266 Transactions of the American Institute. 



The Chairman thought Mr. Conover at least entitled to credit for 

 introducing and illustrating the importance of better cultivation. 



Irrigation in California. 

 "W. S. Powell, Visalia, Tulare county, Cal. — As many as four out of 

 five years' ploughing and other farm work is done every month from 

 September to May. Last winter, and this also, ploughing has been 

 done on my farm every month. We generally have a very hard 

 freeze in December, lasting about a week, never as much as a month. 

 It then moderates, and during the rest of the winter the weather is 

 splendid; frost comes out of the ground by January and after that 

 it only freezes an inch or two at night to thaw out again by noon of 

 the next day. Last year I kept a record of the days I did not see 

 the sun shine, and it proved this to be a country of fine weather. 

 Only three days in the whole year were totally cloudy, to wit : The 

 24:th and 25th of April, and the 11th of August. That was for 1870. 

 Thus far this year we have seen the sun every day. I will report 

 again at the end of this year. Cattle do live here, and do not often 

 lay on "downy beds of" cactus to die, though thousands have not a 

 mouthful of food of any kind except what they get on the range. I 

 have a pair of horses now on my plough that were turned out last 

 November and were not fed oven once until last week, when they 

 were caught and put to work ploughing. Although they were not fat 

 when taken up, they looked better than hundreds seen in city carts 

 any day. In my neighborhood there is about 200 head of stock of 

 all kinds running out without feed and, I do not know of any dying 

 this year. It is true we have late and early -frosts here, but in this 

 dry air it does not injure vegetation as it does where the dews are 

 heavy. I could show Mr. Nichols snow fifty feet deep in August, 

 within forty miles from where he could see all kinds of tender vege- 

 tables growing faster and larger than any he ever saw east of Colo- 

 rado. I have seen a cabbage head, with stump cut off, weighing 

 fifty-six pounds, and other kinds in proportion. Mr. Meeker's judg- 

 ment of the country between Cache la Pondre and Thompson rivers 

 is correct, as it is a splendid farming and stock-growing region, with 

 abundance of coal and water. 



Six Pules in Irrigation. 

 W. S. Powell, Tulare county, California — Having a large practical 

 experience in irrigation and constructing canals, I purpose giving 

 some conclusions drawn from sixteen years' observation of the results 

 of artificial moistening. 



