TAKE CLOTHING AND BRIC-A-BRAC.
All kinds of clothing are dear. A good suit would cost L7 to L8, or, if
ready made, L5. Settlers should therefore take with them plenty of
clothes, sufficient, say, to last for five years, including boots,
blankets, linen, etc.; also bric-a-brac, and anything to add
cheerfulness and refinement to the home, but they should not take
furniture nor animals. Guns they might take, but not tools nor
implements.
SEA PASSAGE FROM ENGLAND.
Steamships run from Liverpool and Southampton at the following rates: -
1. - Cunard Company's Line. Liverpool to New York. During the summer
months -
1st class. 2nd class. 3rd class.
From L12 12s. to L26 5s. L7 L4.
During the winter months -
1st class. 2nd class. 3rd class.
L10 10s. to L25 L7 L4.
The third-class passengers are provided with a free ticket from London
to Liverpool.
2. - Inman Line. Liverpool to New York -
First class fares from L10 10s. to L25. Second class fares from L6 10s.
to L7 7s. Third class fares L4.
The third class includes a free ticket from London to Liverpool.
3. - The "White Star" Line. Liverpool to New York
1st class. 2nd class. 3rd class.
Summer season - L15 to L28 L7 to L9 L4.
Winter season - L10 10s. to L18 L6 10s. to L8 L4.
The third class passengers are provided with a free ticket from London
to Liverpool, and free tickets, if required, from New York to Boston or
Philadelphia.
4. - North German Lloyd Company. Southampton to New York -
First class, L14 to L23. Second class, L10.
5. - The American Line. Liverpool to New York -
Second class, L6. Third class, L3 16s.
Steamers leave Southampton, Liverpool, Glasgow, and Queenstown, thus
being convenient respectively for passengers from the north or south of
England, from Scotland, or from Ireland.
Steamers run from this country to New York, Philadelphia, Boston, or
Baltimore, but New York is the best port for Merced.
THE LAND JOURNEY FROM NEW YORK TO MERCED, CALIFORNIA.
Copy of Letter from the Southern Pacific Railroad Company.
"Our fares from New York to Merced, via New Orleans, are: - 1st class,
unlimited, L19 19s. 0d.; limited, L18 4s. 7d.; 2nd class, L12 8s. 4d.;
3rd class, L12 2s. 9d., all rail; L11 1s. 11d. by steamer to New
Orleans, and thence rail, food, and sleeping berth on steamer included.
The charges for sleeping car berths are: - 1st class, 22 dollars; 2nd
class from New Orleans, 3 dollars. There are no 2nd class sleepers to
New Orleans, except on the fortnightly excursion trains from Cincinnati,
leaving that city January 7th and 21st, February 4th and 18th; March 4th
and 18th; April 8th and 22nd, etc. The charge from Cincinnati is 4
dollars 50 cents. Third class passengers can travel in 2nd class
sleepers upon payment of the usual charge. The fares from New Orleans to
principal Californian points, including Merced, are: - 1st class,
unlimited, L14. 1s. 3d.; 2nd class, L8. 17s. 1d.; 3rd class, none.
Sleeping cars - 1st class, 13 dollars; 2nd class, 3 dollars.
Tickets may be obtained through Messrs, DOWSETT and Co., 3, Lincoln's
Inn Fields, London, direct from Liverpool to California, or any other
State en route.
ANALYSIS OF MERCED SOILS.
Having fitted up a portion of one of my offices with all the requisites
for carrying out quantitative analyses of surface soils, I requested
Professor Lobley, F.G.S., etc., to analyse the four samples of soils
which I brought with me from Merced.
A general analysis of four samples of soil from Merced, California, has
given the following results: -
SAMPLE A.
Organic matter (Humus) 5.5
Soluble inorganic matter 11.75
Insoluble silica and silicates 82.75
- - - -
100.00
SAMPLE B.
Organic matter (Humus) 4.25
Soluble inorganic matter 14.45
Insoluble silica and silicates 81.30
- - - -
100.00
SAMPLE C.
Organic matter (Humus) 5.25
Soluble inorganic matter 16.75
Insoluble silica and silicates 78.00
- - - -
100.00
SAMPLE D.
Organic matter (Humus) 3.5
Soluble inorganic matter 12.0
Insoluble silica and silicates 84.5
- - - -
100.00
The organic matter is available for plant growth.
The inorganic matter, soluble in dilute hydrochloric acid, is (with the
exception of the alumina it may contain) composed of fertilising
material. The substances found in the soluble inorganic matter of soils
are lime, magnesia, alumina, silica, phosphoric acid, oxide of iron,
oxide of manganese, potash and soda. The insoluble mineral matter is
nearly all silica. There is very little clayey matter in any of the
soils - not more than about five per cent. All the soils are remarkably
free from stones or pebbles, or even coarse sand.
From the above it will be seen that these soils, while possessing a
large amount of matter available for plant growth, are exceedingly
friable, and would be very easily worked. They would absorb heat
quickly, and from their porosity would require little drainage, and so
would be both warm and dry soils, and form fertile land suitable for
almost all kinds of agricultural and horticultural produce.
THE POSITION OF MY CLIENTS, THE VENDORS.
My clients, the owners of the land called "British Colony," at Merced,
are well-known persons - well-known as men of great wealth, and as
gentlemen of undoubted integrity, the Hon. Charles Crocker and Mr. C.H.
Huffman, whose enterprises in railway, canal, and other public works,
have been of gigantic proportions.
I have every confidence myself in dealing with these gentlemen, and I
submit that my friends, clients, and the general public, who may be
willing to take up any of this "British Colony" land at Merced, may have
full confidence, too, that they will at least be treated justly, and
more than that is not expected from strangers in business; but I believe
that I might add they would be treated liberally if necessity arose, and
I have ground for this statement from what I have heard of their
treatment of other persons who have settled in one of their other
"Colonies."
CALIFORNIA, MERCED.
