The Sun.
London, England, 1869-02-11 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, T;TURSDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 11, 1E69.

MISCELLANEOUS NEWS.

to be agTered • Upon. raupers rbiglit be maae'
supporting on this principle." This suggestion seems
open. to one grave defect. The number of paupers
is so large that it would produce the articles neces-
sary to supply the wants of paupers many times
over.

Bismarck on the bill for sequestrating the property eine
ex-King of Hanover has been published. The Prussian
Chancellor insisted that an Hanoverian Legion was
directly supported by a personage residing at Hietaing—
meaning King George—and that the Prussian Govern-
ment was perfectly justified in withdrawing the
money used for this purpose, or, in other words,
in confiscating the property from which these
funds were realised. The legion, furnished with Austrian
passports, had been transferred from Austria to Switzer-
land, and thence to France. The French Goverment,
though it could not refuse these refugees an asylum, had
nevertheless separated the officers from the men, and had
forbidden all military exercises. The yearly cost of the
legion could not be less than £45,000. The most important
feature in this version of the speech is the entire absence
of the offensive remarks relative to the French Emperor,
which caused such ill-feeling in Paris. Has the speech
been edited ?

round. The pear is par excellence, the fruit of Cali-
fornia, each grown tree now standing yielding 40
bushels annually of the most delicious pears. Nor
is there any drawback, for disease is unknown, and
the fruit neither suffers from frost, severe cold, nor
furious storms. Strange, too, to add, though their
growth is so rapid and their bearing so early, the
trees are not subject to quick decay, many in the mis-
sions, after having produced for 30 or 40 years,
are in as good condition as ever, not once having
failed to bear a crop during the last 20 years. A
Frenchman might exclaim, " This is the land for
the grape !" and he would be right. It certainly
has no superior, if an equal, for the growth of the
vine and the manufacture of wine. The yield is
larger, the freedom from disease greater than in the
best European vineyards. Seldom is the crop less
than 1,000 lbs. of grapes per acre, ranging up to
20,000 lbs., and this with little labour ; for, though
in Europe the vine is trained with a stock four feet
high and fastened to a pole put up annually, in
California it stands alone. Three hundred varieties '
have been cultivated, and all have given proof that
every wine can be produced even superior in qua-
lity to that imported. In 1867 the vines planted,
and soon to be in bearing were estimated at thirty
millions, nearly all being the resultof some five years'
labour. Hock, champagne, port, and claret are the
varieties of wine already exported. In 1867 the
quantity manufactured was four and a half millions
of gallons, and for next year seven millions
is the estimated produce. In 1868 five millions
gallons of wine and three hundred thousand gal-
lons of brandy were made. A spur has been given
by the reduction of the tax on grape brandy to 50
cents a gallon, and a large distillery has lately got
into operation at Calistoga. Seven hundred tons
of grapes were consumed in the manufacture last
season. But the most interesting branch of in-
dustry which the marvellous young State has in-
augurated is the cultivation of the mulberry and the
silk worm. The general absence of rain from May
to November, and of explosive electricity, is said to
be a highly favourable climatic condition. The worm
is very healthy and produces fine cocoons, which
sent to France for examination were pronounced
superior in excellence, and exceeding in measure-
ment the European by 50 to 100 yards of silk ; and
in consequence large orders were received from
French establishments requiring new blood. But it
is not only the worm which thrives so wonderfully,
for the mulberry tree grows with the same rapidity
as the fruit trees, yielding immense quantities of
leaves. Eight hundred thousand cocoons were, the
Commissioner tells us, brought into the market in
1865, and six times that number in 1866, while two
large silk factories were manufacturing silk of great
excellence. Silk culture was introduced mainly
through the exertions of Mr. L. M. Prevost.
Salmon and white fish are plentiful in the rivers,
and a variety of sea fish abound on the coast.
The hills and plains furnish grass for immense
herds of cattle and sheep, and farming is "a
great branch of industry. Perhaps the finest
scenery in the world is to be found in California,
for the country combines everything which makes
up a beautiful landscape. It has mountain ranges
almost unequalled in magnitude, studded with
beautiful vallies, through which run perennial
streams. It has grand lakes and rivers, and the
noblest of known forests. The valley that corn
bines the most striking and the most beautiful
scenery in one view, with a series of the greatest
of waterfalls, is the Yo Semite, and the groves
found along the slopes of the Nevada have become
