after two hundred head. It will thus re¬ 
quire thirty-two men (or one man to one 
hundred head) besides the miller and engi¬ 
neer, to do all the work after the corn is 
brought in the shock to the barn—they 
husking, shelling, cutting, grinding, steam- 
ng for, and feeding these 3,200 head of 
cattle. We think, In practice, the number 
of men would be found over-estimated. 
This barn could, probably, be built in a 
plain way, with common stuff and double 
wall, filled with straw or prairie hay, and 
shingled, for $25,000; and a fifty horse en¬ 
gine, with other machinery and fixtures, 
probably, would cost $15,000—$40,000 cov¬ 
ering it' all. Now. 3,200 steers fed in ibis 
way would, no doubt, be worth $13 each 
more than by the old way of feeding, and 
this gain, on a single lot of steers, would 
pay for the barn and machinery. 
It appears that, the corn raised on this 
farm, the present, year (220,000 bushels) 
would more than furnish meal and fodder 
for 3,200 head of steers every day in the 
year. In the summer, grass fed with the 
cooked meal (say 1,000 acres for the sum¬ 
mer) would improve them very rapidly; 
and three lots of steers could here be finish¬ 
ed up in a year—and on about the same 
amount of corn m is required now for one 
lot—9,000 head in all. At ft gain of only 
$35 per head, would amount to $330 000, 
being fifty per cent, more profit on 7,000 
acres than is now realized on the whole farm. 
Labor on Larue nml Small Farm**. 
This farm requires an average of one 
hundred men, or one man to two hundred 
and seventy acres; seventy horse and mule 
teams and fifty yokes of oxen, or one team 
to two bundled anil twenty-five acres; uses 
a mov ing machine to one hundred olid fifty 
acres of meadow ; one-fourth of the whole 
farm cultivated in corn and other grain, thus 
producing as great a result in grain and cat¬ 
tle in proportion, as most, small farms ; but 
the labor is much less per acre. Ami this 
result Is produced by order and system in 
handling a large force. We do not present 
this to favor large farms; on the contrary, 
we believe small farms much more condu¬ 
cive to Lite independence, education and in¬ 
telligence of the people. But this furnishes 
a valuable illustration, to show that farming, 
like any other business, may be conducted 
on a large scale, with profit. 
our two traveling companions—two, besides 
Alcalde, who, having been so frisky and 
coltish when we essayed to catch him, we 
made to do penance by keeping up a brisk 
pace until we reached our first rancho. 
iUanzauita Loiler-500 Acre# of Siimnier- 
Fnlinw, Etc. 
Here we made some explorations, plucked 
some fresh blooming flowers from the beau¬ 
tiful, ever-verdant Manzanita, which is truly 
the beauty of the lawn and the pride of the 
landscape. Here, among these bowers of 
lovely verdure, wo selected the site for our 
farm cottage, on a little peninsula, surround¬ 
ed ou three sides with running water from 
the adjoining crystal springs, the little 
brooklet being bordered by the overhanging 
shrubbery of the Manzanita, Buckeye oak, 
laurels, vines, creepers, etc. Not far off is 
the location of our stables, capable of hold¬ 
ing twenty horses, which are to be employed, 
on the first proximo, in summer-fallowing 
500 acres of our ranch for wheat. It is new 
land, has never been broken, nor a dollar’s 
expense laid out for clearing, fencing, or 
preparing the ground for the plow; and yet 
we have let it to a responsible man, who is to 
plow, furnish seed, sow, harrow, harvest, 
thresh, clean up and put into sacks the crop 
of the whole 500 acres, at his own expense, 
and give us one-quarter of the crop as our 
share for land rent. A favorable seiison 
ought to produce forty bushels to the acre, 
A judicious slock law protects the crops, 
without the expanse of fencing, leaving it to 
the owners of slock to take care of them. 
