GRASSES, MEADOWS, AND PASTURES. NO. 1. 
59 
Indian half-breed, or squalid Mexican, who is no 
tetter than his predecessors, is seen with his guis- 
ot, a rude, pointed iron, like a crowbar point, 
which is the only implement used for planting, weed- 
and cultivating their maize. Besides this, they 
have the cavador, a rough socket chisel, for planting 
and cultivating tobacco. The coas is a kind of shovel 
in the form of a veterinarian's fl em, being a flat sur- 
face, projecting from a straight line, in the direction 
of the handle, of about eight inches in length, by 
seven in width. The hoes are pieces of thin iron, 
ribbed in the middle by a thicker iron, to give them 
strength, and are from 10 to 13 inches long, by 
three to four and a half wide, and bent in the form 
of a sickle. These, with a few coarse axes and briar 
hooks, constitute nearly the sum total of their ag- 
ricultural tools. A section of the trunk of a tree, 
some 10 or 12 inches thick, forms the wheels of a 
rude wain or cart- The horses and mules are 
never shod ; and untanned hides make up what 
little harness attaches them to their sledges or 
carts. Most of their use of horses is confined to 
the saddle and lasso. These, with a spirited horse, 
constitute their charter and bill of rights to go 
where, and do what they choose. When these are 
at command, and they can shoot a fat bullock at 
will, there is little temptation for them to abandon 
their independent seat, and betake themselves to 
the mere drudgery of a fully civilized life. They 
raise only what is essential to keep them from 
starvation, which is provided by their beans, corn, 
wheat, and a few roots. 
Now and then, I meet with a live Yankee in 
these remote regions — men, who, in pursuing the 
bent of an original proclivity for wandering, have 
strayed into the wilds of California — soon destined 
to be wilds no longer. One of these (a naturalized, 
not original Yankee), has near 40,000 bushels of 
wheat on the ground ; and, if properly harvested, 
will, at the high prices he is likely to realize, 
yield him a fortune that would satisfy even 
a gold digger. Some others have large hacien- 
das, or ranchos, and rear immense herds of 
cattle, horses, and sometimes grow large quan- 
tities of grain. These men will make im- 
mense sums from their lands. At the present mo- 
ment, gold is the leading, and almost only subject 
that claims attention. Every one is rushing to the 
mines, which seem to be almost as extensive 
as the valleys of the Sacramento and Feather 
Rivers, and their tributaries. It is supposed that the 
Sierra Nevada, that bounds these valleys on the 
east, is the father of all the gold washings below, 
and that when they get at the bowels of this, 
they will have found the ovary of the goose with 
the golden eggs ! If we are not wholly misinformed 
by many intelligent reflecting, veracious men, 
there is gold enough to last the hordes, that will 
be pressing here, as soon as the news reaches the 
Atlantic border, for many years. Of this I cannot 
speak advisedly, but will endeavor to inform myself 
authentically, and write you particularly in my 
next. But of this, however, I can confidently ad- 
vise my countrymen at home. They should bring 
plows, shovels, hoes, scythes, grain, cradles, fan- 
ning machines, horse powers, &c, in large quanti- 
ties ; for here will soon be congregated hundreds 
of thousands, who must be fed. The soil and cli- 
mate will do its part ; it remains for man to do his, 
and plenty, rather than dearth, will attend the set- 
tlers. Gold is desirable any where ; but gold will 
not buy what can't be had, or does not exist, at 
least within reach, and food must be raised here, 
or we shall all be liable to starvation. Let reflect- 
ing men, therefore, come prepared with a full sup- 
ply of well-assorted agricultural implements, to 
raise their own provisions, at least ; and, perhaps, 
they may be more advantageously employed in 
raising them for the gold diggers, than in digging 
for themselves — consider this advisedly. 
If gold be the object here, let me advise all to 
come prepared for it. Get good machines, the 
best you can procure, for washing out the gold in 
quantities, and rapidly. Also horse powers for 
working these and mills : ox scrapers, wheelbar- 
rows, wagons, tents, rifles, good blankets, and im- 
perishable provisions, enough to last a year. If 
emigrants have any whiskey or brandy along, let 
them throw it overboard, and confine their bever- 
age to tea or coffee. Intelligence, prudence, indus- 
try, and temperance, will, in a few years, amply 
provide a man here with a competency, and proba- 
bly a fortune. I will give you more minute ac- 
counts of all in my next. *** 
Valley of San Joaquin, California Alta, ) 
October 2d, 1848. } 
(a) We are sorry to inform our correspondent 
and readers, that this is the first of the letters we 
have received from him, since leaving the valley 
of the Mississippi, in April last. We regret this 
the more, as every information on this interesting 
region, which will soon be thronged by emigrants 
to the golden land of California, will not fail to be 
duly appreciated. We trust the noble line of steam- 
hips, soon to be established on the Pacific, will, here- 
after ensure their regular reception. 
♦ 
GRASSES, MEADOWS, AND PASTURES.— NO. 1. 
The order designated by naturalists as gramince, 
is one of the largest and most universally diffused 
in the vegetable kingdom. It is also the most im- 
portant to man, and to all the different tribes of gra- 
miniverous animals. It includes not only what are 
usually cultivated as grasses, but also rice, millet, 
wheat, rye, barley, oats, maize, sugar cane, broom 
corn, the wild cane, and the bamboos, the last some-, 
times reaching sixty or eighty feet in height. 
Grasses are invariably characterized as having a 
cylindrical stem; hollow, or sometimes, as in the 
sugar cane and bamboos, filled with a pith-like 
substance ; with solid joints and alternate leaves, 
originating at each joint, and surrounding the stem 
at their base and forming a sheath upwards, of 
greater or less extent ; and the flowers and seed are 
protected with a firm, straw-like covering, which is 
the chaff in the grains and grass seeds, and the 
husk in Indian corn. They yield large proportions 
of sugar, starch, and fatty matter, besides those 
peculiarly animal products, albumen and fibrin, not 
only in the seeds, but also, and especially before 
the latter are fully matured, in the stems, joints, and 
leaves. These qualities give to them the great 
value which they possess in agriculture. 
Of the grasses cultivated for the use of animals, 
in England, there are said to be no less than 200 
