STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 57 



STATE BOUNTY LAW. 



Among the many Acts of comprehensive sagacity put on the statute 

 book by the Legislature of our State, none is calculated to have a more 

 beneficial effect in aiding the development of the various sources of 

 wealth lying dormant throughout the length and breadth of the land, 

 than the preceding law, which offers munificent bounties for the produc- 

 tion of a great number of the articles most prominent in the wants of 

 civilized life. , 



In looking over the list of articles comprised under the head of raw 

 materials, it is seen that the law contemplates the production within the 

 State of every valuable fibre raised upon the four quarters of the globe, 

 as well as the growing of the three greatest luxury staples of everyday 

 life — coffee, tea, and sugar. 



The Legislature did not stop here. It also, in its unparalleled liberal- 

 ity, not only offered princely sums of money for the production of 

 crude material, but it proposes such a largess of bounty to the skilful 

 artisan and manufacturer as should insure the manipulation of this raw 

 material, when grown, into the various implements, fabrics, and uses for , 

 which it is adapted. It is a cause for congratulation to the people of 

 California, that under \h°. stimulus afforded b} T the prospect of obtaining 

 the large premiums offered, a number of articles largely in demand 

 have been successfully produced, and their future supply rendered a 

 matter of absolute certainty. That the production of some of the arti- 

 cles for which State premiums have been given this year were stimu- 

 lafed, if not directly induced, by the rewards offered, there is the most 

 conclusive evidence to believe; and it is hoped that the law as it is may 

 remain untouched by future Legislatures, except by adding to the present 

 long list of articles for which premiums are offered many things over- 

 looked at the time of its enactment. 



Among new articles of manufacture wdiich can be carried on to a 

 greater magnitude in this State than in any other country, may be men- 

 tioned copper. Throughout the length of California, covering a dis- 

 tance, of several hundred miles, with a width nearly equal to the average 

 breadth of the State, there are being opened thousands of ledges of 

 copper, many of which have already proved of extraordinary richness. 

 At present, all the ores taken out are, by necessity, sent abroad to bo 



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