Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-01-17
A MARVELLOUS TILE.
A FRESNO COUNTY SMALL FARMER TFLLS
OF a WONDERFUL GROWTH.
Interesting Information for Intending I'M
migrants, and Statements Of
Plain Facts

ram EacIG.
SANDERS Fresno co.,, Jan. u, 1850.
In presenting this series of articles to
show to people coming into cur State, and
others unacquainted with our soil and
climate, that an improved farm of twenty
acres here viii support family, and
enable man to lay up money besides, 1
must first show what can be successfully
raised here, its cost and it's value. To
lead man from the northern Mississippi
valley to believe that twenty acres here
will equal the average farm there in the
production of wheat and Indian corn
would be the grossest deception. Yet I've
often heard just such Misrepresentation
Another kind of deception is one that the
newcomer too often practices upon him
self, He comes, say from southern Illinois,
where corn, mules and pork are the cash
products Of the country. He is bound to
make the same succeed here.
lie TRIES IT AND FAILS.
His corn doesn't yield as it did back in
Egypt his hogs require feed during
the long dry season, and his band of young
mules, bred with great care and expense,
cannot be kept except within fences made
at enormous cost so, after losing whatever
means he began with, he finds, too late that
this is not a corn country that the "hog
men" only can raise pork proftably, and
that they do it by herding immense bands
of hogs in the foothills, where they fatten
on acorns and roots while the ground is
wet, and then driving them to the tules,
where they tatten on the masses OF marsh
growth CT roots and plants during the dry
season; that the country's supply of horses
and mules is raised much in the same way
that hogs are raised, by "hog men, " or
"mule men," as the case may be.
Perhaps the collapsed farmer has tried
irrigatc;;""n1, in his corn, mule and hog farm
ing, so he considers himself amply compe-
tent to pass judgment upon that, too, as
failure and humbug. So he decides and
proclaims that the best farming business of
our State can only be successfully con-
Quoted by people leading barbarous wan
derlpg lives, and that the country generally
is overrated and humbug. That no sys-
tenn OF small farming. giving near neigh
bOrs, go5d schools and society, with gen
eral thrift and advancement in wealth, can
ever be developed here. All this he feels
himself amply competent to decide, because
he has failed to make Illinois rules apply
to California farming. There are plenty of
just such
SELF-APPOINTED JUDGES
in the world, especially in California.
Having given this glance at the way rot to
succeed, l will now consider the twenty
acre farm and what to raise on it. Our
lands are perfectly level, so that when the
bitches are once made by the proprietor of
the colony, simple furrow will convey
water anywhere over a twenty-acre tract.
Our true home-maker reasons thus: | must
have four head of cattle, including at least
two cows-one to be fresh in milk in the
autumn and the other in spring. | must
also have from two to four horses-work
horses and saddle horse What can
plant to keep my six or eight head Of stock
in the best condition on the least possible
area of land? If he is not one of the kind
that already knows it all, he proba-
bly, reasons somewhat in this wise
Portions of India, China and Africa,
with light soil and hot, dry eli
mate, represented to be the counterpart of
what | find here, support the densest pop |
ulation on earth. How do they do it ? |
What is their feed for the domestic animals? |
He consults authorities for information. |
He probably among others reads the article |
China" by DR.. Wylie, in the New Amer
lean Cyclopedia. He sees there that
'millet is the principalcrop ofthatdensely
populated region. He soon finds, how
ever, that he is not the first to gather this
knowledge; that the same "millet,' so
long grown in that populous region of an
Gent civilization, is now the principal
grain OF our Fresno irrigated small farms,
where it yields from 40 to over 100 bushels
per acre that it is suited only to a hot, dry
that IL will give a larger yield on
poorer land, and with less moisture, than
my other grain; that the grain is OF the
greatest value for stock feed If; and when
ground makes most excellent hot.cakes,
mullins, ETC.; or cooked whole, is an excel
ent substitute for rice. He also finds that
It's near relative, the dhoura, the veritable
"coRN OF EGYPT,
spoken OF IN the beautiful story of 'Jo-
'eph and his Brethren IN the Old Bible.
las also been brought here and is, by its
perfect adaptability to our soil and climate,
,ieing with its yield in ancient Egypt in
,he Z" seven years of plenty" Baker, the
great African traveller, speaks of this as
Fielding 500 bushels of grain per acre, in
me season, along the Nile and, incredible
Is this may seem, one here can well be-
ieve it after seeing a crop of ripe heads
gathered from the same stalks every thirty
lays from July till frost comes, new
crops of heads, constantly forming on limbs
growing out of the joints OF the stalks, or
IN the top OF suckers CROWN up from the
'oots. A few days determination of what he
,ans see anywhere about him here, and he re-
olves that whatever the 'dent corn nav
De for Illinois, these are certainly better for
he dry plains of California. When our
most intelligent seeker after truth, who
wishes to apply his know ledge in the max
ng of small fam home here, has goae
With me thus far, perhaps he is prepared to
earn from the men in coarse clothes, doing ,,
heir own work here about their homes,
low to make a living, home, and lay up
.
0, as one of the number OF 7.
LABoRING SMALL FARMERS,
He'll find me here at work. I'll drop the {
orm of description followed 50 far, and {
onfine myself to concise statements of
acts about our county products-such
acts as | shall be most happy to verify to
immigrants and others calling on me here,
Who may think Of making our county their /
ome.
The China corn was introduced by me ,
rom interior China four years ago. got
My spoonful of seed in letter From !
his l sold over $3.50 worth Of seed. 1t ,
rev on three square rods of ground. In ,
SIS sold 500 worth of that and dhoura
ogether to the Agricultural Department ,
t Washington, d. c., grown from less
han ten rods Of ground. Now every
'ody raises it. This year portion of