To be idle, and live on capital, would
not, of course, suit any man who meant to succeed, and therefore he
would fill up his time in cultivating garden and poultry produce, for
which there is always a demand, or in getting some occasional
employment.
COST OF BOARD AND LODGING.
At Merced railway station is a very large hotel, and the cost of board
and lodging for emigrants is only 25 dollars, i.e., say, L5 per month;
to usual visitors it is 60 dollars a month.
RAISIN CULTURE.
The Pacific Rural Press, referring to the raisin vineyards in the San
Joaquin Valley, California, states: -
"What is especially interesting to the home-seeker in connection with
this information, is the fact that everyone of these vineyardists is
prosperous. No other horticultural industry is so profitable as the
culture of the raisin grape, in no other is the work so pleasant, and no
other yields a return so quickly."
An acre of Muscat vines in full bearing will yield from two to three
tons of grapes on good heavy soil. At 5-1/2 cents a pound in the
sweat-box, this means from 225 to 325 dollars per acre, gross. Numerous
instances are known, however, where the yield of an acre of Muscats
amounted to as much as 450 dollars, this being the result of careful
cultivation and favourable circumstances. Some grapes are borne on the
vines when they are one-year old, while two-year old's have been known
to bear a crop. At three years the vines pay the expenses and interest
on the money invested, and at four years from planting they bring the
first large paying crop.
The Merced Argus says of raisin culture: -
"One of the great charms of raisin culture is the extreme simplicity of
its operations. WHAT CAN BE MORE SIMPLE than to pick a bunch of Muscat
grapes from the vine, and lay it on the ground. In six days the bunch of
grapes, without being meanwhile touched, has assumed the appearance of a
bunch of raisins, and has flattened out as if it had been pressed. It is
then carefully turned over, so as to expose the underside to the direct
action of the sun. In eight days more it is a perfect bunch of raisins,
and no act of man can improve it even in appearance. All the operations
of fancy packing are so simple, that a child may learn them in a day. A
single acre of raisin vines in a Merced Colony lot means handfuls of
bright, golden double eagles to the bright-eyed children of the Merced
farmer in the near future.
Harper's Magazine for January, 1891, contains an article on
California, which all persons interested in that State would do well to
read.
