AGRICULTURE. 227 



year, according to this report, the increase was 107-fold, and 

 the next year 65-fold. At the Mission of Soledad, according 

 to the same author, (page 445) 1 ,700 fanegas were harvested 

 from 19 sown an increase of 89-fold ; and in 1827, an increase 

 of 58-fold was obtained at San Luis Obispo by scratching the 

 seed in with a harrow upon land unploughed, and not even 

 touched by the thing called a plough in those days. Not less 

 than half a fanega is sown to the acre ; so we may suppose 

 that the figures which indicate the increase of the crop over 

 the seed, also indicate the number of bushels to the acre. 

 Now, a ten-fold increase is considered a fair crop. Crops of 

 80 bushels to the acre have often been grown in California. 

 Mr. Hill harvested 82J bushels from an acre in Pajaro Valley 

 in 1853, and obtained 660 bushels from 10 acres. In 1851, 

 Mr. P. M. Scooffy harvested 88 bushels, and Mr. K Carriger 

 80 bushels in Sonoma Valley. In 1853, J. M. Homer har- 

 vested 1,000 acres of wheat near the Mission of San Jose, 

 with an average of 40 bushels, some of it producing 60 

 bushels to the acre. The next year he had 2,000 acres, with 

 an average of 40 bushels. Large fields of wheat in Eel River 

 Valley, according to the report of the assessor of Humboldt 

 County, averaged 73 bushels to the acre in 1857. 



In the best wheat districts of the Mississippi Valley, the 

 farmers generally believe, or did believe a few years ago, that 

 not more than 45 bushels of wheat ever had been or ever 

 could be grown upon an acre ; and when I spoke to exper- 

 ienced and intelligent men among them of 60 bushels, I was 

 told that not more than 50 bushels could possibly stand upon 

 the ground. It is almost impossible that there should ever be 

 an entire 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 favorable. There is no danger that the grain, when nearly 



