The Newtown bee., 1904-08-26
600 43OO
Ten Pages
INK DROPS.
AGRICULTURE IN VIRGINIA.

called the Eastern Shore, and the leve region stretching out in all directions
 Trucking in through the Tidewatel
 Tidewater, country from Norfolk.
 Virginia. The light but genial soil invites the suns rays to stir it to fer tility with the abundant crops of po- tatoes, cabbages, English peas, beetS, snaps, cucumbers, and later, canta- loupes and watermelons, to be found in the market of every Northern city or town within reach of the sea board The Lands Inrecent times there
 About This has been a rapid and Dismal Swamp. steady encroachment upon the muck lands about the Dismal Swamp. Sweetened by drainage the soil has been found abundantly fruit full without the great expense at which the older lands must be maintained at fertility. A visit to big truck farm would find the manager and his assist ants directing by telephone the opera tions of big army of laborers all over the farm, and at the same time by a like telephone connection with the markets of the big cities, shipping the crops here and there wherever the best prices prevail.
 At This In the Virginia state Louisiana building at the St Louis Purchase exposition, which is 8 Exposition. reproduction of Jeffer- sons home at Monticello, may be seer panoramic views of growing crops, toil ' ing field hands and gathered products of this, as indeed of all sections of th, state.
 Further lnterspersed with truck
 Inland. anc replacing it largely as we go inland except around Rich mond, which furnishes local truck market are the fields, cotton, wheat, peanuts, sweet potatoes, cotton, and tobacco, once the one great Virginia staple, but now abandoned in many sections as new fields for it's successful culture have been found in other parts of the country.
 A In many places along the Bay-Shore Chesapeake bay an.owner
 Farm. of farm along the wa ter front has two farms of about equal value, one on the land and one on the water. The oyster and fishing, to say nothing of the numbering privileges now double the income from many of these farms, and there is the opportu- nity for wide extension in these branches of aquatic farming. Were malaria stamped out and rapid rail communication offered with the bay counties, this would be, I am con- vinced, the most desirable home for the small farmer in the whole United States, such is the diversity of prod ucts possible and the excellent con- munication by water with great mar ketS.
 South Side The southern tier of
 Virginia. Counties, South-side Virginia as it is called, produces sta ples which are recognized as distinct. lively southern. Cotton, corn and to- bacco hold sway here:as they have ever since Colonial days.
 Danville. Danville, the metropolis of this section, has made rapid strides forward as tobacco market, especially within the past five years, and has a bright outlook.
 Midland All Midland Virginia
 Virginia. adheres to the old stand ards and old methods in agriculture, except as here and there fruit culture has been found profitable and large orchards have brought rich revenues. The greatest success with fruit how ever, especially apples, has been in the Piedmont, along the base of the noun tains. The fame of the Albemarle pippin is world wide, and royalty freely orders the finest products at royal prices.
 Saving The disposal of the or
 the chard waste products has
 Waste. naturally been live question, and the state experimental station at Blacksburg has made studies by special agents of the productions of vinegar and cider in European coun- tries, especially France, and has sent out bulletins through the state which will be valuable aid saving the waste, wherein, when all has been said, lies the profit. To student of Pomol- ogy no sight could be more exhilerat- ing than is furnished by drive over the mountains through the apple coun- try where the gathered fruit lies for weeks in piles under the trees or hang ing from the boughs to catch final l refinement of flavor from the suns waning ardor.
 The valley lying between the Ale Where ghany and Blue Ridge Sheridan is the "Garden spot rode to of Virginia, reproduc. Fame. ing and surpassing the best farming sections of Connecticut in the quantity and quality of its productions of field and orchard. The Civil war harried it with fire and sword, as the armies of Jackson, Ere mont, Early and Sheridan here chased each other back and forth. So bleak and blackened was it left beneath the tread of hostile armies that the saying prevailed that "did crow wish to fly from Harper's Ferry to Staunton alons the Shenandoah be must carry his pro. visions with himl' In the valley, a,
 The in Newtown, the rich
 Country est return of all sur
 like face have been iron