268 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



pounds. This, at the average price per pouud at San Francisco, (see 

 the following table,) twenty-four and one third cents, was worth the hand- 

 some sum of one million seven hundred and fifty-seven thousand eight 

 hundred and forty dollars. And very nearly that sum in money has been 

 exported to pay for the same, thus taking that amount from circulation 

 among the farmers of California in one year. They should have pro- 

 duced this butter and received this money, and thus added it to the wealth 

 of the State, and we hope they will take steps to secure it as soon as pos- 

 sible hereafter. There are many other articles, such as hops, tobacco, 

 cigars, almonds, raisins, figs, and prunes, with which a similar illustra- 

 tion may be made, and to which a similar remark may be applied. The 

 importance of this subject of producing for our own consumption many 

 articles now imported is not sufficiently appreciated. 



Major Adlum, who introduced into notice the Catawba grape, and in- 

 duced its extensive cultivation in the United States, very truthfully re- 

 marked, in a letter to Nicholas Longworth, its most successful cultiva- 

 tor : " In bringing this grape into public notice I have rendered my coun- 

 try a greater service than I could have done had I paid off the National 

 debt." 



So of the man who shall bring into proper notice and cultivation in 

 California the fig, the prune, and the raisin. He will have done the State 

 a greater service than he could have done by paying off her public debt. 

 We are fully convinced, from experience and observation, that there is 

 no country in the world better adapted in every way to their successful 

 production than California. And to appreciate the economical impor- 

 tance of their production by us we have only to refer to facts of com- 

 merce : There were imported into the United States in the } r ear eighteen 

 hundred and sixty, six millions thirty-two thousand five hundred and 

 sixteen pounds of figs, at a cost of two hundred and forty-five thousand 

 seven hundred and forty dollars; one million nine hundred and ten thou- 

 sand eight hundred and fifty-two pounds of prunes, costing one hundred 

 and forty-nine thousand four hundred and ninety-two dollars ; and thirty- 

 two millions one hundred and eleven thousand two hundred and ninety- 

 two pounds of raisins, costing one million nine hundred and twenty-three 

 thousand seven hundred and forty-six dollars, making a total cost of these 

 fruits of two millions three hundred and eighteen thousand nine hun- 

 dred and seventy-eight dollars, for which money or its equivalent had to 

 be exported from the United States. California came in for her propor- 

 tion, and, though we cannot give the exact figures, we know this was 

 relatively a large one, and our gold went to pay for it. In a few years, 

 by proper exertion our orchardists and vine growers may not only sup- 

 ply our own demand, but that of the whole country, and reap this golden 

 harvest. 



