one to raise the oil flax known as "California" for both seed and fiber, but this gave birth to no industry, although flax-seed growing for oil-making has continued in varying amounts from year to year. Esparto grasses were introduced into California about 1880 in answer to exhortation from a California lady who had observed weaving industries in Italy and claimed that California women should furnish mats, Italian style, for olive pressing. The plants were widely distributed and grew well, but the women were not more disposed to weave baskets than they were to spin flax and it was found that olive presses could work better with American inclosing fabrics than with esparto mats. The same history belongs to New Zealand flax (Phormium) for, although this plant serves an excellent ornamental purpose in many parks and private gardens, no fiber has ever been commercially produced from it. The same is true of sisal, the Yucatan product of Agave species. California "century plants" have attracted much attention by blooming at about one-eighth of the age their common name indicates and recourse to sisal production has been from time to time agitated but nothing has been realized, although from early days, cordage factories have operated with imported raw materials. Hemp has gone a little farther than cordage plants because, after scattered experiments in earlier years in various localities, there was commercial production on the lowlands of the Feather and Sacramento rivers but all such undertakings were abandoned about 1905, after shipment of the product to Europe. Experiments in hemp-growing were, however, resumed in 1922 on the basis of new inventions for fiber-extraction-in spite of the earlier conclusion that better use could be made of the land by growing products edible to man or to live-stock. Urged by the large importation of jute cloth and grain sacks from India for sixty years before elevators and bulkhandling of grain was entered on, the jute plant was introduced about 1890 but no one succeeded in getting a good growth in the plant which seemed to demand more strictly tropical conditions. CHAPTER VI ANIMAL INDUSTRIES OF CALIFORNIA In view of the fact that California's reputation for agricultural production rests chiefly on eminence in horticultural lines, it is interesting to note that in aggregate value of domestic animals the State stands fourteenth among the forty-eight of the Union. The progress by decades, as compiled from the reports of the United States Department of Agriculture, is as follows: VALUE OF ALL FARM ANIMALS IN CALIFORNIA It is notable that the great increases came during the first and the last two full decades. The great drive on fruit, which has resulted in an annual production with selling value of two hundred and fifty millions, did not cause a backward movement in animal husbandry, so the current great drive on animals need not be expected to depress the fruit industry, for the relations of the two are reciprocally beneficial in many ways. Especially in the line of producing animal manures which are coming into increasing appreciation for use on fruit lands, the live-stock industry may be considered as fundamental and indispensable. In connection with the total value of $234,000,000 of farm animals, the total annual value of marketed products is also interesting and it may be compiled from the data in Chapter IV in this way: VALUES OF CALIFORNIA ANIMAL PRODUCTS Slaughtering and meat-packing (1919) .$84,000,000 74,515,381 12,180,000 Therefore, without counting the value of the manurial by-product and the locally consumed products on farms and in villages, there appears to be an annual gross product value of $170,695,381 from an investment of $234,000,000 in value of farm animals. Of course the product value covers use of land and cost of labor and supplies, as well as a fair return on the investment, which is all that is expected of a prosperous industry. A categorical statement of the natural conditions affecting the live-stock industry in California with indication of their relation to policies and methods. may be undertaken in this way: 1. The absence of snow and ground freezing, except on mountain valleys or plateaux, renders light and cheap shelter sufficient. It is, in fact, frequently dispensed with altogether, but that is neither merciful nor profitable, in view of the little it costs to furnish it. 2. The mild climate gives a long grazing season and the dry summer furnishes dry feed, which is really good nutritious hay, cured as it stands. One who has land enough, including low and high, and pastures each in its best condition for green or dry feed, can carry all except dairy stock and hogs, without growing feeding crops and siloing. However, he alone reaps the full benefit of the climate who provides alfalfa or other clovers, silage, grain and roots, to save his pastures from being gnawed and tramped when too wet and his stock from all setbacks by even short spells of hunger. A certain amount of farming should always be associated with wild pasturing. This is often dispensed with, but it is not profitable in the highest degree. 3. The climate not only gives a long growing season to pasturage plants but multiplies the number of species which sustain the pasture. Speaking broadly, California pastures and fields include all the grazing and forage plants which can be grown in Europe from the reclaimed lands of Holland to the Alpine valleys of Switzerland. The hays, unwashed by rains and favored by dry air, have an average of concentrated richness and wholesomeness unknown to cured forage in humid countries (Chapter V). 4. The mild climate, free from set-backs due to |