GEOLOGICAL REPORT. 19 



per acre since 1849, which, at an average price per gallon of 

 $1.60, would give an annual income of $400, and a yearly 

 profit of $300 per acre. So that the vine-dresser, even in the 

 poorest seasons, can scarcely fail of a handsome profit, while 

 in good years his gains will far surpass those derived from any 

 other department of husbandry. But the profits of our most 

 successful cultivators have been much greater. Mr. Pceschel, 

 of Hermann, is said to have made over 400 gallons per acre 

 for the last ten years, and an annual profit of more than $500 

 for each acre. 



Such are the favorable results legitimately derived from the 

 experience of our vine-dressers in their early efforts in a new 

 country, with a soil and climate unknown to the cultivators of 

 the grape. All must admit that they are most satisfactory. 

 Even if our climate does not become more dry, if no more 

 improvements are made in the modes of culture, and if no 

 more favorable localities are obtained, grape culture must 

 increase very rapidly, and become an important element in our 

 agricultural and commercial interests. 



Soil. Nearly all the soils of Missouri possess all the ingre- 

 dients necessary to the complete development of the vine ; but 

 some of them are too heavy, wet and cold, unless improved by 

 artificial means. This is true to some extent of those on the 

 bluffs of the Mississippi and Missouri, where nearly all the 

 vineyards of our State are located. Still, they produce an 

 abundance of large native grapes, on vines of the Vitis labrusca, 

 and other species. 



The character of this variety of soil is indicated by the 

 analysis of a specimen from the bluff of Boone county, as 

 given above. It has already been shown that it covers large 

 areas in the region under consideration. The superior native 

 grapes growing upon this soil, and the success of the vine- 

 yards above named, prove its adaptation to the vine. Its 

 greatest defect is a capacity to hold and retain an excess of 

 water, which must be remedied by trenching and a proper 

 admixture of vegetable matter, sand, pebbles and broken rocks. 



But the action of the elements upon the rocks of the Mag-- 

 nesian Limestone Series, has prepared a soil, as if by design, 

 to invite the vine-dresser to possess and cultivate it. 



The following analysis shows the properties of this variety of 

 soil : 



