STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 77 



made to Europe, with the same favorable results. Thus, in the great 

 grain markets of the world California alread} T occupies a conspicuous 

 place, noted not only for the quantity produced, but for the excellence of 

 its quality. Let it be remembered that we as yet have a population of only 

 about live hundred thousand, whilst we have about sixty-five millions of 

 aci'es suitable for agricultural purposes, less than two millions of which 

 are in actual cultivation. When it is borne in mind that, owing to the 

 amazing fertility of the soil and the variety of its products, a family can 

 he maintained in comfort upon an area incredibly small, as compared 

 with other countries, it requires no prophetic vision to foresee that, 

 when our unoccupied millions of acres shall be reduced to cultivation, 

 and improved methods of culture shall be introduced, we can not only 

 support a population of many millions, but California must, of necessity, 

 become one of the richest agricultural districts on the habitable globe. 



It is, therefore, to the farmer, the honest tiller of the soil, that we must 

 chiefly look for the highest development of our material wealth. And 

 here let me inquire, what other country wears so captivating an aspect 

 to the thrifty, enterprising, industrious former? His lands will produce 

 from twenty-five to thirty bushels of grain per acre, with moderate care; 

 and the next year he will get a good volunteer crop of twelve or fifteen 

 bushels to the acre, without sowing. His grain is free from weevil, but 

 seldom damaged by rust or smut, can be harvested without fear of rain, 

 and then thrashed and piled up in the field until sent to market. The 

 winters arc so mild that but little fuel is required, and, for the same 

 reason, stock demand but little feeding. When we add that all kinds of 

 stock thrive and grow beyond precedent, comparative!}' free from dis- 

 ease, and that the most delicious fruits and the finest vegetables abound 

 on every side, we complete the picture of this farmers' elysium. But 

 why need I repeat facts which you all know better than I? Why 

 weary you with dry details, which are as familiar to you all as the days 

 of the week? Suffice it to say, that whilst these millions of acres 

 remain untilled, let no ungrateful wretch complain that he can find no 

 work for his hands to do in California. Instead of loafing about the 

 cities earning a precarious living, often by questionable methods, and 

 daily complaining of a lack of employment, let him go into the country 

 and rent, if he cannot buy, a small piece of land. If he will then go to 

 work upon it with courage and industry, abstain from vices, deport him- 

 self honestly, and thank God that his lot has been cast in so goodly a 

 land, he will soon have cause of gratitude to me for this advice. If 

 unmarried, he will soon be worthy to become the husband of some honest 

 girl, which, if he be a sensible man, he will consider it his bounden duty 

 to do. 



But it is not in agriculture alone that the future wealth and grandeur of 

 California are to find their culminating point. Much of the raw mate- 

 rial we produce must be fashioned by the cunning skill of the artisan 

 into new forms of beauty and utility. Our wool must be woven into 

 cloths, carpets and blankets; our silk into beautiful fabrics, to adorn our 

 wives and daughters, and to lend an additional grace to fair women in 

 other lands. The rough marble in our quarries must be hewn into forms 

 of grace and beauty, to adorn our dwellings, or perchance to perpetuate 

 our names by means of urns and obelisks. Our fine woods must be 

 carved and polished into shapes of symmetry for use or ornament, whilst 

 our coarser woods are transferred into clipper ships or ocean steamers. 

 In short, manufacturing and mechanical skill is the twin sister of agri- 

 "lJture, and the two have thus far advanced in California like two young 



