115 



He found several changes a year since when he was 

 there from his former visit, one of which was formerly 

 manure was considered a nuisance and was deposited on 

 sand roads or anywhere to get rid of it. It is now put in 

 compost heaps, as a noticeable decrease in the crops is 

 discernable, and this manure is necessary for the enrich- 

 ment of the soil. The ranch life is very primitive, the 

 dwellings poor, nothing such as we would put up with, 

 and not until a man has accumulated a small fortune does 

 he build himself a fair house. If our New England 

 farmers lived as primitively and economically as the Cal- 

 ifornian ones do they would accumulate money quite as 

 fast. To make a profit, one must cultivate largely, and as 

 an example, he explained the working of a gang plough of 

 six that it would take an entire day to go around a piece 

 once, and about six weeks steady work to plow and sow. 

 Grain raising must be carried on on a large scale, and to 

 do this one must have the modern machines to accompHsh 

 it, many of which are very expensive. The barns are 

 slightly different from ours here in the East. All the 

 wheat straw is dumped into them and protected by a rail- 

 ing, then the cattle and horses can go and help themselves 

 as often as they like, eating what they want and then go 

 away. The farms are irrigated by ditches, no rain falling 

 from May to September. The Pacific slope in summer is 

 not an attractive place to a New Englander, who is accus- 

 tomed to the beautiful green hills. The speaker gave a 

 very full account of the Orange culture in Southern 

 California, and also the apricots, figs and grapes describ- 

 ing the vineyards, their construction, &c.,at length. 



The 91st Institute was held at the Town Hall, Beverly, 

 Friday, Feb. 2-lth, the subject for the morning being, 

 Highways and road building, by James Owens of Newark, 

 N. J., who has been a practical road builder for twenty 

 years. Mr. Owens said that probably no one question 



