California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



®Iic (Bvaiu ©vmrcv. 



Corn Song'. 



BT J. G. WHITTIEB. 



Heap high the farmer's winterH hoard; 



Heap high the goUlen corn: 

 No richer gift has Autumn piiured 

 From out her lavish horn. 



Let other lands, exulting, glean 



The apple from the pine ; 

 The orange from its glossy green, 



The cluster from the vine. 



We better love the hardy gift 



Our ragged vales he-itow. 

 To cheer us when the st )rra shall drift 



Our harvest fields with snow. 



And now with autumn's moonlit eyes, 



Its harvest time is come. 

 We pluck away its frosty leaves. 



And btar its treasures home. 



But let the good old corn adorn 



The hills our fathers trod ; 

 Still let us tor His goMen corn 



Send up our thiiuks to God. 



CRACKED WHEAT AND SMUT. 



BY D. A. L. 



time to time so as to use 4 to six pounds 

 of bluestone for each ton of wheat. 



THE CRACKING OF WHEAT 



By threshing machines can and should 

 be avoided. If the cylinder and concave 

 teeth are adjusted so as to pass at a 

 proper distance, and the gi-ate bars made 

 smooth and free from sharp angles, and 

 the speed kept down so that the grain is 

 not hurled as shot from a gun against 

 the grate bars, the grain would come out 

 in perfect condition for seed. Unfortu- 

 nately, steam supplies the power, and 

 job work the temptatitm to make one- 

 twelfth of the crop unfit for that pur- 

 pose. 



Stockton, September 26, 1876. 



f' '^'HE origin of smut in wheat is from 

 cracked grains which have vitality 

 enough to germinate and grow, but 

 a-if not enough to mature the grain. 



WHEAT THRESHED ON THE GKOUND 



By the tramping of horses, and sown 

 without the application of any prepara- 

 tion to it, does not produce smut. Wheat 

 that falls to the ground in the field and 

 makes a volunteer crop does not produce 

 smut. Such wheat, like any other, may 

 blast: that is, for the want of a perfect 

 fructification, a black sxibstauce is found 

 in the place of the grain, which blows 

 away before harvest, but the real smut 

 remains in its "sack" till after threshing. 

 Probably the cause of blasting is high 

 winds during the time the growing grain 

 is in blossom. 



PREVENTING SMUT. 



Since the use of threshing machines 

 became general, every wheat raiser uses 

 quicklime or bluestone, {sulphate of cop- 

 per.) These corrosive substances pene- 

 trate the grain where the skin is broken, 

 and destroy the vitality of the fungus 

 germ, and thus prevent smut. 



WRONG PRACTICE. 



I have known farmers to sprinkle 

 wheat with a solution of sulphate of 

 copper, and immediatfly apply lime. 

 This method will not prevent smut, be- 

 cause the sulphuric acid unites with the 

 lime immediately, forming sulphate of 

 lime, (plaster of Paris,) leaving the cop- 

 per in a metalic state, and the last chem- 

 ical arrangement renders the whole inert. 



LIME MAY BE USED 



In the manner following: Pour the wheat 

 in a trough, sprinkle and stir till well 

 wet, add lime and stir well. If properly 

 done the lime adheres to the grain like 

 plastering. Lime applied in this way 

 not only prevents smut, but also stimu- 

 lates the young plants. The dust from 

 lime in sowing is very offensive to the 

 eyes, nose and mouth, for which reason 

 most farmers use 



ELUESTONE, 



My method of using which is as follows: 



Dissolve 3 pounds of bluestone in a 



wooden bucket, using hot water; put 50 



to 60 gallons of water in a trough and 



pour in the solution. Take sacks of 



wheat and divide them into other sacks 



to make them convenient to handle. 



Immerse them in the trough for three or 



I four minutes, then lift them on a plat- 



I form where they will drain into the 



' trougli. Add bluestone and water from 



KicE Lowland and Upland. — Louis- 

 iana is rapidly outstripping all the 

 other rice growing States in the quanti- 

 ty of production of this cereal. It is 

 thought her crop this year will be over 

 200,000 barrels, or nearly fifty millions 

 of pounds. 



