THE SPECIAL ADVANTAGES

my clients offer settlers at Merced are:—­

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.