UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE BENJ " ' DE WHECLER ' "»«'«"" THOMAS FORSYTH HUNT, DEAN AND DIRECTOR BERKELEY H " E ' VAN NORMAN - Vice-Director and Dean University Farm School CIRCULAR No. 121 October, 1914 SOME THINGS THE PROSPECTIVE SETTLER SHOULD KNOW BY THOMAS FORSYTH HUNT AND OTHER MEMBERS OF THE STAFF [A good many people are being detached from their customary employment or source of income by the pressure of the crisis in Europe. To all such who are looking about for a new start, the best suggestion we can give is that the land is the place where living is cheapest and the cost of shelter hardly exists at all. No man forced out of employment this winter is in worse plight than millions of immigrants who have landed in America with less than $50 in their pockets. Those immigrants who have gone to the land have been able in the course of a few years to acquire a farm, to raise families, and to participate in the most wholesome gifts that American civilization has to offer. To be forced from the city back to the farm may seem a hardship to the man who goes through the transition, but in the end he will be better off and his children will be benefited. — Collier's.] An agent who is seeking to sell land, holds that he may, with propriety, state the maximum yield which may be expected from a given crop on the land which he is offering for sale. It is difficult to deny that he has such right. It is worth while, therefore, to con- sider whether there is any relationship between maximum yields and yields that may be expected in the ordinary run of business. The average yield of wheat in California, one season with another, is about 13 bushels. It varies in different seasons from 9 to 18 bushels per acre. On land that is fairly adapted to wheat good farmers not infrequently get 40 bushels per acre and no farmer thinks that his crop is to be commended unless he has obtained 25 bushels per acre, providing the season is favorable. In the same manner, the average yield of barley in California is about 25 bushels per acre. Many good farmers secure 75 bushels, while a yield of 50 bushels per acre is considered commendable. Under the most favorable conditions a yield of 50 bushels of wheat or 100 bushels of barley is not impossible, although it is a rather extraordinary yield. EXPECTED YIELDS The question now arises, how may one estimate the yield which may be used safely as a business guide? If only an average yield of these different crops is obtained, the raiser secures a very modest daily wage plus a small interest on the investment. A man who can produce only average yields of crops will, generally speaking, do better in some other business, or by working for a daily wage for others. An intelligent, thrifty, careful farmer may properly hope to secure twice the average return that is customary under the conditions of his soil and climate, but even this is not a safe estimate on which to do business. Very broadly speaking, — necessarily there must be many exceptions, — a competent farmer may expect to secure an increase of 50 per cent over average yields. To illustrate, the following table may be prepared showing what may be expected in California under average conditions of soil and climate: Wheat Barley Average yield 13 25 A safe estimate for business purposes 20 40 A good yield which competent men may hope to obtain 25 50 Yield not infrequently obtained under favorable conditions 40 75 Possible but extraordinary yields 50 100 These figures are merely illustrative, but it is probable that they represent a somewhat general law : namely, first, that it is possible to secure, under favorable conditions, a yield that is four times that usually obtained; and, second, that for business purposes, it is not safe to count on securing more than two-fifths of the maximum yield. There are many exceptions to the rule because of varying soil and climatic conditions. It is not intended to assert that larger returns may not be obtained, but to suggest that if a profit cannot be calculated upon this basis, then further study of the situation is needed before making a purchase. In order to assist a new settler in California, a table has been prepared, from such data as is available, showing the yields that may be expected when the crop is grown by a competent man in a location and on a soil adapted to it. The figures given below may be said to represent the best judgment of those who, through actual experience and observation, are competent to judge. The figures are in no sense official: Average, Probable, and Possible Yields* Average yield per acre Wheat, bu 13 Oats, bu 31 Barley, bu 25 Potatoes, bu 125 Alfalfa, ton 3.5 Grain hay, ton 1.25 Cotton, Durango, lb 300 Rice, rough, lb 1500 Hops, lb 1500 Beans, field, lb 1100 Onions, sack 100 Sugar beets, ton 9 Butter fat, per cow, lb 150 Oranges, box 150 Lemons, box r 175 Raisins, Muscat, ton 0.5 Raisins, Seedless, ton .... 0.75 Grapes, shipping, ton 3.0 Grapes, Interior, wine, ton 3.0 Grapes, Coast, wine, ton 1.5 Olives, ton 1.0 Walnuts, ton 0.4 Almonds, ton 0.4 Prunes, dried, ton 1.25 Plums, shipping, crate.... 250 Apricots, dried, ton 0.75 Apricots, shipping, crate 250 Pears, ton 4.0 Peaches, dried, ton 0.75 Peaches, shipping, box .... 300 Apples, box 200 Cherries, ton 1.25 A safe estimate for business purposes 20 A good yield which com- petent men may hope to obtain 25 Yield not infrequently obtained under favor- able conditions 40 Possible but extra- ordinary yield 50 45 60 90 120 40 50 75 100 175 200 300 500 5.0 6.0 9.0 12.0 1.75 2.0 3.0 4.0 400 500 800 1200 2200 3000 4500 6000 1800 2200 3000 8000 1200 1400 2500 3000 150 250 300 400 13 18 25 30 225 300 350 400 225 300 450 600 225 300 450 600 0.75 1.00 1.25 2.00 1.00 1.25 1.50 3.00 5.0 7.0 10.0 15.0 5.0 7.0 10.0 15.0 3.0 5.0 7.0 10.0 1.50 2.0 3.0 5.0 0.5 .75 1.0 1.5 0.5 .75 1.0 1.25 1.75 2.5 3.0 5.0 350 450 650 850 1.0 1.25 1.75 2.5 350 450 650 850 5.0 7.0 10.0 12.0 1.0 1.5 2.0 3.0 400 600 800 1000 300 500 900 1200 2.0 2.5 5.0 8.0 * In California the pounds per bushel are barley, 50 ; corn, 52 ; oats, 32 ; and wheat, 60. The sack equivalent in pounds is neither uniform nor standardized. The variation is due to the fullness of the bags and the volume weight of the grain. Good plump barley 110-115 pounds per sack. Second class barley 100 pounds per sack. Heavy extra wheat 125-150 pounds per sack. Average wheat 120—135 pounds per sack. Heavy oats in barley bags 100 pounds per sack. Light oats in barley bags 85— 90 pounds per sack. Oats in regular oat bags, about 125 pounds per sack. Beans 80-100 pounds per sack. Potatoes 110-120 pounds per sack. Too much emphasis cannot be placed upon the fact that the figures given in the table above are intended to apply to average land and not to the best land adapted to that particular crop. There are large areas in California where five tons of alfalfa per annum may be deemed a safe estimate and where competent men would not under- take to raise alfalfa if they did not expect six tons per acre. On the other hand, there are some areas where much smaller yields may be considered satisfactory. The chief purpose of this discussion is to enforce the principle that the large yields which are obtained under very favorable con- ditions are not a true business guide. It is necessary to recognize frankly that only a fraction of such possible yields are obtained ordinarily in actual practice. The purpose is not to try to state what yield may be obtained under each given condition of soil and climate, but to give a sort of working basis for reasonable estimation. Thus if in a given region on a particular type of soil, one determines that it has been found possible to get a yield of thirteen tons of alfalfa per acre, on the basis of two-fifths previously stated 5.2 tons of alfalfa would be a safe estimate for business purposes. If, on the other hand, eight tons were found to be an extraordinary yield, then 3.2 tons are all that could be safely predicted. However, it must always be kept in mind that the competent man may hope to secure better yields. The second and third columns in the above table are the ones to which the reader should give his chief attention. INVESTMENT REQUIRED FOR SATISFACTORY INCOME Persons will differ widely as to what is a satisfactory income. Some arbitrary figure must be assumed, however, as a basis of dis- cussion. All that can here be hoped is to show such relationship as to enable one to forecast a condition that will be satisfactory to himself. Let it be assumed then that a gross income of $4000 per year is desired. The annual gross income from the chief farm crops of the United States is about 16 per cent, or one-sixth of the capital invested. Under these conditions an investment of $24,000 would be required. Only a modest wage and a small interest would be earned. A satisfactory gross income, one perhaps that competent men may reasonably expect to earn, would be 25 per cent or one-fourth of the capital invested. An investment of $16,000 would therefore be neces- sary. Suppose a gross income of $4000 per year is obtained, what becomes of it? In a general way this sum may be divided into three parts: (1) expenses, (2) interest on the investment, (3) return to the farmer for his management and labor. The latter may be called the labor income. There have been gathered, for example, some data on general farms tending to show that if a man has invested wisely in land and equipment he may pay about 7 per cent of the total investment for a working manager. This is equivalent to saying that a farmer should receive 7 per cent on the capital invested for his management, assuming that he is himself actively engaged either in managing or laboring or both. In reaching this conclusion from data collected, 5 per cent interest on the capital invested was assumed. On this basis the following will result : For labor income— 7 per cent on $16,000 $1,120.00 Interest on investment — 5 per cent on $16,000 800.00 For expenses 2,080.00 Total $4,000.00 One thing that is at once obvious from an examination of the data is that if one must pay 10 per cent interest for money to purchase land and equipment there would be only 2 per cent, or $320, left for labor income. It will be noted that for each per cent which is added to the interest charge an equivalent reduction must be made in the labor income. Thus if the interest is 6 per cent one may expect his labor income to be only 6 per cent of the capital invested. If the interest, is 8 per cent, the labor income will be but 4 per cent. More- over there is a tendency for the labor income to be further reduced on farms growing a single crop, since such farms furnish employment for a relatively small portion of the year.* However, on fruit farms, this condition is somewhat offset by the opportunity for employment in the packing houses, thereby augmenting the income of the owners and their families. Of course, owners of fruit and other farms, who are not actively employed thereon need not expect to secure more than a fair interest on their investment and then only when intelligently and efficiently managed. Some surprise may be felt that any definite relation can be assumed between labor income and capital invested. The explanation seems to be that the value of the land rises with the income and thus the interest on the new capitalization prevents the labor income from rising. Thus, if a man buys a farm at $50 per acre and the subsequent income justifies valuing the land at $200 per acre, the interest upon the new valuation keeps the labor income from rising. It is well known that this rise in the value of land has been the source of much profit to farmers. * See footnote, page 15. Of course, very much will depend upon the wisdom with which expenses are incurred. Without doubt there is in individual cases great opportunity for increasing the labor income by decreasing expenses. What this paragraph suggests is that it is not wise to assume a gross income greater than one-fourth the capital invested and that one must concede that one-half the gross income may be required for running expenses. Unless a man can estimate a satisfactory labor income on this basis, it is prudent to proceed with caution. It is obvious that if a man is satisfied with a labor income of $560 per year an investment of $8000 will suffice. If the farm is paid for he may expect a cash income over expense of $960 per year, since he has a right to expect interest on the investment plus his labor income. SIZE OF FARM How large must a farm be to furnish a satisfactory living? From what has been said the best practical measure with which to answer this question is the gross income. The area of land necessary to obtain a gross income of $4000 will depend upon the crops raised. Thus, if the land is to be put into barley, from which may be expected 40 bushels per acre, worth 60 cents per bushel, or a gross return of $24 per acre, there will be required 167 acres to return a gross income of $4000. If adapted to potatoes, yielding 175 bushels per acre, worth 70 cents per bushel, 33 acres would be required. An orange grove, yielding 225 boxes, netting the grower a dollar per box, would require less than 18 acres in trees. As there is more or less waste land in all types of farming, it may be stated, in general terms, that 200 acres of land would be required for barley and 40 acres for potatoes, while 20 acres would suffice for oranges. A similar estimate may be made concerning dairying. Estimating a yield of 225 pounds of butter fat per year and that three pounds of butter fat are worth a dollar, the total income for butter fat per year is $75 per cow. Each cow may raise a calf, and some pigs and chickens may be kept. It may be possible, therefore, to secure a gross income from all sources of $100 per cow. The amount of land which is required to keep a cow in California varies at least as widely as from one to ten acres where dairying is now actually practiced. Where alfalfa is grown in the open valleys under irrigation, it requires about l 1 /^ to 1% acres to support a cow. Assuming the latter figure, it will require 60 acres to bring a gross income of $4000. It is interesting to observe that in a certain irrigated region tracts of 20 acres each were sold for dairy purposes. As time has gone on the farmers located upon these tracts have acquired additional lands, so that at present the one-family dairy farm, based upon alfalfa, is actually about 30 acres. This is perhaps another way of saying that these families are satisfied with a gross income of $2000 per year. INFLUENCE OF CHILDREN The one-family farm just mentioned is a familiar instance of the influence of family co-operation in farming. Various members of the family help on these farms. In this way the labor income is apparently increased and the expense of conducting the farm is decreased. This, however, is merely because members of the family are not paid for this labor at current rates. Nevertheless one of the important reasons for engaging in certain types of farming is that it gives rational and remunerative employment to the children of the family. Farming remains the one great industry where children are a material asset. A man with a family of children may wisely engage in dairying, fruit raising, or vegetable growing, not only because he can use the labor of his children to advantage, but because the train- ing in contributing to the family income which they receive before the age of twenty-one is one of the most valuable assets these children can acquire. If the ideal of a successful home is not a part of the pro- gramme it may be well to question whether some other activity may not better engage attention. THE INFLUENCE OF PRICE The gross return per acre depends of course, upon two factors — yield and price. The size of the farm required for a given gross return will depend, therefore, not only upon the fertility of the soil but also upon the location. The latter materially affects the price, especially in a state of great size with many communities remote from the larger centers of population. Nowhere, probably, is community effort more important in securing satisfactory prices than with the fruit raiser in California. No matter how satisfactory the yield and quality of the fruit may be, if the grower is not surrounded by others raising a like commodity, usually it will be found difficult to market the crop at a satisfactory price. In the figures which are given in the table it is not intended to state either the lowest price or the highest price at which a .given commodity sells in California, but rather to state what men in the industry would look upon as a low or high price. The average price, also, is not necessarily the average of any number of years or of any locality, but rather a statement of what would be looked upon as a satisfactory price by those who are engaged extensively in growing the particular crop in the leading localities where the crop is produced. ILLUSTRATIONS OF SIZE OF FARM Table showing the area required to produce a gross income of $4000 per year, assuming the average price stated. The yield assumed is stated in column 2, page 3, under the heading — A Safe Estimate for Business Purposes. Figures are not official. Low Price Dollars and cents Wheat, bu $0.70 Oats, bu 40 Barley, bu .50 Potatoes, bu .50 Alfalfa, ton _ 5.00 Grain hay, ton 6.00 Cotton, Durango, lb .11 Rice, rough, lb .01 Hops, lb 10 Beans, field, lb 03 Onions, sacks .50 Sugar beets, ton 4.50 Butter fat, lb 25 Oranges, box .50 Lemons, box .75 Raisin, Muscat, lb .02 Raisins, Seedless, lb .025 Grapes, shipping, ton 7.00 Grapes, Interior, wine, ton 7.00 Grapes, Coast, wine, ton 12.00 Olives, oil, ton 40.00 Olives, pickling, ton 80.00 Walnuts, lb 10 Almonds, ton 160.00 Prunes, dried, ton 50.00 Plums, shipping, crate .45 Apricots, dried, ton 120.00 Apricots, shipping, crate .50 Pears, ton 20.00 Peaches, dried, ton 70.00 Peaches, shipping, box .25 Apples, box .40 Cherries, shipping, ton.... 100.00 Size of Farm High Price Dollars and cents Average Price Dollars and cents necessary to obtain gross income of $4000 Acres $1.00 $0.85 235 .65 .55 161 .75 .60 167 .90 .70 33 12.00 8.00 100 15.00 10.00 229 .17 .14 71 .03 .02 91 .30 .17 13 .05 .04 83 2.00 .80 33 6.00 5.50 56 .40 .33 60 2.50 1.50 12 3.00 2.00 9 .05 .03 89 .06 .04 50 60.00 20.00 40 18.00 15.00 53 30.00 23.00 58 50.00 45.00 59 200.00 150.00 18 .15 .12 33 340.00 280.00 29 120.00 80.00 29 1.25 .60 19 300.00 180.00 22 1.50* .75 15 60.00 40.00 20 200.00 105.00 38 1.00 .40 25 1 .50 .65 20 300.00 200.00 10 A certain amount of waste land must be assumed. The smaller the tract the greater the proportion of waste due to roads and buildings. Allowing some leeway for waste land, it is possible to state, in general terms, that for grain raising, such as barley, oats, or wheat, two hundred or more acres will be required to secure a gross income of $4000 per year where the rainfall is sufficient to permit of annual cropping, and twice that amount will be required where it is necessary to practice slimmer fallow on alternate years. Sixty acres may be required for sugar beets, grape growing, or dairying. Potatoes and various tree fruits may require forty acres or less. Ten acres appears to be the smallest area on which a California crop will return a gross income of $4000 a year under average conditions. It is not intended to assert that a given crop will require a given area as shown in the last column of the table. In fact, it will probably require in most cases either more or less than the amount stated, because the con- ditions will probably be above or below the average. Neither is it intended to assert that even though the conditions are only average a suitable return may not be obtained from a less area through greater energy, thrift, and knowledge. Indeed, it is being constantly done; for example, while it ordinarily may take forty acres to produce $4000 worth of shipping grapes, an authentic example was brought to the writer's attention where thirteen acres of shipping grapes in 1913 sold on the farm in bulk brought the owner $4692. This crop did not cost the tenant, exclusive of rent, to exceed $500, including pay for his own labor. This illustration is quoted to show that while statements similar to this one can be made honestly and such cases occur not infre- quently, they are not a proper guide for the new settler. A part of the zest in farming in California is that there are such prizes for which one may reasonably strive. What it is intended to say is that if one expects to get greater returns than are indicated in the table, he should be thoroughly convinced that he has more favorable conditions or greater ability than the average. Of course, one may properly be content with a smaller gross income and thus require a smaller area to satisfy his needs. It is fairly obvious, however, that statements of satisfactory income on less than ten acres, which undoubtedly do occur, do not represent normal conditions and are not safe guides for those who desire to make a home in the open country. Such small areas may. and in many cases do, furnish delightful homes for those who have other sources of income. A more delightful place for people of moderate income to live than in some of the valleys of California can be found in but few localities in the world. It is apparent that this type of population is destined to increase largely. Neighbors of unusual 10 intelligence and culture, schools and civic improvements of the highest order, unparalleled climate, and good roads throughout the year, as well as many other factors, contribute to this end. SOME CENSUS FIGURES More than three-fifths of all the land owned in farms in California in 1910, was held in tracts of one thousand acres