STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 21 



Q 



most, are under cultivation. The question may be asked— why? 

 Simply because we haven't people enough to settle them. Tlie people 

 who have settled here have done like the early settlers in all new 

 countries — tirst taken up and improved the bottom or valley lands. 



The Immigration Association of California has the names of many 

 sturdy farmers scattered through these remote districts, whose lal)ors 

 an(l successes through the hardshii)s of real frontier life for many 

 years, prove the great fertility of the lands on the high mountain 

 ridges, and on their foothills, and in their narrow valleys; in the 

 brush and timber, and on the open i)lains; above the Winter snow- 

 belt, and below it; in the regions where irrigation is not known, and 

 in those where it has been thought to be indispensable; also from 

 those places where crops cannot be grown witliout it. Time will 

 prove these statements. Time will settle these remote lands. Time 

 will see the more than nine hundred Spanish grants and other large 

 tracts of laud cut up into small farms. 



The space allotted to us will not permit of an extended discussion 

 of the lands not productive without irrigation, but which produce 

 astonishing crops with it. We believe there is sufficient water, either 

 running on the surface or beneath it, if properly stored and cared 

 for, to irrigate all the lands which require it. It is a fact, however, 

 which is being proved by experience every year, that much land is 

 irrigated that does not need it. 



Oranges have been grown from Bakersfield to Redding, and there 

 are many evidences of their doing well without irrigation. The 

 flavor is much improved, as is the case with all kinds of fruits and 

 vegetables raised without irrigation. It is also proven that this fruit 

 can be profitably grown even where the frosts are later and heavier 

 than in the southern counties. 



Neither have we space to discuss the winds, their currents and 

 effects, nor the rainfall, the seasons, or the climate in general; the 

 peculiarities which govern certain localities and have an important 

 bearing upon the utility of our fertile lands. Neither to tell of the 

 experiments with new things, of the wonderful yields of irrigated 

 lands, and other matters of interest connected with the subject. 



Our State is yet in its infancy. It is destined to be one of the rich- 

 est sections of the world. 



It is the second largest State in the Union: Texas, only, being 

 larger. It is nearly as large as the Eastern and Middle States com- 

 bined. Its length is about seven hundred and fifty miles; its average 

 breadth two hundred and fifty miles; and its area about 154,500 

 square miles. 



It is more than two and one half times as large as all of the New 

 England States, in which is included the State of Massachusetts, with 

 a population of 1,800,000. It is more than twice as large as the great 

 States of New York and Pennsylvania together, which support a 

 population of 10,000,000. It is larger than the three agricultural States 

 of Illinois, Ohio, and Missouri, within whose boundaries 7,000,000 

 of inhabitants live comfortably, and have an abundance of room to 

 spare; and which States still invite immigration within their borders. 



California has as much seacoast as the New England States, New 

 York, Delaware, New Jersey, and Maryland combined. 



The San Francisco Bay is a better harbor than any on the Atlantic 

 Coast; and the San Diego Bay is as good as any. 



The number of acres of agricultural land, including tule and 



