CALIFORNIA.

Globe, Volume II, Issue 125, 24 October 1874, Page 3

CALIFORNIA.

California ought to be a happy State, for not only is she a land flowing with gold but also with other useful things. The returns of the last harvest (which ended in June) are, it is stated, even more than usually gratifying. The receipts of wheat are a third less in the year just concluded than they were in the previous year, there being only 7,829,821 sacks received for the year 1873-4, against 10,780,894 for the year 1872-3 ; but the increase in barley, oats, corn, potatoes, rye, beans, and hay is fn each case decided and profitable ; and the fact that the total yield has given the farmer far larger gains than the previous year could show is conclusively proved by the circumstance that the exports for the year 1873-4 have reached 664,710 barrels of flour, and 7,273,241 centals of wheat, as against 263,644 barrels of flour and 9,820,680 centals of wheat in the year 1872-3. Therefore, although the exports of wheat have fallen off in the ratio of 12 to 15, the exports of flour have increased in the ratio of sto 2. In other farmers' produce the yield continues to increase, and so do the prices. Hides and wool are in excellent demand, and as the supply and value alike mount upward the producers' profits must likewise get larger. The minor articles produced by the agriculturists, such as butter, meat, poultry, eggs, cheese, and honey, are all in great demand, owing to the steady increase of population ; and, according to the local papers, "it is hardly possible to pen a brighter record than is now offered by the statistics of the year." The fruit crop, which has also become an important branch of industry, was never so promising as now. The grape crop in every leading section of the State is one of the largest ever known, and the yield of wine is confidently computed at 12,000,000 gallons, twice the amount produced last year, There is also no diminution in murder and robbery, and the crop for the gallows seems to be as plentiful as ever.