208 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 



CHAPTER Vin. 



AGRICULTURE. 



148. Statistics. According to the Federal census report, 

 California had, in 1870, 23,734 farms, averaging 482 acres in 

 size. Of those which had 500 acres or more, there were 1,915 ; 

 12,248 had between 100 and 499 acres; 3,224 between 50 

 and 99 acres ; and 6,339 between 3 and 49 acres. Tracts of 

 less than three acres were not counted. The round cash value 

 of the farms was $141,000,000; of our live stock, $37,000,000; 

 and of our annual farm products, $50,000,000. The total num- 

 ber of acres in farms was 11,400,000, and the number im- 

 proved, 6,200,000. According to the latest State statistics, 

 5,261,000 acres were enclosed in 1871, and 3,653,000 were 

 cultivated, and 20,074,000 were assessed in 1872. The State 

 Report says that the total production of cereals amounted in 

 1870 we have returns for 1871, but the crop was less then 

 on account of drought to 30,000,000 bushels, including 

 17,300,000 of wheat, 9,500,000 of barley, 3,700,000 of oats, 

 and 1 ,400,000 of maize. In other words, we grew nearly twice 

 as much wheat as barley ; nearly three times as much barley 

 as oats ; and twice as much oats as maize. In Ohio, on the 

 other hand, they grow about twenty times as much wheat as 

 barley ; as much oats as wheat ; and fifty per cent, more maize 

 than of the three others combined. 



In April, 1874, 4,500,000 acres of land were under cultiva- 

 tion, the increase having been rapid of late years. In 1860, 

 the area was 937,000 acres; in 1866, 1,774,000, and in 1870, 

 2,992,000, the gain being more than ten per cent, annually 



