Under favorable circumstances, two acres of vines yielded the following results: Deduction of cost, labor and interest... 1,000.00 Net profit of two acres in one year......$13,457.20 These figures exhibit a profit which is certainly ample enough to satisfy every reasonable expectation of gain. In 1865, the value of the grape crop in the vicinity of Hermann was appraised at $150,000. If we may be guided in our estimates by European statistics, the vinelands of Missouri are able to afford a pleasant and remunerative occupation to a population triple the present census of the State, and to yield an annual vintage of at least 1,000,000,000 gallons of wine. The physical structure of Southern Missouri is a prophecy of rich and delicious vintages, which the sagacious enterprise of our citizens should speedily fulfil. Almost all the valuable varieties of forest trees abound in Missouri. The pine, oak, ash, elm, walnut, hickory, maple, gum, overcup, cottonwood, cypress, chestnut, sycamore, linn, beech, catalpa, and tupelo are found in different portions of the State. The following table, taken from Mr. Parker's suggestive volume, shows the magnitude which some of these trees occasionally reach: But I The magnitude of these statements excites distrust. have no means of verifying them. If there is no error in the figures, the existence of such vegetable giants demonstrates a marvelous opulence of soil. Large districts of southern Missouri are heavily covered with timber. For the purposes of ship-building, the live oak of this State is unsurpassed by any that grows in the Mississippi Valley. In the southern counties, there are millions of acres of valuable yellow pine which the hand of man has not touched. Some of these are four feet in diameter, and shoot up to a height of ninety feet. Energy might easily coin this timber into a fortune. Last year about $50,000 worth of tar, rosin and turpentine was brought to St. Louis from these pineries and sold at a large advance upon the cost of manufacture. The cultivation of grass brings the farmer liberal profits. Clover, timothy, red-top, Hungarian and herds-grass grow with spontaneous exuberance. The yield varies from one and a half to three tons an acre. In the culture of this crop, improved machinery enables the farmer to secure large returns for a slight outlay 'of labor. The richness of the herbage is favorable to stock-raising. Cattle occasionally graze all winter. It is seldom necessary to feed them more than two months and a half. The luxuriant verdure of our alluvial bottoms and loamy uplands would fatten cattle enough to supply the markets of the country. The farmer has the advantage of the open prairie-his herds can feed at will upon its verdant pasturage. The stock raiser adjacent to a prairie can make a profitable use of its vast commons. The hilly region of southern Missouri is admirably adapted to sheep grazing. A moderate use of Missouri's ability to raise sheep would remove the necessity of importing into this country 100,000,000 pounds of wool annually. The alpaca of Peru is a hardy animal, and thrives upon the scantiest pasturage. Our national Bureau of Agriculture has recommended the naturalization of this animal in the United States. The hardihood of the alpaca and its abundant yield of wool justify the attempt. Southern Missouri affords the finest opportunities for the trial of this experiment. Our farmers may find in the introduction of this new breed a rich reward for their enterprise. In this way, portions of the State too uneven or sterile for the purposes of agriculture may be reclaimed to profitable uses. At all events, the experiment is worthy of a trial. The mulberry tree grows wild in Missouri. It is hardy and rank. With cultivation, it would answer every want of the silk-grower. The Chinese silk worm, which has been imported from France and naturalized in this country, would find in the abundant foliage of the ailanthus tree rich materials for its glossy fabric. The softness of the climate is peculiarly favorable to the health and industry of this little manufacturer. The castor bean richly repays the labor of cultivation. An acre will yield from fifteen to twenty-five bushels. During the last four years the price has varied, in consequence of competition, 'from $2.50 to $5.50 a bushel. The oil factories of St. Louis alone are able to express 200,000 bushels of castor beans annually. At the present price of castor oil, the manufacturers can afford to pay from $2.50 to $3 a bushel. Flax is a quick crop. In three months from the time of sowing, the farmer can receive the profits of his industry. The yield of an acre is from fifteen to twenty-two bushels of flaxseed; or, when flax and barley are sown together, from ten to fifteen bushels of flaxseed, and from sixteen to twenty-two bushels of barley. The average weight of straw to the acre is from one and a half to two tons. The crop is unfailing. Its certainty is a strong recommendation. The annual capacity of our St. Louis mills for the manufacture of linseed oil is 250,000 bushels. For the last three years, the seed has been worth $2.50 a bushel. The millions of dollars which this country is now paying for imported castor and linseed oil ought to enrich American producers. The culture of flaxseed and the castor bean challenges the favorable attention of the farmers of Missouri. The cultivation of the beet may yet expand into an important branch of Western agriculture. The enormous productiveness of this vegetable may enable it to enter into a profitable competition with cane in the manufacture of sugar... The necessary brevity of this article precludes a fuller discussion of the agricultural interests of Missouri. Our limits only permit the mention of our leading staples. But this brief enumeration of our principal products or capabilities suffices to show the rare adaptation of Missouri to the uses of agriculture. The Agricultural Bureau at Washington is efficiently promoting the interests of American husbandry. It is intelligently exploring the productions of the world, determining their value and testing their adaptation to the needs of American agriculture. Our farmers ought to avail themselves of every judicious and practical suggestion which emanates from this Bureau. They cannot afford to neglect the results of scientific investigation. The liberality of the general Government has given to Missouri 330,000 acres of public lands. This gift is sufficient for