HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE 63 



the older states, and it is possible that an inheritance 

 from the free life of old Spanish rancheros may have 

 been added to the adventurousness of the American 

 pioneers or have suggested new ways to embody the 

 spirit of it. All the settlers felt, however, that the 

 old way was not the method to farm, either for the 

 success of rural life or for the up-building of the 

 country. 



The debt of existing California agriculture to the 

 system that preceded it lies not in policies or in 

 methods either of life or industry but in a demonstra- 

 tion of the producing capacity of the State for food 

 crops and, in a few striking instances, for the intro- 

 duction of agencies and materials of production which 

 have rendered valuable service in the American 

 development. A few of the old affairs, some of which 

 have "passed in the night" and some endured, may be 

 briefly cited: 



The Spanish system of land grants and the con- 

 firmation of three-fourths of them to their holders 

 by the United States compelled a new American 

 State to set forth on its career with a handicap of 

 feudalism. Spain was conservative and only made 

 about twenty grants during fifty years and grantees 

 were each restricted to three leagues ( 4,438 J acres) 

 of land: Mexico was lavish and gave nearly six hun- 

 dred grants during twenty years and raised the 

 limit to eleven leagues of land to each. Besides proper 

 grants there were about two hundred which could 

 not be established. 



Such large areas under single private ownership 



