1886 
Differences in growth of fruit trees in the 
Hast and California; yield of vineyards; 
abundance and prices of grapes; favorite 
varieties; peaches; potatoes , hops and 
other crops; benefits of railroad competi¬ 
tion ; rainfall in Sonoma. County; Mary 
Wager-Fisher's sketches; climate and pro¬ 
ducts of Northern California . 
Youn Old World ways arc not our ways. 
Even Nature strives to outdo herself iu Cali¬ 
fornia. The thought is suggested bv looking 
over the report of a meeting of fruit growers 
recently published in the Rural New- 
Yoiucer. One of the members, a noted hor¬ 
ticulturist of Rochester said that the annual 
growth of wood on his pear treos was about 
two feet, which, perhaps, may be called a 
good average. Now, look on that picture aud 
then on this. From one graft put in by the 
writer the last day of April, the present year, 
which was not as thick as a lead pencil, there 
have grown branches from three buds, just 
measured and yet growing, one four feet six 
inches long; one four feet seven inches, and 
another five feet two inches. I have grown the 
French prune on almond, 12 feet in one season, 
with lateral branches in addition. Most fruit 
trees make the enormous growth above noted 
under favorable conditions. 
An acre of viues eight feet apart numbers 
(580. The product this year for ton-year-old 
viues, on the best land, well tilled, with care¬ 
ful pruning, is often 50 pounds each. The 
crop of Missions on the vineyard of Mr. J. 
Hessions. near Santa Rosa, is referred to; but 
the yield is exceptional, for, like farming the 
world over, there are lazy aud heedless own¬ 
ers who do nob average over half a crop. The 
Rose of Peru is a magnificent grape. Mr. 
G. II. Cornelius, of Sonoma, exhibits a bunch 
weighing 10 pounds. Plenty of other sorts— 
Muscat, Flame Tokay and the like—weigh 
from five to 10 pounds per bunch. Our best 
grapes do not bear transportation, and are 
never seen in the Atlantic States outside of 
conservatories. Though our valley is studded 
with wineries, there is scarcity of cooperage 
to hold the wine, and it is feared that many 
tous of grapes will rot on the. vines for lack of 
a market. They are selling for from 810 to 
818 per ton delivered—Missions being the 
cheapest. One of the cellars crushes 90 tous 
daily from wagons which wait patiently for 
their turn to unload, like hauling corn to the 
railroad depot in an Illinois prairie town. 
Muscats, Black Morocco and others bear ber¬ 
ries au Inch iu diameter, each being a good 
mouthful of delicious eating. 
To-day there have been touches of white 
frost iu exposed places. The leaves ou vines 
ami maples arc turning, and the woods and 
vineyards are aflame with red and purple 
colors. The first rain of the'season, after more 
than live mouths of dry weather, has laid the 
dust and rendered out-door life more endur¬ 
able. 
Just now the late sorts of peaches, such as 
Smock and Sulway, are iu perfection. I often 
wonder why more are not grown. They are 
of good size and quality, aud marketable at 
about twice the price paid for early fruit. 
Trees of the peach, apricot uud nectarine are 
subject, as elsewhere, to diseases, exuding 
gum, with the annual loss of many branches. 
We find it best to head hack, so as to keep the 
reproduced boughs near the trunk. 
So far ns our observation extends, the Bur¬ 
bank Seedling is the best potato here. Other 
localities may have better. The crop is light 
this year. Hops were a full yield and very 
profitable. Owing to tbe unusual rainfall of 
the past season, California raised bonanza 
crops, so that farmers and all others are experi¬ 
encing unusual prosperity. People abroad, 
who only think of this State as a producer of 
the precious metals, will he astonished to learn 
that the yield of the gold aud silver mines, say 
$25,000,000 yearly, is hardly a drop iu the 
basket as compared with the proceeds of our 
other industries. The wheatand barley harvests 
alone were in the neighborhood of 100,000,000 
bushels. The crops of raisins, wine, hops, 
fruit, lumber anti dairy products are immense; 
while far overshadowing either out* enumer¬ 
ated was the luxuriant yield of grass, of more 
intrinsic value than any when we consider the 
question of cheap food. 
