10 



California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



fym^mtUixu. 



Letter from Lorn poc Temperance 

 Colony. 



Editor AoEicuLTnEisT ; — I am a close 

 reader of your valuable paper, and have 

 not seen an3-thiug from this section of 

 late. I said "valuable" paper, but hesi- 

 tated about using so hackneyed a term. 

 But I speak it conscientiously. Your 

 columns do contain such varied, reliable 

 and instructive reading matter, alike for 

 the farmer, his wife and his children, 

 and the moral tone is so sound and 

 strong, without any whining or cant, 

 that I feel free to use the word " valua- 

 ble" advisedly. In this "Temperance" 

 Colony your paper is, and ought to be, 

 appreciated for the noble stand you take 

 against advocating, countenancing or 

 advertising intoxicating liquors as nec- 

 essary to the public good or as any part 

 of so honorable a calling as agriculture. 

 God speed you, say many of us, in your 

 denunciation of those who i^rostitute 

 what should be useful Agricultural Fairs 

 into gambling, horse-racing, pool-selling, 

 black-leg institutions. I am truly glad 

 to see you and other agricultural papers 

 advocating the drying of grapes for 

 raisins, making of syrup, jellies, etc., or 

 even feeding them to hogs, instead of 

 making of them liquor, the curse of our 

 age and country. I must think you are 

 thus doiug the State a substantial ser- 

 vice, and not less the grape-raisers than 

 the consumers. There must be a great 

 and increasing demand for all dried and 

 preserved fruits. Take new territory like 

 this, filling up so rapidly; until our trees 

 and vines bear sufficient for home con- 

 sumption we afford a good market for 

 green, dried and preserved fruits. I 

 often wonder that those who produce 

 these wholesome and desirable strples do 

 not commtiuicate with some merchants, 

 or grangers, and supply, direct, the com- 

 muuity, without first selling to San 

 Francisco merchants, from whom the 

 local storekeepers of each community 

 must buy, at an increased cost to the 

 last, the retail purchaser. 



We are raising an immense amount of 

 produce in this vallej', beans, potatoes, 

 pumpkins etc. being the principal. Con- 

 siderable grain was put in and did well. 

 Fruit trees ai'e making a vigorous growth. 

 Special attention is being paid to hog 

 raising. We can raise ample food, and 

 the climate just suits for making bacon. 

 They have fetched a fine price, seven to 

 ten cents, on foot, to those who were 

 fortunate enough to have a stock to sell 

 to others who were determined to have 

 a start in these prolific and profitable 

 animals. A good deal of our tine dairy 

 laud is sold and settled. We have a con- 

 tinual influx of new comers, which " as- 

 tonishes the natives" of surrounding 

 places, especially those croakers who 

 boldly asserted, and were anxious to 

 "bet money" that it would be imijossible 

 to keep out saloons and the sale of 

 whisky, and who confidently predicted 

 the valley would never settle up, nor the 

 town amount to anything without liquor 

 selliug. If Lompoc be a failui-e I would 

 rejoice to see a thousand such failures m 

 our glorious State to-day. We are not 

 without our misfortunes. We had a 

 touch of potato blight, but we were 

 worse scared than hurt by far. The 

 most of jieople will hold their potatoes 

 for a higher price. The elements have 

 been against us. During a recent north- 

 west gale a considerable portion of our 

 wharf was moved off bodily, as the floor- 

 ing WHS spiked down hard and fast on 

 to the piling, which proved not to have 

 been sufficiently high. The experience 



is rather «xpensive, but it is hoped that 

 the rejjairs will stand, as we have abund- 

 ance of long piling to raise the floor 

 above the reach of the upward pressure 

 of incoming waves. The workmen have 

 already commenced repairing. The large 

 warehouse is about comjjleted, and is 

 filling up with produce awaiting ship- 

 ment and good prices. We still load 

 schooners at the part of the wharf re- 

 maining, which runs out abjut 'JUU feet, 

 I understand. We have had no rain yet 

 to damage anything. If plenty comes 

 hereafter it suits us best, as it gives us a 

 longer season in which to harvest the 

 large crop raised. A company has just 

 been incorporated for the purchase of 

 adjacent ranches, for the formation of 

 another temperance colony, to be called 

 "New Vinelaud." If itbe fully launched, 

 I have no doubt your advertising columns 

 will give information in general, and tell 

 where all details can be ascertained. 

 Elder J. W. Webb, well known as a lead- 

 ing spirit in Lompoc, and a public 

 worker in the temperance cause, is Presi- 

 dent, and Charles Maltby, formerly 

 Revenue and Indian Agent in California, 

 is Secretary. In the Los Alamos Valley 

 a large amount of laud has been leased 

 to farmers at very reasonable rates. All 

 this country will be settled up ere long. 

