594 * THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
SEPT. 48 
(ftrflnrtofrfrt 
THE HARVEST IN CALIFORNIA. 
Now that the wheat and barley have been 
gathered, and much of the crops thrashed, we 
can compare the yield with that of last year 
when the amount of wheat exported was 580,- 
000 tons. There is a partial failure ori the San 
Joaquin, which will diminish somewhat the 
aggregate production- But this is, in part- 
compensated for by the increased product of 
the countries of Souoma, Lake, and other 
Northern parts of the State, which had too 
much rain last year. 
For all purposes Club wheat is deemed the 
best. This sort succeeds more generally than 
any other under all the varying conditions of 
soil and climate. It is a large, plump grain, 
and furnishes the. magnificent staple, with hard 
and glutinous berry, that commands the high¬ 
est price of any in foreign markets. There it 
is in demand by millers for mixing with the 
softer kinds for grinding. Here it cannot be 
manufactured without turning on a small 
stream of water during the process. I wit¬ 
nessed this, shortly after last harvest, in the 
grinding of our grists which had beeu hauled 
from the pile of sacks left in the open field 
after thrashing, it is an accepted theory that 
grain is lighter and drier then than six months 
later when the weight has been increased by 
absorption. Many think it pays interest to 
bold a crop twelve months, and stiange as it 
may seetn to Eastern eyes, there are substantial 
reasons for the belief. From about the first of 
May until the grain is thrashed, not a drop of 
rain falls on it, as a rule, though, some years 
there are very light showers in May. The 
ground is shaded and kept moist by the plants, 
while the grain fills out plump and dry and 
hard. It may be, and often is, removed within 
fifteen days from the field, in sacks, to the 
holds of the largest vessels and shipped around 
Cape Horn, passing the torrid zone, both on 
the Pacific and Atlantic, without the least 
danger of heating, protected by its capacity 
for absorption. The dry climate is, perhaps, 
the cause of this excellence in quality, other¬ 
wise I do not see why some of our best sorts 
of wheat would not do well in the Atlantic 
States. Thu writer has forwarded many 
samples to friends in the East, but he has never 
learned of their working any revolution or 
change of seed. On the other hand, seed wheat 
from every part of the world has been tried 
here, so far as we know, without at all rivaling 
our favorite sorts. The Mediterranean, once 
so popular witli you, was long ago introduced 
here, and has been discarded. The yield was 
inferior, and the color of the flour dark. The 
white winter wheat ol the hills of Ohio and 
Kentucky, is the only berry I ever saw com¬ 
parable in size and quality with the California 
Club. 
Now that our best soils are becoming ex¬ 
hausted with wheat after wheat, year after 
year without rest or alternation, the average 
yield per acre is running dowu to seventeen 
bushels. Vast ranges of half-tilled fields cio 
not grow that much with the gang plows and 
slovenly methods prevailing. But there are 
many small ranches where mixed faming is 
adopted, and more labor is bestowed on the 
land with better results. I have seeu 54 bushels 
an acre from 6ununer-fallow r ed upland—hut, 
“ one swallow' does not make a summer.” The 
ranch of Mr. James Hugill, near the Mokelumne 
River, is virgin soil reclaimed from the tules. 
One hundred and thirty acres were sown to 
w'heat of the Propo variety. The reported 
yield this harvest is 60 bushels per acre. This 
is certainly encouraging for tule lands, of 
which there are great wastes uudrained. This 
alluvial formation, the deltas of our rivers, is 
the finest garden land in the world. 
The four great barley-producing States are 
New York, Michigan, Wisconsin and Califor¬ 
nia. Our crop of 1879 is very little under the 
average. In this locality it is better than last 
year. The price is very low—60 to 80 cents per 
hundred. As this is uot much of a corn-grow¬ 
ing region, barley supplies its place for feed. 
