The Placer herald., 1872-05-18
HOUSE AND FARM. .


Independent Of the danger of dry season,
which makes feed for cattle rise to such ex-
orLitant prices, that the entire profits of cat
,lc-rais'ng and dairy products are swallowed
up for two or three years. 10 meet this
dange., VIC call attention to a plant or tree
which in all seasons can be made to take the
place Of pasturage for cattle or sheep, and
which, after the period of usefulness as feed
has passed, can be converted by nanufac
turc into various mercl,antablc products.
We refer to an evergreen plant which, in
reality, grows to the dimensions of quite a
respectable tree, often reaching as high as
thirty feet, and having a circumference OF
two or three feet at the ground The Span
ish call it Malva. For several years we
have observed this plant Or tree closely,
intending to call attention to it as means OF
subsistng cattle, as they dcvour its leaves
with avidity, and with COWS it seems to pro-
duce more and richer milk than clover or
any o.her prepared food usually given.
Cows, horses and sheep all seem to have the
same fondness for it, and will at any time
leave fresh grass or hay for it, and seem to
take on flesh rapidly while subsisting on its
leaves for any length of time. As fast as
the leaves are eaten off fresl, ones take their
places and grow with astonishing CELEBRITY,
thus keeping up n perpetual supply, Sum
mer and Winter, whether the season be wet
or dry.
Native CaIifornians have many uses for
the leaves and seeds Of this tree, one OF
which is to make lecoction of the leaves
for use in fevers, Summer complaints and
dropsical swellings, and also poultices of the
bruised leaves for painful and inhammatory
wounds.
A neishbor informs us that he planted
these tees, almost two feet apart, around
the entire circumference of a two-acre lot, in
January, at which time they were about
two feet in height, and from May on
through the Summer his two cows subsisted
entirely upon the leaves, and gave a larger
quantity of milk than ever before. In the
meantime hive of bees worked on the flow
ers, which boom seven or eight months con-
secutively, only ceasing when the seeds form.
The average duration of these trees are
seven or eight years, then they loose their
vigor; the leaves fall, leaving the branches
bare, except for the long fringe of flowers
and seeds, which resemble those of the field
mallows, hanging the entire length of the
limb. The seeds then fall and the next
season spring up in numberless shoots which
can be pulled up and transplanted without
danger, as they are exceedingly hard y. No
draught Injuries and no frost bites them, and
they need no further care after being planted.
-Oakland Neps.
The THmFrLEss CALIFORNIA LABoRER.-
All that has been said with regard to the
careessness and extravaganza of the farmer,
applies in a twofold degree to the farm labor
er. In every part of the. State can be found
farmers who began, fifteen or twenty years
ago, without dollar, but who are now in
dependent. ! am not speaking of men who
have made fortunes in speculating in land;
only of men who have made their money by
plodding industry. They married, saved
every dollar they could, kept adding acre
after acre to their farms, as they found them
selves able to purchase it, and now they are
surrounded with comfort and happy families.
With these examples before him it is sur
prising that the farm aborer does not make
greater exertons to secure home. But no;
because he does not receive the high wages
that once prevailed in the State, he thinks
what he gets is not worth saving. | have
seen laborers (men who had no pretention to
be anything else) wearing a suit Of clothes,
which, with watch and .jewelry, was worth
$3.50. have seen these men leave their
work, hire a pair of horses and buggy for
So per day, take girl with them, and go
twenty m les to ball. | am speaking of
what is common, not of isolated instances.
When such men are thrown out of employ
ment, of course, they have not a dollar left;
and they bitterly complain that the country
is going to ruin, and is unfit for white man
to live in. One would think there is some
thing in the climate of California that gener-
ates discomfort and extravaganza. You find
here laborers, not twelve months from Eu-
rope, who, though they receive $500 per
year, and board, complain of the rate of
wages. Yet, if one years wages were put
in the bank, the interest would nearly equal
the wages they get at home.--Fiom
Wants and Adtuntages Of California"
an Overland Monthly for .Apru.
PERrECTING THE RASPBERRY. Nothing
serves to secure perfect crop of raspberries
so certainly as mulching the surface of the
ground. 1t requires moist surface to fully
perfect the berry, because the raspberry bush
is emphatically surface feeder. 1t is for
this reason that the surface of the soil should
never be stirred to any considerable depth in
order to keep down the weeds, after the fruit
has set. because such stirring can only be
made at the expense of great numbers of
small fibrous roots that everywhere premoat
the soil from the larger horizontal roots,
upward towards the surface.
Straw makes a good mulch for the rasp-
berry. spread on thick enough to keep down
the weeds, and BALI rotten straw. it is all
the better as it lies closer to the ground and
better excludes the air and serves to retain
moisture better than that which il airy and
light.-Rural Press.
HEARTH OF FAR,.rRa --There nye aeyen