Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1895-10-04
G0tO Virginia, Young Man.

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1t was yesterday afternoon in
Secretary MortOn'S Office. The
talk turned on farming and young
men about TO make an agricultural
start IN life. Secretary Morton
was clear, firm, and explicit as he
ia on other matters. He had rea
sons for the hope Within him, too.
/ THIS is what he said about young
men aud the place for them to look
for farms:
"Were l young remarked the
I Secretary of Agriculture, 'and
aO ,ut to buy Il farmland if were
, oung buting a farm Is exactly
what Pd 90 fist abOut-Pd get a
f,rm in Virginia. l was out
through Fairfax and LOudOun
counties the other day. To say 1
was amazed would not any more
than express it. | was fairly as
tmiShed. Inever saw finer fields
or better crops anywhere. It's a
garden. Oue has, as some fellow
said abOut some other locality, but
TO tickle the soil and it laughs
With a harvest.
"COrn? I met face to face With
as vigorous aid robust fields as
every waved in Illinois. Other
crops were the stme.
you know what the general
notion both North and West is;
that Virginia land is back broken
from an OverpreductiOn of tobacco
in the years gone by. That ma'
be the truth OF a field, or the fact
around, as it were, in spots, but
compared to the whole plow area
of Virginia it cannot and does not
amount to much. AS | say, where
| iOurneyed there was nothing to
show any lack OF stamina IN the
soil. lis cOrnstak offspring grew
thick and tai and held as healthy
hue, both Of bOOy and leaf, as
could beloOked for. The soil itself
was as black as the prospects OF
the silver party.
NO, SIT; were young, with
notion to farmland 10 better ssor
broader or more manly avenue ever
opened to human feet than the
farm-Fd 90 into Virginia.
''lf the character OF the soil and
the rugged and abundant sort OF
the crops astouished me, | was still
more to open my eyes at the price
Of land. Y0u know what land in
Texas, in Kansas, in the West
generally, goes fOI? 1t isn't un-
common to find certain bottom
farms in Kansas and other regions
of the West going as high as SlOO
an acre. An average price for
farms by lhe acre in the West Is as
good as sos. The improvements
won't be enough 10 seriously dis
cuss, eitLer. Fifty five dollars an
acre is a very common, usual price
for trans.MlssisSlppi farms. 1t
dOseu't scare ANYBODY. Yet eau
take you to just as good land with
better Improvements in the way OF
houses, iOarnS, fences and water
within thirty miles of Washington,
which you eau buy for SO an acre
Forty dollars an acre difference Is
quite a gull in finance. JIst think
of 1t. Land equally as good, too.
"As mere crop producer th'
Virginia farm would stand shoul
der 10 shoulder with any in the
West, aud vet while you buy a
farm of 100 acres in Texas, say, tOI
$500, I'll take the same s., ,80(
and buy and locate myself IN Vir
ginia, within three hours drive oI
the Capital of the country, on
traction over 2SG acres. Just al
good land, as | told you before
only instead of 100 acres you ge
$50 acres for SIS, 800.
"This isn't guess work. coul'
cite farms aud figures. L may no
appreciate scientists in my depart
ment and may prefer a goose bon
to college professor to forecas
the weather and tell when Its goIDI
TO rain; bat I know all about
+ farm, what it costs all over To
country, and what can be don
: with it. Aud at present figures
as pye already said. a young ma