The climate is so even on this coast, aud the 
W'eather so uniformly warm and clear, that we 
calculate with certainty on exemption from 
rains after their cessation in the spring, until 
about the first of October. On most of the 
great ranches the harvest hands sleep in the 
fields or in the straw. They are fed like 
Gypsies and worked like mules. During the 
harvest time the ranch is a busy hive; but 
when thrashing is done, it is deserted until 
plowing begins in October. As a consequence, 
the houses and other improvements are usually 
of the meanest 60 rt. In a land which the world 
cannot rival for the variety and flavor of its 
fruits, nouu is grown. The proprietors of these 
principalities sow grain and nothing else, up to 
their door steps; and when the header has 
finished its work, the family goes away to the 
nearest city, reaving a iot of worked-down 
niuleg to wander over the premises until the 
rainy season. 
Along the coast, within the belt of fifty miles 
subject to sea breezes and fogs, the tillable 
land is more rolling and thickly settled. There 
are permanent homes, many of them built 
with taste and surrounded by the comforts of 
life. More attention is paid to fruit-growing 
and dairying. Even there,there are many signs 
of the nomadic tendencies of the population, 
and it takes but a slight hint for almost any 
head of a family to pack off on a jauut to the 
mountains. Iu such an excursion made up of 
grown people aud children, with horses, guns 
and dogs, the wagons are without covers, and 
the party without tents. The soft climate is 
responsible for ranch of our shiftlessnces. 
There arc no winters to prepare for, and, but 
for the rains, the winter months are the most 
delightful of the year. It is the season of seed 
sowing, after which most of the lords of the 
soil take their ease until harvest. j. b. a. 
Santa Rosa, Cal., Aug. 1879. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Maine. Bolster’s Mills, Cumberland Co., 
Aug. 25.—Corn is looking well. We had some 
hard winds that blew it down twice, but must 
of it has straightened up again. Potatoes are 
looking well. Apples are quite plentiful. 
Some of the seeds I received from the Rural 
are doing fairly; Defiance wheat looks well, 
and so do the Beauty of Hebron potatoes. 
Blount’s corn is growing very tall. k. s. p. 
Yt., Cornwall, Addison Co., Aug. 29. —In¬ 
stead of our hay being half a crop, as predicted 
iu my last report, subsequent rains have made 
it rather better than an average. The Beauty 
of Hebron I planted alongside Early Rose ; 
they ripened about the same time, and I do 
not see much difference in their yields. I 
planted about five ounces of the Beauty, which 
gave 35 hills, with oue eye in each hill, and 
those five ounces yielded me just 49 pounds of 
very nice-looking potatoes. Of the other seeds 
received, the tomatoes are doing finely; the 
watermelons wore injured by drought; the 
Pearl Millet was very successful as a failure : 
the Defiance wheat was nasty and shriveled, 
and of the flower seeds, none has thriven ex¬ 
cept llie Iticinuses, which are looking nice. 
W. M. E. 
Rhode Island, Providence, Aug. 30th.— I 
started Acme, Golden Rural aud Early Con¬ 
queror tomatoes at the same time, in bores in 
the greenhouse. The plants were set out at 
the same time, about July 1st. The first Acme 
aud Early Conqueror were picked about the 
18Ch of August, though the Conquerors jWere a 
little iu advance of the Acme. To-day I have 
fouud the first and only Golden Rural 
ripe. The vines are loaded, how'ever with 
green fruit. The Acme is the most perfect fruit 
in color and form, that I know of. Cook’s 
Smooth Red is the favorite market tomato 
around Providence, though the Acme has been 
raised considerably this year. The Japanese 
Persimmon is a dead sure thing here, though 
we can raise the Virginia variety every time, 
and have had nice fruit from them iu winter 
for years. e. t. d. 
N, Y,, Sennett, Cayuga Co., Aug. 27.—Fann¬ 
ers about here are busy plowing for wheat, 
while some are sowing it. I think the acreage 
to this crop will be larger this year thau last 
in this section. A great many of our farmers 
have finished thrashing. Wheat averages ouly 
about half a crop ; for while, some have as 
high as 25 bushels per acre, others have only 
ten. Wheat is now worth 81 per bushel with 
no prospect of a rise right-away. Oats bring 
from 35e. to 40c., aud are an average crop. 
