Vol. LXIV. No. 2872. NEW YORK FEBRUARY 11, 1905. 
IVORK AND WAGES IN CALIFORNIA. 
Is it easy to get a job in the orchards a'nd groves of Cali¬ 
fornia? What pay do the fruit growers give to the pickers 
by the day? How much do (he fruit pickers get a pound or 
box or tray if they work by piece work? IIow long do the 
fruit pickers work a day? If you advise me not to go to 
California to work, why not? Is it safe enough to live in 
tents? Are any insects on the fruit and orange trees poison¬ 
ous? Are rattlesnakes and poisonous and non-poisonous 
snakes numerous in California? Do they, the insects and 
ants, go in the tents often? header. 
Thirty-one years ago last October our family, con¬ 
sisting of father, mother and 11 children emigrated 
from Minneapolis, Minn., to San Jose, California. We 
were duly warned by friends, who had read of the 
terrors of this State, of the dangers that we would en¬ 
counter, such as earthquakes, grizzly bears, rattlesnakes, 
centipedes, scorpions, tarantulas and numerous other 
things dangerous to life and limb. With these warn¬ 
ings in mind, we were at first a little 
timid about venturing too far into 
the country or mountains, and fully 
expected to see snakes, at least, al¬ 
most anywhere, but up to the present 
time we have looked in vain for griz¬ 
zlies, rattlesnakes, centipedes or scor¬ 
pions, except in cages at the parks or 
shows. 
Earthquakes we have felt perhaps 
once a year, and have come to welcome 
them as interesting occurrences which 
provide material for conversation other 
than the usual remark about the wea¬ 
ther. These trembles are not infre¬ 
quent, but it is only when all is quiet 
at night that they are noticeable, 
and the usual question the next morn¬ 
ing is "‘Did you feel the shake last 
night?” However, about a year ago 
an unusually severe shake cracked a 
good many chimneys in this section, 
and by stopping clocks, spilling milk 
out of pans, upsetting vases and other 
unstable articles, made things lively for 
a time in the middle of the night. As 
I remember, it was not nearly so 
rude an awakening as T often experi¬ 
enced when a boy and inclined to over¬ 
sleep. Tarantulas are quite plentiful, 
and are, of course, poisonous, but I 
have never heard of any serious con¬ 
sequences from tarantula bites, al¬ 
though two of my children have been 
bitten. 
FRUIT PICKING.—This work is 
usually done by the day, except picking prunes, which 
are picked from the ground, and are paid for by the ton 
or box, according to the agreement. I he average wages 
paid for day work are $1 per day and board, or $1.50 
per day without board. A day’s work is 10 hours. 
Prune picking ranges from $1.75 to $3.50 per ton, accord¬ 
ing to size of fruit and crop. I he fruit picking season, 
when extra help is needed, begins about June 1, when 
cherries are ripe in shipping quantities; then follow apri¬ 
cots, peaches, prunes, pears and apples, with other minor 
varieties in their season, up to November. Active, intel¬ 
ligent men, quick to learn and do, make a reputation 
during the fruit picking season which usually enables 
them to get work the rest of the year at general work 
on the ranch. I hat is, the fruit grower selects the best 
men from the help that he employs during fruit season, 
and lets the poorer ones go. As to capital required on 
arrival, so much depends on the season and the energy 
of the man behind the capital that no stakes can be set 
to guide prospective newcomers. 
LIVING TN TENTS.—Tt is not only safe and prac¬ 
ticable to live in tents in California, but exceedingly 
pleasant from April to November, as no rain of any 
amount falls during that season. By preparing for rain 
with a good canvas top and board door the rainy season 
may also be passed very comfortably in a tent. Men 
with families are often enabled to get employment in 
the outlying districts if prepared to take care of them¬ 
selves and camping near the ranch where the work is. 
New trolley lines have been built the past year, and 
others are now building, which add much to the conven¬ 
ience of workers in the country, enabling them to get 
supplies from the numerous towns in the valley, and also 
to attend church if they wish. h. g. keesling. 
Santa Clara Co., Cal. 
