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commerce of this State alone now amounting to almost as much as 

 the entire foreign commerce of the country in the year when Califor- 

 nia made its first appearance in the world of commerce. The his- 

 tory of the world does not produce such another remarkable and 

 astonishing example of progress. Twenty years ago we were import- 

 ing bread stuffs. Last year we exported over twenty-three million 

 dollars worth of wheat and flour. 



In eighteen hundred and sixty-six we raised only fourteen million 

 bushels of wheat. Last year we produced thirty-two millions of 

 bushels. We now import food which we should not import, such as 

 hams, bacon, pickled pork, butter, and cheese. 



But our exports of food in the shape of wheat, barley, canned sal- 

 mon, etc., for last year, aggregated over thirty-one millions of dollars ; 

 so that, after paying a half a million of dollars for food, as articles 

 imported, we had a surplus of thirty and a half millions of dollars 

 worth of food to supply other people. Adding the value of wine and 

 wool exported, last year yielded thirty-two and a half millions of dol- 

 lars more than was required to feed the home population. 



The market for our fruit products is rapidly extending. Our dried 

 and canned fruits stand high in the Eastern States, also in England, 

 and I am informed by some of our most experienced and intelligent 

 fruitgrowers that there will always be a good market for all of our sur- 

 plus fruit, if of a good quality, and properly prepared, because of the 

 good reputation it has already acquired abroad. This is a fact most 

 encouraging to our orchardists, and indicates the manner in which 

 our foothills may be utilized, and made to contribute largely to the 

 wealth of the State. 



Our wheat production in eighteen hundred and seventy-six was 

 over eighteen million centals, and we exported over thirteen million 

 centals, all the product of our own State. And look at the amount 

 of barley exported. From the best information we can obtain, there 

 was on hand the eighteenth day of January, eighteen hundred and 

 seventy-seven, three million six hundred thousand centals. The 

 crop of barley was unusually large in eighteen hundred and seventy- 

 six. Our yield for this year will fall short in some portions of the 

 State, but, with the surplus of the last year's harvest, we will have 

 quite a surplus for export, and with the present prices the farmers 

 can have no grounds for complaint. While we sympathize with farm- 

 ers in some portions of the State, we must congratulate farmers in 

 other portions for the very large crops they have raised, and the fine 

 price they have obtained for the same, as the amount received from 

 the sale of our cereals this season will be equal if not greater than 

 any former season ; and the amount of corn raised is rapidly prov- 

 ing that we can produce a very fine article with proper cultivation ; 

 and as to vegetables, there is no portion of the globe which can excel 

 us in the production of the same. 



LIVE STOCK INTEREST — OUR HORSES. 



Take the noble thoroughbred horse, and see what improvements 

 have been made in the past fifteen or twenty years from our mustang 

 that ran wild over our plains. The Clydesdale and the noble Nor- 

 man, and the Percheron horse come in to take the place of the wild 

 mustang. The farmers in them have something. They can rely on 

 them when harnessed and hitched to a wagon or an agricultural 