Bice was cultivated along the Missis- 

 sippi immediately after the French set- 

 tled at New Orleans. It is said that the 

 first rice raising in America was acci- 

 dentally procured. A brig from Mada- 

 gascar on her way to England found her 

 way into Charleston in 1695, and the 

 captain gave a bag of paddy rice to 

 Landgeave Smith, who distributed it, 

 and as it flourished so well, it soon be- 

 came the prime crop of Charleston and 

 Savannah. We do not think that the 

 French obtained their rice from that 

 source, as their rice was always inferior 

 to the Charleston and Savannah rice, 

 and it is only now that we are getting 

 rid of the evil effects of inferior seed, 

 and of couse a worse quality of rice than 

 our neighbors raise. But it is being 

 done, and the quality of Louisaiana rice 

 is raising the grade every year, and with 

 the vast increase of quantity and im- 

 provement in quality, the Louisiana rice 

 will soon command the rice trade of the 

 world. 



Flooded or Lowland rice is the kind 

 most rapidly cultivated, and is adapted 

 to the lowlands which can be flooded. 

 The great fields lie along the Mississippi 

 and Lafourche, but thert. are others in 

 the interior where streams may be dam- 

 med and turned into lowlands when 

 needed. 



The mode of culture in this kind of 

 rice is simple but thorough. The fields 

 are laid off in small slices, which vary 

 greatly in size. There are one or two 

 main canals leading the water as it over- 

 flows from the stream to the field; from 

 these smaller, canals and ditches con- 

 duet the water as wanted into each sec- 

 tion. Every patch or small field is laid 

 off to itself with its own ditches and 

 levees around it, and a flood gate at the j 

 main ditch to let on the w^ater, and an- 

 other at the lowest point to take it off. 

 The ground is usually broken well as 

 early in the spring as possible ; the rice 

 is then sowed so that it is not likely to 

 be affected by frost; some drill, which is 

 better. The water is let on after plant- 

 ing and allowed to remain until the 

 seeds are well sproutecL It is then 

 drawn off and the rice allowed to 

 strengthen a little, when the water is 

 again turned on and allowed to remain 

 several weeks. Some again draw oft' the 

 water to clear the field of weeds; others 

 do not, and pull up the weeds, wading 

 in the water to do so. At all events the 

 water is turned on some weeks in ad- 

 vance of the heading, and is always to 

 remain until it is drawn off for the last 

 time to let the grain harden and ripen, 

 when it is cut with the sickle, and not 

 as it might bo with the California 

 header. 



When cut it is tied in bundles like 

 wheat and shocked in the field until 

 hauled away to be stacked or thrashed. 



The whole operation is a simple one, 

 and one hand may cultivate thirty acres. 



The yield is about an average of 1200 

 pounds of threashed rice to the acre.' 



The Uplawl or Dfouiilain like is of a 

 hardier kind, and not quite so long in 

 the grain nor as white as the lowland 

 rice. It may be raised wherever cotton 

 will grow, and it is more productive than 

 the watered rice, often gives 1800 pounds 

 of clean rice to the acre. It may be 

 planted from the 1st of April to the 1st 

 of June in this State, and the ground 

 should be as low and moist as can be 

 had to be susceptible of cultivation. It 

 is usually planted in drills, or better in 

 hills. It in drills the rows should be 

 about three feet apart; if in hills the 

 rows should be three feet one way and 

 about fifteen inches the other, so as to 

 admit cultivation both ways. 



Thus prepared, the unhuUed or paddy 

 rice should be planted at the rate of a 

 peck to the acre, rarely more, as with a 

 good stand it stools more than any other 

 plant. Planted in hills, about four or 

 five seeds in a hill is enough. 



It should be worked vigorosly with 

 plow and hoe so as to be kept clean, un- 

 till it shades the ground, when it will do 

 to lay by. Some three plowings and 

 scraiiings will answer. Thus cultivated, 

 it yields enormously in good ground any- 

 where in the uplands, and will nuike 

 from fifty to one hundred bushels of 

 rough rice to the acre, in addition to the 

 straw, which, if properly saved, all 

 stock animals eat with avidity. 



The rough rice may be thrashed in a 

 wheat thrasher, or even on the bare 

 floor with a flail very fast. 



The cultivation of upland rice should 

 be extended. — INew Orleans Our Home 

 Journal. 



^ 



(Kmt^milnm. 



LETTER FROM SANTA CRUZ. 



Santa Cruz, Oct. 1, 1876. 



