But the very means which have given the farmers of Umpqua great advantages in the market will tend to make them of short duration; because a portion of the country embraced in the northern mines is well adapted to the purposes of cultivation, and much more of it affords fine pasturage.

The grazing in the neighborhood of Shasta city is excellent, and a fine yield of both potatoes and gold may be dug from the same plat of ground; and, as the price for which vegetables, butter, and cheese are sold in the mines, must be enormous, it is a profitable business to pay high prices for them here and carry them 200 or 300 miles on the backs of animals. Many have exchanged the pick and shovel of the miner for the implements of husbandry, and farms and dairies are being established in the very heart of the mines themselves.

The peaceful relations which have at last been established with the Indians of Rogue river will also have their influence, as they have opened to the farmer a valley surrounded by mountains rich in gold, remarkable for its health, beauty, and agricultural capacities; and as the distance from the ports of the Pacific, and the extremely rough and mountainous country lying between, will make transportation always difficult and expensive, the northern mines may shortly be independent of commerce, except for groceries and manufactured articles. When the mines cease to consume the agricultural products of Umpqua, it is difficult to foresee what other market will be found, or what will be the effect upon the pursuits of the inhabitants. The great natural advantages of the country, and the nearness of the market, are overbalanced by the high price of labor, difficulties of transportation, and want of machinery; and, until great changes in the prices of labor and improvements take place in the other obstacles, we cannot compete with Chili and the Atlantic States in the provision trade of the Pacific. These things considered, though there is perhaps not one farmer in a hundred discontented or desirous to exchange his home in Oregon for the one he left in the States, I do not think a greater proportion of the prudent would advise their friends who are well and comfortably settled in the States to exchange the many comforts and advantages they now enjoy, and perform the arduous and dangerous journey over the plains, for the certain privations and uncertain advantages of a home in the wilderness. Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

JESSE APPLEGATE.

Hon. THOMAS EWBANK,

Commissioner of Patents.

CALIFORNIA.

OPHIR, PLACER COUNTY, CALIFORNIA,

December 3, 1851.

SIR: Having been presented with a copy of the Patent Office Report for 1850 by the Hon. Dr. Gwin, previous to his leaving California for Washington, and as the evenings are now quite lengthy, affording me time to write, read, and reflect, I have just laid aside the aforesaid Report to put on paper a few ideas suggested on reading some of the agri

cultural letters contained therein; and which, although brief, will convey a pretty good idea of the manner we "do things up" here in this land of gold.

The principal product of this State is gold-the grand object for which most of mankind are toiling. I have been in California nearly two years, and am more fully convinced, the longer I stay, that its auriferous resources are inexhaustible. I say it as my honest conviction, that the gold, which is interspersed through the soil, hills, mountains, valleys, rivers, and quartz veins, will never be exhausted. It will afford employment for many thousands of people so long as "man exists." Although the spots where the richest deposits are may be worked and worked ten times over, gold will still remain and attract the labor and attention of its seeker.

Let no one be deceived as to the real character of the gold mines of California, nor of the climate, nor of its agricultural advantages.

I observe, in the copy of the Report before me, quite a number of articles on dairies, &c., and the amounts realized from milk, butter, cheese, fowls, eggs, &c. I will state what I have done with two cows and three hens in eight weeks time:

About the 1st of last October, I bought two American cows from a dairyman near Sacramento city-they were fresh, with young calvesfor which I paid him, in "gold coin," four hundred dollars. (Rather a high price, I think I hear some of your farmer-readers say.) But, now, mark to what account I turned my $400. The cows have averaged 12 quarts of milk, each, per day, which would be 24 quarts. Now, every quart of the milk sold for 50 cents, which in two months would make $720. The cost of keeping the animals for the above time, on hay, cornmeal, and potatoes, (hay selling at $80 per ton, meal $8 per hundred pounds, and potatoes $4 per hundred,) did not exceed $100. I also have some hens, for which I paid $4 each; the eggs of which have averaged $5 for every dozen. I have seen laying-fowls sold within a few weeks at the rate of seventy-two dollars per dozen. I was one of a party who dined, on thanksgiving day, (November 27th,) on three common turkeys, for which were paid thirty-six dollars. The above are facts, and I think will somewhat astonish many of your readers. One thousand dollars could not buy my two cows, or ten dollars either of my hens.

