There Are Also Deer, Hare, Rabbit, Quail, Large
Flocks Of Wild Ducks And Geese, And The Rivers Afford Such Fish As
Salmon And Trout, And The Deep Sea Splendid Fishing.
San Francisco has been called "a city of 100 hills." It has a population
of nearly 300,000 inhabitants, amongst whom are no less than 50
millionaires.
Its harbour is known all over the globe as the "Golden
Gate," and it has answered well to its name, for an entrance to its vast
resources has made the fortune of multitudes of people, and many going
there now are laying the foundations for future wealth.
The lands of California have the two essentials for successful
culture - a rich soil and genial climate, with plenty of sun, yet never
too hot and never too cold for out-door work, and most of its domestic
animals are never housed, and require no food but wild herbage.
FRUIT CULTURE IN CALIFORNIA.
Our lands at Merced, in California, offer to gentlemen wishing to make a
first or a fresh start in life a really good opportunity. It is
difficult to conceive how men with energy, enterprise, and a little
capital, can be content to sit in an office in foggy, blocked-up
London, "quill driving" from year's end to year's end, when a prospect
is afforded them, such as we now offer, of establishing a pleasant home
in a luxurious land, with a sunny, genial climate, and within about a
fortnight's travel of England, and where they would have the liberty of
being their own masters, and lay the foundation of a future competency.
CURRENCY.
As the currency in California is dollars, not pounds, we must ask our
readers to accustom themselves to dollars. A dollar is 100 cents, and,
roughly speaking, a cent is equivalent to a halfpenny, so that a dollar
would be worth, of our money, four shillings and twopence. Its value,
however, varies a few cents according to the place where it is
exchanged. Bank of England notes or pounds are never worth less than
four shillings and twopence, i.e., 480 cents or halfpennies, which, of
course, is four dollars and 80 cents, there being 100 cents in a dollar.
The decimal currency is extremely simple when once understood. Never
less than 4.80 is given for an English pound, but sometimes 4.82 and
4.85 is obtained.
MERCED.
The lands I have for sale are situate in the County of Merced, in
California, about 150 miles by rail from the City of San Francisco, They
are designated "British Colony," and at the nearest point are just one
mile from the boundary of the town of Merced, and two miles from the
railway station, hotel, shops, etc. Merced town is lighted by gas and
electricity, has water laid on, telephones, telegraphs, Court House,
Episcopal Church, Presbyterian Church, Cumberland Presbyterian Church,
Methodist Church, South Methodist Church, Baptist Church, and Catholic
Church, two schools, shops of various kinds; two railroads, the main one
running up to San Francisco, and down to Los Angeles and on to New
Orleans, etc., and the other, a branch line to Stockton, Sacramento,
etc. Merced is 175 feet above the level of the sea; it is a pleasant
little town, affords some congenial society, and I firmly believe will,
before many years have passed, become an important centre, because my
clients have brought water from the Merced River more than twenty miles
off, by a system of canals, and have formed a reservoir of 640 acres in
extent, with an average depth of 30 feet, and thus have given facilities
for irrigating the country round the town. It is certain to become a
great Fruit-growing district, as its soil is so fully adapted for the
purpose. It is much nearer to San Francisco than Los Angeles, and is
nearer also than Fresno and other districts which have already made
themselves a name for Fruit culture.
The country around Merced has a natural fall, and is drained by many
creeks, which are dry in summer, but contain more or less water in
winter.
THE LANDS FOR SALE.
Merced is situated in the celebrated San Joaquin Valley (pronounced San
Wharkeen), which is an immense level of fertile land, the soil generally
being of a rich sandy loam, but in some districts, such as that I am now
offering for sale, of a deep rich black loam of a highly productive
nature, in fact, it is the decomposed vegetation and alluvial deposits
of past ages, than which nothing could be more fertile. We have good
evidence that the land is especially suited for the production of
prunes, apricots, pears, peaches, olives, plums, small Fruit, such as
strawberries, blackberries, sweet and common potatoes, garden stuff, and
alfalfa. Alfalfa (or lucerne) is a great crop in America in places where
there are no old meadow lands for the cows. The land is, of course,
suited for all cereal crops, too. All the Fruits named can be dried in
the sun without artificial heat.
The lands are about 160 to 165 feet above the level of the sea, and, in
common with all the country round, they command a view on the one side
of the grand snow-capped Sierra Nevada Mountains, and on the other of
the mountains known as the Coast Range. Immense flocks of wild geese and
ducks (principally geese), are often on the land. There are also
"rabbits" on the land (so called), but they more resemble hares in their
size and habits and run.
There are some excellent Fruit orchards and gardens at Merced. In the
grounds around the Court House are some very fine orange trees, full of
fruit, and also in the gardens of private residents. One gentleman
kindly sent a bough of oranges, and other gentlemen sent other Fruits,
which may be seen at our offices. At the Buhach Colony, near the town
of Merced, are extensive orchards of Californian Fruits. Mr. Atwater's
gardens and orchard, a few miles from the town, are worth inspection.
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