WHY HE CHOSE A HOME IN KERN COLONIES. 



87 



California oranges bring a higher price than those 

 grown elsewhere, yet I have not found even a real 

 estate man in California who claimed that oranges 

 were grown anywhere in the State without irrigation. 

 The persons referred to in my last letter, who had 

 lived ten years in the Greeley Colony of Colorado, 

 told me that all their potatoes were grown by irriga- 

 tion and that they invariably brought the highest 

 prices in the eastern markets. Choice wheat is also 

 grown in Colorado as in California by irrigation; so 

 are the Fresno raisins, which bring the highest price 

 obtained for the American product. These, with simi- 

 lar reports which I have learned from people who 

 formerly lived in Utah and other irrigated regions, 

 have convinced me beyond doubt that the statements 

 circulated against fruits grown by irrigation are 

 started by real estate agents or fruit-growers whose 

 interests are best subserved by falsehoods, or 

 who are ignorant of the facts. I found no person 

 in California who has had experience in cultivat- 

 ing the soil which is supplied with first-class water 

 rights who desire land anywhere for fruit-growing 

 where irrigation is impossible. In fact, the official 

 statistics of California show that nearly all the immi- 

 gration to this State during the last ten years has 

 been to the irrigated counties, and I see no indication 

 of a change in this regard. 



Comparing the California horticulturist with the 

 Illinois farmer concerning the esteem with which 

 each is regarded in his particular locality, I find a 

 marked contrast. There he is called a hayseed by 

 the shopman who lives in the little village, but here 

 he is regarded in much the same light as the country 

 gentleman of England. In the colonies where the 

 orchards have arrived at full bearing age, I find that 

 their prosperous owners enjoy the ideal country life. 

 In their homes are found more papers, magazines, 

 books and pianos than could be found in my New 

 England home when I left there, or can now be found 

 in the richest portions of Illinois. The profits from 

 fruit growing enable the industrious and frugal to 

 enjoy the comforts of life here as nowhere else that I 

 have seen or heard of. There is something in Cali- 

 fornia besides the pleasure of climate and scenery, 

 for while they relieve the monotony of country life, 

 the climate brings health to the invalid and makes 

 possible the luxurious vegetation. 



The little farm well tilled brings prosperity to its 

 owner, and makes close neighbors, which enables the 

 country people to enjoy many of the advantages of 

 city life without being compelled to endure its vices. 



This State is a most desirable place for children 

 and old people. Here they can enjoy God's sunshine 

 more than 300 days in the year. It was quite prop- 

 erly remarked by a real estate agent in Bakersfield 

 that California was the latest of creation, just next to 

 paradise, so that all who visit this part of earth will 

 have a faint conception of the promised land " from 

 whose bourne no traveler returns ". Judging from the 

 many interviews I have had with people in this state, 

 none of them desire to return " back East ", as they 

 call it, except to tell their friends of the enjoyment in 

 this land of sunshine. 



California was first called the Golden State on ac- 

 count of that precious metal found so abundantly here 

 in 1849, but that is also a proper designation now by 

 reason of the golden fruit and the metal given and ex- 

 changed for the same. 



Yes, there is poverty in California, and that will be 

 found anywhere, but there is less excuse for it here 

 than elsewhere. Many shiftless people come here, 

 as they went to Oklahoma, and are now searching for 

 some other Eldorado, but they are too indolent or 

 careless to pick the gold from the trees, even if it 

 could be found there. People who can keep the 

 mortgage off the farm by the severest kind of industry 

 and economy in the eastern States, could soon enjoy 

 sufficient prosperity here that they might afford the 

 comforts of life as well as the necessities. A single 

 man who comes here to make a home on a farm 

 should have a thousand dollars or more ready cash, 

 and a married man double that amount. Of course 

 most of the millionaires of California came here poor, 

 while others came with small fortunes and lost them 

 by speculation. In my estimates I refer only to the 

 average man who is willing to work and economize, 

 and who will leave all kinds of gambling alone, 

 whether it be the card-table, mining stocks or town- 

 lot booms. Some will succeed here who bring no 

 money with them. 



Those of our friends who have small incomes from 

 their business in Illinois can remain there if they 

 desire until their orchards will yield an income, and 

 employ others who desire to come at once to care for 



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