The record-union., 1899-01-02

III tue sprung gOOQ crop ~ dDout
eight sacks Of wheat to the acre-say
fifteen bushels. But the average crop
is about six sacks or twelve bushels.
We must, therefore, look for some
other cause rather than the absence
of rainfall for the failure of crops in
the south part of Monterey County
and the northern part Of San Luis
Obispo County. The SEASONAL fall OF
rain in 1S97-9S in the State in the re-
gion of wheat culture was small, and
there was a deficiency of crop; the
rest of the State is suffering alike with
the sections named for want of rain
at this season, but we do not hear in
the remainder of the State of any dis
tress among the farmers, not even IN
the adjacent and alluvial portion OF
the Salinas Valley.
The cause of the present condition OF
the settlers in San Antonio Valley is
the original poverty of the settlers
from which they have not emerged,
and the poverty of the soil. I am not
advised as to the original pecuniary
condition Of the settlers in the sections
alleged to be suffering, but the state
ment as to the poverty of the soil ap-
plies to such sections.
AS I said before, the soil of the Sa-
linas Valley is alluvial and retentive
of moisture. The hills on the east of
the valley, the ranges east and west
Of San Antonio Valley are almost de-
void Of soil, the strata standing out
in full view. When we cross into the
San Antonio Valley we come to an en-
tirely different soil, of which I have
brought back samples.
Leaving San Ardo you cross the Sa-
linas River, shortly ascend a low
range of hills, and thence descend into
San Antonio Valley, which is skirted
on the west side by the foothills of the
Coast Range Of mountains. The val
ley is fifteen miles long and about
eight miles wide. The San Antonio
River runs close to the foothills. The
valley slopes in length southerly, and
also slopes from the east to the San
Antonio River. The general configur-
alton of the surface is level, though in
some places spurs of the mountains
break the general level and divide the
main valley into small valleys. The
soil along the stream is a sandy loan,
Of no great depth. In the center of
the valley the soil is the same found
in the upper and central part of San
Luis Obispo County, and characterized
upon the geological map of the Mining
Bureau as metamorphic cretaceous soil.
The eastern part of the valley is a. still
poorer soil, composed of sandstone,
shale. gravel, sand and chalky stones
and very porous. Both soils are def
cient in humus and must have seen
their best productive days However
severe the rainfall, the water imme-
diately sinks. There are occasionally
patches of alkai land, which on fair
rainfall makes as miry as quicksand.
The best land is occupied by grant
lands amounting to 100000 acres. Milpi-
tas grant. 3290 acres; Los Ojitos, s.
045; Ell Piojo, 1899; Pleyto, 1929
acres. Total in the valley, a, 1868.
The San Miguelitos, 22,135 acres, is
to the west of the valley. All devot-
ed to grazing, principally. The val
ley is dotted with small growths of
white, live and scrub oak the size Of
the trees indicating the poverty Of the
SOIL
Professor Johnson in his work tiHow
Crops Feed says: The Microscopic
property Of the soil is of the utmost
agricultural Importance, because, first
it is connected with the permanent
moisture which is necessary to vegeta-
BILE existence, and second, the absorp-
ton of water vapor to some degree
determines the amount of absorption
of other vapors and gases.
That is to say, it is Of the first i'm
portance in agriculture that the land
should have the power to imbibe and
retain moisture composing these lands
and the remark applies to the whole Of
the upper Salinas Valley. With the
lands Of other portions of the State
we find their absorptive and retentive
power is very small. I quote from
the reports of Professor Hilgard of the
University of California.
The moisture absorption at Paso Ro-
bles of various soils ranges from 1S4
to $40, while on average wheat soils
the moisture absorption in Merced
County is placed at 5.51 Fresno, 5.43;
Tulare, 8.53; San Joaquin, 6.S4, and
in some Sierra foothill soils the range