California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



have a pretty little pigeon at home. 

 To-morrow a boy is going to give me 

 two more. 



With the above letter came a rebus, 

 which Aiiut Polly regrets that she cauaot 

 give, as she has not the pictures to go 

 with it. The writer forgot to sign a 

 name to the letter, so we don't know 

 who wrote it. 



Salinas Valley, Jan., 1877. 



Deah Aunt Pollt: — I wish you many 

 hajipy returns of the season, as this is 

 tlie first letter of the new year I have 

 written to you. Our Corner, in Decem- 

 ber, was splendid. I think the chromo 

 I scut for is splendid. Also the editor's 

 picture, with his umbrella under his arm. 

 I am very sorry to say that I caunotsend 

 you a puzzle. There is no sigu of rain 

 in Salinas Valley yet. My two sisters 

 and I take music lessons twice a week. 

 If you ever come to Salinas, j'ou will 

 please call and see me. I hope in my 

 next lefter I will have better news to tell 

 you, as it may rain, and that will be good 

 news to all. Dear Aunt Polly, I would 

 like to see your photograph. I would 

 like to have it in my albiam. I will tell 

 you what I got off the Episcopal Church 

 Christmas tree: my sister and I got gold 

 cuff-pins. We attend the Sabbath School 

 there. Aunt Polly, this is enough for 

 this time; the next time I will try to do 

 better. .1 remain, Your Neice, 



Annie Williams. 



We thank yon for your nice letter. 

 Annie should be satisfied with Aunt 

 Polly's picture in print. Glad you had 

 such a nice Christmas; but do not let 

 the gold i")ins make you proud, will you? 



San Benito, Jan. 17, 1877. 



Dear Aunt Polly: — I am so glad you 

 sent us your picture. I always wanted 

 to see you, but now I know just how you 

 look. I think your hair is pretty, and 

 you have such bright eyes! No wonder 

 you can tell us country children so many 

 funny things, and you are right in town, 

 where so many folks live, and where so 

 many things are done every day, you can 

 go to the Post Office or to market just 

 when you wish, while we in the country 

 do not have either to go to nearer than 

 four or five miles, and do not go there 

 very often. Oh yes, and the editor's 

 picture, too. We children look at it and 

 are glad to have the chance, but we 

 thought he was a larger man than he 

 looks to be, and he has such a big nose! 

 He must have good judgment, for they 

 say that is a sign. It has liegun to rain, 

 and we need not worry any more, but 

 trust in Providence for the future. 

 You little Neice, 



Sallie Mooke. 



Sallie must write again. The editor 

 must certainly feel flattered by such 

 complimentary remarks from the cousins. 



A ponny dance. 



A gentleman writing from Graham's 

 Town, Africa, relates his oliservation of 

 a curious circumstance: " We entered 

 through a locked gate into a large enclo- 

 sure or paddock, in which were fifty- 

 eight one and two-year-old ostriches. 

 They all looked exceedingly well, and, 

 though they did not dance, seemed full 

 of life. They do, sometimes, favor the 

 spectators with a dance, and it is one of 

 the fuiniiest of all the freaks or habits 

 of animals that evidence a sense of the 

 jokeful we ever beheld. We once saw 

 some twenty nearly full grown birds 

 waltzing together. They began with a 

 sort of sliding, slow revolution on tlieir 

 toes, moving their wings gently uj) and 

 down, and ju-escutly they seemed to get 

 into tlu^ sjiirit of the thing without the 



aid of any fiddler that we saw, and spun 

 round at a rate that would have aston- 

 ished any one but a dancing dervish. 

 In dancing they swept round and round, 

 without ever coming into contact with 

 each other." 



This story of the ostriches reminds 

 Aunt Polly of a splendid lot of over a 

 hundred young turkeys that she once 

 saw. They were all raised together on a 

 farm where there was nice open ground 

 to parade on. When about full grown, 

 they would often strut around and all 

 form a ring and run around and jump 

 and gooble, gobble, gobble, with as much 

 time and fun aud merriment as a troop 

 of school children on a holiday frolic. 



THE EDITOR S REVENGE. 



