Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1869-01-26
From the Enquirer and Examiner, Jan. 18th.
Augusta County. 3,

1t is with peculiar pleasure that we lnauguFdte
the series of articles long contemplated, and re-
ferred to yesterday, upon the resources OF Vlr1
ginia and the advantages she offers to men OF
all classes and conditions to come and settle
within her borders, by inviting attention to
the great county of Augusta not as great now,
in territory, as when her boundaries were the
Blue Ridge upon the South and Ohio and the
Monongahela upon the North, and not as cen
trail to the mass of Virginia as she was before
the political rape of West Virginia from the
domain of the Commonwealth, but still possess
ing an area larger than ancient Attlca, and &C
cupying the centre of the Great Valley OF VIZ
ginia, filing up its widest portion, and em6rac-
ng the hundreds of perennial streams and Ter
tile intervals that form the upper portion OF the
basin of the world famed valley OF the ohenan,
doah The position Of pre- emlnence assigned
to this county, is one to which 1t IS justly entl-
tied under any circumstances, but Is peculiarly
its own when resources and advantages are
under consideration in these she not only
bore the palm in the fourishing days OF Ylr-
GINA, but she bears it still after all the 'abom,
nations of desoatien' that war has ln1ilcteo
upon her in common with her sister countles IS
This county lies between 3S degrees ana %
degrees of North latitude, and 70 degrees vest
of longitude from Greenwich passes through
it its greatest length from north to SCUM Is
abont forty one miles, and its breadth forty
three miles, but these dimensions are from cor
ner to corner; the body of the county has real
" nearly the form of square, with Its angles
In the cardinal points, the sides lying across
the Valley. that's from southeast to northwest;
having a mean length of thirty-fo miles, ana
those running 0ith the Valley, from southwest
to northeast, having an average length OF thirty
miles, giving the county an area OF wv square
miles, or 652, 800 acres. Before we describe the
county as 1t Is, let us look at 1t as 1t 'odS, ac
so form better estimate of its Importance by
some comparative statement based on the census
of 1860. The land In the county embraced In
farms was 439, l59 acres, divided into 1,3oz,
farms; 224, GA acres of this was under cultlVa-
tion either in grain or grass; the 2l3,5d3 re-
naming acres In farms was In farm woodland,
much of it enclosed and used as a range Tor
cattle: there are 2l3,6 acres left for the land
not included In farms, and embraced IN that
portion of the county covering the western slope
of the Blue Ridge and its spurs and outlying
foot hills on the east, and the eastern slope OF
the Shenandoah mountain with Its long spurs
and the several parallel ranges that lie between
it and the Valley proper on the west mus
it appears. that but one third of the county
was under cultivation and but two-thlrds OF 1T
embraced in farm limits. The county OF Pitt
sylvania had 5S0,O3S acres, and HALIFAX 474,-
465 acres embraced in farms, but, no doubt,
the whole of their area is included, as they
have no mountains worth naming within their
limits.
In area. Augusta is the first county in vir-
GINA. In the number of acres under cultiva-
ton, Augusta stood fifth following, Hallfax
Fauouier, Pittsylvania and Albemarle, IN the
order in which they are given, but In the cash
ralue of its farms, it stood first among the hun
dred and forty-eight counties then IN the State,
al n NH o1I1
summed up but S., 760, $40 and Halifax S., ga
479.
The so7site population of Augusta was q SIT,
only surpassed by Henrico, including the city
Of Richmond, which had 81, 966, and Norfolk,
including the city of the same name, which had
24,357. Its colored population was $500, max
ing total population of q, TAO, placing it the
fifth in the State Henrico having 81 GIG, Nor
folk Sc, 227, Pitts lvania 80. 104 and Dinwiddie
30,l9S Augusta has twenty-three people to
the square mile. Lancaster county, Penn
sylvania, with about the same area, had l39 to
the square mile, and the State of Massachusetts
had 15S.
The value of the farming implements and
machinery of Augusta was 1896, 800, surpass-
ing. by many thousands, the value of those of
any other county, and augmenting, by much
much, its productive Importance. The horses
numbered 1852, placing the county in the front
rank the mich COWS were 6, AL, only surpass
ed by Halifax with its $500; but Augusta
made 45l, 3O5 pounds Of butter while Halifax
made but l43, 795, Augusta leading all others
by thousands of pounds, and her production of
Is, l03 pounds of cheese placed her next to
Harrison, (now in West Virginia which made
I5,4OO, and far ahead of all the rest. The cattle
of Augusta were in numbers IA 1905, while
Fauouier had %, 1872 and Loudoun IA, 504; its
. had
62S and Rockingham 81, 307, but the total value
of the live stock of Augusta was 81, 2S7, 6l5,
second only to Fauquier, which had 5 ,494 504,
giving it a precedence incident to its proximity
to the cities of Washington and Baltimore.
Tire wheat crop OF Augusta was 307, 402,
bushels, placing her after Jefferson, Loudoun,
Rockingham, Clarke and Bedford It's rye
crop was 81, 479 bushels, Hampshire (now in
West Virginia. only surprising it, and its corn
crop of 49,, $50 bushels, was only exceeded by
that of Loudoun; with 1894 bushels of Irish
potatoes, it held the sixth place, the tidewater
trucking counties surprising it, but its valuable
crop of s, 342 bushels Of clover seed was more
than double the production Of any other coun
ty; and its 81 ,687 tons Of hay was thousands
ahead Of all competitors. If we add up the
three great cereals, wheat, corn and rye, the
production Of Augusta was III All bushels,
only surpassed by Loudoun, which had ], 1885,
7OS bushels. The wheat crop of Augusta coun-
ty was more than that Of any New England
State, except Vermont, and was one-forty third
of the crop of Virginia its corn crop was mere
than that of California, and was one ffty-fourth
of the crop of Virginia; its rye crop was one
nineteenth, and its butter one thirty-third Of
the production of the State, and it had one
thirty sixth of the horses.
We have not mentioned the mules, oxen, or
sheep; the oats, tobacco, wool, peas, beans,
sweet potatoes, barley, buckwheat, orchard pro
duets, wine, grass seed, hops, fax, haxseeds,
maple sugar and moasses, beeswax honey,
home manufactures, value of slaughtered ami
mails, &C., &C., of Augusta; still in all thesesh
occupied foremost position, and will not suf
fer in comparison with any other, and we think
we may safely conclude, from this statistical re-
view of her agriculture and its results, that her
position was in the front rank Of the one hun
dred counties now left to Virginia, and if in
1860 Augusta had surplus products enough for
100, 900 people, we are sure she could advanta-
geously add that many to her present popula-
ton, and that nowhere would the condition of
the emigrant be more desirable in every par
ticular.
For the Spectator.
Messrs Editors The Spectator of the 9Th
inst, contains an article from the Springfield
Mass Republican, headed ''Gen. LEE Col