194 State Horticultural Society. 



"This department is in receipt daily of many inquiries regarding the 

 Ozark country, as to its adaptability to the growing of fruit. 



"During the month of May I made the trip to Western Missouri 

 and was somewhat surprised to learn that the people of that section 

 knew simply nothing of the Ozark country from a fruit growing stand- 

 point, and they were greatly surprised to learn that in one year some 

 4,000 car loads of apples were shipped over our line, and the great bulk 

 of them from the Ozark country. As a result of the recent advertising 

 and personal solicitation in Western New York, a number of gentlemen 

 have visited the Ozarks and have come back favorably impressed with 

 the country, and are inducing immigration to that section as a great 

 apple producing territory. 



"In the handling of fruit lands in the Ozarks during the past three 

 years, it has been my pleasure to drive across the country with a prac- 

 tical fruit man, in investigating the soil, and general adaptability for 

 the raising of fruit. I remember driving over some 3,000 acres in 

 Laclede county, Missouri, in company with the president of the Board 

 of Horticulture of Iowa, and a thorough investigation was made. Some 

 50 or 60 excavations at a depth of about 18 inches were made in search 

 of hard pan, but we were agreeably disappointed, and fruit experts who 

 were with us gave the Ozarks in general, a very favorable endorsement 

 as a fruit growing section. 



"In the handling of immigation to the Ozarks we have been very 

 careful in selecting the section from which our immigration originated. 

 That is to say, we would not place a prairie land man from the state 

 of Illinois in the Ozarks for general farming purposes, but we go into 

 southern Illinois, say Clay and Washington counties, and into the fruit 

 sections of Wisconsin and Michigan, western New York, Iowa and 

 Minnesota, and, while the people in the above named sections may not 

 be accustomed to the rocky nature of the Ozark country, as a rule they 

 are impressed with this section as a fruit growing country by reason of 

 the general adaptability of the soil, and I know of very few failures 

 where the people have handled the proposition in the right manner." 



No matter what their motives may be, to a reasonable man no better 

 evidence than Mr. Hughes' letter is necessary to convince him that the 

 railroads and especially the Frisco system are the friends of horticulture 

 in Missouri. 



The managers of railroads, as a rule, are shrewd men, and can 

 readily see on which side their bread is buttered ; they also know the dif- 

 ference between a turkey and a buzzard. And as human nature is weak 

 even with the best of intentions, it is possible that sometimes in fixing 



