178 



California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



ffve ghck^amiinl.l 



PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE 



CAL. AGRICULTURIST PUB. CO. 



S. HARRIS HERRING, Editor. 



OFFICE— No. 338 First Street, with Cottle & Wright's Job 

 Printing Office. 



RATES OF ADVERTISING: 



pt;r one Column ?12 00 Per Month 



*' half ColuiUD G 00 " ■' 



'* fourth Column 3 00 " " 



" eighth Column 2 00 " •' 



" Bixteenth Column 1 00 •* " 



fS^ We are determined to adhere to our rpBoln- 

 tion to admi*^ none but worthy basinees advertiB 

 ing in our columns, and to keep clear of patent 

 medicine, liquor, and other advert ieemeiita of 

 doubtful influence. 



The large circulation, the desirable class of 

 readers, and the neat and convenient form, rend- 

 ers this Journal a choice medium for reaching 

 the attention of the mRese*. 



$1.50 Per Ar(r\urr\. 



San Jose Office— dSS First Street. 

 San Francisco Business Office f tempora- 

 rily) — 406 Market Street. 



P. 0. Box in San Francisco, 805. 



Notice to Eastern Advertisers and 

 Advertising Agencies. 



It^ Hereafter no propositiou for advertisin;:,' 

 in tliis journal will be entertained without pay 

 in advance. Our published rates are the stand- 

 ard for all. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Bound Volumes. — We shall get a 

 niiniher of volumee of the Agkicultdrist 

 for 1876 complete, saved for the purpose, 

 bound. Several of these will be for BoIe at 

 the subscription price, added to the simple 

 cost of binding. 



Missing Numbers. — We have a few 



pajiora of tlitl'erent months, back numbers, 

 that will be supplied to any eul ecriber want- 

 ing them to 1111 volumnea where numbers are 

 missing. You who have saved your Agri- 

 oi^LTURiST for reference will please look 

 them over, and if any numbers are lacking, 

 order at once- We w ill supply free of cost as 

 long as we have them. 



"Aunt Polly" and her young folks 

 have our tlianks for the interest they have 

 added to the Agriculturist. Boys and girls 

 make men and women in a very few years* 

 and we like to have tbem try to make good 

 ones. There is no beiter way than in doing 

 rij(lit generally and taking particular interest 

 in such good reading as Aunt Polly and her 

 contributors furnish to our columns. It wont 

 hurt us older folks to read the 13oyR' and 

 Girls' Deparlment either. Wc can waste time 

 much lens prolitably, to say the least. 



''Jewell" gives valuable hints this 

 niontli to mothers about dressing I)abie8. We 

 note one point : That delicate l)abieH are the 

 ones that wrong dressing and neglect kilKs otl". 

 It is ft fact well known to breeders of fine 

 stock and poultry that the best breeds have 

 the tcnderost young. Will not the same rule 

 apply to human beings? Wa believe that 



the Ie.ws that govern physical life in one case 

 apply to the other; that the babies which 

 require the best treatment, the tenderest care, 

 to live and thrive, are likely to make the best 

 men and women. The young of the lowest 

 orders of life need little care; the your g of 

 the highest orders require much, and the finer 

 the organization the more care and attention 

 to its wants is necessary. 



Our Premium Certificates.— Those 



of our subscribers who have obtained that el- 

 egant American Chromo, "IJeatrice Cenci," 

 the subject of our last Premium Certificate, 

 will be gratified to learn that our Cerliticate 

 this month has for a subject a chromo fully up 

 to the last one in merit and value. All we 

 can say is, those of our subscribers who want 

 first class chromos should not lose these op 

 portunities we are now offering. *'Beatiice" 

 is a lovely picture, and grows more attractive 

 on acfiuaintance. This month's "Fruit Piece'' 

 is a real work of art. The California Art 

 Publication Company are doing more for us 

 than we really expected, and we are so well 

 satisfied that we gladly pay our share of the 

 expense. We would call your attention to 

 t^heir advertisement in our paper this month, 

 and can add that we feel fully warrrtnted in 

 endorsing them in all they say. 



