234 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 



is in the milk. If the season threatens to be so dry that the 

 field will not pay for harvesting the grain, then the mowing 

 machines are started, and the stuff is saved for hay. 



The haying season comes about the first of May. The old 

 adage that " you must make hay while the sun shines," does 

 not apply in California, for here the sun shines all the time, 

 and the haymaker has ordinarily no fear of rain. It happened, 

 however, in 1860, that a considerable amount of hay was spoilt 

 by the late rains in June. The whole process of hay-making 

 in California is managed by machinery. It is cut with the 

 machine-mower, raked together with horse-rakes into wind- 

 rows, and finally hauled together on hay-sleds, which load 

 themselves by slipping under the heaps or windrows. The 

 hand must be used, however, when wagons are to be loaded 

 or stacks built. Hay is usually cured in the windrow. It is 

 not .necessary to turn it by hand, as is customary in the East- 

 ern States. One turning and one day in the sun are enough, 

 when it is raked together, and is ready for the stack or the 

 mow. In Ohio a good field of timothy will yield four tons of 

 hay to the acre ; in California the wild oat stands so thick in a 

 few places as to yield as much, but the average crop is not 

 over a ton to the acre. 



Tame grasses occupy at present a very small place in the 

 agriculture of California. Not one-tenth' of the farms in the 

 State have an acre of cultivated pasture ; and even in the 

 largest farms, containing from three hundred to a thousand 

 acres under plough, it is rare to find a field of timothy, clover, 

 or alfalfa. The last mentioned, known also as lucerne, will 

 probably become the principal grass grown in the State, since 

 it is peculiarly fitted to thrive in our climate and soil. 



167. Hops. The hop grows luxuriantly and produces 

 abundantly in California ; and indeed there is good reason to 

 doubt whether any country has a climate and soil more 

 favorable to it than ours. We have no heavy dews or 

 showers in summer to wash off the dust which contains the 



