AGRICULTURE. 285 



The American cows are fine animals for milk and beef, but 

 they are not uniform in blood, and are inferior in the most 

 desirable qualities to the carefully bred Durhams, Ayrshires, 

 and Alderneys, which are regarded here with more favor 

 than any other of the European stocks. The wild pastures of 

 the State are not fitted to keep up the character of the fine 

 breeds, and after a few years the offspring of the Durham and 

 Devon bulls, left without cultivated food, are scarcely dis- 

 tinguishable from the common herd of mixed American and 

 Spanish blood. The time is, however, not far distant when we 

 shall have extensive pastures in the reclaimed and irrigated 

 districts, and then our neat cattle will soon show a great im- 

 provement. 



206. Pasture. The cultivated food given to dairy cows 

 in California consists of maize cut green, pumpkins, beets, 

 potatoes, bran mixed with chopped straw and hay, alfalfa, 

 oats, and barley. The natural pastures near the ocean keep 

 green longer than those in the interior, and they are therefore 

 better adapted to dairy purposes. Fine pasture is found in 

 some of the high parts of the Sierra Nevada, and many dairy- 

 men who have their homes in the valleys or foot-hills, drive 

 their herds up into the mountains at the beginning of summer, 

 take their families with them, and spend their time in making 

 butter until the approach of winter drives them down, when 

 they bring the product of their season's work down to the 

 market. 



207. Butter. The production of butter in California 

 amounted in 1872 to 7,500,000 pounds, a large quantity as 

 compared with that of other countries with a similar climate. 

 The dairy cows are nearly all of American blood, crossed with 

 Durham, Ayrshire, or Devon, and a few are of the pure 

 British milking breeds. In many places they get no cultivated 

 food except in times of drought, when they receive enough hay 

 to keep them alive ; but there is a constant improvement in 

 the style of their keeping and also in the profit of the dairies. 