Competition has worked a revolution in the 
scandalous rates of freight long prevailing 
from Eastern points. It used to cost five cents 
a pound for stuff from Chicago to Han Fran¬ 
cisco, now the rate is about 25 coats per 100 
pounds. 
Those who reud for amusement us well as 
for information sometimes like cold facts. 
The writer keeps a rain gunge, and gives the 
following statistics of the rainfall at.Clover- 
dale, 80 miles north of !5uu Francisco, at a 
point where there never is snow and seldom 
frost, and oranges, olives, and like tropical 
fruits are grown in perfection. For “the sea¬ 
son” means beginning with the fall rains and 
extending to their close, about the first of the 
following May. During that time all the out¬ 
door pursuits of a farmer’s life are carried on 
almost without interruption; for it does not 
rain continuously more than in the Middle 
States. True, sometimes, but not often, there 
are two or three days of bad weather. Then, 
again, it ’’’ay not happen during a whole sea¬ 
son that plowing must lie stopped more than 
one day. 
Rainfall for Season of 1882-3.27.38 Inches. 
“ “ “ " 1R89-*.23.77 “ 
“ “ " 1884-5 . 21 . 2(1 " 
“ “ “ •* 1885—W.16.65 “ 
Av age yearly rainfall.31.01 Inches. 
which is bout the same as at Santa Rosa, 
Healdsburg, and Napa. The temperature I 
do not give, as it varies little. The barometer 
we have no use for. It never rains in Sum¬ 
mer, nor does it thunder or storm at any time. 
The sketches of your fair correspondent, 
Mary Wager-Fisher, were fairly drawn and 
attractive. She is an artist of no mean abili¬ 
ty, aud knows what objects to place iu 
the foreground. California as it is, if faith¬ 
fully reproduced by tbe observer, presents 
many attractive scenes. But Vine growing 
never, by any chauee, yields $500 an acre 
profit. Somebody has imposed upon her cre¬ 
dulity. The average product of grapes per 
acre, throughout, will not justify a higher es¬ 
timate, one year with another, than $100 per 
acre. On account of the low prices "of grapes 
this year, the average profit will be much less. 
But this is far more profitable than other 
kinds of husbandry. There are isolated cases, 
to be sure, iu which this estimate is exceeded, 
as there are others in which it is too high. 
The equable climate within 100 nules of this 
coast. Summer and Winter, is the one thing 
which may be honestly recommended. It is 
the principal attraction—the solid basis of our 
prosperity. But an erroneous impression has 
gone abroad that the country north of the 
Bay of San Francisco is cold and inhospitable 
—wrapped in snow storms and wintry frosts. 
It is not so. There is no appreciable differ¬ 
ence between the climate of Sonoma and Los 
Angelos Counties, owing to the influence of 
the Japan current, which tempers both. We 
also grow orauges, olives, figs, peaches, aud 
in wine this is the second county in the State. 
The citrus show, held at Sacramento, last 
January, proved that Sonoma wasuot behind 
auy other place iu the variety and quality of 
her fruits. Wo certaiuly offer much cheaper 
laud, and it does not require irrigation. 
Cloverdale, Cal. j. b. Armstrong. 
The Bohemian G ain and Cereal Company, 
of Ypsilanti, Michigan, has been operating 
quite extensively iu Michigan, Western New 
York aud other places in graiu swindles, and 
its agent has just gut into trouble iu Roches¬ 
ter, New York. Like the other similar 
swindling schemes which have been fleecing 
the farmers for years, it sold wheat at $10 pet- 
bushel, As an inducement the company gave 
a bond to the purchaser in which they agreed 
to sell for him the following year double the 
quantity he bought, at the same price. Last 
year W. H. Clark, a wealthy farmer of Grove- 
land, Mich., bought a large quantity of wheat 
ou these terms. The company's agent called 
on him a month ago and sold the wheat to 
fanners on the same terms, retaining 33 V,' por 
cent., for his share of the profits and giviug 
Clark notes for the balance. These proved 
worthless, and Clark followed the agent to 
Rochester, aud intends to prosecute him crim¬ 
inally for swiudliug. Probably there is no 
other single species of fraud by which farm¬ 
ers have lost so heavily within the last few 
yeai-s as they have by these grain speculating 
concerus. They are managed in a very 
plausible way, aud men of means aud reputa¬ 
tion have figured prominently iu them; but 
they have, without an exception, lost in repu¬ 
tation in proportion as they have gained in 
means by their connection with the swindles. 