A Snllor-Fni’nirv- A I’rnliflc Farm-CrMning 
the I'll tali—Orn ii(re li'ec* In Fruit In Jim. 
Jan. 6—Our little party tarried last night 
at the farm-house adjoining our ranch, 
owned and occupied by an Englishman, 
who, formerly a roving tar, had “ sailed the 
seas over” many a time and oft, and served 
on American war-ships; but has at last come 
to the sensible conclusion to settle down, 
“ take Bridget for a wife,” and go to raising 
wheat, potatoes, pigs, chickens ami babies. 
Tn this last respect the twain have proved a 
decided success, having, already, in about a 
dozen years, produced seven or eight. 
In addition to these in-door responsibilities, 
this industrious housewife keeps some 200 
liens and turkeys, realizing nearly enough 
from them to pay the expenses of the family. 
A little daughter, of eight or nine, after rising 
before daylight and helping her mother in 
her duties, mounts her pony and rides every 
morning three or four miles to school, and 
back at night. No one will ever hear that, 
child complain of dyspepsia. The boys, at 
ten or twelve years, work outln harvest time, 
earning $40 per month, driving teams, etc., 
and assist their father in seed time. At 12 
M. the. thermometer stood at 06° on our ranch. 
About mid-day we crossed the Putah into 
Yolo county, (the Putnh divides Yolo from 
Solano county.) at one of the Wolfskills. 
Here we saw his fine and lofty orange trees, 
(12 to 15 feet high,) loaded with fruit; and 
the date palms were looking thrifty ; show¬ 
ing tlmt the tropical fruits can he raised in 
this region as well as in any other portion of 
the State, or in the most favorable tropical 
climes. Indeed, ibis valley of the Putah, and 
its adjacent foot-hills, are proving themselves 
the gardens or conservatories of California. 
—[To be concluded. 
trhsman 
nbustrial 
FOOT-MD-MOUTH DISEASE 
WESTERN FARM NOTES. 
RURAL LITE IN CALIFORNIA. 
The Cattle Commissioners of Maine have 
appended to a circular to the people, of that 
State the following recommendations re¬ 
garding the means of prevention, disinfec¬ 
tion and treatment of this cattle disease: 
For l’revi'iilioii. 
We recommend that cattle exposed to in¬ 
fection be treated with the fumes of burning 
sulphur; for which purpose drop small 
pieces of brimstone upon live coals, con¬ 
tained in suitable metalic vessels, (so as to 
avoid all risk of communicating fire,) and 
allow the fumes to mingle with the air of 
the lean-to, or building containing the cattle 
and to penetrate the coats of the beasts, and 
to be inhaled to such extent as can be borne 
by the attendant without serious discomfort. 
Let this be regularly repeated, daily or twice 
daily while the danger continues, using from 
one to two ounces each time, according to 
the extent of the danger. 
For Disinfection. 
The same sulphur fumigation is recom¬ 
mended, as at once the cheapest, easiest and 
most .penetrating and effective means. For 
this purpose (the cattle being out. of the 
building) the fumes should be stronger and 
longer continued than cattle could inhale 
with safety'. Carbolic acid, chloride of lime, 
and other disinfectants may also be em¬ 
ployed at discretion, as auxiliary' to the 
above, by those acquainted with their use. 
Treatment# 
1. The animals should be kept in a dry, 
comfortable place, suitably ventilated, and 
receive good nursing, including the utmost 
cleanliness. 
2. If unable to take their usual food, their 
strength should be sustained by giving 
mashes of coarse ground wheat, with bran 
or flaxseed tea, or other similar diet. 
3. Bleeding and active purgatives should 
not be resorted to, nor any depleting meas¬ 
ures. 
4. The mouth may be washed twice or 
thrice daily with ft soft sponge or rag dipped 
in a solution of alum water, one pound to 
two gallons; or in a solution of white vitriol, 
(sulphate of zinc,) one pound to three gal¬ 
lons. The same may be applied to the udder 
otcows when inflamed. The milk should be 
drawn regularly, as usual, but it should not 
be used for food, even for swine. 
