The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-08-21
I INOTESBY THEWAY
FROMEVERYWHERE
n. nallF'ar1nsB ]: ! etter Than
Big Homes velop-
ment Order Of Day.
/ lF'A RMS TIL a y PA
som E "a I DON'T
iNortl,ern Neck Country Wants
Railway ~ Grape Culture in
the Foothills "a Banker
Who is a Dernonsrator.
Good Roads Talk in
Pittsylvania County.

1ood GOO, Roads Ialk in
Pittsylvania County.
DY FRANK s.. WOODsON.
Industrial Editor. s5s e
During vacation spell a man witt,
q note book in hand can pick up d lot
OF Information about things II, general
y vacation spent In the mountain sec.
tlon or Virginia has been very inform- II
lns IN g way. IN Albemarle and Au-s
susta 5counties. as we'll as IN the Tide s
4 water section. one can run up with
people from all parts OF the country. for
old Virginia homes, With high-sounding
names. are very attractive to men OF
means. I was talking the other day
with g real estate agent who has mad Q
all kinds OF commissions selling old
ancestral homes to men who have
money to burn, and he confessed to mo
that beyond the commissions named
in the bond none of his Gust omers had
been of much benefit to the country.
{ All up and down tho James River.
alSup In A1benaar1e and Augusta, away
over in Buckingham and Cumberland
counties, many Of tho old homes have
been bought by folks who came from
the North. from Virginia cities and
from various and sundr ther ectionp.
and these people are heartily welcomed
by the people In the respective neigh
lsborhoods because they have money to
\ spend and good deal Of It. 81 s
Doubtful Problem. # "
And yet I doubt very much if these
money spenders are really very desir-
1 able acquisitions to q community. True
4 they buy large acres and they run up
grocery bills and they pay the ex-
penses Of fine horses, and some of
them have automo biles and high priced
ehauffeurs. and in their way manage
cnrins o,l g !; !, "a holiday season to put con-
siderable money in circulation; but
they do not do any plowing they do
not make hay while the sun shines;
they do not fertillze the lands they
have bought. and in no way do they
add to the taxable values. They Just
4 spend q month or more In the sum
mer seasons on their estates, and. like
swallows and sora, when the frost
comes, they take 3un TO themselves wings
and fly away. Some OF them have built
fine houses or improved good old houses
that they bought; but they stopped
fright there and beyond that they have
added but little to the wealth and
4 Iproductiveness OF the lands they SQUAT
/ ted upon. 8l Is
Non-Producers
was IN one OF the most charming
sections OF Albernarle county week
or ton days ago. and asked a coun-
try merchant a bout the agricultural do
Felopment Of his section. In reply to
my question, s.What do you raise around
here" he replied: Nothing mucl,.''
I3eing pressed for a more definite an
swer. he told me that the most OF tho
hne old farms in that region had been
bought up by bloated bondholders from u
New York and elsewhere; that they did 3
not buy them for development or irn-
provement. but simply to use them as
loafing place during the heated term.
had q talk also with the chairman
OF the Board OF Supervisors OF Abe
marie county, and he agreed with me that
one or two Swedes or Danes or Ger 81
mans whoswou buy forty or fifty acres
OF the good and rich lands OF the 3coun-
ty and handle the same on the. tnten-
stye farming system would be worth
more to Virginia than all OF the rich
automobile owners who have bought
ancestral homes In that region vii thin
the last decade or two.
Down In James City county there 10 ST
settlement ot Norwegian farmers
and not one Of them bough more than
fifty acres OF land when he came into
the4country but he worked the fifty5t
acres for all they Were worth. and all "a
Of them have made money and at the
same time add ed to the wealth OF the
country. These fifty or more Norwe-
CLANS are worth more to Virginia than
have located In the State since the war. u
The lands up IN the foothillsS are sus.
|ceptible to llmpr rovsment e and the soon
er the real estate agents get down to5S
the business of selling hem TO real is
farmers and land improvers the better
1t will be for the foothill section.
Snlt Water Breexes.: .:zi
$I,o-
the people are getting very much In
earnest about building railroad that
will put them In easy touch with tha s.
ma arkets Of the country and espe ecially
with Richmond. w by that section Ehaa5 IA
been 50 long isolated Is a myst cry,
The people over there are always wide
awake in the matter of olitics and IN
many other matters, and they have q as
way Of accomplishing things " when8>
they really get interested. Now that
they have caug the railroad fever one gs
can almost timag glne that he hea rs ths ss
sound OF the steam whistle. but the
Northern Necy 10 KS can I 10 4 Z all BY
themsel YES. They need somo help. and 81
lit ertainly win pay Richmond to help
them to- build a railway that will put n
them IN touch with Richmond. Man
aged nabney,ssot the Chamber Of Com-
merce. has the matter und err adyise-
n,ent. and when Da bney gets we'll tn-s
terested In q scheme. that scheme! - @
very bile TO be pulled through.
4s5t was talking tho other day with u
me that the to bacco crop OF this year
As something big. He q deplored the
fact that the famou its Hanover water
melons were not much good this year, sS
but he thinks the ference W III be }
more han mad q II II up \ tn Il larger