2G0 MISSOURI STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



MISSOURI LANDS. 



Missouri has an area of 69,415 square miles. Within this territory 

 is found every conceivable kind of soil. Beginning- in the northwest- 

 ern portion of the State we have the Loess formation. Then along the 

 Missouri valley is found a rich alluvial soil, underlaid with a bed of 

 marl of great depth. South of the river begins the limestone, then the 

 mulatto soil, and lastly in South Missouri the gravelly formation with a 

 red, porous subsoil. In such a diversity of soil it is not strange that 

 everything can be raised which grows in the temperate zone. Missouri 

 is one of the great corn-producing States, standing this year as second 

 in the list. While not producing as much wheat as some other States 

 the quality is better. 



The soil in some sections of South Missouri seems to be peculiarly 

 adapted to growing a quality of wheat, from which is made as fine' 

 flour as can be found in any market. The six roller mills in Spring- 

 field ship annually thousands of barrels of flour to New York and other 

 seaboard cities, which always commands the highest price. 



Tobacco is raised in Callaway, Howard, Chariton, Webster, Chris- 

 tian and Douglas counties, of as fine quality as that produced by the 

 celebrated tobacco States of Kentucky, Virginia and North Carolina. 

 But I will not particularize further. 



In addition to the above mentioned articles, Missouri soil produces 

 oats, rye, barley, hemp, flax and all kinds of vegetables. In the south- 

 ern part of the State thousands of bales of cotton are raised annually 

 and shipped to the St. Louis market. Missouri is also blessed with 

 untold wealth beneath the surface in her great mineral deposits. There 

 is enough zinc and lead south of the Missouri river to supply the world 

 for a century. Her mountains of iron and inexhaustible beds of coal 

 proclaim to the world that a supply of these essential articles will be 

 found here for ages. 



I am proud of one thing, that on account of her great and varied 

 natural resources the people of Missouri have always been self-sustain- 

 ing. History gives no account since the formation of her territorial 

 government of her citizens having to beg for the necessaries of life. 

 This is more than some of the new States and Territories can say. 

 With a great blow and flourish of trumpets they have proclaimed to 

 the world their many advantages, causing thousands of citizens to 

 leave comfortable homes in the older States and come within their 

 borders, where they soon fall an easy prey to the merciless land-sharks. 

 The story is soon told. Money all gone, crops fail, mortgages fore- 

 closed, left penniless and destitute. I believe the great railroad mag- 