or over. This vast area of seventeen million acres, however, represents only about 5 per cent of the total number of farms. There were less than five thousand farms of over a thousand acres each, while there were more than ten thousand farms of less than ten acres each. More than one-tenth of all the farms in California, 1910, were less than ten acres in area. In many instances, however, the income from the farm did not represent the total income of the owner. The following table gives the number of farms by size groups, together with the total area of land and the value per acre in each group as determined by the census of 1910. Number Under 20 acres 22,525 20 to 49 acres 20,614 50 to 174 acres 22,695 175 to 999 acres 17,670 1000 acres and over 4,693 Total 88,197 Speaking in general terms, one-fourth* of the farms of California were less than twenty acres in area, one-fourth between twenty and forty-nine acres, one-fourth between fifty and one hundred and seventy-four acres, while the remaining one-fourth were one hundred and seventy-five acres or more in extent. The latter one-fourth occupied seven-eighths of the total area in farms. The average size of farm was three hundred and seventeen acres with an average value for land and buildings of $16,447. The average value of livestock per farm was $1447, and that of implements and machinery was $414. It is interesting to note that farms operated by owners averaged two hundred and twenty-seven acres, by tenants three hundred and forty-two acres, and by managers nineteen hundred and thirty-three acres. The greatly increased acreage value of the smaller farms as shown in the table above is due to many causes, of which four stand out prominently: (1) location, (2) larger proportionate value of build- ings, (3) irrigation, (4) in many cases, plantations of fruit trees. Total area Value per acre 200,822 $666.67 625,954 308.01 2,462,400 126.03 7,352,304 59.29 ' 17,289,954 21.84 27,931,434 51.93 11 ESTIMATING THE VALUE OF LAND A Dairy Farm. — How may one estimate the value of land? All that one can hope to do is to give an illustration of a method. For this purpose, the dairy farm, previously mentioned, may be used. It was seen that sixty acres may be sufficient to produce a gross income of $4000 per year where cows are kept on land raising alfalfa by irrigation. According to figures previously mentioned, this would represent an investment of $16,000. This investment may be roughly divided into four parts: (1) raw land, (2) water rights and the preparation of the land for irrigation, (3) buildings, (4) animals, tools, and other floating capital. The animals, tools, and other floating capital may be estimated at 25 per cent of the total investment, or $4000. If the buildings are satisfactory, they may easily cost an additional $4000, thus leaving $8000 for the raw land, for water rights and the preparation for irrigation. It is a matter to be determined in each individual instance, but if the water rights and preparation for irrigation are to cost $2000 on sixty acres, this would leave $6000 which may be paid for raw land, or $100 per acre. Obviously if water rights and preparation for irrigation cost $4000 then only $80 per acre should be paid for raw land. No one must assume that the figures stated necessarily apply to an individual case. Each person must take the principle here illustrated and determine what the figures should be under his circumstances. An Orange Orchard. — In a paragraph on page 6 it was estimated that twenty acres of land planted to oranges might be required to return a gross income of $4000. According to the basis on which we are working, this represents a capital of $16,000, or $800 per acre. In this instance, probably $2000 may be estimated for the buildings, leaving $14,000 for land, water, and trees. Let it be supposed that the water rights, including water delivered to the highest point of the tract, cost $150 per acre, and the cost of bringing these trees to the age of five years, including the purchase of the trees, planting, cultivation, irrigation, fertilizers, and taxes, is $350 per acre, then the situation would stand as follows : Twenty Acre Orchard Buildings $2,000.00 Water rights 3,000.00 Bringing orchard into bearing 7,000.00 Value of raw land 4,000.00 Total $16,000.00 12 Under this estimate, raw land capable of being irrigated and suitable for growing oranges, may be estimated to be worth $200 per acre. It is not intended to say that such raw land is worth $200 per acre. What is intended is to point out that in finding the value of raw land one should determine the cost of buildings, water rights, and the expense of bringing the trees into bearing, and deduct these items from the value of a bearing orchard. The influence of yield upon the value of land may be illustrated with the orange crop. Suppose instead of a safe yield of 225 boxes per acre, a yield of twice this amount, or 450 boxes, is estimated, which is a yield not infrequently obtained under favorable conditions. At a dollar a box the area required to return $4000 gross income would be approximately nine acres. As there will be some waste land, let a tract of ten acres be estimated. The cost per acre of water rights and bringing orchard into bearing remaining the same, the following table shows the result : Ten Acre Orchard Buildings $2,000.00 Water rights— ten acres at $150 1,500.00 Bringing orchard into bearing — ten acres at $350 3,500.00 Value of raw land 9,000.00 Total $16,000.00 It will thus be seen that when the income per acre is doubled the value of raw land rises from $200 to $900 per acre. The same result would have been accomplished if instead of assuming a change of yield from 225 to 450 boxes per acre, the price had risen from $1 to $2 per box. By way of emphasis the illustration may be pushed further : Suppose instead of a yield of 225 boxes per acre only an average yield of 150 boxes, worth $1 per box, was obtained. Then to secure a gross return of $4000 would require nearly twenty-seven acres — to allow for waste land, assume twenty-eight acres. Estimated as before, the following interesting result is obtained : Twenty-eight Acre Orchard Buildings $2,000.00 Water rights— 28 acres at $150 4,200.00 Bringing orchard into bearing — 28 acres at $350 9,800.00 Value of raw land Nothing Total $16,000.00 13 In other words, when raw land, capable of returning $450, is worth $900 per acre, and when returning $225 is worth $200, then land that is capable of returning $150 per acre is worth nothing for the purpose of growing oranges under the conditions named. If 225 boxes per acre at $1.50 per box are assumed, twelve acres of trees would be required. Assuming the purchase of a fifteen acre tract, raw land would, in accordance with the assumptions already made, be worth $435 per acre. In like manner, accepting these assumptions, bearing orchards of the sizes named, returning an annual gross income of $4000 each, would be worth : Value per Acre of Bearing Orchard 10 acres $1,600 per acre 15 acres 1,067 per acre 20 acres 800 per acre 28 acres 571 per acre Since this circular is being prepared for the prospective settler, it is assumed that the tract to be purchased will constitute a home as well as a place of business. The cost of a bungalow of the simplest type, therefore, has been included under the head of buildings. Many of the orange and lemon groves of California, however, are without dwellings, being held by the owners as an investment. (See paragraph, A Going Concern.) Even when the owners are not engaged in other business, they often live in nearby towns or villages. Not infrequently there is a dwelling for a foreman or other laborer. The tracts on which owners of homes are located are apt to be twenty acres in extent and yield a gross income of $4000 per year. Dry Farming. — It has been shown that two hundred acres of land sown annually to barley might bring a gross income of $4000 per year. In the area having an annual rainfall between ten and fifteen inches this result could probably be obtained only by cropping every other year and by the practices known as dry farming. In order, therefore, to obtain an annual income of $4000 per year, four hundred acres of land would be required, so that one-half might each year remain fallow. Assuming $4000 is required for horses, machinery and other equip- ment, there would be left $12,000 to invest in land possessing suitable buildings, or at the rate of $30 per acre. If buildings are absent then a sufficient sum must be deducted to pay for the buildings. If $4000 is required for buildings, then the land should be purchased at $20 per acre.* For further discussion of land values see page 45. 14 A Going Concern. — The dairy farm and the orange grove are illus- trations of two very different types of business. In the case of the dairy farm the farmer receives his pay check every month. With the orange grower, payment comes in during a restricted period. On a new dairy farm it will take a year to get the farm under full headway. In the case of the orange grove it will take about five years to bring the trees into commercial bearing; that is, into a condition where it will pay expenses. It may not come into full bearing for ten years. Dairying is a going concern almost from the start, while to secure a successful orange grove it requires many years of waiting which can be afforded only by men who have other sources of income. One of the most important questions to determine in the purchase of a piece of property is how soon it will become a going concern. Some banks adopt it as a policy not to loan except to going concerns. The man who must earn a living through his own labor will do well to invest in an orchard or ranch from which he can get immediate returns, rather than to invest in land which will require years to develop. On the other hand, a man who merely wishes to invest capital may easily spend five or even ten years in developing a business farm enterprise. The fact that relatively few men have capital so to invest gives them a greater opportunity to reap eventually a good return. Side Issues. — It is, however, possible for a man to make himself a going concern by taking up side issues while his orchard is growing. There are two general methods of doing so : one is to grow intercrops in his orchard while the trees are small. The success of this method will depend upon a number of factors, including the kind of fruit, the abundance and cost of water, and market conditions. The other method is to engage in outside work while the orchard is growing. It is a rather common practice in the citrus sections for a man who is starting a grove of his own to care for other groves at the same time; thus a man with a ten or twenty acre tract of his own may have charge of two or three other bearing groves, ranging from five to twenty acres each. It is generally estimated that one man can do the cultural work on forty acres. The considerable number of non- resident owners makes a demand for such services. The smallness of the areas makes the arrangement physically possible. Diversified Agriculture. — In the illustrations which have been cited it has been assumed that only a single crop was being used. In fact, however, many farms do and most farms should raise a variety of products. A diversity of crops helps to conserve the soil, to keep down insect enemies and fungous disease, and to make possible a more constant and economical use of labor. It may also result in reducing 15 the area required for a given gross income. Assume an average annual yield of five tons of alfalfa per acre at eight dollars per ton. There would be required 100 acres to produce an income of $4000. It has been shown previously that an alfalfa ranch of sixty acres carrying forty cows may give an equal gross income. Thus in the same way the rearing of cattle, sheep, horses or hogs may considerably modify the area required.* SALE OF LAND If a person owns a ranch that is profitable he is not generally anxious to sell it. If a man owns a herd of cows and desires to sell some of them he will, if he is a good business man, seek to sell his poorest cows. Lands follow the same economic law. The ranches that come upon the market are apt to be those that have for some economic cause become unprofitable. This may, of course, be due to several reasons. It may be that it is not possible to compete with other lands of greater fertility. It may be that the growth of cities and the development of transportation have made it no longer capable of com- peting with other areas. It may be due to mismanagement. It may be that changing conditions have made the area too large and that it needs subdivision. However, thoroughly desirable areas may be placed upon the market for various reasons, as through the settling of estates. Frequently splendid areas are brought into the market through the development of new water supplies. It is a characteristic of California conditions that its soils are what is called "spotted." There may be very poor areas surrounded by land of great fertility. Men who make it a business to buy and sub- * Professor Bioletti comments on this paragraph as follows: "Our fruit production seems to show a tendency to get into the hands of men with limited capital — capital too limited to fully develop an orchard of sufficient size to supply the needs of a moderate family. For such cases, it seems to me desirable that the grower should diversify his crops in two ways, first in order to supply his family with as large proportion of their food consumption as possible, and secondly to utilize his own and his family's labor in the harvesting of the crops. Probably at least half of the living expenses of a family can be supplied by the milk, eggs, vegetables, fruit, etc., raised on the place. It would be impossible for any ordinary farmer to harvest a crop of an orchard consisting of one variety of fruit, if this orchard were large enough to support the family and to supply them with employment during the main part of the year. The following is an example of what might be a good choice of diversified crops for a thjrty-acre orchard in the central portion of the Interior Valley: 5 acres Apricots for drying July 1-15 harvest 10 days 5 acres Peaches for drying July 15-30 " 10 " 5 acres Sultanina raisins Sept. 1-15 " 10 " 10 acres Muscat raisins Border trees — Sept. 15-30 10 1 acre trees — Figs for drying Aug.-Sept. " 5 " 1 acre trees — Olives for picklin ig Oct.— Nov. " 5 " 2 acres Alfalfa. 1 acre Buildings and garden. 50 days 16 divide land will find these less fertile areas offered for sale at much less than the ordinary run of land. For this reason, such areas are often chosen for subdivision. Doubtless the men who purchase these tracts for subdivision are not infrequently mistaken as to their real value, or at least do not appreciate the actual difference in productivity between lands of different qualities. At any rate, what the prospective settler should realize is that because he sometimes finds undesirable properties offered to him, that is no evidence that fertile soils do not exist in California. Such soil may exist on the other side of the fence. California is a state of wonderful fertility and almost unthinkable agricultural possibilities, as anyone who wishes may convince himself by proper investigations. The purpose of this circular, however, is not to dwell upon the great opportunities of the state, but to point out to the prospective settler the difficulties to be avoided, to the end that his success may be made more certain. NEED OF WATER The area over which certain crops can be grown in this state is many times definitely determined by the water supply or the possi- bility of developing such supply. At least seven and possibly eight of the principal crops mentioned on page 40 of this circular are dependent on irrigation, except perhaps, when grown in some of the more favored localities of the state. The settler should look carefully into everything that pertains to the extent, reliability, permanency, and cost of an irrigation water supply for his farm, as outlined in a subsequent article, page 29. HARDPAN Soils should have good depth and good drainage. The need of drainage is hard to appreciate or even determine before the land is irrigated in areas of limited rainfall. One reason why analysis of the soil is of so little value in ordinary practice is that the depth of the soil and the position and character of the hard pan usually affect the productivity of virgin soil to a greater extent than existing variations in plant food. Soils in sub-humid climates are peculiarly prone to possess layers of hard pan. These layers are very irregularly laid down. Hence, a minute examination is required to determine its extent and possible injury on a given piece of land. The United States Bureau of Soils has, on account of these structural differences, adopted the rule of examining a cross-section of the soil to the depth of six feet in western United States, while elsewhere three feet has been deemed sufficient. 17 DRAINAGE Without natural or artificial drainage, alkali is the inevitable consequence of irrigation wherever the evaporation from the soil is greater than the rainfall. " Irrigation without proper provision for drainage has, in the past, in very many cases, been the cause of abandonment of lands once abundantly fruitful."* Without stopping to go into the matter exhaustively, it may be said in general, that those lands most likely to be brought under irrigation are the areas which usually lack good natural drainage. In humid sections the water table may be within three or even two feet of the surface without injurious results. In arid sections the water table should be not nearer than five feet from the surface, while a depth of six or more feet is desirable. This is due to the deeper feeding area of the roots of plants in arid climates as well as greater danger from alkali where the water table is near the surface. No prediction can be made as to the length of time which will elapse before alkali will appear under irrigation. Clay lands usually suffer sooner than sandy ones. There are areas that have been irrigated for more than twenty- five years which do not yet show the need of under drainage. The purpose of this paragraph is merely to warn purchasers of irrigated land that they may be required to add to the purchase price the cost of tile drainage. A complete system of tile drainage may cost as much as forty dollars per acre, while it is possible that sufficient drainage may be afforded in other cases at a cost not to exceed ten dollars per acre. Excellent opportunities exist today for the purchase and reclama- tion by tile drainage of lands that have "gone bad" under irrigation. The intending purchaser should be cautioned, however to try to reclaim only lands which are known to have been fertile. Lands which have never been known to have grown profitable crops may well be avoided in the present state of our knowledge. GOOD AND BAD LANDS The goodness or badness of land is largely in relation to the crop it is intended to grow. Thus there are soils excellently adapted to olives which will return poor yields of wheat or barley. There are vast areas in California well adapted to grains and alfalfa, on which potatoes cannot be grown economically because of the character of the soil, and on which oranges and lemons cannot be grown on account * See article by Dr. Hilgard, entitled "Alkali Lands — Irrigation and Drainage in Their Mutual Relation," in the Report of the California Agricultural Experiment Station for the year 1890. 18 of the danger of frost. Certain lands which are adapted to raising olives are not worth, and in the past, have not been valued at more than five dollars per acre for other types of farming, are now valued and may be worth one hundred dollars per acre for olives. The fact that lands are valued at much higher prices when adapted to oranges, lemons, or alfalfa than when adapted to grains has led to the placing upon the market of a great deal of land for crops to which it is not adapted. The land is good enough when used for the purpose to which it is adapted, but it is bad when an attempt is made to use it for some other purpose. Certain areas may be very good land when purchased at five dollars per acre for grazing purposes and equally bad land when purchased at fifty dollars per acre for alfalfa, or five hundred dollars per acre for oranges. Yet there are lands that are good when purchased at five hundred dollars for oranges and others that are good when purchased at fifty dollars for alfalfa. The sale of land for purposes to which it is not adapted, and at prices which its adaptation does not justify, has caused greater losses and greater misery than any other thing connected with land settlement. The College of Agriculture has definite information concerning types of soil and their adaptation for only a portion of the state. For such portions as are known only statements concerning crop adaptations for the type in general can be furnished. No assurance of economic returns can be made. Persons wishing information with reference to any tract should state specifically the number of the section and the quarter section to which reference is made. This informa- tion is not for the purpose of passing upon the value of the particular tract but for the purpose of determining to what soil type the tract belongs. PURCHASE OF LAND A person buying farm land in California seldom deals with the owner. This is especially true where large tracts are subdivided and sold to settlers. The owners of such tracts ordinarily place their holdings in the hands of a real estate firm who, of course, handles the sale on commission. But even the members of the real estate firm seldom, in the case of these large holdings, make the sale in person. The real estate firm employs agents of a more or less itinerant character who make the actual sales. Under the present system, the agent with whom the purchaser deals is not infrequently an irresponsible party and cannot be found later to substantiate the statements made. It is therefore absolutely necessary for the purchaser to act only on evidence confirmed from other sources and to sign no contracts that he does not fully understand and cannot fully verify, and to be absolutely certain his titles to the land and to the water rights are satisfactory. 