T84 MISSOURI AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



part, reading matter taken from high class papers and not credited to 

 them. Rural route mail boxes are filled with this cheap trash, week 

 after week by the publishers, whether subscribed for or not. About all 

 they are good for is kindling fires. A well-written ad. in a good high- 

 class agricultural journal will bring the desired results. Occasional 

 advertising will be sufficient until the business becomes large enough 

 to bear a standing ad., which, of course, is expensive. It is extremely 

 beneficial to the business, however, if it does cost. It is mighty poor 

 business to misrepresent the stuff either in an alvertisement or in cor- 

 respondence. It is an old saw, and a true one, that a pleased customer 

 is the best advertisement, and a man's reputation for fair dealing gets 

 around among the people somehow. Considerable stock is bought 

 "sight unseen," as the boys call it. The buyer depends largely on the 

 pedigree and on the word of the seller. It is best to make good any 

 dissatisfaction which may arise, if possible. It is not always possible, 

 for some buyers couldn't be pleased, not if they had selected in person 

 the animal purchased. It pays in filling mail orders, to send out ani- 

 mals which have been fairly represented in the correspondence, and to 

 live carefully up to the rule to never make a statement in a letter which 

 cannot be borne out by the animal under consideration. Advertise them 

 as much as the business will bear. 



In concluding this brief review of what I consider the most im- 

 portant thing in the improved stock business, to which you have lis- 

 tened .'o patiently, I will say that the outlook for the pure-bred stock 

 business in Missouri is radiantly bright. Those who are in the busi- 

 ness,- either in a large way or a small way, have the opportunity of a 

 life time before them. The demand for their stuff, if it is the right 

 kind of stuff, will be steady and urgent. Everything points to it. 

 Missouri has got a move on her. The St. Louis World's Fair was an 

 eye-opener to thousands and thousands of people who did not know 

 Missouri was on the map, let alone knowing what fine stock she could 

 raise. Stock exhibitors from everywhere found they must reckon with 

 Missouri before the prize became theirs. Nor has our beloved State 

 been without honor and a representative at the recent Chicago Inter- 

 rational. A lot of people pictured the Missouri farmer as a long, 

 lank man, barefooted, wearing little besides overalls and a hickory 

 shirt, sitting on the porch of a rickety old dwelling, squirting tobacco 

 juice from between his dirty teeth, and living chiefly on razor-back- 

 bacon, corn bread and sorghum molasses. He went to town in a ram- 

 shackle old wagon behind a lame mule and an old blind horse, hitched 

 up together, and his women folk with him sitting flat in the bed of the 

 wagon. He may look like that to some ; to me he looks very, very 



