Excerpt from Suggestions to the Settler in California

In order to assist a new settler in California, a table has been prepared, from such data as are available, showing the yields that may be expected when the crop is grown by a competent man in a location adapted to it. The figures given below may be said to represent the best judgment of those who, through actual experience and observa tion, are competent to judge. The figures are in no sense official.

Too much emphasis cannot be placed upon the fact that the figures given in the table opposite are intended to apply to average land and not to the best land adapted to any particular crop. There are large areas in California Where five tons of alfalfa per annum may be deemed a safe estimate and where competent men would not under take to raise alfalfa if they did not expect six tons per acre. On the other hand, there are some areas where much smaller yields may be considered satisfactory.

The chief purpose of this table is to emphasize the teaching that the large yields which are obtained under very favorable conditions are not a true business guide. It is necessary to recognize that only fractions of such possible yields are obtained ordinarily in actual practice. Our purpose is not to try to state what yield may be obtained under each given condition of soil and climate, but to give a sort of working basis for reasonable estimation. Thus if in a given region, on a particular type of soil, one determines that it has been found possible to get a yield of thirteen tons of alfalfa per acre, tons of alfalfa would be a safe estimate for business purposes on the basis above stated. If, on the other hand, eight tons were found to be an extraordinary yield, then tons are all that could be safely expected as an average. However, it must always be kept in mind that the competent man may hope to secure better yields. The second and third columns in the following table are the ones to which the reader should give his chief attention.

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