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General Bidwell's model Girm at Chico, near thaSacramento River, about 235 mile from '&ai'Fraacisco; aiid I promised to" continue ' the description by giving 'further details of the orchard and vineyard upon the second estate. ' As already stated; the 1,000 acres of orchard and vineyard are riot all in one block, but grouped around a number of the homesteads in different parts' of the pro. perty. One homestead has its apple and pear orchard, another its almond orchard, , and so on, a system which enables the main work of fruit-gathering to be-conducted at the various centres-in turn. The supply of •water for irrigation is available for several of "the orchards, and could easily be extended to all of them, but it is rarely used except in the nursery and vegetable garden. Owing to the absence of droughts and to the satisfac tory yields obtained without irrigation, water is seldom used even upon those portions of the- orchards which are Tadjieanit:to the a'appl'y, nothat while. the great bulk of the fruit an California:is raised by the'assistance of irrigatian, General Bidwell and most of the growers in his district are able to enlti vat -successfully by deie~iedisig - pon the ,inaturalrainfall. -- - The peach orchard, which is. the largest, consists of 12,000 trees,. and' the recorded produce in 1881 was 980,0001b. of marketable fruit.. There are 5,000 plain triees,::ad the friitsold in the same year was 1359,0l11b. The apple orchard contains 3,000 trees, pro ducing in the year under notice 259,8711b. Of apricots there are 1,000 trees, gving 19,5201b. The cherry orchard of- 1,600 trees yielded 43,0341b., and the 2,200 blackberry bushes 39,2881b. There are 600,00 grape vioes,yield ing 268,5001b., and the other fruits sold in the same year were 57,28h1b of almonds, 4561b. English walnuts, 1,0001b. bleck walnuts (Cali. foria), 500 quinces, 2001b, pomegranates, 3231b. figs, and GSGlb. strawberries..-The only large towns in the state available as markets are San Francisco (with less.than,300,000 in habitants) and- Sacraments~(witr -26,000), while, asithese cities have extensive areas of fruit gardens in thir" immediate vicinity, much of the supply from'Chico must be sent to'more. distant centres- of-~population:' A quantity of green fruit is sent by rail to cities in the eastern states, reaching as faras Chicago, 'New York, and New,Orleans, thou. sands of miles from Chico, while the canning establishment put the surplus in a condition to be transported to any part of the world. When it is remembered-that the poliulatinda of California is less than that of the colony of Victoria, and that fruit production is ex tensively carried on in all oarts of the state, it will be easily understood. that exportation is largely resorted to in order to dispose of the supply. Withoutncanning factories,fruit-drying;,and railways charging lower freights than Aus. tralian lines, the orchards of California, in stead of extending in eve-ry direction,,would haie to be abandoned or rooted up, to give place to some other industry. The cheapest labor in the country cost4si 2d per day, this anionnt being paid to Chidese' (where they are employed), and'to women and girls it canning factories, while white men receive from 6s to 8s Gd-a day.. It is, therefore, neither the rate- ofhl.bor= snor the home market that makes .frit.growing profitable in California, but the enterprise of the people in cannihg and drying fruits;"andithe exiat ence'of railways that carry produce it a low rate instead of running empty owing to a stupidly high freight tariff. It may be well to poinlt out at this stage that nearly all the railways of the state are in the hands of ?.gigautic monopoly, and that the fheights are coansidered so high as compared with rates apon Eastern lines that antim?onopoly 'meet ing are now being held all over .the state to protest againslithe alleged 'extortions of 'the Southern Pacific Railway Company. ' There is no doubt that freights and fares will have to be considerably reduced in consequenc. We shall see as we proceed how the freights cliaged by the monopoly compare with those exacted upon the Australian lines, which are owned by the people...