The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1874-02-04
THE SOIL OF VIRGINIA,

"But is not your soil very poor, and
muchoi 1t worn out past recovery ~ This
is very common question among our cor.
respondents from outside the state. We
answer, that there is much poor soil in Viz.
gInia, but we are confident, however, that
it is not a larger proportion of its entire
area than that of New York or Pennsyl-
'vania. Our poor soils are like others OF
their class, mostly sands, marshes, broken
mountain lands.
The sands are valuable for truck and
early fruits. The. marshes can be mostly
drained, andthe rocky mountain lands bear
timber and are good for pasturage.
Our worn soils have this advantage, that
they are generally on or near the principal
navigable streams. and therefore readily
accessible. Manures can be cheaply OBJ
tanned for their recuperation. The crops
raised can be cheaply moved to market.
These lands readily respond to
intelligent treatment with lime and
clover, and speedily recover their original
fertility. ....
1t is to be remembered that these lands
were once among the best of the state.
Such lands can be recuperated and made
To pay for their own Improvement annual
ly. They are free from stumps and stones
generally, aud can be worked with i'm
proved machinery. They require only to
hc lined. sown to clover or other green
crops for ploughing under, and then laid
down i'll grass till firm sod
covers their surface. They can then be
used as permanent grass lands or made the
subject OF such rotations as experience has
proved best for soils of that quality in
other states. 1t is readily demonstrate
that these lands will pay for this process of
Improvement. They are now offered at
pr ccs ranging from five to twenty dollars
per acre. When we take into account
their location and surroundings they are the
very cheapest lands in the market. Unlike
the Western lands, they are separated from
the eastern market by no vast spaces, COM
pelng high freights, which annhilate the
entire net value of products. They are
in easy distance of the great markets, and
located on tide water or on lines of rail-
way already built and ready to move the
crops along short lines to the seaboard.
Two or three good crops will often pay
for the land which raised them. and the
cost Of production.
Location as well as quality of soil is
always considered by the intelligent land
seeker, and in this our advantages are pre-
eminent.
SO much for onr poor soil. But let no one
suppose that such is the greater portion of
our earthly covering in this state. We
have vast areas of The very finest soil in
the world, covering valleys and mountain
slopes with perennial green. Our valleys
produce grass equal to the best blue grass
region of Kentucky and Indiana, and
wheat better in quality and equal in quanti-
ty to the prairies of the West. The splendid
farms of the Shenandoah Valley, where a
century Of intelligent culture has preserved
The soil from deterioration, shows what
can be done over a large portion of our
state, when capital can be combined
with skill and enterprise in the aultiva-
lion of the soil. What our soils need is
'feep, MorouM and intelligent culture.
With that treatment, returns will be
made to the Virginia farmer equal to
any yet achieved in the richest states of
the Union.