Los Angeles daily herald., 1874-03-05
Tobacco and Cotton.

A diversified industry is the best for
the country. A State that is almost
exclusively devoted to one pursuit
must necessarily be more liable to sea-
sons of business depression than one
that has several strings to its bow
California, and especially the south
ern portion of it, is adapted to a wide
range of pursuits. Fruit-raising will
occupy the attention of great many,
and will without doubt prove the
source Of a constant and reliable reve-
nue.. All kinds of grain and vegetables
can be raised with success, but the de-
mand and of course the price is liable
to fluctuations. Every one cannot 60
into fruit-growing, and without a
steadier market ordinary farming is
not likely to prove reliable business.
With these facts in view, it becomes a
matter of importance not only to the
individual operator but to the commu-
nifty at large, to naturalize among us as
many new industries as possible. In
the present state of affairs the cult
walton and manufacture of tobacco
offers to the enterprising farmer and
capitalist q most inviting field. The
growing of tobacco in Los Angeles
county is no longer an experiment.
The fact that a fine quality of the weed
can be reared with ease and certainty
has been fully established. One COM
pany has already gone into the busi-
ness on q considerable scale and with
every prospect of success. They have
planted about ninety acres, and expect
to follow the business up. There is
plenty of room for more. The demand
is large, and unlike fruit or grain,
which is bulky, and therefore must
pay high rate of freight, it can be
sent to market cheaply in proportion
to the value of the crops. The
cotton crop also promises to become a
feature in Southern California farm
ing operations. We have a climate
and soil very we'll adapted for it's profit
able production, and with tChinese
cheap labor'' its cultivation ought not
to be costly. The we'll ascertained
fact that cotton can be successfully
grown with very much less water than
is required by other crops, should have
great weight in its favor. The cotton
plant sends down long tap-root and
draws moisture from depth not
reached by any other crop. On our
moist lands it would grow luxuriantly
without irrigation, and on the dryest
mesas it would only require enough
water to give the plants a good
start. This crop has also been salts
factorily tested, and we have no doubt
that the day is not far distant when
our fields will he whitened with
the expanded bolls of this king among
plants. Should we ever become cot
ton-growing people, and there is moth
ing to prevent it, we need not ship
our crop to the East or to Europe to
have it manufactured. The abundant
water power that is now sinking to
waste in the sands can be utilized to
turn thousands of spindles, and trans
form our quiet cafons into hives of
busy industry. The waters that will
irrigate our fields can first be made to
drive our machinery, and Los Angeles
instead of depending on foreign coun-
tries for every shred of clothing that
her citizens use, can readily become
the source of supply for the islands of
the Pacific, and the vast mining
regions that in the years to come are
destined to become the homes of a
busy and prosperous population.