The labor expended in working these various mines would give a firm support to the agriculture of the country, which at this day is totally neglected. There is no country, probably, where the soil is so grateful to the hand that cultivates it. There is almost no plant, grain, or fruit that cannot be raised here. Rye grows wild on the skirts of the gold region towards the _Sierra Nevada_; oats cover completely the coast range of the mountains; wheat and corn grow luxuriantly on all the plains, notwithstanding it rains only in the winter season; potatoes, onions and every other kind of garden vegetables with very little care grow to a very large size and of excellent flavor. Some of these vegetables can be kept growing all the year round, such as onions, peas, and some others. Every description of fruit trees seem to be natural to the soil, for they attain here a great perfection. The apple, the peach, the pear, the apricot, the fig, the cherry, the plum, the grape, the pomegranate, the citron, the orange, the olive, the currant, the gooseberry and various other berries are found here either cultivated or in a wild state. The inhabitants of the country have not done much towards the culture of any fruit trees or shrubs; and that is the reason the quantity of any fruit is very limited, when compared with the wants of the population and the capacities of the soil. Knowledge and industry with very little exertion would increase the quantity not only to supply the wants of the country but even to a super-abundance. The pear and the olive seem to have been the favorite fruit with the Priests of the Missions, as they have raised them in large quantities and of excellent quality. The California olive is among the largest known, and in flavor surpasses that of France; the varieties of the pear are numerous and delicious in quality. The grape vine grows throughout the country, from the extreme north down to San Diego. Excellent grape is produced at Sonoma, at the Mission of San Jose, and some other points. The best however, or where it was made the best use of, is that of the Pueblo de los Angeles. The wine produced there by several vine growers is of excellent quality; in the opinion of many judges in the matter, it is superior to any wine that Spain or Portugal can produce. Its color, its flavor and its strength are _sui generis_; it wants only to be known to be sought after by _amateurs_; and there is no doubt but its culture and the exportation of it will extend rapidly with the increase of commerce on this coast. The most celebrated wine at present is that made by M. Vignes, a French gentleman who settled in the country some fifteen years ago and was the first to plant a vineyard in this region. There are two qualities of it, red and white; the latter is more inviting than the former by the very beauty of its color. The growing of the grape vine and of the olive may be made a very profitable branch of foreign commerce, if