r is light. Pruning,
grafting, budding, the picking of the grapes, the gathering of the fruit
from the trees, the sorting, packing, and canning, are labor for light
and deft hands, and labor distributed through the year. The harvest, of
one sort and another, is almost continuous, so that young girls and boys
can have, in well-settled districts, pretty steady employment--a long
season in establishments packing oranges; at another time, in canning
fruits; at another, in packing raisins.

It goes without saying that in the industries now developed, and in
others as important which are in their infancy (for instance, the
culture of the olive for oil and as an article of food; the growth and
curing of figs; the gathering of almonds, English walnuts, etc.), the
labor of the owners of the land and their families will not suffice.
There must be as large a proportion of day-laborers as there are in
other regions where such products are grown. Chinese labor at certain
seasons has been a necessity. Under the present policy of California
this must diminish, and its place be taken by some other. The pay for
this labor has always been good. It is certain to be more and more in
demand. Whether the pay will ever approach near to the European standard
is a question, but it is a fair presumption that the exceptional profit
of the land, owing to its productiveness, will for a long time keep
wages up.

During the "boom" period all wages were high, those of skilled mechanics
especially, owing to the great amount of building on speculation. The
ordinary laborer on a ranch had $30 a month and board and lodging;
laborers of a higher grade, $2 to $2 50 a day; skilled masons, $6;
carpenters, from $3 50 to $5; plasterers, $4 to $5; house-servants, from
$23 to $33 a month. Since the "boom," wages of skilled mechanics have
declined at least 25 per cent., and there has been less demand for labor
generally, except in connection with fruit raising and harvesting. It
would be unwise for laborers to go to California on an uncertainty, but
it can be said of that country with more confidence than of any other
section that its peculiar industries, now daily increasing, will absorb
an increasing amount of day labor, and later on it will remunerate
skilled artisan labor.

In deciding whether Southern California would be an agreeable place of
residence there are other things to be considered besides the
productiveness of the soil, the variety of products,