are very abundant.

Pajaro Valley is unsurpassed in the production of

wheat and potatoes. A considerable portion of the level lands in Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and San Diego Counties in Southern California is sandy, but by no means dry. If properly irrigated, they could be made to produce bounteous crops of small grains. Several townships have been surveyed in this locality during the past year. The most extensive vineyards in the State are planted in the bottom lands of the Los Angeles, San Gabriel, and Santa Anna rivers, where the soil is almost pure sand, and yet vineyards, which have been in bearing for more than twenty years, and have never been fertilized, are now. as productive as ever.

The soil in some of the valleys in the lower counties between the Coast Range and the ocean is of almost inexhaustible fertility; it will produce year after year without any fertilizing, when properly cultivated. Figs grow abundantly, and as good as the best from the Mediterranean. Oranges, pomegranates, dates, limes, castor beans, English walnuts, bananas, sweet potatoes, and lemons, all flourish, and are produced in great abundance in this latitude. The heliotrope century-plant, oleander, and roses of numerous varieties, are in bloom during the winter months in the open air. Sweet potatoes weighing 17 pounds, and beets weighing 90 pounds are not uncommon.

The climate is such that crops grow the year round.

Day after day the sun shines in a cloudless sky for 200 days in the year. The nights are always cool, tempered by the ocean breeze.

Barns are not used by the California farmers for storing crops. The grain, after cutting and thrashing, is left lying in sacks upon the field until it is sold, often a period of months. In August and September the square piles of white sacks of grain in the stubble fields are a common and prominent feature of the California landscape in the agricul tural districts.

The aggregate amount of grain produced in California for the year 1869 was, wheat, 20,000,000 bushels; barley, 8,000,000; oats, 1,200,000; and maize, 1,000,0000. Of this aggregate it is estimated that 4,000.000 of centals of wheat will be in market for export, or from 200,000 to 250,000 tons.

Of the amount exported the greater portion goes to England. At Vallejo an elevator for storing and shipping grain has been erected. The shipment of grain in bulk, however, to Europe has not become popular.

The climate and soil of California are admirably adapted to the culture of the mulberry tree and the rearing of silk-worms; all varieties flourish luxuriantly without the means of artificial heat. It is believed this State will surpass all European countries in the production of cocoons, both in quantity and quality. The product for this year is estimated at 25,000,000. That superior silk fabrics can be manufactured from the native cocoon has been fully proved by the production of a beautiful silk flag of immense size presented to Congress by one of the most prominent silk culturists of the State, now on exhibition at the Capitol. The silk-worm is very delicate, and it is subject, in Europe, to many diseases, most of them traceable to climatic influence, from which this State is exempt. Climate is a matter of vast importance to the breeder of the silk-worm, and nowhere is it more favorable than in California. The worms are remarkably healthy and prolific, the cocoons large, the fiber strong and fine, the mulberry luxuriant in growth, and hardy. The California Silk Manufacturing Company, with a capital of $50,000,

is now erecting a factory at San Francisco for the purpose of developing this new branch of industry.

During the last ten years the area of land in the State devoted to viniculture has been rapidly augmented, and the manufacture of wine already forms one of the most important branches of industry. In Sonoma Valley the number of vines is estimated at 500,000, and in Los Angeles County, 3,250,000. In Anaheim Valley, in the lower country, a large breadth of young vineyards has been planted by a German colony. There are also extensive and flourishing vineyards in Napa Valley and San José, and it is believed that the aggregate of vineyards among the isolated hill-slopes of the mining counties is nearly equal to that of the large vineyard districts. The greatest success has been attained in the production of port, white wines, and the sparkling wines of the champagne class. The superiority of the climate in the mining foot-hills for the development of the saccharine element of the grapes, the volcanic soil, and the opportunity afforded for thorough drainage, and the facilities for irrigation, will eventually make viniculture in the mining counties one of the leading industries. Their climate is especially adapted to the production of the sherry and Madeira class of wines. The distillation of brandy is carried on quite extensively. The production of all varieties of wines for 1868 aggregated 2,587,764 gallons, and that of brandy, 257,333 gallons. The crop of grapes being abundant the result for the last year will show a large increase over these figures.

It is believed by persons competent to determine that the western slope of the Sierras, in this State, is as well adapted to the successful culture of the tea plant as the tea-producing districts of China, a subject elsewhere specially considered in this report. In El Dorado County a company of Japanese tea culturists has recently located for the purpose of engaging in this important branch of industry. Their experiment gives them great encouragement and promises abundant success. The hop crop is larger and more regular in California than in any other country. The summer rains, which wash the lupuline or bitter dust from the blossoms in Europe, are unknown in this State, as are also the mildew and hop insect, which are destructive only in moist climates. The average yield is three quarters of a ton per acre, from vines in full bearing, and in England and New York about half as much. Not only is the yield in this State larger, but the quality is better, for as there are no showers during summer there is nothing to carry away any of the strength. Several lots of California hops have recently been sent to Europe, as it is stated they possess desirable qualities lacking in those of European growth.