By the aid of irrigation, the man who has served me with vegetables this season cleared, from about eight acres, not less than $3,000. What think ye, tillers of the soil, of this? Not a pound (for, mark ye, everything is sold by ounces and pounds here) of all his truck sold for less than 12 cents, and early in the season it brought as high as 30 cents.

For barley, oats, cabbages, pumpkins, radishes, tomatoes, and every variety of vegetables, I think California cannot be excelled by any State in the Union. I have lived on the borders of the Atlantic (being from Philadelphia) and the Pacific, and never saw a parallel. A few specimens from here would make a nice array in some of your horticultural and agricultural exhibitions. As yet, however, comparatively few among our population have turned their attention to agricultural pursuits and the development of our natural resources, except in digging for gold.

But the real advantages are here, and have been lying dormant for ages, and will most assuredly be brought into requisition by the indomitable energy of the American emigrant in a very few years. Let the

farmer from the eastern, middle, and western States immigrate to California. Let him bring along his family, (for this is no place for a man without a helpmate,) and determine to make this his home, and he will find this country far better than he even could have pictured it in his imagination; and under his own "vine and fig-tree," and the protection of the "glorious stars and stripes," he will realize his fondest hopes of life, health, fortune, and happiness.

A mighty empire is about to be reared on the shores of the Pacific, and to all who would be its builders I would say, "Now is the appointed hour, and now is the accepted time."

With high consideration, I am, respectfully, yours, &c.,

Hon. THOMAS EWBANK,

PHILIP LYNCH.

Commissioner of Patents.

MOKELUMNE HILL, CALAVERAS COUNTY, CALIFORNIA,

December 16, 1851.

SIR: Mr. J. B. McKennie, postmaster at this place, has put into my hands a Circular from your Office, with a request that I reply to the points named in it.

My observation does not extend far beyond the mineral portion of the country, and in the mineral region but little has been done to develop the agricultural resources which that particular portion of California may possess. Among the hills which constitute the lower range of the Sierra Nevada, are many valleys, through which run streams of water. Those valleys are well adapted to agricultural purposes, and the soil is invariably very productive of grasses and flowers. A few of these valleys have been under cultivation during the past two years, and, at the present time, persons who intend to remain permanently in California are giving much attention to them.

Oats and Barley.-Of grains, oats and barley are the only kinds cultivated, and experiments have been so successful as to render it certain. that the soil is well adapted to the production of them.

Clover and Wild Grasses, resembling the "red-top" and "blue-joint" of the Atlantic States, are abundant in all the mountain valleys, and are gathered in such quantities as are required for the use of the cattle employed upon the roads to the mines. Those grasses are heavily seeded, and, when gathered at the proper time, make excellent hay. I have no means of knowing the quantity usually gathered from an acre of ground, but judge it to be equal to the product of well cultivated fields in the Atlantic States. The cost of growing is, of course, nothing. Native hay, in bales, in most of the mining towns, sells from $60 to $100 per ton.

Dairy Husbandry is not pursued as a business in this part of the State.

Neat Cattle, Sheep, and Hogs are raised on the larger farms for the purpose of supplying the miners. They invariably feed upon wild grasses and acorns, no attention being paid to them other than is necessary to prevent their straying.

Horses and Mules, though employed in large numbers, are always brought from the southern part of the State. None are raised in the mining region.

Cotton, Sugar-cane, Rice, Tobacco, and Hemp have never been planted here.

Turnips, Carrols, Bects, &c., are cultivated to considerable extent, the ground receiving no other attention than simple ploughing. The average product of this rude cultivation is, so far as my observation extends, considerably greater than that of the careful cultivation in the States east of the Mississippi river.

Irish Potatoes grow here more luxuriantly than in any of the States east of the Mississippi. No manure is used. No attention is paid to the different varieties, but all grow with thriftiness. The "potato rot" does not affect the crop in California.

Sweet Potatoes grow as thriftily as the Irish potatoes, but they are not much cultivated-the prevailing taste being in favor of the Irish sort. Fruit.-Nothing has been done in the way of fruit cultivation. The climate and soil are admirably adapted to the raising of grapes, peaches, pears, plums, &c.; but it is not probable that apples would flourish as well as in a colder climate.

