Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-10-02

. ~ a1 :
writes the following to the Red Bluff Senti-
mel:
Born and bred a working farmer in the
"Old Granite State'-New Hampshire
thoroughly conversant with all the varied
crops, fruits, dairy and stock products
which Eastern farmers were compelled to
labor hard, through summer heat and win
ter cold, through snow, mud, frost and
drought, in order to wrest a decent living
from a soil worn by constant cropping for
many long years, | am surprised beyond
measure to see here, in . land so bounti-
! fully blest by nature, SO many farmers SO
ready to condemn and disparage this coun-
try, simply because of the poor results now
being seen, because they adopted a policy
for years which was only to raise wheat
and barley, with more or less stock, in a
slip-shod way. l say slip-Shod, and the
facts will bear me out; for nowhere, out
side of California, could such a system be
productive of enough 10 support. much less
! make independent, the people at large.
In the East every farmer raises all his
potatoes, cabbage, corn, beans, peas, etc,
fruit of all kinds which the climate there
will allow, and he has q little Of each to
sell. He raises his poultry, sells at least
| eggs enough to buy all the family grocer
les, and enough dressed poultry every year
TO clothe the family. He raises a few hogs,
and instead of selling them for two and a
half or three or even four cents per pound,
and then paying eighteen cents per pound
for smoked hams, he dresses them, salts
down his pork, smokes or has his hams
smoked. tries out his lard and has q supply
of fresh meat all winter, and pork, lard and
hams the year round. He kills a calf, sheep
or even q COW occasionally, to provide him
self and family with fresh meat. If he has
too much for his family at one time, his
neighbors are ready to buy q quarter or
more and thus change round" in that
way. He has hay to sell each year. All
his grain is fed at home and more bought,
for he feeds well. His crop Of winter APP
pies are always good for a snug sum in
cash. His COWS furnish milk, which is
sold to supply the cities and towns or made
into butter, for which there is always
q ready sale. Even one good COW has, in
many cases, furnished money enough to
provide groceries enough for a large family.
A horse or two, some cows or a yoke of
oxen are sold for cash. Other special crops
provide money for profit and pleasure. And
all the while, the thrifty farmer there seeks
to improve his farm-plants a few shade
and ornamental trees each year and beau-
titles his home-becauSe il is home.
Here too many seem to be aoating-here
this year, next year elsewhere-never sat
isfied. Instead of putting out a few trees
each year, building a better house, having
a neat fence to inclose the front yard, a
a few nut or fruit trees by the roadside, too
many homes look and are devoid of all
beauty, as if the owner would gladly get
away and squat elsewhere. No fruit is
raised; no vegetables; in too many cases
M nnuifrrr nv orre Monu q ~, p do nnt
have Tor hardly know what it is good but
ter for their table; and so it goes, and the
intending settler gets sick and disguised
while trying to find a home here.
am well aware that there are many ex-
c~eptions to this style of California farming,
and everything points with a hand that can
not be mistaken to a new era for our north
ern country and soon it must roll all over
this great valley, bringing new blood, new
methods and certain prosperity. 1t has
begun below us is beginning above u in
Shasta county, and it only needs a little
push, a united effort, to have it dawn here
and rapidly fill up Tehama county with a
class of Eastern people who have come to
stay.
They need $1,000 to $4,000 each, to do
well, and be sure of success but less will
do, if men will be willing to work hard, be-
gin low and work up, let whisky alone and
stick to fruit.
In the fruits which this county can raise
in abundant quantity, and of the very best
quality, lies the future prosperity of this
section. Diversified crops will then follow,
and many little crops now deemed too in
significant to be of consequence will prove
to be small fortunes to those who cultivate
them. With a climate requiring but a
cheap shelter, with nc long winters to eat
up the profits; with a soil fertile and pro-
ducing in great abundance, by thorough
cultivation alone, every fruit common to
California land that means common to
America) this county must within five
years be far, far ahead of its present status.
1t is of necessity bound to be Sc, and
wise is he who sees the fact and prepares
for ii now. Let the slip-shod, rowing never
do-wells go; let them seek fairer skies and
a place where q fortune awaits every one,
whether he works intelligently or not, and
the country is well rid of him. That place
he will never find on this earth: Then fill
his place with those who are content to
work for the future, to some extent, while
raising poultry, eggs, vegetables and mixed
crops for present needs, till the fruit trees
bear, and they will reap rich results, and
find ten years hence the lands now worth
$50 to $50 per acre, commanding readily
500 to $500, and even $500 per acre, and
the investment will pay a good percentage
on these figures.
Orchards and vineyards have been quoted
as paying 800 and $500 profits each year,
and l myself saw IN apple orchard last
week in this county which will net over
$500 per acre but l do not believe such ay-
erage results will be obtained. l do believe,
however, that fruits will pay 500 to $500
yearly net profit, when in bearing, if well
cultivated. We need no irrigation, and for
shipping to Eastern markets u fruit leads
the State.
Drop the wheat, plant out and take care
of orchards of orange, lemon, lime, olive,
apple, pear, plum, prune, peach, apricot
| and other trees; raise the raisin, table and
wine grapes stick to it, and Tehama county
| will soon be where she beiongs-in the
front rank of fruit-producing counties in
California. Money will be plenty ; labor
in greater demand; the merchants and
traders selling more goods, and all because
of Just utilizing, in a sensible manner, the
great and almost inexhaustible resources
which this county contains in the way of
| fruit production. There is money in it;
there IS health in it it will make the boys
and girls more contented make home
more like the Eastern home; beautify
every farm and garden.
Cut up the large tractsand lett be shown
that ten acres will support a family, in
fruits and poultry, and have more cash at
the years end, if properly worked, than
100 acres do now. 1t bas been done else
where, it can be done here, and it will be
done Let us all work to bring that time