^0 



California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



PUBLIC LAND MATTERS. 



Mr. Lane of Oregon has introduced a 

 jill for the sale of desert lands in certain 

 itates and Territories. The bill is so 

 ramed as to allow any citizen, or person 

 vho has filed a declaration to become a 

 •itizen, to take up and hold a mile square 

 )f laud by conducting water upon the 

 ;ame vrithiu three years thereafter, and 

 he privilege of purchasing the same at 

 'yl.25 per acre. 



"All lands, exclusive of timber lands 

 ind mineral lands, which will not, with- 

 lut irrigation, produce some agricultural 

 roil, shall be deemed desert lands with- 

 u the meaning of this act. 



To take effect in the States of Califor- 

 lia, Oregon and Nevada, and the Terri- 

 nries of Washington, Idaho, Montana, 

 Jtah, Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico 

 ud Dakota." 



It is wonderful how anxious some of 

 ur dear law-makets are to have all the 

 loverumeut lauds gobbled up, in large 

 uantities. We can see no good to come 

 rom such a law; but discover that there 

 i a great opportunity for laud grabbers 

 1 get hold of the best remaining por- 

 ious of our lands which require irriga- 

 ion, under the pretense of settling and 

 eclaiming the same. There is no hon- 

 st call for such an act by the people, 

 ud they do not need it; but they do 

 eed and ask for a law, or amendment 

 ) the Constitution of the United States, 

 liat will forever prevent the acquisition 

 f Government lauds in large bodies by 

 uy one person or association. 



^Ir. Lane has also introduced another 

 ill providing that any settlement made 

 y a person entitled to the benefits of 

 ae Homestead and Pre-emption laws 

 hall give him a vested right, forfeitable 

 uly by his failure to comply with the 

 iw under which he claims; and in case 

 uch settlemeut is on surveyed laud, his 

 ight to enter a quarter of a section 

 hall date from the actual settlement, 

 nt without requiring the papers to be 

 led until the survey is made. 



This seems to be made in oi'der to 

 Uutch the nail. Of course it is right 

 y itself, and only wrong in connection 



ith the power to control large tracts of 

 uids. 



Aud now comes 



DILL TO GOBBLE UP THE TIMBER ON GOT- 

 EKNMENT LANDS, 



utroduced by Mr. Chafiee, providing 

 Uat all citizens of the United States, 

 ud other persons bona fide residents of 

 lie State of Colorado or Nevada, or 

 he Temtories of New Mexico, Arizona, 

 Jtah, Wyoming, Dakota, Idaho, Wash- 

 iigton aud Montana, shall be, aud are 

 uthorized and permitted to fell aud re- 

 Jove, for buildiug, agricultural, miuing, 

 r domestic purposes, any timber or 

 ther trees growing or being on the pub- 

 ic lauds of the United States in cither 

 f said States or Territories of which 

 uch citizens or persons may be at the 

 iuie bona fide residents. As it now is, 

 aany poor men can have homes aud 

 business by taking up and purchasing 

 hcse lands for his own use. Open them 

 ip to the despoilers, and a few rich men 

 i-ould coutrol the whole thing. We saw 

 iiough of this business in Nevada the 

 hreo years we were there, to have an 

 dea of the matter. 



But the most open-faced and outra- 

 ;eous monopoly of all, on its face, is 

 ho bill ottered by Mr. Piper of Califor- 

 lii!, " grunting to the Alaska Shipbuild- 

 "g and Lumber Company the right to 

 iccupy and purchase certain lauds in 

 he Territory of Alaska upon paying the 

 -ioverunient price therefor. Forthe pur- 

 )ose of encouraging shipbuilding aud 

 leveloping the territory of Alaska, the 



Alaska Ship-building and Lumber Com- 

 pany, a corporation formed and existing 

 under the laws of the State of Calitor- 

 uia, aud its successors and assigns, are 

 hereby granted the right to enter upon 

 aud take possession of the islaud of 

 Kou, situated in the waters of- the Ter- 

 ritory of Alaska. » » « » ^^^ (jjg 

 said Alaska Ship-building and Lumber 

 Company, its successors and assigns, 

 may purchase timber lands upon the 

 shores and inlets of the adjacent waters 

 ol Christian and Prince Frederick sounds 

 aud Chatham, Duke of Clarence aud 

 Kekou Straits, upon giving notice of its 

 intention so to do, describing therein 

 generally the lands and giving security 

 for the payment of the expense of mak- 

 ing the necessary surveys, and upon the 

 completion aud return of such surveys, 

 paying for such laud one dollar and 

 twenty-five cents per acre; such pur- 

 chase to be made from time to time aud 

 in such quantities as may be required." 

