The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1915-08-01

VIRGINIA GOOD ROADS
ARE CROP PRODUCERS
Findings OF Federal Survey OF Con-
ditaons In spotsyivania Show
Results.

That an improved road Will IN
crease vastly the productiveness OF
the area through which 1t runs mas
now been satisfactorily demonstrated
by studies conducted by the United
states Department OF Agriculture In
Virginia Conditions in Spotsylvania
County were investigator with par
ticular care. and the results have
proved surprising. In 1909 the county
voted 100000 to improve forty miles
of road. Two years after the COM
pIetion of this work the railroad took
away In twelve months from Freder-
icksburg. the county seat. 7l,OOo tons
of agriculture and forest products
hauled over the highways TO that
town. Before the improvement OF
the roads this total was only $4,000
tons annually; In other words, the
quantity of the county's produce has
risen more than IS per cent. Still
more interesting, however. is the in
crease shown in the quantity OF the
dairy products. In 1909 these amount
cd to 114,s15 pounds. in 1911 2I3,02S
pounds, an increase of practically lao
per cent in two years. In the same
time shipments of wheat had In
creased So per cent. tobacco, 81 per
cent, and lumber and other forest
products 4S per cent
In addition to this increase in guam
tfty the cost of hauling each ton OF
produce was reduced. The farmers
not only produce more. but produce
more cheaply. for the cost of trans
portation to market IL, OF course. an
important factor in the cost of pro-
duction. From this point of view, II
Is estimated that the 100000 spent In
improving the roads in Spotsylvania
County saved the farmers OF that
county s41.0 900 a year.
In the past two years the trafnc
studies OF the Federal experts show
that approximately an Average of sb.-
90 tons Of outgoing products were
hauled over the improved roads in
the county an average distance OF
eight miles, or a total of $4,000 ton
miles" Before the roads were i'm
proved II was estimated that the aver
age cost OF hauling was twenty cents
q ton mile" after the Improvement
this fell to twelve cents q ton mile"
or a saving of eight cents. saving
of eight cents per mile on 10000
ton miles In s41,o0 q year. The
county's investment of 100000. in
other words return q dividend OF 40
per cent annually.
Because this saving In cases OF the
character, does not take the form OF
cash put directly into the farmers
pocket there 10 Widespread tendency TO
oelive that 1t liz fictitious. while, as a
matter of fact, It is Just as real a
source Of profit as an increase in the
price OF wheat
In Dinwiddie County, Va. for ex-
ample, where peanuts are one OF the
staple crops. the average load for
two mules on a main road was about
1000 pounds before the road was
improved. After It's improvement the
average load was found to be 2,o0o
pounds, and the time consumed in
hauling the larger load to market
was much reduced. In other words.
one man with a wagon and two mules
could do more than twice as much
work with the improved road than
with an unimproved road This is
the explanation OF the extraordinary
rise In the total output OF argicul-
turai products in a county with good
road system.