AGRICULTFEE. 151 



CHAPTER YII. 



AGRICULTURE. 



§ 128. General Remarks. — Of the 160,000 square miles in 

 the area of California, about 60,000 may be tillable; of which 

 16,000 are in the coast valleys, 30,000 in the low lands of the 

 Sacramento Basin, 12,000 in the Sierra Nevada, and 2,000 in 

 the Klamath Basin : while the 25,000 square miles of the Great 

 Bivsin, the 15,000 of the Colorado Desei*t within the limits of 

 this state, 30,000 of the Sierra Nevada, 26,000 of the Coast 

 Mountains, and 6,000 of the Klamath Basin, may be put do^vn 

 as unfit for the plough. The 60,000 square miles of tillable 

 land contain nearly 40,000,000 acres, but only 1,000,000 are 

 cultivated in the state : of the remaining 39,000,000, one-fourth 

 have a soil very thin, or not fertile because of the presence of 

 alkaline substances ; one-half are too remote from market, even 

 where the soil is good ; and a considerable portion is tied up 

 in lawsuits, so that the ownership is doubtful, and the claim- 

 ants dare not improve it for fear of losing the improvements. 

 Only a small portion of the state is, therefore, fit for the plough. 

 Not more than one acre in ten could now be tilled profitably, 

 and I suppose that not more than one acre in four wiU be tilled 

 during this century. 



As compared with the great agricultural states of the Mis- 

 sissippi valley, in so far as relates to the proportion of rich land 

 fit for the plough, California is at a great disadvantage, and is 

 probably inferior in this respect to every state on the Atlantic 

 slope of the continent. In Illinois and Indiana, nearly every 

 foot of land has a rich soil and a level position. Again. Cali- 



