172 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 



mate — by saying that those valleys are visited, while the grain 

 is in the milk, by weather so hot that the berries are biirnecl, 

 and are prevented from attaining their perfect development. 

 It would be well if this matter were thoroughly studied, for it 

 is one of much importance to the merchant and ship-owner, as 

 well as to the farmer, the baker, and the consumer. 



The wheat grown on the clayey loam about Alviso is not 

 so glutinous as that produced on the sandy loam about Santa 

 Clara and the gravelly clay in other parts of the valley. It is 

 worthy of remark that the soil of the Putah and Cache valleys, 

 tributary to the Sacramento, differs in no noteworthy particu- 

 lar from the soil in Suisun, Diablo, and San Ramon, which lat- 

 ter yield strong while the former produce weak wheat. It has 

 been observed that during the last three years the wheat of a 

 large farm in San Mateo county, said to be the best cultivated 

 in the state, has been gradually decreasing in strength. It is 

 not kno\vn whether the change is caused by a difference in the 

 seasons, or by a progressive exhaustion of the soil. So far as 

 observations have been made in California, the amount of glu- 

 ten is not affected by early or late sowing, thorough or careless 

 cultivation, largeness or smallness of the yield, or cleanness of 

 the crop. 



In flintiness or dryness, Califoniian wheat has no superior, 

 and no equal save in the Chilian. It may be stored in bulk, 

 or it may be thrown into the hold of a ship within two weeks 

 after harvest, and then sent twice through the tropics, and 

 there is no danger that it will heat or sweat. The same may 

 be said of its flour. No wheat or flour from the Atlantic 

 states is near it in this respect. In August, 1860, J. B. Fris- 

 bie loaded a vessel at Vallejo with wheat taken from the har- 

 vest-field — it had never been inside of a house, but had lain 

 upon the ground for several weeks after threshing — and that 

 cargo of wheat, when discharged at Liverpool, was as sweet 

 and clear from mustiness, iiLOuld, sprouting, or fermentation, 

 as it was when harvested. The Atlantic flour, when kiln-dried 

 and pressed, does not keep like ours as it comes from the mill, 



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