Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-09-17
ORIGINAL DEFECTIVE

Northern California. even Tehama county
alone, has thousands of these rich golden
acres awaiting the magic touch of The fruit
grower.
1t rs not expected that We can shift from
wheat to fruit in day, nor would it be Gesir-
able or practicable 10 cease Wheat-gbOWing.
what I urge is that wheat-grOweTs should be-
giu at once TO look around them for other uses
tor their lands and commence to work
into industries that pay better They win soon
find thar they must part with some Of their
acreage and that will greatly help The general
They could better afford to sell
their land at fair prices on interest-beGring
mortgages OF per cent. 10 persons who viii
improve, than 90 on imp0verishing their lands
at an income less than per cent on market
yalueS
Cognate 10 this subject we run at once into
DIVERSIFIED FARMING.
This to my mind, embracing fruits, vegetables,
nuts, stock and the infinite variety OF things
that can be proiitably grown will bring the tr;!r
solution OF our greatest problem-vhat TO grow.
No farmer is entirely independent who does
not produce all articles of home consumption
that can be wrestcd from the s7ll. 1t is a re-
proach to California farmers that so many OF
them buy butter, eggs, vegetables and fruit. or
30 without: ii is reproaeh to California that
We should import from Eastern States over one
million and quarter Of dozen OF eggs
annually at q cost of over 81. 0,ts0. Every
farmer should have poultry to sell All our
wheat land viii grow early garden prod
ucts, and much Of it late vegetable without irri-
gution. Al this land will also grow most of the
deciduous fruits and vines; bat our farmers, as
Il rule. do not plant even for home consumption.
These small daily drains on the small farmer
q small Income are What sap ms resources and
keep him poor; he loses the opportunity Of
utilizing his waite time; his small children are
without occupation; ne has 10 incentive -
adori lis home when he sees no utility in it: he
grows 10 be aif animated machine and his work
Is dIudgery, and the end Of the year finds
neither himself nor his family any nearer lO
comfort and competence. Let the small farmer
who grows only wheat oats and barley con-
Sider the idle time ne has on his hands and he
will he Gstonisned. There IS nothing attractive
or Interesting in growing wheat the entire art
can be acquired in a season or two: The land
Itself gradually loses its vIue there is nothing
to inspire one with pride in his calling; his
golden grain disappears with the harvest ard
leaves only the depleted sol, with no value
ADDED On the contrary, diversified farming
call o1t the best intelligence We possess, ana
invites TO knowledge of practical
agricultural chemistry; Of entomology and
kjsdT5d studies; interesting occupation is
offered; constant employment is furnished: all
the members OF lhe family can take part
ornamental gardening comes naturally with
cultivation OF trees; & love of home and its be-
lGnginSS is enGendered, and each year some
fresh object OF Interest springs up; an attach
mcnt is formed for these objects, whether trees,
stock or vines, and the farmer soon finds his
place peopied with valuable GdjunCtS to the
iaIm aud the little world he has created around
him; he goes TO town when obliged to but has,
of the idle and dissolute; his attachment for
and pride in his calling Gcepeus with the years
as they pass and he becomes positive factor
IN the civilzing and eunobhng influences of
his occupation rightly followed. These con-
tras Is Of life aye everywhere presented in this
state. Pass from the great wheat ranches
of COlusa and Butte to the great diversified
farming operations Of General Bidwell, at Chico.
or Mr. Cone. OF Teha1na county. The trans
formation is rs sudden and striking rs from the
desert 10 the oasis. Pass from the wheat region
Of The great san JOAQUIN 10 the mixed farming
of san Jose, and you pass from agricultural
darkness to agricultural light; from u land OF
apparent desoiation to one of plenty.
THE ru,r FOR IRRIGATION.
Travel from Red BluG along the west bank of
the Sacramento river to the town Of Colusa Z
distance Of sixty miles; then cross and retnrn TO
Red Bluff. Here IS an empire. Pecpied and cult
iyated as reason and experience nov teach it
should be, and we should fad population
greater than now exists in al three of the coun-
Ties you would traverse. As it is, destitute of
homes except at wide intervals; farmed as 1t is
iD many cases by absentee owners from their
offices in San Francisc) or by telephone from
Offices in neighboring towns; farmed often
solely as the mine is worked, we have presented
many of the evils which to-day are shaking
thrones in other countries. You would be as
tonished, Mr. President. ii / were 10 holi up to
your view map of this rich strip Of country
through which the noble Sacramento courses,
and show You how few homes that are worthy
the name are dotted over it. 1t is perfectly
demonstrate that, with modern-improved
pumps the water of that great river can be
spread over much of this land more cheaply
than the average cost of water by bitches in this
State. III great bodies OF water can be pumped
out of flooded districts with profit, how much
more proftably can it be pumped on to the land
as needed. In southern California plant of
500, 900 Is not unusual TO rrigaie 5000 acres of
land. AT Riverside even S50J,000 are spent for
this area, which is Si01 per acre. / believe that
Il plant costing one-iiflh that sum can be placed.
