THE GENESEE FARltfER. 



339 



the temperate orchards the rnin is distilled in the 

 dark arteries of trees — into tlie rich juice of the 

 pencil and the pear, the apple and the phini. 



"When a travelling trickster pours several diff- 

 erent liquors from one hottle info acup for the spec- 

 tators, it is called n)agical. Yet nature, not hy de- 

 ceptinn, hut actually, does pour for us one tasteless 

 liquid into all tiie varieties in taste which the vege- 

 table world suiiplies. If, hy a miracle, kindred 

 with tliut of Christ at Oaua, ajar of water could be 

 to-niirht ci>nverted within your houses into whole- 

 some wine, could it be so admirable as the ways in 

 which the vines make wine upon the hillside out 

 of vapor and sunlighi, at the bidding of God?" 



WOOL GROWING IN CALIFORNIA. 



Being engaiied in writing some agricultural ar- 

 ticles for the f irtlicomingreportontheUnited States 

 Census, the Superintendent of the Census, Jos. 0. 

 G. Kexnedy, Esq., sent us a letter from the Hon. 

 John G. Downey, Governor of California, contain- 

 ing some remarks on the Preliminary Report of the 

 late Census. The letter contains so much tliat is gen- 

 erally inteie-ting that we have obtained Mr. Kenne- 

 dy's consent to its publication in the Genesee Farmer. 

 Los Angeles, Cal., June 4, 1863. 

 Jos C G. Kennedy, Esq. — Dear Sir: I have 

 just received your preliminary report of the eighth 

 census, whicli. apart from the valuable statistics so 

 homogeneously arranged, is, on account of its util- 

 itarian character — including every tield of science 

 — the most v.aliiable hand-book lor tlie statesman, 

 farmer and mechanic, that has yet been issued to 

 the people. 



As yon justly suggest, it is ditficnlt to arrive at 

 accuracy in the computation of the number of our 

 people, or the wealth of the nation. The latter is 

 surrounded by ditticulties — and by far the greatest, 

 the desire to escape taxation. Again, Marshals are 

 selected with a view to political gain, and without 

 regard to peculiar capacity. Their deputies follow 

 in the same ch.anuel, although there is nota county 

 in the Union where a man of that pecidiar turn, of 

 mind could not he found ; but tiiey are not politi- 

 cian!?, or tlie compensation is not snflicient. The 

 returns of domestic animals, as by the Marshals, 

 for California, show a great lack of' accuracy! 

 Our nunil)er of sheep in this State must be nearer 

 3,000.000 than 1,000,000; our number of horses 

 nearer a quarter of a million than 160,000; the 

 number of neat cattle, 952,000, is pretty nearly 

 correct; but as I can not refer you to any correct 

 statistics, my remarks are simply entitled to consid- 

 eration as far, only, as the close observation of one 

 engaged in these pursuits. 



Tlie rule followed in this State to ascertain the 

 number of cattle a ranchero may have, is this : In 

 the s[)ring of the year he takes 'an account of the 

 number of calves branded, which being multiplied 

 by tlu-ee, gives a rough or approximate nninbe." of 

 his entire stock. My neiglibor, Abel Stearns, 

 brands th=s year 12,000 calves. His number of 

 stock, big and little, (neat sh>ck,) will approximate 

 40,000 head. To maintain this rancho, he has at 

 .east 4,000 head of horses, colts and mares. We 



make no provision for winter feeding for stock of 

 any kind ; the consequence is a loose husbandry, 

 poor stock, and value just whatever the liiile may 

 bring. Witli sheep it is very different. Great at- 

 tention has been devoted to tlieir raising. We 

 must have now nearly 3.000,000 head in the State, 

 and the quality of the clip is annually improving. 

 From the mildness of our climate and richness of 

 pasture, our State will show at the next census a 

 wool jiroduct equal to the whcde United States at 

 present. Tiiere is one great drawback. Our rich- 

 est pasture fields produce a bur-bearing clover, 

 which is exceedingly nutritious. It adheres to the 

 wool and depreciates the price in market, they say, 

 fifty per cent. You see Boston qui.tations for 

 burry wool ranges low. although the clip may be 

 as fine as the finest ia Vermont. It is to he li()ped 

 that the ingenuity of our mech.anics will suggest 

 some n.odits operandi of separating it from the 

 wool. This would be a nati(mal blessing. As you 

 suggest, our people have to receive a fair remuner- 

 ation for their capital invested, and a decent com- 

 pensation for the labor employed, or they will 

 cease to produce a staple so much needed, and 

 abandon a pursuit so intrinsically valuable to the 

 nation. The shee{>-growers owe you a del)t of 

 gr.atitude for the practical and liberal view you 

 take of this subject. 

 Very respecttnlly. 



Your obedient servant, 



John G. Downey. 



PEAS AND POTATOES. 



In the Genesee Farmer for January, 1862, an in- 

 telligent farmer of this county asked for informa- 

 tion in regard to the feasibility of raising potat(je3 

 and peas together on the same land, and turning in 

 hogs to eat them on the ground, and thus save the 

 labor of harvesting the peas and digging the pota- 

 toes. A Maine correspondent of the Country 

 Gentleman says: 



" Until within a few years it has been a common 

 l)ractice among farmers here to plant peas with po- 

 tatoe.s, a practice that I formerly followed myself, 

 but which I h:ive entirely given up. I believe it 

 hijures the potatoes more than the profit of peas; 

 iiuleed, an observing and practical farmer recently 

 said to me that he was satisfied his crop of jiota- 

 toes last year would have t.een one-third larger had 

 peas not been planted with ihem. In pulling the 

 peas, which is usually done about the last week in 

 August, the potatoes in the hill are greatly dis- 

 turbed and their growth stopped. If peas so much 

 disturb the potatoes, beans must disturb them to a 

 greater extent, for their roots are larger, and ludd 

 on with greater tenacity. Any crop planted with 

 potatoes that in harvesting disturbs and loosens the 

 soil about the hill so early in the season as August, 

 should not be grown with potatoes." 



This is no answer to the query of our correspon- 

 dent, but we give it for what it is worth. 



When seen in front, the body of a good milk 

 cow should present the appearance of a blunted 

 wedge. Seen from behind, she should present a 

 square, well-spread shape. 