 Here is a graud attempt to monopo- 

 lize a whole sectiou of valuable country 

 uuder a most shallow pretense, which 

 would virtually exclude any otherpersou 

 or company from "ship-building" in 

 that Territory. The introduction of 

 this bill by Mr. Piper should consign 

 him to a political grave. What right- 

 thinking man can ever vote for him 

 again? It is time that the people watch 

 the acts of Representatives and Sena- 

 tors, and stamp each with a seal of merit 

 or demerit as each deserves, irrespective 

 of party affinities. Not another acre of 

 Government lauds should ever be voted 

 away from the people under any pre- 

 tense whatever. Leave it open to hon- 

 est pre-emption, and throw every guard 

 around it to secure its bona tide settle- 

 meut by actual settlers. Then leave the 

 matter to the good sense and to the ne- 

 cessities of the people, aud let them 

 settle it as fast or as slow as they choose, 

 in a legitimate way. There is no neces- 

 sity for the Government to sell the lauds 

 any faster than they are pre-emi^ted. 

 To do so, is wrong in principle, and 

 worse in practice. 



DECISIONS BY SECEETARY OF INTERIOR — 

 CASE OF FRANCOIS LACOMBE. 



January 13 — Certificates of location 

 issued by Surveyor-General in confirmed 

 provate land claims under act of Con- 

 gress of June 2, 1858, are assignable. 



FROM REPORT OF LAND OFFICE, 1876, P. 50. 



"Another very important question 

 has been for some years before the courts 

 aud the Department, respecting lands 

 within frauilulent and rejected exterior 

 limits of Mexican and other private 

 grants in California. This question re- 

 lates to the condition of the lauds thus 

 embraced during the period of alleged 

 reservation and prior to the date of de- 

 termination of the Depaitmeut or courts 

 of the true limits aud area of the pri- 

 vate grants. It was finally settled by 

 the Supreme Court in Newhall vs. San- 

 ger, (October term, 1875,; whereiu it 

 was declared that these lauds were ' >e- 

 served ' and not ' public lands, ' aud that 

 m consequence thereof did not pass to 

 the railroad companies uuder their grants 

 made during such reservation, reversing 

 the decree of the circuit court of the 

 United States for the district of Califor- 

 nia, and decisively aonidin;/ tht. Vepart- 

 metdal decision of Mr. Secrelary Delano in 

 Ihe case of the iVes'ern Pacific liailruad 

 Company vs. II. E. VilliH</liii)n, et al." 

 Applications for patents for homesteads 

 and pre-emi)tious within exterior limits 

 of invalid Mexican grants are tlicnfore 

 <^!(( loose, aud the applicants should have 

 their patents. 



SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, 



October term, 1876; Antonia Beryessa, 



administrator of Nicholas Berryessa, de- 

 ceased, appellant, vs. the United States; 

 appeal from District Court of the United 

 States for the ditrict of Cal.; Waite, 

 C. Z. : The Supreme Court has decided 

 adversely upon claims under Mexican 

 grants where a grant from the Mexican 

 government has not been " deposited 

 and recorded in the proper public office 

 among the public archives of the Repub- 

 lic." Cites: U. S. vs. Camburton, 20 

 How., 64; U. S. vs. Castro, 24 How., 

 349; U. S. vs. Knight, 1 Black, 25; Per- 

 alta vs. U. S., 3 Wall., 440. Decree of 

 district court affirmed. 



The farmers have lately gained the 

 suit against the miners for overrunning 

 their land with debris, and ruining them 

 for agricultural purposes. Probably the 

 matter will be taken before a higher 

 court, but the agriculturists must event- 

 ually be protected. 



AN EPISTLE BY OUR DREAMY 

 CANVASSER. 



In answer to my timid request to sub- 

 scribe, a California granger as tall as the 

 eucalyptus, aud with a beard like a red- 

 wood top, advanced a stride in my direc- 

 tion, rested one loot on the summit of 

 his gatepost, placed the palm ol his hand 

 carelessly on the top of a telegraph pole, 

 took a bird's-eye view of your correspon- 

 dent's outfit, ejected a narcotic Hood 

 from his mouth, submerging some colo- 

 nies of ants and a beetle ranch, aud ex- 

 claimed, with a startling abruptness, 

 " What's that, young manV" I dare say 

 I felt like Gulliver at Brobdignag, aud 

 for purposes of easy conversation I 

 would fain have sat upon the giant's hat 

 brim. However, I managed to titilate 

 his tympanum at a safe distance. 



"Your agricultural papers be blanked!" 

 said he, alarmingly emphatic in word 

 and gesture; "It makes me mad to see 

 what blamed fools them fellers be who 

 write agricultural papers and books, any- 

 how. Now," said he, twanging the tel- 

 egraph wire with his little finger, "what 

 d'ye they know 'bout time for plowin', 

 or puttiu' in crops, or pruiiin' vines, out 

 here." I interrupted him with a feeble 

 remark, and intimated that very likely 

 he had been reading an arctic rural, 

 adapted to a soil and climate, remote 

 from the laud of the perennial straw- 

 berry aud pea vine, and that suggestions 

 for cultivating and transplanting the 

 lichen, subsoiling on ice floes, and im- 

 proving the breed of polar bears and 

 walruses, cannot be safely followed by 

 the California farmer, the conditions in 

 the two sections not being exactly iden- 

 tical. He gave me a contemiituous look 

 and continued volubly, citing numerous 

 instances going to show the worse than 

 Egyptian darkuess pervading the minds 

 of agricultural writers aud editors in 

 general, aud Mr. Greeley in particular. 