19 Just as elsewhere in the United States, there are persons, firms, or corporations which make it their business to abstract titles. In California, such a person or agency is not usually called an abstractor of titles but a searcher of records. On smaller transactions, moreover, it is not customary to insist upon an abstract of title, but to secure in place of it a certificate of title, which is in effect a statement by the person, firm, or corporation that it has examined the title and certifies that it is valid or if the title is not clear states in what way the title is clouded. In some of the larger towns may be found an office, perhaps next door to the bank, over which is the sign "Title Bureau." This means that the searcher of records has qualified under the state law to issue for an additional fee a policy of title insurance. While the searcher of records is not a public officer or the title bureau a public agency, they, at present constitute the accepted method of securing advice concerning land titles. Under existing conditions, the new settler will do well to secure title insurance before purchasing land. HOW TO LOCATE Probably nothing can make a man keen in a horse trade save experience. No law can furnish a man with judgment. The United States and the State government are endeavoring to furnish informa- tion on which men may base sound judgment if they are level-headed and already have some knowledge of farming. Persons with no knowledge of farming are advised not to purchase farm lands in Cali- fornia until some months of experience have brought them into actual contact with conditions. It is, of course, important to "help the investor as much as possible through supplying accurate data, but the buyers must assume some of the responsibility when they buy without attempting to inform themselves." Detailed soil surveys of certain counties of California have been made by the United States Bureau of Soils and more recently a reconnaissance soil survey of California has been begun by that bureau in co-operation with the California Agricul- tural Experiment Station. At this writing a map of the Sacramento Valley, involving four and one-half million acres, has been completed, and the other areas of the state will be completed as rapidly as possible. These reports give an accurate and authoritative description of the various types of soil, their adaptation to different crops, their methods of management, and their ordinary commercial value. "Wherever they are available they should be studied before lands are purchased. The California State Immigration Commission, with offices at the Under- wood Building, San Francisco, will assist those seeking to purchase land, as will also the California Development Board, with offices at 20 the Ferry Building, San Francisco. Both these public agencies have gathered a fund of detailed information which is free to all who may apply. The College of Agriculture of the University of Cali- fornia may, through its several stations and employees in different parts of the state, be of service to those who desire to obtain a home on the land. Many of the counties maintain, through public taxation, boards of trade or chambers of commerce. If one has decided, through information received from other sources, to locate in a given county, assistance in locating within the county may be obtained usually by addressing a letter to the secretary of the board of trade at the county seat of the county. A number of counties also maintain a county commissioner of horticulture, who has intimate knowledge of fruit growing within his county and may usually be addressed at the county seat. There are, including branch and deposit stations, and excluding professional libraries, about 950 libraries in California. Most of them are open to the public for reference purposes. All these libraries receive the publications of the California Agricultural Experiment Station and some of them contain other references on agriculture. By consulting the librarian, suitable references concerning the lead- ing features and methods may be obtained. If you want the help which books can give you ask the librarian to assist you. No one who comes to California to locate upon the land need go without reasonable authoritative and accurate knowledge, if he consults the various sources of information which have been mentioned and which are ready without a charge to serve the prospective settler. CLIMATE AS AFFECTING CEOP PKODUCTION* Owing to its topography, prevailing winds and proximity to the ocean, California is subject to a very wide range of rainfall, tempera- ture and humidity, and owing to the same reasons the entire range of these phases of climate may be comprehended in the several large divisions into which the state may be divided. To those coming from regions east of the Mississippi Valley two features of the climate of California will be noticeable: First, the season of greatest rainfall is in the winter months, the months of June, July, and August being almost devoid of rainfall. Second, the lines of equal temperature run for the most part north and south, rather than east and west. So far as climate in its bearing on crop production is concerned, the state may be divided into five sections, but even in these divisions there will be some climatic features common to all. * By E. J. WiCKSON, Professor of Horticulture. 21 The map on the last page indicates divisions of the state according to the prevalence of similar climatic conditions which roughly deter- mine agricultural adaptations, viz. : 1. Northwest Coast Region. 3. Southern Coast Region. 2. Central Coast Region. 4. Interior Valley Region. 5. Mountain and Plateau Region. The Northwest Coast Region. — This section is mountainous, being covered principally by the Coast Range. The valleys are relatively small and irregular. The important climatic features of this section are the moderate temperatures throughout the year, the high annual rainfall, and the prevalence of high winds and fogs along the coast. At Eureka in Humboldt County the highest temperature recorded is 85.2 (June 6, 1903), while the lowest is 20 (January 4, 1888). In most portions of this section the rainfall varies from 40 to 100 inches. This variation, however, is mainly due to elevation. It should be noted that from year to year the rainfall may vary in any one place more than 100 per cent, and as stated above it is always smallest in July and August. This section most nearly resembles the east-north central and middle Atlantic states in its agricultural operations and possibilities. It is eminently suited for the production of forage grasses and clover and to dairying, and has also demonstrated success with several fruits in proper soils and exposures. The Central Coast Region, — This region includes coast slopes, many small valleys and a few of considerable size, and a large area of foot- hills and mountains west of the high ridge of the Coast Range, which at several points attains an elevation of about 4000 feet. Among the valleys are those of the San Francisco Bay district — the pioneer regions of commercial crop-growing and which now constitute one of the largest highly developed and densely populated agricultural dis- tricts of the state. Central in this district lies the City and County of San Francisco, which enjoys the unique distinction of having produced the tallest sky-scrapers and the broadest cabbage fields in the state. North of San Francisco are the coast valleys which are great producers of dairy and poultry products, fruits and field crops, and south of San Francisco are the bay-shore valleys long noted for truck-crops, fruits — the prunes of Santa Clara and the apples of Pajaro valleys — and the hay, grain, and sugar beets of Salinas and Santa Maria valleys, while adjacent hill lands are largely used for grazing and, on the coast side, for the dairy industry. The Central Coast Region is very diversified in topography, inter- mediate in temperatures and rainfall between its neighboring coast 22 districts north and south, and it has a range of products wide as the state itself, except that citrus fruits are not commercially produced, although grown by amateurs at favoring elevations and exposures. The Southern Coast Region.— This region extends from the point where the coast takes a sharp eastward turn and proceeds southward to the southern boundary of the state. Its width is determined by the distance of the high ridge of the Coast Range from the ocean — narrow at the west, increasing toward the central part, where the San Gabriel and Santa Ana valleys extend northerly and easterly to the foot of Mt. San Bernardino, and then narrowing again to its southern limit just below San Diego Bay. Owing to its environment and exposure, as well as its latitude, this region has more heat than the more northerly coast regions, though in its extensions away from the ocean it has had in some places and at long intervals a brief drop in tempera- ture to a degree as low as other valleys with similar elevations. It is on the whole, however, most equable in its temperatures and by this widely known characteristic has attracted settlement and development in some respects beyond other districts of the state. The products of the district are large and various, including most of the present pro- duction of citrus fruits and walnuts, most of the beans, much of the sugar beets and truck crops for overland shipment and dairy, poultry, hay, grain, and orchard fruits for a part of its local consumption. It is for the most part an irrigated district, though some crops are successfuly made along the coast by rainfall. The Interior Valleys Region. — This region extends from the north end of the Sacramento Valley southward through the length of the San Joaquin Valley to the Tehachapi Mountains, which form its southern boundary. This pair of connected valleys constitute what is properly called "The Great Valley of California," about 400 miles long and from 40 to 60 miles wide. It contains a larger body of pro- ductive land than any other subdivision of the state. Central on the west side of the Great Valley are the deltas of the two great rivers whose names designate their respective valleys. The break in the Coast Range which gives outlet to their waters to the Bay of San Francisco, also admits an interior extension of coast influences which modify climatic conditions over these deltas and adjacent lands, as is indicated by the circular intrusion of Division 2 into Division 4 as shown on the map. This circular area is somewhat different in climatic characters, however, from that of either of the divisions to which it is related, for it is a blending of the two. In the extreme southeast part of the state is another area marked Division 4 which is thus connected with the Great Valley because it 23 has closer resemblance thereto, both in characters and products, than to any other region of the state. It comprises the Imperial Valley and other valleys adjacent to the Colorado River. It differs from the Great Valley in having a higher temperature both in summer and winter and in its rainfall, which is practically negligible, as all cropping is conditioned upon irrigation. The Great Valley differs from the coast regions west of it in having a lower winter temperature, because its dominating environment is the snow-clad Sierra on its east side, while the dominating environ- ment of the coast is the ocean. This contrast is more marked through the central and southward stretches of the Great Valley. Another contrast is found in summer temperatures which may average more than twenty degrees higher on the east than on the west side of the Coast Range, because the ocean then has a cooling effect upon the regions open to its influence. In rainfall the Great Valley has such marked differences that generalization is impossible. Roughly speaking the Sacramento Valley may be said to have from 20 to 40 inches of rainfall in different years, while the San Joaquin has from 4 to 16. This variation in rainfall is, however, overcome by irrigation which is practiced in the Great Valley over a greater acreage of land than in any other region of the state. The products include all grown anywhere in the state. The Mountain and Plateau Region. — It has been found by observa- tion during many years that what are known as valley conditions prevail to an elevation of about fifteen hundred feet over the rolling region known as the "foothills" — which are the steps up to the high ranges. Above this elevation winter temperatures fall lower, rainfall increases, snow flurries begin, and thence upward mountain valleys and plateaux are found at different levels up to about six thousand feet, which is about the top of California's agricultural lands, and above four thousand feet such lands are used principally for summer pas- turage. This mountain region has a winter like that of the eastern states with a great precipitation of rain and snow to cause great rivers to flow down the west side of the Sierra and give the state its invaluable and ample water supply for power and irrigation. In the valleys among the great snow mountains there are farming districts of considerable present production and great future promise. The most marked character of these high lands is the limitations placed upon cropping by the short growing season and the frequency of frosts during the spring and, at the higher elevations, even during the summer months. Therefore this division differs most markedly from other California regions and has closer resemblance to some of the 24 interior states than to the coast and valley areas of our own state. In this region there is a modification of low temperatures from the north to the south, for the mountain region is more open to the influence of north and south latitude and is not so fully dominated by local topography and ocean influences, which give to the rest af the state its unique climatic characters. CHAEACTERISTICS OF CALIFORNIA SOILS* In the humid regions of the world, and especially in the humid region of the United States, practically nine-tenths of the soils are either of residual or of glacial origin. The glacial soils have been transported and deposited by ice, and while the glacial deposits may be very deep, the true soil is not deep. The subsoil is usually heavier than the surface, often clayey, and the practical feeding depth of roots is usually less than four feet. The residual soils are much more extensive than the glacial soils. They are formed by the destruction of rock masses, the disintegrated and decomposed fragments accumu- lating on the surface of the hard rock to form the soil mass. Resi- dual soils usually have a surface soil six or eight inches deep, resting on heavier material that grades to a clay at two or three feet in depth. At greater depths rock fragments are found in the clay and these grow more numerous until the mass is largely broken or "rotten rock," and finally the solid rock mass is reached. (See Fig. 2.) The total LOAHY SOIL CLAYEY SUBSOIL ^^%m% rock ROCK Fig. 2. — Section of a typical resi- dual soil showing gradation from soil through clay, rotten rock to solid rock. depth of the soil mass above the rock varies greatly, but usually is less than four feet. In the humid regions, the transplanted soils, other than those formed by glacial action, are of little extent. The flood plains and bench lands along the rivers and creeks are exceedingly productive, but their total area is small compared with the residual and glacial soils. In California, as in all sub-humid regions, the residual soils avail- able for agriculture are of limited extent. They are found on hill slopes and on mountain sides and their topographic position makes irrigation exceedingly difficult or impossible, while the shallow soil mass makes By CHARLES F. Shaw, Professor of Soil Technology. 25 CT: o p H pi — 0K5 re ^ o DC CfQ 3 H: re re OQ — H- o a ~~ p 2 P n Pj O f~ o p re 3 p DO JC s P orq H pu pf c^ e+ re cr ^ CO ^ re M 3 re re 3 & P2 P o JQ P P r+ P P P M PiHJ rt> P P re Pj pf 3fq re P IK P CO — J-. re o ri «rt- O Pj P C p re ph H o re p p H. o O ftp P pf JC P cc P P^ p re p p. 5 rt- pu ~ * co re Hi <| o X p 2. at re Jfl p* hrj Hi O CO CO p w ^p gs^'p 1 ' a o m M- p re p, . p l | P ^Si H P M * ° ^p-o p fej p p p p (D M H "> O &- pi, ^ W re p <- " M p* p^p HJ^^ o P S M-htjp <1 re 3^p"p fe P.* . ce m i p 2;^ p mj re ^ m- » O - P r re p" P re GQ 1— '^ CO M- CO Hj . ^ p] g pp^° ^ Ms Hi r ^ 2" Pj tP £ £ » * " CO CO co ^ P 2 CO c^ " P M SO ^ p p - ^ Pip re P" H ^_^ w h^ re 1-1. p 3* k ^3? p £5 p:o V! p,P ^ re mj < p . v -' p P. w 26 dry farming precarious. In the Coast Ranges and on the Sierra foothills are some successfully farmed residual soils but their total area is relatively small. By far the larger portion of the agricultural lands in the state are transported soils. For uncounted ages the winter rains have been washing the rock fragments from the mountain sides and carrying the material out to the valleys, spreading the mass out as broad sloping alluvial fans or as relatively flat valley floor. The accumu- lation of sediments in the valleys is often hundreds or even thousands of feet deep (Fig. 1). Soils formed in this way may be quite uniform to great depths or may be made up of successive layers of varying texture, sands, silts, gravels or clays. As the soils are laid down a little at a time, year after year, they have been acted upon by the weathering agents, breaking up the particles and making the plant food quite available. Under the climatic conditions that exist, with the hot dry summers and the low rainfall coming in winter, the weathering action of air and water, the beneficial action of bacteria and the formation of humus in the soil, occur to considerable depths. Roots ordinarily penetrate to depths of six to eight feet below the surface. In studying the soil, it is necessary to consider at least a six foot section instead of the usual three foot section of the humid regions. The climatic conditions of the region and the mode of formation of the soils, have brought about many features that are not common to the soils of a humid region. Owing to the lack of rain, the soils have never been subject to any degree of leaching and most of the soluble materials have been left in the soil masses. ^T SOIL HARDPAN SOIL Fig. 3. — A hardpan layer with loose soil material beneath it. Break- ing up the hardpan will allow roots and water to enter the substratum of good soil. Hardpan. — Where the soils are old and have been subjected for thousands of years to an annual rainfall that has wetted the mass to a depth of only two or three feet, some of the soluble material has been carried down and deposited, cementing the grains together to form a hardpan. In this way, the iron and lime-cemented hardpans common to the older, thoroughly weathered, red and brown soils, have been formed. In most cases. the material beneath the hardpan 27 -wm, mMwmti WE§mm 7V, mmAwmm SOIL HARDPAN CEHENTED GRAVEL. SAND. AND CLAY is loose soil very similar to that above the hardpan (Fig. 3), and if the pan is broken by dynamite or other means, irrigation waters and plant roots will readily work down into the underlying soil mass. In such cases the hardpan is not a serious factor as it ordinarily re- cements very slowly. In some cases the hardpan is underlaid by a compact, semi-cemented layer of soil, sand and gravel that is prac- tically impenetrable to water or to plant roots. (See Fig. 4.) With such soils, dynamiting the hardpan is of little or no value as there is no good soil beneath for the roots to penetrate and no oppor- tunity for drainage or aeration through the substratum. There is another class of hard- pan that has been formed at the same time that the soil was formed. This occurs where variations in the soil - forming activities caused a layer of soil to be deposited, then a layer of material that cemented to a hardpan, then another layer of soil, another layer of hardpan, and so on. (Fig. 5.) These hardpan layers are hard to handle, as blast- ing is not satisfactory unless each of the layers is broken. The hard- pan layers do not, however, exist as continuous sheets because in the process of formation of the soil, portions were washed away, the space being filled with other soil material. This, together with the cracked and sometimes rather soft. Fig. 4. — Hardpan layer with compact material beneath. Break- ing the hardpan will be of little benefit because of the cemented nature of the substratum. Fig. 5. — Soil with several layers of hardpan with soil between the layers. fact that the hardpan is often gives opportunity for irrigation water and plant roots to penetrate to considerable depths. Alkali. — Wherever the drainage conditions are poor and there is a larger amount of water passing from the surface by evaporation than passes down through the soil mass, there is the possibility of an accumulation of soluble material or ' ' alkali ' ' on the surface. The 28 term "alkali," as ordinarily used, includes any soluble materials present in sufficient quantity to be