there is probably no country in the world that offers greater advantages for the successful cultivation of the grape and its conversion into wines and brandies. It therefore requires but little application and energy on the part of its enterprising population to secure an annual crop that will not only meet our own wants, but will supply a share of the demand existing abroad. Table exhibiting the Number of Grape Vines in Cultivation in the State of California during the Years 1856, 1857 and 1858. The number of vines in cultivation in this State in 1856 was 1,540,134, in 1857, 2,265,062, and in 1858, 3,954,548. Of this number, 1,650,000 are in the county of Los Angeles. The increase from 1856 to 1857 was nearly fifty per cent.; from 1857 to 1858, seventy-four per cent., and from 1856 to 1858, one hundred and fifty per cent. The arrangements already made for the season of 1859 indicate a large increase, probably of fifty per cent. to the present stock of vines. The vintage of 1857 amounted to nearly four hundred thousand gallons, -three hundred and eighty-five thousand gallons of wine, and ten thousand gallons of brandies; of this amount, Los Angeles County alone produced over three hundred and fifty thousand gallons, the remainder was manufactured in the counties of Santa Clara, Sonoma, Napa, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Butte, Sutter and El Dorado. The value of the entire crop is estimated at seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. * The average yield of each vine is about fourteen pounds (instances are frequent of twenty-five and thirty pounds,) of grapes, the amount necessary to produce a gallon of wine; estimating the yield of the present stock of vines at this rate, and there will be an annual product therefrom, when fully matured, of nearly eight millions of dollars. * In Santa Barbara there is a single vine which yielded during the year 1858 over two thousand pounds of grapes; one single stem rises from the ground a distance of five feet, and its branches, supported by poles, cover a very large area; its trunk at the base measures two feet in circumference. 2. LIVE STOCK. There are few States of the Union that are better adapted for the raising of stock than California. The extensive tracts of unoccupied land in almost every section of the State are covered, for the greater part of the year, with abundant crops of wild oats and grass, affording an excellent range for stock of every kind. The raising of sheep and the production of wool, have recently attracted the attention of the stock breeders of the State. The immense tracts of grazing lands, and the hills and mountain sides, furnish a rich pasturage for this description of stock for the entire year. A very laudable spirit exists among the agriculturists of the State to improve the character of their stock, and for that purpose a considerable number of the most approved. foreign breeds have been imported; the beneficial effects of such a movement are already to be observed in the appearance of the native stock. TABLE Exhibiting the number of Live Stock and Poultry of the State for 1856. TABLE Exhibiting the number of Live Stock and Poultry of the State for 1857. Totals......... 137,142 30,178 722,374 298,343 12,743 165,921 553,429 The great increase of stock in this State during the past few years, estab*lishes the fact that in no section of the United States, and perhaps the world, do live stock flourish better than in California. There is no branch of our resources of more importance to the permanent prosperity of the State, than that of stock raising, and every advance made therein not only adds to our present wealth but lays the foundation of our future greatness. The State Census of 1852 exhibits the live stock of the State as follows, viz: horses, 64,773; mules, 16,578; cattle, 448,796; sheep, 82,867; swine, 38,976; poultry, 96,230. The aggregate number of live stock, exclusive of poultry, in 1856, was 1,272,921; 1857, 1,366,701; and in 1858, 1,576,980. The returns of 1858 exhibit a slight decrease in the number of mules and swine, and a large increase in the horses, cattle and sheep. The number of poultry in 1858, 839,159. TABLE 20,506 814,642 417,909 12,176 150,943 839,159 SHEEP. The number of sheep in the State in 1856 was 253,312; in 1857, 298,343, and in 1858, 417,909. The increase since 1857, is 119,566 or 40 per cent. The accession since the returns of 1858 were made up, will increase this number to over 500,000. The remarkable increase of sheep during the past few years, is the best evidence of the adaptation of the soil and climate of this State to the rearing of this description of stock. A large number of the choicest foreign breeds have been imported, and every effort is being made by our enterprising agriculturists, not only to augment the present stock, but to improve its quality. In speaking of this department of stock-raising, the editor of the California Culturist, says: "There is no branch of our husbandry engaging the attention of our herdsmen, at the present time, that promises better for the future, than the raising of sheep. Large numbers are annually required for the shambles, more, even, than can at present be spared from our own flocks; most of such as * Returns from private sources. pass to the butcher, are supplied from northern Mexico, and not a few are annually driven over the plains from the Western States, at a large profit on their cost. From the latter, are principally made up the flocks of breeders, that here and there throughout the State, at no distant day, will have expanded into herds that would do no discredit to older States than ours. Already we have flocks varying in numbers from 500 to 5,000 choice ewes, kept purposely for breeding, and which money could hardly buy, so highly are they valued. And rightly are they prized, for the proprietor sees in his flock of 100 or 1,000 good ewes, a property that will annually net him 100 per cent. This in any other country than California, would be deemed a valuable property, a satisfactory investment. It is not unusual for 100 ewes, in California, to present their annual increase of 110, 120, and even as high as 130 lambs. This more than doubles the flock in numbers, whilst the wool more than pays all the expenses of care and keeping for the year. The great item in favor of the California sheep raiser, over that of the Eastern, is found in the little comparative cost of feeding, summer and winter. No hay is necessarily prepared for the winter, and the mildness of the climate renders it unnecessary to provide costly shelter for the animals or their food. Nature supplies them both to the fullest extent; all man has to do is to avail himself of her prodigality. There is not a doubt but that the climate of California will prove highly favorable to the growth of the finer grades of wool, and as the size of the animal of all breeds yet introduced is actually increased, either from the influence of food or climate, there seems nothing in the way of making wool one of the great and permanent exports of our State. All who have given their attention to sheep husbandry admit it to be among the best paying of all their attempts at animal raising." TABLE Exhibiting the number of Live Stock, the Wheat, Barley, Oats and Wine, produced by the different States, according to the Census of 1850. 225,319 41,667 791,510 762,511 1,702,625 2,981,652 9,631 5,278,079 10,563 N. Hampshire New Jersey.. 34,233 19 267,910 384,756 63,487 185,658 70,256 973,381 344 63,955 4,089 211,261 160,488 250,370 1,601,190 6,492 3,378,063 1,811 N. Carolina.. Ohio.. 165,584 21,538,156 25,590 New York ... 447,014 963 1,877.639 3,453,241 1,018,252 13,121,498 3,585,059 26,552,814 9,172 148,693 25,259 693,510 595,249 1,812,813 2,130,102 2.735 4,052,078 11,058 463,397 3,423 1,358,947 3,942,929 1,964,770 14,487,351 354,358 13,472,742 48,207 350,398 2,259 1,153,946 1,822,357 1,040,366 15,367,691 6,168 1 36,262 44,296 19,509 97,171 37,483 777,686 285,551 1,065,503 1,066,277 270,636 75,303 750,762 811,591 3,104,800 1,619,386 76,760 12,463 930,114 100,530 692,022 41,729) 61,057 218 348,848 1,014,122 66,296 535,955 272,403 21,483 1,076,269 1,310,004 1,829,843 11.212,616 30,179 156 183,433 124,896 159,276 4,286,131 209,692 3,414,672 Pennsylvania Vermont Virginia Wisconsin.. Totals... 49 18,875 215,232 1,013) 99 659 5,408 113 4,319,481 549,861 18,288.543 21,327,055 30,313,381 99,950,912 5,163,920 146,473,344 218,026 |