 Agaiu I remonstrated, arguing that 

 "What I Know About Farming," though 

 an invaluable agricultural treatise, doubt- 

 less, yet is not uuiversally regarded by 

 our farmers as the most reliable author- 

 ity on California husbandry; that hus- 

 bandmeu who experiment by eastern and 

 foreigu journals aud have an abiding 

 Mr. Billings almanac as a wtather guide 

 f, r our coast, will occasionally miscalcu- 

 late; that California publications, espe- 

 cially the California Agriculturist, are 

 more reliable and much safer guides for 

 our farmers in agriculture aud horticul- 

 ture than the aforesaid authorities; that 

 some chaff is invariably mixed with the 

 wheat ill spite of the most careful wiu- 

 uowiug by the editor; that even editors 

 have been sometimes deemed fallible by 

 rash aud irreverent readers; that no per. 

 son should imagine his little acre and af- 



fairs the obj'^ct of our special and exclu- 

 sive solicitude, and that whoever deems 

 knowledge useless which does not refer 

 directly to the crops aud flocks within 

 his own gates, is no wiser than an oyster 

 in his unopened shell; that I should ad- 

 vise him to take the . Here the tel- 

 egraph wire snapped with a vicious 

 twang, the ponderous foot of Brobdignag 

 came down with a dreadful thud, another 

 narcotic rolled from his mouth and 

 roared past me. At this crisis, fortu- 

 nately, I awoke in the comfortable bed 

 of a hospitable farmer, to realize that 

 my frequent wrestle with the cynical and 

 skeptical granger had been renewed in 

 my dreams. C. 



STOCKTON LETTER. 



irrigation — GRAPE CUTTINGS. 



Ed. Agriculturist: Many farmers liv- 

 ing on the Calaveras and Mormon Chan- 

 nels, which are the two principal outlets 

 of the Calaveras river, are engaged in 

 danuning, in anticipation that Spring 

 rains will come; in which case four to five 

 thousand acres of land will be flooded by 

 means of these dams. At present water 

 enough to irrigate twenty acres a day is 

 utilized. The flow is decreasing because 

 there is no snow to feed the stream. I 

 have 6000 Muscat of Alexandria vines. 

 I grafted iu 500 of that variety last year 

 by the underground process, using two 

 cuttings; nine-tenths of them lived. In 

 case both grafts grow I dig down and 

 saw off one of them. 



I propose now to graft 1,500 with Mus- 

 cats and White Corinth. The latter va- 

 riety are seedless and very difficult to 

 procure here. Of the Mucat of Alexan- 

 dria I could sell twice as many as I did 

 last year, which was 13,000. Orders re- 

 ceived before March, with cash, will be 

 filled at the rate of $5.00 per M., and 

 shipped in order. I want to buy some 

 Gordo Blanco aud Sultana for trial. 1 

 believe at Stockton we have one of the 

 best places in the world for grape culture 

 and raisin making. 



D. A. Learned. 



Jan. 15, '77. 



Estimate of Seeds for an Acre. 



POUNDa. 



Beets and Mangold Wiirtzel 4 to 6 



Cabbage 1 to 1 }4 



Carrut 2 to 3 



Cut-umber, ill hiU8 1 to 2 



Clover, red. broHdrast alone 15 to 20 



Clover, mixed witli \i bushel Timothy 



and 1 bushel Red Top 10 



Clover, white, broadcast alone 10 to 15 



Alfalfa 16 



Lucerne 15 



Onion, iu drills 4 to 5 



Parsnip, in drills 4 to 6 



Radiish. in drill 5 to 8 



Radish, broadcast 12 to 16 



Salsify . iu drills 6 to 8 



Spinach 8 to 10 



Turnip and Ruta Baga. broadcHSt .. . IH 



Turnip and Ruta Baga. in drills 1 



QUARTS. 



Beans, pole, in hills 3x4 ,. 8 to 12 



Coru, in hills . 8 to 12 



Broom Corn, iu hills 10 to 12 



Mustard, broadcast 12 



Sorghum, or Chinese Sugar Cane .. .. 2 to 3 



BUSH£LS. 



Beans, bush, in drillB2H feet apart... 1?^ 



Corn furfodder 3 to 4 



Barley, broadcast 2 to 3 



Barley, iu drills l!^to 2 



Buckwheat , 1 to 1 Jfi 



Hungaiian Grass 34 



Kentucky Blue Grass 2 to 3 



Lawn Grass 2 to 3 



Millet, broadcast >6to % 



Oats 2 to 3 



Orchard Grass ' 2 to 3 



Pens, in drills 2 to 3 



Potatoes, in drills or hills, cut tubers 10 



Potatoes, cut to siugle eyes fi 



Rye, broadcast 1 to 2 



Rid Top 2 to 3 



Rye Grass 2 



Sainfoin 2 to 3 



Timothy )^ 



Vetches 2 to 3 



"Wheat, broadcast 1 to 2 



Wheat, iu drills Hto 1 



