Missouri is heavily wooded. Her forests contain fuel and timber amply sufficient to meet the wants of a population of 10,000,000. The mineral wealth of the State is illimitable. Probably no equal area on the face of the globe surpasses Missouri in the richness and variety of her minerals. Her vaults are stored with almost every kind of ore which the arts of man require. The key to all this wealth is a spade. The lock which secures this treasure is earth-any man can pick it. During the rebellion Missouri was cruelly vexed with evil spirits. But these have at length been cast out, and now the State, though rent and scarred by convulsions, is restored to sanity and health. It is now ready to commence an unobstructed career of development. The motives of freedom, fertility of soil, salubrity of climate, wealth of minerals, facilities for commerce and manufactures, and ease of railroad and river transportation are the material advantages which invite the capitalist, the tradesman and the artisan of every clime and nationality to a home in Missouri, to a co-operation in the development of its measureless resources, and to an enriching participation in its prosperity.' Missouri presents to the farmer those conditions of climate which are most favorable to husbandry. The cold of the Northern latitudes restricts variety of production and blockades communication with icy barriers. The heat of the South enervates energy and invites to indolence. Missouri enjoys the genial mean which permits the widest range of products and the full exercise of physical powers. The thermometrical record kept at Jefferson Barrackslatitude 38 deg. 28 min., elevation 472 feet-shows that the mean annual temperature for twenty-six years, is 55.46 deg. The highest monthly average is 85.80 deg., and the lowest 18.54 deg. The mean annual rain-fall is 37.83 inches. The thermal and hydral averages of the season are: It seems as though it would only be neccessary to advertise these advantages of climate to induce agricultural emigrants to avail themselves of such a genial co-operation of nature. Of the 35,000,000 acres of arable land in Missouri, 2,000,000 are the alluvial margins of rivers, and 20,000,000 high rolling prairie.. The richness of the soil is practically inexhaustible. In bottoms the mold is sometimes six feet deep. Some farms, after bearing without artificial fertilization twenty five successive crops, have yet failed to show any very great decrease in productiveness. The strength of the land and the length of the season permit two harvests to be gathered from the same field every year. Winter wheat or oats can always be succeeded by a crop of corn fodder, or Hungarian grass, from the same ground. This is an advantage of material importance to small farmers. The composition of the soil varies with the geological formation. But the main elements-clay, lime, sand and vegetable mold-commixed in different proportions, form a rich marl or loam which the facts of harvest prove to be highly fruitful. The following statistics, which are given by Mr. Parker, may in some instances largely exceed the average yield, but still they illustrate the possible productiveness of the soil: These counties are not selected on account of superior fertility; they are taken as samples for the simple reason that I have not been able to procure recent returns from other counties. In some of these products, the figures indicate a productiveness which is below the average of the richest districts. The table refers to special harvests and farms, and does not aim to express the mean fertility of the several counties or of other years. The average yield of wheat in Missouri is from 15 to 25 bushels an acre. Little facts are often suggestive of the fruitfulness of the soil. Sweet potatoes have been raised in Missouri which weighed ten pounds apiece. Apples and turnips have been exhibited at our fairs which measured respectively six and eight inches in diameter. Melons and pumpkins have been produced which attained the relative weights of 40 and 100 pounds. Corn sometimes reaches as high as sixteen feet, and sorghum twenty feet. In good seasons, farmers occasionally cut four tons of hay to the acre. In all these cases, the average is of course much below these figures. These exceptional instances are cited to show what vegetable monsters the richness of the soil sometimes brings forth. " Yet, notwithstanding this wonderful wealth of soil, more than 25,000,000 acres of land in Missouri are suffered to lie fallow. There are to-day 4,000,000 acres of unentered land in this State. Nearly all of this land is rich in agricultural or mineral resources. Under the Homestead Law, 160 acres can be purchased for $18. Improved farms can be bought at from $5 to $30 an acre. *Timothy 3-Clover 4-Hungarian Grass 5 tons. According to a recent estimate of the Agricultural Bureau, the average price of farm labor in Missouri is $18.00 a month with board, and $26.75 without it. The water of Missouri is abundant and healthful. Perennial springs and copious streams are found in every part of the