Corn is caring pretty well, and if we get rain 
enough, it will fill satisfactorily. This is quite 
a famous country for beaus, but this year they 
are blight-stricken and 1 cannot tell how they 
will come out yet. The yield of potatoes is 
going to be very good. The tubers are now 
worth 25e. per bushel. With regard to the 
Rural seeds; the flowers did not come up very 
well, while the Pearl Millet didn’t show itself 
at all, although I took pains to pick out the 
best ground for it and top-dress the place. My 
Blount’s corn came up first-rate aud grew well 
for two weeks, when the ants got at it and de¬ 
stroyed every spear of it, except one which is 
now five feet high. I’ll try it again, however. 
The Acme tomatoes are growing nicely, but 
they are rotting before they get ripe. My 
Beauty of Hebrou potatoes are doing best of 
all. I have 19 hills, all looking first-rate. They 
will be fit to dig in about a week. w. u. 
. N. Y., Elmira, Sept. 1st.—As summer closes 
we must acknowledge it to have been 
an unfavorable season for farmers in this 
locality. Late frosts, cool weather, and severe 
droughts have been decidedly unfavorable for 
nearly all crops, and a considerable falling-off 
in the yield has been the result. Occasional 
light showers, during the greater part of the 
summer, kept vegetation in a fair state of 
growth; but we have been especially unfortu¬ 
nate in having had no nun for the past two 
weeks, as good crops iu corn aud tobacco de¬ 
pended upon a rainfall. Pastures are very 
poor, aud as we have had no heavy raius since 
spring, much complaint is heard of low streams 
and city wells. We have lead every indication 
of rain and copious showers have fallen at 
points not far distant, hut it ha6 cleared off 
again, and the prospects for rain are poor at 
present. Tobacco growers have beeu busy the 
past week harvesting their crops and the weed 
will be nearly all housed by the end of tlie 
week. Some farmers are plowing for wheat, 
but more are waiting for rain to soften the 
ground so that better preparation can be. given 
it and that at less expense. Corn cutting has 
already commenced on some farms, and it will 
be generally begun this week. o. n., ,tr. 
N. Y., Greenport, near Hudson, Aug. 28.— 
Corn and potatoes in this vicinity are splendid. 
I have 58 hills of Blount’s White Prolific, which 
is now from 10 to 11 feet high. The stalks arc 
thrifty, but the ears do not indicate a large 
yield. They are inferior to those of the ordi¬ 
nary field corn. The Beauty of Hebron potato 
was cut through the center and planted in two 
hills, which yielded me 39 potatoes of medium 
size. At the same time and in the same kind 
of soil, I planted a potato cut in four pieces, 
one piece in each hill, which produced 04 po¬ 
tatoes, about half of which were very 
large, some weighing one pound each; the 
rest were of medium size, some smaller. I am 
thus explicit, as I fancy it to he an extraordi¬ 
nary yield. The seed was taken from a basket 
of Carolina potatoes, sent from New York. 
H. M. L. 
N. Y., Haunaway Falls, St. Lawrence Co., 
Aug. 29.—My Blount’s corn is doing finely 
now; the stalks are from 8 to 13 feet high, 
with three to seven ears to a stalk. The 
drought injured it very much, but a good raiu 
on the 10th and 17th gave it a new start. The 
Golden Rural Tomato is ahead of any sort I 
ever had. I picked the first ripe ones on Aug. 
9, and I have had plenty since. The Beauty of 
Hebron potatoes arc yet growing and bid fair 
to give a good yield. The Defiance wheat 
rusted somewhat, but lias given a fair yield. 
The rest of the Rural seeds have been nearly 
failures. h. d. k. 
N. Y., Guilford, Chenango Co., Aug.29.—The 
weather for the month of Aug. has been dry 
and cool, which begins to tell on fall feed. The 
hay crop which was excellent, was well 
secured. Wheat was very good, especially the 
spring varieties. I have one called White- 
llussiau that seems to do better thau any other 
introduced here. I have not thrashed yet, but 
its yield with me last year was 27 bushels per 
acre, and the year previous, 32 bushels. 
