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Just as elsewhere in the United States, there are persons, firms, or 

 corporations which make it their business to abstract titles. In 

 California, such a person or agency is not usually called an abstractor 

 of titles but a searcher of records. On smaller transactions, moreover, 

 it is not customary to insist upon an abstract of title, but to secure 

 in place of it a certificate of title, which is in effect a statement by 

 the person, firm, or corporation that it has examined the title and 

 certifies that it is valid or if the title is not clear states in what way 

 the title is clouded. In some of the larger towns may be found an 

 office, perhaps next door to the bank, over which is the sign "Title 

 Bureau." This means that the searcher of records has qualified under 

 the state law to issue for an additional fee a policy of title insurance. 

 While the searcher of records is not a public officer or the title bureau 

 a public agency, they, at present constitute the accepted method of 

 securing advice concerning land titles. Under existing conditions, the 

 new settler will do well to secure title insurance before purchasing land. 



HOW TO LOCATE 



Probably nothing can make a man keen in a horse trade save 

 experience. No law can furnish a man with judgment. The United 

 States and the State government are endeavoring to furnish informa- 

 tion on which men may base sound judgment if they are level-headed 

 and already have some knowledge of farming. Persons with no 

 knoAvledge of farming are advised not to purchase farm lands in Cali- 

 fornia until some months of experience have brought them into actual 

 contact with conditions. It is, of course, important to "help the 

 investor as much as possible through supplying accurate data, but the 

 buyers must assume some of the responsibility when they buy without 

 attempting to inform themselves." Detailed soil surveys of certain 

 counties of California have been made by the United States Bureau of 

 Soils and more recently a reconnaissance soil survey of California has 

 been begun by that bureau in co-operation with the California Agricul- 

 tural Experiment Station. At this writing a map. of the Sacramento 

 Valley, involving four and one-half million acres, has been completed, 

 and the other areas of the state will be completed as rapidly as possible. 

 These reports give an accurate and authoritative description of the 

 various types of soil, their adaptation to different crops, their methods 

 of management, and their ordinary commercial value. Wherever they 

 are available they should be studied before lands are purchased. The 

 California State Immigration Commission, with offices at the Under- 

 wood Building, San Francisco, will assist those seeking to purchase 

 land, as will also the California Development Board, with offices at 