__. All the work of cultivation is done by maeans of ploughs and searifier" drawn by' horses and mules. In preparing the land for fruit trees or vines it is first ploughed shal low to kill the weeds, and then ploughed to a depth of 10in. or 12in. The apple trees are planted 33ft. apart, the'other'trei? 2fE~f;nd the rasin vines 10ft.: Thisa.ide system of planting gives plenty of room- for king, the teams between the trees, and, experience h-s':proved that better yieldsi are olitainied than by means of'closei plasting. • In many orchards 20ft by 2011t is the distance adopted, and this saits very well, but any closer is generally found to be tniatisfactory. I was much struck with' the thorough manner in which theorchardswere cultivated-on Rancho Chico, not a weed being allowed to grow iti any !part, and' I have since fdand thdtthbi same remark will apply to. most of the orchards of the state. -Although labor is dear, there is no attempt made to economise by. letting weeds grow., Even to one an customed to the "rapid' grdith 'of triees in Australia, there is . something surprising in the 'wdalth 'of vegetatioi "throighddtit the Sacramento Valley. The lower branches of the fruittrees at Chico were ligh" eouii gh to enable us to drive under-them in a buggy withbut inconvenience, andd we employed a' long hooked stick to bring the cherries oft the top branches within reach, while the stem of one of the largest cherry treeswas so thick th.t in reaching as far round it as I could my. hands were 3ft. Gin. from meeting on the other side. -These trees were planted in 1863, and eiaalyptus trees 15 years old were over 100t. in height, the thickness of the latter, however, not being so remarkable. The fresh fruit which is sent to. market is gathered and placed in small boxes, in the orchard, the fruit being grided or assorted to some extentupon the spot. A light waggon gathers up the boxes and-takes them to the fruit-house, where they are evenlyjfilled and closed up ready fori transiportition to the rail way station, about half a mile'distant.,'The box factoryin the town give a suitalile supply! of cases of allki.ds. It is onlysueh fruit,as pears anid largehard varieties of pluiisi that can be sent across the continent to certain cities. Fruitintendedfor such distant mar. bets i.packed in.a special- way.;' Each pear or plum is wrauped in a piece of paper before being placed in the box;.Cltnamen, ,ata doir a day, being very eipert'at Lhiis kiddof work. The freight from Chico to San:Fran cisco, a distance 'of'335 'miles, '"' 'asfar as irom Horcham to Melbourie;,': is.l16d per b0~1b by lJnggage tzain,.doublthat amount 'by'xpress train. 'I do-fob-nii- y-et-?W it the freight acroes'the: .Continedt:i, but it is such- that last aceason 400-fruit-cars-of-10 tons each, were.sent from. California to E~astern cities, :the earas'eiaig deigsied to keep the fruit from spoilini. .... - The 'ies lf friit vay, bhit thu a+eage t. th's~producer is'. notLhigh,' 'PeicheaLat Chico are worth from fd to...1d, perlb, pluhns .the same, applesfrom?.d told per; lb';aprcots from ld to' '2 erlb,'anR table' grapes from 5d to )d perlB. . Thi 'average price':'u:fdried. fruto't.o.ht fitin prunes 5d to'7.d' prl apple'3 d th'"'4d," apricots 7d to lop .per Ib., dried, grapes or cooking 'ralsiig 2d' to' 3d ''si"' lbhsd 'tare ,rainsifrom.Sd to 75d-'per-l-The-produce of the orchards and vineyard; 'is. 'ip idor as fresh fruit, canned fruit, 'ad'defifruit' whilea large. lroportionof.thq apples are made into cidd r?'vin'?.?di- . fter the cider hus ben made itis converted into vinegar by' d~irirciss"uhicl" only occupies about 15 minutee. A three-story-building has been erected, in which there is a long wooden tower or .barrel, :resachiiag'fiom'.thelottom to the top. The barrell is packed with corn cobs (maize cobs), and-a'stove at the bottom causes p . arrpntx oaLheatcd air.