162 RFSOURCES OF caLIFORNIA. 
year; and the wild oat is cut for hay. The farmers generally 
are anxious to make as much money as possible, and as soon 
as possible, without regard to the future value of the land. 
Some of them are not permanent residents of the state, and 
intend to leave it so soon as they can get a certain number of 
dollars together; others are farming land the title of which is 
in dispute, and, as they feel uncertain about its ownership, they 
are indifferent to its exhaustion. Many of them come from 
the Western states, where the land had not, previous to their 
migration, become poor; and as rotation of crops had never 
been a necessity within their experience, they have never 
adopted it. 
The soil of California is not exhausted; much of it will con- 
tinue te produce large crops of small grain without interrup- 
tion and without manure for a score of years to come. Pre- 
vious to 1853, the valleys were filled with cattle, and their 
manure had contributed for along time—along the southern 
coast for half a century—to enrich the soil. 
The prominence of barley in Californian farming is owing to 
the facts that it is an almost certain crop, produces largely, 
can be grown on all the cultivated land in the state, yields 
good volunteer crops, is excellent food for horses, can be kept 
for years, and always commands a market abroad. 
§ 182. Ploughing—Ploughing commences with the first 
heavy rain. The heat and drought of summer and autumn 
bake the ground, and render it too hard for the plough; so 
the farmer must wait for the rains. The sooner they come, 
after the first of October, the more convenient for him, and the 
more work he can do. The rain must be sufficient to wet the 
earth down six or eight inches deep; a little shower will not 
suffice. The soils of loam and clay are so hard, that no ordi-' 
nary plough is strong enough to break through them; and 
ploughing would do uo good, because the earth would be in 
large clods, which would furnish little nutriment to the grain. 
§ 1383. Advantages, etc.—The Californian farmer has a great 
advantage over those of the Northern Atlantic states, in the 