State. The alluvium which the Mississippi holds in solution does not impair the salutary quality of its waters. The undulating surface of Missouri affords advantages of drainage and water-power which are denied to level prairies. This is an important consideration. The necessity of thorough drainage to highly successful husbandry has been established, and the emigrant who would prefer the plains of other States to the gentle inequalities of Missouri, would betray a costly ignorance of his own interests. The products which thrive in Missouri are too numerous for separate enumeration. The list would be an inventory of the productions of the temperate zone. All the cereals grow with rank luxuriance. The soil is rich in the chemical elements of which the different grains are composed. The Cotton is produced in the Southern portion of the State. amount per acre varies from 200 to 400 pounds. During the war, it was a very profitable crop. The soil of Missouri is suited to the culture of Sorghum and Imphee. Their rank growth and great productiveness strongly recommend a more general cultivation of these vegetables. No portion of them is worthless. The juice is refined into excellent sugar and syrup, the leaves make good fodder, and the fiber of the stalk is manufactured into paper. Hemp and tobacco are two of the main staples of Missouri. Equal to the best growth of Kentucky and Virginia, they are a vast source of wealth to the State. Few crops yield a larger profit. Missouri produces more than forty-five per cent. of the hemp of the United States. Missouri is admirably adapted to the cultivation of fruit. Apples, pears, peaches, plums, cherries, currants, strawberries, blackberries, quinces, apricots and nectarines, reach a rare size and delicacy of flavor. Trees and vines grow rapidly and bear largely. In southern Missouri, the winters are so mild that fruit trees are seldom injured by inclemency of the weather. The season, which even in northern Missouri permits plowing by the middle of March, cannot be very severe or protracted. In open winters, farmers have not infrequently done their plowing in December and January. In the genial climate of Missouri, the farmers may enjoy from May to November an uninterrupted succession of fresh fruits. Apples can be produced in illimitable quantities. The trees mature at least five years earlier than they do in New England. Peach trees continue to bear from fifteen to twenty years, and apple trees from twentyfive to thirty years. Two thousand bushels of peaches have been gathered from a single acre. Fruit culture is one of the most lucra tive branches of husbandry in Missouri. Unless the prophecies of scientific men are false and the obvious intentions of nature are thwarted, Missouri is destined to be the vineyard of America. There has been no elaborate investigation since the geological survey of Professor Swallow. But the familiarity of the facts which his researches developed does not diminish their truthfulness. It is estimated that there are in Southern Missouri 15,000,000 acres adapted to the culture of the grape. This land is situated 1,000 or 1,500 feet above the level of the ocean. Nature has, in many localities, moulded the surface into terraces, as if on purpose to facilitate the labors of the vine-dresser. The composition of the soil is remarkably like that of the celebrated vine lands of Germany and France. Chemical analysis shows that the soil abounds in lime, soda, potash, magnesia, and phosphoric acid; and these are the principal elements which enter into the structure of the vine. The soil is dry and light, the air equable and comparatively vaporless; the water abundant and pure. These are the identical conditions under which the luscious vintages of the Old World attain their perfection. 4 The success of our vineyards has been seriously diminished by the inexperience of our vine-dressers. Unfamiliarity with the best methods of treatment, and ignorance of the varieties best suited to our conditions of climate and soil, have materially lessened the profits of grape-growing in Missouri. Yet the following averages, based upon the statistics of Mr. HUSMANN, in his excellent treatise on "Grapes and Wine," show that, even under the existing disadvantages, the culture of the vine has been highly lucrative. The approximate expense of preparing a vineyard is indicated below. The mean results per acre of one of Mr. HUSMANN's vineyards, from 1849 to 1865 inclusive, are as follow: The cost of 2 acres, planted in 1861, was: 1700 Norton's Virginia, at $20 per 100. 400 Concord, 350 Delaware, $340.00 "" 25 100.00 Fourth" 4,000.00 Third.." 2,000 lbs Concord grapes at 16 cts. net.. 2,040 " 1,300 "" Herbemont " 320.00 "24" 66 489.60 5,200.00 125 3.00 " The following exhibit shows the annual returns of Mr. M. POESCHEL'S new vineyard: The averages of Mr. POESCHEL's old vineyard, from 1847 to 1863 inclusive, were: The statistics of Mr. WM. POESCHEL'S vineyard are: Price per gal. $1.54 Gross profits. $1,402.50 275.00 375.00 1,846.80 1 783.50 1,742.12 2,512.00 630.00 8,290.00 $17,856.92 |