PRODUCTIVENESS OF SMALL FARMS IN CALIFORNIA.
Railway extension has worked wonders towards developing the resources of California. But for its railways this State would not havo been in the van of progress ; it would now be a comparatively unknown region in the hands of sheep and cattle men, contributing little to the world's wealth besides the produce of its mines. Railway construction, however, revolutionized all this. Agriculture soon became the leading industry in the state, consequent on cheap and rapid transport ; and now that the Southern Pacific line ha 3 opened the vast territory known as Southern California to beneficial occupation, the march of progress becomes proportionately rapid.
Small farm settlement is superseding the large cattle and sheep runs in Lo 3 Angelos, San Bernardino, and San Diego counties, and with the change of system comes a wonderful change over the natural features of the country. What was once bare and sterile is now covered with verdure, and the desert place blossoms like the rose. This is no fancy sketch, but a literal fact, which anyone may verify by paying a visit to the drought-stricken districts in the southern part 3 of the State. The man whose stock is dying from want of nourishment is not the small landowner but the man of " broad acres" and territorial importance. Take Anaheim, for example. In this young settlement there are probably 200 artesian wells flowing, which render their owners independent of the rainfall. Fruit, alfaifa, and grain flourish, and the neighborhood is fragrant with sweet scented plauti and flowers. A few years ago it was a bare sheep range, without auything to distinguish it from the equally bare aud barren tracts to be found elsewhere in Los Angelos and neighboring counties. Bat the laud was subdivided, and went into the possession of men who only own what they can profitably till. This is the secret of successful settlement in this State.
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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5185, 3 November 1877, Page 1 (Supplement)
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319PRODUCTIVENESS OF SMALL FARMS IN CALIFORNIA. New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5185, 3 November 1877, Page 1 (Supplement)
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