5. To the feet may be applied a wash 
made by dissolving blue vitriol, (sulphate of 
copper.) in water, one pound to two gallons. 
They should be kept as clean as possible. 
BY B. W. STEWART. 
Editor’#, Dinrv of a Week ainomr Ids Sheep 
—Preparing for their Winter tfeep With 
Gonnip about Kuvnl Attain*. 
“What 1 know about farming,” and all 
that sort of thing, has been the order of the 
day for some time past; why should we not 
diversify it a little with what m know about, 
sheeji and sheep-raising in California, and 
about Ranching, and California Rural Gossip 
generally? And in what more tolerable, if 
not acceptable, way can we do it, thau by' 
giving a promiscuous diary ol our doings and 
experiences and observations during a recent 
trip into the country, and sojourn among our 
sheep-folds and neighboring ranch-holders. 
So, without further circumlocution, we will 
commence 
Our Diary of a Week. 
Jar. 5, 8 A. m,—A s the Arab “ folds his 
tent,” and hie 9 to his mountain wanderings, 
so folded we our tent-cot and blankets, and 
started for the steamer New World, that 
plies between San Francisco and Vallejo, in 
connection with the Cal. Pacific R. R-, that, 
with its branches, brings Sacramento, Marys¬ 
ville, Napa, Calistoga, etc., into close prox¬ 
imity' with our commercial emporium of the 
Pacific. 
Olf for the Catupo. 
In less than two hours we found ourselves 
at the Vallejo wharf, a distance of twenty- 
three miles—albeit we came very near col¬ 
liding with another steamer, on its way 
down, in the dense fog which did not allow 
of tiie steamers being seen until they passed 
within three or four feet of each other. 
Again, at. Vallejo, the fog prevented our see¬ 
ing the wharf unt il we were nearly on to it. 
At Vallejo we take the cars to Vaca Station, 
passing Suisun on the right, and Fairfield, 
(the seat of Solano County,) on the left, 
twenty miles from V.; then ten miles to 
Vaca Station, and then the little one-liorse 
railway of four miles to Vacaville, where we 
arrived in less than four hours from San 
Francisco—distance 57 miles. At Vaca 
Station we purchased lumber for our si cep- 
sheds, and bad it hauled to our Yolo Ranch, 
about twelve miles. Lumber, $24 per M. ; 
posts, 7 to 8 feet long, $2.25 per dozen; 
shakes, (Cal. caricatures for shingles.) §15 
per M. These shakes are three feet in 
length, six inches wide, and about the fourth 
of an inch thick. 
_.._ _VacnviDn. 
Vacaville is a pretty site for a town, is in a 
healthy location, has a lovely climate, with 
most unlovely streets in muddy weather- 
being built upon the plan of a cess-pool; so 
constructed as to force all the water and 
mud, slush and slum, into the middle of the 
street. It is hoped that some enterprising 
man will come along some day and buy up 
the town, or village, and wake it out ot its 
Rip Van Winkle slumbers and sluggish 
dreams. The Methodist Oolloge, started 
here a few years since, was dosed last. May, 
and its educational apparatus removed to 
Santa Rosa. The Baptists have purchased 
the property, and started a Collegiate insti¬ 
tution. It is difficult to support a sectarian 
institution in so sparse a population as that 
of California, and where religionists arc so 
few and lar between. The three or four 
stores in Vacaville seem to be doing a fair 
business. 
On r 01*1 .tlustniiif Colt* Alcahlo—A It ill'll I 
Chiivioterr, &c. 
