The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-03-10
IN A MUSTARD FIELD.
SAID TO BE THE ONLY ONE IN THE
UNITED STATES.
Which Attend the Planting and Har-
vesting of the Crops-Their DeleterI-
GUS Effec Upon the Soil.

vestinG of tho Crops-Their DeleterI-
GUS Effect Upon the Soil.
this State, grows mustard for the whole
country. The sauce piquant of a ma
ton is compressed in that one county,
and in the spring the fields of bril-
liant canary yellow and of brown are
sights for tourist eyes, as the pun
gent odor of millions of mustard flow
ers is grateful to their nostrils.
In this region 1000 acres are cultivat-
ed to the seed, the industry employing
about 200 farmers. No one employs
himself exclusively in cultivating the
plant, because of its refusal to yield
two successive crops upon the same
land Accordingly the mustard raiser
can only devote a part of his farm to
it each season. The land from which
he harvested his crop this year must
next year be planted to beans or barley,
corn, pumpkins or beets. Indeed, re-
suits show that it pays to skip two
years in planting mustard and only
turn the soil to it's use every third sea-
son. What active principle there is in
the soil that is withdrawn by this ex-
acting plant to the lands impoverish-
ment has not yet been determined.
When it is solved however, and the
salt or other chemical necessary to
supply to the soil the extracted in
gredient Is identified undoubtedly the
growing of mustard will become a
prominent industry in California.
EARLY EXPERIMENTS.
AT present it is comparatively I'M
KNOWN industry though mustard has
been raised in Lompoc Valley for near
1y eighteen years. Attention was first
drawn to the possibility of growing it
by the abundance of wild mustard on
the hills and in the valley sweeps
Through many parts of Santa Barbara
county
The land selected for the mustard
growing lies in the middle of the val
ley and along the banks of the Santa
Ynez river. The soil is deep sediment,
dark and almost entirely without grit.
Some mustard Is grown on a light,
sandy loan, but the heavier soil is pre-
/. ferable, as it not only produces larger
crops, but it is not SO feeble after the
crop is removed. Indications of rain
are important, as it is almost useless
to sow mustard for growing during a
dry winter. 1t requires plenty of wa
ter and cool weather in the ripenIrg
and pod-flling season. Tt is for this
reason that the Lompoc district is 50
adapted to its growth; being close to
the sea, it is visited during much of the
year by heavy fogs, which roll in every
night and precipitate little rains in
themselves besides keeping the hot
sun away from the land and providing
the GOODNESS SO much required w the
mustard.
SOWING TIME.
The soil being selected, it is broken
up Immediately after the first rain of
the season 1t is cultivated from time
to time to keep it open and to keep
sfhe- weeds and grass down until about
the middle of January when it is sown
to brown, called also Trieste, mustard.
IT 1t is proposed to plant it to the vel
low variety for the sowing may be de-
ferred until March
The seed is sown broadcast, with the
hand, from three and one-half to four
Pounds being distributed to the acre.
1T is then narrowed in the ordinary
way. The mustard presents a pretty
sight while growing, especially when
young, and at this stage it makes an
excellent salad, having a pleasant pun
gent avor. The white variety is often
sown in England for mustard greens,
which are used in place of spinach, and
is also used as food for sheep after the
turnip and rape crops have proved fail
rres, the plant being of rapid growth
and the provender fairly nourishing
and good The Lompoc crops, however,
are never turned to these uses, the Ill
innate product being the only thing in
view; as the brown variety produces
the most per acre, more land is grown
ITO it than to the yellow.
YELLOW PLANTS
The mustard stalk is straw colored |
growing from three to five feet in
height and bearing its characteristic |
flowers. 1t bears an oblong pod from
an inch to several inches in length, and |
contains one row Of seeds. When the |
plant is mature and the seeds are ripe, |
the hull of the pod becomes dry and |
shell-like, and the stalk is very brit
tie.
The harvesting is done with self |
raking reaper his cuts the stalks and |
throws them up in punches, where they |
are left to cure in the sun, the gather
ing takes place late in summer, when |
the fogs have disappeared When dry |
the stalks are collected in header wag-
Ons and are hauled to some central |
place, where they are dumped upon a
large burlap sheet, 50x50 feet in size.
Here the stalks are run over by a large
and heavy roller, drawn by two horses.
These rollers are of two patterns, one
of drum about ten feet
long and four feet high, revolving upon
an axle fixed in a frame to which the
horses are hitched, the other being a
sires of half dozen disks, separated
from each other by about two feet of
space, these being adjusted on an axle
in frame as in the other. Upon both
of these instruments the driver sits,
and the disk roller carries two men.
READY FOR THE MARKET.
The roller having thoroughly gone
over and broken up the stalks, the
straw is then raked off with a hand
rake and left upon the sheet, mass
of seed and chaff. This is quickly
heaped into pile by simply lifting up
the edges of the cloth and turning its
ri IA A IA lS