The Opelousas courier., 1890-05-03
WONDROUS WHEAT FARMS.
AeR1CULTURE ON A LARGE SCALE
IN CALIFORNIA.

Ian
Millions of Acres Seeded to Wheat
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. Machln'
ery-Cost Of Cultivation.
The wheat crop of California bids talr
to increase steadily, year after year.
Very few persons know how large is the
area of excellent wheat land as yet IN
used, except for pasturage. About
$500, 900 acres are now seeded to wheat
annually, but fully 10, 600, 900 acres in
the State are wheat lands. Of the 49,
O0U, 900 acres in California, says Charles
FORWARD Shinn in the Anaesic0n Agrscut-
turist, I rate 80, 600, 900 as fully arabic,
and to allow 20, 900, 900 acres for all
farm purposes, other than wheat-grow-
ing, does not appear unfair. If the
Weld per acre can be increased by better
culture, as our most practical farmers ez-
peot, California will each year cut a
lager field among the wheat.growing
States.
By 1854, the immense profits of wheat
were recognized. In 1856 the total
crop of the State was $4,000 tons (oi
1000 pounds, grown on zoe, 900 acres:
Ten years later the space seeded had
grown to 75O,o0 acres. It is now
300, 900 acres.
The Spaniard in California often sowed
wheat on unplowed ground and dragged
it in with branches of trees. The FIRST
American settlers used single plows and
homemade triangular harrows. In 1891
and 1858 some wheat was cut with a
seythe. As late as 1850 a great deal
was bound in sheaves in the old fashioned
way. But a demand for improved ma
ehinery" was stimulated by the high
price of labor. AS early as 1859 John
M. Horner, of Alameda County, invented
and built a s'combined harvester" which
; contained the principles of the great ma
chimes of the present time, and ought to
have made him a rich man. His machine,
which cost over twelve thousand dollars,
was destroyed by fire, and no other
harvesters were built for many years.
The usual method of preparing soil for
wheat is with a ''gang" of six plows.
On light soil only eight horses or mules
are required, but on heavier soils more
are attached, until as many as twenty
four horses can be seen breaking up hard
| adobsefor "summer fallow." On large
ranches a dozen "gangs," each with its
driver, can be seen moving back and
forth across the immense fields. In the
most advanced system only five plows
are used, but a seed-box and good
s~teel.toothed harrow are attached, so
! that the blowing, seedip and harrow
ing are done at one 6 Jeratian. Some
soils have to be plowed twice, and har-
rowed with a heavy eight-horse harrow,
before being seeded. But when the whole
work can be done at n operation, it
costs less than one dollar per acre for
labor. Harvesting is done by an i'm
proved header and thresher, which cuts,
threshes, cleans and sacks the wheat, and
drops it in piles of a dozen sacks to be
gathered up by a wagon. The machine
requires from twenty to forty horses, and
from three to eight men, and cannot be
run on very billy land. In many places,
therefore, the old fashioned reapers and
standing threshers are still used. But
the cost of the latter system is about pa
per acre, while the combined harvester
handles the crop for $1.75 per acre. The
rainless summer of California makes the
wheat so dry and hard that no "sweat'
ing" is necessary. General Bidwell, one
morning, had wheat cut, threshed, sack
ed, taken to his -four mill, ground, taken
to his house and made into biscuit fol
breakfast, all within two houfss without
counting the cost Of seed wheat, the ma.
chinery in general use here puts in crops
and harvests them at a cost of from S2.75
to S. per acre.
The last two years have witnessed an
other development of machinery in Cali
fornia wheat.culture. Steam power has
been successfully applied, and a very
great reduction in cost has been made.
~ the summer of 1889, a large number
8 ield-engines, built here, on Oalifor-
MIA designs, were in the fields with as
tonishing results. The largest of them
cut a sue..sh of forty feet, Ghd harvested
the crop at a cost for running expenses
of less than twenty-five cents per acre, as
against S1.75 of the old system. The
same engine is expected to pillow, carry
ing twelve or twenty or even forty plows,
and, since it is a road engine, it will haul
the crop to the nearest station or landing
at less expense than if hauled with horses.
The price of such an engine, with the
harvester and thresher, is from $4,000 to
$4,000 at present, but this cost, it is said
will soon be reduced. From the tall
among wheat-growers, two or three year
will witness the introduction of steam OF
all the large ranches. The engines are
"straw-burners;" or, when blowing,
wood can be used. Coal is very high on
the Pacific coast~eand therefore coal
burning engines Rever be profitable
here. have Na~eat-raisers what
they thought woH4sRBe the cost of plow
ing, narrowing, seeding, harvesting ant
delivering at the station would be, i
these steam-engines do what is expected
They answer: 'tAbout one dollar an
acre, on the easily-farmed lands, and not
more than two dollars anywhere" This
then, is the way that California can sue,
cessfully meet the competition of India,
Russia, Siberia and the Argentine Re-
public.