The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1914-04-05

6erive Their principal income from
i've st"ct-by large increase ana care
81 c!cnaidS and b. extension Of the
great trucking Hcids All these i'm
provements have Increased the value
of crops IN Virginia iinmenscly-from
>l29,0ro.oJo produced from 5000, Oc0
acres in 1900 to s23G.000D0 produced
from 100000 acres last year.
The soils in Vireinia are tho kind
st in ihe world. they endure more
hard knocks, skinning and starving.
AMI hr. more quickly improved than "a
an! other state. the cheapest farm
Ing lands in the United States ar. to be
found in Virginia. but the large influx
CT land buyers has doubled the value
OF on: lands during the past ten years
and We believe the value viii double
again"
80, ,hs is too modest Il statement.
Mr.. I<oincr ann sure if YOU would
20 out 10 Kansas ami spend a &C..
weeks with Foster Dwight Coburn. YOU
would absorb into the very depths OF
you some Of the most suul-,hl!llin..
music OF the spheres. Turn Minstrel
Coburn loose in the Shenandoah Valley
and "hat couldn't he do with that
Laughing Daughter OF the Stars-as
believe the -cdmcn knew that glorious
Virginia river OF yours? Think or
Coburn setting the Blue Ridge Noun
tains ami thoir bluegrass slopes to
muSi" and soothing you In dreams OF .
live stock paradise. Of Il rcd-aUplc Eden
and OF Ely sian fields Of golden grain.
and what couldn't he do with the pied
mont plateau and the timbcrcd low
lands Of Tidewater? Just as swiftly
rs he would call his netghbor Eli
and give Bin blazes for not farmina
more with his brains ana less with his
feet would lie rum your old Dominion
tot No. "a.
the way t. cornucopian crops THAI
would staggcr some OF Your railroad
presidents ana put epic pamphlets into
- hands OF your land boomers More
Oyer, he would keep his bagpipes blow
ing their Shrill pibrouh until he hal
convinced more ihan half the popu-
lation of the United States that he was
lie per cent conservative.
OF course. this would not meet the
approval OF all your +. l.. V.s-that is,
not until after they had taken inven-
tory ana discovered that their anccs-
trail acres had doubled in value over
night. Down under the skin a goodly
percentage of MS are lnaterialiSts. ana
from my observations | judge that i,
rs materially important tor Virginia
TO toot her horn trinc more Justify.
she has tie goods and now is not the
tilne to let them mildcw on the
counter
IN 1851 the population of Virginia
was 1.5l2,5G5 and in 1910 it had grown
20 2,o6l. 81. i1ut in 1850 there were
$4,000 hogs IN Virginia as against
SS0.o10 in 1910 If there is not an un-
developed gold mine in Virginia pork
then the high cost Of living is a mod
crn fallacy and the gentlemen who
drew w these statistics are pernicious
fabriCators.
Your corn-club boys proved that it
was no lost art to grow 1877 bushels OF
corn 10 the acre; YOU grow the worlds
best peanuts, anu down Smithiield way
they know now 10 cure hams that
would have lured Epicurus to paddle
across the Atlantic on Il raft. You
have fine harbors. great seaports. splcn-
did transportation systems and model
roads to facilitate the marketing OF
farm products. and Just one 81 youi
fertile valleys was known round t.o
world as the ;Sranary Of the Confed-
cracy. Opportunity, Shades of Gin
cinnatuS and Arricola the speculative
doas not exist to frame il, Yet you let
Coburn call Kansas the Hogs Happy
Habitat and get away with IT,
In southwestern Virginia there are
Incompatible pasture lands for the
grain: OF ttcf cattle and everywhere
in Western Virginia there is q grow
ing enthusiasm for 1.-Two stock. Lands
arc not so cheap in those western lime
stone valleys as they are In other see
lions, hut when you compare them with
Other nigh priced lands III other sec
tions on 1t basis oil quality they arc
bargains. l met crchardists in the
Upper Shenandoah valley ana the
Piedmont section Of Albcmarlc County
who SAID they had paid 500 ar acre for
apple Ian they wouldn't sell for $3.50
nn acres two years hence: there were
cattlemen and sheep raisers who hau
bought limestone hillslopes, with the
finest sort OF bluegrass cover. for