Sacramento daily record-union., 1890-09-19

was sold during the present season for
$4,000 IL cash. the payment being made
before any of the fruit was removed. About
three years ago W. L. Buck. of Vacaville,
purchased from Thomas Wilson, of that
place. $50 acres of land planted to orchard
for $4,000, being at the rate of $500 per
acre. The trees planted thereon were for
the most part in bearing at the time. They
are now in full bearing, and the fruit pro-
duct of this year on the trees is estimated TO
be worth $4,000, or $500 per acre.
But let US here use the most conservative
figures furnished by A. T. Hatch, and de-
clare that $50 an acre is the reasonable ex-
pectation of profit to the fruit-grower.
Lands upon which this profit may be real
lied, may be had for $100 an acre. Here
then an agriculture may be prosecuted
which returns net annual profit of one
half the original value of the land. 1t is,
or should be, well known to you, as it is
well known to the cultivators of the soil in
the great agricultural States of the West,
that an annual profit of from 6 to 10 per
cent. would be regarded an extremely sa1is-
factory result on the lands valued at from
$40 to $50 and acre. But there are large
areas of land in California which may be
purchased for from $50 to $40 an acre, and
which, if devoted to those productions per-
mitted ty the higher possibilities of ch-
mate. would make them worth from $500
to $500 an acre within short period of
time. When the Eastern mind has ac
cepted the conclusion, for which the people
of California have contended for many
years, the accession of population will be as
rapid as has been observed in the Western
States.
When it is understood that lands which
may be purchased for $50 an acre, are easily
susceptible of becoming worth three or
four times that sum and that lands valued
at 800 per acre may readily become worth
$500 an acre. the intending immigrant will
be no longer deferred from casting his lot
with u.s. because the number of his acres
must be diminished. The true standard of
estimation of the value of land is not by
any unit of area, but by the unit of fertil-
ity, and by the standard of units relating
TO the possibility of a higher use for the
land. Acres may express the extent OF the
surface, but when value is under consider
alton, climatic possibilities and fertility are
the controlling factors. The true nethod
of determining values is by productiveness
rather than surface extent.
A recapitulation of the foregoing consid-
eratons presents our State as in the very
infancy of its development. Theindustries
upon which we are founding common
wealth have had less than twenty years of
history.
We have but recently, even but now,
acquired that intelligent perception of our
environment which will enable Us to avail
of the higher possibilities of our soil and
climate.
We are no longer remote il a COM
mercial aspect from the great centers of
commercial activity.
Economic methods of communication
have conferred upon us the equivalent of
physical contiguity with the rest of the
world.
More intelligent methods of agriculture,
improved conditions of the labor market,
combined with the constant decrease in the
cost of transportation, afford assurances of
the permanency of all our industries.
Our State has territorial area of $4,000
square miles, comprising an arabic area of
IS 900 GOO of acres, capable of supporting
ten times the population now in occupancy.
We have q climate which admits of the
economies of production as relates to every
industry, and confers upon US the broadest
diversity of production and the largest
future possibilities. We have large areas of
land under the conditions OF primitive
development as to values.
These facts constitute in themselves a
strong invitation to the home seekers
among our countrymen.
The love of Californians for their State,
which is proverbial throughout the world,
has ample justification. Where else on the
earth is there more inspiring cause for love
of ones country? In what other country
is there broader freedom of thought and
action? In what other country are the
alluring prophesies, which attend the hopes
of Young life, more certain of fultillment
or in what other country do greater bless
ings of peace and plenty minister to the
comforts of age? In what other country
is honest industry more respected, or does
labor earn a higher need of profit and
honor? Under our summer suns the fruits
of the tropics ripen without the torrid
rigors of the equator. Here the russet
brown Of our summer hills and the golden
stubble of the after harvest are the only
winter we know. Here the verdure of
spring ushers in the autumn, and the au-
tumn brings no forewarning of the bleak
dlscomforts of winter. Here winter is the
season when the warm brown earth is
turned by the plow for the seedtime, and
spring, with its flowers and ripening grain,
is opulent with the fruition of hopeful in
dustry. Nor are these all the attributes
which challenge our love. Here nature
has wrought its best enchsntment in the
sublimity of mountain nights, the bold
grandeur of cliffs, the pensive peacefulness
of lovely valleys and the expansive splen-
dor of fertile plains.
Looking backward we see history
founded in adventure. In the present, we
are laying the foundations of noble COM
monwealth by the establishment of perma-
nent industries. If patriotic devotion at
tends upon our love, and high endeavor is
the inspiration of our pride, they willripen
for our beloved State its growing harvest of
hope.