PRODUCTIVENESS OF SMALL FARMS.

Patea Mail, Volume III, Issue 265, 27 October 1877, Page 2

PRODUCTIVENESS OF SMALL FARMS.

A-GalifoENlan paper says—Railway extension has worked wonders towards developing the resources of California;'' But for its railways this state would not have been in the van of progress; it would now be a comparatively unknown region in l the hands of sheep and cattle men, contributing little to the world’s wealth besides the products of, its. mines. Railway construction, however, revolutionized all this. Agriculture soon became the leading industry in the: state, consequent on cheap and rapid transport; and now that the Southern Pacific Line has opened the vast territory known as Southern California to beneficial occupation, the inarch of progress becomes proportionately rapid. Small farm settlement is superseding the large cattle and sheep runs in Los Angeles, San Bernardino and San Diego counties, and with the change of ' system comes a wonderful change over the natural features of the country. What was once bare and sterile is now covered with verdure, and tlie desert place blossoms like the rose. This is no fancy sketch, but a litoral fact which any one may verifiy by paying a visit to the drought-stricken districts in the southern-parts of the state. The man whose stock is dying from want of nourishment is not the small landowner but the man of “ broad acres,” and territorial importance. Take Anaheim, for example. In this j-oung seltlement there are probably 200 artesian wells flowing which render their owners independent of the rain-fall. Fruit, alfalfa and grain flourish, and the neighbourhood is fragrant witli sweet scented plants and flowers. A few years ago it was a bare sheep range without anything to distinguish it from the equally bare and barren tracts to be found elsewhere in Los Angeles and neighbouring counties. But the land was subdivided, and went into the possession of men who only own what they can profitably till. This is the secret of successful settlement in this state.

The Los Angeles Herald says :—“ The fact is we have been ruined in southern California by the notion that cv, rybody must have a large farm. This idea is opposed to the whole genius of the country, which requires the most minute attention of the tiller of the soil. For this'assiduity he is rewarded here as he can be nowhere else. He can have green pease on bis table, grown in the open air, every day of the year. He can surround Himself with the fig, grape, pomegranate, orange, lemon, and all the fruits of the temperate zone. It is not good for him to take all out of doors into his farm. He really wants a snug little place, and has got it be should put the necessasy labour upon it.”

It is estimated from actual experiment in Dos Angeles that 20 acres is sufficient for an industrious man to make a pleasant borne and rear a family in decent independence. “ With 20 acres of land,” remarks our contemporary, “ and an artesian well a farmer in Los Angeles county is independent of everybody, the weather clerk included. He can have his alfalfa and raise hogs and get rich at it. He can raise his two crops a year t-nl surround ' himself with everything that is most beautiful and gracious in flowers and other vegetation. He can, in fact, make himself a model home, from which the presence of the porker will not exclude the poetic. Hog wallows and orange groves do not at first sight harmonize, but they can be made to do so, and both may, . flourish on the homestead of the small farmer of southern California, j

Strangers and country settlers coming to Carlyle, are very often at a loss to know “which is the best and cheapest General Draoery and Clothing Establishment in the -district. E. A. Adams’ Cardigan House, offers special advantages that can be met with nowhere else in the district. He keeps the largest and best assorted stock of every description of drapery goods, imported direct—and from the best colonial houses ; which, being bought on the most advantageous, terms,' and having thorough knowledge 'of the business, enables him to offer goods of sterling quality at prices that cannot be . improved on by any other house in New .Zealand. Every article is marked in plain figures, from which there is no deviation ; so that inexperienced people are as well served as the best judges, the terms being net cash, without rebate or abatement of any kind. Note the address —R. A. Adams-; Cardigan House, nearly opposite Town Hall, Carlyle.— advt. Holloway's Pills. —All our Faculties. — Almost all disorders of the human body are distinctly traceable to impure blood. The purification of that fluid is the first step towards health, Holloway’s Pills, are not only recommended) but recommend themselves to the attention of all sufferers ; no injurious consequences can result from their use, no mistake can be made in their administration. In indigestion, confirmed dyspepsia, and chronic constipation, the most beneficial effects have been, and hut be, obtained from the rectifying exerted by these purifying Pills oveßfhe digestion. Persons who have been restored to the enjoyment of ease, strength, and perfect health by Holloway’s Pills, after fruitless trial of the whole pharmacopoea of Physic, attest this fact.