Evening star., 1894-04-11

THE EVENING STAR,
the Loudoun and Hampshire railroad was
completed from Alexandria to Leesburg.
This road gave an impetus to the adjoining
counties, but the war coming on SO soon
after its completion, it never In its history
attained the success and importance that
belongs to IL at this time; but more of that
anon L wish at this point to call attention
to striking similarity between the early
settlers of the Maryland and Virginia
counties bordering on the river. Mont
gomery' Md; and Fairfax, Va. were settled
mostly by English people. The eastern
portion of Loudoun, Va, and Frederick
Md, were settled by the same people, but
the northwestern portion of these coun ties
were settled by Germans.
The English settlers of MONTGOMERY and
Fairfax cropped principally tobacco. They
raised corn, but without rotation in crOps
Ihey handled slave labor and lived in ease
ana afhuence. The Germans of Frederick
and Loudoun engaged in mechanical pur-
suits, and rotated their crops. Their farms
were smaller, and whilst they did not
aHect the slippered ease and elegance of
tne TOBACCO planters, they We're Industrious
thrifty and frugal. The steady cultivation
OF tobacco after so many years began to
snow It's ruinouS effects. 1t was the custom
TO exhaust a piece of land, abandon il, and
take up new land. There could be but one
termination to such short-sighted ex-
traVagance-and in lS20-3O-4O there was
much abandoned land in Fairfax county,
Howe, in his History of Virginia saws of
this condition of affairs in Fairfax: I'm
some parts of the abandoned lands there
spranS up spontaneous growth of low
pines and ceda-s, whose sOmber aspect
with the Sterility of the soil oppreSSeS rho
traveller with feelings of gloom In the
thirties some of the enterprising farmers
OF German origin from Dutche.s county
N Y, commenced emgrating to this
county, and purchased considerable worn.
out tracts of land. which they have m
many instances succeeded in restoring 10
their original fertility.
Restoring Worn-Out Lands.
Good land can be bought for eight or ten
dollars an acre, tolerably fair for three,
which, in few years, can be brought up
with clover and plaster. Some of the finest
farms in New York are upon lands the soil
OF which, few years ago, was mainly sand
blowing about in the wind. The vorn-out
Virginia lands are not so bad as this and
with fair chance are as easily restored.
Inc success thus far attending the expert
ment is encouraging, and emigration still
continues. These farmers find ii more profit
able than going west. for they are sure of a
good market" &c. Which, says Scharf the
historian, about Montgomery county, which
was In the same condition from too much
tobacco planting. First were the old to-
bacco planters with their baroniai estates
and armies of slaves. They felled the ma
tive forests and planted the virgin soil in
TOBACCO and Indian corn. They did very
well 50 long as there was timber for the AK
and new land for the hoe. They feasted
and frolfcked and fox hunted and made the
most of life
But in less than a century after this
system Of denudng and eXhausting began
there were no more forests to clear and no
more new lands to till. Then succeeded the
period of old fields and decaying, worm
fences and moldering homesteads. This
saddest condition of the county had reach
ed its climax about 1910. at which time its
population reached it's minimum"
About lS43 there was introduced into
this county some pure Peruvian guano.
Its effects were magical. To make two
blades OF grass grow where none grew be
fore was an easy task. The farmers would
get a catch" of grass on the old worn-out
fields. and then a ''stlnd" of wheat would
| follow. Emigration was changed into immi-
grafton, and the name of Montgomery was
no longer the synonym for poverty. In the
decade preceding the civil war this county
made giant strides. They were halcyon
days for old Montgomery. During the war
the county suffered to some extent, but
wheat and corn commanded big prices, and
the condition of the people was fortunate,
compared with the sister counties across
the river. These latter counties came out of
the war utterly devastated and bankrupt.
Fences entirely gone; homes falling in ruins;
fields grown up in trash and brars with a
statro government borne to the earth with
the "onus" of its debts; its departments
of laws. revenues and public schools 70 be
renewed and remodeled. This condition of
affairs frightened immigration.
Great Railroad Improvement
The means of transportation and travel
were in not much better condition. The
Loudoun and Hampshire opened up it's way
to Leesburg. but upon iron rails which had
been torn up by many a "raiding party"
piled on burning ties and bent out of shape
The motive power consisted of two or three
small engines, veterans of the war, and one
had followed the fortunes of the defunct
confederacy over a dirt road to another
railroad What striking and magnificent
change has taken place since the Richmond
and Danville has taken control.
The schedule has been much shortened
and when the time arrives, which Will
be soon. that several bridges span the
Potomac instead of the present wooden
structure. we will have several passenger
trains running eastward in the morning and
westward in the evening. This road viii
be as great a boon to the counties through
which 1t passes as the Metropolitan has
been to the Maryland side. Don't let the
Kicker of ten years from this time regret
that his foresights We're not SO good as his
hindsights." and he failed in taking ad-
vantage of low prices when these improve
ments were in their inception.
What has the Metropolitan road done for
MONTGOMERY county? A few years after the
war GS13) it was opened up for traffic and
travel. Since its completion half . million of
dollars have been expended annually in the
purchase of lime bone phosphates and other
fertilizers of A kindred character. resulting
in 4 greatly increased production of Indian
corn and wheat. This gives employment to
at least twenty-five mills, located on the
several streams Of the county, some of
which are merchants mills Besides this a
large quantity of cereals is annually export
ed. the average production of which has
often reached seventeen bushels per acre in
Frederick county seventeen and fraction
and in Washington county twenty-one Can
any of the border counties of Virginia equal
1t? If not, why not? We have not kept pace
with the times on this side of the river, and
the reasons why LOudoun Fairfax and
Prince William have not kept abreast with
Frederick, Washington and Mont tgomery are
many and cogent. but that time is Coming;
history repeats itself" and the same fac
tors that have put the Maryland counties
ahead Of us in material prosperity exist here
with us, but to a great extent dormant and
undeveloped.
Marble and Ochre.
One of the dormant Industries is the mar
BILE quarry ten or eleven miles south of Lees
burg. There Is enough marble quarried and
piled up in great blocks of five TO eight IONS