On the Chinese question our opin- 

 ion 16 again asked, as thougli we could settle 

 it we suppose. Well, at any rate, our mind 

 is settled that the Chinese among us are a 

 greater curse than blessing to ns. The rich 

 may like to increase their riches, and be 

 waited upon like lords by the Chinese menials 

 IJut industry and enterprise is not benefitted 

 by their aid. Oar working men and women 

 are not encouraged by their presence. Labor 

 is not made more honorable, nor capital less 

 exacting ; nor is equality and good will and 

 general prosperity fostered. Aristocratic tastes 

 and tendencies are not on the decrease in com- 

 munities where Chiii^se laborers are em 

 ployed; and odious distinctions between the 

 rich and the poor — the man who labors and 

 the man who lives from others' labor — are 

 not becoming less odious. The rising genera- 

 tion hold in no higher estimation the grand 

 idea that labor is honorable. We believe 

 in universal equality and freedom, and cannot 

 admire a system which treads down the poor 

 makes labor slave, creates a privileged class, 

 and demoralizes society. This we think the 

 Chinese element amongst ns is surely doing 

 all the time, with no compensating benefits. 

 Hence oui aversion to it. 



mankind, many able agiicultural and house- 

 hold journals, and we have found much more 

 good than we could use, and so bave given 

 only the very cream to onr readers. All this 

 has required a deal of constant, luborious, yet 

 pleasant attention— much more than any one 

 unacquainted with such work can well im- 

 aging. 



A Valuable Volume for Reading 

 and for Reference— The bound num- 



ber.s of the Calikokma Agriculturist for 

 1876, with the index issued this month. Look 

 over this index and see what a variety of use- 

 ful and interesting topics are treT,te(l upon 

 Examine the articles and see how practical 

 and entertaining they are. The Agricul- 

 turist is not made up of a jumble of trash, 

 picked up at bap-hazard from other journals. 

 It contains a mass of original matter by 

 writers — earnest, intelligent persons — wbo 

 write because they have something to say 

 worth putting into print. The editorial arti- 

 cles have been written with an eye to the 

 wants of readers; to utiHty and sound princi- 

 ples. The selections have been carefully 

 chosen with reference to their value, adapta- 

 bility to our wants, and general or special in- 

 terest to readere. They have been gleaned 

 from extensive reading of the best literature 

 upon such subjects as tlio departments and 

 headings will indicate. There are many abb^ 

 pens in the world devoted to tiio service of 



Manuring the soil is best done in 



the Fall or early Winter. This is a matter 

 that certainly deserves more attention than 

 most farmers in this State give it. Stable and 

 yard manure is beneficial on any soil, and 

 particularly so on dry uplands and heavy 

 soils If plowed under in a coarse condition, 

 in lumps, it will not help make a crop the first 

 year, but will cause all the earth above it to 

 dry out, or "burnout," as some express it, 

 during the dry season, on drv land not irri- 

 gated. Id our climate, alwayh apply the ma- 

 nure to the surface. Yon can plow before you 

 spread on the manure, if you want to, and 

 harrow the manure and soil together. This 

 is a good plan, but do not turn it under until 

 it has lain upon the soil one season. Straw 

 and manure will rot upon the suiface, when 

 mixed with surface soil, much quickei than 

 when plowed nnder. This is on the same 

 principle that a piece of board, or a fence post, 

 Iving upon the ground or partially covered 

 with earth, will decay sooner than if buried 

 completely under the soil. You all know how 

 much sooner a fence post rots oft' at the sur- 

 face than it will a few inches below the sur- 

 face Manure and straw upon the surface 

 act as a mulching to save the moisure in the 

 soil from being taken into the air, and while 

 it decays sooner, serves a double purpose, viz : 

 enriching the soil and protecting the moisture 

 of the soil. It is a benefit to stir the manure 

 with the surface soil but an injury to plow it 

 under in any upland soil not irrigated. Where 

 irrigation is practiced, or on low, moist soils, 

 it makes not so mach difference whether it be 

 plowed under or not. 



Sumac. — Last season Mr. Jabob Eber- 

 hardt. tanner, Santa Clara, left a sack of su- 

 mac seed with us for distribution. A note in 

 the Agkictlturist attracted calls enough to 

 exhfiust the supply. We wish each one who 

 got seed to report, whether successful or not- 

 Mr. Eberhardt, who is a very energetic and 

 successful man, and a practical and siientific 

 tanner, wishes to see the sumac cultivated on 

 this coast. He asserts that there is money in 

 it. There are nearly 300 tons of sumac used 

 on this coast by lanne:s annually, which costs 

 here about $150 per ton. The best sumac is 

 cultivated, and comes from Cicily. The 

 wild sumac gathered in the Eastern States is 

 only worth about two-thirds as much as the 

 cultivated Cicily. At $75 to $S0 per ton, su- 

 mac could be very profitably cultivated on 

 this coast, and the consumption at this price 

 would be double what it now is at $150 per 

 ton. The finest and softest leather is tanned 

 with sumac. The French calf, for instance, 

 so renownoti for boots, can not be produced in 

 America in competition at the prices now de- 

 manded here for sumac Sumac is as easily 

 proprgated from roots as blackberries. Once 

 Ket a good stock of roots, and acres conld be 

 planted. It is thought that it can be annually 

 cut with a mower or header machine after 

 once properly rooted in the soil, and that the 

 level chappaivl lands will produce it abun- 

 dantly, and that Yankee ingenuity can, with 

 machinery, easily compete with the cheaper 

 labor of Cicily. At any rate, we hope with 

 Mr. Eberhardt, to see it soon tried here on a 

 liberal scale. 



