The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1891-08-03
WHEAT CROPS.
A Ranch-0wner of Stanislaus
Speaks of the Harvest.
The summer-Fallow Crop Gives Good Yield,
but the Winter Wheat Is Light-The
Grasshoppor Plague.

L. NJ. Hickman, who owns mammoth
wheat ranch near the town of Hickman.
Stanislaus County, has been at the Califor-
MIA during the last few days and in CONVEX
sation with a CALL reporter last night an
swered several interrogRtories regarding the
extent Of his agricultural operations.
Yes, l have 1900 acres in Slanislaus
County," said Mir. Hickman, but l farm
only SOO0 acres myself, the remaining 1000
acres being leased to other grain-growers.
The greater portion Of the land is in wheat.
which is now being harvested / use three
combined reaper and harYesters, each of
which has thirty-two horses and each ma
chine cuts aud sacks 40 acres per day. 1t
occupies us, working steadily, to harvest my
crop from the middle of June until the first
xof September.
"The combined machine seems invalua-
bic TO US now, enabling us to do our work
with two or three score men, whereas with
tie. old-fashioned mowers we were obliged
to employ a small army of harvest-hands.
One popularity about the machine now in
vogue is that the grain must be very dry
TO enable it TO cut properly. If we bad a
fog at our place as heavy as that which is
now enveloping this city, we could not be-
gin work on the following Gay until noon.
The least dampness on the grain seems to
make it so tough that The machine cannot
do its work. Fortunately we don't have
many fogs in Stanisaus County, however,
and | dou't anticipate any tronble upon
that score.
WINTER WHEAT.
"The crop Of winter wheat in our section
is only about half the average yield this
year, ranging from five to seven bushels per
acre. l ascribe the cause to the absence of
late rains in Stauislaus County this spring.
but more especially to the intensely hot
wave which visited US last May, scOrching
the young grain and preventing it from
stooling properly. The same wheat crop
quantity prevails In San Joaquin, Fresno
and MERGED counties to large extent. and
the best crop of winter wheat this year ap-
pears TO be in Colusa County, where they
did not have the hot wave TO which | re-
feTTed in such an exaggerated form. The
northern wheat farms were also fortunate
in receiving several late Tainfalls, while In
the San Joaquin Valley most Of the spring
showers were omitted.
The lightness of our crop of winter
wheat, however, IS atoned for 10 a large ex-
tent by the crop of summer-fallow wheat,
which averages from twenty TO thirty bush
els to the acre. l finished harvesting my
summer-fallow crop few days ago, and
commenced Immediately 10 cut the winter
wheat one crop succeeding the other with
out an interval.
THE CHRISTOPHER PLAGUE.
For the first time in FIVE years We are
suffering from the grasshoppers. My neigh
bors are all exempt from the plague, out
they have destroyed a young vineyard of
$50 acres on my place, and demolished my
hg trees, eating not only the leaves and
branches, but also couple Of inches Of the
trunks, which were fully two inches in cir
conference. After finishing with the
vines and fruit trees, they attacked the
pepper trees. A peculiarly of the grass
hopI ers' modus operandi is that they work
methodically, eating up trees in rows, and
apparently never varying from a certain
line of attack. Fortunately tie wheat was
z.dry when they came that it remained IN
Njured.
The hopperS appeared suddenly one hot
day, and l don't know whether they came
from the north or from some pasture land
adjoining the vineyard. A sure cure for the
plague appears 10 be little cold weather.
/ have noticed that when we had two cool
nights in succession the grasshoppers disap-
peared as suddenly as they came and only
returned when the weather became unusu-
ally warm.
REMEDIAL MEASURES.
81 tried no remedial measures this season.
but next year | shall do one of two things
which | think should prove etfectuaL Either
l shall burn the pasture from which they
may have come. or, when | see the grass
hoppers approaching, shall try the method
which | am told is effectual in Algeria and
other African countries infested with
cloud of the hoppers by making loud
noises with tin pans and drums and SO pre-
venting the destructive pests from aiight-
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