126 RURAL CALIFORNIA 



began her career as a world supply. Before 1905, 

 the State began to eat more wheat than she pro- 

 duced and for a decade or more ranked as a consum- 

 ing country. California does not stand as low in 

 general cereal production as these facts might indi- 

 cate, because she is now the largest barley-producing 

 state in the Union and has attained, in volume but 

 not in value, a higher producing and exporting mark 

 in barley than ever attained in wheat. 



Wheat-growing by Americans came about in this 

 way. During the first decade of greatest gold out- 

 put, there was wide trial of agricultural production, 

 chiefly for home use and to displace imports. This 

 was successfully done with many products that did 

 not require much skilled labor, but the crops which 

 could be most easily, quickly and cheaply produced 

 were demonstrated to be cereal grains. Wool, dairy 

 products, fruit, and the like, were shown to be super- 

 latively suited to the natural conditions but they all 

 required more men, money and time than to grow 

 grains. For these reasons, California fell into wheat 

 at first just as. do all other new countries and found 

 out later that her wheat was in particular request 

 because of its whiteness and softness and its blend- 

 ing well with the dark harder varieties which Medi- 

 terranean and Atlantic ports of America were send- 

 ing to Great Britain and the north of Europe. The 

 war of the early sixties assured good prices and Cali- 

 fornia entered the list of wheat supply countries 

 under most favorable conditions. 



This achievement followed an agricultural and not 



