294 State Horticultural Society. 



It should be noted here that the lakes marked on the maps are over 

 half missing when you travel across their locations. Indeed they never 

 had an existence and hundreds of thousands of acres so marked were 

 not only never overflowed, but were in fact beautiful prairies altogether 

 above the highest floods. The name swamps was attached to these 

 lands by reason of an act of congress passed September 28, 1850, do- 

 nating to the several states all swamp and overflowed lands lying within 

 their boundaries, in trust that the states would severally drain and re- 

 claim them, and after paying the expenses of reclamation convert the 

 i*emaining proceeds of the sales into the school fund. The cupidity of 

 the states resulted in hundreds of thousands of acres of the best bottom 

 lands, and in fact of thousands of acres of hill lands being certified and 

 transferred to the state of Missouri as swamp and overflowed which were 

 always safe from overflow. 



The beautiful prairies of Dunklin county, which are now a suc- 

 cession of the handsomest farms in Missouri, were classed as swamp and 

 overflowed. When ths timber is removed, it will be found that there 

 are not 40,000 acres of actual swamp land in southeast Missouri, and 

 that all of this can be drained at small expense. It need not be stated 

 that the name 'swamp land' has operated greatly to the injury of south- 

 east Missouri, causing many to avoid it who would have become citizens 

 had they known the real facts. A personal examination will soon sat- 

 isfy the most skeptical. Reading is believing, but seeing is kno^ving." 



As an eye-opener to the prejudices I will submit the statistics of 

 the exports of wheat and flour from four counties that lie right on the 

 ]?tr.ississippi river, compiled from the state labor commissioner's report 

 for 1898: Cape Girardeau county shipped, wheat, 129,000 bushels; 

 flour, 26,162,948 pounds. Scott county shipped, wheat, 211,000 bush- 

 els; flour, 12,699,000 pounds. Mississippi county shipped, whea:, 

 415,000 bushels. ^ew Madrid county shipped, wheat, 423,000 

 bushels. And all these millions grown in a swamp ? All false ! When 

 the facts are known as they really exist, homeseekers will realize what 

 they have lost by not being informed truthfully. 



The timber is as fine as can be found in any part of the 

 state, consisting of cypress, gum, walnut hickory, white oak and black 

 oak of the finest quality, ash poplar, linden, hackberry, wild cherry. 



