AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES 131 



in gluten to displace or reduce the need of import- 

 ing such varieties to mix with the soft white kinds 

 characteristic of the State. This was undertaken 

 zealously with the result that several wheat varie- 

 ties not formerly grown are now preferred. 



It is desirable for California to continue wheat 

 production because the wheat plant makes its chief 

 growth during the winter or rainy season and turns 

 at once into vegetation much moisture which would 

 otherwise be lost in run-off or evaporation. Because 

 the winter is a growing season, it is possible to se- 

 cure maximum results from a minimum of precipi- 

 tation. Therefore, the arts of better tillage, which 

 have come to be called dry-farming, will do more 

 in California than in any cold winter climate. In 

 districts where the rainfall is scant even for dry- 

 farming, wheat is also desirable because it is irri- 

 gated in the winter when water is most abundant 

 in streams and least needed for fruit and forage 

 crops. Wheat-growing in California is undergoing 

 modification in cultural policies and methods which 

 are beyond the scope of this writing, but assurance 

 may be taken that they are contributing notably to 

 the security and profitability of production. 



It has been intimated that wheat-growing during 

 its four decades of great exportable surplusage 

 brought to California as much value as the gold 

 output aggregated, from the discovery to the pres- 

 ent day. Naturally so potent an agency, influencing 

 life, labor, trade, invention, manufacturing, trans- 

 portation, and the like, has not only played a very 