Dear Children: Do you suppose for 

 one moment that a gentleman of brains 

 aud dignity like ourself is going to stand 

 any such scandalous abuse as Aunt Polly 

 and the printers g.ave us last month? 

 Not a bit of it, while we occupy the 

 sanctum. Now we assure you that we 

 are good looking — in fact, the best look- 

 ing one in or about the ofiice. We have 

 turned that artist off, without a cent in 

 his pocket, and got another one who will 

 do our bidding. 



Aunt Polly is not so handsome as her 

 picture looks, by a good deal. But she 

 has apologized to us for saying we are 

 "old fogy," so we wont retaliate too se- 

 verely. 



Now we will show you just ho.w she 

 looked to us the next day after the paper 

 pame out, when she came into the office 

 with a gay bouquet for us, and with a 

 smile that was childlike and bland, she 

 courtesied, with a "Good morning, sir; 

 accept this bouquet." 



LOOK AT her 



As to the printer, who was once a Devil 

 with a tail, like any other poUywog — a 

 printer's "devil," we mean, — he still 

 shows his bringing up in the bogs, among 

 bulliushes and mushrooms. He is a gen- 

 uine green-back, as green as grass, the 

 biggest toad in the puddle, and a regular 

 croaker at that. We will show j'ou how 

 he looked to us, as he came up with a 

 type on his shoulder, offering us "the 

 olive branch of peace. ' ' Isn't he a beauty ? 



OUR SAUOY PRINTER. 



'Jiind fttouopolu. 



Investigation in Order. 



A HONDA GRANGE, San Mateo 

 county has passed the following 

 resolutions, and appointed a com- 

 mittee in accordance therewith: 

 '^ Whereas, The titles to the pub- 

 lic lands of this State, known as "lieu 

 or indemnity lands, " are in a very dis- 

 turbed and unsettled condition, and 



Whereas, A large number of Patrons 

 of Husbandry and other farmers have in 

 good faith become actual settlers upon 

 said lands, and whose titles are now se- 

 riously affected by this unsettled condi- 

 tiou, therefore be it 



liesolved. That a committee of three be 

 appointed by this Grange to investigate 

 this matter and report as soon as possi- 

 Ijle to this Grange or its Executive Com- 

 mittee some plan or measure by which 

 the evil maybe alleviated or corrected. 



This committee, says the San Francis- 

 co Bulklin, certainly has an arduous task 

 before them, one that will require montns 

 to carry out, and before they can remedy 

 the matter, they will have to send none 

 but honest men to make the laws, for 

 heretofore all laws bearing upon this sub- 

 ject have either been directly in the in^ 

 terests of land speculators, or so plas- 

 tered with amendments as to confuse 

 their meaning, and render them capable 

 of almost any construction dishonest 

 men saw fit to put upon them. The 

 Grange is right in one thing, certainly, 

 that a large number of farmers have 

 clouds upon their titles, which would 

 never have been the case had the school 

 grant never been made. The title to the 

 Act is a misnomer, and should have read, 

 "An Act to grant speculators every six- 

 teenth and thirty-sixth section for graz- 

 ing purposes, and defining the rights of 

 the grantees against the encroachments 

 of the people of the State of California." 

 This is w-hat the grant has amounted to, 

 aud it is a pity that the enactin^' clause 

 and title do not conform more nearly to 

 the Act itself. 



The State Land Commissioners have 

 undertaken the arduous task of ascer- 

 taining the names of all persons who 

 have been possessing themselves of large 

 quantities of State lands, together with 

 the amount obtained and manner of pro- 

 curing title. It is probable that the re- 

 sult of that single line of investigation, 

 when made public, will astonish even the 

 San Mateo Grangers. They will find two 

 ex-Surveyor-Generals with a tract of land 

 almost large enough to cover the State of 

 Rbode Island. By consulting the Asses- 

 sors' books in the various counties they 

 could write a very interesting chapter on 

 unequal taxation. They need not be sur- 

 prised to find that certain large land mo- 

 ncjpolists are paying, taxes at the rate of 

 $1 per acre on lands which they are now 

 offering and selling at $'20 to If 30 an acre. 