 I hear the "College Grant" is being sur- 

 veyed. I do not think of further items 

 of interest, and this letter is, maybe, too 

 long already. Respectfully, 



J. W. W. 

 Lompoc, December, 187G. 



Gkowth of the Lompoc Tempekance 

 Colony. — Says the Record : In Novem- 

 ber, 1S74, the Lompoc raneho, where 

 now is centred near fifteen hundred in- 

 habitants, was a common California 

 sheep or stock ranch, known only to the 

 stock men of the State as a superior 

 grass 2iroduciug region and occupied by 

 some thirty or forty thousand head of 

 sheep. Since that time the major i).art 

 of over 40,000 acres of the finest valley 

 and hill lands in the State have been 

 sold to four or five hundred different per- 

 sons, mostly heads of families, who are 

 either here or intend coming as soon as 

 convenient, in tracts to suit their means, 

 and on the installment plan which ena- 

 bles the poor man to woi-k out his salva- 

 tion and secure a home. In two years 

 and a half our colony will have built 

 three school edifices, one costing over 

 S5,000, affording school facilities for 

 over three hundred pupils as per last re- 

 port of Census Marshal. The business 

 of the colony has grown to quite respect- 

 able proportions. Five mercantile 

 houses, a drug store, livery stable, two 

 blacksmith and wagon shops, one furni- 

 ture store, two tailor shops, one shoe- 

 maker shop, two hotels, two confection- 

 ery establishments and postoffice and 

 telegraph, two lumber yards, and parties 

 now among us intending to open in trade 

 soon as suitable buildings can be erected. 

 Our people have made many fine im- 

 provements, such as erecting tasty dwell- 

 ings, etc. 



TRIAL OF SEEDS SENT OUT BY 

 THE AC. DEPT., WASHINGTON. 



Lompoc, Nov. 27, 1870. 

 Ed. Agricultukist: — I have to-d.ay 

 sent a report to the Clerk of the Agri- 

 cultural Department of the seed you 

 gave me. The bearded spring wheat 

 was very productive; 1(10 lbs. from a 

 ipiart The Chevalier biu-ley, light, 55 

 lbs. The white oats, good, 55 lbs. from 

 the quart. The Turban squash, splen- 

 did for pies, too dry for baking. The 

 large smooth tomatoes, a mistake. The 

 cantaloupes, watermelons, beets, etc., 



good, but 

 used. 



not superior to those already 

 Yours Truly, ' 

 Ievino p. Hennino, 



Sec. L. V. P. Co. 



Saratoga, Nov. 2'lth. 

 Friend Herring: — As was promised, 

 here is the rejjort of the planting, growth 

 and final result of the seeds obtained 

 through your office last season. The 

 first planted were the peas, McLean's 

 Little Gem and the Philadelphia Early. 

 I can recommend both these as being 

 tender and well flavored; they are both 

 prolific bearers, the first named being 

 about ten days earlier than the Philadel- 

 Jjhia Early. They received no irriga- 

 tion. The silver-skin onion proved to 

 be small and very mild. The cauliflow- 

 er (Asiatic) seed came up slowly, the 

 plants grew reluctantly, and died after 

 transplanting; were well watered and 

 cultivated. I am not at all acquainted 

 with the nature and habits of this plant, 

 and treated it the same as I did cab- 

 bage. Was that right? [Yes— Ed.] 

 The black wax bean is a sturdy plant, 

 and the beans are good either green or 

 dry. The brown Valentine beans were 

 received so late I did not plant them. 

 Will report on them next season. Of 

 corn, I had two varieties, Stowell's Ev- 

 ergreen and Early Minnesota. Of the 

 former, a little came up, but did not 

 amount to much. The latter did not 

 make its appearance above ground. Both 

 these varieties were well spoken of in 

 the Eastern papers a year or two ago; 

 but judging from the appearance of the 

 seed I hacl, it was not fully ripe. Of 

 cucumbers, there were the long green 

 Spine and early white Spine. The last 

 mentioned did not germinate at all, and 

 the birds pulled the others up almost as 

 fast as they showed themselves. The 

 melon seeds, of which there were the 

 Orange watermelon and Pineapple musk- 

 melon, did not come up. The seed was 

 very light. The Boston Marrow and 

 Early Bush squash came up and did 

 well. The Early Bush is good and ten- 

 der, but must not remain a day too long 

 on the vine, or it will be too strong. 

