HORTICULTURE OF CALIFORNIA. 13 



Fruit and alfalfa require more or less irrigation in the larger 

 portion of California, but the idea that irrigation must be contin- 

 uous has been found erroneous ; continuous irrigation may be 

 required for alfalfa, but it is not for fruit. The fruit in California 

 is of poor flavor compared with that grown here. The cherry 

 orchards are irrigated when the fruit is about ready to swell off. 

 It has been learned that stirring the surface soil forms a mulch 

 which prevents rapid evaporation and is much better than constant 

 irrigation. After irrigation if the surface is stirred with a cultiva- 

 tor it will be dry for two or three inches and keep moist below 

 that ; if it is not stirred a crust forms on the surface and the 

 ground is dry for a foot or more in depth. 



General Bidwell has on his ranch a colony of Digger Indians, 

 supposed to be the lowest and meanest of all, but the men are 

 among his best workmen, especially as ploughmen. The women 

 and children he employs in picking fruit, etc., and they look tidy 

 and respectable. Mrs. Bidwell has a Sunday school and a day 

 school among them. But Indians in general who have been sent 

 to schools in various parts of the country are apt to return to 

 savage life, and the better educated die of consumption, caused 

 by confinement which is so contrary to their nature. 



General Bidwell's farm comprises 2,200 acres ; the dairy prod- 

 ucts amount to $1,200 per month, and there are six thousand 

 sheep and thousands of cattle and horses. But although all the 

 products are carefully put on the market, the farm is not profit- 

 able ; it is too large. Such farms must be divided into small 

 holdings and managed by the owners ; no one man can conduct 

 such an estate to advantage. 



Henry Miller, known as the great cattle king, began in San 

 Francisco as a butcher. He bought Spanish grants and owns 

 about one million acres, which he has divided into ranches of 

 20,000 acres each ; he drives around day and night to look after 

 them, and has no rest. He is estimated to be worth $40,000,000. 

 He has no children, and his partner, who died, had none, and the 

 case is the same with General Bidwell and other large land- 

 owners. The holding of such great estates is against the spirit of 

 republican institutions, and it seems as if Providence were step- 

 ping in to insure that they should be sold and divided. It is 

 certainly for the interest of California that they should be, and 

 the same may be said of the great estates purchased in this 



