AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES 125 



is now in a winning race against grains cut green, in 

 which alfalfa has taken the lead during the last 

 decade. It will require the careful enumeration of 

 the census of 1920 to determine the matter definitely. 

 It may of course be urged that the cry of the coun- 

 try for "wheat to win the war" may have caused 

 some grain to stand to maturity which would other- 

 wise have been cut green for hay; but, on the other 

 hand, much alfalfa was plowed up in 1917 to plant 

 beans of which California quadrupled her normal 

 product, also to "win the war/' Since then, however, 

 the old land has returned to alfalfa and a vast area of 

 new land has been added to its acreage, which has 

 helped to gain the total valuation of the hay product 

 of California, which reached $102,320,000 in 1920, 

 although the tonnage, owing to war distractions and 

 to seasonal irregularity, was less than in 1914. 



GRAIN CROPS 



During a century California has twice passed from 

 a considerable surplus in wheat production to a lack 

 of it for the uses of her own population, not by flood 

 nor drought, nor by any other natural phenomenon, 

 but by her own choice. In 1818 the missions pro- 

 duced 82,500 bushels of wheat, and in 1840 the 

 rancheros were exporting to Mexico as much as 12,- 

 000 bushels; in 1850 the American gold-seekers were 

 crying for bread, and wheat and flour were brought 

 in ships from all the quarters of the globe. In 1860 

 California produced wheat beyond her own needs and 