There are essentially two climates in California, the interior climate and the coast climate. The latter derives its low temperature in summer, and evenness of temperature throughout the year, from the ocean, the water of which, along the coast, stands at from 52° to 45° all the year round. The mean temperature of summer in San Francisco differs but little from that of winter. From May until November the sky is cloudless, the sun comfortably warm, and the breezes gentle. Fogs are frequent along the coast during a few hours of the day in summer, rendering the atmosphere somewhat humid. The winters correspond with the month of May in Washington. The climate of the interior differs from that of the coast in having no fogs, the winter 4° colder, and the summer from 16° to 20° warmer. The climate of Sacramento corresponds with that of Naples throughout the year.

The mean temperature of the different seasons in the following localities is thus shown:

The annual amount of rain-fall in San Francisco is about one-half that of the States east of the Mississippi, being 21.41 inches. San Diego has only one-half, and Fort Yuma one-seventh that of San Francisco.

Thunder-storms are very rare in California. Lightning is not seen more than three or four times a year at San Francisco, and then it is far off, playing about the peak of Mont Diablo, 30 miles distant: Thunder-storms are sometimes witnessed high up in the Sierra Nevada, but very rarely in any of the valleys of the State.

Earthquakes occur in some parts of the State, especially at San Francisco, Los Angeles, and near the Tejon Pass, at the southern junction of the Sierra Nevada and Coast Mountains. They are usually less frequent and less severe in the northern than in the southern portion of the State. However, no person has been injured, nor has any well-constructed building been damaged by earthquakes in California since the American conquest. Several brick walls in some of the towns have been injured, but they were lightly constructed and with weak foundations.

Although the annual production of gold mining in the State, is not now as great as in former years, the decrease is confined chiefly to the placer yields. In quartz mining more work is being done and in a more skillful manner, and there are more mines in successful operation. The business is flourishing and improving, with a good prospect of continuous increase. Many of the old mining enterprises have failed, owing to want of experience and skill, but of the enterprises entered into during the past five years in quartz mining the successful proportion is much larger than ever before.

The mining industry of the State having ceased to be a matter of general excitement, as in former years, has settled into a regular occupation, like that of agriculture, lumbering, and manufactures.

New discoveries have been made in various localities, but only one during the past year that has attracted general attention, which is the discovery of quartz gold mines in San Diego County, about 42 miles northeast from the city of San Diego, where quite a town has sprung up. The quartz veins, varying from six inches to two feet, encased in a wall of talcose slate, are found amid a series of high rolling hills. Some of the samples are reported to have yielded $100 per ton. The aggregate product of gold in the State during the year 1869 is approximately estimated at $31,000,000. The coinage of bullion for the same year at the San Francisco mint amounted to $14,363,550.

Discoveries of tin, silver, gold, and cinnabar are reported in San Bernardino and Los Angeles Counties, and some important discoveries of ancient silver mines are stated to have been made among the low rock ranges in the Mojave Desert in the southeastern portion of the State.

The quicksilver interest is not now so prominent as in years past and the production not nearly so great, yet still some of the older mines obtain a fair yield.

There is a splendid field for great development of manufactures in the State, and the building up of extensive mechanical industry is inevitable.

The manufactures are, at present, principally confined to San Francisco, and operated by steam; but there is an abundance of water-power along the base of the Sierra Nevada, and many unoccupied sites for steam factories in the interior, equal to any in the commercial metropolis. Among the new branches of manufacture, introduced during a recent period in San Francisco, are the Pacific Rolling Mills, erected at a cost of $1,000,000, having a capacity for manufacturing iron bars and rods of any shape from 4-inch to 36 inches in diameter.

This establishment was much needed on the Pacific slope, and will do away with the importation of a vast amount of manufactured metals, and have a tendency to stimulate new branches of labor by furnishing supplies of home materials. The large capital of these mills and their contemplated scope of manufacture in copper as well as in iron promise to do more to develop the resources of the State in these metals than all similar enterprises now in operation combined.

The Mission Woolen Mills and the works near Point San José have consolidated, intending to double the machinery and employ 1,200 operatives. The blankets made in these factories are equal, if not superior, to any made in the world. The fabrics produced consist of tweeds, beavers, cassimeres, shawls, blankets, flannels, and ladies' cloakings. It is estimated that this State and Oregon will produce the present year 19,000,000 pounds of wool, of which 14,000,000 pounds will be exported, leaving 5,000,000 to be manufactured here. Large woolen manufactures are also in operation at Sacramento, Oakland, and San José.

