Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/56

CALIFORNIA. The State ranks next to Massachusetts in whale-fishing.

. California has no equal among the States, and, indeed, scarcely among the countries of the world, in natural agricultural possibilities. In no other part of the world is so great a variety of crops brought to so high a stage of development. Over the greater portion of the agricultural area the crops of both the temperate and the sub-tropical zones can be grown at will, with equal success. Since 1850 the agricultural section of the population has increased more rapidly than any other. During the decade 1890-1900, the number of owners and tenants increased much more rapidly than did the total rural population, being contrary to the tendency shown in the two decades preceding. This is indicative of the movement now in process by which the large estates, under the influence of increased irrigation and intensive cultivation, are passing into the hands of smaller landowners. These large estates were partly the result of easy acquisition of land and partly of confirmation by the United States Government of Mexican land grants to private individuals. The holders of these estates were at first opposed to subdividing them, and only recently have settlers been able to obtain desirable farms on them. Still the average size of the farms in 1900—397.4 acres—was quite large, and there were 4753 farms which contained 1000 acres and over, constituting 62.8 per cent. of the total farm acreage. The income per acre from the farms is in inverse ratio to their total area; the farms under three acres in size having an average income of $253.89 per acre, while the farms of 1000 acres and over averaged but $2.02 per acre. The smaller farms are devoted to city dairying, and to floriculture, and to the more valuable and intensively cultivated crops, while the larger are generally unirrigated stock or grain farms.

The earlier agricultural period was characterized by the great predominance of wheat-raising. Many of the large holdings were almost exclusively devoted to this industry, giving rise to the large ranch or bonanza farms of world-wide fame. Thus the production of wheat became enormous, at one time exceeding that of any other State. This was accomplished for the most part without irrigation. The Defiance and the White Australian varieties were grown for milling, and Sonora wheat for shipping, the dryness of the atmosphere resulting in a superior quality of grain which was in special demand in the London markets. The maximum acreage under wheat (2,875,000) was reached in 1893, since when the State has lost in relative importance as a wheat-producing State. The central valley is the great wheat district of the State. Owing to the level formation of the surface and the freedom from any kind of obstruction, the most expensive and complicated farm machinery invented is more extensively used here than anywhere else in the world. The same machine plows the ground, prepares the soil, and sows the seed, and probably two-thirds of the crop is gathered with a combined reaper and thresher. Steam power is largely used. Barley is the only other cereal which is extensively grown, and the only crop which has been rotated with wheat. The conditions are very favorable to its growth, and there is a tendency to substitute it for corn as a stock-food. About 1,000,000 acres are devoted to its cultivation—or nearly one-third of the total acreage under that crop in the United States. Both wheat and barley are extensively used for hay, being cut down while green. Corn matures later and requires irrigation, and inasmuch as the irrigated land is more profitable when devoted to the more valuable crops, and barley can be substituted for corn, but little of the latter is cultivated. Oats likewise is little grown except for use as hay. The total, in 1900, for all grains cut green for use as forage was 1,506,000 acres, or considerably more than twice the amount of all other hay and forage crops. The acreage for hay and forage crops was 56.4 greater in 1900 than in 1890. The abundance of alfalfa and other food-plants of the bee has encouraged the keeping of bees, and honey is a considerable product.

The native grasses, oats, and clover dry without cutting, but constant pasturage has almost exterminated them, and alfalfa in moist regions, and Texas mesquit grass on dry hills and plains, are taking their place. Alfalfa yields three to four crops a season. The cultivation of hops is rapidly becoming an important industry.

. The aridity of the climate of California is not so extreme as is generally supposed, nor is it without its advantages. In most parts the rainfall of the spring months is sufficient for the development of the early maturing crops, while the numerous mountain streams supply a source of irrigation for the production of the more valuable or the later-maturing crops. In nearly every county some farming is done without the aid of irrigation. The irrigated area, however, is being constantly and rapidly extended, and is exceeded only by that in Colorado, although the value per acre of the products of the irrigated land is much greater than that of Colorado or any other State. In 1900 the advantages of irrigation were afforded to 35.4 per cent. of the total number of farms, and to 12.1 per cent. of the total improved acreage, or 1,446,000 acres of land. The irrigated farms averaged only 57 acres in area. The average cost, per acre irrigated, of the construction of works for irrigation was $10.30 for the State, but in certain districts, and particularly in the southern counties, the cost is much higher, reaching $42.57 in San Diego County. There are 152,500 acres irrigated from wells and tunnels, but the greater portion receives its supply from streams and other surface sources.

As a result of the growing irrigation facilities, the horticultural products are becoming especially prominent. Many varieties of horticultural plants, difficult or impossible to raise in other States, and for a supply of which the country was formerly dependent upon imports from abroad, are now produced with great success in California. This is especially true of the regions where the rainfall is lightest, and the necessity and consequent advantages of irrigation are greatest—i.e. on the southern Pacific coast and in the valley of the San Joaquin. But more recently the development of fruit-growing in the Sacramento Valley has made irrigation prominent in that region, the application of the system being greatly facilitated by the utilization of abandoned ditches, originally used as water-conduits in connection with hydraulic mining. In the central and northern coast regions the natural rainfall, unaided by irrigation,