San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1883-08-30
SMALL FARMS.
Profit Found In lIany Instances in California.
From the San Franisco Alta. Aug

From the San Franisco Alta. Aug. O
The Bakersville Californian has
Joined Col. Hollister in discouraging
men of small means from engaging
in farming in this state. 1t has the
hardihood to assert that most of those
who have undertaken it have failed,
and that the character of our climate
and soil are such that capital and
large area of land are necessary to
success. This may be true of certain
regions, but more than half of the ag-
ricultural land of the state has been
brought under cultivation by men of
small means. In 1880 there were
1O,OS1 farms containing less than 100
acres, and 30,295 containing less than
500 acres. Of farms containing more
than 500 acres there were but little over
5000. These figures do not indicate
that all the money is made on large
farms. The Californian says: "Of the
small farmers who settled the delta
at Kern river-poor men we mean
only one now remains. If this is true
it merely shows that Kern is not
good country for poor settlers to go
to compared with others. There are
portions of the Sacramento and San
Joaquin valleys where poor settlers of
twenty-five years ago have held the
land and grown wealthy. mo man
can create a small farm here" the
Californian continues, "of, say, 100
acres, or any other part of the state
where there is unimproved land, with
out a considerable amount of money.
In most cases we would say it would
be unsafe to attempt it with capital
of less than $1,000 remaining after
the land was acquired, and even in
that case the pioneer must possess
exceptional energy and capacity. eff
this be true, it would be useless to hope
that the government land remaining
in the state would be acquired by set
tiers, for not one in fifty posses the
amount of capital named by the Cali
torniaa. But thousands of acres
of these lands--in the foothills and
more distant counties yearly TAX
en- up by immigrants from other states
and by old residents and gradually
transformed into valuable farms. 1t
is true this land can not be broken up
as easily as Illinois prairie land, and
big crop of wheat raised on the
whole quarter section the year after
the settler arrives, but a man who is
willing to adapt himself to his sur
roundings and use his land and la
Dor to the best advantage, is sure to
get along. On the other hand some
of the most melancholy wrecks are
men who started with capital and
broke up at big farming in the San
Joaquin valley and elsewhere. 1t may
be considered a general rule in wheat
growing districts of the state that the
larger the ranch the heavier the mort
gage it is carrying.
A good example of agricultural
progress is found in Napa county. |
In 1880 the number of farms in Ma
pa, as returned by the census takers,
SO7; just rendered, there are now
1,178. This is an increase of nearly
1OOper cent. in three years. How this
subdivision of land affected it's value
may be seen at a glance by the fol-
lowing figures: Of the land which is
included in tracts of less that 10 acres
the average assessed value $64.61 per
acre; over 10 acres and under 40,
$94;61 per acre; over 40 and under 60,
$35.96; over 60 and under 100, $685.
81; over 100 and under 100, $11;89;
over 100 and under 24O, S1O.44;
over 24O and under 800, $9.4S. Land
which is subdivided into small tracts
is generally planted in orchards and
vineyards, and the great resulting in
crease in value goes to swell the ag-
gregate wealth and prosperity of the
ctota