The Bohemian oats and several similar frauds 
entered largely into Ohio politics during the 
late election. Generals Robinson and Ken 
nedy, on the Republican ticket, were accused 
of being interested in the schemes, and had 
they uot indignantly denounced the charge 
aud proved their innocence they would have 
beeu buried beneath a mountain of hostile 
votes No man desirous of public confidence 
or of a reputation for common honesty should 
have auy sort of connection with these swind¬ 
ling concerns. 
^IlKRE'is a long list of humbugs that should 
be strictly^.avoided:... .Tho^Americau^aud 
European Search Service, Cincinnati, Ohio... 
“Professor” J. H. Armstrong, Philadelphia, 
Pa... .“Prof.” Lew H. Anderson, alias Garden 
City Novelty Co., alias “Lovers’ Gazette,” 
alias John Thomas & Co., alias Dr. McLean’s 
Medical Institute, alias Welcome Guest, alias 
Madame Le Clare, a ias Mrs. D. Thomas 
& Co., alias John Thomas & Co., alias Harri¬ 
son Bros. & Co., 152 La Salle Street, Chicago, 
Ill.Emil Bassett., alias Dr. Edward Nah- 
tau Ganz, F. Theo. Eenck: Marsh, Bassett & 
Co., Norman Electric Light Co., Philadelphia, 
Pa-J. M. Bain, alias Campbell & Co., alias 
W. H. Griffith, alias “American Poultry Ad¬ 
vertiser,” alias Suepherds Nat. Journal and 
Rural Era,” alias Common Sense Incubator 
Co., alias Chase Plating Co., etc., Zanesville 
Sago, Hyland Park or Nesv Concord. Ohio,. . 
Borotf, J. F. & Co. , Cincinnati, Ohio. 
....Crescent Art Co., Revere, Mass., alias 19 
Central St., and P. O. Box 5170, Boston_ 
Crown MTg Co., alias Edw. W. Braton, 294 
Vine Street, Cincinnati, Ohio_M. A. Dau¬ 
phin, State Lottery Co., New Orleans, La_ 
....“Dr.” J. Flynn, alias “Dr.” J. A. Law¬ 
rence. BrooklynN. Y..T. S. Gardner, alias F. 
Album, alias Foreign Art & Loan Exchange, 
alias Ledger, alias Farming World, alias 
Ocean to Ocean, alias Cotton Belt, alias Chic¬ 
ago Farm Journal, Cincinnati, O., Chicago, 
Ills., or Memphis, Tenu.W. H. Hale, “M. 
D.,” alias Dr Carson, alias Dr. Lightfoot, 
alias •• Health and Home,” 723 I2ch Street, N. 
W., Washington, D. C\, now at 92 La Salle 
St., Chicago, Ill.J. W. Harris. P. O. 
Drawer 5159, Boston, Mass-Edgar Jones, 
alias Youth Pub. Co., alias Home Mf’g Co., 
Wilds &Co., Tremout Jewelry Co., G. W. 
Ingraham & Co., Domestic Mf’g C’o., 3 Tre- 
mont Row. 80 or 282 Washington St., 17 
Batterymarch, corner Milk Sts.. P. O. Box 
3(530, Boston. Mass., alias also Middlesex M'f’g 
Co.. Ashland. Mass., Graham & Co.. Walnut 
Hill, Mass,, Sanderson & Co., Readville, 
Mass., H. Lee, Box 293S. Framingham. Mass., 
Frederick Lower, 90 11th St.. Brooklyn, 
N. Y., and 9(5 Fulton St., Union Electrical 
Co.. 131 William street. New York City. 
