Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1871-10-28
COTTON IN CALIFORNIA.
A New Indus " on the Pacihc-Hemphls
keh at the Head Of It.
From en- Occasional Correspondents


ANAHEIM, Los ANGELos COUNTY, Call
FoRNIA, October IL. 1s7l.-I have been in
vestig sting "cotton in Californis" recent
", and presuming thst your readers
among whom are many Of my old friend
snd neighbors, will feel interested in tn
result OF Msmphis mans work, 1 trans
mt herein brief history of the plantinl
oftha praseut yesr by Colonel John L
Strong- who was formerly connected witt
the Memphis and St. Louis leyee rail
road.
The Colonel and myself were neighbor
in Crittsn6sn county, Arkansas and
have kept up a correspondence with hin
since bis arrival IN this county. At hi
Invitation hsve Just concluded visit L
his rancho "Ssnts Msrgsrits," near thil
place aud the "}winn Rancho" in MerceC
county. Tho purpose Ofths visit was ar
inspection Of the cotton crops.
Colonel S was induced TO plant here By
ths wonderful results attending an eXpe
rims tai plsnting made last yesr, on he
Msrced river, with seed from his Arksn-
Ess plantation The experiment was
oonductea by Mr.. J. NJ. Strong, who
mansRad for two yesrs the Arkansas place.
Onlv small piece Of ground wRs planted,
but 5s0a ponnds of seed cotton per acre
rns- lied. The quality of the cotton pro-
duosd wss flrst determined BY Memphis
brokers. s sample for the purpose Of
clsssifc-tiOn being cent to the house Of
Brooks Nicely & Co, Of your city, It was
declared equal to the best "middling MP.
lands" Of the southern States, Hthe staple
little finer and softer" 1t wes next sub
iactsd to anslysis under tho microscope in
New Orleans, and compared with the cot
tons Of the world. The repors of the snsly-
sis sssigns 70 It higher value for spin
ners' use than our middliug uplands, /"
end notes the effect Of production in this
dry olimste to be q strengthened and re-
fined staple. As q final and conclusive
test Of its merits, ssmple was forwarded
20 Liverpool for clsssi6cstion and yslua-
tiOn hV the board Of brokers. Their v9r-
dict fully sustained the expectations of
the producer 1t WIS pronounced equal
to "Orlesns middliBg" in both quality
and vslue Rnd It's color WIS the subject
OF spscisl comment. It was SO white as to
sppesr to have undergone some process Of
bleaching
Thus encouraged. the seed for q plsnt-
ing Of eight hundred acres were import
ed from the Arkansas plantation via
Union and Central Pacific railroads. The
planting on the Merced was begu- on the
29th of April, being delayed somewhat by
by the on-srrival of the seed. The sea-
son was very unpromising. this being a
second dry yesr throughout the State
The grsin crops throughout the entire
Ststs have fsllsn far short of the usual
Yield. reaching an average of only two
and half bushels Of wheat on the Merced,
where the ordinary yield is twenty bush
els per acre. The first blooms appeared
July Sd. aud the picking wss begun the
last of August. Sixteen Cinnamon COM
meDcsd picking, and though they had
never before seen q boil of cotton, aver
AGED the first day fifty pounds each.
When 1 was on the Merced, September
10Th. they he'd been picking two weeks,
and had resched an sveTege of ninety five /
pounds each, going over the crop the first
time. There were some Georgia negroes
picking IN the same field, who only aver
sged rs pounds each. This cotton was
perfectly dry-no dew falling In that re-
gion-snd I should ssy 1t would equal
in weight l25 pounds gathered at
the same season on the Mississippi river. |
Both seed aud lint were go dry IS to sd- |
NIT Of being bulked Ia the gin-house di- |
rersly from che field without summing.
