Chapter 367: Guano

As the train slowed down, Liang Yao could clearly see the faces of the farmers along the railway.

At present, Chinese people in California account for about half of the total population, but the proportion of agricultural population is far more than half.

Among the farmers Liang Yao met along the way, at least three out of every four were Chinese immigrants.

The remaining one was either a Mexican immigrant or an immigrant from the eastern United States.

"How is the income of farmers?" Liang Yao asked Chen Baoliang about the income of farmers.

"It's not as good as before." Chen Baoliang replied, "The days in 1850 when you could just pick up a few acres of land, plant some vegetables and fruits on the land and sell them to the gold mining area to make a fortune are gone forever. Now there are more people, the output of agricultural products has increased, and the price has naturally come down."

"Don't compare it with 1850. At that time, miners in the gold mining area still used nuggets to buy vegetables from you." Liang Yao smiled.

In 1850, there was still a lot of gold on both sides of the American River. At that time, California had not yet been established, and the trading method was very rough. Everyone went to the market to buy vegetables and went to restaurants with a few ounces of gold in their pockets to pay the bill.

Liang Yao did this a lot in the past, exchanging food, fruits and livestock for gold from other mining areas.

He often used some tools and a small amount of gold to collect food and livestock from the Indians, and then sold the excess food and livestock to miners in other mining areas at a higher price.

When the prices in Sacramento were the most outrageous, there was even a time when one ounce of gold could only be exchanged for three boiled eggs.

Therefore, the prices in California in 1850, except for Los Angeles, which was far away from the gold producing areas, were not of much reference value.

At that time, the prices in California depended more on how much gold the miners could dig out of the ground in a day.

"It's hard to say how much farmers earn. Farming and raising livestock in California depends not only on the weather but also on the market. The prices of different crops and livestock vary greatly every year, or even every quarter." Chen Baoliang said after thinking carefully for a while.

"If a couple manages a farm, after deducting the cost of fertilizer, labor, livestock fodder, and transportation costs of agricultural products, if they are lucky, they can save about 400 to 500 US dollars a year.

If you don't gamble during the slack season, you can earn more by doing odd jobs on other farms. Land is not scarce in California, and there are a lot of wastelands waiting to be reclaimed. What is rare is people. As long as you are not lazy and greedy, you won't starve to death."

Chen Baoliang said that two people managing a small farm can earn 400 to 500 US dollars a year if the weather is good and the market does not fluctuate significantly.

If you calculate carefully, you can earn about 20 US dollars a month, which seems to be lower than the Los Angeles oil workers Liang Yao has learned about.

But the cost of living in Stockton is negligible compared to that in Los Angeles, and farmers basically eat and live by themselves.

It is true that you can save about $20 a month. Being an oil worker in Los Angeles can earn $30 a month, but that doesn't mean you can save $30 a month.

"What if you are unlucky?" Liang Yao asked.

"If you are really unlucky and have a bad fate, your crops will fail, and your livestock will get sick, then it depends on whether you have bought insurance or traded futures." Chen Baoliang said.

"Bank of America, Boston Bank, and even Barings Bank and Bank of France have opened banks in Stockton Town to sell insurance to farmers. If it is really a natural disaster, the bank will compensate for the loss according to the contract.

But this situation is not the worst. You work for nothing on your own land, and it is still okay to earn some money for others to make a living.

The worst situation is not buying insurance and doing futures. Not only do you have to bear the loss yourself, but you also have to pay others according to the contract if you can't deliver the goods on time.

Of course, in this case, you can only accept the loss. After all, you can make money by doing futures, but you have to make a lot more money."

"Are there many farmers in Stockton doing futures?" Liang Yao continued to ask.

"Not many small farmers do futures, but many large farmers do futures. Large farmers have a solid foundation, more land, and more manpower. They always want to make more money and are willing to take a gamble. Their ability to bear risks is also stronger than that of small farmers, so they play more." Chen Baoliang said without hesitation.

"With so much land and so many things to grow, how can we eat so much? Stockton's agricultural products are all sold to the city for the city people to eat.

In short, compared to the Qing Dynasty, this place is already a paradise in the eyes of foreigners. Farming in the Qing Dynasty, let alone a year, can't earn four or five hundred dollars in a lifetime."

Liang Yao stood up and looked at the endless fertile land outside the window and said, "This is our granary. How many people California can feed in the future depends on how much food this granary can produce. If the Ministry of Agriculture and the Agricultural Association have any difficulties, just tell me. Food is the first necessity of the people. Agricultural production should not be taken lightly."

"It's not that there are no difficulties. It's nothing more than a lack of people and livestock. If there are enough people and livestock, a lot of new land can be reclaimed, but these cannot be solved overnight." Chen Baoliang said, "The most difficult problem at the moment is fertilizer."

"Fertilizer, I heard that the main fertilizer used by California farmers now is guano imported from South America? The price of guano has increased?" Liang Yao frowned.

Guano is rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and other organic matter. It is the most ideal natural fertilizer at present and can greatly increase the output of agricultural products. Before the emergence of chemical fertilizers, agriculture in America and even Europe was very dependent on guano.

