The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1867-11-20

Der is before us, full Of the most valuable in
formation for the farmer and horticulturist.-
The address Of Henry A. Wise, before the
Virginia horticultural and Pathological So
ciety, occupies q Of its well printed pages,
and should be read by every person in va
This outline of the physical geography Of the
State, ought to be committed to memory by
every pupil in our schools and published in
all lands to let them know the inducements we
have to offer them, ifthey will come and help
to swell our population to the twenty millions,
he proves We ought to have before we can
properly develope our resources. We wish we
had room for the whole address, but can only
quote what he says about the Valley.
sThe Blue Ridge looks westward over the
Tal1ty Of Immortal renoscn. Green, glad, full,
fat Valley; fertile of men and women as Of
grain and grass and livestock and fruits =
The lime stone Valley! The two Valleys Of
the Shenandoah and the South Branch! The
mountain bound Valleys, the, gate Of whose
coural is Harper's Ferry gorge! The beef
steak aud grain garner Valleys! The valient
Valleys of the daring Dutch and stalwart
Scotch Irish and courtly Cavaliers. all mixed
in the invincible Cohee Cross! Falor's Val
ley of Stonewall's renown and repose. The
Valley which if it could have been defended
would have fed whole armies of the South to
the end Of Peoponnesian war! That Val
ley has already raised herself up over her SOL
diers scpulchrcs and is brayely renewing her
strength, and can now help her neighbors with
aims as she did with her arms She is indie
structible in her resources of wealth and pow
er; her strength is founded on her cverlast-
ing limestone rock"
The General is right in what he says about
small tsrms-next to "a little wife well-willed
there is nothing like ''little farm well titled"
The strangers that come from the garden-like
farms of Pennsylvania, to look at our Valley,
often go home disappointed. They see so many
bare places in the fields so many brier patch
cs and brush fields that they conclude there
is something wrong, originally, about the
land. Our people ''go over too much land
Take our word Tor it and cultivate half as
much land as usual: only do just as much work,
and put the rest in the hands Of some Of our
active real estate agents and let them sell it,
and get you good thrifty ncighbor, and you
will be better off and the country will be also
by the transaction.
The article on exhausted lands and how to
restore them. recommends deep cultivation
not by subsoiling but by stripping" Eve
give the name) that is by taking off the sur
face soil and putting it one side, and then
ploughing up the subsoil and exposing it to
the air, and then mix in the soil that has been
stripped" off The argument in favor of the
plan is good one. Ifany -four readers have
any such land they had better try the plan
The Planter tells all about it.
Some old-wise head of a farmer writes an
article on GLOW to relieve old fashioned agri
cultural Ignorance" from the Grip and tuck Of
its impoverished condition" We like his IT,
tle-it smacks of the good old fellow who en-
iovs his farm and thinks it Kingdom and
governs it in King!y way. But. reader,
what do you suppose his ''cure all is? 1t is
just what we advised all Of you that are far
mers to do before: Keep a strict account aciti
every field or your farm" We hope every
one will do this and send us the results. We
will give any one column for facts and figu-
res"
Another We like, it is on the value of leach
ed and unleached ashes-potash is the best
manure in the world for grass and small grain.
and unleached ashes contain % per cent of it,
while ieached ones contain but one Select
an acre Of grass or wheat and sow 20 bushels
of urleached ashes on it and you will open
your eyes at the result The Planter tells you
| the reason.
A seasonable article on planting fruit trees,
large and small fruits, is 'good, very good"
as Stonewall used to say when anything was
well done. 1t takes but little labor to plant
apples, pears, peaches, plums, raspberries,
strawberries, &C., &C., and it is the most de-
lightful exercise in the world to employ the
'.masseter" in eating them.
Some one from the Valley wishes te know
what poor man, with few bushels Of grapes
or few gallons of grape juice, can do with it,
as he cannot afford to have 1.-THE fxings" to
make good wine. The editor replies that they
are.about to got up wine company in Rich
mond, where ready market can be had for
the products Of the vineyard. So plant grapes
the ones that are adapted to our climate,
Catawbas, Concords, Nortous, Virginia, Joes,
&c. There are many more interesting articles
in the Planter. and we hope our farmer friends
will enliyen their thoughts and their winter
evenings by making it regular visitor totheir
fresidcs