A settler might make a really good return out of potatoes while his
Fruit trees are maturing, which is a food more in use in America than in
England. Potatoes are not only served at luncheon and dinner, but also
at breakfast everywhere, and, if every settler planted his land with
potatoes, there would be no fear of overstocking the market.
Mr. Eisen states that potatoes yield from 50 to 400 sacks to the acre,
and sell at prices varying from 90 cents to 2 dollars per sack. If only
50 sacks were grown to the acre, it would show a scarce year, when
prices would range higher, but the crop is never a failure in
California. Two crops can be grown in a year; the first crop is planted
at the end of February, if warm, or else in March, or indeed any time
till the middle of May, and dug three months after; the second crop is
planted in August or September, and dug three months after.
To put in the potatoes a settler would need the help of a labourer, to
whom he would have to give one dollar per day and his board, or, if the
labourer be a Chinaman, one dollar and a quarter per day without his
board. If the potatoes occupied ten acres, and they produced say 200
sacks to the acre, and fetched 1 dollar per sack, that would yield 2,000
dollars, or for the two crops 4,000 dollars, or, say, £800. This sounds
a large sum, but the land is exceedingly rich, as may be seen from the
samples I have brought back, and large results may be expected from it
if properly worked, for, of course, in any undertaking the result
depends upon the way it is worked.
The following paragraph is from an important paper or periodical of 20
pages, known as the _Pacific Rural Press_, of December 13th, 1890, and
although the crop it mentions was not grown in California, it shows at
least what can be done on good ground:--
"Nearly 1,000 bushels of potatoes, or, to be exact, 974 bushels and 48
pounds, have been grown on one acre of land in Johnson County, Wyoming,
the past season. This crop wins the first prize of several hundred
dollars offered by the _American Agriculturist_ for the largest yield of
potatoes on one exact acre. It was grown on virgin soil without manure
or fertilizer, but the land was rich in potash, and the copious
irrigation was of water also rich in saline material. There were 22,800
hills on one acre, and 1,560 pounds of sets, containing one, two, and
three eyes, were planted of the early Vermont and Manhattan varieties.
The profit on the crop on this first prize acre was 714 dollars,
exclusive of 500 dollars in prizes."
Thus, this one acre would have produced £142 worth of potatoes. I do not
mention it as an example of what a settler may or may not do at Merced,
but as the land at Merced which I am offering for sale is of the richest
quality, rich results may certainly be expected.
COST OF GOODS, &c., AT MERCED.
per lb.
Beef (to boil), 8 to 10 cents
Beef (steak), 10 cents
Beef (shoulder), 10 cents
Beef (choice), 12-1/2 cents
Beef (porterhouse and tenderloin), 15 cents
Veal, 10 to 15 cents
Mutton, 10 to 12-1/2 cents
Pork, 10 to 12-1/2 cents
Sausages, 12-1/ to 15 cents
Corned beef, 8 to 10 cents
Bacon, 12-1/2 cents
Hams, 15 cents
Tongues, 10 cents
Flour, 4-1/2 to 5 dollars for a barrel weighing 200 lbs.
Tea, 25 cents to 1 dollar
Coffee, 24 to 45 cents
Candles, 15 to 20 cents
Chocolate, 25 cents
Cod fish, 10 cents
Corn meal, 3 to 4 cents
Cocoa, 50 to 60 cents
Cracker biscuits, 8 to 10 cents
Graham flour, 3 to 5 cents
Macaroni, 15 cents
Oatmeal, 5 cents
Rolled oats, 6 cents
Rice, 5-1/2 to 8 cents
Salt, 1 to 2 cents
Soda, 4 cents
Starch, 10 cents
Sugar, 7 to 8 cents
Sugar (house), 6-1/2 to 7-1/2 cents
Butter, 25 to 40 cents
Eggs, 15 to 40 cents per dozen, according to season
Coal oil, 1.40 per 5-gallon can.
One of my clients recently visited England with his family, and says
that one can live cheaper at Merced than in England.
The cost of a twelve-roomed house is 3,000 to 4,000 dollars, according
to finish, _i.e.,_ from £600 to £800. Most of the houses are built of
wood, and such a house could be built in twenty to thirty days, if
necessary.
Stabling for two horses, with room for buggy, wagon, harness, and hay,
would cost 250 dollars or £50.
A ten-roomed house would cost from 2,500 to 3,500 dollars, according to
finish.
An eight-roomed house would cost from 2,000 to 2,500 dollars.
A six roomed house would cost about 2,000 dollars.
A four-roomed house would cost about 1,200 dollars.
Live poultry cost about 6 dollars per dozen.
Cows, 25 to 50 dollars each. Horses, 75 to 150 dollars each. Sheep, 3 to
4 dollars each.
Cultivators cost from 7 to 15 dollars each. Ploughs and harrows about
the same price. A riding cultivator, 45 to 50 dollars. Pruning shears, 3
dollars.
Day labour costs 1 dollar per day and board; but, in harvest time, 1-1/2
dollar per day and board.
Carpenters, 2-1/2 dollars per day, sometimes with and sometimes without
board.
Fencing costs 500 dollars (_i.e_., £100) a mile. To fence a 20-acre lot
would cost 350 dollars (_i.e_., £70); but if the eight forming the
quarter section joined together, it would cost each about 130 dollars
(_i.e_., £26). The fence would be a 6-inch board at bottom, then 30
inches of wire netting to keep out rabbits, then another 6-inch board
and a barbed wire at top.
Firewood costs 6 to 7 dollars a cord of hard wood, or 5 to 6 dollars of
willow wood; a cord of wood is 4-ft. by 4-ft. by 8-ft.