CAPITAL REQUIRED.

It is recommended that settlers intending to establish Fruit farms, should have a capital of from L600 upwards; but those who have a smaller capital—­say, L300, or even L100—­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.