AGRICULTURE. 1V3 



after having gone there fresh from the threshing-machine and 

 the harvest-field. 



The flour made from flinty wheat is peculiarly suited for 

 shipment to tropical countries, where the moister flour soon 

 ferments and sours. These are excellent markets, for they are 

 certain, they pay well, and there is little competition. Most 

 of the flour now exported to the West Indian islands and the 

 Malaysian archipelago is of the Gallego and Haxall brands, 

 which, because of their dryness and strength, are worth from 

 twenty to fifty per cent, more in the market than other flour. 

 California may not be able to suj^ply the West Indian islands, 

 but she certainly has peculiar advantages for supplying the 

 tropical islands and shores of the Pacific. The flintiness of 

 our wheat is undoubtedly owing to the dryness of the climate, 

 and it is about the same in all the wheat-growing districts of 

 the state. There is no noteworthy difierence in this respect 

 between that of the Sacramento valley and that grown on the 

 immediate coast. It is all so dry as to keep well in any cli- 

 mate. Millers in New York and Liverpool make some objec- 

 tion to our wheat, that it is too hard for their millstones ; but 

 this is their misfortune, not our fault. The difficulty is reme- 

 died by moistening the wheat before grinding. 



Most of the wheat of this state is white, but it is not equal 

 in whiteness to that of the Genesee valley, Oregon, Washing- 

 ton, and some other districts of the United States ; yet is supe- 

 rior to the wheat of England and of most European countries. 

 The fogs give a dark color to the wheat grown at Half-Moon 

 Bay, in the Pajaro and Petaluma valleys, and on the Santa 

 Rosa plain ; but in the other districts a uniform whiteness pre- 

 vails. 



Our wheat generally has a thin skin, and does not make 

 much bran ; but in the same districts where the skin is dark- 

 ened by the fogs, there also it is thick. 



Most of the Californian wheat is not well cleaned. It is 

 sent to the market containing oats, barley, chess, alfalfa-seed, 

 and dirt ; and when shipped to New York, must usually be 