Mich. Loan Pub. Co., alias Farmers' Inte¬ 
rior Magazine, Charlotte, Mich., alias Gay¬ 
lord & Co. C. H. Gurnev, alias Boston 
Cutler}* Co., 23 Central St.. Sheffield Cutlery 
Concern, or Knife Co., 155 .Milk Street, alias 
International Mfg Co., IS Arch Street. Boston, 
Mass.Golden Specific C’o., “Drunkenness 
Cured,” 185 Race Kt,, Cincinnatti, O. F. 
Millard & Co., aliases F, W. Hoyt, Decora¬ 
tive Art Works., N. £. Trailing C’o., Colum¬ 
bia Trading Co., Placque & Panel Art Works, 
Kensingtou Art Co.. Industrial Co., and 
Carlton & Co.. Boston; alias Royston & Co., 
and World MTg Co., Revere, Mass, alias 
also Royal MTg Co., Providence, R. I..... 
Royal Dominion, N. B., Cauada Lottery, alias 
L. N. Beckwith & Co., St. Stephen, Can_ 
John Smith. Jr., alias A. L. Smith & Co., 197 
or 242 or 280 Washington St., alias Great 
English Sterling Cutlery or Knife Co., alias 
Birmingham Knife or Cutlery Co., 45 Milk 
St., Boston, alias J. G. Simpson & Co., alias 
Birmingham Cutlery Co., Box 101 Faulkner, 
Mass.Reliable MTg Co., alias Venables & 
Graham, P. O. Drawer 1598. SI l> . Walnut 
St., Philadelphia. Pa. Also Globe MTg Co., 
alias Crescent Art Co., alias E. J. Venables & 
Co., Revere, Mass., and Boxes 5344 and 5170 
and 19 Central St., Boston Mass.W. F. 
Thompson, Washington. N. J. 
CATALOGUES, ETC., RECEIVED. 
A. W. Stevens & Sox, Auburn, N. Y.— 
An illustrated circular of Stevens’s French 
buhr-stone, corn and feed mill. This circular 
gives a full description of the goods made by 
this old established house, aud in a straight¬ 
forward manner, the reasons why they claim 
buhr-stoue mills are the best aud cheapest in 
the long run. They also make mills with bolt- 
iug attachments for making marketable meal, 
a large-sized coru-sheller. engiues aud thrash¬ 
ers. An illustrated descriptive circular will 
be sent to all Rural readers On application. 
Kellogg’s Royal Salt. —We have spoken 
of this preservative several times, but the 
more carefully we examine it the better are 
we satisfied as to its good qualities. We have 
made several tests with it in our own dairy, 
and iu every instance it has done all that was 
claimed for it. Butter preserved with it is 
certainly superior to that kept for the same 
leugth of time with common salt. The ac¬ 
tion of this preservative is a chemical one. 
It arrests ruucidity. and is, so far as we can 
judge, harmless to health. It seems probable 
that this salt will prove of great benefit to 
Southern dairymen. Dairying at the South 
is rapidly developing. Heretofore the great¬ 
est drawback has beeu found in the difficulty 
in securing a temperature low enough to keep 
the butter properly. Either ice must be im¬ 
ported or manufactured at a great expense, or 
deep caverns must be dug into the earth for 
storage rooms. This butter preservative prom¬ 
ises to lessen the expense of storage for South¬ 
ern dairymen. Experiments have fully proved 
its ability to preserve butter under the most 
trying circumstances. Southern dairymen 
will do well to give this preservative a fair 
trial. The office of the company is at 384 
West Eleventh Street, Now York. 
John Saul, Washington, D. Wholesale 
Catalogue of Fruits and Everg reen and Orna¬ 
mental Trees, Shrubs, Greenhouse Plants, 
Roses, etc. A first-rate^ general list. 
CONDUCTED BY EMILY LOUISE TAPLIN. 
A THANKSGIVING. 
Loan, Thou hast glvea me a cell, 
Wherein to dwell; 
A little house whose humble roof 
Is weather proof; 
Under the sparrea of which I lie. 
Both soft and drln; 
Where Thou, my chamber for to ward, 
Hath set a guard 
Of harmless thoughts, to watch and keep 
Me while I Sleep. 
