The New era. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1865-1871, 1865-09-28
TIIE NEW ERA. SEPTEMBER 28. 1865

rior in position to the western slope of
the Alleghanies, so accessible to Cincin-
natl on one side, and Baltimore and
Washington on the other. New Hamp- |
Shire has the advantage of quite fifty per |
cent. in the value OF animals slaughter
but West Virginia can Offset something
in her sales of horses. With a smaller !
number Of animals to feed, more than
four times SIS much hay is used bv New |
Hampshire farmers; and it is not alto
gether owing to the consumption of a |
greater amount of corn in feeding stock |
that so little hay is used by West Vir-
ginia farmers, but it is due to the COM
paratively short and mild winters, and
adds greatly to the comparative profit of
bookkeeping in the new State, aud will
eventually add to the market value of
her broad acres.
The bushels of corn and wheat, and
other grain, plainly pointto the fertility
of the soil, having been produced by inn
perfect and slovenly culture, the blemish
and disgrace of southern, western, and,
in fact, American farm husbandry.
The item of half a million dollars of
home manufactures is creditable to the
habits of rural simplicity and to the self
reliance of the women OF West Virginia.
To show this to be a low estimate of
profits to be derived from enhanced val
ues, let the valuation be placed on the
basis of that Of adjoining States-Penn-
sylvania and Ohio. In intrinsic wealth
of soil and minerals combined, aside
from the accidents of settlement or posi-
ton, West Virginia can scarcely be said
to be inferior to either. The present
farm valuation is 1897, 525,O 97. At the
Ohio valuation, S32 13 per acre. it would
amount to $3.50, 101, 1879; at the Pennsyl-
vania valuation, S3s 81, it would be $423,-
97s,69O. The impetus given toimprove-
ment by inaugurating the policy OF vol
untary labor, with all of its tendencies to
material and moral development, is suf-
ficient to give instantly one hundred
millions Of dollars additional value to
the farming lands of the State, and when
the war is over this enhancement will at
once be seen in Improvement i'll prices.
FOREST LANDS.
The following statement of q cores
pondent, G. S. Richardson, of Briarport
Mines, in the kanaWha valley, illus
trates the character OF the virgin soil:
comparatively unknown, and SEEM
! ingly uneared for, there are extensive
tracts ofrieh and fertile lands in the will
| defness, whose eapabiiity OF productive
ness, whom developed, would astonish
| the 0WelleEs in the open country ii they
were made acquainted with the facts
Isolated from general view through the
absence Of any roads, the traveller has
but little chance Of alakingtheir aequain-
lance. The dwellers IN these solitudes
are not Of a very communicative DISPOSE
ton; hence so little is known OF their
real value. During series oftopograph-.
Il III
and Coal rivers, my attention WAS drawn
would make beautiful farms. Gentle
slopes, flat-top ridges, and level deils were
| frequently met with. These We're priln-
tive forests, and a stranger to the wood
mans axe or the saw of the lumberman.
| Being interested in the mineral resour-
ees of kanaWha, and having in view one
of its fundamental principles ofdevelOp-
| ment-pOpulation- determined to try
an experiment to ascertain the truth or
fallacy of my ideas. With this end be-
fore me, l selected spot scarcely ever
| trodden by the foot of man. 1t is called
Ginseng Hollow and lies between the
main Briar creek Goal river) and the
Davis creek ridges, in Kanawha. Asan
inducement to my first pioneer tenant, l
offered to let him have fifty acres ofland
Fellt Tree, lOr HVo years, anu dlter ne ndu
got his log house built, fields enclosed,
and road cut for a way out, he should
have lease for twenty-one years at
thirty dollars a year rent. 1 soon found
a tenant, and thus far lean report the
experiment eminently successful. It
has been two years in cultivation. The
| first year was chiefly devoted to clear
ing, or rather girdling the trees, fencing,
breaking up the ground, and building
his house and barn; but, nevertheless,
several acres were cultivated, and yield
ed very fair crop of corn. Last year,
the ground being tolerably we'll cleared
of roots and underbrush, the trial COM
menced. The summer was unusually
dry; scarcely any rain fell for three
months; but the soil being new, and a
humid atmosphere, which always pre-
walls in the dense woods, keeping the
heated air cool, the crops grew vigorous
ly; and when the harvestcame, my ten
ant had the pleasing satisfaction of being
able to report he possessed the finest crop
| of corn IN the district. Even on our bot
tom lands there was nothing superior.
81 have since visited another spot, al
~ s%o