Johnson County, Missouri - Chapter 9: - Agriculture, 1881

Chapter 9: - Agriculture

Early steps - Small fields. Implements used - First crops - Kinds of soils - The most profitable crops - Size of farms - Prairie and timber lands - Value of land - Present modes of farming - Horticulture - All its branches - Fruits - Nursuries - Wm. Zoll an enterprising nurseryman - Raising Stock - James Simpson a pioneer stock raiser - Cattle - horses - hogs - sheep - Granges - Fairs. The richness of Johnson county.

Agriculture in the restricted meaning is the cultivation of a field, from the latin word ager a field, and cultura , cultivation, and implies the art of cultivating the ground for the purpose of obtaining vegetable productions. In the most general sense, as we shall use it in this article, it includes the whole business of the farmer, comprehending in addition to the rais¬ ing of corn, wheat and other crops, the proper management of live stock.

Farming is the most independent of the avocations. The "lords of the soil" hold in their hands the destiny of nations. We are all common suf¬ ferers when farming interests suffer; no country may expect to flourish when she neglects her agricultural interests. When the farmer rises above the common daily drudgery, so long practiced by the ignorant til¬ lers of the soil, then there will be intelligent, thinking, paying labor on every farm, which will add much to the farmer's happiness, and grace the proudest and most independent avocation man can follow.

Agriculture is the great interest of our county and state. It is the fundation upon which all other enterprises are dependent. It is the funda¬ mental element that produces the happiness, prosperity and wealth of a country. Upon its success rests the welfare of the nation. Therefore, its great importance to all, whether engaged in holding the plow, or the scales of justice, or any other vocation. Agronomy furnishes the support of all others, and when in a prosperous condition shares its blessings with all of them - the laborer has work, the printer better support, the profes¬ sionals better patronized, the mechanics more employment, the merchant sells more goods, the manufacturers a better market, railroads more freight, and commerce greater tonnage. In this manner the products of the soil are distributed liberally to others. It is from the rural haunts that the majority of our most able men and women come to the stage of action to perform an important part in the public affairs of our nation. A Web¬ ster and a Clay were among farmer's sons. A Martha Washington and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were blessed as farmer's daughters. Let these names with a half a million others stimulate the sons and daughters of the rural districts to go forward and possess the land.

The women of this country have done much to make farm-homes attractive and create a taste for the culture of fruits and flowers and orna¬ mental grounds. The state took steps in the right, direction when she opened the doors of her university, agricultural and horticultural schools to sons and daughters alike. The state will more than be paid for this noble work in her future statesmen and citizens.

Johnson county possesses many advantages for the development of her natural resources that her sister counties are without. The abundance of water in nearly every township will always enhance the value of the land. The great number of running brooks and larger streams abundantly sup¬ ply with water the large herds of stock that graze on their banks and rest under the boughs of the beautiful shade trees that everywhere skirt the margins of the streams. Let the New Englander or the man of the older states leave his narrow acres of sterile soil, diligent toil and close habits, and come to Johnson county, to broader fields and more generous soil. One glance at these beautiful, fertile prairies, and the enjoyment of wholesome air and good society, will convince even the man most wedded to the sterile and unproductive soil of New England. These beautiful? rich, rolling prairies, nature's own pastures, dotted with springs and check¬ ered with perpetual rivulets; their fertile soil a fathom deep, already sub¬ soiled and undermined by nature, can be made, by a small outlay, a per¬ fect garden of Eden, in the bountiful supply of all sorts of fruits, besides the immense yields of corn, wheat, and other cereals.

from its early steps to the present time; the implements used then and now; the early crops, with their successive improvements; the kinds of soil in the county, and the most profitable crops raised. Once having lived on the farm and tilled the soil, the writer found but little difficulty in pre¬ senting the modes of farming. Horticulture, stock-raising and other information most pertinent to the farmer's interest, was gathered from reliable sources.

When the early settlers landed here they found a vast wilderness of grasses on the prairies, and in the woodland thick clusters of all sorts of vines and underbrush. Annually the mighty flames of fire would sweep over the prairies, leaving behind them a blackened plain ; nor did the rush¬ ing fires stop with the fertile glades, but often caught from tree top to tree top, wrapping miles of timber land in one vast conflagration. On account of the forest fires, the forest land was closely kept confined near the rivers, creeks, lakes, swamps, and damp soil, where the fire fiend had no sway. When these plains were first set on fire no mortal record can tell.