injurious to plants. The most common materials are sodium chloride or common salt, sodium sul- phate or glaubers salt, and sodium carbonate or washing soda. This "alkali" is not necessarily brought into the soil from some other location. It is merely a regrouping of the chemicals that existed in the original rock, and the concentration of these compounds in the surface soil because of excessive evaporation. If the soil has good natural drainage, any excess of water will percolate through the soil and will seep out to the country drainage channels, carrying with it in solution, small quantities of the soluble salts. In such cases, the waters evaporated from the surface cannot exceed the amount that passes down through the soil, and alkali accumulations cannot occur. If the natural drainage conditions are not good, artificial drainage will be necessary if the land is to be irrigated and farmed. In arid regions, the irrigation of poorly drained lands will produce conditions that will ultimately bring about the accumulation of injurious amounts of alkali. It is necessary to study the drainage conditions carefully, noting the character of the soil with respect to permeability and the penetration of water, the character of the substratum, the slope of the land and the possible outlet for drainage waters. The possibility of drainage waters seeping into the soil from higher lying lands should also be investigated. Texture and Structure. — The texture and structure of the soils need considerable attention. Because of the low rainfall and absence of leaching, the coarser soils, sands, and sandy loams are much more productive in an arid region than are similar soils in a humid country. If the soil is too loose and open, however, there is a great difficulty in irrigating, owing to excess seepage and in addition the humus is readily "burned out" and lost. On the other extreme, the clays and clay adobes are so compact and impervious that they are very difficult to irrigate, the water penetrating very slowly. Such soils are also difficult to till and to maintain in a proper state of firmness. The term "adobe" does not in- dicate a specific kind of soil but refers to the structure. There are A 1 v ., -, clay adobe, loam adobe, and even Pig. 6. — An adobe soil, on dry- J ' ing, shrinks markedly and breaks into sandy loam adobe, although the blocks, with wide cracks between. kUer ig yery rare The name ig 29 given to any soil which on drying shrinks markedly and breaks into blocks with wide cracks between. (See Fig. 6.) An adobe structure is undesirable because the soils dry out, not only from the surface but also from the sides of the wide cracks. In irrigating, the water must first fill the cracks and then slowly soak into the hard baked block. On wetting, the blocks swell up and close the cracks, which reopen again on drying. Considerable injury to plants may occur through the breaking of roots that cross the lines of the cracks and through the drying of many of the feeding roots. The soils of California are exceedingly productive. They may be compared to the rich bottom lands of the humid regions. The un- favorable conditions that may exist, such as hardpan, alkali, poor drainage, poor structure, etc., can be readily recognized. The presence of alkali can be determined by chemical means or by noting the character of the vegetation and the condition of the surface soil. Drainage conditions, texture and structure, and the presence of hard- pan can be determined by examining the soil, boring in it with a soil auger ( Fig. 7 ) . The prospective settler should not be content with the examination of the surface soil, but should bore frequently, examining the soil to a depth of at least six feet and carefully noting conditions, bearing in mind that plants that would in a humid region send their roots two or three feet into the soil, will here have a root penetration of six to twelve or more feet.* IRRIGATION! As a general rule, irrigation is either a valuable aid to agriculture or a necessity throughout California, so that the settler should look carefully into everything that pertains to the extent, reliability, per- manency, and cost of an irrigation water supply for his farm. * Dr. E. W. Hilgard writes : "While much detail cannot of course be given within its scope, I think the part dealing with the selection of land should be somewhat enlarged, as being of prime importance, and in some respects most likely to give the newcomer from the humid region trouble. "First, I think it should be told him somewhat more definitely that the light sandy and silty nature of our soils is not, as would be the case in the East, a sign of poverty, but that these are among our most substantial lands. And as he will naturally be looking for a 'substantial subsoil,' he should be told that the surface soil here is not from three to nine inches deep, but that it counts by feet, usually three or more, and the absence of a subsoil does not mean that the land will be 'leachy,' but is a distinct advantage for root penetration. He should also be told that a gray soil in California is not necessarily poor in humus, and that the surface foot very frequently contains less humus than the second and third foot, where the development of the roots, from the decay of which the humus is usually derived, is most copious. "The somewhat elaborate discussion of hardpan may lead the newcomer to believe that hardpans are the most prominent features of California soils; whereas the great depth and uniformity of soil masses is certainly the most characteristic feature of the bulk of California lands." t By Frank Adams, Irrigation Manager, Office of Experiment Stations, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 30 For the most part it is no longer possible in California to obtain independent individual water supplies for irrigation by direct diver- sion from streams. In general, therefore, the settler must obtain his irrigation water (a) by residence within a municipal irrigation dis- trict, within which all landowners share equally in the district water supply, and all legally qualified voters have an equal voice in its control and management ; ( b ) by purchasing stock in a mutual, non- profit-making, water company having water available, in which case the water usually becomes appurtenant to the particular farm or the particular tract irrigated, and the water users immediately or ulti- mately (depending on how much land within the tract or project has been sold) control the water system; (c) by contracting with a com- mercial water company for water service, sometimes requiring the purchase of a "water right" apart and separate from the land title; or (d) by means of a well and pumping plant developed or to be developed on the farm purchased. No water company can deliver more water than it controls and the company undertaking to furnish water, whether it be a mutual com- pany or a commercial company organized for profit, should be required to give evidence that it has not "over sold" its supply. Care should be taken to see that the water company "bought into" has in it the elements, including the financial resources, of regular and reliable water service. If the settler is counting on obtaining his irrigation supply from a well on his own farm he should take all possible means to satisfy himself that a well will yield a sufficient supply of good water at a depth from which he can afford to pump. Publications of the Office of Experiment Stations of the United States Department of Agriculture and of the Water Resources Branch of the United States Geological Survey will help in this regard. The cost of irrigation water should not be overlooked when figuring on the cost of developing a California farm. In irrigation districts this cost is paid in the form of taxes levied to meet the expenses of operation, maintenance, and betterments, and the interest, and ulti- mately also the principal, on outstanding bond issues. This may and usually does amount to several dollars per acre per year. In the case of mutual water companies, both the initial cost of the water stock (this is sometimes included in the cost of the land) and the annual assessments or water charges are involved. In some parts of Southern California shares in the mutual companies cost at the rate of $125 to $250 per acre. The annual cost of water to the irrigator obviously includes both interest on this original investment and the annual main- tenance and operation charge. Where "water rights" are purchased separately from land their cost, in the main central valley, varies from 31 $5 to $20 per acre and the annual charge from 50 cents to about $2.25 per acre. Where water is paid for by the acre-foot (the quantity that will cover one acre one foot deep), $1.50 is not an unusual charge, although it may be more or less. Where it is paid for by the miner's inch (ll 1 ^ gallons per minute according to California statute; nine gallons per minute — the original miner's inch in California — in Southern California), it may cost a few cents or it may cost 50 or 60 cents per inch running continuously for twenty-four hours, totalling from about $5 to $20 or more per acre per year. Obviously only products yielding a high gross return will justify the larger of the charges mentioned. If an individual pumping plant is to be installed the usual initial cost of installation for a forty-acre alfalfa farm will vary from, say, $25 to $40 per acre where the lift does not exceed 50 feet. Circular No. 117 of this Station gives information about the installation and cost of small pumping plants. The amount of water needed for irrigation in California cannot be stated definitely in a few words because it varies so widely, chiefly according to soil and crop. When bargaining for certain quantities settlers should know whether the water is to be measured at the point of use or at the point it is taken from the canal, possibly one-half mile away, for transit losses from small earthen ditches are sometimes very large. For alfalfa in the central valley probably 2% acre-feet per year is an average requirement; very heavy soils will not always absorb this amount and very light soils ordinarily receive more, the use of 4 acre-feet per year not being uncommon and sometimes apparently not unreasonable. Grain and cultivated field crops, such as sugar beets and potatoes, need less. Deciduous orchards mostly get along well with about 1 acre-foot, net, per year, where the land irrigated is not too steep and it is well cultivated; citrus orchards sometimes receive as little as 0.8 acre-foot per year (say 1 miner's inch to eight acres irrigated), but more frequently are given twice that amount. Settlers should not be satisfied to accept less water than well-kept and successful farms in the neighborhood chosen are receiving. Finally, the settler without irrigation experience should not expect to learn the art of irrigation all at once. With land well prepared, however, practice will soon enable him to work with the necessary efficiency, but he must wisely choose both his methods of preparing land and his methods of applying water. FAKM LABOR Anyone who desires to employ labor or to secure farm employ- ment needs to understand that the early ranchers of California were 32 largely of Southern origin and naturally brought with them the traditional relations between the employer and employed to which they were accustomed, although the employed have not been negroes to any considerable extent. The size of their enterprises, sometimes gigantic, the character of the climate and the variety of the population, have tended to maintain these distinctions. There may be several social strata on a single ranch. The relation between farmer and farm hand which has largely existed in northeastern United States does not obtain ordinarily in California. No one can understand the farm labor problem unless he recognizes this important fact. It is both social and economic, and both factors are different from many other, perhaps most other, parts of the United States. The farm labor problem in California is a cross between Mexico and Georgia tradi- tions, supervised in these later days by the New England intellect. There are three classes of white farm labor in California. The regular native farm hands, although employed by the day, are regarded as regular employees, being furnished board and lodging. Usually they are teamsters, as few foreigners know how to handle the six and eight horse teams which are the pride of the native California farm hand. The class of labor is satisfactory and reliable. The second class is the transient or hobo, who may or may not be a native American. They are available during harvest and other rush times. This class sleeps in its own blankets wherever circumstances permit, but is usually furnished meals by the ranch. The third class of white labor consists of the foreign immigrant, who has come to this country to make a home of his own. He may be Italian, Russian, Portuguese, Armenian, or of other European nationality. Italians are disposed to work in the wine vineyards and dairies; Portuguese in dairies and on vegetable and deciduous fruit ranches; Russians in the hay field and at grape picking. Italians and Russians prefer contract work, especi- ally in the grape harvest, but may be hired by the day. Nearly all contract laborers care for themselves in camps or other quarters fur- nished by the ranches. Oriental labor consists of Chinese, Japanese, and Hindus, of which the Japanese are at present most abundant. The Japanese and Chinese prefer working by contract or piece work wherever possible. Nearly all the grape crops are harvested in this way. Labor is furnished by an Oriental contractor, who gets his profits from commissions and board. The Japanese and Chinese always lodge and board apart from other nationalities. These races can out- strip any other class of laborers in grape picking and similar forms of work, because of the Oriental habit of "squatting." 33 Aside from the employment which is constant in diversified farm- ing, the seasons of employment in the central San Joaquin Valley are as follows : The farmer's season may be said to begin in October and November, at which time the plowing, preparation of the land, and the seeding of barley and wheat occur. Where citrus fruits are raised, harvesting goes on at this time. During January and February : Vineyard and orchard plowing and pruning ; alfalfa seeding and late grain seeding. During May and June : Grain hay harvest. The first alfalfa harvest also begins at this time and continues until October. During, July, August, and September : Shipping grapes and decid- uous fruits are harvested. During September and October: Muscat or raisin grapes and the wine grapes are picked. Figs are harvested. The working rate of wages existing in 1914 in the central San Joaquin Valley is reported by Mr. S. Parker Frisselle, who has fur- nished much of the information concerning farm labor, to be as shown in the following table : Prices of Farm Labor General ranch labor — Winter months $1.25 to 1.50 per day Summer months . 1.50 to 2.00 per day Hay and alfalfa harvest 1.75 to 2.75 per day Fruit harvest 1.75 to 2.75 per day Muscat grape picking 2.50 to 3.00 per 100 trays of 20 to 22 lbs. Wine grape picking 1.75 to 2.25 per ton Vine and tree pruning 1.50 to 2.00 per day Excepting the piece work given above, all figures include board. Board on ranches in this district is figured at fifty cents per day. GETTING STARTED Assume a man has $5000 to invest and that he desires eventually to secure a gross income of $4000 per year, but is willing to accept less in the beginning, how is he to proceed? The discussion which follows is intended to suggest that a person with a small or insufficient capital, by economy and self-sacrifice, may achieve a satisfactory com- petence. The main items to be considered in estimating the probable or possible outcome are illustrated by a concrete, although imaginary, example. In order to caution the reader against taking the figures here mentioned too literally, there follows a discussion of the applica- tion of the particular illustration to existing conditions. 34 Whether the figures apply to any given place or time is wholly immaterial so far as the involved principles are concerned. The intelligent reader will realize that yields and values will vary with the locality and that what is true of prices of land and products today may not be true tomorrow. The purpose of the discussion throughout the circular is to state principles and methods by means of concrete illustrations. Its value to the reader will depend upon his ability to apply the principles and methods suggested to the particular conditions which he may meet. First Year. — The first act should be to set aside $500 for family expenses during the first year. Assuming the purchase of sixty acres of undeveloped land with water rights attached at $100 per acre, or a total of $6000, he may pay $1000 upon the land, set aside $1000 for buildings, $1000 for teams, machinery and tools, and $500 for running expenses, including water charges. He may purchase a four-horse team and will spend most of the first year in leveling, checking and seeding his land. He has left $1000 with which to buy ten cows, a couple of sows, and a few chickens. Most of these will be purchased during the latter part of the year and not more than $300 cash income should be assumed during this year. Second Year. — Since the owner is now going to get his pay check every month, he may pay the interest on $5000 at 6 per cent with the $300 and meet his family and running expenses out of current income. During this year his cows, bull calves, pigs and chickens may bring in a thousand dollars, while another thousand dollars may be received from the sale of alfalfa. Assuming running expenses to be $700, living expenses $500, and interest $300, there is left $500. With this sum five cows and a bull may be purchased. Third Year. — This year the return from dairy products and live- stock may be assumed to be $1500 while, on account of the greater age of the alfalfa, $1000 may again be assumed from that source. Assum- ing the running expenses to have increased to $1000, the family expenses to $700, the total outlay will be $2000, leaving $500 with which to buy five additional cows. Fourth Year. — The returns from alfalfa may be reduced this year to $800, while the other returns may be increased to $2000, making a total of $2800. Allowing for increase in running expenses the yearly outlay may be stated as follows : Running expenses $1,200.00 Family expenses 700.00 Interest 300.00 Total $2^20000" The balance would thus be $600, with which to buy five cows and a bull. 35 Fifth Year. — The returns from alfalfa may be reduced to $600, while the other returns may be increased to $2500, making a total of $3100. Allowing again for an increase in running expenses, the following may result : Eunning expenses $1,400.00 Family expenses 700.00 Interest 300.00 Total $2,400.00 The balance will thus be $700, with which seven cows may be purchased. Sixth Year. — Assuming a reduction of alfalfa to $300 and increase in milk and meat to $3300, the income the sixth year would be $3600. The outlay may be assumed as follows : Running expenses $1,600.00 Family expenses 700.00 Interest 300.00 Total $2,600.00 This leaves a balance of $1000, with which eight cows and a bull may be purchased. Seventh Year. — There will now be on hand forty cows, which will stock the sixty acres fully, so that the only return will be from the sale of butter fat and live stock. During the seventh year, under this plan, the owner should receive an income of $4000 and may estimate his running expenses at $2000, leaving $2000 to be divided among living expenses, interest, and reduction of debt. Assuming living expenses to have been $700, there would be left $1300 for interest and reduction of debt. At the end of the seventh year, therefore, this man 's account would stand as follows : Property, worth $16,000.00 Cash on hand 1,300.00 $17,300.00 Original investment $5,000.00 Debt 5,000.00 Interest due 300.00 10,300.00 Balance $7,000.00 The net anual gain, therefore, over living expenses has been $1000. Most farming operations are not so simple as this illustration, because most farming is, as it should be, more diversified. Neither does this illustration provided for sickness, lack of water, or other accidents. 36 Further, it assumes land well adapted to alfalfa and suitably located with reference to a creamery. On the other hand, the increase through the saving of the heifer calves has been ignored in order to balance possible loss of cows. This estimate also assumes that the owner hires all labor except, of course, his own. If he has grown or growing children, part of the running expenses here estimated may be kept within the family. The objection may be raised to this illustration that good un- developed alfalfa land with water rights cannot be purchased for $100 per acre. The reply is that if a greater price is paid for the land, either one must take more time to arrive at the result here indicated, or one must estimate a greater annual return. It is believed that greater annual returns would not be a safe guide for a new settler, although greater returns are often obtained. Another objection to this plan, and a legitimate one in many instances, is that usually a mortgage for $5000 cannot run without some payment other than interest. The plan is feasible only where some large interest is subdividing land and is willing to make this concession. Otherwise, one must take more time to pay off the debt, or have more capital at the beginning.