A FEW ITEMS FOR SETTLERS. 495 



afford, besides St. Louis, a good home market for all kinds of produce, 

 good bridges and roads. Improved land ranges from $15 to $50 per 

 acre, but the upland unimproved, which is the best for fruit, can be 

 bought from $5 to $10 per acre. 



WASHINGTON COUNTY. 



This county has a high and broken character; it is mostly covered 

 with pine trees; has a very productive soil, well adapted to all kinds of fruit, 

 especially grape; numerous streams and springs of clear limpid water 

 abound, its mines, furnaces, twelve grist mills, fifteen saw mills, tanneries, 

 and in spite of numerous orchards and vineyards, found here and there, the 

 supply is inadequate to the demand, especially for watermelons, which 

 can be easily raised in the rich soil mostly composed of detritus. 



The land is yet cheap and offers rare inducements to immigrants 

 seeking a mild and salubrious climate, promising a sure reward to fruit 

 growing. 



This county hdte 22 miles of railroad, besides a branch connecting 

 Potosi, the county seat. 



ST. FRANCOIS COUNTY. 



This county like the preceding one is hilly and broken; its scenery 

 extremely romantic; Big river. Flat river and St. Francois river, besides 

 many creeks, run through it; plenty of timber. The lion Mountain 

 and St. Joe mines employ many thousand men and it is surprising to 

 sec St. Joe and Bogy-town, with a population of about 7,oco souls, 

 draw fruit and vegetables from St. Louis. Yet there is plenty of unim- 

 proved hilly land, just the one best adapted to fruit growing, which can 

 be bought very cheap. The few orchards and vineyards found here and 

 there bear the best of fruit. How long this chance will last is hard to 

 tell; so long as men want to make a fortune in one day, by trying to 

 find out new mines, so long will this last. Any industrious horticultur- 

 ist with a will and a little capital would find here a surer remuneration 

 for his labor. 



[MADISON COUNTY. 



Like the other counties its surface is hilly and broken; the bottom 

 lands along the rivers and creeks are of an excellent quality; corn, 

 wheat and gats are raised thereon and watermelons thrive admirably. 



