CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS.

The charitable institutions maintained by the State are: the State Hospitals for the Insane at Stockton, Napa, Agnews, Mendocino, and Highland; the Home for Feeble-Minded Children, at Eldridge, Sonoma County; the Industrial Home for Adult Blind, at Oakland; and the Institution for the Deaf and the Blind, at Berkeley.

The following table shows the number, by sexes, at these institutions on July 1st of this year. The figures for the Institution for the Deaf and the Blind at Berkeley are for September 23d, and for the Industrial Home for Adult Blind, August 11th:

No competitive labor is performed except at the Home for Adult Blind in Oakland. Here about seventy of the inmates are employed in the shops. They are engaged in the manufacture of brooms, brushes, hammocks, mattresses, bags, and chairs. They receive about $5,000 per annum in wages. The institution is maintained at a yearly cost of $25,000. The services of 24 officers and employés are required.

At the Institution for the Deaf and the Blind at Berkeley the inmates are employed in much the same manner as at the corrective institutions at Ione and Whittier. The hours from 8 A. M. to 1 P. M. are devoted to class-room work. The curriculum follows closely that of the public schools, and in addition high school instruction is given. About 2 per cent of the pupils matriculate at the University. Two hours per day, from 2 to 4 P. M., are spent in manual training. The boys are taught printing and woodworking in various forms; the girls are taught cooking, domestic management, and sewing. Their purpose here, too, is to fit the boys and girls for some trade after they have left the institution.

VALUE OF PROPERTY, AND PRODUCTS OF CALIFORNIA.

In Section 3 of the Act creating this Bureau, the Commissioner is directed to report on the amount of capital invested in lands, machinery, material, and means of production generally.

The inquiry was begun at so late a date that it has been practically impossible to get everything required, but an attempt has been made to get as complete information as possible along the various lines. The results have been fairly satisfactory for the products, but, owing to the variation of the Assessors' figures from year to year and the general diversity of opinion as to the real value of property, the remainder of the task has been difficult and the results unsatisfactory.

The following is a table showing the assessed valuation of property, both personal and real, for 1903:

Counties.

VALUES OF PROPERTY IN EACH COUNTY IN 1903-Continued.

Totals

$849,490,266 $352,635,409 $269,488,904 $42,800,889 $1,514,415,468 $84,187,758 $1,598,603,226

PRODUCTS OF CALIFORNIA.

It is impossible to get absolutely complete data relative to the products of a State of as varied resources as California; embracing as it does every variation of climate and soil, and producing everything common to both the temperate and torrid zones. We can only hope to get detailed information about the products of most importance, adding whatever is available concerning the less common industries.

Agriculture, including horticulture, stock-raising, etc., must long be of vast importance to California's people. The growing tendency is to break up the large holdings into modest farms. The effect of this can be noticed in the decrease in the production of certain articles-notably, cereals and a corresponding increase along other lines.

Where more detailed figures are not available, the exports from year to year will tend to show the general condition of an industry.

Cereals. In recent years many of the large grain ranches in the San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys have been broken up into smaller farms for the growing of fruit and vegetables, and much land has been given over to alfalfa, hence there has been a corresponding decrease in the production of wheat, barley, etc., but the cereal crop must for many years to come be of great importance, and a large acreage, impossible of irrigation, must always be given over to this industry. The follow

ing table gives the wheat crop for the last five years, and the clearance by sea from San Francisco of all cereals for the last five years:

Wheat Crop during the Last Five Years, and the Total Clearance by Sea from San Francisco of all Cereals.

In 1899 there was a very poor yield, and in 1901 and 1903 but fair crops. The yield quite naturally fluctuates from year to year, since everything depends upon the winter and spring rains, but a general decrease is noticeable. This is more apparent if we go back farther. From 1885 to 1895, in a good year the production always exceeded the million-cental mark and fell in a poor year only to 700,000 centals, while since that time the maximum is in the neighborhood of 900,000 centals and the minimum 500,000.

Hay. The annual value of this crop is about $20,000,000, with an acreage of 2,239,601.

Horticultural Products and Vegetables.-There follows a table showing the shipments of horticultural products and vegetables from the State during the years from 1899 to 1903 inclusive:

Carloads of Horticultural Products and Vegetables Shipped from California by Land and Sea during the Years from 1899 to 1903 inclusive. (Each carload represents 10 tons.)

Quite a uniform increase is noted here. Nineteen hundred and one was an especially good year in almost every branch of agriculture, the

citrus fruit output that year reaching its maximum, 32,387.1 carloads, and the output of vegetables was 9,172.8 carloads. In 1902, however, there was the maximum output of dried fruits, raisins and nuts, while the citrus fruits had fallen the lowest since 1899.

The total production of wine for 1902 was about 40,000,000 gallons, and of brandy, 3,564,173 gallons, or a total of 43,564,173 gallons. The 8,868.2 carloads of wine and brandy sent out of the State during that year is equivalent to 18,485,800 gallons; showing that considerably over half the production of that year was either consumed or stored in the State. Of few commodities is this true to so great an extent.

A great quantity of canned and green fruits is consumed yearly, but by far the larger proportion of raisins, dried and citrus fruits is exported. Of the citrus fruits, lemons make up about one seventh and oranges the remainder, although small quantities of grape-fruit, citrons, etc., are produced, mostly for home consumption. In 1902 there were 52,030 acres of oranges and 14,429 acres planted to lemons, while Florida, the nearest competitor, had 27,997 acres of oranges and 491 acres of lemons, with an output about one tenth as great as that of California.

Of deciduous fruits, prunes rank first, peaches second, and apricots third, with reference to the number of trees. In fact, prunes and peaches rank first and second and apricots fourth of all fruit trees growing in the State, citrus fruits having third place.

The total number of prune trees in 1901 was 8,183,784, and the product of cured prunes was 81,600,000 pounds, while in 1902 the output had reached the enormous amount of 160,000,000 pounds, supplying the markets of the entire country and many foreign markets as well. Peaches, apricots, pears, and apples are grown in large quantities, apricots being produced in considerable quantities nowhere else in the United States except Arizona, and there only in a few valleys of limited acreage. Pajaro Valley produces most of the apples for market, consignments being made from there direct to London and other foreign markets.

Of the vegetables raised in the State the bean crop is one of the most valuable. Practically all the lima beans grown in the world are found in Ventura, Santa Barbara, and Orange counties. The other varieties come principally from Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Sacramento, and San Joaquin counties. The entire crop averages about 1,500,000 bags of eighty pounds each, and about one third of these are lima beans. About one eighth of the entire crop is consumed in the State.

Of the other vegetables, potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, asparagus, tomatoes, cabbage, and celery are of the greatest commercial value.