Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-09-05
AGRICULTURE.
MATTERS OF INTEREST IN FIELD
AND ORCHARD.
ViticuIturaI GIeanings-Hired Help
interesting Observation-Disclosures
Stock-PouItry Farming.

received from j. /. Allen, OF Lincoln, Neb.
Secretary of the Nebraska State Horticult.
ural Society, q communication of interest
to the vine-growers of this State. The Ne
braska State Fair will open on September
18th, and the managers desire exhibits o.
California fruit, especially grapes. Sam.
pies can be addressed to the society which
will pay the charges Of transmission. The
Nebraska fair will probably be largely at
tended by residents from the central anc
western portion OF the Union and would
enable some Of our producers 10 find fa.
vorable opportunity of making known
their products.
Ghas. A. Wetmore, Chief Viticultura
Officer. says: As the vintage commences
and grapes are being picked, it become:
still more positively known that the croI
will be small in quantity, although perhaps
of an average in quality. In no case vet
reported has the crop of last year been
equalled, although there may probably be
in the northern part OF the State, some ex-
ceptions to this prevailing rule. The prices
that are being paid for grapes are varied
and it is impossible to determine exactly
how they will hold out during the season
makers have less timidity in making their
purchases than they had in contracting foI
crops earlier in the season. The common
talk about oyerproductiOn has in fact no
foundation to cause any present fears. The
vintage this year will probably not exceed
that of 1888, if it is equal to il, and, as the
market Is growing, there is no doubt but
all that is produced this year, together with
what was of good quality last year can be
easily disposed OF, and that when the
vintage of 1886 opens there will be small
stocks on the market.
At Napa the prices paid this year fol
grapes are, so far, SIS to $50 for the foreign
varieties, such as Zinfandel, Reisling. Chas-
seIas, etc, and $40 for Mission and Malvoi-
sic. The crop of several vineyards near
Livermore has been secured at $50. Other
districts report $l5, but there appears nc
general rule prevailing In some cases, near
st. Helena, Sl5 has been offered. In Stock
ton S25 has been offered for Zinfandei. and
IN Santa Clara county so to s25.
THE RIRED HELP.
The hired help on the farm is one of the
most momentous questions many Of our
farmers have to grapple with, and it has
many phases, which can be argued strongly
on both sides. Cheap hands are seldom, il
most entirely on cheap help will find out
sooner or later that their work is but lily
done, at the best, and not 2 fair average
days work ever done. Such has invariably
been our experience, and Will be others
and we find II pays best to hire early in the
season, 10 pay the best wages, and then ex-
act or expect full time, full work and good
To avoid trouble and misun-
derstanding, where several men are en-
gagged, 1t is well enough to have an agree
ment signed. This may save dollars as
well as trouble to both parties while q
strange man should be able to produce
suitable references in regard to his ability,
and also i'll regard TO his conduct and NOR
ais. To some farmers such a thing as in
quiring into the morals of a hired hand is
something they never think of, and when
such thing is suggested they will,
very likely, laugh at the idea though
1t is and should be grayely consid-
cred where there is a growing family
around you, where there are boys and girls
who are thrown in contact, more or less
with the hired help We Go not say this
TO condemn the hired man, but merely to
put farmers who are parents on their guard
as the hired men are taken into the family
and generally treated pretty much the same
as one Of the family, every license being
=
influence upon the younger members. We
have known so many cases where Young
men and boys sons of prosperous and good
farmers have been ruined through learning
The vices Of immoral hired men, and the
cases uncar oIE own observation have been
so numerous that we cannot refrain from
calling our brother farmers attention to
the matter. To escape this danger it is not
Necessary, ~ any means, to keep the hired
men and our boys apart in the fields and
III the house, but rather to have a care IN
regard to the morals of those we hire, and
when we find them all right, to do all in
our power to make them feel we have an
interest in their welfare as well as in a
faithful performance of their labors-
Pennsylvania Farmer.
POULTRY FARMING.
Poultry raising, like every other kind of
business, requires lots Of labor attention
and good management to make it profit
able. Very little capital is required to get
started, but not one out Of every ten start
ers ever get farther than the first heat.
Quite lot OfnewcOneTs to California fancy
that if nothing better turns up they can at
any time commence chicken-raising and
make a good living out of it. The idea is
that all that is wanted is q few hens, a
house for them to roost in, . sack Of chicken
feed and purse to hold the egg money.
Not few could tell by their sad expe-
rience that this Is not quite the programme
OF the actual performance. A good many
items occur while the business is in prog
ress that were not expected at the start, and
there is much more skill required than was
anticipated Some start out with the belief
that they know enough about the business
Of l,77f IL
TO the detail Of breeding, rearing, care and
general management, they discover how
much they have to learn that simple as it
seemed at first, there il much to be learned
before one becomes an.expert poultry farm
er-[The Cackler.
OF INTEREST TO RUIT-GRowERs
Judge Belden, Of Santa Clara county, has
rendered q decision in a case which is Of
great interest to fruit growers in this State,
where the practice of contracting tor a crop
of fruit a year or two in advance is COM
mon. 4 party who owned young prune
orchard of fifty acres sold the crop for two
years, the sum to be paid the first year be-
ing s., 6G6 66, and the second year s., 1888 80.
But the first year the orchard, instead of
yielding fair crop for young trees, yielded
almost nothing and the contractor gave
hotiGt kl4tt IC lSoCiLUtQ Ilit contract.
claiming that the reason the orchard did
not bear was because it had been improp-
erly pruned. When the orchardist sued to
recover, expert witnesses were brought for
ward 10 show that the pruning was bad,
but, on the other hand, another set of wit
nesses testified that the pruning was all
right. Judge Belden remarked that there
were two systems Of pruning, each claimed
to be the best by its friends. and each de-
nounced by its enemies. AS practical fruit
gowers could not agree as between the
systems, the Judge said that ii would be
absurd for him TO attempt to do so. and
that he was bound to assume the work was
reasonably well done. Therefore, he gave
judgment for the plaintiff, the owner of the
orchard, against the contractor. = GSsn
Francisco Post.
VALUABLE STOCK.