The implements used by the early tillers of the soil are occasionally found in many parts of this county and state, imbedded in the soil over which trees of many centuries have grown. The only implements left are those of stone. These are supposed to have been fastened to a piece of wood and used as a sort of hoe. * The wooden implements of a later day, used among some tribes were forked sticks, sharpened by stone axes. No animals were domesticated and used upon these "patches," as the natives called the fields. The women were the operators, and acted the double part of team and driver. The early agricultural habits of the Indians were superceded by those of the European, so at present, even the most savage tribes are commencing to imitate the system of farming by them.

When the early pioneers came to Johnson county, they settled along the small streams, for the double purpose of building log cabins, making rails, and improving a farm, which seemed (since many of them come from timbered states) the most practical. With them it seemed impossible to think about breaking the turf of the prairie land. A few acres fenced the first year for a corn patch and a few vegetables, with the hunting that was expected to be done, was all that was contemplated. This was enough, since this land must be grubbed, planted and cultivated, and the only implements used were a "bull tongue," colter plow, and a grubbing hoe. The plow was drawn by a pair of oxen, steady, but sure. Each succeeding year more land was opened up, and by the time a farmer owned twenty-five to fifty acres of cultivating land, he had more than he could manage. But few employed help except in making rails. Rail-splitting was an avocation in which large numbers of hardy young men of poor parentage engaged. They were paid on the average, one dollar per hundred for rails and their board. At this business, some saved money and become free holders. There was no need of fenced pastures. Stock ran loose on the prairies during the farming season, and the plow-animals were looked up every morning from the common pasture of nature, and often the pioneer farmer would commence his day's work wet to the waist from the dewy grass.

The first implements in use here were the bull-tongue, colter plow, wooden mold-board, turning plow, and the single shovel plow. A rudely constructed wooden harrow, and the top of a tree for a brush, were often used to level and pulverize the ground. These, with the aid of the hoe, continued to be the farmers' only reliance for implements for the first few years. A description of these implements will not be amiss. The colter plow, called bull-tongue, on account of its great strength, and the steel share, shaped somewhat like a bull's tongue, seems to have been the out¬ growth of the most ancient plows. The share, twelve to twenty inches in length, three to six in width, and about an inch in thickness, tapering to the apex, was adapted to the service of tearing up huge roots, and stirring the ground among stumps. This share was bolted to an upright piece, mortised and braced in a beam. At the end of this beam a strong iron clevis fastened by a pin, where a heavy log chain was attached, pass¬ ing between the two oxen, the chain was fastened in the ring and staple of the ox-yoke. The handles of the plow were made of tough wood, and fastened to the beam and braced with cross-bars.

The wooden mold-board plow is better imagined than described. The present turning plows are but an improvement of this plow. The steel share was fastened to a mold-board, and as the plowman tilled his little field, one can only imagine the inconvenience, stopping every few minutes, to use the "paddle," which was kept swinging from the plow handle, to clean the dirt from this wooden board that would not "scour." The* shovel plow was constructed upon the same plan as the colter, and was used in soil clear of roots and stumps for the purpose of checking the land, and covering the corn, plowing in oats, and wherever light plowing was demanded. The share of this shovel ranged from six to eight inches in breadth, and about the same in length. It was about onesixth of an inch in thickness, tapering to a point. This plow was usually drawn by one horse or a single ox. The work was slow, and many farm¬ ers in order to prevent their teams from nipping too much of the growing grain, kept muzzles made of splints and bark, on the plow-animals.

The first crops were principally corn. Oats, wheat, flax and rye were not extensively cultivated. Clover, timothy, and blue grass were little used by the early farmers. The wild grass was considered sufficiently good for all stock, and hundreds of tons of prairie hay were annually mown by hand, and stacked for winter use. At an early day spring and fall wheat were equally tried. The smut and the accumulation of chintz bugs on spring wheat rendered it unprofitable as a crop. Fall wheat, although not extensively sown, has generally done well in Johnson county.

With the early farmers, corn was the staple product. It became the staff of life for man and beast, and the failure of a corn crop brought almost a famine. From corn these hardy settlers depended for bread, hominy, hasty pudding, and succotash. It was the principal feed for horses, hogs, cattle and sheep. From the corn-stalks, just as soon as the ears ripened, the early farmer, with his wife and family, stripped the blades from the ear down, and, after they were cured, bound them in bun¬ dles, which were statcked for the horses. The tops of the stalks were cut, and bound, and shocked for the cattle. In some localities it became a prevailing custom to cut the corn from the ground, and stack it into shocks, about sixteen hills square. For doing this work, a "corn-cutter" was paid from seven to ten cents per shock.