At this place we had Alcalde, our Ameri¬ 
can mustang colt, (only 14 years old — but 
these mustangs, half-anil half, never grow , 
old, or wear out,) harnessed to a light buggy, | 
and we started tor our Solano Ranch, about 
six miles from this town, a little afternoon, 
passing the fine mansion and farm of our 
solemn friend, Dr. Dobbin, whom ave saw, 
only a short time before, seated in his chariot., 
as proud as a Roman charioteer, careering 
over his vast fallow fields, and scattering the 
seed wheat, after him and around him as 
loosely as though it cost, nothing, and as 
though he was on a pleasure ride over his 
thousand-acre wheat fields. [A Celestial 
spectator evidently fancied he was scattering 
feed for the myriads of wild geese that were 
sailing over head, and casting wist ful glances 
down at the plump berries that fell so tempt¬ 
ingly' beneath them.] Alter him followed 
five or six heavy, broad-spreading harrows, 
with four stout horses attached to each. 
The Doctor evidently thinks that 
“ He *vlii) by tlx' plow would thrive. 
Himself must both rule and drive.” 
He has a splendid plantation or rancho of 
some two thousand acres, of valley and roll¬ 
ing bills, and one of the finest mansions in 
the country. His lands extend quite into 
the limits of Vacaville. The wheat sown 
some three weeks since, is now up, looking 
fresh and green. 
On through Gibson Canon we went, with 
♦ Laotc of k price obliges us to.jrretitly condense this 
article, and nlsn to divide it. giving the conclusion In 
another number. Hope our California Editor will 
himself put on the condenser, remembering Hint, 
though sizable, the RTTltAI, comprises many Depart- 
Jolin T. Alexander—His Great Farm. 
[Concluded from page 00, last No.] 
Sales and Expenses per Year. 
There has been, and will be sold, from this 
farm, during the year 1870, 4,500 cattle, and 
the average increase of sate, over purchase 
price, $35 per head. 
Amounting to....$157.',00 
600 hogs raised on the farm, st |20. lO.lKlO 
60.000 bushels of corn, sold at 50c. 30,'U0 
1,01.10 " wheat. “ $1. l.ioy 
600 “ grass seed, “ 4 . a,000 
EXPENSES. 
100 men. (average,) |20 per month.124,000 
Board of men. iO,0fJO 
Miscellaneous expenses..... 10,000 
Total....£14 .mo 
Apparent nett gain . £160,600 
This may' not he an exact statement of the 
precise balance, but is believed to be very 
near the fact, aud it certainly docs not show 
badly for a large farm. There is no doubt 
that it pays a large interest on a million, 
above all contingencies. How much better 
do the sum!I Western farms pay? 
A Bnru for 3,200 Cattle. 
Mr. Eaton, with a view to future im¬ 
provements, consulted with the writer as to 
whether it is practicable to build a single 
barn to accommodate 3,000 cattle. I at first 
proposed an octagon center, with* eight 
wings, each for double rows of cattle—beads 
turned toward a common feeding floor. 
This had appeared the best form of barn for 
a stock of four hundred to eight hundred 
head; but in this case the wings would have 
to lie forty rods long—a double row of cattle 
one mile long—a single row two miles long, 
each animal occupying only three and a-hnlf 
feet, 1 then proposed a sixteen aided center, 
with sixteen wings, three hundred and fifty 
feet long each, affording room foronehundred 
bead of cattle on each side of the. feeding 
floor, or two hundred in a wing—3,200 cattle 
accommodated in the sixteen wings. This 
appeared to accomplish the object aimed at 
in the smallest space. Each side Of 1 lie cen¬ 
ter building would require to be thirty-four 
feet, with a wing thirty-two feet wide; this 
would make the diameter of the center about 
one hundred and seventy feet. This center 
building would afford room for a steam 
engine corn sbeller, mills for grinding, straw 
cutters, steam boxes, storing feed, &c. Corn 
cribs, with hopper bottoms, could be placed 
between tlieseAvings ami the corn brought 
into) tl’ie ceutclvfihtlding by the engine with 
drag licit, and delivered to the corn slieller, 
the shelled corn being elevated to the story 
above, into a receiving bin, and drawn 
thence by spout, to the mill below for griml- 
ing—all performed by the engine. 