THE PARCELS POST IN FRANCE. 
The parcels post system has been in operation in this 
country for a number of years, and has always given 
entire satisfaction to the public. It is a Government 
monopoly like the post, telegraph and telephone systems. 
Although the railways belong to large private com¬ 
panies, they are nevertheless under the dependence and 
control of the State, which grants them concessions and 
guarantees the payment of the interest of the funds in¬ 
vested in their construction and running in case of their 
not yielding enough profits to ensure a dividend to the 
shareholders. Moreover, all the railway companies will 
go back to the State after a certain number of years. 
I’he State has the supervision of all the tariffs on all the 
lines, all the rates of freight having to be approved of 
by the minister of public works before they can be 
applied. 
Under these conditions it has been easy to organize 
a parcels post system in this country. All the railway 
companies being under control of the Government, have 
been compelled to accept contracts to carry small par¬ 
cels, the same as they are carrying the mails. Conse¬ 
quently we can send at reduced prices from any one 
railway station or parcels post office in France to any 
other station or office on French territory any parcel 
weighing not more than 10 kilos, i. e., 22 pounds. The 
price of transportation is the same for each class of 
parcels no matter what the distance is, nor how many 
different railway companies the parcels have to be car¬ 
ried by before reaching their destination. 
We have three classes of parcels, as follows: Up to 
three kilos, about pounds, .6 franc, or about 12 
cents; from three to five kilos, from (5 /> to 11 pounds, 
.s franc. Hi cents; from five to 10 kilos, from 11 
to 22 pounds, 1.25 franc, 25 cents. For five cents extra 
all parcels are delivered at the consignee’s residence in 
all the places where railway companies make freight and 
express deliveries. 
< )ur system gives entire satisfaction to the majority 
of the people, the large concerns established in Paris and 
other cities sending out daily thousands of post parcels 
to the inhabitants of the country. On the other side, the 
country people ship the product of their 
farms, poultry, eggs, butter, vegetables, 
direct to the consumer, saving in both 
cases the profit of the middleman, 
lake, for instance, a customer of 
mine living in Marseilles, over 800 
miles away from here, wanting 100 
kilos of goods for immediate shipment. 
I will make 10 parcels of 10 kilos each 
and send them by parcels post for $2.50, 
and he will receive them in two or 
three days. Were I to ship these 100 
kilos by fast freight it would cost about 
$0; by ordinary freight the expense 
would only be $1, but it would take 
the goods about 15 days to reach their 
destination. 
In the United States, the railways 
being all owned by private and inde¬ 
pendent companies, I can see only one 
way of establishing a parcels post sys¬ 
tem on the principle of ours: The 
Government having already contracts 
with the railroad companies for the 
transportation of the mails, why should 
it not extend its contracts to the trans¬ 
portation of parcels, and since a letter 
can be carried from any place in the 
States to any other point for two cents, 
why could not a parcel be carried in 
the same way at a rate corresponding 
with its weight? This is only a matter 
of understanding between the Govern¬ 
ment and the different transportation 
companies. I may add that outside of 
our inland system, our Government has 
made arrangements with all the other countries and col¬ 
onies of the world, the United States excepted, and we 
can at any time send a parcel to Canada, China or Aus¬ 
tralia, with no more trouble than we would have for 
mailing a letter to these different countries. 
France. Raphael barbe. 
SOME CLOVER EXPERIMENTS. 
About a year ago we inquired through The R. N.-Y. 
as to the advisability of sowing clover seed on an old 
meadow where the Timothy was very thin. The con¬ 
sensus of opinion from a number of prominent farmers 
was that it would not pay, but that it would be better 
to plow and reseed by the usual methods. As an exper¬ 
iment, however, we sowed one “through” across one side 
of the field. The result was a fine stand of clover when 
we plowed the field for wheat after harvest. The result 
may have been due to the peculiar season, as this was 
a clover season throughout Ohio. Clover grew every¬ 
where. We have one field on which clover has not been 
sown for several years, and which we had intended to 
plow for corn this year, but there is such a fine stand of 