The soils of this county will be found of interest to the reader. The greater portions of the prairie land of the county have a rich, black allu¬ vial, strong in sediment of lime, very friable, easily handled, and from twenty to fifty inches deep. About four-fifths of the land is natural prairie. The timber soils varv in color, depth, and consistency, those of the bottoms and valleys being dark alluvial deposits of great depth. They are, of course, practically inexhaustible, and, like the black alluvial of the upland prairies, yield enorrqous crops of corn, wheat, grasses, vegetables, and in fact, produce well everything that grows in this latitude. The more con¬ sistent oak and hickory upland soils are generally of a reddish or grayish hue, rich in lime, magnesia, humus , and other fine productive elements, and are among the very best corn, wheat, tobacco, and firuit soils in the state. The lighter and thinner red, black, and jack oak soils, which cover only a minimum of the woodlands, are not much value for cultivation, but nearly always yield a good undergrowth of tall succulent wild grasses, and make good summer or winter pasture for goats and sheep. This soil is found in small patches in the following townships: Northern Colum¬ bus, eastern Hazel Hill, central Simpson, western Grover, southwestern Washington, central Warrensburg, northern Post Oak, and southern Centreview. Chilhowee and Rose Hill townships are almost clear of this grayish soil. The southwestern part of Chilhowee township is a "perfect beauty" in appearance, besides this rich alluvial soil produces a very luxu¬ riant growth of vegetation. ' . . -

The subsoils of the prairie, as also the better white oak and hickory lands, are very largely made up of silicious clays and marls, deep and very rich, and wherever thrown up to the influence of the sun and air readily disintegrate to the softness of ashes, and produce a good growth of vege¬ tation. These lands indeed bear a close resemblance to the renowned loess of the bluff formation, and are absolutely imperishable. With such valuable constituents as silicia, lime, and magnesia carbonate, lime phos¬ phate, alumina, and other organic matter a bisis of agricultural wealth is formed for the deep and more thorough cultivators of the soil in the future, in comparison with which the famous artificial fertilizers are hardly worthy of mention. These surface and subsoils give together the widest known range of production in American agronomy.

The people of Johnson county are, no doubt, proud that they can grow to perfection, every product of the soil between the sunny lands of the south and frozen regions of the north.

This county is well adapted to wheat-growing, which is become a favorite and profitable industry. Thousands of bushels of wheat are shipped every year to eastern markets, besides, it has become the "daily bread " of the people. Winter wheat is grown in every part of the county, with more or less success, yielding from twelve to forty bushels per acre. The average yield is about twenty-five bushels per acre. Some years it is in excess of this.

Johnson county is one of the best corn growing counties in central western Missouri. Many of the farms produce from fifty to eighty bush¬ els per acre, in reasonable years. Hundred of beeves fatten here upon Johnson county corn. Thousands of bushels of corn are exported every year.

Many other grains do well here. Oats yield handsomely. Barley does well on the light soil, but is not much cultivated. Millet grows as luxur¬ iant as the wild grasses did during the Indian epoch. It is raised for sheep and horses. The flax crop has generally done well. It is raised altogether for the seed. The price of lin seed has always been equally as profitable as any grain raised on the farm. The Irish potato crop, although not generally so good as in the northern states, nor the bulb so palatable, generally does well. Sweet potatoes, turnips, with the various other field and garden vegetable products, are successfully grown. Broom corn never fails, and its cultivation might be made the source of great revenue to the county. The sorghum interest is just beginningto awaken consid¬ erable attention in the county. Several successful enterprises have pro¬ duced fine syrups and sugar from sorghum cane. In many localities, especially about Warrensburg, the land is adapted to sorghum culture. It has been found that land of a rolling surface and sandy composition never fails to produce a fine crop, generally from seventy to one hundred and twenty-five gallons of syrup per acre.

region. The apple orchards are generally young, and have not been thoroughly tested. Thrifty peach orchards are found in all parts of the county, and produce, of reasonable years, an abundant crop. Melons of all varieties have done well, especially on new or fertilized land. The tomato, the most luxuriant and wholesome of all the annual fruits, grows here to perfection. It is said that no fruit has risen higher in the favor of the people of the west than the tomato. Pears, cherries, plums, raspber¬ ries, blackberries, strawberries and other small fruits reach perfection here, and are successfully grown with half the care bestowed in the older states.

