224 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 



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 

 particular from the soil in Suisun, Diablo, and San Ramon, 

 which latter yield strong, while the former produce weak 

 wheat. It has been observed that during late years, the wheat 

 of a large farm in San Mateo County, one of the best culti- 

 vated in the State, has been gradually decreasing in strength. 

 It is not known 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 gluten 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, Californian wheat has no superior, 

 and no equal save in the Chilean. 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. Frisbie loaded 

 a vessel at Vallejo with wheat taken from the harvest-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, mould, 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, after 

 having gone thither fresh from the threshing-machine and the 

 harvest-field. 



The flour made from flinty wheat is peculiarly suited for 

 shipment to tropical countries, where a moister flour soon fer- 

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



