Los Angeles herald., 1892-01-16
THE CONDITION OF THE CROPS.

IQe ueldyeu Tdtuldli ude iudue bp6Cu-
lation as to the exact condition of the
crops of very general and absorbing in
terest. As a prominent railway man
points out, while the total precipitation
thus far this season has been two inches
less than at this time last year, in the
latter season it fell early in December, in
large quantities. most OF it being thus
lost to the farmer. In the present sea-
son every drop was utilized, and went
precisely where it would do the most
good.
The writer has been over extensive
areas of Los Angeles county, and has
found that the farmers have this year to
an unusual degree taken time by the
forelock. They have dry ploughed and
seeded to an unprecedented extent, and
today the largest area ever put in grain
is awaiting the first opportune rain.
Flowing and sowing are still going on in
many sections. This is the rule
from the ocean to the base of
the mountains, and is to be
remarked north and south. In
nearly every section the soil is unusually
moist and friable. This is explained by
the fact that. since the last rain, we
have had no drying winds. Another very
material circumstance in considering
the agricultural situation, is that we
have had a number of years of greatly
redundant rainfall. The ground if
thoroughly saturated, and to great
depths. No stronger force exists in
our farming operations than that oi
capillary attraction, which draws the
water from below to meet that in the
atmosphere.
The alarm concerning scant rainfall
is thus far groundless. A~half an inch
would be ample for great while to
come, and if we shall have it inside Of
two weeks it will have come in time.
We have seen no instance in which the
crops appear to be suffering, and our
trips have included every inch of the
San Gabriel valley and the country
between Redondo and Los Angeles, and
Santa Monica and Los Angeles. To the
south and north the reports are sub
stantially the same, with some ex-
ceptions as to the Cahuenga valley.
In the Cahuenga there is peculiar
truck-gardening interest which is de-
pendent either on early rains or irriga-
ton. The business of raising early to-
matoes, string beans, green peas, and
other staples OF the kind, is one of the
most profitable in the country, and the
Cahuenga has made great reputati OIL
in this line of products. String beans
have recently sold as high as thirty-five
cents pound, and the other specialties
have brought figures nearly as large. In
fact, in one year early tomatoes brought
as high as fifty cents pound. Truck
gardeners in the Cahuenga have been
known to make quite $4,000 an acre from
these bountiful foothill lands. Where
the product is so valuable nothing should
be left to chance. The irrigating re.
sources of the Cahuenga ought to be at
once developed. There is plenty of water
in the splendid mountain ranges back oi
the valley to put the farmers there be-
yond any peradventure of danger.
1t gives the HERALD great pleasure to
be able to report so encouragingly of the
crops. The alarmist is out of place, and
he may as well silence his baleful bazoo.
All the signs point to an unusually
abundant harvest and to good times pred
icated upon good crops and steady
| development of our resources.