294 .STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



manner, of which the managers and owners of the mammoth Olden 

 fruit farm are the pioneer teachers, to whom the present and future 

 fruit-growers all over Southern Missouri and i^orthern Arkansas owe 

 many, thanks and who deserve everlasting credit, as the Olden fruit 

 farm is a free school for all new beginners in fruit culture. 



Oregon county contains about 20,000 acres of vacant government 

 land, of which the worst is suitable for fruit orchards, This land can 

 either be homesteaded or cash entered at $1.25 per acre, and is fully 

 as valuable for fruit-raising as fruit land in California that cannot be 

 purchased for less than $50 to $100 per acre. Other uncultivated 

 land can be bought at $2 to $5 per acre, of which a great portion is 

 suitable for agricultural purposes or for orcharding. 



Partly improved farms of 160 acres can be bought at $5 to $10^ 

 and better improved $10 to $30 per acre. Every possible variety of 

 field and garden products, such as corn, wheat, rye, oats, barley, millet, 

 cotton, tobacco, sweet and Irish potatoes, and the very best qualities 

 of vegetable products — the climate and soil being especially conducive 

 to the fine qualities of all kinds of products. 



Oregon county is fairly well-watered by flowing streams and springs,, 

 and many ponds of lasting water can be found through the woods. 

 Good well-water can be got at 20 to 60 feet deep. 



As in all the adjoining counties on southern slope of the Ozarks,. 

 the hill-sides of Oregon county are more or less covered with broken 

 stone, and are mainly only on the surface, and not in the ground. 

 However, the stony land is fully as productive as the land free from 

 stone, and is best adapted for fruit orchards. 



Tame grasses of nearly every kind do well here, clover and timo- 

 thy, and many other kinds for meadow and pasture are a perfect suc- 

 cess in Oregon county. 



Home seekers are welcomed, and will find good homes for 

 little money; and fruit growers are especially invited to this county. 

 Men with a capital of from $1000 to $5000 can invest their money 

 nowhere else to better advantage, and to bring better interest for 

 capital thus invested. The land is yet cheap, and at the same time no 

 better in the world to raise profitable fruit orchards. To carry on 

 mixed farming, there is no land in America where it can be done in so 

 great variety as can be on the southern slope of the Ozarks, and no 

 county excepted. 



As in all other south central Missouri counties, Oregon has no 

 prairie land within its borders. However, all this non-timbered country 

 shows evidence of once having been a prairie country — most of the 



