I'll 



1851. 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



15 



general features of the country. The valley lands, from the 

 few observations made, would seem to be underlaid with a 

 bed-rock, not many feet below the surface, but yet varying 

 considerable at ditlerent points. This rock is overlaid with 

 a " hard pan," so compact as to hold the water of the early 

 rains in the superincumbent soil. From the hard-pan, up- 

 wards to the surface, the earth is of so loose a character, 

 that I cannot better describe it than by comparing it with 

 leached ashes. The first heavy rains that fall make the roads 

 impassable for teams ; and as the water rises in the rivers, 

 you find that the water rises to the same level, and at the 

 same time, in the wells and sloughs, and when the waters 

 have nearly reached the surface, there is a difficulty which 

 the pack mules have to encounter in crossing the "valleys, 

 called slumping. This eartli contains an unusual amount of 

 alkali, in solution, and would suggest the propriety of using 

 linle as a manure. After the wallers have abated, the sowing 

 and planting season begins and you get in the seed vvitli as 

 little disturbance of the earth as possible, and as tlie dry sea- 

 son comes on, they take root downwards— and the roots do 

 go down with a vengeance. In witnessing the digging of a 

 d\ic\\ on t\\e Rnncho del Paso, (the shepherd's farm'.) I was 

 astonished at the depth to whicli the grass roots penetrated 

 this loose earth, and I thought then, and tliink still, that the 

 peculiar character of the grasses of California, to some ex- 

 tent, was owing to this fact. These disjointed remarks may 

 not be universally true, but they may serve as a general out- 

 line of the valleys of Sacramento, Napa and San Hosa, (San 

 Jose) so far as I have had opportunities to examine. But 

 when you leave the valley of Sacramento, which varies from 

 ten to fifty miles in width, you enter a rolling land covered, 

 like the plains, with straggling oaks, which appears to be a 

 sort of neutral ground. 



But after crossing this, you enter the gold bearing region 

 — a region as distinctly marked, and as dillerent in its gen- 

 eral characteristics from the country you have just left, as 

 '• chalk is from cheese." The country, everywhere, begins 

 to assume a barren look, the dwarf mountain pines here first- 

 make their appearance, and in those portions of this gold 

 bearing region the strata of rock protrudes from the earth in 

 a shattered condition, and when they are of a secondary 

 formation, the strata stands perpendicular to the earth, and 

 with a surprising uniformity extend north and south. But 

 the whole of tbe rocky formations, whether primitive or 

 secondary, as far as my superficial observation goes bear 

 strong marks of some convulsion of nature, which has shiv- 

 ered them into fragments. Tiie great discovery of this year 

 is one that has been made at a sore cost to the miners, viz. : 

 that this region of gold has a clearly defined limit towards 

 the mountain, as well as towards the plain. That there is a 

 point upon the side of the mountains, beyond which gold is 

 not found in considerable quantities, upon the streams at 

 least, IS now admitted generally ; but the theories about it 

 differ, and none are without exceptions. The more common 

 is, that the gold-bearing region passes under the mountains 

 and comrs out again to the surface on the opposite side, 

 where diggings of the same character as in this valley are 

 found, as it Carson. Another, that the gold being washed 

 down fron the higher regions of the mountains, embedded 

 m large m isses of earth, which masses of earth are, by the 

 violence of the waters of the mountain torrents, broken into 

 fragments, and the gold, from its great specific gravity, pre- 

 cipitated, in its voyage down the stream on its frail earthen 

 supports. A third is, that the gold lies in strata, or leads, 

 and like the rocks, crosses the water courses, and while the 

 earth around and over it is washed away, the great spei^ific 

 gravity of the gold makes it almost insensible to the action 

 of the water. It is cited in support of this theory, that where 

 rich deposits are found in the streams, oftentimes leads are 

 found on either bank penetrating fiir beyond the reach of 

 the alluvial deposit. And the Kiota (Coyote) diggings are 

 also cited, where a shaft is sunk 60 or 100 feet into the solid 

 earth, where there are no appearances of gold or of washings, 

 and after the bed rock is struck, kiotas (the coyote is a prai- 

 rie dog or fox,) are extended along the rock in every direc- 

 tion until a lead is struck, which is followed up as far as the 

 lead IS profiitable. This is one way of coyotying ; another 

 is, following a lead from the surface. 



