The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-07-17
Agriculture
and
Horticulture

The following agricultural and horti-
cultural matters will doubtless prove
of general interest, as it pertains to
Pacific Coast States:
SMALL CHERRY CROP.
Oakland Tribune: A. L. Stone, In an
interview on the cherry crop stated
that it was the lightest ever known on
the coast, all the cherry producing dis
tricts in the State being effected. The
consequence is that very little fruit is
being canned or shipped East and even
the supply of fresh fruit for local con-
sumption is light and prices range ex-
tremely high.
Mr.. Stone estimates the present yield
at about one-fourth of that of last
year.
The total failure of cherries was
caused partly by the drouth OF
last year, which effected the trees SO
that they failed to properly set fruit
buds; and partly by the heavy March
rains which came just when cherries
We're in full bloom, washing the pollen
off and causing a lack of fertilization
The effects of the early drouth will
be felt for many years in the cherry
market for it not only damaged the
yield this year, but caused some OF the
trees to die.
Many of the trees are effected so Sc
riously that they will probably have to
be grubbed out, while orchards all over
the country are put back so that 1t Will
take them years to get in condition for
another full crop.
SHEEP AND FORESTS.
Stockton Mail: Apropos of the baff1ed
effort Of the sheep men to break into
the forest reservations and destroy
them, it should be remembered that IT
the sheep men would transact thciI
business properly they would not want
to spoil the property of others in order
to preserve their own. Sheep men
overstock their pastures. Engineer
Marsden Manson, in his interesting and
important observations on the De-
mutation of Vegetation" says: The
writer once asked an Intelligent stock
man how many sheep could be paStur-
ed on given area in the Sierras, and
he gave, as his opinion, that 5000 could
be pastured thereon without injury
that is, without destroying all seeds of
forage plants and grasses. But, upon
naming over the owners and fOcks
which he knew, there We're 10000 sheep
accounted for in the area" That eX-
plains why the sheep men are without
proper pasture-they destroy what they
have. But that is surely no reason why
they should be allowed to destroy the
forests also.
DESTROYING BIRDS.
Marysville Democrat: 1t is obvious
that birds of any kind, while excessive
" tp1 IA o,l-
duck, escape determination for a long
time, though greatly reduced in num-
bers. But, if the hunted species has the
habit of breeding in flocks at given
places, year after year, and it is at
tackled Systematically on it's nesting
ground, it must soon succumb For
under such circumstances, the progeny
as well as the parents are destroyed,
and the hspe of future generations dis
appears.
But it is popularity of the I'm
genious animal called man" that, while
so provident in respect to many minor
things, he seems rarely to think of the
future of the wild animals which are
furnished for his use, and practically
intrusted to his care by Nature. He
begins with the notion that it is his
and he does not realize how greatly
he will be the sufferer if he acts too
recklessly on that idea.
The common pigeons furnish an in
teresting object lesson. Forty years
ago these birds were so numerous in
the Middle States that their f1ocks were
comparable to the vast herds of the
buffalo which formerly roamed the
plains
they have been nearly exterminated by
ruthless slaughter. The only reason
why any of them are left to-day is that
it no longer pays to make a business
netting them for market, owing to their
scarcity.
Forty years ago near where the town
of Wheatland stands there were thou
sands of valley quail in the under
growth adjacent to Bear River, but now
there are very few
VALUE OF CORNSTALKS.
Modesto News: According to a New
YORK exchange, our farmers have
hitherto been throwing away $500, 0OO,-
ooo year in cornstalks. The yield
of stalks aggregates three tons to the
acre, the acreage averaging S0,OO0,OOO
and but fraction of this is utilized
as Ioduer. During the last twenty
years our farmers have destroyed. it
is estimated, $4,000, 100000 worth of
their product, value equal to the
sum total of their mortgages plus the
public debt. Six different commodities
are now being manufactured from
cornstalks, namely, celulose, worth
$500 a ton, used by the Government
as an automatic hole-stopper for bat
tleships; excellent cardboard: a fine
grade OF paper; an unequaled founda-
ton for dynamite; a patent cattle food
and superior glue. The value of the
cellulose lining for warships is we'll
known. When a leak develops the cell
lulise swells in such manner as to
automatically close it. With fifteen
tons of stalks, worth 800, one ton of
such cellulose is made, for which, as
already stated, the Government is now
paying at the rate of $500 a ton. AS
respects the cornstalk cattle food, it
is stated that the stalks when ground
to coarse meal, cooked, sweetened
with molasses and pressed into cakes
form one of the most nutritive and
valuable foods yet placed on the mar
ket. The absorptive power of cellu-