one of the world's wonders. That of Calaveras
contains trees running from 250 to 360 feet, and
in some the trees range up to nearly 400 feet ;
several of them being more than 33ft. in diameter.
We have alfeady in a former number touched on the
Californian produce of grain, which is rapidly becom-
ing the most important export of the State. The yield
per acre is astonishing, some times equalling 60
bushels, and the quality is such that it fetches the
highest price in the New York Market, being espe-
cially rich in gluten, while its dryness makes it
peculiarly valuable for export, more especially to
tropical climates, being less liable to ferment and rot;
and it is said to absorb moisture and increase in weight
in transit. Of barley, Mr. Hill, on a farm of 100 acres,
raised a crop of 14,909 bushels. We cannot then
wonder that a country so favoured for agriculture
should in a large degree become agricultural, and the
basis of Californian stabilityis derived from the most
genuine source, and that one which never fails.
The census of 1860 gave a population of 379,994,
which has now increased to about 600,000. On the
previous census, that of 1860 showed an increase
of 150 per cent. in ten years in the acreage enc!osed ;
and fifteen-fold in value, while the live stock in-
creased from four-fold to two hundred-fold, and in
value twelve-fold. The annual growth of San
Francisco is computed at 10 per cent., that rate
having proved the law for ten years past, though the
actual increase for last year was over thirteen
per cent. Calculating the population to be 143,000
at this rate the increase in 1872 would make it
207,000. The greatest marvel of the State, how-
ever, is the progress of its manufacturing industry.
Even in 1860 there were 8,468 establishments with
a capital of $22,051,096 using raw material valued
at $27,051,674, the cost of labour beiag528,402,287,
and the product of the year's operations $68,253,228,
leaving a profit of $12,799,267, or 58 per cent, on
the capital invested. No official returns have lately
been made, but enough is known to show an enor-
mous increase, of which the best proof was fur-
nished in a recent exhibition of Californian
industry, held at San Francisco. Beside the
silk, to which we have already alluded, woollens
take a high rank. All the wool raised on the
Pacific Slope was consumed in its own mills as well
as considerable importations. Blankets of a very
superior quality were principally manufactured,
but there are excellent cloths as well. Paper, rope,
tobacco, sugar refining, and a great variety of other
manufactures thrive, but the main industry is di-
rected to supplying machinery of all descriptions
for the mines ; steam engines, both stationary and
locomotive, quartz crushing, pumping, and all
manner of devices for raising and reducing ores.
The growth of the distilleries has necessitated the
manufacture of glass, which is now among the
numerous articles of its commerce. When we give
the railroads constructed in the State, it will not
surprise our readers to learn that rolling mills are'
in operation, and everything necessary to build
and supply a line with all its requirements. Indeed
a machine unknown to Europe, of which a minute
account was given in our colipons, has lately been at
work in aiding in the building Of the Central Pacific.
Nor must it be overlooked that one of the greatest
feats of railway engineering ever accomplished was
by this State in surmounting the difficulties of the
ISierra Nevada. The railroads at present in actual
operation are as follows :—Central Pacific, Sacra-
mento to State line, 138 miles long ; San Francisco
and San Jose, 50 miles; California Pacific, from.
Vallejo to Sacramento, 60 miles; Valleja Junction
to Calistoga, via Napa, 361 miles ; Sacramento
Valley, from Sacramento to Shingle Springs, 45
miles ; Central and Yuba, from Folsom to Marys-
ville, 40 miles ; Marysville to Oroville, 30 miles ;
Almeda to Oakland, 20 miles ; Petaluma to Itud-
sill's Landing, 3 miles—total number of miles, 4221.
Besides the railroads enumerated, there is one six
miles long in Contra Costa county, which is used
exclusively to transport coal from the Mount Diablo
mines to water navigation. California, though
not destined in the future to be supported by
its precious metals, was made by the discovery of
gold. It was conquered from Mexico in 1846 and
afterwards purchased. In 1850 it was admitted as
a State, but this was not accomplished until two
years after the discovery of gold in the spring of
1848. James M. Marshall having erected a saw
mill on the south fork of the American river in the
present town of Coloma, saw, as the water rushed
through the tail-race, shining particles of metal,
which he recognized as gold. This was in March, yet
in July of that year 4,000 persons were working
on the American river, extracting from $30,000
to $40,000 of gold a day, which had accu-
mulated by November to one million sterling.
Next year the numbers increased to 15,000 '

persons, reaching before the close of 1849 to
55,000; soon the product mounted to $90,000,000,
and in the year 1853 the gold obtained was
$65,000,000. From that date California has be-