-ton ascend tlrongbi ctl?"e p/wer. ,Thecider.1selbsiited to the top story and poured into the tower, th~kdrisrt tot tb' thhbettom, 'hb 'ur'r'ent' air acting upon it.in its course, and when it is drawn off from~ tap oi the grounnd floor it is vinegar. This ;method of makinsg vinegar is practised in jmany parts oaf the Ua tat' S Thtt qu Tb lithinadjioamons year afChico was 14,000.gallops.,, The only part of'the fruitdrymg business in operation during my.?rit was the drying of cherries. Tho, best l~indswere- being gathered and sent 'to 'iarliet; ,"'F othier kmdstindths~i ' th t-ih become too ripe. werebeipg'dried in_.thesaun. JBy.simply sprcai.ecbhrries.npoantraysanad eIpoo. would be slsw, applhancusart udoptedato save time. The drier used was constructed on thd?arg an itisa ilesign?S to7'refider ihe' n6betim inord effbctire. Thi' appearance of the apparatus in th'i of o! siae of the roof ofa house corre, r i'thru- sv..ndow glar A platf~rm abdd?t 0ff'onuare is" ue't ab an angle of about 45 degrees, and l'--pn this trays 2ft. upon the trays, nod thee is a coveringa of Otm from the fruit :i'le?b./bals apparatas is zet upon apivot, it t. be movad mend 12ncr~~c, ~~0·,.~Bt~~'p;~

times under the diregt ra-? of the sun. The effect ofthe nlat` andttb? slope of the sur. ifactowS'rdte amrisrto preducerbrg Sgree of heat, which greatly hastensith l' lg of the fmruit Provisloh is- made for the escape of stea? :and in: working".the drier -thoonly skill required is to -knowhdow long t3dleave the 'frit exposed to the heat. .:A -little experience soon enables the operator to tell by the appearance -of the fruit when it Ls !a sufficiently" dried.- Not only cherries, Sbut also apples, peaches, prunes,:pears, and -'igar~edried-in- this way.-The-apparatus is simple in conastretion, and could be made by any practica~lranwitha clear-idea of the object intended.to be-served. Not only is time saved by Ouch a contrivance, but the fruit is always protected from dews and riss.- - General Bidwsell's system of dirying raisis is to complete the process by means of aiti ficial heat: The grapes, which are of dif ferent varieties, the, best being miuscats and sultanas, are placed upon trays and- allowed to dry for some'timsin the sun. Instead of w~itind, hbReier, for theslow process to be completed in this wiay the trays are placed in the artificial drier;-The drier is a wooden building about 0Oft long by 15ft wide,- fitted up with supports to hold the trays set one above the other. When in position the trays are-like the drawers of a large cabinet, and they are closed in by folding-doors. - Under the system of drawers, -ranged one above another to a height of 8f5t r 10ft., is a heat. ing apparatus. This consists of a brick flue embedded in a mass of cobble stones as wide ,and as long as the cabinet of drawers.: The heat, which is disseminated throughout- the stones, rises through the trays and dries- the fruit. .It should 4e stated that the trays are simply square iron frames -filled in -with netting.wire. These trays, which are used both in the raisin-drier anda the sun.drier, much resemble the riddle of a winnowing machine, or thresher. Of :the quality of the raisins I cannot yet.speak, but I may say I have.seen both very. good and very bad ones in use in the different parts of the country.. There is noniystery about the art ofdrying raisins, common sense alone being required, andthe drier is of sim~ple coistruc 1ion. - . ? . . It takes from 31b' to 3?lb of grapes;to make one ound of raisins.-The?ield of muscat grapes at Chico varies fidm one and a half to three tons per acres, and of Sultanas fully double that quantity. No tak?tk are used in the vineyard, the goose-berry beli ?system being adopted. Generall Bidwell formerly made wine, bu -now raisin-making varieties of grapes are being substituted, and no wine is produced.- "It is believed by many that raisin-growing is more profitable -than wine making, but this- consideration htai not been the General's object' in changing his procee dure. He came to the conclusion that the making of wine contributed to inutemperance, and, therefore- devoted his vineyard to the production of raisins. The canning factory was not at work when I called, but I in= spected -the establishment, and found the whole plant complete. for putting the fruit into cans, labelling it, and putting it in cases ready for market,-the tins being made in the, factory. The average number of, men em plo ed in conncction with the orchards is 100, and everything is managed in a. systematic manner. - I may say, in conclssio?i, that the orchards are cansidered- a fairly profitable branch of- the:various industries carried on upon General Bidwell's estate.

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