Wants and Advantages of California [pp. 338-347]

1872.] WAXNTS AND ADVANTAGES OF CALIFORN~A.
abundant crops. These counties have a
great number of streams that. can be
made available for purposes of irriga tion, under a proper system of which
they will become the most productive in
the State. Shasta, Humboldt, and Men docino contain tracts of fair agricultural
land.
In various parts of the State settlers
are living on land that has not yet been
surveyed. These men want to move to
localities where pasturage for their stock
is more abundant. They can not obtain
a title to the land before it is surveyed.
No one can molest them while they remain on the land, but, should they leave
it, any one may take possession of it.
They are, therefore, willing to sell their
claims for a small sum, generally not
more than the cost of the improvements.
Between Calistoga-in Napa Countyand Healdsburg- in Sonoma Countythere are for sale claims of this description amounting to twenty thousand acres.
In all parts of the State holders of
large tracts of land are cutting it up into
farms, and offering it for sale on easy
terms. The price is seldom greater than
the yearly rent paid for land of no greater productivetness in the British Islands;
and the purchaser has to pay only onefourth of the money on taking possession, and the remainder in four or five
years. Some are even offering farms of
forty acres for nothing, only requiring
the farmer to live on the land and improve it. Besides these forty acres, the
farmer has the option of buying or renting as much of the adjoining land as he
chooses.
It is universally admitted to be injurious to the State to have an immense
body of lands in the hands of a few individuals. Much as monopolists own at
present, they will, in all probability, yet
own five or six times as much, unless
Congress will amend the Homestead and
Pre-emption laws. Many million acres
of the land, now open to homestead and
VOL. VIII.-23.
pre - emption, are of such a quality that
they will not support a family on every
quarter-section. Yet this land is val uabre for grazing purposes. After it
has lain open to settlement for some
years, the Government, seeing'that no
one is willing to take it up under the
Homestead or Pre-emption laws, will or der it to be sold by private entry, when,
like all lands thus sold, it will fall into
the hands of the monopolists. To remedy this, the land should be classified,
and, where it is of poor quality, the settler should be allowed to pre-empt a section, or more if necessary.
Whether he intends to buy from private individuals,. or to pre-empt Government land; whether he intends to engage
in the production of cereals, wine, or silk,
the farmer, with moderate capital, will
find plenty of opportunities of securing a
desirable home. If he has a family, so
much the better; for young boys and
girls, if brought up to habits of industry,
are, at an early age, worth more than
their board. It is true, the farmer will
suffer occasionally from droughts; but
where is the country in which the crops
do not sometimes fail? In other places
the farmer loses his crop through unfavorable weather, after he has gone to
considerable expense in harvesting it.
Here, that never occurs. Owing to the
absence of rain in the summer and autumn, crops are harvested with less expense than in any other country where
the same rate of wages prevails. A
glance at the mode of harvesting will
show the truth of this assertion.
Hay is cut with a reaper driven by one
man and drawn by two horses, at the
rate of twelve acres per day. The price
paid to the owner of the reaper varies
from 75 cents to $ i per acre. Feeding
a man and two horses costs a trifle over
another dollar per day. The hay is never shook out to dry, as is done in colder
countries. It is next raked into rows,
preparatory to putting it into cocks.
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