Daily Los Angeles herald., 1883-05-05

l
Mr. A. 5. Holingworth Is the Santa Ana agent
Of the HERALD.
The Crops-A specimen Misrep-
resentation.
There is something very amusing in
the confident way some people, who
know nothing about the matter. allow
themselves to talk about the crops. We
have heard persons, for instance, sol.
emnly declare that, this year, there
would not be stack of hay or bag of
grain on the Centinela and Sausal Re-
dondo ranchos. Though we did not
believe this. we repeated the assertion
to Mr.. Freeman, their owner, who in.
vited US to ride over the ranchos and
judge for ourselves. Seven years ago it
was thought that it was utterly impossi.
bic to raise grain on either of these
ranchos. The first experiment in grain
raising was made there in the fapfious
year Of drouth ls78-77, when wbo had
only 5.04 inches Of rain In Los, Angeles
county; aud, to the surprise iof every
body, . fair crop was secy.red. Since
that time the area devoted to wheat and
barley has been steadily Increased, with
most gratifying results,e ,e This year some
fifteen thousand ao5dss have been sown
=
In the cereals, of (which probably four
teen thousand ach.es will be headed. II
we had formeaa our impression Of the
state Of MrP' Freeman's crops by the
fieids passe%gri by us in approaching the
ranch h&nase, we should have been in
ciined IN 5 endorse the opinion Of the
quid1 1hncs to whom we have referred as
sAy9E that he would have neither hay
n2iir grain this season. However, one
San ride great distances on fifteen thou
sand acres properly laid out in farms
Of four and five hundred and thou
sand acres each. and we were destined
20 modify our opinion very thoroughly.
1t would be absurd, in such year as
this, to expect a full crop of barley and
wheat near the ocean, where the rain.
fall has been much less than Ia Los An
geles, though in ordinary years it is al
ways greater. Yet it may be asserted,
without danger Of cxaggeration. that
Mr.. Freeman will harvest fully half a
crop. Halt crop in Los Angeles coun-
ty means good deal Of profit to the
farmer on large scale. While the gen.
eral average is low on the Centinela and
Sausal Redondo, some Of the fields only
promising yield Of four or five sacks to
the acre, on the other hand we saw
great expanses in which both the barley
and wheat were quite luxuriant and sure
to return from thirty-five to forty bush
els to the acre. Two things struck us
specially on our trip. The first was that
the grain on lands which had been
ploughed in previous Seasons was very
much more advanced and much more
heavily headed out than that on the new
lands, which had never been turned up
before. The second was, that the grain
which had been sown early was. in near
ly every instance, away ahead of the later
sown. The experiences Of the pres
snt year ought to teach our farmers the
lesson that it don't pay to wait until
most of the rain has fallen before put.
ting in their seed. Another circum-
stance impressed us strongly, viz, that
where the tenants of Mr.. Freeman had
contented themselves with small farms
: of three or four hundred acres, which
they worked thoroughly, their crops
compared very favorably with those who
had tried to spread themselves over too
much ground. In fact, there was no
comparison at all. The enormous diff
ference in favor Of the prudent farmer
could be seen in fields which were only
separated by a road twenty feet wide.
Strangely enough the grain which is
nearest the ocean looks best on the Gen.
tinela and Sausal Rodondo.
Last year. which was also one of stint
ed rainfall, Mr. Freeman and his tenants
raised sixty y-eight thousand sacks OF
wheat and barley. The croakers had
announced, then as now, that the Cen
tinela would yield neither wheat nor
hay, and yet one hundred and thirty-six
thousand bushels of the cereals are not
to be despised. This year, according to
Mr.. Freeman's estimate, the two ranches
will yield ninety-eight thousand sacks,
or one hundred and ninety.six thousand
bushels. a great increase, part of
which is, of course, owing to the greater
area of land seeded. By next year the
whole twenty-five thousand acres of the
Centinela and Sausal Redondo will be
broken up and sowed in grain,
So much for the wiseacres who de-
voted themselves to these two ranches.
Within the past two weeks we have
been extensively through the county,
and while the crops are not full ones,
by any means, and considerable areas of
country that were in the line of the last
great west wind will yield no grain ex-
cept where they are irrigated or were
sowed early, those who have started in
to get up corners in hay and barley, on
the idea that the crop outlook is hope.
less, viii be bitterly disappointed in
their pious endeavors, Our farmers
will this year raise an abundance o.
wheat. barley and hay for our own use
aud will, besides, have great deal fol
export Extensive tracts in the LII
Dow district will yield excellent crops
Nearly the whole country between Los
Angeles and Santa Monica will do well
The farmers in the Cahuenga have nj
reason to complain, while in the Yer
dugo, about Pomona and in the Sar
Jose valley, the crops are very fine
We might name dozen other sections
from which the reports are fair. From
all we can learn and see, taking the
county as whole, we shall have more
than half a crop OF the cereals. and the