Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1874-07-02

AAou. a. VI. oAAtlA, Adtc cutiOT VI tAc
Lancaster Intelligeneer, passed through
the Shenandoah Valley several weeks ago.
He is an intelligent and pleasant gentle
man and though his stay was sho ri, he
made many. friends in this Valley. In his
correspondence he writes as follows:
''The beauty and the fertility of the
Cumberland Valley, which lies so fair to
the sun in southern Pennsylvania, has
been the theme of many aciie PEN
Writers, OF fine descriptive talent, have ex-
hausted all the vocabulary of la,ldatory
adjectives in attempting to convey to the
minds of their readers correct concep-
ton OF its many and varied charms. 1t is
familiar to the people OF the whole North
and is justly regarded as enc of the most
neutrality-suspicious. sections of the United
States Yet there are thousands of we'll
informed persons still ignorant of the fact
that the southern slope Of this great VAL
ley, lying below the Potomac, and stretch
ing southwark to the northern boundaries
of Alabama and Georgia, is the fairest and
most fertile part of it. That this is literally
and ..ruly SO, every man must confess who
looks upon it, as I have done during the
last week.
Having travelled directly through Lam
caster county and the Cumberland Val
ley on my way south, was prepared to
judge from the crops upon the ground as
to the productive ness OF the Valley of
Virginia, when compared with the most
favored sections OF Pennsylvania; and am
willing to risk all my reputation for
truthfulness upon the declaration that the
growing crops Of wheat, corn and grasses
in the lower portion of Virginia, surpasses
that OF any portion of Pennsylvania. l
wish could have had thousand OF the
best and most intelligent farmers of the
Old Keystone State with me during the
past week. | would like to have heard
the unfeigned and enforced cnconiums
which they would have been constrained
to pass upon the wonderfully productive
lands that here lie so fair to kindlier sun
How they would have admired the long
and deep waves that swept across wide
fields of wheat, presenting to the eye that
peculiar velvet-like appearance which the
practical farmer recognizes as the sweet
harbinger ola heavy YIELD. Rich as is
the bloom of the clover fields in the most
favored sections of Pennsylvania, it is snr-
passed by the luxuriant growth of the
Shenandoah Valley, through which the
COWS wander lazily, with their udders
hidden among the purple blossoms. IL.
plain terms of sober truthtulne S. am
forced to declare that | have been sur
prlseG to find decidedly better crops, both
OF wheat and grass, in the Shenandoah
Valley, than the very best sections OF
Pennsylvania can boast
Of the beauty OF this land, as seen with
all the glories of the coming harvest
crowningit, l could write much more than
you would have room or inclination to
publish. Each revolution of the car
wheel brings before the eye some new
feature in panorama of ever changin o
loyelinrss. Far off on either hand, rise
magnificent mountain ranges, while
stretching out between them lies what has
been repeatedly styled ''the most beautiful
Valley on the Continent" Such is the
opinion of those who have had every OBJ
portunity for observation, and can
| readily give their declaration unquestion-
ing credit after having looked upon some
por tons Of it in the most attractive garb.
do not expect to do justice to this
magnificent agricultural section of our
great country, but 1 will, according to
promise, send you an occasional descrip-
tive letter.