The guano used in California is mainly produced in the Lobos Islands not far from Peru, and the Atacama Desert at the junction of Peru, Bolivia and Chile. These three countries all claim sovereignty over the Atacama Desert.

The dispute over the sovereignty of the Atacama Desert between Peru, Bolivia, and Chile also occurred after the discovery of rich reserves of guano and saltpeter resources in the Atacama Desert.

Liang Yao was not interested in who among the three countries owned the sovereignty of the Atacama Desert. He was more interested in who could provide him with more guano and saltpeter.

After all, these three countries are not powerful countries. Without the intervention of external forces, it is not difficult to deal with these small South American countries.

However, it is impossible without the intervention of external forces. In the 19th century, Britain was so pervasive around the world that the British Empire was indispensable in any business that could make money.

After the discovery of rich reserves of guano and saltpeter on the west coast of South America, the situation in this area became complicated.

Taking the Lobos Islands, which is rich in guano, as an example, the British subsequently announced that the island was first discovered by a British captain named Lawson, so the island should belong to the British Empire.

The Americans later claimed that in September 1828, Captain Morel of the New York merchant ship "Bumblebee" was the first person to discover the island. According to the principle of "right of priority of discovery", this island should belong to the United States, including the island. Guano resources on.

But speaking of the matter, the most shameless person in this matter is not the United Kingdom or the United States, but Spain.

At that time, Peru had just become independent from Spain. Such valuable resources had been discovered just after Peru became independent, which made the Spanish government feel a loss.

Therefore, the Spanish government jumped out and said that this is their former colony. If the Peruvian government wants to mine the guano on the island, it must pay a so-called mining fee to the Spanish government.

But in the end no one paid attention to Spain, and even Peru didn't take the former sovereign seriously.

After all, Spain was already in a coffin in the 19th century, and it was up to the United States to close the coffin and hammer in the nails before the end of the 19th century.

Peru’s guano resources were eventually “jointly” developed by the British, American and Peruvian governments after consultations between the British, American and Peruvian governments.

The situation in Bolivia and Chile is not much better, basically similar to Peru.

"Yes, in 1852, Peru alone sold guano for US$5.5 million, and we in California spent US$2.8 million buying guano from them."

After being the Minister of Agriculture for almost four years, Chen Baoliang's horizons have broadened a lot. He reads books and newspapers eagerly on weekdays, giving him a general understanding of the situation in the Americas.

"Originally, this was a very good deal. The Peruvians got the gold and we got the guano. But at the beginning of this year, the Hudson's Bay Company persuaded the Peruvians to sell the guano to us at a higher price. The farmers in California were miserable. ”

"He's a damn British guy again. British guys specialize in doing things like this that harm others and don't benefit oneself." Freemont couldn't help but interjected.

Chen Baoliang became even more angry when he heard this: "It's not about harming others but benefiting yourself! The bastard British guys, 70% of the money they earn from raising prices belongs to the British, and the remaining 30% belongs to Peru. There is no British to give. With their backing, they dare to sit down and raise the price?”

Liang Yao also has a headache about this problem. Guano is currently the most cost-effective fertilizer, and California’s agriculture will still be inseparable from guano for a while.

Unless you can make chemical fertilizers, but making chemical fertilizers in a laboratory and mass-producing chemical fertilizers are two different things.

Even if some chemical fertilizers can be synthesized in the laboratory, it will be of great significance in the field of chemistry, but if chemical fertilizers cannot be mass-produced, for agriculture, it will only quench the thirst for hope.

The chemical industry in California has just started, and mass production of fertilizers is obviously something that cannot be shown.

"You can take my Roland and Yang Wei to the Peruvian coastline and then get off the ship to negotiate the price with the Peruvians." Liang Yao said.

He has three capable warships of over 1,000 tons. Except for the Chao Yong, which was sent to Nagasaki to scare the Russians, the other two are still in California.

Of course, putting pressure on the Peruvian government is nothing more than a temporary measure.

The British may be busy dealing with the Russians now and have no time to deal with matters in South America, but the Crimean War will not be fought for a few more years, and he will feel uncomfortable when the British come to their senses.

The best way is to find a few islands that the British haven't touched yet.

In this way, enough bird droppings can be obtained without offending the British.

Nauru, the name of this island came to Liang Yao's mind.

This island in the Marshall Islands is also rich in guano, and although this island was discovered in the 18th century, it was discovered by both the Dutch and the British.

However, because the Western colonists did not realize the value of the island at the time, it was not until 1888 that Nauru Island was officially colonized by Germany.

After Germany's defeat in World War I, Nauru Island was assigned to Japan along with the Marshall Islands at the Allied Powers' Spoils Division Conference in Paris.

Liang Yao is going to send Sven, the president of Global Shipping Company, to search for this island in the waters near the Marshall Islands. As long as this island is discovered, he can reasonably and legally occupy this island according to the so-called "right of first discovery" principle of Western powers. .

Take the island of Nauru and the guano on it as your own.

Although Liang Yao knows nothing about engineering, he has considerable geographical knowledge. He remembers the approximate location of Nauru.

With the current level of navigation, it is not impossible to find this island in a short time.