October i, 1S83.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



233 



small sections la a cjlony, and were likely to do 

 well. After a bit I asked him for a peep at the 

 dark side of the shield, and it was, as far as I could 

 make out, the unpleasant sandstorms, and the railway 

 monopoly. But he spoke iu a hesitating tone, as 

 if there were a good deal more behind, adding 

 at last. " That is the worst of it: you never 

 know or hear anything of the dark side of Califor- 

 nia until you are committed." We had a letter of 

 introduction to an old Oeylon sinna durai, Oleander, 

 his place of residence, and next morning drove off 

 after br^aktast to call on him. Things were not look- 

 ing a bit brighter : it seemed as if we were at Port 

 Said, so dry and barren was the place, and the cold 

 wind was drivini; the sand before it in clouds. A 

 mile or two of this brought us to the first of the 

 orchard?, when everything changed for the better. 

 True there was still the chill wind blowing, only 

 it did not bring with it dust and small pebbles, 

 but rustled the foliage of the trees, and swayed 

 the rich alfalfa grass ; and, instead of awaste, th?re 

 were bright flowers, neat cottages peeping from among 

 blossoming sliriibberies, and irrigating ohaniiels full 

 of charm, also carrying forward to the adjacent dis- 

 trict its power to beautify and bless. I fancy it was 

 the contrast to the barren country we had come 

 through which made the rural beauties of the older 

 colonies about Fresno so marked. In time we reached 

 Oleander, to be disappointed, h'j'vever: the gentleman 

 for whom we had the letter w.is gone, some montlis 

 before, to Lake C'ounty, a part of the gountry away 

 to the north. But the luck was not altogether ajjpiiust 

 us, for we were directed to a gentleman, the agent 

 for the Washington Colony, who turned out to be 

 well acquainted with the Ct-ylon man I had hoped 

 to see. This gentleman had beon a pioneer most of 

 bis life. Educated for the law, and on the bench 

 at one time, he was called Judge in couserjuence, 

 but his health failed, so he took to an open-air life, 

 and, like most Americans, had shown the national 

 restlessness. In his day he had founded .several col- 

 onies, some of which had been very successful : but 

 there he was at his old pioneer labours, instead of 

 resting content in some of the places he had re- 

 claimed from nature. He had great hopes of the ult- 

 imate success of Washington Colony, and we got a 

 good deal of information regarding it. As agent of 

 the colony, he honestly told us that he did his best 

 to try and induce people to take up land and be- 

 ciime sellers, so that a needful allowance should be 

 made in his opinions and views. From the top of a 

 barn, to which he had a flight of steps running over 

 the roof. We sa^v the boundaries of this new colony, 

 and had the occupied portions pointed out. The land 

 was divided into tv\'enty acre lots, and the price 

 asked was forty dollars an acre for cash, or fifty 

 dollars credit. Iu the latter care one hundred and 

 flity dollars had to be paid down for every twenty 

 acres selected, and the balance had to be paid up, 

 iu three years, with interest at ten per cent, which 

 was payalde every six months. 



The ocilony is a fruit-growing om) ; and ere long it 

 was hoped that a cannery would he erected for the 

 preserving of the fruil, which would save the expense 

 of seudniL; it elsewhere. Forty acres can be cultiva- 

 ted by one man : but if the proprietor desires the 

 work can also be done by contract. It w«s con- 

 sidered, that the levelling and heavy work at the 

 beginning should be given out in this way if possible. 

 Labour was dear : two dollars aday, for white labour, 

 and one dolhir fifteen cents for Chinese ; a Chinese cook 

 for the house, who could wash as well, would get thirty 

 didlars a nioutli. The cost of bringing an orchard 

 into bearing — partly fruit trees, and partly vines — was 

 estimated at one hundred and twenty-Hve dollars an 

 acre, exclusive of a house, which could be erected 



at an outlay of fifty or sixty dollars a room. If a 

 man did his own work, of course, it would make all 

 the difference. The above is for all labour paid. 



We could not learn what were the average returns 

 from these email holdings, but judging from the com- 

 fort able appearance of the older colonies, and the 

 well-to-do style of the people about, a living could 

 evidently be made. The Judge was of opinion that a 

 man with nothing but his hands would do well in 

 California, if he were i.ot ashamed of work and were 

 willing to tackle it ; but if he had five hundred dollars 

 or more after he arrived eo much the better. He let 

 out a drawback urged against his colony, that there 

 were fever and ague about. He, however, had been 

 three years there and had not had either. The Judge's 

 wife "ran" the post office— an exceedingly pleasant 

 and intelligent lady, and whose appearance was not 

 that of fever-stricken. Still I had the feverishness of 

 the place confirmed a day or two after at Los Angelos. 

 The driver of onr carriages then hearing we had come 

 from Fresno, said quite incidentally. " They use lots of 

 quinine iu that place"; that he had been there the 

 year before and got such a dose of fever, that it 

 took a long time to shake it off. He added after 

 some cross-questioning on our part : "Some have it 

 and some haven 't : but it ia a fine bit of country and 

 coming on fast." 



We were not able to verify all the figures given above; 

 we learneil, however, that the price asked by the Judge for 

 the land was high— for that kind of land — and that if a 

 man intending to settle would take time to look about 

 for himself, he could do very much better. 



We saw the work which was being done on the sec- 

 tion on which the Judge was located, and the progress 

 the fruit trees had made in the three years or so, and 

 certainly they promised well. We did not think, how- 

 ever, that any other of the cultivated blocks were to 

 be compared to it, and one which we visited, owned 

 and worked by a man who had thought of Ceylon 

 hut the decay of coffee had seut him to California! 

 had all the appearance as if the owner were half-hearted 

 about it. When we called at his hut, the end of a 

 barn, we saw at a glance that living " anyhow " meant 

 a sad want of comfort. 



Schools were to be found in the colonies — state 

 schools, where a plain education was to he had, but if 

 anything ijjove the verv common were desired, then 

 the children had to be seut elsewhere. The judge had 

 a daughter seut East to school, Philalelphia in fact 

 some thousands of inile.s from Fresno! 



Bright as these little colonies appear, there is a 

 cloud over them at present. Fruit-growing is over- 

 done. This we found to be a pretty general opinion, 

 although it was naturally hoped, that, as the growth 

 of the American nation was so rapid, the consump- 

 tion would soon over take the supply, and the indus- 

 try i'c again profitable. We were, however, too short 

 a time m tiie phice to do ought else than refiect the 

 usopinio of others, and our readers will understaml this. 

 The rising industry in Califnruia is vine-growing. 

 This was universally admitted, and through, the Kind- 

 ness of a friend who was acquainted with an experi- 

 enced viue grower, I submitted a few questions on 

 the matter, and have got exhaustive answers in reply. 

 They speak for themselves, and although m this en- 

 terprise money may clearly he made, it is eviden'ly 

 not the kind of thing a teetotaler can take up. Still 

 as the information has been sent me all ihe way from 

 California, I post it on, leaving it with yon to make 

 whar use of it you may. While at Fresno and Los- 

 Augelos, we visited several large vineyards and " wine- 

 ries," the latter immense places. The capital sunk 

 in them is very great, and the wine stnred in the 

 vats totalled a large amount. A quarter ol a milliou 

 of gallons was the quantity in one ot those " wine- 

 ries " alone. 