Ed. California Agricultdrist; It is 

 often a subject of remark that this beauti- 

 ful little city does not receive more notice 

 in your columns. Is it owing entirely 

 to the remissness of your old correspon- 

 dent from this place; It is but natural 

 that those making their homes here, 

 should feel interested in having outsiders 

 know the advantage of a residence in 

 Santa Cruz, and hoping others may fol- 

 low my example and give you occasional 

 notes from their own stand points, I 

 beg your acceptance of a few lines. 



This centennial year has been an 

 eventful one for Santa Cruz. The long 

 talked of 



NARROW GAUGE BAIL BOAD 



Between here and Pajaro has been com- 

 pleted and was opened to the public 

 early in the season, our lirst class private 

 boarding houses have had to more than 

 double their capacity, by the building of 

 an elegant addition which however proves 

 inadequate for the accomodation of 

 numerous guests who were compelled to 

 seek shelter among private families in 

 the neighborhood, taking their meals in 

 the spacious dining room of the estab- 

 lishment. 



SURF bathing and PICNICS 



Has been the order of the day and the 

 town has been lively with teams and 

 horseback riders, as well as with pedes- 

 trians in fashionable attire. 



A complete description of the beach 

 during bathing time apiieared some time 

 ago in the Sunday Chronicle, and when 



you consider that for upwards of five 

 months the same scenes have occurred 

 each day with scarcely any intermission, 

 it is not to be wondered at that old res- 

 idents become accustomed to it and find 

 less novelty and enjoyment there than 

 the new comers. 



New houses are springing up and im- 

 provements in the way of widening 

 streets and planking sidewalks are in 

 contemplation. The narrow guage road 

 between here and Felton, also completed 

 this year, is in successful operation. 

 The company have built a fine wharf at 

 the beach "for shipping the lumber 

 brought from the Kedwoods 



BY FLUME AND RAIL, 



And other improvements are in progress. 

 The work of tunneling under the upper 

 plaza is soon to be accomplished, which 

 will enable the company to send trains 

 by steam close to the water's edge, in- 

 stead of going through the town with 

 horses as they now are obliged to. In 

 order to accomplish this work as speedi- 

 ly as possible the enterprising superin- 

 tendents employ three gangs of men who 

 each works eight horse shifts night and 

 day. How the prayers of the devout 

 must ascend to the Throne of Grace 

 from the Church above, for the breth- 

 eren in the tunnel below, (no Chinamen 

 being employed.) This is 



the TRUE SEASON FOR CAMPING, 



As game is plenty and the law no longer 

 prohibits the taking of it. Several par- 

 ties have already gone, but mostly unat- 

 tended by the gLUtler sex, who are often 

 timid in the use of fire-arms. These 

 daij parties are by far the most success- 

 ful and bring in more game, while the 

 ladies prefer cooking it by their own 

 firesides rather than over the camp fire. 

 Though the season is far advanced the 

 daily train comes well patronized, and 

 the "company congratulate themselves 

 upon the fact that this peice of road has 

 yielded as large a revenue as any other 

 in the state. Families are coming in to 



MAKE HOMES AMONG US 



Attracted by the railroad communica- 

 tion as well by the educational facilities, 

 which have also received a fresh impetus 

 in the form of a new school house cost- 

 ing some :i:^20,000. An excellent corps 

 of teachers are employed, who gives gen- 

 eral satisfaction. It is one of the neces- 

 sities of the age to give our youth school 

 education, but mothers who have children 

 groAviug up more interested in play than 

 study or work, would like to see added 

 opportuities for devitting their attention 

 toward useful employments so that upon 

 leaving school a desire for industry 

 would" lead them io obtain situation for 

 becoming self supporting. Your paper 

 continues to be a 



GENERAL F.iV0RITE 



Here, and I hear the ladies wondering 

 why the Editor does not always affix the 

 prices to the illustration of articles 

 in the way of plant stands, aqurariums 

 and the like which are to be obtained in 

 your city. Also wishing you could ad- 

 vertise prices of frames for chromos, of 

 which every family usually has more 

 than they feel able to frame at prices 

 asked. I find a marked difference in the 

 San Franeisci) prices of such things and 

 those we are here expected to give, and 

 presume they are less with you. 



Hoping you uuiy live to see the day 

 when the Cal. Agriculturist will have 

 become a household necessity, every- 

 where, alike for the rich and the poor, I 

 close. Helena. 



It is the conscious want of merit that 

 causes one to depreciate the merit of an- 

 other. Unable or unwilling himself to 

 go up, ho would drag all others down. 



