The Grand Haven news. [volume] (Grand Haven, Mich.) 1858-18??, 1859-09-14
FRUITS AND VEGETABLES OF CALL
F0RNIA.

II /
FoRNIA.
The August number Of The Home
Missionary, furnished us by inend'
contains an Address by Rev. EDWARD
s. LACY, of San Francisco, CALI al Inc
Anniversary of the American Home MIS-
siOnary Society, May 1ith' 49, from
which we take the following extract;
aour our agricultural resources have
h,t begun to be known. There are IN
the State forty-one and half millions OF
acres Of arabic land, and Of grazing land
thirty millions. OF this vast extent there
have been inclosed, as yet, but hall mill-
;eD.af acres. 1t has sometimes been sup,
farmers find themselves IN eifcahsT 3ile
Of great advantage. Their grain is never
lodged by summer storms, never spoiled
in the harvesting by long rains; but with
no interruption, aud no fear of any, they
proceed from the beginning of harvest to
the end-leaving their grain in the field
in heaps, threshed or unthreshed, until
prepared to remove il. Thus, even with
our high prices of labor, they can send to
New York market, and undersell the men
of Illinois. We raise, as yet, but little
moro than what is required for home con-
sumption Yet the little exported last
year, and the year Previous brought, /
understand, fair profit. OF the great
productiyeness of our soil, you have all,
doubtless, heard, and perhaps have put
1t down as fabulous. But the truth is
moro than fiction. We who have lived
there, can testify of that which we have
seen, and which our hands have handled.
Sixty bushels of wheat, is by no means
an uncommon yield per acre; and in some
cases, we'll evidenced, tho yields have been
eighty, ninety-fve, and in one case, ono
hundred and ten bushels per acre. The
largest crops Of the West, l believe, are
forty or fifty bushels. In San Jose Val
ley, there is field Of barley, containing
fifty acres, which, from one sowing, has
given five crops, and The last was yield
of forty-three bushels per aero; this all
from one sowing, and, of course, one plow-
ing. These "yolunteor crops" are often
very large.
"For tho production of fruits, Califor-
ma seems to surpass all other countries.
One orchard Melted its owner, last year,
l am credibly informed, $4,000, and the
previous year, nearly as much. Peaches
grow to great size, sometimes measur-
ing twelve and half inches round.-l
Pears weigh. three and four pounds, a
bunch of grapes fourteen pounds, and q
strawberry has measured six and half
inches in circumference-and they ripen
in abundance, from the 1st of April until |
the first Of December. Our mountain
sides will soon DO covered with vines,
bearing grapes of the most delicious quail
ity. In France, the largest yield is 5000
pounds per acre. and 1900 pounds is a
fair crop; In Ohio, 5000 pounds is
largo crop, and 1000 or 5000 is large
average. But in California, the ordinary
crop is from 10000 to $4,000 pounds
per acre, and $4,000 pounds is not unu-
sual.
"The vegetables of California arc even |
moro remarkable than her fruits. Pota-
toes sometimes grow as heavy as eight |
pounds, and are yielded seven hundred
bushels to the acre; beet weighs one
hundred and twenty five pounds; cab
bage, fifty pounds; pumpkin, two hun
dred and sixty-seven pounds; a sweet po-
tato upwards Of twenty-three pounds
Our mammoth trees" are the wonder of
the world, and are worth crossing the
Atlantic TO see. "The Father Of the
Forest now lies PROSTATE, and perhaps
has lain for ages-the largest of the fam
lily. The tree is broken off three hun
dred feet from the roots, and is there
eighteen feet in diameter. BY the regu-
lar slope of the monster he must, when
standing, have lowered four hundred and
thirty-fve feet into the air!
"For the production of such things,
wat soil, and what climate are neces-
sary! There never was moro genial
cline, warmer suns, or serener skies. All
climates desirable for health or comfort,
he within a days travel. You wear win
ter clothing in San Francisco, protected
by a light overcoat; step on the Sacra-
mento boat in the evening, and you
awake in hot summer morning. In
many portions of the State, flowers bloom
dens."
|