and bitches made at many places along the
river that can be operated at cost of 81 per acre
each wettng and aggregate rs great an area A
ditch on ]. s. Cones ranch, i'll Tehama county,
measured recently by n competent engineer, gave
436 miners inches, or i 800 gallons per minute
Ii is feet 8 inches on top and feet inches on
bottom and feet deep, and runs leo feet In 65
seconds. Pumps are now built, which with 4
100 horsepower engine, at moderate sJeed, are
claimed 10 raise from the Sacramento river to
the adjacent lands 5000 gallons per minute,
which is equivalent to more than six such
bitches, and the entire cost of such plant
engine and pump is not much over rSl 0O1. Here
We have 2,030 miners inches OT Wa'er at a cost
within the reach of any Sacramento river
Tancher who ) able to carry on his wheat cult
ure of these acres as he is now doing or is
easily atlanable by 81 combination of farmers
Of small area. I!thcy dOu't know how to plant
and prunc n tree, ard don't want to learn, let
them SOW their broad acres to alfalfa and feed
it. DO not want to be nisled or 10 miSlead in
this matter, but invite investigation. ] know
however, that Colonel Peart, near Woodland,
mas pant acne fOotlfig S0,Ul, VIII
which he thoroughly irrigatts ten or twelve
acres per day Of orchard at cost of 81 per acre;
or five 10 six of vines or from three to i've
acres OF alfalfa for the same cost per day. Ills
vines and orchards did not require water this
year His clover he irrigated twice and cut four
crops 1t cost him % per acre each time or S6
per acre fer four crops. Compare this with
wheat-raising and see whore You come oui.
invite at cntiOn to Colonel Pearts letter, which
l append to my remarks.
lie says with his Pant he could keep 100
acres OF clover in good shape, and 100 acres Of
trees and vines"
] venture the assertion that with 10 acres
thus iarIneG this gentleman can make twice the
money that he can with his farm OF 500 acres
grown to cereals, and do it more easily.
In further V1rihcalicn OF my views upon this
subject wrote to Kenyon Cox, of Anaheim who
has tried the system ~ pumping from driven
wells His plant, ct q cost of -, 500, proved
itself capable of coy ering thirty acres per day,
two and half inches deep. Assuming that
lands required such irrigation once every thirty
days, be can cover 900 acres once every month.
This is Il much better result than Colonel Peart
Obtains, which may be due in part 10 the differ
encc il land.
The city of Brooklyn N Y. of over COO 200 in
is supplied from 260 tWo-uch driven
wells connected in one group. BY the same sys-
TEN also the great breWerlcS on the Trent near
l ondon, are supplied.
The subject invites me omore elaborate treat
ment, which obviously ! must ioregO at this
time l ask the careful perisal OF Mr.. Cox's
marks and ask you TO visit the Pearson recla-
nation district on the Sacramento river where
You can see 5000 gallons of water raised ten
feet high each minute with development by
the engine of l3D horsepower nominal con-
sumiDg l2.li5 pounds of average Sydney coal in
twenty-four hou:s.
TENDENCY TO FLOCK TO THE CITIES
There IS q thought in this connection which
wish to emphasize: 1t is the tendency of the
youth of the rural districts to flock 10 the towns
and cities as soon as the parental restraint is
taken off, In this State especially, and every
where to an alarming degree, the desire is to get
away from the country and engage in the more
lucrative and attractive employmeuts offered in
the cities. lnlaS0 fourth of the entire pop
ulatiOn of the United States resided i'll cilies Of
over S,UO inhabitants. l think not less than
onethird reside in towns and cities. This vast
multitude OF over 20,000,000 people draw their
MS do the remsining millions pri-
marily from the soil but these twenty million
people in the towns and cities are in no sense
producers of the prime necessities of life. ] do
not wish to peruse this thought further than to
say that farming, as an occupation, should not
be made so distaste.u that our children will flee
from it at the first opportunity. DIR. johnson, a
century ago, said that, In all Great Britain, Lon
don was the only place where a civilized man
could live. When he returned from the Hebri-
des about the only time he yentured into the
rural DISTRICTS he was more strongly of his Opdn-
ion than ever. think if he were to travel to-
day among the average raucbers OF this state.
IN some counties | could name, he would eiles-
tion seriously whether any advancement had
been made in a hundred years.
] think man healthy in body and mind, can
find more In diversified farm life intelligently
pursued, than in any other occupation. Its
sense of freedom and independence appeals oi-
reetly to the natural man, but when yoit narrow
his life down to turning furrow, planting and