California rivals Oregon in tho extent of her salmon fisheries, the annual exports of salmon alone exceeding :,42,000,000 in value. The supply of this and other varieties of fish has been increased through the activity of the State Government in enforcing protective laws and establishing hatcheries. The annual exports of shellfish fall a little under $200,000 in value. The total value of the exports cif fish from San Francisco during 1895-97 exceeded $2,500.000. There is a large local consumption of salt fish— flounder, sole, and tomeod—the supply of which is secu•.d by drag-net fishing along the mud banks extending from Point Reyes south to Mon terey. The State ranks next to Massachusetts in whale-fishing.
California has no equal among the States, and, indeed, scarcely among the coun tries of the world, in natural agricultural possi bilities. 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 tem perate and the sub-tropical zones can be grown at will, with equal success. Since 1850 the agri cultural section of the population has increased more rapidly than any other. During the decade 1890.1900. the number of owners and tenants in creased 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 aide to obtain desirable farms on them. Still the aver age size of the farms in 1900-397.4 acres—was quite large, and there were 4753 farms which con tained 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 per acre, while the farms of 1000 acres and over averaged but $2.02 per acre. The smaller farms are de voted 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 character ized by the great predominance of wheat-raising.
Many of the large were almost exclu sively devoted to this industry, giving rise to the large ranch or farms of world-wide fame. Thus the production of wheat became enormons, at (me time exceeding that of any other State. This was accomplished for the most part without irrigation. The Defiance and the White Anstralian varieties were grown for mill ing, 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 ‘,f 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 in vented is more extensively used here than any where else in the world. The same machine plows the ground, prepares the soil, and sows the seed, and 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 substi tute 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 bar ley 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 valu able crops, and barley ean 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 eut green fur 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 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 lib out 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.