can leave Truckee in the morning, 

 go to Tahoe City, take a steamer and go 

 around the Lake, a distance of over 100 

 miles, have an hour at the Grand Central 

 for dinner, and return to Truckee again 

 the same evening. There is a new screw 

 propeller being built, to be called the 

 "Niagara," and which will be completed 

 this week, which is intended to carry 

 passengers and to draw another large 

 boat called the "Floating Palace." The 

 latter has a ladies' saloon, a dancing hall, 

 and nicely furnished state rooms, and 

 affords excursion parties the opportunity 

 to enjoy themselves in any manner thej' 

 choose. The steamers on their round of 

 the Lake stop at all points of interest. 

 The "Niagara" and the "Floating Pal- 

 ace" will be under the command of Cap- 

 tain Powell, an experienced mariner. 

 The "Governor Sauford," "Governor 

 Blaisdell" and the "Emerald" also run 

 on the Lake and make regular trips. 



Lake Tahoe, as is probably well known, 

 is 0,216 feet above the sea level. Its 

 depth is 1,525 feet. It is 33 miles long, 

 15 miles wide, and has an area of 525 

 square miles. The water is ice cold and 

 of crystaline purity. It is surrounded 

 by mountains on whose summits snow 

 is visible most of the year. It is the 

 most beautiful spot in the State, and 

 should be visited by everyone who has a 

 love for the betiutiful and grand in na- 

 ture . 



Tahoe City is quite a little town. Be- 

 sides the Grand Central, are the Tahoe 

 Hotel, the Custom House, a store, and 

 several other houses of business and 

 places of residence. The Hot Springs 

 Hotel is on the north side of the Lake. 

 Glenbrook is on the east side opposite 

 Taho City, and there are two hotels on 

 the southeast side of the Lake, all of 

 which places can be reached by steamer. 

 Stages connect with steamers at Glen- 

 brook for Carson, and one going to Vir- 

 ginia City will find the route from Truc- 

 kee by the way of Glenbrook and Carson 

 preferable to the regular route by rail- 

 road. We advise anyone who desires a 

 pleasure trip and a season of rest to hie 

 them to the summit. 



The Granaries of the Nile. 



A San Francisco correspondent of the 

 Baltimore Sxm writes: Prof. Davidson 

 has returned from a professional visit to 

 Egypt. Having viewed the progress be- 

 ing made in opening cheap communica- 

 tion between Alexandria on the Mediter- 

 ranean and the interior of equatorial 

 Africa, he thinks it is high time for Cali- 

 fornia to study the coming changes likely 

 to aflect the American interests. He 

 tells us that the whole valley of the Nile, 

 so far as its present navigation gives it 

 boundary, does not exceed in fertile 

 area the two continuous valleys of our 

 Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers. 

 But there are 500,000 acres now gradu- 

 ally being reclaimed by irrigating canals, 

 which will add largely to its agriculture. 

 Besides this, the gradual substitution of 

 steam for the many thousands of hand 

 and ox watei'-lifters along the banks of 

 the Nile will increase the crops fully one- 

 third. Three hundred and fifty thous- 

 and acres have been reclaimed by the 

 present ruler, who has made irrigating 

 canals next to the desert and back of the 

 Nile, where the overfiow of the Nile did 

 not reach. The ijopulatiou is more 

 dense than in Belgium, Europe's most 

 densely-populated state. The improve- 

 ments will give employment to all whom 

 they Mill displace. 



Assuming the valley to be COO miles 

 long and 10 miles average width, ending 

 at the first cataract, the carriage of pro- 

 ducts is very cheaj) because it h^s free 

 navigation. The several cataracts are 

 being turned or otherwise made passable, 

 so that very soon there will be steam 

 navigation for 1,500 miles from the sea- 

 IJort to the beginning of the great Soudan 

 country, and beyond this point there are 

 now 1,000 miles of free boating, through 

 a country of no mean productive capa- 

 city, including mines of gold, silver, cop- 

 per, etc., and forests of valuable woods, 

 mostly new to commerce. 



The country known as the Soudan, 

 though in the tropics, is tempered bj' its 

 altitude. The Soudan is over 2,000 

 miles long, by probably 300 or 400 wide. 

 It includes Nubia, Abyssinia, Darfour, 

 Uganda, etc. It has a continuous ex- 

 panse of the richest and best watered 

 lands in the world, estimated at 200,- 

 000,000 of acres of two-yearly crop land, 

 producing wheat, maize, barley, and 

 other grains unknown to us, cotton, sug- 

 ar, tobacco, wool, mohair, silks, coiU, 

 cabinet woods, ivory, peltries, ostrich 

 feathers, etc. With labor ten cents a 

 day, and the cost of transit proportion- 

 ably low, compared with our rates, and 

 a year's clothing taken at less than -5 

 per man — women at h.alf price doing a 

 man's work — it is curtain that Alexan- 

 dria is about to become the greatest cen- 

 ter of supplies for all Europe. How can 

 wheat from California or from any 

 American port on the Atlantic enter into 

 competition in the markets of Europe? 

