"These grazing grounds are extensive enough to support five times as many cattle as may be _annually_ required; therefore, there will be no scarcity of food for them. "I am acquainted with a drover who left California in December last, with the intention of bringing in ten thousand sheep from New Mexico. This shows that the flocks and herds east of the Rocky Mountains are looked to already as the source from which the markets on the Pacific are to be supplied. "The climate and soil of California are well suited to the growth of wheat, barley, rye, and oats. The temperature along the coast is too cool for the successful culture of maize as a field crop. The fact that oats, the species which is cultivated in the Atlantic States, are annually self-sowed and produced on all the plains and hills along the coast, and as far inland as the sea-breeze has a marked influence on the climate, is sufficient proof that all the cereal grains may be successfully cultivated without the aid of _irrigation_. "It is quite true that _this auxiliary_ was extensively employed at the missions, and undoubtedly increased the product of all crops to which it was applied, as it will in any country on earth if skilfully used. This does not prove, however, that it was _essentially necessary_ to the production of an ample reward to the husbandman. The experience of all the old inhabitants is sufficient evidence of this. If their imperfect mode of culture secured satisfactory returns, it is reasonable to presume that a more perfect system would produce much greater results. There is abundant evidence to prove that, in the rich alluvial valleys, wheat and barley have produced from forty to sixty bushels from one bushel of seed, _without irrigation_. "Irish potatoes, turnips, onions, in fact all the edible roots known and cultivated in the Atlantic States, are produced in great perfection. In all the valleys east of the coast range of hills, the climate is sufficiently warm to mature crops of Indian corn, rice, and probably tobacco. "The cultivation of the grape has attracted much attention at the missions, among the residents of towns, and the rural population, and been attended with much success, wherever it has been attempted. The dry season secures the fruit from those diseases which are so fatal in the Atlantic States, and it attains very great perfection. "The wine made from it is of excellent quality, very palatable, and can be produced in any quantity. The grapes are delicious, and produced with very little labor. When taken from the vines in bunches, and suspended in a dry room by the stems, they become partially dry, retain their flavor, and remain several weeks, perhaps months, without decay. "Apples, pears, and peaches are cultivated with facility, and there is no reason to doubt that all the fruits of the Atlantic States can be produced in great plenty and perfection.