Los Angeles daily herald., 1875-06-18

EDITOR HERALD: Tustin Is situated
on the border of the great San Joaquin
ranch. This ranch is held by COM
pany of capitalists who offer none of
it for sale. 1t is considered here as a
great obstruction to the settlement of
the county. Nearly all tie available
land outside of the San joaquin Is cut
up and sold, and the settlers need
more room to "spread out" Not an
acre of this great tract can be pur-
chased, however, and body of land
capable of sustaining In prosperity
thousands of enterprisng men, is peo-
pied only by bands of sheep with
their keepers.
A pleasant feature of this place is its
situation among fine grove of syca-
more trees. A majority of the houses
are thus provided with pleasant shade
without waiting for the slow growth
of evergreens.
CHAhACTER OF THE SO1L.
There is no land in Anaheim, Santa
Ana or Orange that surpasses the soil
of Tustin. 1t is a body of loan, sandy
in the Northern part, darker and
poorer as we go South. There are
spots of gravel, but these have their
special crops and are nearly worth as
much as the freer loan. The land
here retains moisture surprisingly, If
properly cultivated. In the corn
fields you can find plenty of moisture
almost anywhere at depth of three
or four inches. / rode through field
of fifteen acres of corn, from six to
nine feet high, that has not been irri-
gated once this season. / believe the
statement Of its owner, William A.
Smith is true, that I" You can put the
weeds on the whole fifteen acres in
your hat" 1t is the loosening of the
soil that permits the water to rise near
the surface. If our farmers gave two
thirds of the attention to their crops
here that Is necessary in the East
ern States, the bugbear of irrigation
would not be SO great as it is made to
appear. Mr. B. F. Maxson showed me
a field of corn which almost equals
that of Mr.. Smith, that has had no
water until within few days. Mr..
NJ. also showed me twenty-fOur ton
stackOf hay that he cut this season
from ten acres of volunteer.
GREAT CROPS.
Potatoes are speciality here. While
Tustin cannot, perhaps, compete with
the Bodega country as to quantity In
raising this staple, neither Bodega nor
any other country can raise better
potatoes than can be grown here. 1t
is not difficult to get two full crops
from the same piece of land, and it
may safely be said that potato raising
pays here. Messrs. Peters, Gregg,
Short, King and Gallagher have near
Tustin, a small castor bean patch con-
tanning three hundred and twenty
acres. The rows are one mile long,
and there are three hundred and thirty
rows. Just think of it-three hundred
and thirty miles of castor oil! Messrs.
Peters and Short have here also two
hundred and twenty acre hay field
that is yielding finely.
TUSTIN ORCHARDS.
But the attention of farming Is not
given altogether to "cropping this
season. The orchards of Tustin are
growing rapidly in number. There
was large demand for peach-trees
here this Spring, which could not be
supplied, bur next season will remedy
that matter.
The HERALD's regular correspond
ents will keep you informed of the
condition of the people here. For the
present | will close by repeating what
a gray-haired man said to me the
other day--a remark equally applica-
BILE to the whole country and worth
gold as a reply to Brothers Linton,
"Abel," "Observer," and Others of
that ilk-"It is nothing, sir, for man
to live in this country, if he ViU only
sUork." W.
Tustin, June 18th.