California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



27 



attended to, and will involve considera- 

 ble expense. The plan to be adopted is 

 that pursued in Spain, the borne of the 

 raisin. The grounds are to be subdivi- 

 ded into coniparraents of perhaps SxlC 

 feet, each to be surroounded liy an 

 adobe wall about two feet hij^h, the floor 

 to be prepared and made smooth with 

 adobe, and each compartment covered 

 with a canvass drawn over at night. 

 The adobe will thus retain the heat of the 

 sun duriuftthe day and by covering it up 

 the heat will be longer retained and the 

 raisins continue drying through the night. 

 This vineyard has already cost about $70 

 per acre, and will jjerhaps cost $30 or 

 $40 more before any revenue is derived 

 from it. The experiment ou the thor- 

 ough and extensive scale pursued in this 

 undertaking is an interesting one, and if 

 successful should be eargerly watched 

 by all the vineyardists of the State. 

 There is one lesson shown by the lusty 

 growth of the vines and the moist and 

 pulverized condition of the soil through- 

 out the .year, which can be of use to ev- 

 ery farmer or tiller of the soil in the 

 State, no matter what his occupation, 

 that is, the dread of drouths can be ob- 

 viated by thorough cultivation of the 

 soil, and the urgent need of irrigation 

 can in many places be entirely done 

 away with by thorough and deep tillage. 



MAKING KAISINS. 



There is much encouragement in the 

 good results of attention to the business 

 of the past season or two, to believe 

 that the raisin-making interest will soon 

 be one of the most important industries 

 of California. Mentioning the failure of 

 the San Joaquin foothill vineyardists to 

 find profit in wine making, the Stockton 

 Independent says: During the last two or 

 three years, however, several owners of 

 mountain vineyards have turned their 

 attention to the production of the rai- 

 sin grape, and in most cases the experi- 

 ments have been successful. We lately 

 visited the ranch of L. F. Jarvis, near 

 Columbia, Tuolumne county, and saw a 

 large quantity of raisins made from this 

 year's crop of grapes that would coni- 

 l^are favorably with the imported article. 

 Mr. Jarvis finds that he White Muscat 

 grape is the best for raisins, and he 

 this year raised about ninety tons of this 

 variety, all of which he converted into 

 raisins by drying the grapes in the sun. 

 He has extensive platforms erected on 

 the hillside, sloping toward the south, 

 on which be spreads the grapes, and if 

 the weather remains pleasant nothing 

 more is necessary until the grapes are 

 dried ready for boxing. In case of early 

 rain, svich as we have had this year, he 

 is prepared to throw a temporary roof 

 over his platform to protect the drying 

 grapes from the storm. His grapes have 

 dried without any difficulty and the rai- 

 sins produced will sell readily in mar- 

 ket. Mr. Jarvis is, however, of the 

 opinion of most of those advocating the 

 developement of this industry have 

 overestimated the product of raisins 

 from a given quantity of grapes, his 

 experience proving to him that it will 

 take about five pounds of grapes to make 

 one of raisins, yet the grapes are then 

 more valuable for raisins than for any- 

 thing else. 



(&(luQtiaual 



Canning beef is becoming quite an iiu- 

 portfint industry in Oregon and serve to 

 keep the salmon canneries employed dur- 

 ing what would otherwise be the dull 

 season. A corespondent of the Oregon- 

 Ian says: The Cutting Packing Company 

 are packing beef in cans. Under a con- 

 tract from England, they are packing 

 daily from 40 to 50 beeves- supplied by 

 the Portland slaughterers. 



^!^?^^~ 



Boil it Down. 



Wliatcvrr you may hiive to Buy, my friend, 

 WlKitluT witty, or nvuvo, or nuy. 



Condense an much as ever ynu can, 

 And sny it in Uw rr-iidiest way; 



And \vhi'llii-r you wrlt't of rural" uflairK, 

 Or of mnttcra and tliiuRS in town, 



JuHt take u word of friendly advit-c— 

 Boil it down. 



For if you i'o ^^pluttp^inK ovfr a i)ftKe 

 Whf-n a couple of lineH would do. 



Your Ijutter is Kproad ho much, you Ken, 

 Tliat tbf bread look- plainly through. 



So, wh n you huvo a Kfory tr) t<dl. 

 And would like u little renown. 



To make quite sure of your wish, my friend. 

 Bull it down. 



Wlieii writing an article for thn preBS, 

 Whither proso or vcrno, junt try 



To hcttlc your thnuKhfn In the feweat words, 

 And let them lie crisp'anddry; 



And when it is fininhi-d and you stippOBO 

 It iw done exactly brown. 



Just look it over ii^aln, and then. 

 Boll it down. 



For editors do not liki? to print 



An article lazily lonp. 