the organization and partial endowment of an Agricultural University. Such an institution, organized upon a practical basis, might render an important service to the farming interests of Missouri. It would elevate agriculture to a science, and promote alike the cultivation of the mind and the soil. It would diffuse throughout the State the latest results of scientific inquiry and experiment. It would suggest new, less expensive and more profitable processes of culture. It would liberalise the mind by broader views and nobler conceptions of the independence and dignity of the farmer's life. The husbandry which is prompt to take the hints derived from chemical analysis and actual trial, will always produce the most fruitful harvest. Our soil and climate are favorable to every staple of the temperate zone. In every direction, there are unopened avenues leading to wealth. Rich lands and certain competency are the prizes which the intelligent immigrant will draw. For the prudent and industrious settler there are no blanks. In this State, agriculture will assuredly bless its skilful follower with independence and worldly store. St. Louis, easily accessible by river or rail, furnishes a ready and unfailing market for every production of the husbandman. The exuberant West invites the farmers of the Old World and of New England to forsake their ungrateful wastes for a soil which will show a richer appreciation of their tillage. MINERALS OF MISSOURI. * Missouri may safely challenge the world to produce its superior in the number, extent and value of its minerals. The immensity of its mineral wealth subjects even a truthful exposition to a suspicion of exaggeration. The sober calculations of geology seem to be mere figures of rhetoric. The imperfect explorations which have been made have disclosed the superiority, but not the full magnitude, of the metallic resources of Missouri. Some of the vaults of nature's bank have been opened, but the treasure is too vast to be counted. The earth has hoarded in its coffers an unminted and incalculable wealth. The inventory of the mineral resources of Missouri enumerates springs-whose waters are impregnated with salt, sulphur, iron and petroleum-jasper, agate, chalcedony, lithographic stone, vitreous sand, granite, marble, limestone, plastic and fire-clays, metallic paints, hydraulic cements, mill and grind-stones, fire-rock, kaolin, emory, plumbago, nickel, cobalt, zinc, copper, silver, gold, lead, coal and iron. Most of these minerals occur in quantities that are literally inexhaustible. In case of many of these articles, the mines and quarries of Missouri could easily supply the market of the world. If an incomplete geologic survey and the rude efforts of unscientific miners, who have as yet scarcely touched the vast deposits of the State, have disclosed such results, we may justly expect far richer developments when an exhaustive investigation has been made, and systematic mining been extensively prosecuted. Of silver and gold, traces only have been discovered. Cobalt and nickel exist in profusion. Zinc is very abundant. Its masses have often retarded the mining of more valuable ores. Thousands of tons of this metal, thrown away by the lead miners as a vexatious and worthless impediment to their progress, might be with a profitable cheapness reclaimed to the uses of commerce. The ore is very pure. Copper has been found in 15 counties. At Hinch's Mine, 800 pounds of ore gave 272 pounds of good copper. In this locality, the gangue is red clay, chert and magnesian limestone. At Rives' Mine, the ore lies only 20 feet below the surface. The deposit is several feet thick, and contains a rich proportion of copper. The copper Hill Mine has yielded 100,000 pounds. The ore from the Stanton Mines gives, according to two analyses, 48.41 per cent of pure copper. The ore is usually a sulphuret or carbonate. But very little attention has been paid to the zink and copper mines of Missouri. The larger profits of other kinds of mining have diverted public enterprise from a fair trial and full development of these ores. The success of the copper works at Frederick * The materials of this article are almost exclusively derived from the able Reports of Professors Swallow and Litton in the Geological Survey of the State of Missouri. town would justify more extended operations in this neglected branch of mining. Lead has been discovered in more than 500 localities. Its purple veins run through 20 counties and intersect an area of more than 6,000 square miles. The richness of these mines is exhibited by the following statistics: Total yield of Perry's mine to 1854. (6 Vallé's (( ... " Franklin's " from 1824 to 1854. Pounds of Lead. 12,000,000 13,000,000 20,000,000 Yield of Shibboleth mine in 1811.... 3,000,000 Washington and St. Francois Counties from 50,000,000 Shipped from Selma alone from 1834 to 1854 Annual average of all mines from 1840 to 1854. 145,000* 100,000* 50,000* 70,000,000 4,000,000 At the mine of Price, Bray & Co., 2,000 lbs. of Galena have been taken from a shaft which is only 10 feet deep. The ore at Mineral Point is in some places 18 inches thick. The lead is mostly sulphuret. Out of 120 specimens of ore, 113 were sulphuret, 6 sulphuret and carbonate, and 1 sulphate. From 60 to 85 per cent. of the ore is pure lead. The gangue is generally sulphate of baryta. The ore is often found in magnesian limestone, or red clay interspersed with brown hematite, pyrites and ochre. The mines which have been worked are mostly shallow. The shaft of Williams' mine was from 25 to 75 feet deep. Shibboleth At Granby, the lead comes to the very surface of the ground. In November, 1865, Mr. Rutter, the Superintendent of the St. Louis White Lead Factory, made a careful examination of Mine la Motte. His report to Mr. Banker, then President of the Lead and Oil Company, embraces the following interesting facts: The ore, which is almost exclusively a sulphuret, contains from 60 to 66 per cent. of pure lead. It is found in a limestone formation, at a depth of from 22 to 30 feet below the surface. The earth which overlies the limestone varies from 6 to 12 feet in depth. Horizontal sheets of almost pure galena, varying from 1 to 12 inches in thickness, cover the beds of mineral; beneath them lies a less productive sulphuret, which extends downward from 4 to 6 feet. The mean thickness is 8 inches. The weight of a square foot of lead, 1 inch thick, is 40 pounds. 8 inches (6 320 |