The Dickenson County herald. [volume] (Clintwood, Va.) 1927-1930, 1927-10-27

AOCIlCQQlC VI CIlC l. COCIdI OSIlSuS
of Agriculture for 1925:
What kind of road adjoins
this farm?
Indicate whether concrete,
brick, macadam gravel, i'm
proved dirt, or unimproved
dirt road.
Thus it is reasonable to as
sumo that there is no marked
among the several
counties of Virginia in the me-
thod or accuracy with which
the Census enumeration record
ed the location of the farm as
to type of roads. 1t would seem
that the results as given in ac-
companying table are based up
on data comparable for the hun
dred counties of the State.
While the factors of variation
would be greater among states,
yet it is believed that the same
conclusion is warranted for the
data by states as given in the
preceding issue of the News
Letter.
MOST BACKWARD UNITS.
The two counties making the
worst showing in the State are
IN Southwest Virginia. Dicken-
son County leads in the percen-
tage of it's farms located on un-
improved dirt roads. In that
county, approximately 90 out
OF every 100 farmers had un-
improved dirt roads passing
their front gates. Buchanan
stands second with such a con-
dltion prevailing on 81 per-
cent OF the farms in the county.
The mountainous nature of
these two counties contributes
much to an explanation of their
poor rating in the matter of
country roads. But the same
reason can hardly be invoked
to account for the position of
Isle OF Wight County, where
9O.6 per cent of all of the farms
are located on unimproved dirt
roads.
A glance at the list of the
tWenty-seven counties in Virgin
la with more than seventy per
cent of their farms located on
unimproved dirt roads will
serve to show that while the
condition is somewhat preva
lent IN the mountainous count
les, the problem is not one that
can be termed a regional one.
The following is the list with
the corresponding percentage
Of unimproved dirt roads for
each of the twenty-seven most
backward counties in this par
ticular: Dickinson. 91.9 per
cent; Buchanan, 81 per cent;
Isle of Wight, 90.6 per cent;
Appomattox, 1872 per cent;
Buckingham, 87.9 per cent;
Fraklin, $3.50 per cent; Bland,
1873 per cent; Craig, 84.7 per
cent; Southampton, 1927 per-
cent; Grayson, 80 per cent; Mel
son. 500 per cent; Madison,
80.5 per cent; Louisa, 80.1 per
cent; Floyd, 1919 per cent; Eau
quier, 1917 per cent; Rappahan-
mock, 79.1 per cent; Patrick, 70
per cent; New Kent, TIT per
cent Surry, 1863 per cent; Mon
teomery, 74.9 per cent; King
William, 74.3 per cent; Orange,
1876 per cent; King and Queen,
1874 per cent; Nansemond, 1877
per cent; and Pittsylvania, 72.4
per cent.
Almost as great a diversity
of location is revealed in the
list of the ten leading counties
in the item of improved country
roads. Henrico and Arlington
counties each nave only liz per
cent of their farms located on
unimproved dirt roads. The lau-
rels in this important particu-
lar should doubtless go to Hen
rico, since Arlington County
had only 40 farms within it's
borders on January /, 1925,
while Henrico had 1,841. In
both instances, the influence
of large adjacent city operat-
ed to accelerate feeder road
progress. The same We true
in Warwick County with only
POT per cent of it's total of PSI
farms located on unimproved
dirt roads. The remaining sew
en- of the ten best counties in
this particular, and the percent
ages of farms located on unim-
proved dirt roads are: North
cumberland, Fl per cent; Mid