Los Angeles herald., 1891-08-16
Some Of the Advantages of a
California Farmer.
The Great Variety Of Crops He
Can Raise.
A Lesson in Farming by an Old Grain
Raiser.
General Manager Wade Tells the East
erners About CALIFORNIA; Resources.
Beet Pulp as Food for Cattle.
Miscellaneous.

OF Southern California for farmers is tn
great diversity OF crops that can b
raised on our land. The sooner ou
farmers recognize and take advantage O
this fact, the more certain they will b.
of steady and remunerative market TO
their products, says the Chino Cham
pion. The law of supply and demand i
inexorable, and he is lucky farme
who does not cater to satiated market
This year many farmers planted larg
fields OF potatoes. Now potatoes in or
dinary seasons, when the market is no
glutted, are profitable crop. Last yea
they paid well, and hundreds
of acres of potatoes wert
planted this season with the ex
pectation of like results. As conse
quence the crop is drug on the market
and in many places will not pay ex
penses. But potatoes and corn and bar
ley can be raised in almost any part oi
the United States, and as the acreage
| planted and condition of these crops in
other parts of the country cause f1uctua.
tions in the market here, no farmer can
tell with certainty what the season
will bring forth.
| But there are crops for which there is
certain demand and which cannot be
raised in every country in the United
States. 1t is but the part of wisdom for
farmers here to turn their attention to
such. If your situation is peculiarly
adapted to raising oranges, and that in
dustry is not overdone, then oranges
! should be your mainstay. Ramie cul-
ture opens up an important branch OF
industry for the consideration of agri-
culturists, and will no doubt soon be-
come a prominent and profitable ele-
ment in California agriculture.
But in this vicinity the cultivation oi
sugar beets for manufacturing purposes
opens up a field for the farmer thai
promises to be fertile of good results
not only in the direct work of raising
beets and manufacturing them into
sugar. but in numerous cognate indus
tries which will gather around and be
| fostered and built up by this. In itself
it introduces an industry which, being
entirely new and not detracting from
any already established, is an inestima-
BILE benefit to the country. 1t is great
stride in the direct line of diversifying
our products; assures ready home
market for the product of the beet
fields and relieves the stress on the pro-
duction OF other staple crops.
When a hundred farmers, for instance,
are engaged in raising beets here, thou
sand farmers will be getting better
prices for their corn, barley, potatoes
and fruit thereby, simply because the
force of hundred farmers and their
families will be changed from producers
to consumers of the staple cereals, and
hundreds OF others engaged in the man
ufacturing and other concomitant
branches OF enterprise will be added to
the local consumers of their neighbors'
products.
In this immediate vicinity there will
soon be established canning and preserv-
ing works on a large scale, the location
of which will at least be hastened by
the fact that sugar, which is used so
largely in that business, is manufactured
right here at home. The value of an
establishment for working up the sur
plus fruit of this section is recognized
by every orchardist. Large quantities
of crude petroleum and limestone will
be used daily at the factory here, and
the work OF furnishing these articles
will still further enlarge the circles of
industry created by this great prime en-
terprise.
COWS REDUCE THE SURPLUS.
The cows have addressed themselves
to the task of reducing the potato sur
plus which has lain upon the San Fran
cisco wharves. The mass of potatoes has
held wharf space so long that the harbor
commissioners had threatened to seize
them to clear the plaDks for current
trade. Merchants proposed to unload the
wharves into the bay in the hope of i'm
proving prices, but sales to dairymen
have relieved the situation somewhat.
One dairy firm took 1900 sacks at a
shade over the freight charges, and soon
large sS.antity of potatoes went to
other nilkmen at any price offered.
Two scow schooners were loaded with
them. which had the effect of partially
cleaning the dock and making much
needed room for fruit.
LESSON IN FARMING.
John Boggs, of Colusa county, one of
the best-known farmers in the state,
lately said that he had been growing
wheat in California for forty years and
expected to grow it as long as he lived,
says the Sutter County Farmer. He
had made money out of raising wheat
and believed that every other man could
do so who would manage in the right
way. That right way was he indicated
chiefly in raising nearly everything on
the farm that his family consumed. He
employs eighty men on his land, and
during the forty years of his farming life
neither butcher nor a vegetable ped
dler has furnished his place with sup
plies, for he raises all his vegetables and
kills his own meat.
Here we have the solution in a nut
shell. How many Of our farmers follow
Mr.. Boggs' example? Very few, if any.
But if you will point us to single one,
we venture the assertion that he is q
prosperous man. The average farmer
buys his eggs at the store. A few hogs,
q small band Of sheep and couple Of
young steers could be kept on any farm
without the least expense, and they
would furnish lard and meat for the
year, but instead everything in this line
must be shipped into the state and par
~. !