CONCLUSION. 441 



no Hessian fly or weevil in our wheat. The olive and the fig 

 grow luxuriantly beside the apple and the pear. We can pro- 

 duce olives better than any of the olive-producing regions of 

 the Mediterranean, because we have none of those storms of 

 thunder and hail and rain, which frequently destroy the crops 

 in southern Europe and Asia Minor. The vine produces more 

 abundantly than in any part of Europe, and the crop has sel- 

 dom failed or been destroyed here, as often happens there. A 

 yield of one thousand gallons of wine to the acre is as frequent, 

 proportionately, in California, as of four hundred in France or 

 Germany. Our gardens are, in time, to be the most beautiful 

 in the world, resplendent with conifers and deciduous trees, 

 with the flowers of the temperate zone, and the luxurious plants 

 of the tropics. The shrubs, which in New York remain small, 

 and live only under shelter as delicate exotics, are naturalized 

 in San Francisco, grow almost to tree-like size, remain green 

 throughout the year, and bloom during most of the months. 

 The rosebush is covered with flowers from January to Decem- 

 ber. 



Domestic herbivorous animals live and increase without 

 shelter, and without cultivated food, ^hey reach their full 

 growth a year earlier than in the Eastern States. The absence 

 of extreme cold gives them a more rapid growth, and exemp- 

 tion from many diseases. Sheep produce more wool, are 

 healthier, increase more rapidly, and are kept at far less cost 

 in California than in any American State east of the Rocky 

 Mountains. Bees increase more rapidly, and make more 

 honey here than there is any record of their doing elsewhere. 

 Thunder and rain storms kill a large proportion of the silk- 

 worms in Italy, France, Turkey, and China every year ; in 

 the valleys of California we never have any lightning, and no 

 rain during the season when the silk-worms feed. 



The wages of labor in California are higher than in any 

 other part <>f the world. Mechanics' wages are generally 

 from two dollars and fifty cents to four dollars per day ; com- 