M. E. M. 
Ohio, Fruit Hill, Hamilton Co., Aug. 26.— I 
purchased a few plants of Pride of-the-Hudson 
Raspberry from an Albany, N. Y., firm in the 
spring of ’78. They grew nicely during the 
following summer, but were killed to the 
ground lust winter, llersline also was ‘-killed,” 
but uot so badly. Turner was injured very 
little. The thermometer dipped to 24 degrees 
below zero several times during the winter. 
Our Miami Black Cap Raspberry, of which 
thousands of acres are raised here for the Cin¬ 
cinnati market, were somewhat injured. The 
season here was very dry during May, the lat¬ 
ter part of July aud the first of August. Now, 
aud for two weeks back, it has been very wet. 
The Beauty of Hebron potato the Rural sent 
me produced about half a peck of large tubers; 
I think I never saw such a yield from a single 
potato, jr. n. d. 
Omo, Fosler’s Crossing, Warren Co., Aug. 
27-—My Blouut coin will average four ears to 
the stalk. The Golden Rural waB our first to¬ 
mato to ripen ; tiie Acme, too, is very fine. 
All the seeds sent me grew. d. r. 
Michigan, Laiusburg, Shiawassee Co,, Aug. 
2!).—We are having a long-contmuod drought 
aud vegetation is suffering greatly. Wheat 
has done fairly, but grass, potatoes, oats, 
buckwheat, corn aud root crops are light. 
Frost has done more harm this season than 
for twenty years past. Still, there are pro¬ 
visions enough, and none ueed suffer on ac¬ 
count of scarcity. Clawson wheat will be 
sown more than all other varieties, thouth 
6ome are inquiring for new sorts. At present 
we know of no better kind, for it is hardy, 
adapts itself to different soils, of which we 
have a great variety, and yields well. 
G. M. K. 
Kr., Owensboro, Daviess Co., Aug. 24.— 
Pearl Millet I planted too early and lost about 
four-fifths of it by a heavy raiu last May. I 
am afraid 16 square feet will hardly be room 
enough for each stand of what is left of it. It 
i6 four feet high. The first stalks sraud at au 
angle of about 45 degrees, and young stalks 
keep corning up between them. Of Blount's 
corn, about which so many have "great expec¬ 
tations,’' of course I must 6ay something. I 
predict that some one who has raised the corn 
previously, and understands its habits, will 
“get away” witli that gold premium. 1 have 
stalks 14 feet high, but the average is only 12 
feet. Some stalks have from two to four oars 
that lie close to toe stalk, while others have 
from four to seven on a shauk about two feet 
long. Is the corn sweet? It scums so, for jay¬ 
birds and wood-peckers seem to be resolved to 
eat mine up. although there are large fields of 
other sorts within 100 yards of the Blount’s. 
Accordingly, with the wind prostrating some 
of mine and breaking off some, while birds 
are eating some more, I am afraid 1 have but 
a slim chance for a premium. Corn is worth 
40e. to 45c. per bushel; wheat, 80c. to 87^c.; 
Irish-potatoes, 50c.: sweet potatoes, 80c.; to¬ 
matoes. 40c.; butter, 15c. to 20c. per pound; 
honey, 8c.; eggs. 8e. to 10c. per doz.; water¬ 
melons at purchaser’s own price. About a 
fortnight ago we had a regular flood. To¬ 
bacco and cabbage on low grounds are greatly 
damaged. ,r. w. s, 
Illinois, Baileyville, Ogle Co., Aug. 26. — 
The farmers are busy thrasliiug. Crops are 
yielding better than was anticipated. Winter 
wheat averages about 25 bush, per acre; spring 
wheat, II ; oats, 40, and barley 25 per acre; 
but there is mucb variation, and we cannot 
estimate the exact general average. Quality 
good. Corn is doing well, and will be a large 
crop in this part of the West. w. b. d. 
Ills., Evanston, Cook Co., Aug. 25.—I 
thought my Blount's corn was doing wonders 
—it. has shot up to a hight of 14 feet aud has 
from three to four ears to a stalk—but when I 
see accounts that give it from four to seven 
ears to a stalk, I have to “give up.” My Pearl 
Millet is doing first-rate—it is six feet high 
and still a-growing. c. w. 
