The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1869-10-09

cars for ride down into the famous
Santa Clara Valley. The ride through
Alameda, with its pretty rural resi-
dences and fine parks, and the farm
ing country along theeast side of the
Bay, is a pleasant ooe; and is one
succession of good Branches (the
term here for all kinds of farms) all
the way to San Jose. This
place is In the midst Of
the Santa Clara Valley, situated atthe
head of the Bay. or rather eight miles
interior from the head of the Bay, and
fifty miles distant from the city. The
citizens of San Jose insist that 1t is
the prettiest town in the State, and 1t
certainly presents good claims for that
honor. It has costly and imposing
Court House, q number OF attractive
churches, a good class Of business
houses, streets we'll improved, and its
private residences, its orchards, vine
yards, parks and shade trees, all coEa-
blned are such as can scarcely be
found in any other city or town IN the
State. About San j ose and the neigh
boring town Of Santa Clara are to be
found some Of the finest and best I'M
proved farming lands ia California,
and ] doubt if they are surpassed any
place in America.
The roads at this season are terri
bly, dusty, but it richly repays one to
drive in carriage through the coun-
try in this vicinity aud see what is be-
ing accomplished In agricultural mat
tiers in this new country, which but
few years ago was pronounced by its
most enthusiastic inhabitants not
adapted to farming. In riding through
this region, L was surprised to see the
substantial and expensive character
of the improvements, the advanced
condition of the shrubbery, and the
taste and beauty of the gardens and
surroundings. / doubt whether there
is a farming section anew York State
or Ohio with better houses, greater
| degree Of horticultural taste, or a
higher state of cultivation. True,
this is the choicest part of the State,
near the railroad, and within easy
reach Of San francisco; but all this
has been accomplished within fifteen
years. And the railroads which are
now branching out from San francisco
and Sacramento will, as some OF them
/ already do. pass through valleys about
as rich as this, and which are rapidly
being improved and developed.
The great Forop of this valley is
wheat. The fields are, some of them,
the largest Lever saw. embracing
hundreds of acres In a single enclos-
ure, and the yield in this locality IS
enormous California wheat can
hardly be classed either as "Winter"
or ''spring, as with our States varI-
cites, but quality between the two.
California, especially In tie grain ana
good farming regions of the State, car
hardly be said to have any winter,
The period which would answer for
[ that is the rainy season, which comes
on in November usually, and contin-
ues for two or shree months. But no
snow falls, there is very little frost,
and it never freezes in the milder val
leys. The ground is not usually plow-
ed for wheat till the first rain falls, of
which there are showers IN October.
The wheat produced is not considered
quite as good as that of Oregon, where
there is snow and ice, nor as good as
our Indiana winter wheat, butt makes
very good bread; and some even
prefer it. 1t is harvested In June,
much of itlwith the [" header, leav-
ing the straw standing high In the
field, and thus being freed from 1t IN
thTeshing. As it is convenient during
the Summer, the wheat Is threshed
and putinto burlap sacks, and left
piled up in the open field, without
any covering, for months. 1t never
rains in this country from the terni-
nation of the rainy season to Its com
mencement, period Of from seven to
nine months. So the farmer has little
use for barns, and the wheat remains
unprotected In the fields until 1t is
sold to the grain dealer, who usually
furnishes the sacks and hauls it away
or if the farmer prefers to run the
chances Of the market, he sacks and
transports it to the city, and holds or
sells it himself. lw ileG I3
Yesterday as / drove through the
valley, for miles upon miles, | saw the
wheat fields, looking as if they had
Just been harvested the last week, the
straw or stubble standing high In the
field, bright and golden almost as the
day the header gathered in the
grain. As there is no rain, the straw
retains its color, and the field is not
oYerrun with weeds. If 1t is de-
sired to pillow before the first rain
falls, the straw is burnt off; but, if
standing when the rains come, it soon
falls and decays, and is easily ploWed
IN, and thus goes TO enrich the soil.
The hay when cut is, also, not stacked
or stored under sheds or barns, as
with US, but is simply piled loosely to.
gether 20 protect it from the bleach
ing " effects of the sun; and there it
remains until, in the course Of a few
months, the press of other work gives
the farmer an opportunity to get it
ready for market or out of the way of
the rainy season; and he engages "a
portable hay-press, as cur farmers do
a thresher, (if he does not own one
himselD, and passing Through the
fields, it IS rapidly compressed into
bales and hauled away to market. or
piled up in very much smaller COM
pass than with our farmers, and easily
covered over. From the immense
piles of baled hayI saw yesterday, the
yield Of this valley per acre must be
enormous. q.
But what was of more interest to
me even than the broad fields of wheat
and hay, Git is not a very good corn
country, was my drives through some
of the extensive gard ems. Vineyards
and orchards of this valIey-I say.
drices, for their extent forbids walk
ing, if a general view is. to be obtain
ed. Here I saw single strawberry
beds embracing several acres, and
bearing fruit through nearly every
month In the year, for they are hardly
ever out of season. The vineyards
are of large extent, and prolific almost
beyond belief. The vines are staked