A LAND OF AGREEABLE HOMES.
In this imperfect conspectus of a vast territory I should be sorry to
say anything that can raise false expectations. Our country is very big;
and though scarcely any part of it has not some advantages, and
notwithstanding the census figures of our population, it will be a long
time before our vast territory will fill up. California must wait with
the rest; but it seems to me to have a great future. Its position in the
Union with regard to its peculiar productions is unique. It can and will
supply us with much that we now import, and labor and capital sooner or
later will find their profit in meeting the growing demand for
California products.
There are many people in the United States who could prolong life by
moving to Southern California; there are many who would find life easier
there by reason of the climate, and because out-door labor is more
agreeable there the year through; many who have to fight the weather and
a niggardly soil for existence could there have pretty little homes with
less expense of money and labor. It is well that people for whom this is
true should know it. It need not influence those who are already well
placed to try the fortune of a distant country and new associations.
I need not emphasize the disadvantage in regard to beauty of a land
that can for half the year only keep a vernal appearance by irrigation;
but to eyes accustomed to it there is something pleasing in the contrast
of the green valleys with the brown and gold and red of the hills. The
picture in my mind for the future of the Land of the Sun, of the
mountains, of the sea--which is only an enlargement of the picture of
the present--is one of great beauty. The rapid growth of fruit and
ornamental trees and the profusion of flowers render easy the making of
a lovely home, however humble it may be. The nature of the
industries--requiring careful attention to a small piece of
ground--points to small holdings as a rule. The picture I see is of a
land of small farms and gardens, highly cultivated, in all the valleys
and on the foot-hills; a land, therefore, of luxuriance and great
productiveness and agreeable homes. I see everywhere the gardens, the
vineyards, the orchards, with the various greens of the olive, the fig,
and the orange. It is always picturesque, because the country is broken
and even rugged; it is always interesting, because of the contrast with
the mountains and the desert; it has the color that makes Southern Italy
so poetic. It is the fairest field for the experiment of a contented
community, without any poverty and without excessive wealth.