222 Missouri State Horticultural Society. 



ground in places. In places you will find two to four reds covered 

 with them and all around, clean, fine soil. One man said '''nothing 

 was the matter with the country, only it was made upside down." 



Below you can dig for ten, twenty or forty feet and no rock 

 will be found. Under this foot of mulatto soil yon come to a red 

 clay shale, and this in places shows strong traces of ii'on. This 

 clay shale is rich enough to produce if thrown up to the action of 

 the weather, and proves a source of wealth to the fruit grower, for 

 the roots run down deep into it." The peach seems to succeed 

 admirably in that soil and location. You get the protection and 

 elevation so favorable to fruit growing ; you get the slope desirable 

 also. 



The land is just rolling enough to make a good natural drain- 

 age possible, tlie ridges are not broad nor are the ravines deep, but 

 the land lies somewhat as it does on our prairies south of here. 

 Everything points to it as being a choice location for fruit-growing. 

 Peaches were never known to fail for sixteen years before. Apples 

 never fail, and there are a few pear trees standing which show 

 thrift and and no signs of blight. 



Lands' are cheap there. In many places railroad land can be 

 obtained at 13 per acre, government land at 11.25 per acre, and 

 homesteads can be bought off for from 1300 to 1500. On the 

 homestead will be a liouse and barn and ten to forty acres cleared 

 and in cultivation. 



For a poor man it seems to be just the plac e to go to make 

 money. Markets are good. The Memphis railroad gives close and 

 quick markets both north and south, east and west. Everything 

 can be sold there at good prices and it is useless to go farther west 

 when the chances are far better nearer home. For marketing 

 fruits there is every advantage. They can be put on the cars there 

 at 6 o'clock p. M. and be in Kansas- City at 8 o'clock a. m. 



The place is healthy, being high and dry. It is not subject to 

 drouth, as are the Western forests, giving a good protection both 

 in the winter and summer. 



This country is changing rapidly. People are coming in from 

 the north and east, and in a few years you will see good farms, 

 stock ranges, and fruit farms where now nothing is to be seen but 

 forests. The government land is being taken at the rate of 3,000 

 to 5,000 acres per week, and will soon all be gone. For sheep, 

 And also for hogs, the country seems peculiarly adapted, both 

 being able to live the entire winter almost without food, if there 

 be plenty of acorns. 



