New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-08-02

r. .,rro, mo thu, the farmers and iand-dSbers with
whom smoke knew "for certain but very little aoon1
the best ways these lands I ana Io
oT Yale would be very valuable 20 them now; iney
know only that the land when burned over w
messnres for economically putting in and taking OIL
wheat crop the Californian needs no instructor
pRoDUcr1vRSEss OF THE sEw-MADE SOIL
Tho soil seemed to me- they dig INTO IT, say
si feet deep 10 be- not peat but mass OF undecayed
or but partly decayed roots strongly adherng together
so that the upper part of evee. taken OF course from
the lowest part the ditch lay In firm sods or tssocK
These however seem to decay pretty rapidly on ex'
nosnre 10 the air The drainage is not usually deeper
Than four feet and In places the water level was but
three feet below the surface. The newly reclaimed
land being very light suffers from the dry season. and
is often irrigated, which. it lies below the river
level can he quickly and cheapy done, OF course.
sherman Island OF the earliest 20 be reclaimed
and there / visited the fine farm OF Mr. Bigelow-a
New-Hampshire man, l believe, and, appaiehIy
thorough farmer He has lived on le lana Ten Hf
Here saw three hundredacre field or wheat, as me
wheat could be- He thought he should get aC9 9 me-
between Go and 20 bushels per acre and without any
further labor the next year brought him from me same
crop Here saw uxurlant red clover and bluegrass
and he had field Of carrots, which do well on the
ne more o''' was to find that apples. pears
peaches pum grapes cot ar t weud not do well
on peat; but here IL bore last years Hood Wieh prao
levee and Overiowed Mr. Bigelows farm anu az
no yt c o ~ Which Of course grows rapidly and had
been source Of profit to him. IN yielding cntt ~, oois
sale Timothy does do well ON ue lano as les b
DO not push down deep enough and the surface OF uon
light soils always dries up rapidly MT biEV ,m baat
and took OF As bushels Of wheat per acre. anu tp "5
hair OF alfalfa later and pasted a land after the
hav was cut They have advantage on the t H
yernber TO the last OF June.
EXPERIMENTS WITH RANTE AND JUrE.
n was very odd TO sit on the veranda at the hrm
house. after dinner with high evee Immediately III
front OF u.s. almost hiding the Sacramento RIVER anu
with broad canab-the inner ditch-fu OF iresh water
running along the boundary far as the eye coulu
ocb the level OF the levee broken occasionally by tue
gates The prospect would have been monotonous haS
we not had at side, the lovely MOUNTAIN 5t ,h
which Mount Dia6lo Is ths prominent pSgH ord t,bie
and I'm az fine filth as though IL was q inOue.
farm was delight to the eye too IL may IhCcrese
grapegrowers in the East TO be tod that Oh VIA We
caIlf q foreign grapes" the Muscat OF Alexandra
succeeds best in these moist, peaty lands 70 su1
market crane here. Trees have not grown 70 great
sze on the tule lands but bees are very iond vi VIC
wild flowers which abound in the unreelalmed
and having hollow trees 10 Duliu n, .neh ai i
Themselves to circumstances by constructing helr hes
on the outside circumference OF trees Fencg rVss
here about 500 per mile. The redwood nOsts are
INTO the ground with mauls. Farm laborers receive III
the tues SO per month and board II IeN are " ~
men, but 81 day and feed themselves "here lheS arc
on Twitche Island found an experiment making
In rame and jute, Mr. Finch. formerly OF hayWai1s,
having already planted &c OF ramle ana
10 mt seven acres lutte. for which ne had tne pa
ali ready raised in n canvas-coyered lncloSure. ne
raised rnie successfully last year ana solo, ne to1
me from onetenth OF an acre, 26j pOuhus ~, ~
Drrpared ramie for Is cents per pound' ne
used TO Dress IL machine made IN CdH-
fornia which several persons have assured me WORKS
we'll and cheaply a fact which ramie growers IN Louis
lana NAV like TO know for the CHIEF obstacle 10 ranle
culture this country has been so far the laek ol
cheap and rapidly working machine for It's preparation
II struck me that Mr.. Fnchs experiment with ramle
and ute would promise better were 1t not made on new
land from which believe only crop has been taken
When these tule lands have been diked ana drained,
thew are sold for $40 to SIS per acre Considering
the crops bear and their nearness TO marKct-sp
could load at almost any OF the lslandl suppose te
price is not high but farmer Ought To be sure hat the
eyees are high enough, and properly made 10 leVee
them costs yarOusly from So 70 $40 per acre Inc tue
lands which lie on the land and which are equaly
rich with the islands, usually dl ched ana qked Or
less than 50 per aud this sum Is regarded Deeye
by the State Commissioners the maximum which me
owners are allowed to borrow on reclamation lana
bonds for the purpose OF levee building. L spoke,
while back OF the existence Of beavers in the tule
country Elk and grizzly bears used also TO abound mere
and am told that the unrecaimed lands elk are sun
found though the grizzlies have gone to tue mountains
One of the curiotes hereabous Is the ark or Doang
house. used by the hunters which you see anchOred OF
moOred In the sOughs these they 1--we, using sdl
boat when they 10 ashore to hunt, and nOatug from
place place with the tide On one OF these arks saw
magnificent pair OF elk horns, from an animal recently
sbot G..