But without stopping to discuss the relative merit? of these 

 theories, or whether there is not some truth in the theory that 

 combines them all, we had belter turn back to the subject of 

 Agriculture, on which we at first set out. The first difficulty 

 ■".. '^.^y^y of the successful prosecution of agriculture, is the 

 dilficultics attending the possession of lands. Before the 

 conquest, the lands, being of little value, were possessed in 



large estates, with ill-defined boundaries, and no great regard 

 was had to the perfecting of the title papers. The rewards 

 ol agriculture are so great, that men do njt hesitate to lay 

 out •' preemptions" whenever the locat-\,n pleases them but 

 as their right to the soil is very doubtful, their system of cul- 

 tivation IS of the most superficial k^^d. There is a continued 

 war between the herdsmen (B ,caros) of the estate, and the 

 squatters. The squatters are backed by the sympathies of 

 the miners, who are at free quarters on government land 

 while the old land titles are supported by the holders of 

 town lots. Of the parties engaged in the fidit in our streets, 

 one nalt, 1 should judge from their appearance, were vol- 

 unteers from the country. All these tilings have a tendency 

 to postpone any permanent agricultural improvements • nor 

 is it probable that a settled and orderlv slate of society so 

 essential to the high development of die agricultural resour- 

 ces of the country, will for a long time be^altained. 



These are some of the " lets and hindrances." but, on the 

 other hand, the price by the pound for everythin>r which the 

 country can produce, and the indomitable dispasilion of its 

 new proprietors, will soon ovt --mo these and a thou- 

 sand other obstacles, and I doubt no. f Providence shall 

 spare my life another yeir, I shall be able .> ■ -lend you a more 

 detaded, and a more flattering account of the aiinculture of 

 California, and furnish some accurate statistics in relation to 

 the much agitated question of the extent to which California 

 is susceptible of cultivation. W.—SarrameiUo City, CaL, 



FARMERS, SAVE THE WASH OF THE BARNYARD. 



Eds. Gen. Farmer:— Of all the waste of food for 

 plants, permitted by the farmer, (as far as my expe- 

 rience extends,) this is the greatest. If I "was to 

 hazard a conjecture, I should say that one-half of the 

 strength of manure is leeclied out and washed away 

 by rain. I may be a little too high in this estimate. 

 I hope so. I will now propose three plans, by adopt- 

 ing either of which, (which I hope many farmers will 

 do,) this waste may be prevented. The first plan is 

 to make a roof large enough to contain all the ma- 

 nure made in the year, and put it under cover as it 

 comes out of the stable. But as this would be expen- 

 sive, it would not suit all. The second plan is the 

 one recommended by me in the Genesee Farmer, 

 (see "How to kill Elders and improve the Farm,") 

 Vol. 11, No. 11, page 253. This reservoir is easily 

 made by first plowing and pulverizing the surface, 

 whore the wash runs out of the barnyard, and haul- 

 ing it out for manure. It will pay well for the labor. 

 My third plan, "Plougher" (in "The experience 

 of a Young Farmer,") has partly hit, when he hauls 

 his manure out as soon as it is made and plows it in ; 

 but this should not be done until the straw is thor- 

 oughly incorporated with excremental juices. But 

 he is wide of the mark, when he comes to plovvino- in 

 dry straw. Green buckwheat, which he condemns 

 so much, is better. I can give my young friend, 

 " Plougher," my experience on this, for fifty years 

 back, from observation, and forty years, from practi- 

 cal farming. One of my neighbors, a clever, nice 

 old man, fifty years ago owned a large farm of as 

 good natural soil, perhaps, as there is in the rich old 

 county of Bucks, Pa., but in some things he was rather 

 over nice, as the sequel has shown. His barn stood 

 on a nice green bank, and you would seldom see straw 

 about it, for the old man considered straw an annoy- 

 ance ; therefore, he hauled it out as it wes threshed, 

 and plowed it in. This man had a family of stout 

 sons, who all left him when they grew up ; some of 

 them hired themselves lo farmers, because the old 

 homestead had become so poor that it would not pay 

 the expense of tillage. I have learned, by practical 

 farming, that plowing in dry straw or dry cornstalks 

 is of very little benefit. Greex Farmer. 