* It has been previously pointed out that in certain sections of California a one family dairy farm is about thirty acres. Possibly the larger number of dairy farms do not exceed forty acres. A person with only $5000 might, therefore, find it desirable to buy a tract of thirty or forty acres. After having developed this area, he may add to it or he may dispose of it and buy a larger tract. It cannot be too strongly emphasized that the plan here outlined, or any similar farming enterprise, can be successfully executed only by a person who has a knowledge of the business. Persons with no knowledge of farming or the special business of dairying will only in rare instances succeed, and then only because they feel a call for the life which it entails. The above discussion was submitted to Gordon H. True, Professor of Animal Husbandry, who commented upon it as follows : "I am not familiar with the prices of land that is being offered for sale in the state, but knowing that practically all the land in this vicinity is held at $300 per acre without water rights, one is led to wonder where land may be purchased for $100 per acre with water rights. . . .f "It seems to me that your estimate of $1000 for teams, machinery and tools is rather low. I believe that such horses as one should have for this work * In Europe, land mortgages under the rural credit system generally run from thirty to sixty years. It seems to be the consensus of opinion that if a rural credit system were established in the United States, land mortgages should be permitted to run from fifteen to twenty years. t For further discussion of land values see page 43. 37 would cost at least $200 per head. It also seems that an allowance of $500 for living expenses for family is low. . . . Neither can I see where the $300 cash income could be expected the first year. It seems to me that one man working alone would be doing exceedingly well to get anything like fifteen acres of alfalfa during the first year and that from this he could hardly expect to grow enough to furnish the income that you suggest. "Speaking in a general way with reference to the amounts allowed for the purchase of cows and bulls, it seems to me that you are not allowing enough for the character of animals that would be expected to produce the returns on which you count. Grade Holsteins have been sold in this state for over $100 per head, and dairymen find it exceedingly difficult to secure good dairy cows at any price at the present time. While I have sold registered bulls at the price your beginner could afford to pay, and have seen others offered for sale, the buyer would need some good advice in order to be able to make such purchases by mail, and he could not afford to travel in search of stock. "The returns that you have estimated, assume, it seems to me, a character of land that may properly be called 'Alfalfa land,' much better in character than much of that offered by dealers as suitable for growing this crop." THE RENTER AND HIS OPPORTUNITIES* Various systems of renting land are in vogue in this state. One thing must be kept in mind, namely, that a stranger finds it difficult to secure a desirable piece of property at anywhere near a reasonable rental. Most of the tenants in California are men who have either worked for the landowner and have afterwards assumed charge of his property for him, or have successfully worked land in the immediate neighborhood. The land owner is thus well acquainted with the tenant. In the irrigated section of the state it is not uncommon for a young man who shows himself especially industrious in caring for dairy stock to be offered a proposition by the owner, who in the hot summer months may determine that he can leave his ranch in the hands of the hired man by making him a share participator, turning over his entire ranch equipment, livestock, etc. The man may agree to pay a cash rental of so much per acre and to deliver to the owner at the expiration of his lease as many cattle as are received and one- half of all the offspring. He also agrees to pay the water rentals and to keep the place in good condition. Sometimes this rental is put aside and a man will agree to rent his place with stock on condition that the renter deliver to him one-half of the monthly cream check and one-half of the sale of all farm products and one-half of the offspring that remain on the place over and above the number of animals that were there when the man took charge. By David N. Morgan, Assistant to the Director. 38 In the irrigated section where grain is raised, it is customary for the owner of the land to pay all water rentals and furnish the seed; the renter furnishes the livestock and puts in the grain at his own expense. They share the cost of harvesting and divide the produce equally. In orchards, it is a little different, the owner usually requir- ing that the lessee shall pay the expenses of cultivating and handling the crop, and delivering to the owner a percentage of the gross returns. For the purpose of this discussion, assume that a man has moved into a dairy region with his family and has worked for a leading dairyman in that section. The leading dairyman discovers in this man unusual ability. He has a dairy of thirty cows and all the necessary implements and live stock for carrying on his business. He agrees to pay for the water that is used and also to pay the taxes, insurance, etc. The renter agrees to take care of the stock and furnish at the end of his period one-half of all stock that has been raised on the farm ; also to leave on the place as much hay as there was when he went there, and to keep everything in good shape. As he has a family of several children, it is possible for him to conduct this ranch without hiring additional help. He therefore agrees to pay one-half of his monthly cream check and one-half received from the sale of all produce. In addition to the dairy cattle on this farm there are also ten yearling heifers, four mares and six brood sows. The place is leased on June 1st. Thirty cows produce twenty-five pounds of butter fat daily, and at $0.25 per pound, the prevailing price during the month of June, the dairy will produce $187.50 for the month. Six skim milk hogs are sold for $72. The gross income then is $259.50. One-half to the owner leaves $129.75 for the lessee's income. Of this sum $45 was paid to a hired man who worked in the hay field. The family expenses were $50, leaving a balance of $30. Feed conditions in the irrigated valleys make it possible for cows to freshen in early fall. This is desirable owing to increased prices. Cooler weather also makes dairying easier. In July, August, and September the butter fat averaged $0.30 per pound, or $37.50 per month more than in June. The expenses being the same, the net profit was $48 for each of these three months. The hired man was allowed to go at the end of the haying season, October 1st, During October, November, and December, there was produced a cream check of $300 per month. As the family did all the work and assuming that their expenses had been about the same, there should be in the bank to the credit of the family on January 1, about $500, and at the end of the first year $1000. In addition to this the renter should have young stock to the amount of several hundred 39 dollars on the ranch. At this rate in three years time the lessee is in a position to purchase all livestock and enter into a lease with the owner on terms of cash rental for the land and improvements, or he may buy some livestock elsewhere and with his share of the offspring rent a different place for which he pays a cash rental. Assuming that his gross income for the next three years would average $3000 per year and living expenses will take one-half the sum, the renter should have $4000 in cash and about $5000 worth of livestock and implements. He will then be in a position to buy a place of his own, paying half of the purchase price in cash and borrowing some addi- tional capital on his livestock if necessary to make additional improve- ments. In four years more the man should have a comfortable home entirely paid for, a steady income, and be worth more than $15,000. In twelve years from the date of first locating in the favored dairy region, this man with the help of his growing family, has secured a competence and provided for the future. It is recognized that only men of more than ordinary perseverance are willing to make necessary sacrifices the first few years in familiarizing themselves with the region and methods used ; also, that only an extraordinary man would attract the attention of a rancher unless he had been actually employed by him. Owners are averse to renting on such a basis to men they do not know favorably, for it would be too easy for them to lose heavily by mismanagement, and the average renter when he starts work does not possess much of value that can be held for security guaranteeing fulfillment of his part of the lease. However, it is not impossible for a man with more than the average ability, with a family, and with good health to do just as well as the renter discussed above. 40 CALIFORNIA CROPS Members of the staff have prepared articles on the growing of certain standard crops in California. The plan has been to give that information which an eastern man with an actual knowledge of farm- ing or fruit raising would most need to know. It is not intended as full information for a beginner. The following are points which each specialist had in mind while preparing the articles : Discuss the industry as it exists — not as it did exist in the past, nor as it may exist in the future. Assume the settler has decided to grow the crop. Say nothing of its importance except as an aid to finding proper location. State main objections to the crop as an industry. 'Regions. — Give important centers of industry. Name town or towns it would be wise to visit in order to see the industry to best advantage. Give best climatic and soil conditions, especially things to avoid. Methods. — State the methods that are actually in vogue, not merely methods that are recommended as ideal or desirable. Call particular attention to methods with which strangers will most likely be unfamiliar. Tell things to be guarded against. Size of farms growing this crop. Mention location of lands yet available for development. Give ordinary commercial value of developed and undeveloped lands. State methods of renting and give rental values. Give kinds of labor and ruling prices. Discuss methods of marketing. No attempt has been made to include all the crops grown in Cali- fornia, but only a few of those most typical and representative of the agriculture of the state. Even according to this rule there are important omissions. The list of crops discussed follows Alfalfa Figs Almonds Grapes Barley Olives Beans Onions Citrus Fruits Pears Cotton Prunes Potatoes Semi-tropical Fruits Sugar Beets Walnuts 41 THE ALMOND By E. H. Taylor, Instructor in Pomology The almond can be grown only in limited areas, owing to its susceptibility to frost. This is not due, as often supposed, to any greater tenderness of the blossoms or young fruit, but to the fact that this tree is the earliest of all our tree fruits to bloom in the spring, thus rendering it liable to more severe frosts than fruits which bloom later. The localities where the almond succeeds best are where there are no late spring frosts. Low lands should be avoided because of the settling of cold air in these spots, causing later and more severe frosts than in adjacent higher land. Rolling hills just back from the lower levels of our large interior valleys and the alluvial fans projecting out from the hills, furnish the larger portions of our safe almond localities. Where large streams have built up the general level along their banks far out into the main valleys, freedom from frosts is again marked. The soil best suited to the almond is a deep loam which is free from hard- pan, or gravelly substrata, and at all times well drained. The almond will not endure standing water around its roots for any length of time and especially during its long growing season. The lighter soils, therefore, are the ones which should be sought. Too light a soil is equally undesirable, in being unable to retain a sufficiently uniform moisture content. Large quantities of almonds are at present grown along the banks of Putah Creek between Davis and Winters, along Cache Creek near Esparto, and on higher up the creek throughout the length of Capay Valley, along the rolling hills around Arbuckle, on the higher lands around Chico and Gridley, on the higher lands near the foot of the Marysville Buttes, in Contra Costa County (notably at Oakley), near Oakdale, near Acampo and Lodi, and in Southern California, notably at Banning, in Riverside County. In the most favorable soils the almond is grown on almond root. Where the soil is inclined to be more gravelly and too well drained, and irrigation water is available, the peach root is used, while in heavy soils the Myrobalan root is used. Plantings on heavy soils do not ordinarily do well and should be very sparingly practiced, and then only when one understands just what he is doing. After planting, the tree is generally headed to eighteen inches from the ground and a head formed. In subsequent years the trees are headed back from two to four years, and after that pruning is limited to thinning out too thick and interfering branches and dead wood. Keep the center of the tree rather open to encourage fruiting well down to the center of tree. The trees should come into profitable bearing about the sixth year. Harvesting, which commences a little before the middle of August, and continues in the various varieties until the middle of September, is done by knocking with long poles on to sheets spread under the trees. From here the nuts go to the huller, where they are separated from the hulls, then dried, bleached and sacked for shipment. Late ripening varieties will not do in regions subject to early rains or where fogs are prevalent, as the shells are darkened too much. The most important pest of the almond is the Red Spider. 42 Root knot and oak fungus (Armillaria) must also be guarded against when the trees are being planted. The almond is grown on farms ranging from an acre or two up to one hundred or more acres. The average orchard is not over thirty acres. In all of the above mentioned districts there are lands still available for development, but care must be exercised to determine whether or not such delayed development is due to frequent late spring frosts occurring there. Good unimproved almond land may be purchased at from $185 to $350 per acre. Land with trees in bearing runs from $250 to $600 per acre and over. Although there are independent buyers, the marketing of this crop is done largely through the California Almond Growers' Exchange, with offices in Sacramento. ALFALFA CULTURE By B. A. Madson, Assistant Professor of Agronomy The climatic and soil conditions of the state are eminently suited to the growth of alfalfa. AVhile these two factors have doubtless played an important part in centralizing the industry in certain sections of the state, water has in all probability been the controlling factor. Modesto, Turlock, Merced, and Fresno are especially noted as centers of alfalfa production, and here also we find irrigation highly developed. Within the past few years the Imperial Valley with its abundant water supply has become an extensive producer of alfalfa. With regard to soil requirements, while alfalfa is not fastidious, there are certain conditions which are unfavorable to its growth. It thrives best on a deep, fertile, well-drained loam, of uniform character and of high lime content. Soils which possess an impervious stratum or hardpan near the surface or which have a high water table, should be avoided. The alfalfa plant is a gross feeder, possessing an extensive root system, and any soil condition which interferes with its free development will materially check its growth. Acidity or excessive alkalinity are of course always objectionable. The former condition occurs only to a limited extent in this state, but the latter is quite prevalent and is frequently associated with hardpan. While it is true that in a few sections alfalfa is successfully grown with natural sub-irrigation, the highest degree of perfection is seldom attained unless the farmer has at his command an adequate supply of irrigation water, obtained either from a ditch or from wells. The first step in the preparation of the field for alfalfa is to level and check for irrigation. This work is usually done by contract, either in the summer or early fall, while the soil is dry. The average contract price for grading and checking land is about $18 per acre. The system of checks to be used, must be governed by the character of the soil, the contour of the field and the volume of water available. If water can be obtained in the late summer or early in the fall, it is a common practice to irrigate the land, pre- pare the seed bed, with a disk and harrow as soon as possible after irrigation, and then seed the alfalfa. If the crop can be put in by the middle of Sep- tember, it will usually attain sufficient growth before winter to withstand the frosts. More often, however, after the land is checked it is allowed to lie idle until spring, when the seed bed is prepared, and the alfalfa seeded at the rate of twenty pounds per acre. 43 Upon a well established alfalfa field, five to seven cuttings are obtained per season. The crop is cut when one-tenth in bloom or when new shoots appear at the crown. The alfalfa ranches of California are much smaller than the grain ranches, varying in size from forty to fifty acres to several hundred acres. In order to handle the crop successfully it requires about two men and two teams to every forty acres, although upon the larger fields, with the use of larger implements this proportion may be somewhat reduced. Under normal conditions four to six tons of hay per acre may be considered a fair yield, though where conditions are especially favorable and when the best culture methods are practiced, eight to ten tons are not impossible. The cost of preparing the seedbed and seeding the crop, together with the cost of seed, is about $7.50 per acre. It is only in case of large tracts, that alfalfa culture is carried on as an independent enterprise. The smaller tracts more often constitute a part of some more diversified type of farming. In either case, alfalfa production is both a desirable and profitable business, giving good returns and providing employment of men and teams during a large portion of the year. On the other hand, the fact that it remains permanent for so long a period of time, eliminates the possibility of much crop rotation, a condition which is never conducive to the best type of agriculture. The rental price of alfalfa land varies from $12 to $15 per acre, depending upon the locality. In a few cases .where intensive dairying is practiced and the alfalfa hay is fed on the ranch, $20 an acre is secured. Renting on shares is not as common as with grain land, though it is practiced to some extent, the owner receiving one-third of the crop and in nearly all cases supplying the water. Developed alfalfa land favorably located and in good condition commands a price of from $250 to $300 or more per acre. There is, however, still consider- able undeveloped land in many of the alfalfa growing sections of the state, which can be purchased for $150 to $200. Higher prices should not be paid unless it has been proved that the conditions are especially well adapted to the production of the crop. There are suitable areas for growing alfalfa, which will in all probability be eventually used for that purpose, though not at present considered within the alfalfa growing sections, which can be purchased for $100 per acre or less. BARLEY PRODUCTION By B. A. Madson, Assistant Professor of Agronomy Barley is grown quite generally throughout California, but its production, like the production of other cereal crops, is confined to the sections of the state where dry-farming must be practiced. It is only in rare instances that the crop is irrigated, because where irrigation can be developed the land becomes too valuable to be used for barley. The ability of barley to grow under conditions of limited rainfall has doubtless played an important part in concentrating the industry in those sections of the state where the annual precipitation is low. Thus we find the greatest production in the San Joaquin Valley, especially in the vicinity of 44 Stockton, Merced, and Madera. It is also grown extensively near Colusa in the Sacramento Valley and near Gonzales, Monterey County, on the coast. Barley seems to thrive better in a warm dry climate than in a cool, moist climate, and fortunately the former condition prevails quite generally in this state. With regard to soil requirements, barley is perhaps more exacting than any other crop. Briefly stated, it seems to thrive best on a rich, fertile loam, well drained and rather light in character. Soils that are low in fertility, extremely light or extremely heavy, or soils that are cold and damp for a long period during the winter should be avoided for this crop. The barley plant has a rather tender root system and any adverse soil condition is apt to produce a marked injurious effect. . The dominant feature which characterizes barley culture in this state at the present time is mass production rather than maximum production per unit area. The farms upon which grain plays an important part are usually large, varying from two hundred acres to one or two thousand acres or more in size. In order to handle such immense areas the method and implements used must necessarily be such