14 Transactions op the 



aggregate agricultural product of eighteen hundred and seventy-one 

 was somewhat less than in eighteen hundred and seventy, hut in conse- 

 quence of the higher prices obtained for most of these products it is 

 estimated that the total value of the year's crop was not much less than 

 in eighteen hundred and seventy. For instance: more fruit has been 

 exported this year than ever before, and much more money has been 

 realized for the crop. The wine crop was fully equal in quantity to 

 that of eighteen hundred and seventy — estimated at three millions of 

 gallons — and much better in quality, and a decided improvement in prices 

 has been obtained, giving to the producer a larger return. Again: the 

 wool product of eighteen hundred and seventy-one was in round numbers 

 twenty-five millions of pounds, against nineteen million four hundred 

 and seventy-two thousand six hundred and sixty pounds for eighteen 

 hundred and seventy, being an increase of five million five hundred and 

 twenty-seven thousand three hundred and fort}* pounds, or a little less 

 than twenty -nine per cent. While the average price paid to producers 

 in eighteen hundred and seventy-one was about twenty-seven and one 

 half cents per pound, that paid in eighteen hundred and seventy was 

 only nineteen cents per pound; so that while the product of eighteen 

 hundred and seventy brought the producers three million six hundred 

 and ninety-nine thousand three hundred and five dollars, the product 

 of eighteen hundred and seventy-one brought them about six million 

 eight hundred and seventy -five thousand dollars, or .over fifty per cent 

 increase. 



We doubt whether another State in the Union can make as good a 

 showing of agricultural products and values under such disadvantageous 

 circumstances. 



INCUMBRANCES TO THE STATE'S PROSPERITY. 



While it is a source of just pride and gratification thus to review the 

 achievements of the past, we cannot close our eyes to the fact that our 

 State in every stage of her industrial history has labored under many 

 disadvantages. While some of these have disappeared by the lapse of 

 time, and others have been removed by the Acts of the Legislature and 

 the decisions of the Courts, others still, of a serious and threatening 

 nature, remain to retard her progress in the way of material prosperity. 

 With eighty million of acres of tillable land within our borders, and as 

 we have seen of the most fertile and productive character, we are actu- 

 ally cultivating less than three million acres; and the total population 

 of the State is but five hundred and sixty thousand two hundred and 

 twenty-three persons. To make this picture still worse for the prospect 

 of a general development of our agricultural resources, upon which our 

 prosperity mainly depends, over one fourth of this entire population, or 

 one hundred and forty-nine thousand four hundred and seventj'-three, 

 are residents of one city — San Francisco — and nearly one half, or two 

 hundred and forty-nine thousand seven hundred and thirty-eight, are 

 residents of twenty-four of our larger cities and towns, leaving but 

 three hundred and ten thousand four hundred and eighty-five as resi- 

 dents of the smaller towns throughout the mining and rural districts of 

 the State, and actual occupants of the soil. In view of these facts it is 

 probable that our estimate of twenty-three thousand three hundred and 

 seventy-five as the actual owners and cultivators of farms in the State, 

 is rather above than below the truth. Why this scarcity of population 

 in the rural districts? Why so few farmers in a State possessed of such 