Released from Custody .—in the Dis- 

 trict Court, on Saturday, November 18th, F. 

 E. Spencer, attorney for Mrs. Emily D- Aus- 

 tin in the divorce suit in which O- X. Austin 

 was defendant, made a motion to the effect 

 that .iho order heretofore made imprisoning 

 the defendant for contempt of court be va- 

 cated, and the defendant discharged from cus- 

 tody, the order was accordingly made and 

 Austin was set at liberty. The history of the 

 case is as follows: In the month of August, 

 1872, the plaintiff, Emily I>. Austin, married 

 the defendant. Their married life was not a 

 happy one; and in February, 1873, Mrs. Aus- 

 tin left her husband's roof on account of al- 

 leged harsh treatment, and in the following 

 montii brought su;t for divorce on the ground 

 of extreme cruelty. Austin was then and had 

 been for many years a well-to-do farmer and 

 orchardist, re^idiDg near Santa Clara. After 

 several postponements and continuances the 

 cause came up for trial at the January (1874) 

 term of the District Court, resulting in the 

 disagreement of the jury. The next trial 

 took place at the Septemher term of Court in 

 the same year, and a verdict was returned in 

 favor of the plaintift. Austin bad been pay- 

 ing for some time piior to this action, t^y order 

 of Judge Belden, $J0 per month alimony. 

 After the verdict had been rendered the Cf»urt 

 ot red him to pay to tlie plaintiff the further 

 sum of $938, fur expenses incurre in the uiit, 

 etc. He refused to comply and the Court 

 Commissioner was instructed to raise the 

 money by mortgaging the homestead, as the 

 defendant had nothing "in sight" that could 

 be attached. The banks refused to loan the 

 money wilhnut Austin's signature, and the 

 commissioner so reported Judge Belden 

 then ordered the obstinate Austin to make a 

 promissory note and mortgage and raise the 

 money, and defendant still persisting in his 

 stubbornness, was committed to jail for his 

 contempt of Court in refusing to ob^y the man- 

 dale of the Court. He entered the jail on the 

 5lh of February, 1875, and up the time of his 

 release never relaxed In the slightest degree 

 from his obstinacy. He affirmed that he 

 would stay in durance vile to the end of his 

 days rather than pay the money, and there is 

 no doubt but ho would have kept his word. 

 He was in jail 652 days. 



-The above statement of the case in the San 

 Jose "Mercury" is put in a light most favor- 

 able to the prosecutors, the arbitrary Judge 

 Belden and rapacious lawyer Spencer, who 

 have kept Mr. Austin in prison to the damage 

 of his bufliness, health, body and mind, for 

 long, weary months, because he would not 

 consent to submit to an unjust and outrageous 

 robbery by said "Court," in the name of "jus- 

 tice!" 



We hope to live to see a change, and re- 

 form in this whole lawyer, judge and court 

 business, so that it will be impossible for any 

 combination ol judges and lawyers to thus 

 outrage and imprison an honest American cit* 

 izen under any such pretense, or to hold him 

 in any sucii manner. It is a power that no 

 court should bo allowed to exercise. 



How at last was the "obstinate" Mr. Aus- 

 tin released? Was "justice" satisfied? Not 

 a bit of it. It was by a siaple turn of the 

 wrist. Think of being at the tender mercies 

 of such an opposing attorney, hankering for a 

 big fee, and of sucli a court. Whose turn in 

 to come next? This is a question that may 

 well arouse any citizen. Contempt of Court . 

 forsooth ! What decent citizen can have any- 

 thing but supreme contemi>t for any and all 

 such Courts, judges, lawyers and all ? 



This matter should arrest the attention of 

 every citizen, and bhould not be allowed to 

 drop until the matter is thoroughly ventilated 

 and understood, and such changes are mad<' 

 in court laws as shall in future prevent any 

 such ouirages from being even possible. 



Mr. Austin is entitled to the honor and 

 sympathy of every well-meaning citizen for 

 his persistent adhering to his principles ot 

 right. 



