20 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jan. 



teresting, and upon several of them animated dis- 

 cussions arose. 



There seems to us to be prevailing in this Board 

 a spirit determined to progress in the riglit way. 

 Every man takes the laboring oar himself, vrhile 

 the fjforts of all are directed to a single point, — 

 the true principles and practice of agricultural im- 

 provement. They are not the efforts of a nevrly- 

 awakened love, or tlie proselyte's zeal, to glitter 

 like ephemera in the morning sun, and then grow 

 cold and die, but the well settled convictions that 

 the labor of the farmer is often misdirected, so 

 that its true reward is not obtained ; that the na- 

 ture of the soils he cultivates and the operations 

 of the great atmospheric ocean which surrounds 

 him and feeds his crops, are so little understood as 

 to leave him incessantly laboring in doubt and un- 

 certainty as to the modes of culture which he 

 adopts. So far, there has been an earnestness 

 and energy exhibited in the Board which promises 

 important results ; and these, whatever they may 

 be, will become common property, as the trans- 

 actions of the Board and the State will annually be 

 published. 



We only give the details of business, leaving 

 the reports, &c., to speak for themselves when 

 distributed. 



VEGE5TATION IN CALIFORNIA. 



At a meeting of the Farmer's Club at the rooms „ 



of the American Institute, in New York, severalf^^*:* g^'^"^^" ^J ^^^- I^aac Brannan, at San Jose, 



gentlemen spoke of the wonderful productiveness 

 of the soil and vegetables which spring from it. 



According to the information derived from Mr. 

 Shelton, almost every variety of fruit appears to 

 flourish with very little attention in California. 

 The apple, pear, peach, apricot, quince, plum, nec- 

 tarine, pomegranate, fig, grape, and olive, are now 

 growing there in the greatest perfection. It is the 

 firm conviction of Mr. S. that no country in the 

 world surpasses California in the production of 

 these fruits. 



Mr. S. appears to regard the production of onions 

 as the most astonishing. They grow very larp'e 

 and mild there, and are eaten like apples. Mr. 

 Horner raised about 50,000 lbs. on one acre, and 

 they were worth about $20,000. General Vallyo 

 raised 80,000 lbs. on two acres. Mr. Shelton said 

 that he had seen a field of onions, averaging a 

 pound wt. each. Fifty of them would weigh from 

 two to four pounds apiece. 



Potatoes also grow to a very large size, some of 

 them weighing three pounds each — and have to be 

 cut up in order to boil them well — 125 pounds had 

 been obtained from five stalks. Mr. Horner had 

 raised from 250 to 300 bushels of potatoes per acre, 

 with out "manure . 



i\Ir. Dyer said that he had seen radishes in Cal 

 ifornia as large as his arm, and perfectly free from 

 strings or hard fibres. Mr. Shelton stated that 

 these radishes were fit for table in thirty-one days. 

 He represented that lettuce grew there in great 

 variety, and are very fine — some of them attaining 

 the size of a man's hat, and weighing from three 

 to four pounds each. At San Francisco he had 



seen the tomato growing all winter. Grapes con- 

 sidered to be far superior to the Catawlia ; from 

 one to seven pounds on a stem could be raised with 

 very little trouble. He had seen branches weigh- 

 ing upwards often pounds each. 



Mr. S. stated that there were no less than twen- 

 ty varieties of clover growing there. The white 

 clover grows three feet high. 



In answer to some questions asked relative to 

 procuring ice, Mr. Dye said that their supplies had 

 been principally obtained from Boston, and sold at 

 from 10 to 12 cents per pound. Frozen snow or 

 hail had also been obtained from the mountains 

 packed in gunny bags and blankets. This was 

 sold for the same price as the Boston ice. 



Mr. Shelton has brought with him about a thou- 

 sand specimens of pressed flowers, grasses, trees, 

 &c., also a colored drawing of a great variety of 

 native flowers of great beauty, which are deserving 

 the attention of florists. He has likewise present- 

 ed to the American Institute about 200 varieties of 

 flower seeds from California. 



On land owned and cultivated by Mr. James 

 Williams, an onion grew to the enormous weight 

 of 21 pounds. On this same land a turnip was 

 grown wdiich equalled exactly in size the head of 

 a flour bai-rel. On land owned and cultivated by 

 Thomas Fallen, a cabbage grew which measured, 

 while growing, 13 feet 6 inches around its body ; 

 the weight is not known. The various cereal grains 

 also grow to a height of from 5 to 12 feet ; one red 

 wood tree in the valley, known as Fremont's tree, 

 measures over 50 feet in circumference, and is near- 

 ly 300 feet high. * 



Added to these astonishing productions are a 



weighing 63 pounds ; carrots, three feet in length, 

 weighing 40 pounds. 



At Stockton, a turnip weigTiing 100 pounds. 

 In the latter city, at a dinner party for twelve per- 

 sons, of a single potato, larger than the sizaof an 

 ordinary hat, all partook, leaving at least the half 

 untouched. 



!Mr. Dye corroborated the statements of Mr. 

 Shelton, and related some additional intei-esting 

 particulars. He had noticed in the San Jose val- 

 ley, which is 78 miles long, and GO miles across in 

 the widest part, a particular sweet kind of wild 

 clover, which the natives eat with great relish. 

 So thick was the growth of this clover, that when 

 the dry season of the year comes, he has seen 

 thousands of acres covered with the seed of the 

 bur clover to a depth of two inches. On this hap- 

 py provision of nature, the cattle feed during the 

 dry season. Mr. Shelton showed some specimens 

 of this seed, of which he had collected thi-ee bush- 

 els on 18 feet square. He had collected sixteen 

 varieties of clover, of which he exhibited specimens. 

 The blossoms of some are very rich. He formed a 

 boquet of clover-tops alone. He had exhibited 

 some of these specimens in San Francisco, and they 

 had been very favorably noticed by the papers. 

 One variety called the "Mammoth Shelton Clover" 

 was ver^- large. The roots covered a space of 8 

 feet, and tlie stalks grow to a height of 10 feet. 

 In ^laraposa county there was a large growth of 

 acid clover, of which the natiws made drink, re- 

 sembling our lemonade. 



Mr. Dye said that the trees in California were 

 very different from the varieties bearing the same 

 name here. 