Johnson county once stood among the great grazing counties, but now most of the grazing lands are under fence. When the first settlements were made the wild grasses of this beautiful county numbered more than one hundred varieties, all of which have more or less value for grazing or hay, and most of them are remarkable for their fattening qualities from the beginning of April till late in the fall. But as the country settled up and the narrow fields spread out and encroached upon the prairies, the progress of cultivation advanced, the wild grasses steadily disappearing before the more tenacious domestic grasses.

Blue Grass is making a sure conquest in many districts in this county, and it is only a question of time when it will cover, with its rich, luxuriant carpet of green, the great portion of the land not in actual cultivation. It seems to be indigenous to the soil, and makes splendid pasturage. Mr. Larkin Hocker, Sr., of Grover township, has owned a superb pasturage of about one hundred acres for upwards of twenty years, where his sheep, horses and cows have grazed, and it still continues to wear its coat of vel¬ vety green. White clover does well in rainy seasons on light, sandy soil. Red clover is at home in Johnson county soil, where it grows luxuriantly and yields very fine feed, often two crops per year. It is now used as a fertilizer or an invigorator to bring new life into the old soil. A few crops of clover turned under will make the wheat yield fifty per cent greater. Timothy, the old and most reliable grass grown here, always pays the farmer an ample return for his toil. It is the very best grass for horses. Of late a few individuals are paying some attention to grass raising, and no doubt, a few years. of experience will tell that this stands among the profitable sources of wealth to the farmer.

A thorough test has shown that it pays better to feed corn to stock than to sell it in the market. Wheat is the most profitable grain raised and sold. Some years potatoes pay well, and, in general, is more profita¬ ble than corn raising for the market. The present (August, 1881) aver¬ age price of corn is twenty-five cents, potatoes fifty cents, wheat eighty cents, and flax seed ninety cents.

"In Hazel Hill township, a farm of 120 acres in cultivation, produced a crop for 1880, worth $970, and the cost of raising this crop was estimated at $147. In the same township, a farm of 200 acres, of which 127 acres were in cultivation, with an assessed value of $1,600, produced a crop worth $1,280, at a cost of $550. In Washington township, a farm of 500 acres, 300 in cultivation, with an assessed value of $3,990, produced a crop worth $700, at a cost of $292. Another farm in the same township of 400 acres, 300 arable land, assessed at $6,000, giving no estimate of the produce. Madison township, a farm of 214 acres, 65 in cultivation, assessed value, $1,200, value of the crops produced, $900, cost, $750. One in Warrensburg township, reports 470 acres, 160 tillable land, assessed at $4,455 "

The size of the farms range from 40 to 600 acres, which would make an average of the extremes of 320 acres; but there are more farms less than larger. About 160 acres is the average acreage of the farms.

The price of good improved land ranges from twenty to forty dollars per acre; inferior land from ten to thirty dollars per acre, according to quality of soil, location and improvements. A few years ago the wood land bore a fair price, ranging from twenty to fifty dollars per acre; now the prairie fields, well improved, can possibly bear the same price. From 1865 to the panic of 1873, lands rapidly advanced in value; then they began to decline till 1878, since which time the price has steadily advanced.

Modern farming is a pleasant and delightful profession in contrast with the days that the old settlers began to till the little farms of Johnson county nearly a half a century ago. Many are the new inventions of farming machinery since that time. Even the "marker" was a step ahead of "laying off" one furrow at a time. Step by step gradual pro¬ gress has filled the demand of the age. As the farming facilities have become much greater, more acres have been added to the area of arable land, and although many farms of the county are too large, yet full fifty per cent more land is cultivated since the introduction of modern agricul¬ tural implements. Prior to the war, but few farmers kept hired hands, while now if a farmer does not have a hired man, it- is an exception to the rule. Wages, with board, range from $10 to $20, and in a few instances, as high as $25 per month. Without board, wages range from $15 to $30; but as a rule, few hands are employed on the farms in this manner.

Honest, skilled farm hands are always in demand and get good wages. The better they are educated in economy and cultivated mind, so much the better it is for the farmer. A rude, ignorant, profane, and wasteful hand is worse than no hand. The intelligent farmer who expects to keep his family in the path of moral rectitude, will shun the society of the pro¬ fane hand and keep him from his premises as he would the most deadly serpents that infest the woods and cliffs, for he well knows the latter to be harmless when compared to the former.

