The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1914-08-07
GOOD ROADSASCROPPRO
The Agricultural Output OF a
County Depends Upon lis
Highways.

That an improved road win in-
crease vastly the proiuotNene>s Of.
the area through uhch L runs has
now been satisfactorily demonstrated
by studies conducted by the United
States Department Of Agriculture II
Virginia. Conditions 10 SpotSyklni1
County were investigated with par
ticular care, ana the results have
proved surprising. In 1909 this
country voted 10000 70 improve
90 miles Of road. Two years after
the completion Of this work the rail-
road took away in II months from
Fredericksburg, the county seat, H.
600 tons OF agricultural and forest
products hauled over the highways
To that town. Before the improve
ment Of the roads this total was only
40, ,O0Oto annually; In other words.
the quantity Of the county'S produce
had risen more than IS per cent.
Still more interesting, however, is
the increase shown in the quantity
Of the dairy products. In 1909 these
amounted to lll,SiS pounds, In
1911 to 273.02S pounds, an increase
! Of practically 40 per cent In two
years. In the same time shipments
Of wheat had increased 50 per cent,
tobacco 81 per cent, and lumber and
other forest products 4S per cent.
In addition to this increase In
quantity the cost Of hauling each ton
Of produce was materially reduced.
In other words, the farmers not only
produced more, but produced more
cheaply, for the cost Of transporta-
ton to market is Of course an impor.
tant factor in the cost Of production.
From this point Of view, il is eSti-
mated that the 100000 spent in
improving the roads In SpotSylyania
county saved the farmers Of that
county S41 900 a year.
In the past two years the traffic
studies Of the Federal experts show
that approximately an average Of 65,-
600 tons Of outgoing products were
hauled over the improved roads in
the county an average distance Of 8
miles, or total Of $4,000 ton.
miles" " Before the roads were i'm.
proved It was estimated that the
average cost Of hauling was 20 cents
a 'ton-mile" after the improvement
this fell to II cents a "ton-mile, >
or a saving Of 8 cents per mile or
2s0,0OO "ron-miies" is 1000
: year. The eountry's investment o
e 500 in other words returns a divi
+ dend Of 40 per cent annually.
. Because this saving, in cases o
0 this character, does not take thI
. form Of cash put directly into thl
Y farmers pocketthere is 4 widespread
tendency TO believe that il IS flctit
.e ious profit, while as a matter Of fac
n it is just as real a source Of profit a
ar an increase in the price Of wheat.
l. In Dinwiddie county, Va, for eS
II ample, where peanuts are one Of tn
le staple crops, the average load fc
e two mules on main road was abol
g 900 pounds before the road wa
a improved. After its improvement
Sc the average load was found to b
2. 1000 pounds, and the time cor
r sumed in hauling the larger load
70 market was much reduced. In otht
ne words, one man with a wagon an
Ill two mules could do more than twi'
le as much work with the improve
he road than with an unimproyed roaI
Us This is the explanation Of the e
traordinary rise in the total outp
v Of agricultural products in count
in with a good road system.