The record-union., 1891-09-18

shall be too late. before the Government
shall have sold this crop of the centuries,
these forest should be withdrawn from
sale, and, like the mountains and the
streams, preserved and wisely managed
in the interests of an entire people.
HIGHWAYS.
AS the products of the agriculturist
are grown for their respective markets,
the profit, if any, is greatly dependent
on the cost of their transportation to
such markets. Our products must be
transported by rail and sea to the mar
kets of the Atlantic and Pacific to COM
pete with like products of all other lands.
1t devolves on the agriculturists of Cali
fornia, then, to encourage all means of
cheap carriage to such markets. Rival
railroads and isthmian canals are sug-
gestive themes Of agencies beyond the
State. But within our border there is
much work to be done in improving
highways by water and by land. The
Sacramento, San Joaquin and other
waterways should bear vast riverside
commerce, now scarcely dreamed of.
Every foot. deeper in the rivers naviga-
BILE channel means five miles or more Of
parallel tributary land. Some of these
rivers can be diverted into navigable
canals, and each canal becomes a new
channel for expanding agricult-
ure and commerce. The most dense
population Of the world is found on
the canals spread over the plains
from valley rivers, as in Belgium and
Holland and Northern China. In the
direction of progress is the demand for
broad and well maintained roadways.
There should be comprehensive system
of such highways traversing every county
in the State. The value Of such highways
would be inestimable at this time in
stimulating agriculture in appropriated
and in new lands.
FOREIGN METHODS OF CULTURE.
When we glance at the varied climates
and soils of California, and our varied
products already successfully grown, we
begin to appreciate the necessity Of learn
ing and classifying improved methods
and crops Of agriculture. This knowledge
may be gradually and extensively ac-
quired by experience in our products al
ready planted. But our soil and climate
have resemblances to those of so many
other lands besides those cultivated in
our ancestral homes, that we are called
upon here to cultivate strange crops, and
by methods and under conditions unfa-
miliar. The experience of the Pennsyl-
vania farmer or the Georgia holticulturist
is inadequate to the California agricult-
urist. 1t is necessary to learn the culture
of the apricot, the fig, the olive, the raj
sin, the orange of the Mediterranean, the
prune and grape Of France, the loquat of
India and the mandarin of China, the
apple of Massachusetts, the corn of Kan
saS, of all plants and all animals of con-
sumption and use, growing, as they may
in California, from the mountain snow
line down through temperate air and to
the tropical plain hundred feet below
the sea. California is indeed garden of
the world, where occident and orient, all
altitude and all latitudeS mingle their
chosen products in bewildering confu-
sion. So the methods of agriculture must
be chosen from the experience of all other
lands, as we'll as those of our own State.
1t would seem the province of this society
toco-operate in learning aad sYstematizing
these methods from other lands as far as
applicable to our conditions.
Probably the most important general
feature of agriculture suggested from the
oldest lands where civilization has flour
ished is irrigation. The State has already
done something towards comprehen-
SiVe system of irrigation, but there is
danger of loss of its symmetrical and eff
cient development by struggling individ-
ual or local interests. There should be a
State plan ofirri9ation, to which individ-
ual and community efforts should con-
form. We scarcely dream yet of he poSsi-
bilities of irrigation when we recall the
arid, treeless plains of California, stretch
ing 10 the Sere mountain and the horizon,
traversed only by the occasional vaquero
and his meager herd, and then turn to the
terraced vineyards of the slopes and the
perennial orchards now blooming down
the broad valleys wherever water has
stirred the land of sleeping centuries we
begin to understand some Of the benefits
of irrigation.
The Oldest city of the world is Damas-
Gus. 1t is set on the edge of the Arabian
desert. Twelve centuries ago Moham-
med in sacred inspiration looked down
upon its gardens and orchards from a dis
tant mountain and refused to enter that
earthly paradise for fear his soul would
yield up the heavenly elysium. To-day
il still blooms with eternal vigor. All
this Damascus vision of beauty and de-
light of weary centuries was, and is, due
to the life-bearing current of the mount
ain stream vivifying the desert with it's
touch.
EXPERIMENTAL AGRICULTURE.
In the line of what has already been
said it is impossible to overlook the i'm
portance of experimental work in this
land of agricultural discoveries and sur
prises. Such work is now done in the
Agricultural College of the University of
California. 1t is well and comprehen-
sively done so far as possible by the Uni
versity. Its efficiency will increase with
increasing means. But the promises of
the laboratory must be tested by the re-
SullS III the OTCHdTu ana IlOIu, ana tnGSe
results must be made known. Some
means of full classification of yielded
crops as well as soil and climate in every
section of the State should be devised and
the results promptly made known. In
this experimental work, III attempts to
cultivate new crops and new fruits, Ito inn
prove the live stock, to devise new appli-
ances and machines of agriculture, in
efforts TO meet the new conditions of Cal
ifornIa agriculture, our people have shown
the adventurous and indomitable spirit
of the past heroic decades of our State
1t would take too long to recite the story
of these pioneering agriculturists of Cali
fornia. And they will not be forgotten
At Rouen stands statue erected in honor
Of the man who first introduced potatoes
into France. In Japan thousand tenn
pies bear the name of the man who first
introduced rice.
MARKET REPORTS.
While agriculture, properly speaking,
does not embrace commerce, still it is
practiced chiefly for the rewards of its
sales. 1t is Of greatest importance, there
fore, to know the markets of the world
where prices of our products are fixed in
the struggle with those of other lands
These markets are not numerous, and it
is not difficult to get the data of growth
of such products elsewhere, as we'll as at
home, gathered by Government and
commercial agencies. This is success
fully done by individuals, and can be
efficiently and economically and sys-
tematically done on behalf of our agri-
culturists.
These seem among the salient features
of "A comprehensive permanent plan of
the States agriculture. Other general
lines of development and protection of
the agriculture of the State will readily
occur to you.
congratulate you as actors in the pro-
lection and expansion of this dominant
resource of California. This land was
niNnn Enil II Ilrnfnnnhnl h,- n,sn o.. t,ol ~ -,