The New era. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1865-1871, 1865-10-26

i9o,i' 80 lof Marion, ailu MoilOil-
gala, the hills in many instances rise
from the valleys in more gentle slopes,
and presenta greater and superior arabic
surface than those along the Ohio river.
Farms in those counties, with about one
third timbered land, range from s25 to $50
per acre, and are amply worth it.
son the smaller valleys OF tributary
streams the price of farms in the above
named counties, similarly proportional
as to cleared and unimproved land, vary
from $15 to $25 per acre f; and further to-
wards the heads of streams and more re-
mote from thoroughfare, from $40 to $l5
per acre
''Many farms, chiefly hill land, but
all fit for grazing and sufficiently water
ed, with primitive home improvement,
can yet be had at from IS to SO per acre,
with twenty to twenty-five acres in a
hundred, more or less, prepared for Gull
tivation.
"Large tracts of wild land are not
found in any of t! e above named coun-
ties, except in Upshur and Lewis, where
timbered mountains, containing some
table land fit for small grains and grass,
can be bought at from 50 to "a per acre.
In the other counties very little timber
ed land, fit in part for the pillow, can be
bought for less than So or $6 per acre,
aud some of it under $40 to $12.
"The counties of Writ, Richie, DOdd-
ridge, Roane, Calhoun, Gilmer, and
BraXton, are not Watered by streams
presenting extensive bottoms, but con-
tain very little land absolutely worthless.
The surface of those counties varies from
undulating or rolling or hilly, and the
proportion of bottom to hill may be safe
~ set down as from five to fifteen per
cent. As a general rule, lands of the
same quality are rated lower in the latter
than in the first named counties, on ac-
count of their inferior state of improve
ment.
Farms with about thirty per cent.
cleared can be bought here for IS to $40
per acre, according to quality or prox-
unity to market or roads. Wild lands,
in lots to suit purchasers, from 81 to So
per acre. Lands near the Northwestern
Branch railroad bring comparatively
high prices, in part from the value of
the timber, which is generally of supe-
rior growth and quality. Mineral lands
are higher.
" A correct statement of the average
amount of grain produced per acre, in
any given county of the State, would
not give an accurate estimate of the pro-
ducing capacity of our soil, because ON
all recently cleared land, stumps, roots,
and loose stones ON the surface, and also
the vermin of the adjacent forest, mate |
rally contribute to diminish the yield to |
be expected from the quality of the soil
while on the other hand there is wide
difference in professional skill and indus
try among our farmers. We have still
among us a goodly number of the old
hunter pioneers, or of their immediate
descendants, who are content to live al
most from hand to mouth, and never
used to any other plough but the one
horse shovel.
" The bottoms of rivers, with few ex-
captions, yield under good cultivation,
from fifty to one hundred bushels of corn,
and an average of about twenty bushels |
wheat, from twenty to thirty-five of rye |
and oats, one hundred and fifty to two
hundred bushels potatoes, and from two
to two and half tons of timothy hay.
Turnips sown on fresh cleared land,
barely Scared by the shovel-plough,
have been known to produce near 800
per acre. Tobacco, on new-made land, |
also proves to be very remunerative, and |
certainly growsmost luxuriantly though
1 have not at hand any figures under |
this head to show cash results.
Hillside lands of the same quality of |
those bottoms, except in depth, must ma
turally yield less on account of their un-
to the same thorough Guilt |
walton, and also because of the dimin-
ished number of plants growing on de-
clivities, yet a great portion of those
lands, when lying towards the sun, pro-
duce for many years in succession from
fifty to sixty bushels of corn, and other
grain in proportion. In the yield of
grass, this difference is not so sensible,
and rolling or steep lands are generally
sown in grass after two or three grain |
crops and devoted to grazing.
The yield of wheat, which does not |
average over thirteen or fifteen bushels
per acre in the rougher portions of the |
State, would be greater if its cultivation |
was confined to limestone land or to dry |
upland or table land. AS it is, wheat is |
sown there on rich porous soil, in order |
to get in sod, the grass seed being gene
rally sOwn with it, and on such soil par
ticularly on hill-sides, and when put in |
late after cutting up the corn, wheat is |
exposed to freeze out during a severe |
winter.
"When devoted to grazing and in good !
sod, more or less mixed with blue grass,
which comes I'M simultaneously IN Iin,o