 Anrl tin- tieinrul reader doen not care 



E'or a couple of yards of sonf;; 

 So Rather your wits in the smallest space 



If you want a littb renown. 

 And every time you write, my friend. 

 Boll it down. 



THE FREE AND INDEPENDENT 

 NEWSPAPER. 



^ 



BY A. GAYLORD SPALDING. 



E.VR EDITOR: Yoii will please ac- 

 cept the friendly greeting of u once 

 nctive typo brother, now for some 

 JiT'ij dreary years prostrated by cruel ca- 

 'XtH laniity, and laid on the low couch 

 of helpless retirement. An editor is apt 

 to find "Jordan is a hard road to trabel, 

 I believe;" especially if ho ventures to 

 run a wide-awake, forcible, free and in- 

 dependent, greenback, labor reform, tem- 

 perance journal, iu a new country, of 

 wild land, wild game, and fast people, 

 against the rushing tide of blind and 

 reckless money power and popularity, 

 amidst the dense fogs of party and scct- 

 ism, ignorance, prejudice, antiquated 

 custom and old Madam Grundy; and he 

 naturally craves the warm sympathy of 

 his fellow craftsmen, and of all high 

 thinking minds. Who can possibly ever 

 be a bit free and independent, or how 

 shall we win our luuiest bread and but- 

 ter? It is a serious conundrum. 



It takes a hero for a pioneer iu the 

 type wilderness, as well as with the plow, 

 to break the grubby field, and no puny 

 or timid hand can ever accipmplish great 

 things. Few have the nerve to strike. 



And realizing this most discouragiug 

 fact, you probably, at the outset, couuti'd 

 the heavy cost, and made up your mind 

 for manly struggle and a valiant battle. 

 We fight the idol-gods of party, sect and 

 monopoly, iu defense of 



I.ABOl! AND THE WOKKINGMAN. 



The newspaper is a universal necessity, 

 if Hotteutotism is not the settled law nnil 

 gospel: and, wherever yon find retine- 

 ment iu society, with mental develop- 

 ment and moral rectitude, and external 

 polish and attraction iu houses and lands, 

 you may be quiie sure the good newspa- 

 per is scattered freely arouud. 



And, furthermore, if new departures 

 are opening up, on finance, trade, poli- 

 tics, government, social philosophy, sci- 

 ence, sensible religion, temperance, 

 woman's freedom, Sunday freedom, and 

 labor reform, with a new century, new 

 clothes, new ideas and new "everydiugs" 

 to correspond, it is ju'ctty evident that 

 the lively, audacious, independent, truth- 

 telling editor is making things boiling 



hot generally, and stirring up the dry 

 bones of rusty old-fogyisra, ancient hard- 

 shell superstition, Ueecherism, bloated 

 and rotten monopoly, and supercilious, 

 self-styled uppertendom. So, if your 

 toiling millions are proud of themselves, 

 and of their homes and country, and 

 ambitious to shine and excel in the ele- 

 ments of true civilization and laudable 

 aggrandizement, they will be very proud 

 of your heroic and beautiful magazine, 

 and subscribe liberally and write abun- 

 dantly. C'ome on, then, friends; come 

 on now ! Your clean, bright and burning 

 columns, never choked up with fawning 

 toadyism, party cowardice, selfish com- 

 ))romise, or bigotry or prejudi(!e of any 

 kind, will welcome and encourage a most 

 free and fearless correspondence, whiiU 

 should characterize all American journal- 

 ism in the present glorious opening new 

 century of our proud national history. 



I jihice the newspaper, always, at the 

 very head and front of every public en- 

 terprise and institution; and, say what 

 yoii will of professions or professional 

 men, in any department of civil life, 

 ers, the newspape'r ranks far above and 

 outdoes them all; because it eompre- 

 \v nds, includes and represents them all. 

 It is king of kings and lord of lords; 

 for it is, indeed, the brains of the world, 

 condensed — a real live schoolmaster 

 obroad, and mighty educator in every 

 family, as well as 



PKEACHEB, LAWYER, AND DOCTOIl, 



And missionary at large. It is, in fact, 

 the grand brain ventilator and brain ther- 

 mometer of all humanity — mental, mor- 

 al, and social — and is so extra cheap, that 

 none but very foolish or careless men or 

 women will ever consent to pay any pro- 

 fessional fee, or kiss the great Toe: be- 

 cause the really sharp, free and indepen- 

 dent newspaper naturally makes every 

 live, earnest and wakeful reader also in- 

 dependent. Then read, read, read, ev- 

 ery one, and think; think, THINK I 



Wonderful upheavals, evolutions and 

 revolutions, are marking ovir period, with 

 the convulsive throes of regeneration, 

 gestation, and a new birth, social and 

 national. It is the 



world's mighty labor epoch. 