A rotary steam box, holding 1,000 bush¬ 
els, (teed for two days, 200 bead.) could be 
placed in the center building, near the en¬ 
trance of each wing. The steam pipe would 
run from the boiler to connect with each of 
A feeding car, 
THE PEANUT CROP. 
T he Carolina Farmer says:—“ There is 
more humbuggery and more misrepresenta¬ 
tion concerning ibis crop than any other 
we know of. The ground pea crop is a 
difficult one to make. It requires a fertile 
soil, though of light aud sandy* character. 
The soil of a puanut farm requires to be 
continually renewed by heavy dressings of 
marsh mud, woods litter and lime, and the 
putting of a piece of land in order for a 
single crop costs a good deal more per acre 
than is required .to purchase good cotton 
land in the South. It is a very exhausting 
crop, and it is therefore customary not to 
take a crop of peanuts from land oftener 
than once in three years. We have never 
heard of an acre of land, along the sea coast 
where peanuts constitute the market crop, 
producing more than ninety-five bushels per 
acre, and an average crop is about, twenty- 
five or thirty bushels. A great deal of land 
does not produce more thau twenty bushels 
after undergoing a tolerable amount of 
preparation. An experience of twelve years 
in peanut, culture enables us to place these 
facts on record for the beuefil of all con¬ 
cerned." 
Cows Sticking Themselves. 
Having noticed an article, in the Rural 
New-Yorker of Jan 141b, on cows suck¬ 
ing themselves, and having bad considerable 
experience in that line, 1 herewith send you 
a drawing of a device of my own, which, I 
think, is as nearly perfect in durability and 
ease as such an animal requires. Take a 
these sixteen steam boxes, 
filled from the steam box, will be run along 
the center of each wing, and the cattle fed 
right, and left from it. 
Each of these 3.200 steers will require, in 
winter, ten pounds of meal, cooked with the 
corn stalks, per day. This would require 572 
bushels of corn per day. The stalks on 
which (lie ten pounds of corn grew will weigh 
about fifteen pounds. This will give each 
steer twenty-five pounds of meal and corn 
stalks per day—all lie will eat. 
How can these 3,200 Cuttle bo Foil? 
This question, to the small former, must 
appear impossible o! solution. But it is no 
more difficult than that of running large 
cotton mills. All it requires is only the 
same order and system in doing the work. 
First, the thousands of acres of corn must 
be shocked, at the time when the stalks are 
succulent and contain much nutriment. But 
this great labor, as heretofore performed, is 
now rendered easy by the perfection of a 
machine foe shocking corn by horse power, 
invented by an Illinoisan, at Springfield. 
This machine appears to be a success, and 
will, with two men and two horses, shock 
ten acres per day. The corn being shocked 
at the proper season, will, when cured, be 
hauled to this great central barn, with only 
the same labor as is now required to haul it 
to the cattle in the field. Here two men 
will take it, shock by shock, and spread 
upon a corn huske-r— the ears being run to a 
corn shelter, and the stalks passing from the 
busker through a straw cutter ; the cut stalks 
falling upon an elevator, are carried aud de¬ 
livered into the mixer over the steam box, 
EASTWARD PRUIT SHIPMENTS. 
The Scientific Press says:—“The ship¬ 
ments of California fruit to Colorado, the 
present season, have aggregated 750 tons, 
made up of apples, pears, plums, grapes, etc. 
The aggregate value of the same is put down 
ai. $57.000—this to Colorado alone. Nevada 
and Utah have also taken immense quan¬ 
tities. 
“ The shipments to Chicago in ‘ refrigera¬ 
tor cars’ have also been very large, and been 
attended with much greater success than 
was met with the previous season. Notwith¬ 
standing the misgiving with which the incep¬ 
tion of this business was attended, it, now 
promises to open up an immense source of 
wealth to t his State, especially when we take 
into consideration the vastly increased popu¬ 
lation of the Sierras and the Mississippi river, 
and which must even depend in a great 
measure upon California for its supply of 
fruit. 
