USA > Virginia > Charlotte County > Charlotte County > Charlotte County, Virginia : historical, statistical, and present attractions > Part 5
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Yours truly, D. A. MALONEY.
To J. C. Carrington, County Commissioner.
Cattle on Farm of Joseph L. Edmunds, Cole's Ferry, Va.
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CHARLOTTE COUNTY HAND BOOK
HoGs.
Hog raising has become an important industry, and the county has made such a reputation upon her hams that the demand for them cannot be supplied. Indeed many epicures pronounce the Charlotte ham as very superior to the celebrated Smithfield hams. Our hams are sold in a good many States of the Union-New York and Texas among them. They bring twenty-five cents per pound, and numbers of orders which went over from last season have already been filed for the next year's crop of hams. The cured middlings are also in demand, the strips making what is known as breakfast bacon. They sell for seventeen cents per pound and shoulders for twelve and one-half cents per pound.
To raise pork, when you have even small pasturage, costs about five cents per pound. With large ranges the cost is proportionately less. From the prices given for the cured meat it will readily be seen that there is an immense profit in this industry.
FINE TOBACCO, WHEAT AND HOGS.
JANUARY 7, 1907.
I bought the Roach farm in 1888, containing 350 acres, and paid $1,420.00 for it. Have supported myself and eleven children on the farm, and refused $4,200.00 for it recently. On a lot of ten acres 1 made 15,000 pounds of tobacco in the year 1905, which averaged me $9, or $135 to the acre, and then made 180 bushels of wheat upon the same land. I killed eight hogs in December last, which averaged 250 pounds, and have one hog yet to kill, which will weigh 500 pounds.
W. C. CARWILES.
To J. C. Carrington, County Commissioner.
RANDOLPH, January 1, 1907.
DEAR SIR: Your letter received. Yes, my success has been satis- factory. I started thirty years ago a poor man, with only one ox and no land. Now I have 1,200 acres of land, good teams of horses and mules and plenty of agricultural machinery. Have made it raising hogs and bright tobocco. I sold my last two year's crops of tobacco
Cattle on Farm of George G. Moseley, Saxe, Va.
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CHARLOTTE COUNTY HAND BOOK
at an average of $225.00 per acre-the price ranging from $7.50 to $50.00 per hundred pounds. I killed twelve hogs last fall, with an average of 300 pounds-two of them weighing 1,164 pounds.
S. C. NEWCOMB.
To J. C. Carrington, County Commissioner.
RAISERS OF FINE HORSES AND CATTLE.
SAXE, VA., December 17, 1906.
DEAR SIR: Replying to your inquiry, as to our success in horse and cattle raising on our "Cottage. Valley Stock Farm," will say our success has been very marked. By crossing coarse mares with a very fine registered horse, we get the very best combination horse, which sells at our stable door for from $175,00 to $225.00 each, without the trouble and expense of taking them to the market, and the cost of raising these horses on the farm is very small indeed-the selling price being nearly all profit. We raise the Polled (hornless), Aber- deen, Angus cattle, which we find very thrifty and saleable upon the market. Our calves bring us from $75.00 to $100.00 each before they are six months old. Our bull, "Kenwood Major," whose picture appears herewith, is only fifteen months old, and shows for himself. We have been very successful in hog raising also. Our varieties being the Berkshire, Poland-China and the Oic. We have had splendid success in chicken raising, our choice being the Wyandotte. To show the kind of cattle we raise we publish the award of the N. C. State Fair, viz:
To whom it may concern:
CHARLOTTE, N. C., January 7, 1904.
Messrs. W. M. Watkins & Sons, of Saxe, Va., exhibited at our Fair, held at Charlotte, N. C., October 27-30, 1903, two head of Angus cattle, on which they received nine (9) first and four (4) second prizes. The officers and members of the Mecklenburg Fair Association appre- ciate this display of Messrs. Watkins & Sons and assure them that in their opinion they would, on this herd, stand well with any exhibit at any show. With success to you gentlemen, we are
Most respectfully,
R. J. BREVARD, President, W. S. ORR, Secretary and Manager, W. J. CHAMBERS, Treasurer.
With our mild winters and good grazing lands our cattle cost us practically nothing.
Yours very truly, W. M. WATKINS & SONS.
To J. C. Carrington, County Commissioner.
" Cottage Valley Farm "-Residence of William M. Watkins, Saxe, Va.
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CHARLOTTE COUNTY HAND BOOK
THE TEST FARM OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.
LETTER FROM SECRETARY OF THE STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
The central portion of the old Sylvan Hill estate, located at Saxe, on the Southern railway, was generously donated a few years ago by Charlotte county to the Department of Agriculture of Virginia, to be used as an Agricultural Test Farm.
The farm extends from Little Roanoke river back over the hills, which rise to an elevation of something over a hundred feet above the river bottom, and includes part of the plateau beyond. The farm thus contains bottom land, hillside and plateau, furnishing quite a variety of land.
