AGRICULTURE. 177 



failure of the wheat-crop in California, unless the rain should 

 completely fail. After wet winters, the dry lands and hills 

 will produce the best crops ; in seasons of light rain-fall, the 

 low, moist lands will take the lead. There are so many soils 

 and so many climates in the state, that some must be favor- 

 able. There is no danger that the grain, when nearly ripe, 

 w^ill be beaten down by the hail, as has happened in Europe 

 and the Atlantic states. On only one occasion, within my 

 knowledge or reading, has it happened that the grain has been 

 "lodged" or beaten down by rain, and that w^as at Suscol and 

 Xapa in 1860; and the damage then was slight, for most of 

 the grain recovered, and all of it, if I remember rightly, was 

 reaped by machines. 



Wheat is sown from the first of November to the first of 

 April. The most certain crops are those sown early ; the 

 largest are those sown late in favorable years. If the amount 

 of rain is small or moderate, the earliest-sown fields are the 

 best ; but if the spring be w^et, the early-sown fields are sur- 

 passed by those sown about the first of February. Wheat is 

 usually sown after barley and oats. The best farmers prefer 

 to sow between Xew-Y ear's Day and the middle of February. 

 Most of the sowing is done broadcast, but drills are used to a 

 considerable .extent. One ploughing is, by most farmers, con- 

 sidered sufficient. The harvest comes from the middle of June 

 to the middle of July. The expenses of sowing, harvesting, 

 and threshing, are the same as with barley. 



§ 137. Oats. — The principal varieties of oats cultivated in 

 California are the Australian, English, Bare, Feather, and Tuck- 

 er. The Bare and Tucker oats thrive best on a heavy soil ; 

 the Feather oat prefers a sandy loam. The indigenous wild 

 oat of California is never cultivated ; for, although it produces 

 large and tall stalks, they do not contain so much weight or 

 bear so much grain as the domesticated oat. The average 

 crop is from 30 to 40 bushels to the acre, 80 per cent, greater 

 than in the Atlantic states. The Crescent City Herald re- 

 ported in October, 1857, that Rigg and Reid, in Del Norte 

 8* 



