Year: 1870




business is to plant the vine and the Legisia.
tuFe protects you, and if the stock trespass
the owner must pay damage. 1t appears to
me there would be heap of business fer
Justices of the Peace. l cannot see how i,
would be possible to get along without one
on every farm. Or, supposing you were in
your vineyard pinching or the ends of your
vines to prevent their strayiug too far in any
;, direction, and rejoicing at their splendid ap-
pearance, band Of wild cattle from Tulare
county, that have never seen a man unless he
were on the back Of mustang, are coming
this way to pass over our mountain road to
Owens Valley, or some other place beyond
the mountains, one of the cattle descries you
and goes for you, the rest will follow, it will
over the fence, as they now do; you have
eschewed fences, how do you suppose your
vineyard would look after two thousand head
of such cattle had passed through it? II think
| hear you say it would matter but little to
you individually how it looked. But sup
posing you escaped with your life, you would
have need OF good deal of Christian fort-
tude to sustain YOU during the trying ordeal.
and the vaqneros would ride rough shod
through your vineyard with as little remorse
as the rogues sighted the fat knight into the
river Thames. V. has fallen into the same
error that others have who have written on
the subject, in affecting to believe ma jority
of this land is suitable for cultivation, where
4 oh e - .. - 1. ~
for farming purposes so long as there is So
much land in other parts of tho State that is
better suited If man, whose claim has
given out, wishes to engage in farming, be
i leaves this county at once, and goes where
land is easier cultivated bnt if he wishes to
raise stock ne stays here. We see this every
week Of our lives, and it is singular people
cannot understand it. lie denies the max i'm
that poor fences make breachy cattle, but be-
fore doing it he proves it to be true. lie
says: When an animal gets into your field
as soon as it sees you coming towards it, it
will make for the place it got in at, and at no
other place will it attempt to get out" The
reason is, it knows there is gap where it
got in, end it has not time to select place of
exit. it being a hurryine season with the
animal, particularly if bludgeon or shotgun
accompanies the individual If this was not
the case it would be as likely to get out at
the highest point of the fence as the gap.
have not time to combat all of the errors and
mis-statements he has made. What he saws
about a cow starving to death hunting for
grass on 640 acres in his vicinity. is the
veriest nonsense. | can show him plentv of
cattle that were fat in March that never had
a r,outnfGl feI to them bur what they picked
up off the common. gee Y. is not altogether
averse to the use of the shotgun, as he xisey
asks Which is the worst crime, to kill an
animal or kill man?' | will ask il he is
anxious to witness tEose scenes that are being
enacted in Merced county of cattle being shot
down by the hundred and their carcasses left
to rot on the plains, and the vaqueros threat
ening vengeance when the grass shall become
dry, or to see cows wandering around with
their eyes shot out, and otherwise MANNED as
they are in some other places. They may
state this fence question or turn it as they
please, | assert, and will maintain it is n
contest between tho dog, the hlud -eon and
the shotgun. on one side, end good fences on
the other. Now let the people choose.


trust W. j. L. will not think hard of me
for noticing Y. before him. 1t is my polite
ness thnt induces me to notice the stranger
before the old acquaintance. lie is willing
all kinds Of stcck shall be allowed to run at
large. providing the owners keep them from
trespassiug. ask how can this be done if
the farmer will not rut M his bars or mend
the gaps in his fence? The people in Para
disc Valley are willing stock shall run ut
large too, if they are kept from trespassing
What other objection can be offered to their
running at large? | say his plan amounts
to q prohibition as much as trespass Ia "
does. lie says he took no pains to ascertein
which was the popular side of this question.
It he can saw the same about his idea of
colonizing Cinnamon it will prove there are
two sides to question: popular and an un-
popular one-and that man NAV be on the
popular side half the time. even if he goes at
random. He has made one very extraordin-
airy announcement, it is such an anomaly, 80
out of the common way. Here it is /" am
not an aspirant for public honors." If we
can find q few more of the same sort, there
will be some hopes of our passing unscathed
from the cloud that threatens to envelop rs.
/ When sLch announcements are made people
appear 10 doubt the sanity or sincerity cf the
person, aud. in order to remove all donbt, it
might be well for him to GO before Notary
and make affidavit that he is of sound mind,
etc. There weuld then be sort of nucleus
around which choice spirits coulG gather. and
it might be the means of saving US from de-
strnc,ion.


And now, Mr.. Editor one word to you in
parting. | thank you for the privilege in
allowing Us to discuss this question in our own
way through the medium Of your paper, and
whether any good comes of it or not you have
certainly done your part. and the plan, if
followed out, Of allowing people to discuss
questions Of Importance in your paper, will
make it a necessity in every household in the
county, where is justly deserves t" be found.


JAMES 4. GOODWIN.


Mountain Pass. April 18th. 1870.


Mercury in the various forms. has filed the
earth with shattered wrecks of humanity.
This pernicious and destructive drug has been