The organic matter is available for plant growth.

The inorganic matter, soluble in dilute hydrochloric acid, is (with the exception of the alumina it may contain) composed of fertilising material.  The substances found in the soluble inorganic matter of soils are lime, magnesia, alumina, silica, phosphoric acid, oxide of iron, oxide of manganese, potash and soda.  The insoluble mineral matter is nearly all silica.  There is very little clayey matter in any of the soils—­not more than about five per cent.  All the soils are remarkably free from stones or pebbles, or even coarse sand.

From the above it will be seen that these soils, while possessing a large amount of matter available for plant growth, are exceedingly friable, and would be very easily worked.  They would absorb heat quickly, and from their porosity would require little drainage, and so would be both warm and dry soils, and form fertile land suitable for almost all kinds of agricultural and horticultural produce.

THE POSITION OF MY CLIENTS, THE VENDORS.

My clients, the owners of the land called “British Colony,” at Merced, are well-known persons—­well-known as men of great wealth, and as gentlemen of undoubted integrity, the Hon. Charles Crocker and Mr. C.H.  Huffman, whose enterprises in railway, canal, and other public works, have been of gigantic proportions.

I have every confidence myself in dealing with these gentlemen, and I submit that my friends, clients, and the general public, who may be willing to take up any of this “British Colony” land at Merced, may have full confidence, too, that they will at least be treated justly, and more than that is not expected from strangers in business; but I believe that I might add they would be treated liberally if necessity arose, and I have ground for this statement from what I have heard of their treatment of other persons who have settled in one of their other “Colonies.”

CALIFORNIA, MERCED.

I have for sale besides the estate designated “British Colony,” a tract of land belonging to a well-known merchant in the City of London, who has owned it for 13 years.  It comprises 5,084 acres, and has a registered Government title.  Price 30 dollars per acre, and 7 years’ credit would be given if 20 per cent. is paid down.  Part of it is well suited for Fruit growing, but as yet the water from the canals belonging to my other clients has not been taken to it.  It has, however, some creeks upon it, but they are frequently dry.  The land is of a rolling prairie character, and is now let at a nominal rent of 25 cents per acre for sheep farming.  The soil is varied; some of it is a good loam, some of a clayey nature, and some stony; there is a shepherd’s house, with barn and yard.  The taxes upon it are about 15 to 20 cents per acre.  One half of the land would be sold separately, but it must be the half farthest from the side where the canals are.  The situation is an attractive one as the undulations really form the first foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, of which there is a grand view.  This land is well worth buying, as when water is obtained, the price will then be increased to that asked for other irrigated Fruit lands.