 They will find in Ventura county -200,000 

 acres of land in large tracts, paying taxes 

 at the rate of SL.'JO an acre, while the 

 land all around and between is assessed 

 at five times that sum. They find in 

 Sacramento a tract of land paying at the 

 rate of $(i an acre, portions ol which 

 are now rented at $25 an acre a year, 

 producing from sixty to ninety bushels 

 of corn per acre. If the Grangers, or 

 any other organization or association, 

 can remedy this, they can strike a blow 

 at land monopoly more poti^nt than all 

 the resolutions and laws that Congress 

 can enact. Whenever these large tracts 

 can be made to contribute their just share 

 of taxation towards the support of State, 

 county and General Government, then 

 will they bo speedily be put upon the 



market. The first and most necessary 

 step is to procure County Assessors who 

 are bold enough and honest enough to 

 obey their oath of office and levy taxes 

 on the market value ol all land, without 

 fear or favor. When this is accomplshed 

 the rest is easy. It is not the farmers 

 alone who are interested in equalizing 

 taxation. Every industry, trade or call- 

 ing in the country is oppressed. 



Of the 600.000 acres of land already 

 listed to the State, a very small portion 

 has been purchased by settlers, except 

 through the land speculators. With hon- 

 est administration of the affairs of the 

 State Land Office, nearly all would have 

 been sold to settlers in good faith, but 

 through connivance with the land officers 

 speculators have become possessed o( the 

 lion's share, through the infamous "lieu 

 pot" system. Surveyor-General Minnis, 

 on finding such a sorry state of attairs, 

 put his foot peremptorily down, and re- 

 fused to receive any more applications 

 on lands not listed to the State, on the 

 ground that more land had already been 

 applied for than the State is entitled to. 

 In doing this he called down upon his 

 gray head the wrath of all the laud- 

 sharks, but his prompt action will have 

 the efl'ect of stopping further wholesale 

 depredations, and reserve the remaining 

 lieu for those applications which are de- 

 fective. Heretofore no one outside of 

 the land ring had any chance of getting 

 a piece of land unless by the merest ac- 

 cident. These large land-grabbing firms 

 had men with the field surveyors, and 

 the moment the transit disclosed a 10th 

 or .30th section upon which a United 

 States settler had pitched his cabin, or a 

 school section that was worth the taking, 

 they wiuld make a tour along the wharves 

 of San Francisco, pick up enough "bum- 

 mers" for their purpose, who tor a mess 

 of porridge and a glass of bad whisky, 

 would sell the birthright which a gen- 

 erous government has granted to every 

 citizen, and at t'ue same time assign it 

 over to the speculator. When the plats 

 came to be filed in the Laud Office a dil- 

 igent search would fail to discover any 

 vacant state lands. As showing how a 

 few men have, by means of dummies and 

 collusion with the State and government 

 offices, olitaiued possession of thousands 

 of acres of these lands, it may be men- 

 tioned that Miller & Lux, the land kings 

 of California, have had patented to them 

 over 200,000 acres of land in Merced, 

 Fresno and Stanislaus counties, in di- 

 rect violation of the law which provides 

 that no one shall acquire title to more 

 than .320 acres. John Smiths and Wil- 

 liam Johnson's and George Jrmeses ap- 

 pear as the applicants in these cases, but 

 the patent books invariably show that 

 Miller .\- Lux own the laud and procured 

 the patents. W. S. Chapman, the enter- 

 prising land dealer who in former times 

 controlled one of the local laud offices, 

 has acquired title to nearly 10,000 acres 

 in Merced and Fresno cimntics, through 

 the agency of dummies. And this is 

 only three counties in the State. The 

 title has jiasseil aud is vested in these 

 men, and no statute can now deprive 

 them of it. This is independent of the 

 enormous amount of lands located by 

 other means, whereby these men obtained 

 ])ossession of the fairest portions of the 

 great San Joaquin Valley. * * ' 



Lux .t Miller own 000,0(10 acres in round 

 numbers, and there are hundreds of oth- 

 ers equally land hurtheiieil. Could these 

 lauds be forced to Jiay taxes on their 

 market value, or what they would bring 

 under the hammer, it would make vast 

 diUcrence in the rate of taxation, while 

 it would compel the sale of millious of 

 acres to settlers at rates that would in- 

 vite immigration. 



Says the San Francisco Ommide : How 



