Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1913-01-24
Crop Census.

~ Ntpa'eietNS vi Vic i
census returns on farm crops,
which has just been published,
contains some very interesting
and valuable facts relative to
farming in Virginia. The re-
turns of the census bureau, not
only set forth the existing
situation in detail, but they also
afford basis of comparison
with conditions in former years.
One of the most significant
tendencies in Virginia agri-
culture during the past ten years
is to be found in the increased
outlay for labor and fertilizers.
The amount expended by Vir-
glnla farmers for labor in 1909
was $l3, 354, 1914 as compared
with only 81, 100, 100 in the year
1899. During the same ten-year
period, the fertilizers purchased
almost doubled in value. In 1899
only So, 681, 100 worth of fertil
lzers were purchased for use on
Virginia farms. The expenditure
for this purpose in 1909 had in
creased to Sc, 932, 455. In this
connection it should also be
noted as an encouraging fact
that Virginia farmers as a whole
received more from the sale of
feed than they paid out for feed.
In North and South Carolina and
Georgia, where the deplorable
tendency has been dominant of
subordinating all other crops to
cotton, the census report shows
that the farmers expended con-
slderably more for their feed
than they received from this
source.
THE CEREAL CROP.
The acreage devoted to the
production of cereals in Virginia
declined during the past decade
325, 218, or 10 per cent. Because
of improved methods of cult
walton, however, the production
even on a smaller cultivated area
was greater by 812,896 bushels
in 1909 than in 1899. The value
OF cereals produced, owing to
the rise in prices of agricultural
products, increased 68 per cent.
The value of all cereals produced
IN Virginia in 1899 was only
$23, 759, 479 as compared with
$50, 993, 929 in 1909. During the
period 1S99-1909 the av erage
value of the corn crop advanced
Is per cent, or $12,652,1 1888; the
value of the wheat crop increased
~ per cent, or $2,615,061; the
production of oats increased in
value 46 per cent, or $5O6, 357:
and the barley and rye crops
were $l54, 705 and $220,O46, re-
spectively, more valuable in 1909
than in the year 1899. These
figures represent an increase in
the value of the barly crop of
6l8 per cent, and in the rye crop
OF III per cent.
PEANUTS AND FORAGE.
The peanut-growing industry
exhibited great progress during
the ten years under consider
alton. The average devoted to
peanut growing in Virginia was
l16, 914 in 1899, and AS, 213 in
1909. The number of bushels of
peanuts produced advanced from
3,317, BAT in 1899 to 1924, $40 in
1909, and the value of the crop
was only So, POI, 148 in 1899, as
contrasted with an output worth
"a, 239, 832 ten years later. In
other words, during this decade
the annual value of the peanut
crop increased SPOTS, 6S4.
Unlike the tendency in the
case of the cereals, the acreage
used to grow hay and forage in
Virginia increased during the
ten years, 1899-19O9, 26 per cent.
In 1909 1876, 600 more tons of hay
and forage were produced than
in 1899, the value of this crop
advanced 81 per cent, or So, $50, :
GIG. The total value of hay and
forage produced by Virginia far
mers in 1909 was $40, 256, 9o8.
POTATOES AND TOBACCO.
The sweet potato crop in Vir-
ginia was worth $2,681, 472 in
1909, which represented an in
crease of 1861, 2o4 over 1899. The
value of other potatoes advanced
l27 per cent, or So, 172, $50. The
acreage devoted to this crop was
extended 70 per cent and the