272 RESOURCES OP CALIFORNIA. 



to ten feet. This embankment costs ten or eleven cents per 

 cubic yard, and the ordinary cost of reclamation ranges from 

 $5 to $20 per* acre, according to the varying circumstances. 

 The legislature of 1872 passed an act authorizing the sale of 

 bonds to pay for the reclamation of the several tule districts, 

 the bonds to be a mortgage on the district reclaimed. It was 

 supposed that bonds to the amount of $20,000,000 would be 

 sold under this act ; but there is no sale for them, except at a 

 discount of fifteen or twenty per cent., and the land-owners do 

 not wish their land reclaimed at such loss. It is supposed that 

 a better price can be obtained after the passage of an act to 

 remedy some of the defects of the statute of 1872. About 

 100,000 acres have been partially reclaimed already. 



196. Products of our Herds. We can estimate the but- 

 ter of the State to be worth 35 cents per pound, or $2,450,000 ; 

 and the cheese 20 cents, or $680,000. The amount of milk sold 

 annually is 3,700,000 gallons, which brings about $1,000,000 to 

 the dairy-men. In 1872 the exports of hides were worth $170,- 

 000; of horns, $11,000; of bones, $6,000; and of wool, 

 $7,750,000. The value of the animals slaughtered annually 

 is $6,100,000. These figures give us $18,137,000 as the an- 

 nual value of the products of our herds, exclusive of the hides 

 tanned into leather, and of the services of draught and riding 

 animals. 



197. Sheep. The climate of California is peculiarly fa- 

 vorable to the growth, increase, and health of the sheep. Our 

 mild winters permit them to grow throughout the year ; and 

 it is an accepted principle among those familiar with the sub- 

 ject, that a sheep, born and bred in California, is, at two years 

 of age, usually as large and heavy as one of three years, born 

 and bred in the Atlantic States. The ewes produce twins and 

 triplets more frequently here than east of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains. The health of the herds is better. No fatal disease has 

 ever prevailed to any serious extent. The " scab " exists in 

 many herds, but in a mild form, and few have died of it. It is 



