273 
Monterey the price ranges from 50 cents to $2 50 per acre. In Del Norte, 
$1 25 per acre; chiefly mountainous, and all heavily timbered, mostly with red 
wood. In Amador our reporter says the wild lands are worthless. In Tuo- 
lumne these lands belong to the United States, and may be taken up by settlers; 
the valleys have a rich deep alluvial soil, capable of raising almost any crop 
with irrigation. The hills are volcanic, caleareous, granitic, and slaty, and fur- 
nish the best of sites for vineyards, and yield good crops of grain if sown early 
in the season. Our San Francisco correspondent, speaking for the State, says : 
We have so sparse a population, however, that there are vast quantities of good arable 
land which can be purchased of government at from $1 25 to $2 50 per acre, while some of 
the large grant owners are willing to sell good lands, but not very eligibly situated for 
market, at the same prices. The Central and Western Pacific Railroad Companies also sell 
land within a few miles of the line of their roads at from $2 50 to $10 per acre. Almost all 
of the valley lands of the State may be termed wheat lands, the great majority, with proper 
ploughing, producing from i5 to 40 bushels per acre. Almost any product of the north tem- 
perate zone can be raised on the ordinary lands in California. Besides the parties named 
the State has large quantities of swamp or overflowed lands, (which can be reclaimed 
at moderate expense,) and school lands in different sections which can be purchased at from 
$1 to $2 50 per acre. 
3. The soil of the valley lands is universally productive, while the mountain 
ranges furnish an abundance of timber. A large lumbering business is done in 
Tuolumne, a ready market being found in the valleys of that county, Stanis- 
laus and St. Joaquin, at from $25 to $50 per thousand feet. In Amador the 
timber is mostly cut, except in the higher eastern portion of the county border- 
ing on the ‘Sierra Nevadas, where remains some of the finest timber in the world, 
while in Del Norte and other counties the redwood timber is almost inexhaust- 
ible. The mineral wealth of this country is too well known to require detailed 
mention here. 
4. Wheat and barley are the staple products of all the valley counties except 
Los Augeles, El Dorado, and Sonoma. In Los Angeles and El Dorado wine- 
growing is the great interest ; a large quantity of grain, however, is raised in the 
former county. In Sonoma the wine-growing interest predominates, although 
grain of all kinds is raised in considerable quantities, that county being the 
second wheat-growing county. Wheat and wine are considered the most profit- 
able crops to raise. 
The products of the leading crops of the State for 1866 were as follows, in 
round numbers: wheat, 14,000,000 bushels; barley, 11,600,000 bushels ; oats, 
1,860,000 bushels ; hay, 360,000 tons; potatoes, 2,000,000 bushels; peanuts, 
182,000 bushels; beans, 240,000 bushels; butter, 4,500,000 pounds; cheese, 
2,100,000 pounds ; wine, 1,800,000 gallons; wool, 5,230,000 pounds. ‘Total 
value about $28,000,000, being several millions in excess of the gold products 
of the State. 
Santa Clara, Solano and Yolo are the largest wheat-growing counties, aggre- 
gating more than half the crop of the whole State in 1866. In barley, Santa 
Clara, Monterey and San Joaquin take the lead, producing more than one-third 
of the entire crop. Santa Clara also leads in hay, cheese and silk ; Mendocino 
in oats; Sonoma in potatoes; Sacramento in hops; Marin in butter; Santa Bar 
bara and Los Angeles in wool, and the latter county in oranges, lemons, grapes, 
wine and brandy. 
5. A variety of wheats are sown in California, but the white Australian 
appears to be the favorite, as it makes better flour, is productive, and rarely has 
any drawbacks in bad seasons; white Chili, Sonora and Club wheat are also 
sown in the interior counties. In Del Norte a white winter wheat is grown and 
preferred by many farmers because it is a winter variety, and also on account 
of the superior quality of its flour. In this county winter wheat is sown from 
September 1st to November Ist, and the spring varieties from February Ist to 
April 15, harvesting about the 10th of August; all grain sown by hand. In 