 There is surely approaching rapidly a 

 radical change in the currents of com- 

 merce, and Alexandria is about to regain 

 its former position of chief granary to 

 the Mediterranean nations, which will 

 now embrace all Europe. Unless Ame- 

 rica gives immediate consideration to 

 these facts she will be illy prepared to 

 meet, when it comes, the great coramer- 

 ci.al revolution. 



The Reapers. 



The rcftpers bend their lusty backs; 



Their souDdiug sickles sway; 

 At every stroke the golden sea 



Recedes to give them way: 

 The heavy ears fall bowiny down, 



And nestle at their feet. 

 Such will, such work as theirs, perforce, 



Must win— must Ifomagu meet. 



So careless of fatigue, they go, 



8o true, and steadily. 

 The admiring traveler on the road 



Leans o'er the gate to see; 

 With marvel of the soon-fallen breath, 



The lounging gossii^s tell; 

 But the rea2>er8 labor for us all; 



'Tis need they should work well. 



]7re the great sun that bums above 



Shall crimson in the west, 

 And the children's poppy nosegays fade. 



And they lie down to rest, 

 Kuch golden spear that upward points 



Shall fall upon the Held, 

 And the farmer fans his sweating brow, 



Rejoicing o'er the yield. 



Ply, bonny men, your sickles bright. 



And give the people bread! 

 At every conquering stride you take. 



On want and woe you tread; 

 Drop, heavy ears, and give the strength 



You gathered from this plain, 

 That man may rise refreshed and firm, 



And do great things again. 



God bless the hands, all hard and bruwu, 



That guide the cleaving plow, 

 That cast abroad the shining seed. 



And build the wealthy mow; 

 They rear the bread our children eat; 



'Tis by their toil wo live: 

 Hurrah! give them the loudest cheer 



'that grateful hearts can give! 



— [Chambers' Journal. 



Does It Pay? 



Does it pay to have fifty workingmen 

 poor and ragged, in order to have one 

 saloon-keeper dressed in broadcloth and 

 flush of money? 



Docs it pay to have one citizen in the 

 county jail because another sells him 

 liquor? 



Does it pay to hang one man because 

 another got him drunk? 



Does it pay to have a dozen intelligent 

 young men turned into thieves and vaga- 

 bonds that one man may get a living by 

 "selling them rum?" 



Does it pay to receive $15 for a rum 

 license, and then pay §20,000 for trj'ing 

 a man for murder, induced by the rum 

 sold him? 



Does it pay to have a thousand homes 

 blasted, ruined, defiled, turned into hells 

 of misery, strife, and want, that some 

 wholesale rumseller may build up a large 

 fortune? 



Does it pay to have twenty mothers 

 and their children dress in rags, live In 

 hovels, daily famish, that one sumsel- 

 ler'swifo may live in ease and affluence? 



Does it pay to have hundreds of thous- 

 ands of men and women in almshouses, 

 penitentiaries, and hospitals, and thous- 

 ands more in the asylum for the idiotic 

 and insane, that a few he.avy capitalists 

 of the whisky ring may profit by such 

 atrocity? 



Does it pay to tolerate a traffic which 

 breeds crime, poverty, agony, idleness, 

 shame and death wherever it is allowed? 



NO! 



Butter will remove tar spots. Soap 

 and water will afterward take out the 

 grease stain. 



We should practice temperance, if it 

 were for nothing else but the very pleas- 

 ure of it; it is the glory of a man that 

 hath abundance to live as reason, nol ap- 

 petite directs. 



Subscribe for the AaBiciTLTtTEisT. 



Tai.l Gkaik. — Thomas A. Shaw, of 

 San Jose, writes this story of fall grain: 

 I have harvested a bundle of rye from 

 William H. Hall's ranch, two,miles from 

 Santa Cl.ara, nine feet high, and st.arted 

 it for the Centennial. It beats anything 

 in grain that I ever saw or heard tell of, 

 by a good deal. Measure off a nine-foot 

 pole and take a look at it. Hall has 100 

 acres. Of course the yield will not aver- 

 age as high, but it is all simply immense. 

 Paper mills are oflering $9 per ton for 

 the straw, after it is threshed, and good 

 hay is only worth $10 to $11. Hall will 

 thresh it and sell the straw. 