Wis., Darien, Walworth Co., Aug. 22.—Har¬ 
vesting is over and thrashing has begun. All 
small grains are good, and corn promises well. 
We had a slight frost on the 17tli inst., but it 
did no damage. I’ve dug my Beauty of He¬ 
bron potatoes; the largest is 13£x7f iuches, 
outside measure. They were plauted on April 
20, along with the Early Ohio, and came up 
seven days ahead of the latter, and kept that 
lead until dug. They are of bettor quality 
than tbe Early Ohio, which were scabby. The 
Salix pentamira lias a most beautiful leaf and 
attracts a good deal of attention. z. u. 
Iowa, Troy, Davis Co. Aug. 24.—We have 
had continual dry weather for the last two 
months. Corn will be a short crop; early pota¬ 
toes an average crop; late potatoes a failure. 
Full wheat averaged from 20 to 25 bushels per 
acre. Oats and hay are fair crops. It has 
been very dry. but my Blount’s coru has from 
two to seven ears per stalk. The Beauty of 
Hebron potato bas done very well. It ripened 
about the same time as Early Rose, but yielded 
better, aud is a good potato. The Acme 
tomato is very good. The Defiance Wheat 
rusted and blasted with me. Peail Millet is 
from thiee to four feet high and running to 
seed, The flower seeds did not do well. 
,i. L. 
Iowa, Lotts, Louisa Co,, Aug. 27.—Fall 
wheat hereabouts was a good crop, yielding 
from 20 to 30 bushels per acre; spring wheat, 
however, was a light yield, owing chiefly to 
chinch bugs. Oats arc au average crop, but 
tbe acreage under them was less than usual. 
Ilay was an average crop, put up in good con¬ 
dition. Early potatoes Were a good yield ; 
late ones are not looking as well as they do 
some seasous, so that we expect a light crop. 
Corn looks first-rale, aud is now ripening. My 
Blount’s Frolific is doing finely; if nothing 
happens to it, you will hear from me with re¬ 
gard to it in connection with one of those pre¬ 
miums. The weather is dry and pleasant. 
w. M. N. 
Mo., New Cambria, Macon Co., Aug. 25—I 
received the Beauty of Hebron potato and 
planted it on the 10th of May. I have dug one 
hill and I think they are very good potatoes ; 
but our Early Rose were up when we got the 
Beauty, so 1 cannot tell which is the earlier, 
but will give them a fair trial uext year. I 
shall save all I get for seed. I was very sorry 
we did uot get the rest of the seeds. J bear a 
great deal said about Blount’s Prolific coru. I 
would like, if I had it, to try it by the side of 
my Yellow Deut. I have some from 10 to 13 
feet high, with from two to seven ears of good 
solid corn on the stalks. I had the best yield 
around hero last year, put could not tell how 
much to the acre, as I did not measure it. I can 
say I have three of the best varieties ol sorghum 
eaue in Missouri—oue is the Early Amber, 
which is called the best; then come tbe White 
Point and the Arabian Sugar-cane. The Early 
Amber was ripe three weeks ago, aud the Ara¬ 
bian is nearly as early, but the other is late. 
The Early Amber is from 8 to 12 feet high ; 
the Arabian from five to six. and the White 
from 12 to lo feet. j, a. h. 
Kansas. El Dorado, Butler Co., Aug. 27.—It 
is quite amusing to read to what large dimen¬ 
tions the Blount corn attains. And yet it is not 
a match for our common field corn here, as 
grown on the walnut bottoms. 1 would advise 
some of our more Northern friends to have 
ready for tune of need boiuo heavy covers for 
early frosts. Our corn is all ripe and out of 
the way of frosts and hoppers, and will be a 
talr crop—forty to fifty bushels per acre on 
bottom land. There is a large number of acres 
ready for wheat, which is being sown now. 
Potatoes are a poor erop and are worth $1 per 
bushel; eggs, butter and cheese are selling for 
