Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1891-06-26
Letter From California.
MADEIRA, FRESNO Co., CAL,
JuDa nth 1901

| d uHc iOth' AOVi'
Mr.. EDITOR Il will try and give
you few facts about vineyards. |
came here on this rancho on the 18th
of last November. They had two
teams blowing down the old levees
and kept them at that until about the
Goth of December, when they got
through with that part. Next, they
put four or five gang -plows to plow-
ing, and after they got through with
these plows they replowed it with
single plows 10 inches deep, ? horses
to pillow. They make bitches and
level it off with scrapers. 1t is laid of
in 40acre tracts with bitches on the
| north and east sides 1t is checked off
! into 5-acre tracts with small levees
thrown up all around, and occasion
ally. when it is not very level, they
cross the small checks with two or
three more small levees. We are now
ready for planting, which mostly be
gins about the 1st Of February, and
sometimes lasts until the 1st Of May,
which is considered Il little late. Yet,
| know of some vines planted that
late this year and are growing. l
forgot to say that we had a surveyor
TO lay it off 10 feet one way, put down
peg at each end of the row, and
when they go TO plant they stretch
line across a 5-acre check from one
peg which has been put in by the sur
vevor, to the other. The line has but
tons on it ten feet apart. Eleven men
now do the planting, one at each end
of the line, who tends TO moving the
! line and plant one vine, while each OF
the others plant three vines. They
put the vines in about lG inches, leav-
ing only about inch above ground.
| A man or boy follows after them and
sticks small stake to each vine, so
! the cultivator can see where the vines
are. We finished planting about the
| 18th of March on this rancho. Now
comes irrigation. We begin either on
the north or east side, as the country
| slopes south and east from 4 to feet
n mile We bring thu water in on the
| highest j-acre check first and hold it
there until all the ground is covered
in that check then cut "A place III the
! levee and leave it in TO the next high
/ rpitr
! ing. Next begin to cultivate the same
as YOU do back there, only a little bet
! ter About the LIST of June or later,
! they make deep burrows between the
vines and irrigate again, only leaving
! the water in the burrows. The first IS
! called flood-irrigation and the second
sub-irrigation. We also keep man
busy with greyhounds, gun and box
of poisoned wheat TO try and keep
down the rabbits. squirrels and go
| pliers. Then we 20 through the same
process of cultivation, which will do
! for vines that are planted this year;
but for last years or older ones, III ad-
dtion to the above, they have TO be
! busted with sulphur and summer
pruned and the grapes cared for. SO
you see the lucky person of vine
ward cannot sit around with his hands
folded and wait for the gold to roll in
to his lap. We have good prospect
! for grapes this year. Also tolerably
good prospects fortigs, apricots, pears
and prunes, but the peach crop is
light in this section. Wheat is not a.
good as expected. We had no rain
of any amount after the 18th of April,
and not much through the winter,
which accounts for it being light. |
am told that the greater part around
| here will make from - to 20 bushels
per acre. They began harvesting
here on the 25th of May. We had no
wheat nothing but barley and alfalfa
! hay. Some places they are cutting
the second crop of alfalfa, and it Is
about three feet high. | saw a com
bined harvester working last week.
| was not close to it, yet | saw they
had "a horses to it and four men. The
machine had 22foot cut. | was told
they could cut, thresh and sew up into
sacks from 90 to 30 acres in day.
| They have teams following after them
hauling the wheat to the warehouse.
! SO you can see that one man here can
accomplish more in a wheat field than
! three or four can with you.
When | wrote my last letter to you
the plains and waysideS looked like a
flower garden. now say that from
/ the LIST of February until the 1st of
May they have been gradually pass
ing away, until they are nearly all
gone and the plains look very desc
late, but the vineyards and orchards
dotted around here help TO take away
| the desolate looks. SO nature and
man together have something that
will please the eye all the year round.
| would not have my friends to think
that this is a land of all sunshine and
pleasure. While MADEIRA can boast Of
things of which Shepherdstown can
not boast, so can ShepherdStown boast
of things of which MADEIRA cannot
boast Neither would have them to
think that everybody who comes here
gets rich. While Madera's bank has
plenty of money in it, suppose Shep-
herdstowns bank has also plenty.
Shepherdstown has some few rich
men and fine residences, so has Made
ra, and while Shepherdstown has
plenty of poor people, so has MADEIRA.
will correct several mistakes made
in my last letter. One was that there
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