Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-11-17
BENEFITS FROM IRRIGATION.

Its Results in Southern California and
What it Would do for Us.
EDS. RECORD UNION For years the press
of the State, and all thinking minds, have
seen and urged the necessity of diversified
farming in California. 1t is easy to see
that continuation of the practice of rails
ing only wheat on our lands must exhaust
the best soils, and besides, grain-raising
does not pay at prices that have prevailed
of late years. From present indications
we have no valid reason for expecting any
thing better as to prices in future. We
must, therefore, turn our attention to other
crops, at least in great measure. There
are many other products which will pay
infinitely better than wheat, oats. barley or
hay. Better paying crops are of different
kinds, hops, hemp, flax, vegetables, to-
bacco corn, alfalfa, red clover, and other
grasses to feed to stock. Many of these
will improve the land instead of impover-
ishing it, and any and all of them will rest
or renew the land for future cereal crops.
The land, therefore, after being used for
any of these products for a ;ime can again
be sown to grain with an assurance OF the
most satisfactory results.
But we are met with the argument that
diversified farming is not practicable in
cur climate. This, while not true on all
our lands, is trne as applied to a very large
portion, or a majority of them, except un-
der irrigation. With irrigation they can
all be raised to perfection on any land that
will raise grain or oat hay. Indeed, some
of our best fruit lands on the granite soils
OF the foothills are practically worthless
for ordinary farming without water; but
irrigated we have magnificent orchards,
paying handsomely, and beautiful alfalfa
fields green the year round, and one acre
of which will yield larger revenue than
ten acres of wheat on our good wheat
lands. The marvellous and unparalleled
success of farming in the esouthern counties,
where necessity forced them to irrigate,
demonstrates the value of water. | have
seen in these irrigated districts results OBJ
tanned from small tracts so fabulous that
refrain from stating them for fear that my
veracity might be called in question. 1
certainly should not risk my reputation by
telling them to people in the East who had
never seen California. And as to the great
results, water, and only water. did il. Irri-
CATION and enterprising efforts in coloniZ-
ing and advertising is what has doomed up
the southern counties to au extent unheard
OF before in any country. tits not, as many
suppose, tnelr superior climate ana SOILS
that have brought about these results, but
it is the judioious distribution of the water
and land. We do not envy them or wish
to disparage their section. On the contrary,
| admire their enterprise, and only wish
that our people in Central and northern
California could wake up to a realization of
the superior advantages our section pos
sesses.
The question will naturally be asked :
Why have we not improved our opportuni-
ties? answer, first, our soils are so fertile
and our annual rainfall so abundant, and
so certain, that we have deemed artificial
watering unnecessary. And so ii is for the
kind of farming we have been carrying on
Hence, it it difficult TO get any people out
OF an old groove that they have been run
ming in for lifeline; and most Of them
have farms of from 100 TO 400 acres. on
which they are doing well, and are 10th to
part with or have ii cat up for colony pnr-
poses. The people in the southern coun-
ties, on the contrary, have had from ne
cessity 10 irrigate from the start. and are
educated to it. They know lis valne. and
hence there is no difficulty in getting a
whole community to enter as a unit into a
large irrigation scheme. Moreover, the
land is, or was formerly, nearly all owned
In large tracts, known as Mexican grants,
and these are bought mp by spectators,
or wealthy men, and laid out into colonies,
without any hildrauce from small laRd