Machinery of all kinds are now in use on the farm. It remains with the farmer, and not the historian, to decide the advantages of modern modes of farming. All kinds of steam and horse-power threshers, reap¬ ers, mowers, corn-crushers, stalk-cutters, self-binders, seed-drills, gangplows, sulky-rakes, patent harrows and cultivators, rollers, corn-droppers, clover-hullers, and riding-plows, are used extensively in this county. Urie & Co., of Warrensburg, manufacture the following agricultural imple¬ ments and appliances: Field rollers, stalk-cutters, harrows, cultivators, and the Turban windmill.

Horticulture

Horticultura is a latin word which means garden culture. Hortus , a garden, and culiura , culture. The subject virtually includes the cultiva¬ tion of every thing that is hortensial.

The early settlers paid but little attention to this branch of agronomy. A few old apple orchards in the county tell the tale. Many of the trees are seedlings, nevertheless, some produce rich juicy apples, equally as palatable as grafted fruit. As late as 1840, Samuel Workman, who now resides in Washington township had his young orchards destroyed by the deer. They damaged crops, and especially young fruit trees.. This may account, in some instances, for the absence of old orchards. Subse¬ quently the rabbits destroyed many young orchards. At present almost every part of ihe county can boast of good orchards. Mr. Jno. L. Jones, of Kingsville township has the largest orchard of the county. It consists goose plum does well. Pears do well on this land. Mr. Pfautz, of Jackson township, has one of the handsomest and best selection of fruits of the county. His farm has every variety of soil adapted to agronomy. His excellent vineyard yields well, and he manufactures some wine. Fine peaches, pears, apricots, nectarines, and wild goose plums yield admirably. To say nothing of his fine pastures and rich black alluvial farming land, Mr. Pfautz has, indeed, a good fortune in his carefully cultivated fruit garden. In Grover township, Dr. B. F. Dunkley and James K. Tyler, cultivate good vineyards; the former manufactures some wine. Almost every family cultivate a small orchard and vineyard. In Jefferson town¬ ship, Isaac and John Sanborne have paid considerable attention to fruit culture. Col. B. F. Williamson, Chas. P. Phillips, J. M. Wall, Mr. Muir, and others have profitable orchards.

unfailing and generous crops of the finest grapes, the size, color and flavor of this delicious fruit being equal to the product of the famous vine grow¬ ing regions of the continent. W. H. Hatton, S. P. Sparks, N. Land and others have small orchards and vineyards for home use.

Mr. George Reiter, who is one among the most thrifty and enterprising horticultors of the county, came from saxony, Germany, and has resided in Warrensburg for more than a score of years. He gives the following in regard to grape culture:

Concord is a staple grape. Subject to a little rot. Catawba does well. Observe no rot in them. The Gaty is a white grape, and makes a fine wine. It is a little tender for winter, and may be laid down. Triumph is my favorite grape . It wants protection in the winter. Herbemouth is a fine vine, but also needs protection. Elvira is a white grape, and makes a fine wine; a fast grower; have observed seven bunches on one shoot. Isabella is worthless. Clinton requires too much work, and is not profitable. Taylor Bullet makes a fine vine but never sells well. Virginia Seedling is very productive, and makes a good wine for medical purposes. The juice is an astringent, and excellent for chronic diarrhoea. It is a hardy vine and stands the winter well. Massasoit is a very fine grape, but don't set fruit well."

This gentleman has about four acres in vineyard, besides cultivating a beautiful little orchard. He considers the dew formation on the grapes coming in contact with the sun, the cause of the rot. He has observed that the grapes on the opposite side from the sun never rotted much. During last year he manufactured upwards of 3,500 gallons of wine for himself and others.

" Before 1861, there was no nursery in the county. Prior to that date, budded or grafted fruit trees were brought from eastern nurseries. Tree peddlers or agents get a vast amount of money from the people. Some good varieties were thus introduced. As it became known that this soil and climate were well adapted to fruit growing, the people were the more anxious to test the practicableness by planting small orchards. But the lack for home nurseries was, for a long time, the great drawback."

"In 1861 Jacobs & Kelly, at Holden, had a very good nursery, in which could be found a great variety of apples, peaches, pears, plums, cherries, appricots, nectarines, quinces, blackberries, raspberries, currants, gooseberries and grapes. But, unfortunately for the proprietors, the cloud of war grew and thickened faster than the trees in the nursery. The grafting knife had to be hid, the pruning shears put away, and for a time horticulture was not exactly the theme discussed - it was bullet culture.