Manures.-No fertilizing agents have ever been used on any of the lands cultivated, so far as my observation extends.

Meteorology. I am not aware that any record of the range of the thermometer has ever been kept here, but have observed in midsummersay in July and August-a temperature of more than 100 degrees; and should say 96 degrees a fair average for the months of June, July, and August. The 12 hours of night, during those months, are cooler than the hours of day-time by 15 or 20 degrees. For the winter months, 65 degrees would probably be near the average of the day hours, and 55 degrees of the night hours.

During the "dry season," which commences in April or May, and closes in October or November, it is seldom that any rain falls. In the summer of 1849 we had slight showers in August; in 1850, a drizzly rain in September, which continued three days; and in 1851, two slight showers in September-no other rains falling during the last three dry seasons. During the month of January, 1850, J. E. P. Weeks, a resident of this place, kept a record of the number of rainy days in the month. This record he compared with a similar one kept at Boston, and found that in the month of January about as much rain fell here as in June in Boston during the same year. That year much less rain fell than the year before; and up to the present time this year, we have had less rainy weather than last.

General Remarks.-About a sixteenth or twentieth part of all the land, from the foot-hills of the Sierra Nevada to a range 20 miles nearer the summit, can be cultivated to good advantage, and will produce, without irrigation, one crop a year of small grains or roots. The character of the arable land is alluvial, being the earthy and vegetable matter that is washed from the neighboring hills. It is covered, during the rainy season, with rank grasses and wild flowers, which ripen as the dry season approaches. As no rain falls after the dry season has once commenced, the vegetation becomes parched; the different seeds fall to the ground; and thus are reproduced those flowers and weeds which grow from seeds. Much of

the vegetation, thus ripened and dried, affords good food for neat cattle and horses; so that, though no grass grows in summer, cattle will thrive through the year in the open field.

The mines in the neighborhood of the valleys afford a ready market for the products of the soil, at prices ranging much higher than are obtained in the Atlantic States. The yearly crops, when irrigation is not used, should be raised in winter; but when there are facilities for moistening the lands by artificial means, a crop may be raised at any season. I have the honor to be, most respectfully, your obedient servant, GEORGE H. CAMPBELL.

NEW MEXICO.

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO,

January 30, 1852.

SIR: I have the honor to enclose to you a communication from Dr. J. F. Hammond, of the United States army, in reply to your "Agricultural Circular." Although quite a young man, Dr. Hammond is favorably distinguished by those who know him of riper years.

With great respect, I am your obedient servant,

Hon. THOMAS EWBANK,

Commissioner of Patents.

J. S. CALHOUN.

FORT FILLMORE, NEW MEXICO, October 16, 1851.

SIR: The following replies to the questions in the "Agricultural Circular" of the United States Commissioner of Patents in August last, and forwarded to me by yourself, apply to Socorro, in north latitude 34° 2′ 39", and longitude 7h. 7m. 54s. west from Greenwich, and less than 4,500 feet in altitude above the sea, and to Doña Ana, in north latitude 32° 23′ 61", longitude 107° 1′ 55′′ west from Greenwich, and about 3,000 feet above the level of the sea.

The land is river-bottom on the Rio Grande del Norte, with very little vegetation upon it, and containing a very large proportion of chloride of sodium, nitrate of potassa, and sulphate and carbonate of lime.

Wheat.-Guano is unknown here. The product is never estimated by the acre, but by the quantity of seed sown. The average product to the bushel planted is 75 to 100 bushels. It is planted generally at Socorro, about the middle of January; though it is better when planted in the fall-is more hardy, fills better, and matures earlier. The depredations of the animals prevent the latter season being universally chosen. There are no fences nor ditches for protection, and the animals, though under the care of a herder, stray at liberty during the winter. At neither place is there any preparation of the seed for planting, and the quantity used per acre is about half that used in the United States. The land is broken, and the seed planted at the same time by drilling, and is never ploughed a second time. Time of harvesting is August. The plough used is the conical-pointed Mexican plough, generally pointed with iron.