The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1892-06-02
Death of a Practical Business Man.

DSdIu OI a PraCGlCal BUSINESS M&I
Last week, in "Staunton Notes. w
alluded to the death of Henry Mish, G
Augusta county. The salient points il
his business methods are instructive, an,
for that reason are entitled to more thai
a passing notice. Mr.. Mish was an in
dustrious, selfreliant man, and had hi
own views of duty and what was right
and persistently carried them out. H,
was eminently practical business man
and had a horror of litigation and thu
delays and costs of law. This was al
uppermost thought in his mind, and hi
endeavored to adjust all his business sc
that the intervention of lawyers would
be unnecessary. When his boys became
of age he placed each one ON farm
with ample equipments to work it. He
required each one to give him so much
for the use of the farm and the stock,
&C., and whatever over that they made
was theirs. When he had fully salts
fed himself that they were capable OF
taking care of the farm, he made them
NCOdc Ia lCCs LII way CttCA Vic VI
his sons was given a good farm, with it's
equipment, which they have successfully
run on their own account. He married
a second time, and by his last wife had
two children, now infants, in a legal
sense. When he executed deeds to the
farms he gave his sons, in consideration
of his wife signing away her dover
right in them forever, he made deed of
the fine farm on which he died to her
and her two children, reserving life in>
terest in it for himself. At his death his
whole estate was settled up. He did not
owe dollar; his property was all divided
as he willed it, and he had nothing left
over which there could be contention
or which required the advice or service
of a lawyer. He made his will during
his lifetime, and died with no business
cares on his mind and without any APP
prehension of complications arising out
of settling his estate. He did more for
his children than anyone we know of,
and did it in such a way that he was
satisfied that the distinctive share of
each would be taken care of and that
each had fair start in life. To his
all of whom had married, he
gave ten thousand dollars each, long be
fore his death. In fact, he had parceled
out his estate in such way and at such
times as he thought would best subserve
the interests of his children, and had
his books all closed and balanced when
the dark summons came.
Mr.. Mish was an eccenteic man, but
kind hearted and strictly honest. Very
few men were more successful, and fewer
ton to accommodate his friends, for
some of whom he had to pay large sums
as surety. His business methods, with
the exception of his endorsements, were
worthy of imitation, and if more gems
orally observed would diminish litiga-
ton and the costs upon estates. S. MY.
Food Production in the itedStates.
A year or two ago the Forum publish
ed several articles by Mr.. G. Wood Davis
predicting the near approach of wealth
and prosperity to farmers. These pres
dictions were based upon the assumed
complete occupation and cultivation of
all public lands. The population was in
nual increase of from five to seven mil
lions bushels Of wheat for food, while
the era of land brought annually under
cultivation was not increasing, because
all room for increase had been occupied
and exhausted. Arguing upon this pres
mise, Mr.. wood concluded that the in
creased population would not only re-
quire in a short time all the grain raised
in this country for food, but that the
time is almost upon US when we will have
to import wheat. This was very COM
forting and rosy view for the farmer,
but the fallacy of it was too apparent to
require contradiction. Whilst nearly all
the public lands may be taken up, mil
lions of acres are still uncultivated, and
whenever wheat becomes a very profita-
BILE crop the acreage can and will be al
most doubled upon the improvements.
In addition to this the yield of the acres
already in wheat can be more than
doubled by careful cultivation. Within
recent years the average yield of wheat
in some of the counties of Maryland has
been doubled and there is every reason,
judging from the improved methods of
cultivation which are still advancing, to
believe that it will be doubled again be-
fore another census. The capability of
the United States for food production is
almost without limit and far beyond any
reasonable computation. The Rev. Jo-
siah Strong, in his statistical book pub
lished a few years ago, estimated that,
after deducting fifty thousand square
miles of the total area of Texas for "de-
serted lands" the remainder could readi-
ly, with even ordinary, sloyenly cultiva-
ton, sustain q population of fifty mil
lions of people. 1t could, he confined,
have produced as much food as was pro-
duced in the United States in 1879, and
at the same time raised a supply of cot
ton, twelve millions of bales, at one bale
to the acre, sufficient to supply the whole
world, and then have had cattle range
as large as the State of New
York. In an interesting article upon
thissubject in the Forum for May Mr..
Edward Atkinson calls attention to these
and contends that there is
still incalculable room in the United
States for immigrants. Of immigration
Mr.. Atkinson takes an optimistic view,
and thinks that this country has all to
hope and nothing to fear from those who
come to us from Europe.
New Double Postal Card
The government has awarded a large
contract to the Morgan Envelope Compa-
ny of Springfield, Mass, for 24,000,00O
doubla nostaI cards q new device which