The Golden City Chemical Works has a capital of $2,000,000. At the Pacific Glass Factory is made the coarser quality of glass vessels. There are three manufactories of acids and other chemicals, which supply the assay offices and mint.

There are eleven extensive flour mills, capable of manufacturing 500,000 barrels of flour annually. Eight saw mills turned out 8,950,000 feet of lumber in 1868. Three sugar refineries, have a capacity nearly double the local consumption. One establishment alone is capable of refining 120,000 pounds daily.

An immense tower in San Francisco is devoted to the manufacture of shot, and its owner has also a large establishment for the manufacture of lead pipes. There are in successful operation in and near the city extensive rope and cordage manufactories, powder works, Pacific Oil Works, Lead Works, and manufactories of various agricultural and mining implements and machinery.

The railroad enterprise, characteristic of American citizens, has been actively extended to the shores of the Pacific. Already the prosecution of this enterprise is attested by railroads traversing the State in many directions, while others are being rapidly constructed. The Central Pacific-a portion of the great transcontinental road-extending across the breadth of the State, has recently enlarged its side-tracks, and buildings for repair shops and manufacturing have been erected at Sacramento on an extensive scale. The Western Pacific connects Sacramento with San José, and has a branch at Oakland and Alameda, opposite San Francisco. The company has extended the long wharf at Oakland, during the year, 2,400 feet, making a total length of wharf of 24 miles in the direction of Yerba Buena Island, where ships drawing 24 feet of water can take in and discharge cargo.

The Western Pacific has also extended a branch for some distance up the San Joaquin Valley. A railroad is contemplated to connect Stockton with Visalia, with a view of forming connection with the Southern Pacific Road. The California and Oregon Road, under the control of the

The

Central Pacific, has been completed from Sacramento northward as far as Chico, and it is expected will be in operation to Red Bluff, at the head of navigation on the Sacramento River during the present season. Southern Pacific road has been completed from San Francisco to Gilroy, in the direction of San Diego. A railroad is projected from a point on San Pablo Bay, through Petaluma, and thence up the Russian River Valley to the northern coast lumber regions. The Sacramento Valley road, in process of construction, will connect Placerville with Sacramento. Other minor roads in different sections of the State, undergoing construction or already in operation, might be mentioned. The decennial census of 1870, it is believed, will exhibit a population/ in California of 600,000. There are about 60,000 Chinese in the State, 30,000 of whom are engaged in mining, or as operatives in factories and manufactures. The remainder are scattered over the State, engaged in the most menial labor about the cities and towns.

San Francisco, the great commercial center of the State and, indeed, of the whole Northern Pacific coast, without a rival from Valparaiso to Puget Sound, has a population of 150,000. In the value of foreign merchandise imported San Francisco ranks next to New York and Boston, surpassing Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New Orleans. The annual imports amount to about $60,000,000. The entire trade of the northern and southern coasts centers here, and here the great valleys of the interior pour in their agricultural and mining products. The annual exports of treasure, including the silver of Nevada, are $40,000,000, and of merchandise produced on the coast, $23,000,000. Among the exports of 1869 were the following values: Wheat, $8,734,348; flour, $2,058,919; wool, $2,370,165; quicksilver, $747,671; furs, $635,533; wine, $499,628; brandy, $209;610; copper ore, $117,133; salmon, $180,367.

The total number of vessels, of all classes, arriving annually is about 3,400, with a total measurement of 1,100,000 tons. There are 5,000 landholders in the city, and 29,000 depositors in savings banks.

The assessed value of real and personal property is $104,000,000, more than two-fifths of that of the entire State, of which it has about onefourth of the population.

Sacramento, the capital of the State, and the second city in size, has a population of about 25,000. It is situated on the Sacramento River, 130 miles north from San Francisco, at the junction with the American River. It is regularly planned, with wide streets and well-constructed brick buildings, and several important manufactures. The capitol building is one of the finest specimens of architecture in the Union. The city has many elegant suburban residences, with streets flanked by beautiful shade trees, and in this respect excels San Francisco, where the shade tree is almost unknown. This is the principal depot for supplying the agricultural and mining districts of the north and east. The several railroads centering here have materially increased the business of Sacramento during the last year.

Marysville, situated on Feather River, 75 miles north of Sacramento, with a population of 9,000, has considerable trade with the northern mines.

Stockton, on the San Joaquin, 125 miles northeast from San Francisco, with a population of about 8,000, is the principal depot for supplying the southern mines and the agricultural population of the adjacent valleys. It is the terminus of several railroads and is destined to remain one of the most important interior towns of the State.

The other principal agricultural towns are Los Angeles, Visalia, San José, Oakland, Vallejo, Napa, Petaluma, and Benicia, with a population