as will enable the farmer to cover the most ground in the shortest possible time. In the fall or early winter as soon as sufficient rain has fallen to moisten the soil, the fields are plowed to a depth of three or four inches, using large gang plows in order to hasten the work. On the smaller farms mules are used as motive power, while on the larger ranches tractors are more common. After the field has been plowed it is disked, seeded broadcast, and harrowed, which completes the operation of putting in the crop. Upon the larger ranches, with the use of a tractor and the proper combination of machinery, the work of plowing, disking, seeding, and harrowing is often done at a single operation, which greatly reduces the cost per unit area. Four or five men with a single outfit can handle from three to five hundred acres or more, depending upon the season. The usual practice is to harvest the crop with a combined harvester, which cuts, threshes, and sacks the grain, ready for market, at a single operation. Five or six men are required to run the outfit, and can cover from twenty-five to forty acres per day. The combined harvester has greatly reduced the cost of handling the grain crop, but it is very wasteful of grain and its continued use renders the fields extremely foul. In a few instances on the smaller farms summer fallowing for barley is sometimes practiced. The fields are plowed in the fall and allowed to lie idle for a year, with an occasional harrowing to prevent the growth of weeds and also to prevent the loss of moisture by evaporation. Under conditions of continuous culture, fifteen sacks is considered a fair yield. In rare cases twenty sacks are obtained, but more often the farmer is content with ten or twelve. In the fallow land thirty sacks per acre is considered good. The cost of plowing, disking, seeding, and harrowing, together with the cost of the seed, is about $5 per acre. The cost of harvesting a fifteen-sack crop of barley, including sacks, is about $3.50 per acre. To this must be added an additional cost of 75 cents for marketing, making the total cost of producing the crop $9.25 per acre. The average price of barley is about $1.10 per hundred, giving a gross return of $16.50. After subtracting the cost of production there remains a net return of $7.25, which must cover taxes, depreciation on 45 equipment, and interest on investment. The cost of producing the thirty-sack crop on the fallowed land is about three-fourths the cost of producing two fifteen-sack crops, so that the net returns will be somewhat greater. With methods of handling at present in vogue, barley farming, in order to be profitable must be conducted on relatively low-priced land. Profitable returns cannot be obtained on land which exceeds $75 to $85 per acre in value except when grown in rotation with other crops. The usual basis for renting grain lands is on shares, the owner requiring one-fourth to one-third of the crop. This means that normally eight to ten sacks must cover the cost of production and besides leave something to the farmer for his trouble. Grain farming has some advantages and some distinct disadvantages. In the first place, it is a type of farming which requires a minimum of labor and only a comparatively small outlay for equipment; the only time help is required is during seeding and harvesting. The labor available is largely of the transient type, which can be obtained for from $2.25 to $3 per day. On the other hand, with grain as the dominant feature, the equipment must necessarily lie idle the greater portion of the year, so that its total cost must be charged against the grain crop. Then, too, constant cropping to grain is not a commendable practice, inasmuch as the continuous shallow cultivation greatly impairs the physical condition of the soil, so that the farmer must continually put forth greater effort to maintain his yields. It is the type of farming, however, which is, as a rule, practiced on new land, as it requires but little capital at the start. There is still considerable undeveloped land suitable for this type of farming available in the foothill regions of the Sacramento and the San Joaquin valleys, as well as in some of the smaller and more isolated valleys of the state, which can be purchased for $40 to $60 per acre. In the developed sections, on the other hand, there is but little land that can be purcnased for less than $100 an acre. BEAN CULTURE By John W. Gilmore, Professor of Agronomy Bean culture in California may be considered under two heads, namely, field bean culture and Lima bean culture. While the soils and culture methods for these two types of beans are similar, they differ materially in respect to their requirements for temperature and moisture, including humidity. Lima Beans. — Mainly because of this difference the Lima bean is most extensively produced in the counties along the coast, including San Diego, Orange, Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo. In these counties the valley soils are deep and strong, and the peculiar requisite moisture conditions are afforded by frequent fogs from the ocean. The summer temper- ature in these bean sections is tempered especially in respect to its uniformity by ocean winds. This industry may be most profitably investigated in the vicinity of Ventura, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, and Oxnard. In California the climatic conditions are more important as a limiting factor in the production of Lima beans than the soil, except in cases where the soil is unsuitable because of an alkali or an acid condition. 46 Culture Methods. — The bean is a relatively deep rooted plant, hence deep preparation of the soil is an important factor in the production of the crop. The land is plowed from six to eight or more inches deep as early in the autumn as is rendered possible by the rains. The land is left with rough, untreated surface during the winter months in order to impound as much of the winter rains as possible. During February and March, when most of the rains are over, the surface is worked a number of times to smooth it down, to kill early germinating weeds and to prepare the surface for the conservation of the stored moisture and for the planting of the seed. The work that has been expended upon the land up to this time comprises the major portion of the culture that the crop will receive, and this is very important, for thorough preparation in bean culture is more than half the labor insuring a crop. In Lima bean culture this thorough preparation is all the more necessary because little or no rain falls in the regions mentioned between the planting and the harvesting of the crop. Planting is usually best accomplished during the earlier days of May. By this time the soil has become warm and the free water has distributed itself through the soil. If beans are planted in cold, wet soil they will rot, or at best the plants will be non-uniform and retarded in their growth. From forty to sixty pounds of seed are used per acre, according to the size (the variety) of the seed and the physical condition and the strength of the soil. With optimum physical condition and moisture content, less seed is required, for the fewer plants will cover the ground better and yield more. The rows are arranged from thirty to thirty-six inches apart and the beans are planted and thinned so as to stand eight to twelve inches apart in the row. On the stronger and moister soils the wider distances are given. Two inches is about the right depth of planting. During the growing season the crop is given several shallow cultivations until the vines cover the ground, and during this period also one or two irrigations are given, unless through excellent preparation of the soil or abundant winter rains the growing crop does not need the moisture. On account of the absence of rainfall during the growing season Lima beans in California do not have to be staked. Lima beans ripen from August 25th to September 25th. When the pods have matured and begun to turn yellow, the vines are cut just beneath the surface of the soil and are afterwards thrown into small piles for ripening and curing. In cutting, from five to six acres per day is considered a day's work, while in piling a man will accomplish from three to four acres. Threshing is usually accomplished by itinerant companies putting up from 1000 to 2500 sacks per day. The charge is from twenty to thirty-five cents per sack, according to location or accessibility. The yield of Lima beans may range from ten to twenty-five sacks (80 lbs. each) per acre. The average is about fourteen sacks. The farmer's selling price ranges from four to six cents per pound. The cost of production ranges from eighteen to twenty-five dollars per acre. On the basis of net returns Lima bean land is worth from $250 to $500 per acre. This crop is produced on farms of all sizes, from small areas of five and ten acres to large estates operated by corporations. The implements of culture and production are not expensive. When land is rented the tenant usually furnishes everything and retains two-thirds of the crop. 47 Field Beans. — What has been said regarding the soil requirements and culture methods of Lima beans applies also to field beans. The principal regions for the culture of these beans, however, lie within the Sacramento and upper San Joaquin valleys, principally in the counties of San Joaquin, Sacramento, Sutter, Contra Costa, Solano, Yolo, and Colusa. Some black eye and pink beans are grown in Stanislaus and Merced counties, but in general the summers in these counties are too warm for most of the varieties. In the counties mentioned the rainfall and temperature vary more widely than in the Lima bean regions, consequently one must exercise a stricter choice of localities for successful bean growing. The heavy adobe and the light sandy soils should be avoided, not alone because of their crop producing power, but also because of their water-holding capacity. The heavy soils do not respond to the operations of tillage in the proper manner, often being too lumpy and hard, and the lighter soils are not sufficiently retentive of moisture. A satisfactory yield of field beans is about 1400 pounds per acre, though on account of climate and soils the yield varies greatly, 2500 pounds per acre being frequently produced. The farm price varies with the variety from three ce»"ts to eight cents per pound. The cost of production of field beans varies more widely than for Lima beans, mainly owing to variation in soil conditions. The most usual figure is between $15 and $18 per acre. CITRICULTURE By J. Eliot Coit, Professor of Citriculture There are about 180,000 acres planted to citrus fruits in California, the proportion of lemons to oranges being as 1 to 5. There are about eight thousand citrus growers, the average holding being therefore about twenty acres. The annual shipments are now about 40,000 cars or 14,500,000 boxes, being approxi- mately one-sixth of the world's supply. Citrus fruits are grown in favorable localities from San Diego County to Shasta County. The localities are in the order of present importance: (1) the area enclosed in and adjacent to a triangle drawn through Pasadena, Redlands, and Santa Ana; (2) the eastern foothills of Tulare County; (3) Ventura and Santa Barbara counties; (4) San Diego County; (5) Butte County. There are a great many smaller areas scattered through the state which are well suited to citrus fruits. The industry is older in Southern California and there the lands and water have been further developed and prices of land and water are much higher than in the central and northern parts of the state. The cost of land varies from $150 to $500 an acre and water rights from $75 to $300 or more. It costs to establish an orchard and care for it through the first five years from $800 to $1200 per acre in Southern California and from $500 to $900 per acre in other parts of the state. It is not the custom to rent citrus properties in California. The labor in California citrus groves is done principally by Americans, although a good many Mexicans, Italians, and Orientals are employed. Foremen receive from $50 to $100 per month, teamsters from $50 to $65, irrigators from $2.00 to $2.50 per day, pruners from $2.00 to $3.50 per day, picking foremen from $2.25 to 48 $3.50, pickers from $2 to $2.50, and fumigators from 25 to 50 cents per hour. Ordinary labor is paid $1.50 to $2 per day. Orange trees which have been properly grown should yield 350 to 400 packed boxes or a car per acre after twelve years old. Lemons will yield about one- third to one-half more tonnage per acre than oranges. About 60 per cent of the fruit is sold through a very well organized co- operative selling agency known as the California Fruit Growers' Exchange. The grower buys stock in proportion to his acreage in a local packing-house which is owned and operated by an association of growers. Several associations together form a district exchange which orders cars, ships the fruit, and distributes the returns. All of the district exchanges belong to the central exchange which furnishes facilities for marketing the fruit in the shape of bonded agents working under salary in the principal markets. The central exchange also furnishes daily market reports and other information. Grower- members are prohibited from selling and delivering fruit outside of the associ- ation. Growers may withdraw from the association at the end of any year. There are about forty co-operative marketing associations outside of the Exchange and a number of independent grower-shippers. Very little fruit is shipped on consignment. Some persons have made fortunes in citrus fruit, while many others have lost money. Others would have lost money had it not been for the timely advance in the value of the land for residence or other purposes. Any person, however, with sufficient capital, a reasonable knowledge of horticultural operations, and ordinarily good business judgment, who is indus- trious and persevering, may expect to make a good profit by raising citrus fruits, provided he or she pays attention to the following points: 1. Select a location in a proved citrus district reasonably free from frosts and winds and within hauling distance of a packing-house. 2. Select a deep soil easy to work, fertile, well drained, and drive a good bargain for it. 3. Be sure of an ample supply of good water to which the land has an inalienable right. For full bearing trees near the coast on a retentive soil about 1}4 miners' inches of water is needed for ten acres. The same trees in interior valleys and especially on gravelly soils need not less than three miners ' inches to ten acres. When buying a young grove bear in mind that only a small amount of water is needed for small trees and that some people develop groves with insufficient water rights with the intention of selling to an inex- perienced person at the critical time. Beware of a citrus development based on surplus water. 4. Secure good strong trees free from scale which have been propagated from carefully selected buds of standard varieties. The standard varieties in California are few in number. They are: Navel and Valencia oranges, Eureka and Lisbon lemons, Marsh seedless pomelo, and Dancy tangerine. 5. Plant the trees properly, using great care not to let the sun strike the bare roots. Inexperienced planters should purchase balled trees, as there is less danger of losing them during transplantation. 6. Care for the trees personally and conscientiously in regard to cultivation, irrigation, fertilization, and pruning. 7. Prevent scale insects and diseases from gaining a foothold. Remember that the average cost of fumigation is $30 per acre every alternate year, and 49 this is 6 per cent on $500, consequently in a scale-infested locality land is worth less for citrus production, other things being equal. 8. Join a local marketing association and co-operate with the neighbors in frost fighting, insect and disease control, and in other ways for the general good of the neighborhood. 9. Write freely to the College of Agriculture for advice and enroll for the Correspondence Course on Citrus Fruits. COTTON KAISING By W. E. Packard, Agronomist in charge of Imperial Valley Experiment Farm Cotton raising is at present confined to Imperial County and a small acreage in the Palo Verde Valley of Eiverside County. El Centro and Calexico are the chief cotton centers. Cotton can be raised in any of the interior valleys of the state where irrigation water is to be had and where there is assurance of freedom from cold coast fogs, but it should not be planted on a commercial scale unless cheap experienced labor is available and ginning facilities are secured. Three general types of cotton are grown — the short staple, medium long staple, and long staple. It is highly desirable that one type be selected in any one section, as promiscuous plantings cause deterioration by cross pollination. The short staple cotton is the most commonly planted, as the market is estab- lished and less care is required in growing. The short staple has an average length of one inch, which is one-eighth inch longer than the average in the South, and yields from three-fourths of a bale to two bales per acre, with a ginning percentage of 33 to 34 per cent. The price varies from 8 to 14 cents per pound, with an average of 11 cents. The Durango cotton, a medium long staple variety coming from Mexico, has an average length of one and three-sixteenths inches. It yields from one-half to two bales per acre, a bale to the acre being an average. The ginning percentage of this variety is low, averaging from 29 to 31 per cent. The price is from 2 to 4 cents per pound higher than the short staple. The long staple or Egyptian cotton has given good results, but its cultivation has been discontinued for the present on account of unsatisfactory labor and market conditions. The Sea Island cotton has not proved a success. In securing land for cotton planting, hard stiff clays or land containing an excess of alkali should be avoided, although cotton will stand more alkali than any of the common field crops. Medium heavy or medium light soils give the best results. Old alfalfa land is very well adapted to cotton. Cotton is planted any time after the danger of frost is over to the first of June, April being the best month. The usual practice is to flood the field thoroughly early in the spring. The land is, then disked to kill the weed growth and later furrowed from 3 feet 6 inches to 3 feet 10 inches apart with a lister. After furrowing, the land is irrigated and the seed drilled in from one and a half to two incnes deep on the top of the ridges. The seed is usually irrigated up. The land is sometimes harrowed after seeding with very good results, especially where the soil tends to crack or crust. Plowing is of course very beneficial. 