Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-06

h II ].
wiped out the tobacco paintings over an
area miles wide and about 10 miles
| long. Some of the hailstones, the farm
ers say, were so big that they stored
them in the ice houses.
In the whole situation there are two
| hopeful elements. First, the wheat crop,
which seldom is of primary Importance
| in Virginia, was exceptionally good this
Spring. The wheat does much of its
| growing in the early Spring. when there
| was moisture in the soil. The agricul-
tural experts are advising the farmers
to save the grain and feed it to their
! hogs instead of corn. Wheat is expensive
hog feed, but the present market price
is low and 1t looks like the only raw
material for pork, which will be avail
| able in any quantity, now that the corn
crop is so obviously a failure. Also
! the wheat straw, ordinarily merely
stacked in the fields or used for bed
ding, has become invaluable for fodder
The price of straw has gone up from
SIS ton, with almost no market, to
about SIS a ton with nobody willing to
sell.
The second blessing in disguise was
that credit to farmers was tight this
Spring, due to the Wall Street crash.
The banks didn't have the money to
loan. At the time the farmers cusSed
the bankers. Now they are thanking
their lucky stars that they couldn't get
the money and consequently are not so
saddled with debt as in ordinary years
It's an Ill wind, they say, that blows
nobody good.
Ordinarily the loans are paid off with
! the receipts from c&ttle and hogs. This
year about all the farmer can do to
keep his cattle is to buy Western hay
and the price Is certain to be high. He
will have very little corn for his hogs
Many, frightened over the prospect, are
selling their cattle for what the can
get. The State college is urging them
to hang on as long as they can. But
they already are drawing on their Win
ter reserve of fodder. Cattle in the
pastures still are getting some nourish-
ment from the burned grass, but there
is no new grass springing up and there
is little hope of Fall pasturage.
A good many farmers, according to
reports reaching the State college, are
turning their cattle into the brush on
the mountain sides. First they send
in their field hands with hatchets to
lop over the saplings so that cows can
get at the upper leaves. This at least
keeps the cows stomach full, even If
it doesn't produce much milk or beef
Besides there Is grass under the brush.
But the mountainsides themselves
are dry as finder. AS one drives down
the valley ominous clouds of smoke are
seen crawling along the Massenuttens,
leaving blackened wastes behind them.
Fire warnings are broadcast everywhere.
When a blaze gets started in the
mountains it is hard to stop.
Science. which can't overcome ma
| ture so far as to make crops grow
without water or keep hogs with moth
| ing to feed them, is making some prac-
| tical suggestions. Among these is the
planting of AbruZZi rye, new variety
| which will provide forage late this Fall
| and will come up again early next
| Spring 1t Is about two weeks earlier
than other rye, growing rapidly during
warm spells in Winter. It should, say
| the experts, save about months
| feeding from the reserve forage. They
also are urging the farmers to plant
such crops as buckWheat, which will
provide food late this Fall. 1t will
partly take the place of the pastures
which ordinarily furnish feed we'll into
December.
Virginia Becoming Frightened.
Virginia is just beginning to gel
| thoroughly frightened over the drought
| situation 1t was the principal topic
| of conversation at the Institute OF Rural
| Affairs here last week. Up to the present
there has been daily expectation OF
rain. Now they don't know what tc
expect and weather forecasters nave
no encouraging words for them.
- 11a
! lege has just drawn a graph comparing
| this years rainfall to that which Is
normal for Virginia. It Is less than
one-third. All that the Valley has had
| to date are a few light, scattered
showers. Even these have been god
I sends.
II is the poorer farmers who are hit
worse. The extensive orchardists VINO
| fertilize extensively and cultivate deep
| ly are in fair shape. But even on the
| college farm itself, where everything Is
| done according to the last Woro IN asfl-
| cultural science, the normal crop o.
| 800 tons of hay was reduced 10 oo 1ons
of a very inferior grade.
| Experts are loath to reduce the pre-
| able loss to terms of dollars and Genus
| Poor crops may bring higher prices
/ they hope, thus passing some OF tnt
1 farmers loss to the man In the CITY
| Some farmers may even make none!
| out of a poor year. But the majority
have very little hope.
Aside from the agricultural situation
the present appearance Of the. valley
pathetic. It Is a place OF old, white
pillared mansions set on spacious lawns
and shaded by oaks and willows. Tnt
year the lawns are burned to crisp
The wind blows fallen leaves across the
road as in early October. The Mower
beds are ragged and dropping. INT
pink crepe. myrtles, ordinarily con-
spicuous in the Virginia countryside, are
sorry-fooking bushes. The Alleghenle;
and the MAssenttter1s, ordinarily baSk'
ing In q soft blue haze on Summer days
now stand out stark and barren. TIT
lawns and parks are burned in tn
cities - arrisonburg, Staunton, win
chester. Lexington and Roanoke. Water
is too valuable to be used in. any grea'
amounts for keeping grass green ane
flowers growing. Farmers are buying i
from the cities. A blight has strncl
such ordinarily lovely places as ths
campus of the Virginia State Teachers
College at Harrisonburg and the Staun'
ton Military Academy at Staunton
Even here at Blacksburg the colleg
authorities have been unable to saw
. their lawns. The hillside brooks through
the pastures are dry. Even the river
are very low.