Low is my porch, as Is my fate, 
Both void of state; 
And yet t he threshold of my doore 
Is worn by tbe poore. 
Who thither come and freely get 
Good words or meat. 
Like as my parlour, so my hall| 
And kitchen’s small; 
A little butferte and therein 
A little byn, 
Which keeps my little loafe of bread 
Unc-hipt, unflead; 
Some little sticks of thome or brier 
Make me a fire, 
Close by whose *Jr coals I sit, 
And glow like it. 
* » * * 
All.these and better, .Thou dost send 
Me, to this end. 
That I should lender, for my part, 
A thankfull heart; 
Which fired with incense I resigne. 
As wholly Thine; 
But the acceptance, that must be, 
My Christ, by Thee. 
Robert Berrick , 1674. 
THE COMPLIMENTS OF THE SEASON. 
When those Pilgrim Fathers, whom we 
love to honor, decided, in their stern piety, 
that Christmastide was a Romish superstition, 
if not a relic of heathenesse, they only carried 
out the spirit of rigorous religion, which was 
the very bone and marrow of the struggling 
colony. But Puritan nature is human nature 
after all, and in default of pagan’s Saturnalia 
or churchman’s Holy Nativity, they made a 
new feast of good will to men—Thanksgiving 
Day. 
We always felt a warm pity for the children 
of Pilgrim Fathers. Poor little square-toed vic¬ 
tims, they never hung up their sad-colored 
hose in the ingle nook; they were totally un¬ 
acquainted with Santa Claus, and careless of 
the red-berried holly, while mention of the 
mystic virtues possessed by the sleek mistle¬ 
toe would have caused a thrill of horror in 
that pious community. 
But once a year, let us hope, the stern eld¬ 
ers unbent; once a year the little victims were 
allowed to forget the whole duty of man, and 
after a decorous public thanksgiving in the 
bare meeting-house, there was the feasting 
aud gayetv we always connect with the sea¬ 
son. So. with many another legacy, the old 
Puritans have left us this—our oldest national 
holiday. It is—it should be—the happiest of 
holidays, for Christmastide is a solemn glad¬ 
ness, out of tune with careless merriment. 
Mayhap we feel as if we had not very much 
to give thanks for;—our pet plans have mis¬ 
carried, or our worldly affairs are unprosper- 
ous; perhaps some heavy grief or loss makes 
the thought of thankfulness harsh and discord¬ 
ant. But there must ever be some cause for 
thanksgiving, “ for our creation, preservation, 
and all the blessings of this life,” as the church 
liturgy says. 
Yes, the occasion is a happy one, but with a 
slight touch of solemnity, as befitting the bal¬ 
ancing of our mental and moral accounts 
So, with the hope that the Thanksgiving side 
will weigh the heavier, inasmuch as we all 
alike find cause for gratitude, we end, like 
Dickens’s Tiny Tim, “God bless us, every one.” 
THREE THANKSGIVING DAYS—THE 
STORY OF A SPRING FRESHET. 
the professor. 
“To be sure I'm goin' up to ’Hampshire for 
Tbanksgivin’ You folks down here to York 
are mighty clever ’n all that sort o’ thing, but 
horses couldn’t keep me away from home on 
Thauksgivin' Day;'' aud so saying Aunt Tildy 
Joules adjusted her spectacles, settled the 
striugs of her cap and folded her hands in'her 
lap. 
“No! nol There's not beeu that day in auy 
year, for now nigh onto sixty when the Rand- 
ses and our side of the Doolittles hasn't all 
met and dined; though let me tell you they 
make a crush iu the biggest house in the Mos- 
quasset Valley. Three of what the literary 
writers call eventful uud providential anni¬ 
versaries to me fell one aider another in ’27, 
28 and '29. and they will be celebrated as long 
as our folks continuer to exist around New 
England.” 
“The. Mosquasset River has got a modern 
name in the geographies now-a-days, but I 
don’t mind that, for I like the old names and 
the old times best, and I do wonder why these 
legislator chaps, with all their innervations, 
