STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 217 



ling, choice varieties cannot fail to improve the qualities that have won 

 their fame. 



Nowhere do soil, climate, the aspects of nature, and conditions already 

 achieved so happily unite to draw and hold an enterprising population. 

 Those fortunate circumstances that render life beyond the mountains so 

 great a boon are seriously affected by the rigors of winter and by desolat- 

 ing storms that sweep down through the summer skies. Thousands are 

 looking in this direction, hoping to find more tranquil, if not more prosper- 

 ous homes. We welcome to our favored land the men and women of toil 

 and wholesome culture, and all who, with means and taste to cultivate and 

 adorn the homes they purchase, are willing to transfer to us those virtues 

 that have so long proved a blessing to the eastern portion of the continent. 

 We would advance to meet them, and extend a Christian greeting, while — 



" They reach these happy fields, 

 Gardens, and groves, and seats of living joy, 

 Where the pure ether spreads with wider sway, 

 And throws a purple light o'er all the plains." 



SPEECH OF E. B. PRICE, EDITOR OROVILLE "MERCURY." 



On Wednesday night of the fair E. B. Price, of the " Mercury," spoke as fol- 

 lows: It is not my intention to make a speech; the immensity of the pavilion 

 and the vast throng present render it impossible to be heard. Under the most 

 favorable conditions, language, no matter how eloquently employed, would 

 prove lamentably inadequate to the occasion. The vast aggregation of citrus 

 fruits, so artistically displayed before us to-night, speak with golden tongues 

 of the climate, soil, general productiveness, and incomparable advantages 

 of Butte County's citrus belt. From this eminence, surrounded as we are 

 by a million superb oranges and other fruits tastily arranged, and decorated 

 with the flowers and evergreens of the season, the scene is one of such 

 transcendent beauty and grandeur that the observer is bewildered with 

 admiration, and language seems insignificant. But, for the information of 

 strangers present, I will state that in this great county there are about one 

 thousand square miles of foothill territory, abundantly watered by the three 

 branches of the Feather River, all of which is rich gravelly soil, splendidly 

 adapted to citrus and deciduous fruits. Of this magnificent territory Oro- 

 ville is the citrus and geographical center. She is the queen city of Butte 

 County's citrus belt, and wears a coronet of colonies, destined in a few 

 years to become her rich, populous, and flourishing suburbs. Any ten-acre 

 tract in this princely fruit domain, in which king orange sways his golden 

 scepter, will abundantly support any industrious family, for an acre of 

 oranges at ten years old will produce a net annual income of $1,000. Thou- 

 sands of acres of this land may be purchased at from $20 to $100 per acre, 

 according to locality and condition. And, ladies and gentlemen, this great 

 section of country is beyond the experimental age. Her destiny is carved 

 in golden letters on the brow of futurity, and its brilliancy dazzles the most 

 soaring imagination. The golden glamour of this, our second annual Cit- 

 rus Fair, is but a faint glimmering of our golden future flushing with roseate 

 hues the sweet face of Pomona as she smilingly peeps over our horizon 

 into the promised land. The sun of prosperity has arisen upon this favored 

 land where May flowers bloom in December, and fresh strawberries adorn 

 our Christmas feast. There never will be as good a time asthe present for 

 the young, the old, the rich, or the poor to secure a home in this land of 

 perennial fruits and flowers. The eyes of the emigrating world are upon 



