The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-08-06

brief examination to the rural industries OF TINS
i State. and has announced therefrom some con
cIusions all OF which interesting, While SONIC d
hasty.
His visit has been too brief to permit him to see
that Our agriculture is quite different art from tid'
Of tbe hot summer and cold winter prairie States
OF the Mississippi Valley. The Secretary sees hel7
wheat fields that are seeded to that crop year ael
and reasoning from the prairie standpoint
warns us of the exhaustion OF the SOIL ana pi
rotation OF crops On the prairies farmer has all
the cereals including corn that nobes of the grasses
To rotate with them he has clover, red top ana UNI
othv turniDs potatoes and carrots. A more extern
sve examination of the physical pecularltles OF Cai
forna would have shown the Secretary that over the
most OF our wheat region such rotation is lmpoSslOe
Timothy and red clover will not grow under the Same
conditions and in the soil as wheat III tS olae
The same is true Of the root crops Our aalIa Heiue
are located where irrigation can be used, ana that
crop is not possible in system OF rotation because
when once established the plant IS perennial ana us
d;9+;on ;s difficult as we'll as undesirable Alfalfa
and the root crops, being mostly Impossible on our
wheat lands wheat is seldom ventured where they are
CROW, Almost the only successors to wheat here
have been the orchard and vineyard. These have
crowded grain out of Napa Vaca, Sulsun and scores
Of other valleys Like wheat they flourish there unlr-
rigated But they are not rotated with wheat. lhey
become its permanent successors to the soil lhey
occupy wider range and greater variety OF SOILS
and exposures than either wheat or the root crops
Wheat is driven from the bottom lands and inter
wales and the great auvia deposits like that OF Cache
Creek and such rivers the Salinas and IS grown
on the dry valley soils rich in scates and the mineral
elements derived from dsintegratlon OF the rocks
Its quality here depends upon the conditions found III
srcb localities II gets no rain after April grows,
A. ,iI- hat Is
and threshed in one operation and ready for the mil
an hour after it felt the sickle IN the heu' VI OO'
it exhausts the soil
The Secretary might have remained long enough
70 look IN vain for the strawstack and manure pile
on orr wheat ranches These means OF tertlzing are
but little used and the neglect OF them IS wrong Inc
waste OF fertilizers produced on the ranches here Is
the dissipation OF what should take the place OF an I'M
possible rotation of crops in our wheat region II Is
,,e that the drv season is unfavorabe to the lmTne-
date assimilation OF the plant food that would go back
with the straw and but it remains in the SOL
ia Weld its food under the influence OF the rainy
season.
But this neglected substitute for an impossible rota-
ton is not the only OF the California wheat
rancher He is perfectly well aware Of the exhaustng
quality of wheat He has land fall from thirty
sacks Der acre to ten and five and he knew the rea
son before the Agricultural Department was estab-
lisbed To rest and recruit the soil the California
wheat rancher has gone back to an agricultural bule
tin issued by the first Secretary OF that art known IN
history H lets his land lie fallow according to the
advice of Moses to the Israelites, who were raising
wheat under physical conditions almost identical with
those Of California.
Rotation OF crops is properly practiced when pos
sible to avoid loss of the OF the land. Summer
following as practiced by the wheat ranchers OF Cali
fornia is chemically and economically It's substitute
It restores the soil and years rest 1t produces
the crops of two years 1t is not practced in the East
though it might be used with good effect on the thin
soils OF the clay hills in the prairie States There tail
blowing is pracced get the effect OF frost to make
stiff soils more riable but the land is cropped an
nually
Finally. it is worthy OF note that the sugar beet IS
promising rotation with wheat that is not offered by
anv other crop The Secretary has pointed out that
the East and West Indies produce cane sugar one
and quarter cents pound cheaper than we can pro-
duce beet sugar The margin is the difference between
free labor here and servle labor there We want the
sugar beet as an addition to Our crops and valuable
for rotation and we want the land and labor which
produce it protected against the tropical soil and
servile labor OF all the Indies
Of, which he