“There is very little danger of overdoing 
the fruit business in this State if due regard 
is hat] in setting out orchards and vineyards, 
to the kind and quality of fruit raised for the 
special markets which it is intended to sup¬ 
ply. it costs no more mul requires no more 
ground to raise good fruit than it does to 
m-odnee that of inferior quality: while the 
EIELD NOTES, 
Fifty Distinct Kinds of Potatoes! 
A correspondent of a Western agricul¬ 
tural paper, who is evidently of the opinion 
that he is learned in the natural history of 
the potato, saysThere are more than 
fifty distinct kinds known, Inti many of them 
are discarded as being worthless.” Weliave 
seen over two hundred distinct varieties on 
exhibition hereabouts, nil grown by a single 
farmer. Had not that correspondent better 
read some modern agricultural work? 
halter, with nose piece just tight enough to 
allow the cow to eat well; fasten on each 
side, with wire,sticks made of good hickory, 
yet light, two feet three inches long; then 
have a girt made of No. 9 wire, with eyes 
bent a little above the middle of the sides, to 
which short wires, ten inches long, are fas¬ 
tened, and the other ends fastened to the 
sticks ; then, with a leather pad on the back 
under the wire to keep from cutting the 
skin, you can rest assured your cow’s milk 
is safe from farther depredations of that 
kind.—J. Asu, Johnson Co., Kan. 
To Kill Line on Cattle. 
A correspondent of the Maine Farmer 
says, in reference to advice that had pre¬ 
viously been given not to apply kerosene oil 
to cattle for the purpose of killing lice:—“I 
avoided the use of kerosene for litis purpose 
fur several years, fearing it might he ic : ,.i- 
ous, but for the last three years 1 have used 
nothing else with our large stock of cattle, 
ami should he very unwilling to give it up. 
As often as the stock are known to be 
troubled With lice, each creature is carded 
all over quite thoroughly, 1l<2tptently dipping 
the teeth of the card in the oil. Two or 
three applications ale sufficient. No remedy 
that I have ever tried is so convenient, aud 
Sunflower ns a Field Crop. 
Isaac Leuty of Sanilac Co. Midi., states 
in the Western Rural that lie has cultivated 
the “ mammoth Russian Sunflower,” as a 
field crop, with great success, lie plants in 
drills four feet apart, and eighteen inches in 
the drill, requiring two quarts of seed per 
acre. Many of the stalks grow sixteen feet 
high. They want rich land. From eight to 
ten tons of leaves have been gathered from 
an acre, making good feed for cows, horses 
and pigs. The first leaves are pulled in 
July, going u)i three or four feet high. The 
next pulling is as high as a man can reach. 
They make good green food when pastures 
are dry. The tops with the seed are cut wit h 
a sickle, as high as a man can reach, putting 
a dozen bundles in a shock, as soon as the 
seed glazes. In winter, the seed is threshed 
with a flail, the main heads reserved for seed, 
and the small ones threshed separately. The 
main heads gave thirty-one bushels per acre, 
and the small ones sixteen bushels—forty- 
seven per acre. Haveauy of our readers had 
similar success ? 
Castor Bean* in Las Ah Helen Cotin (X# 
The Los Angeles News says that t he rais¬ 
ing of castor beans is attracting something of 
attention hereabouts. Several farmers, who 
last season cultivated a few acres, have met 
with results that have been eminently satis¬ 
factory. In this section the crop must un¬ 
doubtedly prove n profitable one. The plant 
will thrive upon soils that are. too dry for 
many other products, and the cost of cultiva¬ 
tion is said to be less than for the same num¬ 
ber of acres in corn. A ready market, at re¬ 
munerative rates, is always open. 
