222 EESO URGES OF CALIFORNIA. 



are seldom cultivated for cattle ; hay, barley, and wheat-bran, 

 are used for feeding them when kept in the yard. Beeves are 

 never stall-fed in California. 



§ 164. Dairies. — The chief dairy districts of the state are 

 the valleys in the vicinity of the bay of San Francisco. The 

 business is very profitable, but requires a considerable capital. 



The climate near the coast is very favorable for making 

 butter and cheese. 



In 1860, according to the assessors' reports, Santa Clara 

 county produced 220,000 lbs. of butter and 300,000 lbs. of 

 cheese; Marhi, 226,000 lbs. of butter and 170,000 lbs. of 

 cheese; Sonoma, 220,000 lbs. of butter and 103,000 lbs. of 

 cheese; Sacramento, 148,000 lbs. of butter and 122,000 lbs. of 

 cheese ; Yuba, 92,000 lbs. of butter and 5,745 lbs. of cheese ; 

 and Alameda, 79,000 lbs. of butter and 103,000 lbs. of cheese. 



§ 165. Sjxmish Horses. — California has about one hundred 

 and fifty thousand horses, of which about one-third are Ameri- 

 can ; one-third wild Sj^anish ; and one-third tame Spanish. 

 The Spanish horses are of the old stock imported, sent early in 

 the sixteenth century from Spain to Mexico, and thence brought 

 to California about eighty years ago. Like the neat cattle, the 

 Spanish horses run wild, and partake, to some extent, of the 

 wild nature. They show their base blood by their colors — 

 mouse color, dull duns of various shades, and calico color, or 

 mixtures of white vvdth red or black, in numerous large spots 

 or blotches, are common ; w^hile chestnut, bright sorrel, blood- 

 bay, and dappled gray, are very rare among them. They are 

 quick, tough, healthy, and unsurpassable for the uses of the 

 rider and the vaquero; but small, lacking in weight, strength, 

 and beauty, and unfitted for the heavy, steady work of the 

 plough, cart, or wagon. They are w^anting in the docility, 

 kindly disposition and steadiness of the well-bred horse ; and 

 they have little of that kind of sense w^iich leads an American 

 horse to be quiet and gentle, even in circumstances strange to 

 him. For California, as it was in 1845, there were no better 

 horses than the Spanish-Mexican. They have a wonderful tough- 