Jacobs died about that time. The surviving partner managed to cultivate and dispose of a large number of fruit trees, so that perhaps as many as 100,000 trees from that nursery are now bearing in the county.

"The next nursery in the county was the Warrensburg nursery, opened in 1867 by Messrs. Wm. Zoll and Edward Kelly. About 105,000 apple grafts were put out the first season, embracing over 100 different varieties, and 21 varieties of pear trees, and a good variety of peach, cherry and other small fruits. From this nursery, during the fourteen years of its existence, several hunlred thousand trees have been sold and distributed over this county. The varieties of apples are embraced in the following partial list:

White belleflower, rambo, lady-finger, summer queen, McDowell's fall, sweet romanite, Pennsylvania, seek-no-farther, yellow vandivere, wine sap, red robinson, Newton pippin, Harrison's cider, early sweet, Hall's crab, yellow belleflower, green fall, sweet bough, summer pearmain, wine apple, graham, fall red, golden russet, limber twig, Missouri orange, golden pippin, Missouri pippin, New York pippin, cannon pearmain, none such, Roxbury russet, huntsman's favorite, Janeton, Ben Davis, northern spy, dominie, Newton Spitzenberg, pound pippin, priestly, early harvest, black gilliflower, cathead, large romanite, fallawater, horse apple, red Marga¬ ret, Jefferson, Illinois red, maiden blush, Burkingham, nonpareil, long green, sine qua non , red June, Westfield, Rome beauty, Rhode Island greening, Tomkins county king, Wagoner, Roman stem, Danvers winter sweet, Dutch mignonne, Fameuse, Talman's sweet, red Siberian crab, willow twig, Pryor's red, Baldwin, McAfee's none-such, Peck's pleasant, Smith's cider, white winter pearmain, fall pippin, Porter, summer belleflower, early strawberry, sweet June, red Astracan, Carolina red June, Benori, Paradise, small Romanite, golden gate, golden sweet¬ ing, court house, Kesurick codling, Jersey sweet, Fulton Dwyer, Grimes' golden pippin, Easop's Spitzenberger, white pippin, Flora belleflower, Perry russet, and Jonathan, which have been sold by Zoll and Kelly. The above list of fruit does well in this county. The trees embrace a regular succession of fruit ripening from July to November, and keeping the whole year. The list of pears budded and propagated by Zoll and Kelly is as follows: St. Germain, swan's orange, Vicar of Wakefield, Hawell, Flemish beauty, Onondago, Ananis De Ete, Lawrence, Easter Buerie, White Doyenne, Louis Bon Dejirsey, Tyson, Rostiozer, Glout moreen, winter nellis, buffoon, Des Normes, Doyenne Deete, Duchess de Angouleme, Seckel, Osband's summer, bell lucrative, and Bartlett.

"The following is the list of peaches: Heath cling, stump the world, yellow rare ripe, knock free, George IV., Hale's early, Morris white, Troth's early, druid hill, Crawford's early, white October, large early York, Alexander, Beatrice, Louisa, and Amsden.

" Of the smaller fruits, such as blackberries, raspberries, gooseberries, currants and grapes, very many different varieties have been grown and have given very general satisfaction. The grapes grown most extensively are the Concord, Norman and Virginia, but many other varieties have proven to grow and bear profitably.

" There are now in this county several other nurseries. Holden nursery, J. F. Liddle, proprietor, is next in age to the Warrensburg nursery, and has kept up a good reputation. The proprietor, a good horticulturist, has furnished the county with good trees of the best varieties. Fruits, large and small, of all kinds, are kept on hand, including evergreens, ornamental trees and shrubbery, making one of the best nurseries in the county.

" Kelly Bros., about one mile east of Warrensburg, planted a good nur¬ sery in 1875, and handled a considerable amount of stock. One of the brothers died in 1880; the survivor, Edward Kelly, continues the business and is regarded as one of the best horticulturists and landscape gardeners in the county.

" Mr. Mohler, who resides about ten miles south in Post Oak township, handles nursery stock. Although the county is well supplied with good nurseries that have sold considerable stock in the county, by far the larger quantity, or number of fruit trees, have been sold by agents or tree peddlers.