For several dsys cons s7cutiyely passed |
sn hour among the Cinnamon who were
picking. In all the time ! was with them |
/ did not hear a word spoken among the |
sixteen pickers. Every man worked as |
IL on thai days labor depended his for |
tune. The overseer, an old 'swsmper," |
said: ''They are always just So" The |
erop on the Merced has been produced, |
blowing excepted, with Chinese labor. 1t |
will doubtless interest your resderE to |
state the opinion of an Arksnsss planter |
ss to the value OF this Glass of laborers. |
sfThey are 'ssid the Colonel, "fsr more re- !
liable than negroes They do not execute |
much Of the work as promptly, because |
1t is nsw 10 them, but they are decidedly |
more csreful and persevering They thus |
accomplish as much, In 8 given time, as |
the negro. They hsndle team as well. |
and will take much better care of both |
team and tools As long as you pay them |
promptly there is no danger Of strikes |
They never throw sway moment OF the |
time for which they contract, and no psO |
pie on earth have higher respect for the |
OBLIGATIONS Of contracts. I would sooner |
undertake 10 manage five hundred OF /
them than twenty negroes.n
The labor Is abundant, snd the men are |
paid twsntylEge doilsrs par month, they |
boarding themselves. Colonel s. es-
timstes the average cost Of picking |
throughout the season at seventy i've /
cents per hundred pounds.
The average Weld per acre on the /
Mercsd ranch viii he over three fourths Of
q bale Of five hundred pounds With the
rainfall OF an ordinary season, 1 am well /
sstis led be would have gathered one and
q halt balas per acre. The crop was cut /
short at least half by the drought, and /
yet there has not been drop of rain
since the planting, nor has the crop been
irrigated. Some Of the cotton is the finest
7 svar Esw. I counted on one stalk two
hundred end twenty Eve fully developed
bolls September 10th. On the same stalk
OF bolls, blooms and squares there wss
more than 1vs hundred, n1sny Of which /
viii yet mature, there being no frost until
DeceUbsr. How does that compare with
the famous stalk sent by David Dickson
70 the Southern Cultivstorf
The crop OF cotton and seed have both
been sold, cotton at twenty cents, gold,
per pound; seed At two dollsrs and hfty
k..rN a~.fA fur al
and marketing. including
freight on seed, is less than thirty dollars
per acre-the estim8ted cost Of prOdue-
ing q pound Of cotton being six cents.
The planter realizes from his Merced crop
the present year. net profit Of one hun
dred and P5ven dollars and fifty cents per
sore. " had neRrly all this work done
by CONTRACT" said the Colonel. 4" What
would our friends In the bottom say, II
VOC told them you saw a field of three
hundred sores Of cotton cultivated by
three men and three mules after the first
hoeingf" That Is the sum of my cultiva-
ton here
A noteworthy feature of California
cotton growing =, the harvesting of the
entire cop before either frost or rain.
giving the planter one grade only, and
ths. grade tie hiRhest-a great a6vsn-
tage, in point Of profit, over the producer
Of the cotton States.
Returning from the MeEced, I visited the
Santa Msrgnrita ranches near this place.
Colonel Strong resides ct this rancho and
has directed the planting here in person.
BE had Just returned from San Francisco,
on the occasion of my visit, Ia which city
be had been dangerously i'll subsequently
70 our visit 20 the Merced. he insisted,
however on accompanying me over the
entire ranch. ..and discussing all his per-
plexities and hsrdships in the prosecu-
tion OF cotton culture there. The rancho
was settled IN February last. and like all
others 10 this vicinity, is uniformly sur
Dauudsi by running streams. All the vast
neNds of hogs, cattle and horses turned
oose u non the plains 70 live or die as
.bev can. seek is evirons. A horsemsn
9 on duty ds5 and night, herding them
If the premises. "TheY are more de-
ltructive than ClsytoS's militia" said
Colonel s., by way Of impresSing me with
he extent TO which be Is snnoysd. The
irop here is developing very slowly Ibe
is very even throughout tds |
1esr. and all fruit bearing plants develop
more gradually than under the influence ]
II the extreme EN- perature OF the Merced 2
egion. There are bolls, blooms and
qusres in abundance, but no mstured 4,
'otton. As no frost falls before December, !
he crop may yet reach q bale per acre, i
)ut the ohsrces are against IT.
angular feature Of the crop here is the !
etentiOn Of all the fruit. Not q square !
,ss fslleE, on The land wss irrigated be-
ore planting, is q cold. dusty soil. large
Y inpregasted with slksli. The weed Is {
arge, averaging about i've feet. The cost ?
4 cultivation has been about equal with {
be Mercei- planting. 3
The chief ettFRcti0n Of Santa Hargarita q
) the corn crop, said to be the finest In @
.os Angeles county, and from which sn Il
versge Yield OF one hundred and forty
lusbels ner acre is expected. One hun