Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-01-25
ENRICH THE GROUND.
nc Will Add 70 the Income OF the
Producers.

Producers.
A large number OF improvements
have lately been going on in the vicinity
of Vernon, which is. just south OF the
city limits, and yesterday HERALD re-
porter visited that locality. He found
the California Sewer Pipe Company's
works in full operation and force OF
operatives at work making pipe OF all
sizes. Besides these, there were labor
ers at work building new kilns and
others preparing to put in place new
machinery that was on the ground.
The capacity of the works is about to be
doubled and in a few days carpenters
will be at work building extensive LIS
At both ends of the present building.
Experiments are now being made
with the claws to see if they are suitable
for the manufacture of fancy pottery.
The electric plant will soon be in, and
then the works will be run night and
day to fill the orders that are already on
hand.
On the return home the reporter met
Mr.. ]. G. DAILY, and the conversation
turned to the agricultural possibilities
of the State, and particularly of Los An
geles county. Mr.. DAILY has travelled
good deal, and has closely observed the
methods used by farmers in all parts
of the globe. He said, in the course of
the conversation, that he did not believe
that the diseases of the vine or the scale
bug could be cured by the application of
washes. The whole trouble lay in the
fact that the fruit raisers and agricultural
lists we're trying to get all they could
from the soil without putting anything
back. The consequence was that the
soil was losing its nutriment,
the the fruit trees were becoming
weak, and in this condition fall
an easy prey to the insects that feed upon
their vitality. His attention had been
drawn to the fact through observation
and study. 1t had been his experience
that the healthy animal was not trou-
bled with lice. The very vigor of the
animal, given it by the right kind of
nutriment, was sufficient to make the
lice seek weaker animal to feed upon.
So it is with plants. If they have drawn
all the nutriment from the soil and are
given nothing but water. they weaken
and are unable to resist disease, and are
fed upon by insects until the last drop of
sap has been drawn from them. This,
said Mr.. DAILY, is what is happening in
California, and the farmers must, sooner
or later, learn that they cannot 60 on in
this way much longer. They must make
up their minds to give the soil
as much nutriment as the plants
take from it. In the old coun-
tries where the farmer leaves his
land a special provision is always made
A. i, - II Ill ol ro bo vo n oar-
tain rotation and that the farmer shall
place certain amount OF manure on the
ground every year. When this is done
the crops are always good and healthy
and the land retains its richness. In
the Eastern States the farmers carefully
save everything that will give nutriment
to the soil, and at the proper time they
apply it. They even cart from wooded
portions loads of leaves, which they
carefully arrange, and, after rotting
them, they spread them over the land.
In California no such provisions are
made to supply the soil with nutriment.
The leaves are burned to get rid of them,
and few farmers think it necessary to do
more than give the crops water.
Mr.. DAILY said he believed
that if the farmers would
manure the soil they would find their
crops better and larger, the vineyardists
would find the diseases disappearing,
and the orchardists would find the scale
bug no longer a bugbear. With the soil
properly cared for by natural or artificial
manure, small farms in Southern Califor.
mia would more than pay the farmer,
and the result would be that the money
that is now sent elsewhere would remain
in the hands Of the people here.