16 



Experiments in many portions of the State, on a small scale, have 

 proved the correctness of our views, and have also, in our opinion, 

 shown that the industry could be so managed as to be very profitable. 

 The importation of raisins into our State is about fifty thousand boxes 

 a year, at a cost of from one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars 

 to two hundred thousand dollars. The importations of the United 

 States average about one million five hundred thousand dollars in value. 

 The process of making raisins is as simple as drj'ing apples or any other 

 fruit. When the grapes are thoroughly ripe they are picked and spread 

 on tables, or on the ground, cleaned and prepared for that purpose. 

 Two or three weeks exposure to the sun, and turning once or twice, 

 perfects the process, and the raisins are ready for boxing and market. 

 The black Corinth grape flourishes in our climate as well as any other 

 variety, and the Zante currant has been made from it to some extent 

 and of very superior quality. This is a most useful and delicious fruit, 

 and its general introduction and cultivation would be a great acquisition 

 to the fruit product of the State. 



THE MINING COUNTIES. 



The decline of the mining interest has reduced the population and 

 wealth of these counties within the last five or six years very materially, 

 and it seems to be a serious question how this depopulation and growing 

 poverty is to be checked. It has been avcII suggested that the land 

 embraced in these counties, both mineral and agricultural, be surveyed 

 and sold to actual settlers. This portion of the State is in extent some 

 three hundred miles long and twenty miles wide, and a very large pro- 

 portion of it is known to be verj T superior for the cultivation of nearly 

 all varieties of fruit, and particularly for the culture of the grape and 

 production of raisins, wines and brandies. It is no doubt also peculiarly 

 well suited to tea and silk culture. By carrying out the above suggestion, 

 and offering proper inducements for the cultivation of these valuable 

 products, and encouraging immigration from the countries in the middle 

 and south of Europe and Japan, these counties could at no distant day 

 be densely populated by a people skilled in these industries. Thus a 

 portion of our State now going to decay would be rendered one of the 

 most productive, healthy and inviting portions of the world — enriching 

 the State and the nation. 



RICE CULTURE. 



It is one of the strangest things in the history of California agriculture 

 that the cultivation of this grain has never been undertaken. AVe have 

 thousands of acres of land, on the lower Sacramento and San Joaquin 

 Rivers, eminently suited in every respect to the successful and profitable 

 cultivation of rice. Probably the best explanation for the neglect of this 

 product is found in the general and chronic indisposition of the American 

 — and particularly the Californian — agriculturists to step out of the old 

 grooves and routines of cultivation learned by the examples of their 

 fathers. 



We import and consume from forty million to fifty million pounds 

 of rice annually, in our State, at a cost of about two million five hun- 

 dred thousand dollars. We have a large population among us well cal- 

 culated lor this industry, and many of them are already skilled in its 

 management. By directing their labor into this channel, it might be 



