WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 853 



1mt this season they are making good money. I bred 1,800 broken mouthed ewes to 

 Shropshire rams and raised 1,400 lambs. These lambs came in June, were put in 

 i'rrd yards November 20, 1891, and on full feed January 1, 1892. These were nearly 

 all shipped by last of March and Aveighed from 84 to 95 pounds, and brought the top 

 of the market right along fit 7 cents, except one load on an off market at $6.75. 

 These ewes I fed averaged 112 pounds, and wethers 140. While it would pay to 

 shear wethers shipped late, we do not, as we are not fixed for it. 



John Holinan, Humboldt, Richardson County: 



I keep the Cotswold and Southdowns, and raise about 200 lambs each year; keep 

 them until they are yearlin -s, taking their fleeces off about the 1st of June. The 

 Cotswokls shear from 12 to 13 pounds and the Southdowns from 9 to 10 pounds of 

 unwashed wool, which sells from 19 to 22 cents per pound. If the market suits I 

 ship to Chicago about two weeks after shearing; if not I keep and feed the follow- 

 in 4 -winter, selecting the best ewes to replenish my breeding flock. I sell a good 

 many to farmers. I sell by the pound, as men in this county are accustomed to buy 

 sheep worth about $2.50 to $3 after weaning time, that in no other way can they 

 be convinced that ewes are worth from $6.50 to $8 per head. For farmers the large 

 mutton breeds and medium wools are the most profitable. The middle wools sell 

 for a higher price; they stand the changes of climate better. With breeding ewes 

 I feed very little grain, with plenty of good roughness, and turn out in the pasture 

 whenever the weather admits, to insure plenty of exercise. The sheep I shipped in 

 Marrh, 1892, including some lambs less than a year old, averaged 143 pounds, and 

 brought $6.75 per 100 pounds, an average of $9.65 per head. 



MISSOURI. 



The State of Missouri possesses a peculiarly advantageous geograph- 

 ical and climatic position for both stock raising and farming. The 

 State is not subject to extremes of heat or cold, and the growing sea- 

 son for vegetation is quite extended. Almost every agricultural crop 

 grown in this country is produced in Missouri, which assures an abund- 

 ance as well as a great variety of stock feed during the four or five 

 months of the year when the native tame grass pastures fail. 



Missouri now ranks fifth in population in the United States, having 

 a population in 1890 of 2,619,184, an increase of a little over half a 

 million during the last decade. By reason of the large urban popula- 

 tion in the State, and its great and diversified agricultural resources, 

 the farmer has local and natural advantages second to no other. With 

 Kansas City on her western border and St. Louis on her eastern, both 

 within the confines of the State and both being leading grain and live- 

 stock markets, the farmer and stock-raiser have the benefits derived 

 from a large home demand. 



The extent of the State in length, north and south, is 275 miles; aver- 

 age breadth, about 245 miles ; area, 69,415 square miles, or 44,425,600 

 acres, almost equal to that of the combined six New England States. 

 It is divided into 114 counties. That part of the State which lies north 

 of the Missouri lliver consists of rolling or level prairies, with deep river 

 valleys and much swamp land along the river banks. The southern 

 division, which is much the larger of the two, is more broken and rug- 

 ged, with a number of hills ranging from 500 to 1,000 feet in height, and 



