PRACTICAL PAPERS—BUTTER FACTORIES. 
277 
duced to take the place of those natural to the soil; whether, 
indeed, the bunch grass, underdose cropping and long contin¬ 
ued dairying, will prove enduring, are questions not satisfacto¬ 
rily solved. 
While the climate of the coast-range is low and uniform in 
temperature, some of the valleys in the interior are intensely 
hot in summer. In the Sacramento valley the heat is swelter¬ 
ing, and, of course, dairying in such portions of the state could 
not profitably be carried on. The absence of meadows and 
the sowing of oats or barley for hay is a feature that at first 
would not strike an eastern dairyman favorably. Yet when it 
is taken into account that stock run out all winter in the fields, 
and comparatively little fodder is required, meadows, it would 
seem, are of very little account and can well be dispensed with. 
Looking over the country, as I did, at its worst season, when 
every thing is dry and parched, one would not be likel} 7 to be 
misled with impressions too favorable. And yet, from what 
I saw and heard, I was favorably impressed with California 
dairy lands. I found stock universally in fine, thrifty condi¬ 
tion. 
It was plainly evident that much less labor was required in 
the care and feeding of stock here than at the east: that under 
ordinary management there must be a much less per centage 
of loss in stock from disease and accident, on account of the 
more favorable climate; that fancy goods could be easily 
made, and that with proper skill in manufacture, poor stuff 
ought to be the exception rather than the rule; that with the 
same prices for dairy products as at the east, large profits 
could be realized, because dairies could be managed at less ex¬ 
pense, to say nothing of the difference in the price of lands. 
These, with other advantages, could not be ignored. And in 
saying this, I do not wish it to be inferred that I advise eastern 
people with good farms, eligibly located, and who are doing 
well, to pull stakes and go to California, for I believe some¬ 
thing in the old adage, to “let well enough alone/’ Still, to 
young men seeking homes in the west, who are active and en- 