" From these facts we may conclude that horticulture in Johnson county has been greatly increased and improved. The climate and soil being so favorable to the growth of the best of fruits and such never failing and abundant quantities, that all lovers of fruit (and who is not), who have any land on which to plant a tree or vine, are sure to do so, knowing these facts. A total failure of apples has not been known in the county. Last year, 1880, tens of thousands of bushels were ready for market. There are several orchards of considerable size in the county; one near Kingsville, belonging to A. G. French, contains about two hundred acres. It is believed by many well informed fruit men that this county is precisely in the geographical position best suited for fruit and grape culture, and that the soil contains in boundless quantities every ingredient necessary for the perfect and vigorous growth of fruits and berries. Facts and figures prove conclusively that the faith of such fruit men is well founded.

" Although no horticultural society has ever been formed, yet it is doubtful whether there is another county in the state containing as many intelli¬ gent, well informed horticulturists as Johnson county. A good horticul¬ tural society should be organized. The county needs it; needs a society where practical men can meet, exchange opinions and advance ideas best calculated to aid as well as promote and protect the fruit-growers against swindlers who sell worthless trees. Many of the best fruit-growers avail themselves of the next best chance of improvement by subscribing for good horticultural papers and reading the best books on fruit-growing.

" Horticulture in its varied departments, can and does find a congenial home in this delightful climate, where nothing appears lacking but the effort of man easily put forth to surround himself and his home with such delightful luxuries as to cause him with grateful emotions to exclaim,

Live stock of all kinds does well in Johnson county. The raising of cattle, hogs, horses, and sheep, is an important and profitable business, made so by a combination of circumstances rarely met with - plenty of good water, rich and succulent grass, that comes early and does not dry up and spoil until very late in the winter, sometimes furnishing sustenance enough to keep stock alive all winter. Some of the early settlers never thought of feeding the stock they did not work, any time of the year. The feeding season is short, often lasting from two to three months. Abundance of mast for hogs, rolling, grassy knolls for sheep, and a healthy atmosphere for all. Dairying has proved very successful, and is rapidly increasing in importance, and, at no distant day, this will be one of the best stock counties of the state. As sheep are easily raised, wool has become, of late years, an important and lucrative product. Several wool-buyers are stationed on the line of the railroad, and an excellent woolen mill in Warrensburg, owned by E. L. De Garmo, does a thrifty business, and manu- - factures some excellent goods.

Prior to the war, James Simpson, a noted pioneer bachelor, and a liberal and public-spirited man, as that class usually are, was among the first of the county to import blooded cattle and horses into the county. Others over the county followed. The fine wild and tame grasses, so nutricious, are suitable for grazing. Here corn has always been cheap. Thousands of bushels of that imperial cereal can be usually grown at a cost of ten to fifteen cents per bushel. Generally, cattle graze on the prairies about ten months in the year. With little culture and energy the growth of bluegrass of the grazing pastures might easily be made perennial. The - abundance and cheapness of the grasses; the profusion of pure, living water; the admirable winter shelter afforded by the wooded ravines and valleys, constantly contribute to the general good health of all classes of domestic animals.

The county exports thousands of cattle, hogs and sheep annually. Many fine horses and mules have been reared for eastern markets. Many fine stock breeders are becoming rich, besides conferring a blessing, by introducing a high grade of animals into the county. The average breedi ing of all classes of stock is equal to that of most of the eastern states, and superior to some of them. H. H. Russell deserves considerable praise for the deep interest he has taken in breeding pure blooded Poland-China pigs. Fine stock breeding has been carried on here for nearly half a cen¬ tury by Kentuckians, who grew up in the business from childhood, and at present every line of animals is permeated more or less with the best blood of the country. Cattle and swine feeding has been very profitable for several years past. Alexander Greer engaged early in this business, and would drive his herds of cattle to St. Louis, long before any railroad facilities. High grade steers are raised here on the nutritious wild and domestic grasses, and feed on cheaply-grown corn, anywhere between the ages of one and three years, their selling weight running from 1,100 to 1,700 pounds, and are followed by pigs that fatten on the litter and dropping of the yard, and are sold at 200 and 300 pounds' gross, in all seasons of the year.

Sheep raising is one of the most pleasant and profitable pursuits in the county. The county has only one drawback - the great number of dogs have made it unsafe for sheep to run at large. The dog-raising in the county is far in excess of the number of sheep raised. When the hun¬ dreds of dogs are killed off, then, and not till then, may sheep run at large. It may be safely said that there is but one sure recipe for curing a dog of sheep-killing. It is the following: "Catch the dog and quietly test his mutton-eating propensities, and, if found to be a sheep-destroyer, arrange a suitable block, and with a sharp ax cut his tail off close behind his ears, and we guarantee that dog will not bother sheep any more."

