Evening star., 1915-11-14

minerals IN the SCnlSl, QUARTZ leluSpdf
and mica in the gneiss. So far as the
writer CThomas Leonard Watson) is
aware. the Carolina gneiss has not been
quarried in this area
The granite gneiss is usually we'll
adapted to the rougher grades of work,
such as for certain kinds of street
work. for concreting and ballast, for
retaining walls and foundations and
for road material.
In Alexandria county are a brewery,
a cottonseed oil refining plant, various
oildstributing plants. a drug farm,
paint mandatory, and electric light
and gas plants.
The development of Alexandria coun-
ty as a suburban area of Washington
has brought a marked reduction in the
farm area and in the number of farms.
The figures of the last federal census
place the number of farms in the coun-
ty at ninety-six, whereas the number in
1900 was, 379. The approximate land
area of the county is 1880 acres, and
in 1910 the number of acres in farms
was 4,096, while the farming area in
1900 was 1861. The number of farms
and the farming area are rapidly dimin-
ishing.
A farm" for census purposes is all
the land which is directly farmed by
one person managing and conducting
agricultural operations either by ms
own la bor alone or with the assistance
of members of his household or hired
employees The term agricultural op-
erations" is used by the census takers
and census compi1ers as general term
referring to the work of growing crops,
producing other agricultural products
and raising animals, fowls and bees. A
farm" a s thus defined, may consist OF
a single tract of land or of a number OF
separate and distinct tracts, and these
several tracts may be held under an
ferent tenures, as where one tract is
owned by the farmer and another tract
is hired by him. Also when a land
owner has one or more tenants, rent
erS, croppers or managers, the lahd op-
Grated by each is considered farm.
In this sense there were att the last
enumera ton three farms in the county
of between 260 and 499 acres, two OF
between 175 and 259 acres, seven OF
between 100 and ia acres, eight of be-
tween so and 80 acres, twenty-four Of
between 20 and 49, twenty-four OF be-
tween 10 and 19, twenty-six of between
; and acres, and two farms OF Tess
than 3 acres. The percentage of the
land area of the county in farms in
1910 was 20.6, and it is considerably
less than this now, while in 1900 the
land area in farms was 73.1 per cent.
The value of all farm property was
1854 900, a decrease in ten years of
more than a million dollars. The rea-
son for this decrease in farm values is
that villages have sprung up on or ex-
tended themselves over the old farms.
and urban values have been created
in place of farm values.
Dairy products are among the I'M
por,ant ones of the county, there
being an annual output of about 2oO,-
600 gallons of milk and about $500
pounds of butter. about four-fifths of
the milk being sold and more than one
half the butter. The receipts from the
sale of dairy products amount 70
about $4,000 year The value OF
poultry and eggs raised each year is
about $4,000 of which one-haif is
sold by the raisers. The returns for
domestic animals sold or slaughtered
in the county were, according to n1 me
other cattle. 1856; swine, so; horses and
mules, 5. The value of the county's
crops was s106,600. divided as follows:
Cereals, S9.676; other grains and seeds'
tables, s23.527; fruits and nuts. sSsn;
and all other crops, $56,4S0. In round
numbers 5000 bushels OF corn were
produced, 500 bushels of oats. 'oo
bushels of wheat, 465 bushels OF rye
$50 tons of hay and forage. 5000 bush.
els of potatoes. 700 bushels of sweet
potatoes and yams, 1900 bushels or
apples. $50 bushels of pears, l60 bush-
els of peaches, 100 bushels of cherries,
1000 pounds of grapes and 10000
quarts of strawberries. All the FOODS
that can be cultivated or otherwise
produced in the climate of Washins-
ton are produced in Alexandra county,
though necessarily on a small scale.
4 ~
The city of Alexandria is generally
thought of by persons outside of it and
also by many persons within IL as
city with a past and to a certain de-
gree as a city of the past 1t is that,
but il is also a city of the present and
future. In presentation of facts
about Alexandria city the chamber OF
commerce of that city has written:
"Of all the cities in the United States
none possesses a more historic and
honorable past or more solid founda-
tion for bright and progressive fu-
ture than Alexandria. Honored and
splendid as is the past, it is of the
would speak Located midway be-
railroads and five steamer lines afford
markets of the north, south and west.
with the rest of the world are the
Southern, Washington Southern, Penn
sylvania, Baltimore and Ohio, Chesa-
peake and Ohio, Atlantic Coast Line
and Seaboard Air Line Five steamship
lines give direct connection between
Alexandria, Norfolk and Baltimore.
where freight is transferred to all coast