Part 2

1. A permanent supply of Water, for a perpetual water right accompanies every lot of land sold.

2. Contiguity to a Railway Station on the main line, and to a Town, with commercial, professional, educational, social and religious advantages.

3. Instruction in Fruit culture gratis by a specialist, who is paid by my clients to instruct settlers on their lands.

4. A rich Soil, of which, on another page, an analysis is given.

5. A ready Market for produce. Buyers come round the country and purchase the crops as they are on the trees, taking upon themselves the picking and packing. The Continent of North America is a sufficient market in itself for all time especially considering that its population increases nearly a million and a half a year.

6. The prices range from 75 dollars to 150 dollars per acre. At some other places in California, land is offered at a less price, but I can sell some land at even 10 dollars per acre; yet that at 100 dollars per acre is far cheaper, having regard to its advantages. Our land at 150 dollars per acre will favourably compare with lands fetching much higher prices.

7. Free Conveyances will be given, with a perfectly clear and satisfactory title.

8. Two-thirds of the purchase-money may remain on mortgage.

9. Merced is only 14 days from London.

10. A liberal competence may be secured by a reasonably industrious settler.

11. Merced is a very healthy locality, and is nearer to San Francisco than other Fruit growing centres.

12. My clients, the owners, are well-known gentlemen of wealth and position in California, and not irresponsible land speculators, members of a syndicate with an unknown personality.

COMPARISON AND WARNING.

I have already said that applicants should verify for themselves the statements made by persons who, like myself, would be personally benefited by their settling upon the lands offered for sale. Letters sent to this country, and advertised by agents as a guarantee of advantages, written by persons soon after arrival in California, and who have not compared the place of their location with other places, can scarcely be a sufficient recommendation. Some parts of California advertised in this country for sale have not a permanent water supply; are too hot; are swept by winds; are at a considerable distance from a railway station; have a poor, sandy soil, some even mixed with alkali; and some are so situated as to be "notoriously unhealthy," and produce chills, fevers, and general malaria, and, in one case, I have heard of an embarrassed title: therefore, I say that intending settlers should remember there is a California and a California--that it is not all gold which glitters, and that they should, personally and intelligently, investigate for themselves, on the spot, the statements made by those who, at a distance, offer the lands for sale.

CAPITAL REQUIRED.

It is recommended that settlers intending to establish Fruit farms, should have a capital of from £600 upwards; but those who have a smaller capital--say, £300, or even £100--may, in other ways, find some opening for employing it, if accompanied with intelligent, industrious, persevering work.

=A Start in Life.=

To ensure the stability of a building the foundation ought to be substantial, so in like manner a good start in life goes a great way towards ensuring a successful career. By success I do not mean the making of a rapid fortune by leaps and bounds of prosperity, but I do mean an ultimate prosperity, acquired through patient, persevering, and intelligent labour. To make a large fortune quickly it is necessary to have command of the requisite knowledge of the business in hand, the requisite capital, untiring energy, and a trait of genius. Beyond these it would be necessary to have the mind absorbed in the one thing, and therefore, supposing one possessed the requisites, would it be worth while to sacrifice all else to the mere accumulation of money? To live for mere money making is a grovelling existence, and utterly unworthy the aim of any man possessing the finer instincts of human nature and the intelligence with which it is endowed.

No, I am not pretending to offer the means of making a rapid fortune--such accidents fall to the lot of but few out of the millions of our species--but I do claim to be able to offer to men willing to live a steady industrious life, the opportunity of acquiring, on easy terms, a small freehold estate, into which they can put the golden seed of their own mental and physical effort with the certainty of reaping a golden harvest proportionate to their area, their ability, and their industry; for when once a Fruit farm is planted it increases in value every year.

To own a freehold estate of 20, 40, or 100 acres, with a comfortable house and buildings, and the land well stocked with choice Fruits, with a ready market, presents a prospect, by the use of a small capital, with the addition of muscle and brains, of future competence. When such a property is fully matured, labour can be hired, and one's own personal energies may be diverted, if preferred, into other channels, or continued in the same with largely accumulating benefits.

I ask my readers requiring for themselves, or others in whom they are interested, a start in life, to read these pages carefully, for I do not know any calling, in the old or new world, where a small capitalist fond of country life could find an occupation more congenial than the one I offer at Merced, in California, and which is described herein.

Residence near to a young town, which will probably increase rapidly in value, and which now possesses extensive commercial, locomotive, social and religious advantages, a climate than which the surface of this globe scarcely presents one more desirable, a fortnight's journey from London, and a soil pregnant with inherent virtue, are amongst the considerations of importance which will determine thoughtful investors to settle at Merced.

I am prepared to show to applicants samples of the soils and fruits, and also views, books, maps, &c., and to answer questions, if they will call personally upon me, at my offices--

3, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London,

so that they may have every assistance in enabling them to come to a decision as to whether the start in life I offer them at Merced, in California, is one suitable in respect of their inclination, capital, abilities, and energy.

WITHIN A FORTNIGHT OF LONDON.

To prove the convenient access of this land, called "British Colony" from London, I may say that on November 22nd, 1890, I left Liverpool in the Cunard steamer "Etruria," which reached New York on the following Saturday evening, just too late for the Custom-house officers to examine the luggage, so that we could not go on shore till the next morning. I stayed over the Sunday (26 hours) in New York, leaving on Monday by the first overland train, and after calling at innumerable stations, and staying 14 hours at Chicago and Council Bluffs, to "make connections" (i.e., catch other trains), and staying 52 hours at San Francisco, I arrived at Merced at 10.23 on Monday night, December 8th, i.e., say 16 days 6 hours after leaving Liverpool. Had I have left Liverpool by the Wednesday instead of the Saturday steamer, I should not have needed to have stayed over Sunday in New York, and, of course, there would be no necessity for a settler to stay at San Francisco (I had to meet my clients there); therefore, deducting these two stoppages of 78 hours, or 3-1/4 days, it would give 13 days to Merced in the winter season. In fine weather the journey could be made in less time; some steamers, in the summer and autumn months, have crossed from Liverpool to New York in about six days, so that the journey could be made, in favourable circumstances, in say 12 to 13 days, but we may safely put it at 14 days.

I went by the Northern Prairies and Rocky Mountains, and returned by the longer route of Southern California, the Desert of Arizona, the Plains of Texas, through the sugar and cotton districts of the Southern States, and thence, viâ New Orleans and Washington, back to New York.