Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1889-01-11
FRIDAY MORNING. JAN. IL. 1859.
THE FARMERS ASSEMBL Y
NEXT WEEK.

DOrtant event which we trust our farmers
will be fully advised of, and appreciate.
1t is the first time that this legislative
body of Virginia farmers will be practi-
calIy confronted with external instead of
i internal affairs-with the spirit of immi-
grafton from outside States, instead SOLE
= ly with affairs affecting Virginia farmers
alone 1t is meeting at which the chief,
and certainly the most important, bust
ness will be to hear the report of the mes
4 senger sent into the promised land of i'm
migration ,and to see such specimen grapes
as he has brought home with him. The
experience Of Judge Grattan, the Virginia
Agent Of immigration, on his first tour of
inspection in the West, has already been
sketched in the VINDICAToR. At the
Assembly he will give it in full, and with
it some suggestions of weight as to how
the Virginia land owners can hold up
their enc of the rope in the effort to give
our State more farm-buyers and fine
grade of new population. The delegates
who are appointed from this distrlct-we
gave e list of them last Week-and are de-
bridge, Bath. Highland and Allegheny.
should regard it as duty they owe
their counties to attend, prepared to give
the State Agent all the information about
those counties that an immigrant at his
home in the West would be likely to ask
for before making up his mind to come
East. What we wont to do is to help
those Western farmers to make up their
minds. by full. detailed. and truth
full statement of what our counties
I have to offer them. Arm yourself before
| going to Richmond, with practical. useful
information, just the sort you would be
apt to ask for from an immigration agent
from the West if he were soliciting you to
90 there. Prepare statement-any
farmer can do it-of what grows best in
your county. the average yield per acre of
all the crops, the date of the seeding and
harvesting, the average cash price of land,
I the county levy, the county and district
School tax, the price of labor (both for men
+ and Women), the number of churches in
sour county and their denominations, how
railroad, if any, divides your county,
I what sort of pubic roads you have, the
length Of time the public schools are open,
i what minerals exist or are supposed to
+ exist there, what vegetables and what
yield to the acre, how market is reached
from the county, what sort of timber,
what fruits-in short, answers to just the
sort of questions you would ask if you
were going to another State to live. You
cannot overestimate the Importance of
either your attendance or of carrying with
you statement, even though a rough one,
of the resources of your county. Strange
TO say, not one of the counties of this dis
trict though they are all fertile, well off,
and titled by thrifty people, with plenty
OF land for sale, was represented at the
Exposition at Richmond, at which was
gathered the greatest number of people
from all over the Union that was ever as
sembled in Southern State. Here and
now. is our first opportunity to make up
for this omission. Here is the first occasion
on which we will have in our hands a
direct, active and informatory connec-
ton with the farmers of the great West.
1t will not do to neglect it-Judge Graf
tan's account of his experimental trip
through Ohio, Indiana and Michigan last
month, shows that it will not. Every
where he met with people who were look
ing to a better climate, better conditions
for farming and different lands. Every
where he was met with welcome and
E11 hot oh hof oic-
sion was regarded with favor. Already a
dropping of the rain has commenced, and
in the last three weeks persons represent
ing over fifty families in the West. have
come to Virginia prospecting.
With this condition of affairs are we
not right in saying to the delegates ap-
pointed to the Farmers Assembly at this
time that it is duty they owe their neigh
bors, their counties, and their State to
make sacrifices and attend ? They have
been selected on account of their promi.
hence in their respective counties and
their familiarity with facts that will
be of great use in the enterprise now on
foot. After all, it is to the public spirit
of it's citizens that county or State
owes its prosperity. All the resources on
and under the soil would be of little avail,
If the people did not have public spirit
enough to make them known as well as to
develop them. 1t is to this public spirit
that we appeal particularly in urging a
full attendance Of delegates from this dis
trict at the Farmers Assembly next Tues
day. Let them 60 with the information
that Judge Grattan will ask for, and they
will sow the seed for a harvest TO be reaped
at day not far off. Judge Grattan has
shown thai he is an excellent man for the
position he holds, both for the energy he
has exhibited and the broad and practical
view he has taken of his mission, and all
the Information entrusted to him will be
used to the advantage of the people of
Virginia.
The railroads are showing an active
spirit of cooperation. and we see from
letter of Mr.. II. w. Fuller. General Pas
senger Agent of the Chesapeake & Ohio
Ify., that delegates will be transported to
and from the Assembly at reduced rates.
These rates will be given by the ticket
sellers at the citations, to the delegates on
The l4th and 18Th Of January and good
till the 18th.
a STATE FAIR At SIAUNTON.
Among the healthful and progressive
purposes. looking to increased usefulness.
material development, and the intelligent
advertisement of the resources of Virgin
Ia. we are glad to notice the action Of the