50 Cotton is sometimes planted flat and where the soil is soft the results are good. The land is flooded, then disked, harrowed and seeded as soon after irrigation as possible. The objection to this plan is that the seed is often planted where there is insufficient moisture or where the soil is not well com- pacted about the seed. This system is good for alkali land where water table does not exist, as the flooding tends to wash the salts to the sub-stratum and the mulch prevents excessive evaporation and consequent surface accumulation of salts. Volunteering cotton from year to year has proved to be a profitable practice and is being followed quite extensively. If the rows are ridged up well in the last cultivation, the earth about the stem prevents the freezing of the buds and a good stand is secured without reseeding, while if not ridged many of the stalks are killed. The main aim in the irrigation of cotton is to maintain as uniform a moisture condition as possible. Too much or too little moisture hurts the plants and any sudden change from a dry to a wet soil invariably causes a great loss of squares. The outer growing tips are good indicators of the needs of the plants. Soils vary a good deal in their water-holding capacity and each farmer should know his soil type and irrigate accordingly. Cultivation is done with an ordinary two horse corn and cotton cultivator and is continued as long as possible. Very little hand work is done, except at thinning time, when the plants are hoed out to a distance of about eighteen inches. Thinning is done when the plants are from five to ten inches high. The labor problem is the main obstacle to cotton raising in California. It is hard to procure experienced pickers. Most of the picking is done by whites and negroes, although Mexicans and Hindus do good work. Picking costs from $0.75 to $1.25 per hundred pounds seed cotton. Most of the cotton goes to the eastern mills, practically all of the Durango going to the American Thread Company of New York. Cotton is sold at about forty points or two dollars per bale off from the New York quotations. Most of the cotton seed is sold to the cotton seed oil mills at $15 per ton. The oil produced is shipped out and the cotton seed meal and hulls are used locally for feed. About one-third of the cotton is marketed through the Cotton Growers' Exchange, the rest going to individual buyers. Land suitable for cotton can be bought for from $100 to $175 per acre fully water stocked, or can be rented for from $10 to $15 per acre. There are opportunities for getting cheap land, but when levelled and water stocked the cost will approximate $100. Cotton is often grown on shares. The land owner usually furnishes all horses and tools and pays the taxes and all water charges, the last named usually amounting to about $3 per acre. The renter furnishes all labor and receives from one-half to three-fifths of the crop at the gin, each paying half the ginning expenses, which amount to $4.50 per bale. The seed is divided equally. If the renter furnishes horses and tools he gets three-fourths of the crop. 51 FIG CULTURE By J. Eliot Coit, Professor of Citriculture There were in 1910, 5380 acres planted to figs in California, and there has been much additional planting since that time. About one-half the fig trees of the state are grown in Fresno County. The average consumption of dried figs in the United States for the last ten years was 12,100 tons per year. Only one-fourth this amount is produced in California, about one million dollars worth being imported from Turkey each year. While in many parts of California from Shasta to Imperial County, figs grow and produce fruit suitable for eating fresh, the production of dried figs on a commercial scale is limited largely to the San Joaquin Valley, where the climatic conditions permit out-door drying and curing. In sections where the natural rainfall is sufficient for figs to be grown without irrigation, good land may be had at from $75 to $125 an acre. Where irrigation is necessary the cost of land with rights to sufficient water for an established irrigation system will vary from $150 to $200 an acre. In much of the available fig land the water table is near the surface. For best results the water table should not be nearer than ten feet. When nearer than this the value of the land should be discounted and when nearer than four feet figs should not be planted. Fig trees come into bearing in three to five years, and should be in full bearing at twelve years of age. Where irrigation is not practiced the cost of bringing an orchard into bearing will vary from $40 to $70 an acre. Where irrigated the cost will run from $100 to $250. Average Cost of Bringing Fig Orchard to Bearing Fifty trees at 20 cents $10.00 Plowing 4.00 Grading 10.00 Irrigating system 20.00 Planting 3.00 Cultivating, irrigating, cost of pumped water 200.00 Cost of land (from $150 to $250 per acre) 200.00 Total investment at beginning of sixth year $447.00 This figure may be reduced by raising interculture crops between the trees. The cost of operating a bearing fig orchard, including harvesting, taxes, interest, etc., will vary from $75 to $100 per acre per year. It is not the custom to rent fig properties in California. The yields to be expected vary widely, but averaging the good and poor seasons together, they may be expected to be somewhat as follows: Mission, 2Y 2 to 3^2 tons per acre; Adriatic, 2 to 2% tons; Smyrna, iy 2 to 2 tons. The fig grower at present is at a great disadvantage in marketing his crop. No co-operative selling organization exists, although there is a great need for one. Under present conditions the grower may receive from the packers for the Mission two cents, for Adriatic three and a half cents, and for the Smyrna five to six cents per pound on a sweat-box basis. At present the Adriatic is 52 especially profitable when grown as a border around vineyards and along road- ways. Under such conditions there is little expense and the fruit often sells on the trees for as much as $2 per tree. The business of packing and shipping fresh figs is good, but the profit depends upon the price and the availability of pickers and transportation facilities. There is a limit to the amount of figs which may be disposed of locally in this way, the supply far exceeding the demand. In a few cases very high prices have been secured for extremely early fresh figs shipped from Coachella Valley to the New York market in crates carrying cracked ice. Good prices may be secured in California for these early figs, but the demand is limited. Fig trees are singularly free from pests and diseases, the only trouble worth mentioning being a nematode worm, which inhabits the roots when grown on very light sandy soil. After being once well established a fig orchard should bear well as long as properly cared for or for one hundred years. The artificial process of caprification is necessary only with Smyrna varieties. GRAPE GROWING By F. T. Bioletti, Professor of Viticulture and Enology Grapes are grown profitably in every county in California, except one or two in the extreme north and two or three in the higher mountain regions. Varieties and Localities. — Grapes for dry wine are grown most profitably in the coast counties from Mendocino to San Diego, where the acidity of the fruit and the cool weather of the vintage are suitable; sweet wine grapes in the great interior valleys from Shasta to Kern and also in parts of the San Gabriel Valley in Southern California, where rich soil insures large crops and the climate promotes low acidity and high sugar content in the grapes. Raisin grapes are grown principally in the San Joaquin Valley, with Fresno as the center. Here the Muscat and Sultanina develop the necessary sugar early enough to be dried in the sun while the weather is still hot and dry. Minor centers where good raisins are made occur in the central part of the Sacramento Valley and even near the coast in the extreme south, but drying the fruit is often uncertain and dipping or artificial driers must sometimes be resorted to. The earliest shipping grapes are Sultanina and Malaga from the Coachella and Imperial valleys. The next, principally of the same varieties, come from the foothills of Tulare County and the neighborhood of Winters and Vacaville. Malaga is the principal white shipping grape and is grown most largely in the San Joaquin Valley south of Modesto. The Flame Tokay, which constitutes the main bulk shipped, is grown principally in San Joaquin County, with Lodi as a center and in Sacramento County along the American River. Farther south it fails to develop sufficient color. The next most important shipping grape is the Emperor, grown principally in Tulare and Fresno counties. The latest shipping grapes are grown in Contra Costa and Santa Cruz counties principally. In general, shipping grapes can be grown profitably only in localities where packing and transportation facilities have been established. Rich soil and abundant water are necessary. 53 On a twenty acre vineyard most of the work except harvesting can be done by the owner himself. Unless he has had considerable experience, it would be unwise to attempt to handle more. In starting a vineyard great care should be used in choosing the planting stock. As a rule one year old rooted vines grown from cuttings carefully selected from healthy, profitable vines should be used. In rich, moist, sandy loam the cuttings may often be planted directly in the field with considerable saving in expense and some in time. In most of the coast regions phylloxera resistant bench grafts must be used. The soil should be cleared, levelled where irrigation is needed, and plowed or subsoiled at least twelve inches deep before planting. Great care in train- ing and pruning the young vines for the first three years before they come into bearing is necessary. Stakes must be used from the end of the first year until the vines can support themselves. Some varieties, such as Sultanina, require trellising. Pruning must be done by expert hands and must be adapted to the particular variety. Sulfuring once, twice, or three times during the season is needed to control the Oidium. Special methods of thinning and harvesting are needed for some table grapes. A well-managed vineyard may yield a net profit of from $50 to $200 per acre when in full bearing. One which is neglected will often fail to pay running expenses. Suitable land can be obtained for from $150 to $250 per acre in small tracts. The cost of planting and care of an ordinary vineyard for the first three years will be about $150. Where resistant vines are used about $40 per acre must be added to this. If the vines are to be trellised like Sultaninas from $25 to $30 per acre must be added. The average cultural expenses of a bearing vineyard will seldom be less than $12 per acre per annum and the fixed charges for taxes, depreciation, and interest on the investment will usually exceed $20. The production of shipping grapes perhaps offers the most promising opportunity for profit, but whether the promises will be realized depends on co-operation of the growers in marketing. ONION RAISING By S. S. Rogers, Assistant Professor of Plant Pathology The requirements for onions are so exacting that the novice should not undertake the production of onions on a large scale until the requirements of the crop are known and local conditions thoroughly understood There is such an enormous acreage adapted to onion growing in this state that the markets may be easily glutted. Some years the grower may realize a net profit of several hundred dollars per acre and the next season the returns may not be sufficient to meet expenses. The largest centers for the production of onion seed are located in the Santa Clara Valley near the city of San Jose and in San Benito County near the town of Hollister. Onions for the market are produced in large quantities in the Imperial Valley and in the vicinity of the larger cities such as San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento, Fresno, and Los Angeles. Onions will grow on a variety of soils, but the most favorable is one which holds moisture well although friable enough to be easily cultivated and to allow the proper 54 expansion of the root. A heavy, sticky adobe or a coarse, gravelly soil should be avoided. The onion can stand without injury a much lower temperature than many other vegetables, and if given sufficient moisture it will endure the heat well. Before planting, the soil should be put into the finest condition of tilth possible and the culture throughout the entire season should be such that there will be no weed growth and a good mulch preserved. If hand implements are used the rows may be planted about twelve inches apart, while if the cultivation is to be done by horse-drawn implements the rows should be two to three feet apart. Cover the seed about one-half an inch when planting on heavy soil and about one inch when planting on light soil or late in the season. In many sections of California onions can be successfully sown during any month of the year, but the bulk of the seeding is done during the months of February to May, inclusive. Onions are propagated in California from seed planted directly in the field, by transplanting the seedlings, and from sets. The first two methods are the most common. The Red Wethersfield, Australian Brown, and Danvers Globe are the most popular varieties, although there are many others grown in this state. When grown for pickles and green onions harvest whenever they attain the desired size. For dry onions harvesting should not be commenced until the tops of the majority of the onions have begun to turn yellow and dry. If deferred too long the onions will grow new roots, which ruins them for marketing except when consumed immediately. The crop is thrown in windrows and allowed to cure for several days and in some localities longer. When the tops have become thoroughly dried they are cut or twisted off about one-half an inch from the bulb. The latter are placed in piles, thoroughly dried and sacked. When growing onions for seed, the first season's work consists of growing the bulbs or mother onions, which are produced and harvested in the same manner as growing mature onions. In the following spring these bulbs are trans- planted to the field and are allowed to go to seed. In the fall, when the seed has completely ripened it is harvested, cleaned, and stored in sacks ready for shipment. Soil suitable for onion growing ordinarily varies from $200 to $500 per acre, including a suitable water supply. Most of the manual labor is done by Japanese, who are paid from $1.50 to $2 per day. OLIVE CULTURE By W. F. Oglesby, Assistant in Viticulture Regions. — Olives may be grown in most of the foothill sections of the interior valleys as far north as Redding and in the warmer sections out on the floor of these valleys. They may, also, be grown in favored spots in all the coast valleys south of Mendocino County, although the cooler atmosphere retards somewhat the development and ripening of the fruit, and black scale is often troublesome and hard to control. It would be well for those who contemplate the planting of olive orchards to visit such places as Oroville, Fresno, San Bernardino, Los Angeles, and San Diego, as the factors in these places and the districts around them will give some idea of conditions required. If the visit be made in late summer the disadvantages of shallow, leachy, heavy, or poorly drained soils, 55 as well as close planting, poor pruning, poor cultivation, and poor drainage, will be readily seen. Climate. — Olive trees will grow wherever the temperature does not go below 15° F in winter, but for fruit the latest killing frost in spring should be in April and the earliest killing frost in the fall late in November. From blossom- ing time to frost or for at least six and one-half months the mean daily temperature should not be less than 66° F. A higher mean would be better. Soil. — A deep, rich, well-drained, sandy loam with a high lime content and enough ferric oxide to give it a good red color is the ideal soil for olives. They will do fairly well, however, on any well drained soil. Very heavy or poorly drained soils, as well -as those too coarse or gravelly to hold moisture, should be avoided. Irrigation. — No olive orchard should be planted without making provision for irrigation. The trees may do well and an occasional crop may be obtained, but an unirrigated olive orchard will prove of little commercial value. An olive orchard should be irrigated from three to twelve times per year, accord- ing to the character and depth of the soil. An equivalent of one miner's inch continuous flow during the growing season should be provided for each five acres of orchard as a minimum. Cultivation. — Olive orchards should be plowed deeply at least once a year and thoroughly cultivated after each irrigation. Pruning. — Annual pruning is necessary if annual crops are to be expected. If the pruning is neglected the tree will produce crops biennially or less frequently. Pruning should keep the head of the tree low and open and should regulate the amount of fruiting brush left from year to year. Harvesting. — All olives should be hand-picked. The degree of ripeness depends on the use to which the fruit is intended. If for green pickles, fruit should be full grown but still green in color. For ripe pickles and oil, fruit should be well colored, color varying according to variety. Varieties grown should be confined to those that grow large enough fruit for pickling. Mission, Manzanillo, Sevillano, and Ascalano are the most favored at present. Labor. — Price of labor will vary from $2 to $3 per day, according to the work done, expert growers and grafters getting the higher price. The picking of the fruit by hand will cost about $20 per ton. One man may care for from ten to forty acres. In any case he will need help at picking and pruning time. Lands Still Available. — The lower foothills, bench lands, and alluvial fans and, in the warmer sections, the well-drained bottom lands of situations men- tioned under "Regions." Commercial Value of Developed and Undeveloped Land. — Developed land is valued at from $300 to $600 per acre; undeveloped land at from $25 to $300 per acre, price depending on location, character of the land, cost of levelling, etc. Marketing. — For the most part olives are sold directly to the canners and oil makers. Some growers have their own plants for pickling, but oil making requires such expensive machinery that very few individuals have them. There is little money in oil, so that the present tendency is to grow only such varieties as are good for pickling. Oil is a by-product. Only the undersized and frosted olives are now turned into oil. 56 PEAR CULTURE By Ralph E. Smith, Professor of Plant Pathology Soil and Climate. — The best pear soil is deep and rather heavy, with plenty of moisture. Alluvial river bottoms and moist clay-loam foothill slopes char- acterize our chief pear sections. The tree will stand more drouth, moisture, and alkali than most fruits, however, and thus is often used to fill in low, wet or slightly alkali spots or sloughs in orchards of peaches or apricots where the latter trees would not live. Pears are not very particular as to climate, flourishing equally well near the coast, in the interior valleys, and among the foothills. Irrigation is usually needed. Districts. — The greatest acreage of pears in California is to be found in the central coast valleys, the Sacramento Valley and adjacent regions and the Sierra foothills of El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, and Nevada counties. San Jose, Sacramento, Placerville, Marysville, and Anderson are centers of production. Culture. — The Bartlett is the principal and most exclusive variety grown in California. A few others like the Winter Nelis are sometimes quite profitable, but their culture is exceptional. French seedling has been the asual rootstock, but the Japanese pear is coming into use on account of some resistance to blight and wooly aphis. Pears are planted about twenty-four feet apart, or seventy-five trees per acre. The trees cost about twenty cents each in quantity. Six to eight years is required to commence commercial bearing. The trees are long-lived and very hardy. Other crops may be grown between while the trees are young. Orchards should be plowed in spring, irrigated from two to five times according to locality, and cultivated frequently. Severe pruning is necessary. The tree when planted should be cut back to a height of twenty inches and each year's growth thereafter should be shortened to a length of twelve to eighteen inches, thinning also to a framework of three to five, frequently branched main limbs. Lateral branches should be headed in to pro- duce fruit spurs. Fertilization is not much practiced and is often undesirable on account of making the trees more susceptible to blight. Spraying is necessary to control scab, codling worm and other pests. The usual practice is a late winter application of lime-sulphur just before the growth starts, one combined spray of Bordeaux mixture and lead arsenate after blooming, and one or two later sprayings with lead arsenate. Harvesting. — The fruit is picked carefully from the tree by hand when " hard ripe." Marketing. — There are three principal uses for California pears: canning, sun-drying, and shipping fresh. The Bartlett is preeminent on account of its suitability for all of these purposes. The fruit is shipped to the canner in loose boxes. Drying is often done by the grower himself. For shipping, each pear is wrapped in paper and they are then packed carefully in standard sized boxes. Cost of Production. — Production and harvesting expenses vary widely, but $75 per acre is a fairly liberal average of yearly expense with good care. Returns. — Production of trees ten years of age and up varies from three to ten tons per acre, and the usual price from $25 to $40 per ton. The foothill districts of smaller yield per tree make up to some extent by high shipping quality of the fruit. Groves average from ten to one hundred acres. Cost of Groves and Land. — Good pear land, with water, can be bought at from $60 to $200 per acre, and producing groves are worth from $300 to $1000. 