 I had Cook's Favorite and Improved 

 Trophy tomatoes, and can speak highly 

 in their favor. Cook's Favorite is 

 smaller than the Tro[)hy, but is smooth 

 and fuUv as well flavored. The vines 

 are still" full of fruit (Nov. 24th), but 

 the cold weather allows it to ripen so 

 slowly that it is rather insipid. 'VVe are 

 obliged to contend with birds and rab- 

 bits to such an extent that unless every- 

 thing is planted close by the house, it 

 does not amount to much. I was 

 obliged to do all the planting and culti- 

 vating this season, and as I was a per- 

 fect novice at such things, perhaps I was 

 partly the cause of such ill success. 

 Next season I hope to do better. 



E. L. HoppELL. 



Let it be remembered that the finer 

 we make the soil, the nicer the bed in 

 which to put the seed, the easier and 

 faster the plants can obtain their food. 

 The more we cultivate the soil the finer 

 we make it, and the faster our crops 

 grow. This principle we ought to under- 

 stand and apply, since it lies at the foun- 

 dation of economical and successful cul- 

 tivation. 



"Funny monkey," said Mrs. Parting- 

 ton as she saw him patiently sitting, 

 " but he sets as if ho had the plumbago 

 in the back, and I could wish there was 

 more hair on his reprehensible tail. I 

 cannot yet believe, neither, that they're 

 our posterity." 



Bee-Keeping in Southern Califor- 

 nia. 



^1 



""'"HE California bee season, Mr. Har- 

 bison says, begins by February 1. 

 In March or April the bees swarm, 

 and the bee-culturist has lively 

 ^ times in saving the swarms. The 

 science has become so systematized now 

 that the apiculturist knows within a day 

 or two when a given hive may be expect- 

 ed to swarm, and as the j-oung bees al- 

 ways settle somewhere near the parent 

 hive at least once before selecting their 

 new quarters, a swarni is seldom lost. 

 The flowers are at the height of their 

 luxuriance in May and June, and the 

 taking of honey is begun usually about 

 May 20, and the bees are kept at work as 

 long as the flowers last. They cease to 

 bloom in sufficient quantities to more 

 than subsist the bees in the early part of 

 August; but the little workers are able 

 to find enough to live ou without con- 

 suming their stores as late .as October. 

 It will thus be seen that the harvest time 

 is never longer than three months, and 

 is often much less. After October be- 

 gins, although the air is still mild and 

 spring-like, the bees cease to work, and 

 retire into a semi-dormant condition. 

 Once every eight or ten days a colony 

 will turn out at midday and fly around 

 for an hour or two in the sunshine, but 

 they never fly far from the hive, and are 

 never seen at work. 



The food of the bees in the bee belt is 

 generally the flowers of the white sage, a 

 plant that closely resembles the garden 

 sage. This is not to be confounded with 

 the sage brush of Nevada and Utah, 

 which is of the wormwood species, and 

 has the family bitterness. Next to the 

 sage in importance as bee food is the 

 sumac, a shrub that grows in California 

 without poisonous quality. In fact, 

 there is no poisonous flowering plant in 

 the bee range, and the honey has none 

 of the colicky qualities that make East- 

 ern-grown honey objectionable. The 

 honey is gi-aded by the culturist accord- 

 ing to the plant from which it is derived. 

 That made from sage flowers being 

 clearest and most aromatic, is most val- 

 uable. — .V^ic York Sioi. 



Bees in California. 



Moths have been a source of annoy- 

 ance in our apiary for years, having lost 

 many stands by their ravages. Mice, liz- 

 ards, spiders, etc., have sometimes ob- 

 tained possession of our hives, but such 

 will not be the case in the future. Moths 

 are not going to be tolerated as hereto- 

 fore; more care will be observed in 

 watching the hives, and eveiy precaution 

 will be used to avoid their being in the 

 hives unmolested; also so of spiders, 

 toads, &c. 



We consider it pure negligence to lose 

 a stand of bees in this state by starva- 

 tion, moths, etc. As for us. we never 

 took a hive oft' the summer stand to pro- 

 tect it from the rain, frost, etc., for the 

 winters are never so cold as to freeze the 

 bees. The only protection required is 

 to keep the water from entering the 

 hives, which would cause the combs to 

 mould, and if any litter should. have ac- 

 cumulated ou the bottom board it would 

 become decayed and would cause disease. 

 It is a rarity here for dirt and dead bees 

 to remain for any length of time inside 

 the hive if the stock is in a strong con- 

 dition and it is well to always have the 

 hive well stocked with inmates, (not 

 moths and other vermin,) for when so 