 And the working class everywhere, (the 

 true, practical democracy,) are called to 

 dignity, honor, self-respect, and a spirit 

 of iudipendencc. 



Human toil is no longer classed with 

 the forced draft of the horse and the ox. 

 but is the voluntary choice of the highest 

 manhood, which scorns the sneers of 

 haughty wealth, pride and ignorance, 

 and stands up indeijendent — making 

 tabor, not money, the enduring corner- 

 stone of all government and soci**ty, and 

 the chief virtue .of all politics and re- 

 ligion. 



Workingmen and women claim all that 

 salary-grab presidents, or congressional, 

 or cabinet, or lobby thieves steal, eat, 

 wear and waste; and may the time soon 

 come when the blue-blood money aris- 

 tocracy must step down and out, because 

 it will be out-voted. All the world be- 

 longs to the workers, and the shining 

 newspaper is their 



grand Gabriel's trumpet. 

 With co-operation for the magical pass- 

 word! The best interests of honest men 

 and women will be advocated, and the 

 evils that oppress us will be as boldly at- 

 tacked. Let real reform be triumphantly 

 advanced. So, now, bravo for the rush- 

 ing nation emancipated! Dear, toiling 

 brothers and sisters, just save up your 

 loose dimes, and subscribe at once for 

 the free, brave and independent news- 

 paper — the 



CALIFORNIA AGIUCtJLTUEIST ! 



It is now the bright morning of the 



new century and of new-born indepen- 

 dence, and the happy year of jubilee for t 

 independent manhood, independent la- ' 

 bor, independent temperance, indepen- 

 dent religion, independent greenbacks, 

 and independent farmer's and working- 

 men's homes. 



Champliu, Minn., Jan. '77> 



Farmers and Newspapers. 



I have been frequently surprised to see 

 how many well-to-do farmers neglect or 

 refuse to take some good newspaper for 

 the benefit of themselves and families. 

 They seem to think that they have no 

 interest in the doings of the outside 

 world; that they have to deal with noth- 

 ing except the land they plow, the stock 

 they feed, and the children they are rear- 

 ing in ignorance. They forget that they 

 are a part of the great human family, 

 jilaccd u|)on this orb to work out the 

 plans of the Creator, and as such have 

 no right to dam up the stream of pro- 

 gress. The laws of progrussiou are as 

 unalterable as are any others iu nature, 

 and that man who impedes these laws 

 with an offspring of unedncated children, 

 commits a sin which reacts not only on 

 himself, but on his descendants for long 

 years in the future. Newspapers are 

 made to spread intelligence and improve 

 morals. To the farmer, above all men, 

 they should be a necessity, from the fact 

 that they afford him in bis isolated con- 

 dition the only means of mixing in the 

 busy scenes of life. Man in a hermit 

 state becomes a personification of selfish- 

 ness — caring for nobody and nobody car- 

 ing for him. Development comes alone 

 from associating with our fellow men, 

 and appropriating to ourselves the ad- 

 vancement which they make. No farmer 

 should do without this social schooling, 

 both for his own good and that of his 

 children. In no other way can he ob- 

 tain it 80 fully and so cheaply as through 

 the periodical literature; and he who 

 neglects to receive these advantages de- 

 prives himself of light, and lives out his 

 days in worse than heathen darkness. — 

 Otis Tinkham in Country Ijenileman. 



Knowledge is SrccEss. — Every man 

 must feel that the greater the amount of 

 knowledge he can bring to bear on his 

 business, the greater will be his snccess, 

 provided the same exertion is used in the 

 one case as in the other. It is absurd to 

 say that it is a disadvantage to one's bu- 

 siness to learn all he can abont his busi- 

 ness, and yet there many persons who 

 maintain that reading about farming is 

 of no profit, though the same persons 

 will ask and follow the advice of compe- 

 tent farmers in their owni neighborhoods. 

 In other words, according to them, the 

 advice is good if communicated orally, 

 but if conveyed through a newspaper it 

 is worthless. This unreasoning and 

 senseless prejudice, we are glad to know, 

 is rapidly passing away, and many men 

 who. ten years ago. felt au opposition to 

 and spoke in derision cf agricultural 

 works, are now the most ardent support- 

 ers of them. As the light of knowledge 

 advances, the clouds of ignorance, error 

 and prejudice are dispelled, and science, 

 with its ever-widening and ever-varying 

 horizon, throws forth light upon every 

 department of human industry, and most 

 of all upon the business of agriculture. 



Mothers are the Beai, Teachers.^ 

 They have in their hands the moral 

 guidance of their boys till the latter are 

 at least twelve years old, and of their ^ 

 daughters till the latter marry. If 

 mothers do their duty, their sous, in all 

 but exceptional cases, will grow up good 

 and honorable men. It is because lads 



i ^^^^r ''^^a?***^ ' 