57 Labor. — Laborers receive from $1.75 to $2.50 per day. Man and team, $3.50 to $5. Troubles. — Two diseases, blight and scab; an insect, codling worm; and an occasional late frost are the chief obstacles to pear culture. Scab and worms can be controlled by spraying. Blight is a very serious enemy and has ruined thousands of acres of pears in California and elsewhere. Pear planting is somewhat hazardous on account of this disease, although it can be fairly well controlled by very careful work. Control is effected by very thorough removal of affected parts, especially during the winter. The disease is extremely infectious. Partially resistant trees are being developed. Special information should be sought in blight control. POTATO CULTURE By John W. Gilmore, Professor of Agronomy The principal regions are in the delta lands of San Joaquin and Contra Costa counties, and the Salinas Valley of Monterey County. Those desiring to investigate this industry would do well to visit the regions in the vicinity of Middle River, Holt and Stockton for the delta country, Blanco and Salinas (Monterey County) and Sebastopol (Sonoma County) for the other regions. There is, also, a considerable acreage in Los Angeles, Orange, and Imperial counties. The delta region consists of lowlands which for a long period of time have been inundated by the high waters of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers. They have been overgrown by juncus (tule) and other marsh plants. These marshes have been reclaimed by constructing levees along the water courses and then by electrically driven pumps the water has been removed to a level sufficiently low to grow crops. The soil consists of partly decomposed vegetable matter mixed with sediment from the overflows, and in this form it is loose and friable and permits the ready movement of water. The soil is well suited not only to potatoes, but to onions, asparagus, beans, and barley. Because this soil is very rich in organic matter, and because of its loose texture and abundance of moisture, diseases that affect the potato thrive readily. These do not often materially damage the first crop, but they are sufficiently prevalent to infest and multiply in the soil, so that future crops are often greatly reduced. The disease causing the most trouble is the Rhizoctonia. It infests the soils from year to year, and while it affects the tubers it does not render them unfit for use. Its principle effect is upon the young shoots which after becoming thoroughly diseased die before the tubers are formed, but too late in the season for replanting. The only effective remedy against this disease now known is to plant the land to non-affected crops until the disease is starved out. It is estimated that this disease causes an annual loss to potato growers in this region of from 20 to 25 per cent of the crop, or a money loss of nearly, if not fully, a million dollars. Wilt disease (caused by Fusarium and Verticilium) is also very common in this region and attacks both the tubers in the soil and the growing stems just below the surface. The disease has the effect of cutting off the water supply to the growing parts of the plants from the roots. The disease also produces conditions favorable for the infestation of the tubers and stems by other diseases. The use of disease-free tubers for seed and the witholding of potatoes 58 from the land for a period of years are the only practicable remedies against the disease. Scab also causes considerable loss in the field as well as after digging. This disease may be held in check by planting disease-free tubers and by practicing a long rotation, which prevents the disease from thriving in the soil. In this region the land is generally plowed in the fall or winter and again at planting time. Planting begins in March and continues into June and sometimes into July, though this is well known to be too late for good results. As a general rule the planting is accomplished by hand, dropping the seed pieces behind the plow every second or third round. As this is very strong land the potato crop is often affected by weeds, and much of the labor of growing the crop is expended in their destruction. The yields in this section vary greatly. The factors which influence the yield are diseases, lack of storage facilities for seed and the culture methods, especially the preparation of the land and the rotation of crops. Because of these factors the yield varies from 65 to 750 bushels per acre. There is a tendency to grow potatoes continuously for as long a period as possible, for this crop pays better returns when not affected than most other crops. It has not been found possible to do this, however, without incurring greatly diminished yields. Consequently, successful potato growing in this region is contingent upon adopting culture methods, especially in respect to rotation crops that will keep the soil bare from the disease. Much of this land is held by companies or by single owners in large tracts. It is usually rented to Japanese or Chinese tenants at from $20 to $35 an acre, or when on shares, for one-third of the crop. The cash rental of land for potatoes, however, is the more usual method. Where labor is hired it is generally Japanese or Chinese and wages commonly paid are $2 to $2.50 per day. The intrinsic value of these lands depends upon the prevalence of disease in the soil and the equipment of the farmer for using other crops profitably in rotation. But little of this land is for sale, but that which is for sale is held at from $300 to $500 per acre. A good deal of land in this section still remains to be reclaimed, but it can only be done at considerable expense and by companies or individuals not demanding immediate returns on the money invested. Salinas Valley. — The conditions under which potatoes are grown in this region are typical of other portions of the state. They differ, however, from those in the delta region, principally in respect to the nature of the soil and lesser prevalence of disease. The soil on the other hand is not so productive. The yields vary from 60 to 200 bushels per acre. The average is about 100 bushels, but on reasonably good land and by practicing good cultural methods, about 150 bushels may be counted upon. In this section much of the potato land is rotated with sugar beets. The deep rooted nature of both of these crops and the tillage methods keep the land in good tilth and in good producing capacity. In both of the sections mentioned potatoes are harvested both by hand and by machine diggers and are marketed in sacks weighing about 110 pounds, the price ranges from 90 cents to $1.65 per sack (50 cents to 90 cents per bushel). In any section of California the successful production of potatoes depends most largely upon the prevalence of a deep loam soil well supplied with moisture and free from disease infestation. The interior valleys where the temperature during the growing season is excessively hot must be avoided, for the potato thrives best in a cool soil. 59 PRUNES By Thomas Francis Hunt, Assistant Superintendent of Farmers ' Institutes ''All prunes are plums, but all plums are not prunes. A prune is a plum which can be dried without the removal of the pit without fermenting." The prune belongs to the genus Prunus, of which there are a great many cultivated varieties. Some of the most common grown commercially are the Prune d'Agen, Robe de Sargeant, German prune, Imperial, Sugar, Giant, and Silver. The culture of prunes constitutes a very large branch of California horti- culture because the prune is a standard article of diet and is marketed as fresh and dried fruit. More prunes are sold than any other dried fruit in California. The range of soil and climatic conditions for the prune is very large. They are grown successfully in the Valleys near the coast (not on the coast), as in the Santa Clara Valley, Santa Rosa, Napa, and other of the smaller valleys. In the San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys, where conditions are quite different, we find prune orchards doing well, as in the vicinity of Hanford, Visalia, Vaca Valley, Yuba City, and Chico. Smaller areas are found in the foothills near Auburn and Newcastle, where they do well. Soils — The prune is grown generally in deep, fertile, well-drained soils, not too sandy nor too heavy like the clays and adobes. Because the tree is quite adaptable, a great many are planted on soils that are not suitable, such as the light sands, clays and adobes, and under these conditions the trees grow with varying degrees of success. In selecting a soil for prunes, there are certain things one should observe very carefully before planting, and try to avoid. The soil should be deep, not underlaid with hardpan, standing water, strata of coarse gravel, or impervious clay near the surface. The physical condition of the soil in regard to humus and plant food is also important. One may not always be able to get a soil where all these conditions are ideal, but should select as nearly this type as possible. The conditions to avoid named above are quite often improved by deep plowing, the use of explosives, drainage, barnyard manures, and green manure crops. These factors will have an import- ant bearing on the value of the land. Unimproved land in sections of the state where the industry is highly developed, as in the Santa Clara Valley, sells for $150 to $350 an acre. Improved lands in these sections bring from $450 to $650 per acre. In the San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys, unimproved land brings from $100 to $200 per acre and improved land brings from $250 to $400. Developing. — There is quite a choice of locations and one should take into consideration climatic conditions in regard to one's personal comfort, price of land in various sections, returns from crop, amount of money to be invested, and income desired. The high priced land is found where the industry is highly developed and where living conditions are particularly desirable, as in the counties along the coast. Good prune land, not so high priced, can still be obtained along the streams in the San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys. Still cheaper lands adapted to prunes, usually in small tracts, can be obtained in the foothill sections of the state. In all of these three general sections, prune grow ing is usually beyond the experimental stage, so that with a given type of soil selected and the local experience in regard to varieties for that locality, one can proceed. The trees can be propagated in several ways, but budded trees 60 are universally used. Several stocks may be used for various soil conditions, but experience has taught that the Myrobalan root is generally used, particularly if the soil is heavy or drainage conditions are bad. The peach and almond root are used considerably, on the lighter soils and where the drainage is good. It is usually better to obtain trees from some reliable nursery firm, of which there are a great many in the state. The trees are planted in squares, rect- angles, or triangles. The usual distance is twenty-two to twenty-six feet, depending on local conditions, varieties, etc. The general practice is to cut the tree back to a single stock twenty to twenty-four inches high at the time of planting, then shape the tree, by pruning, the next two or three years. Others do not prune at all, but let the tree grow as it will. The cultural methods will vary a little in different sections, but is not unlike the general care given other orchards in regard to plowing, cultivating, and irrigating. Handling the Crop. — There are three general methods of handling the crop. These are governed usually by the size of the farm. The first and most common is the case of the owner who has ten or twenty acres and he and his family do all the work, with perhaps, additional help at harvest time. The second class is of large tracts of from twenty to one hundred acres, which are handled almost entirely with hired labor. Third, the renter. In this case, the land is rented for a cash rental, or on a crop basis, which is usually one-third to one- half for the man who rents and one-half to two-thirds to the owner. The labor is supplied chiefly by white people who live in the community and by transients, mostly Orientals, who are employed during the rush season. The fruit ripens on the tree and falls to the ground, when it is gathered, hauled to the dipping shed, dipped in a solution of lye, and placed on trays in the sun to dry. After the fruit has been dried, it is put in sacks and sold to the large packing concerns, or handled by the farmers' co-operative organizations. Insect Pests and Diseases. — The prune, like other fruit trees, is attacked by certain insects and diseases. The most serious insect pests are thrips, root borers, and red spider. The worst diseases are crown gall and gummosis. SEMI-TROPICAL FRUITS By I. J. Condit, Instructor in Citriculture The following semi-tropical fruits, aside from citrus fruits, olives and figs, are now being grown in California, and are of sufficient importance to warrant commercial plantings: Pomegranate, guava, feijoa, loquat, Japanese persimmon, avocado, and date. All these crops require irrigation. The pomegranate is grown more or less commonly throughout California except at elevations above 1500 feet. As a commercial fruit it is now found in the Imperial and Coachella valleys and other parts of Southern California, and in the San Joaquin Valley; at Lindsay and Porterville it is largely planted as a border around citrus orchards, thus serving both ornamental and com- mercial purposes. The guava is commercially grown in San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange, and Santa Barbara counties. The feijoa is a new fruit introduced into California in 1901; it is closely related to the guava and is sometimes known as the pineapple guava. It is quite hardy, not being injured by a temperature as low as 5° F. A few 61 commercial plantings have been made both in Southern California and in the San Joaquin Valley, but these are mainly experimental. The loqnat is one of our neglected fruits. While it has been grown in California for more than sixty years, and is found widely distributed over the state as a dooryard and ornamental tree, the planting for commercial purposes is practically limited to Orange County, where there are several orchards of five to fourteen acres in extent. The Kaki or Japanese persimmon is a deciduous tree and therefore is not so liable to frost injury. It is grown commercially to a limited extent along with loquats, citrus fruits, and avocados in Orange and Los Angeles counties, while plantings of a few trees for home use are found in nearly all parts of the state. The avocado is one of the newer fruits which is creating a great deal of interest at the present time, especially in Southern California. Experimental plantings are being made in Butte County and in some parts of the San Joaquin Valley as well. Date growing in a commercial way is restricted to the hotter parts of the Imperial and the Coachella valleys. SUGAR BEET CULTURE By R. L. Adams, Assistant Professor of Agronomy Sugar beet culture is confined to the vicinity of sugar beet factories, their culture seldom proving profitable at a distance greater than one hundred miles from a factory. Their growing can therefore best be investigated in the territory surrounding the factories at Alvarado, Anaheim, Betteravia, Chino, Hamilton City, Huntington Beach, Oxnard, Spreckels, Santa Ana, and Visalia. Since the first six to eight tons of beets produced are required to pay the cost of production, only soils capable of yielding good crops should be selected. Soils should be avoided which are shallow, poorly drained, of poor texture, high in alkali, lacking in plant food or humus, or incapable of adequately supplying the moisture requirements of the crop. Land for sugar beets usually commands high prices — $200 or more per acre — but can be rented on a share or cash basis, the former requiring as payment one-fourth or one-fifth of the crop, the latter about $15 per acre. Where sugar beets are the primary crop the farms range from 60 to 400 acres in size. As a rule, however, 100 acres may be considered the unit farm. Sugar beet culture requires a high grade of work stock and special equipment, amounting in all to about $2000 for each hundred acres. Land to go in sugar beets should be put in a fine state of cultivation by the complete eradication of former crops — as alfalfa or the subjection of raw conditions — as preceding beets with some other crop on newly broken lands. It is essential to plow as deep as is consistent with the past handling of the land and to work down to a fine, firm seedbed. The common practice is to do the bulk of the heavy work in the fall after applying an irrigation, or early in the rainy season after sufficient moisture falls to start the weeds and bring the soil into the proper condition for working. The land is occasionally worked over until seeding time, which ranges from November to May, depending on the section, the bulk of the seeding, however, being done in February and March. 62 The seed is drilled with machines rented from the factories. These seeders plant either four or eight rows at a time at distances varying from 18 to 28 inches, the 22 inch and 24 inch sizes being most popular. Cultivation starts as soon as the rows can be seen and is repeated as con- ditions demand until the crop is laid by. When the plants have four true leaves they are thinned to distances which leave the remaining plants at from eight to twenty- four inches apart, the distance depending on the strength of the soil and the available moisture — the most common distance being ten to fourteen inches. Irrigation is given to supply ample moisture during the growing periods with a lessening amount at time of maturing. Some lands need but a single irrigation previous to seeding to carry the crop through, while others require several applications during the growing period of the plants. When the leaves turn yellow and a test indicates a satisfactory degree of maturity the beets are ready for digging. Specially designed plows loosen either one, two or more rows at a time, when the beets are pulled, several rows thrown together, topped, at the junction of the green top with the creamy yellow root and hauled or shipped at once to the factory. The work of thinning, hoeing weeds, cleaning ditches, pulling, topping and loading the beets is ordinarily done by Japanese, Hindus, or Mexicans working on a day or contract basis — the sliding scale contract based on tonnage pro- duced with bonus provision as a rule giving the best mutual satisfaction. The contract price ranges from 85 cents to over $2 per ton, according to the yield per acre, with a general average price of perhaps $1.25. The beets are delivered to the factory under a contract drawn up previous to planting, under the terms of which, among other things, the factory agrees to accept all beets coming up to a certain standard — usually set at a minimum of 12 per cent sugar content and 80 per cent purity, with a maximum weight limit of four pounds. These beets are paid for on either a tonnage basis or on the sugar content at prices designated at the time the contract is drawn. Each factory employs the service of a thoroughly trained agriculturist who stands ready to advise and assist all growers in every way possible. WALNUT CULTUEE By Ealph E. Smith, Professor of Plant Pathology Soil and Climate. — Fairly heavy soil is needed and walnut culture is not advisable on that which is sandy, dry, shallow, or "alkaline." The best soils are dark colored, muddy when wet (but not of stiff clay), six feet or more in depth to water, hardpan, sand, or other unfavorable strata, and well drained. Climatic disadvantages are late spring frosts and extreme summer heat. Different varieties are adapted to various conditions in these respects, if not too extreme. Walnuts require a considerable amount of water. They can be grown without irrigation in some places, but it is usually better to have water. Districts. — The principal walnut groves of the state are located between Santa Barbara and Santa Ana. The industry is now developing in some of the northern counties. Whittier and Santa Barbara are important centers of pro- duction, while San Jose, Walnut Creek, Stockton, and Santa Rosa represent the northern districts. 63 Culture. — The first essential is a proper choice of variety for a given locality; the beginner should seek reliable advice from the Agricultural Experiment Station or elsewhere. The northern California black walnut is the usual root. The older groves of the state are of seedling trees, but these are no longer planted. Franquette, Mayette, Concord, Eureka, Placentia Perfection, and El Monte are the best varieties. Promising new varieties are appearing. Trees cost from 75 cents to $2 each. Some plant black walnuts in orchard form to top graft later; this method is only of advantage where no irrigation can be practiced. Planting averages 50 x 50 feet, requiring seventeen trees per acre. Young groves may be interplanted with alfalfa, tree or small fruits, vegetables, or other crops, provided plenty of water is available. Producing groves are usually plowed in spring, irrigated in June, August and in winter if the rainfall is short, and cultivated after irrigation and occasionally between. Little pruning or fertilization is practiced, although desirable in older groves. Spray- ing is commencing to be practiced in some sections against two pests, the blight and aphis. Walnuts should pay expenses by the fifth year after planting and reach good bearing at ten. The production should continue to increase for many years; the tree is long-lived and fairly hardy. Harvesting. — The nuts ripen in September and October and are picked from the ground after light shaking of the trees. They are then usually washed, dried in the sun, bleached and graded. In the south, most of the growers belong to co-operative associations with central packing houses, where the nuts are bleached, graded and shipped. Marketing. — The demand for walnuts is greater than the supply. Prices are established by the associations and the crop sold through brokers. Independent growers easily sell to private customers. Cost of Production. — Harvesting, preparing and marketing the nuts averages three cents per pound. Production expenses vary from $10 to $50 per acre, averaging nearer the lower figure. Taxes and interest on the investment must be added. Returns. — Groves average 1000 pounds of nuts per acre per year, with an average selling price of 12% cents per pound for all grades and sizes. The better varieties frequently produce 2000 pounds per acre and average 16 cents per pound. Greater returns are exceptional. This gives a net income of say $80 to $200 per acre. Groves average from ten to forty acres. Cost of Groves and Land. — Walnut groves in Southern California can be bought for $700 to $2000 per acre. One thousand dollars is an average price. In this section good bare land with water costs at least $400 per acre and usually more. In the central or northern portion of the state $150 to $300 per acre are average prices for desirable land with irrigation possibilities. Labor. — The crop is well adapted to a working family. Father or sons can do the heavy work, while women and children can pick up the nuts. Labor costs about $2.25 per day for able-bodied men, or $5 per day for a man and team. Troubles. — These are due principally to sandy or shallow soil, lack of water, improper varieties, bad treatment, injurious climatic conditions, and the disease called blight. These conditions can be largely avoided by proper choice of locality and varieties, and good culture. v&s CLIMATIC DIVISIONS OF CALIFORNIA (From the standpoint of crop production) 1. Northwest Coast Region. 2. Central Coast Region. 3. Southern Coast Region. 4. Interior Valley Region. 5. Mountain and Plateau Region.