In many parts of Grover, Simpson and Hazel Hill townships are large areas of land suitable to sheep ranches. Much of this good sheep land can be purchased at a trifling cost, and with a little improvement it would be ready for use.

In Jefferson township the farmers are learning to farm and raise stock with but little trouble. The reason appears to be on account of their suc¬ cessful grange and farmers' conventions, where they interchange ideas on the subject. J. M. Wall, E. C. Arnold, David T. Stiles, Chas. P. Phillips, Isaac and John Sanburn are enterprising farmers, and pay some attention to Durham cattle, Cottswold sheep and fruit growing. Such men deserve a brief mention for their public-spirited enterprise in developing and improving the condition of the county. In Simpson township R. H. Wood and Robert Greer are among the prominent farmers and stock raisers. Before the war Charles P. Collins was noted far and near for his fine horses. In Kingsville township Hon. R. T. Fryer is the most noted and successful breeder of short horn cattle.

Granges. - In May 1873, the state grange was organized at Knob Noster, and so deep was the farmer interested in this movement, that almost every county of the state was represented. Col. A. M. Coffey, an edu¬ cated gentleman, residing at Knob Noster, was elected the first state sec¬ retary, and re-elected at each biennial election. He is a man well quali¬ fied to serve with profit and honor in a higher office. His salary is about $600 per annum.

At one time almost every school district contained a grange. The name was not common until the organization of the secret society. Grange means a barn or a farm in the common acceptation, but here it is restricted to a secret society of only farmers. The following is the list of the evergreen granges of the county, with their officers:

High Point Grange, No. 159 ; Jas. M. Wall, master, and John M. Hall, secretary. Bear Creek Grange, No. 160; Wm. Sutton, master and Henry J. Adams, secretary. Elm Spring Grange, No. 1020, Butler Newman, master, and J. H. Burk, secretary, Jackson Grange, No. 822; John F. Porter, master, and A. S. Campbell, secretary. Eureka Grange, A. J. Bush master, and Calvin A. Mark, secretary. Knob Noster, Grange, No. 18; P. B. Shafler, master, and Henry B. Coffey, secretary.

The grange movement has done something feu* the farmers. This institution, although full of defects, has played an important part in the general welfare of the state, and the good it has wrought on the public mind has been manifest. In 1875, during the grasshopper plague, when hundreds of families were too poor to procure bread, the hand of the granger suppled their wants, and upwards of $1,000 was distributed through Col. A. M. Coffey, secretary of the state grange, for the grass¬ hopper sufferers.

The Missouri Farmer , edited by J. R. Cordell, flourished in this county and was published at Knob Noster, in 1873; within two years it was moved to Boonville, and thence to St. Louis and consolidated with the Illustrated Journal of Agricidture.

Prior to the war a county fair was organized and was well kept up, and did much good in exhibiting and comparing stock, articles and what¬ ever the people chose to bring on the grounds. In 1867 the agricultural fair interest was resuscitated and did start off with considerable interest, until the people concluded that some of their officers had embezzled the funds. The old fair ground occupied several acres, a few hundred yards south of the normal school campus. The organization went down while Dr. G. R. Hunt w*as president. .Since then no permanent agricultural organization or fair has been entertained or exhibited in the county. It is a want greatly felt.

The true happiness of the past appears to be found among those who are content. Who is more content than the farmer? To be the possessor of forty or fifty acres of land, and a neat little cottage home, is approximat¬ ing to happiness. We must all work in the work. "An idle brain is the devil's work-shop," was well said, and is pertinent to all ages and classes of peo¬ ple. True happiness is often represented as a coy maiden, like Atlanta, fleet of foot ; in order to possess her we must persue her. In a certain sense, there are many ways that lead- us to the bowers of happiness. Sweet and untiring happiness dwells in the palaces of the rich sometimes, in the rural homes of men in the common walks of life more frequently; yea, even in the rude log hut of the pioneer. The mind should not be overtaxed. Here, in Johnson county, with its rich and inexhaustible allu¬ vial deposits in soil; its never failing wrells and springs of cool, refresh¬ ing waters, interspersed now and then with streams furnishing an abun¬ dant supply of water for stock; and each year adding to man's comfort in the developing resources of this garden spot of Missouri; the farmer can enjoy infinitely great benefits and lasting happiness.