Daily Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1876-1884, 1881-12-10

ny Xo1gD W00 tno Aun 49,
Farmer.
There is q very general misap.
prehension as to Los Angeles
county. 1t is supposed that dry
year here lie always attended by q
stringency OF coin amongst our
farmers and rancheros. This Is by
no means the case. While the IA
ollitiss fol- Irrigation in this county
have not been utilized to one.fitth
Of their capacity, they are even
now by long odds the best in the
State. In fact, we doubt If all the
other irrigated lands In the State
put together equal In extent those
farmed in this manner in Los An
geies county. We have heard the
area of irrigated lands in this
county put, by those who had
given the matter some attention,
1t from 1S6, 900 to $4,000 acres.
OF one thing there can be no doubt,
viz, that st least three hundred
thousand acres are susceptible of
Irrigation. So independent is Los
Angeles county of the rainfall that
IL ten dry years were to follow
in succession all over the State
this county would be the
granary of California, and those
who owned irrigable or moist
lands would become rich beyond
any farmers in the State. A dry
season.is of course a disaster to the
mesa farmer. and no estimate OF
the capabilities of this section is q
fair one which does not take into
count the cultivation of the high
lands. As to them the whole prob
lem can be compressed into nut
shell. Since the American occu'
patton what Is known as a dry
year makes its appearance upon an
average in from five to seven years.
Taking the whole period, the farm
ing OF mesa lands, with the pres
ent facilities for marketing our
products, which cannot be dimin-
ished and are liable to be material
Iy increased, would prove quite
profitable. 1t requires man of
some capital to be able to average
the years in his farming opera
tions. Where the farmer has little
or no means, II he should encoun-
ter bad year at the outset it would
be very apt to steggeT him and
perhaps "frseze" him out. We
have often pointed out the fact
that partial or total failures Of
crops are often reported from the
most famous farming regions Of
che Eastern States, such as those
Of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio
and Missouri, and they are refera.
BILE either to q deficiency In the
rainfall or its distribution at mop
perfume times. In addition, in
many of the States, there are peri
odicd pests In the shape of grass
hopper, locust and other plaques,
to which we are entire strangers in
Los Angeles county. The farmer of
means, who stores portion of his
crop, and to do this is wise in eny
event, as it insures higher prices
in nine cases out of ten, makes
enough on the enhanced prices
which q dry year guarantees to
more than pay him for his cur
tailed crop. We have always dwell
upon the necessity of the farm
er Oh mesa lands in this'county
having means enough to profit by
the average of a series OF years in
his operations. We have always
been SO highly impressed by this
view that we have incurred GEN.
sure by repeatedly announcing
that Southern California Ia not q
poor mans country, although
we are confronted with many
whilom poor men who have grswn
prosperous and rich here. 1t is
hard to repel the poor and industri-
Gus because they are without capi-
tai, but 1t would be harder to allow
them to come here under misap-
prehension as to the facts. Men
who can buy their farms outright,
put up q home and stand the run
of the seasons without being OBJ
llged to borrow, are the only kind
who should seek Southern Califor-
MIA, outside Of laborers and me-
chanics, whose success or failure
IL generally Independent of the
seasons.
WE regret very much that no