There are two distinct types of soil on the place. One is a light, sandy loam, suitable for bright tobacco, while the other is a red clay soil, suitable for dark tobacco and for the pro- duction of all the staple crops, and is the strongest and best land on the place. There are also various mixtures of the two soils where they come together.
A large and well-planned house has been built, so arranged that nearly all of the lower floor can be thrown into one large room, in order that farmer's institutes may be conducted there. A very large and commodious barn has just been completed.
The most celebrated piece of ground in the world, from an agricultural point of view, is at Rothamsted, England. This experimental farm was founded in 1843 by Sir John B. Laws, with whom was associated from the first Sir J. H. Gilbert, and at which, for the past sixty-three years, the most rigidly systematic plot experiments on different crops have been and are still being conducted. No other investigations on kindred subjects have had such a beneficial effect upon the agriculture of the world, and this is due to the fact that these experiments have been conducted for such a long period of time, and from first to last with the greatest care and accuracy. This Rothamsted Experimental Farm will be taken as a guide and the experiments conducted at the Test Farm will be carried
"Sylvan Hill "-Residence State Test Farm, Saxe, Va.
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CHIARLOTTE COUNTY HAND BOOK
out in a similar manner, but modified and altered, of course, to suit the conditions of Southside Virginia, and it is hoped that in time these experiments will be of the same benefit to the Southside and the State at large that the Rothamsted experiments have been to England and to the world.
Much preliminary work had, of necessity, to be done, and some preliminary experiments had to be made, in order to get things in shape and discover just what thorough-going ex- periments were most desirable and how best to conduct them. Most of this preliminary work has been completed and the real experimentation will now be begun.
The objects to be accomplished at the Test Farm are four. fold.
1st. To determine for each crop what fertilizer, or mixture of fertilizers, will produce the best and greatest yield for the money expended.
2nd. To determine what are the best crops to be grown and what rotation of crops is the most economical. This involves the trial of new plants and crops and new varieties of old ones.
3rd. To improve the varieties of those crops which are found to do best, by proper selection and breeding, so that the yield and quality will be improved.
4th. To determine whether stock raising can be made a profitable business, and, if so, what breeds are best.
To accomplish the foregoing, there will be required much of the most careful and painstaking work, extending over years.
There will have to be tested the different fertilizer materials, alone and together, in different amounts and proportions, on the different crops. Different crops and different varieties of each crop, including new varieties of the standard crops, will be tested, also new crops which have never before been tried in this section. Different rotations and combinations of crops will be tried, in order to determine just what rotation will produce the best crops for the least outlay, and at the same time maintain the fertility of the soil with the smallest ex- penditure for fertilizers,
Barn Scene, Cottage Valley Farm, Saxe, Va.
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CHARLOTTE COUNTY HAND BOOK
Seed will be selected in the most careful and approved manner, in order that greater yield, better quality, or both, may be obtained without greater outlay than at present.
The hills which are, on account of their steepness, unsuited for testing fertilizers or crops, will be gotten into grass, and thoroughbred stock run upon them and a strict account kept of them, in order to determine their profitableness and which are best suited for that section.
In order to accomplish all of these purposes, the following experiments have been or will be started as soon as circum- stances will permit :
EXPERIMENTS.
In tobacco culture and breeding, wheat, corn and corn breeding, grass and alfalfa.
The raising of stock, and testing their suitability for this section, etc.
The motto of the Test Farm will be thoroughness. The policy will be to only undertake such experiments as can be properly and actually conducted, and not to undertake a greater number than can be properly conducted. It is better to have one thoroughly-reliable experiment than a hundred poorly-conducted, slipshod, inaccurate ones. The Test Farm is for the benefit of the people, and all honest suggestions will be gladly received and utilized when practicable.
It is desired to take such steps as will be of most benefit to the farmers; therefore, all who care to are invited to come to the Test Farm, see what is being done, make such sugges- tions as they think are needed, and so let all work in harmony for the upbuilding of the agricultural business.
AGRICULTURE DIVERSIFIED.
The old adage, "it isn't well to put all of your eggs in one basket," has come more into realization with our people, and
Scene of Cottage Valley Farm-William M. Watkins, Saxe, Va.
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CHARLOTTE COUNTY HAND BOOK
they are beginning to diversify their crops and are raising horses, cattle, sheep and hogs with great success, thereby making the returns from the farm larger and more reliable. Our genial climate and variegated soils combine to make the production of all crops and horse and cattle raising profitable.
POULTRY, HOGS AND DAIRYING.
CHARLOTTE COURTHOUSE, VA., January 25, 1907.
DEAR SIR: Replying to your favor, will say I have been very suc- cessful with poultry raising on a small scale. Keep from thirty to forty hens of the Wyandotte breed. From these hens, during the year 1906, I realized about $150.00 clear, after paying for their feed and furnishing my table. I have about six hogs, and last year, after supplying my family of three with meat, I sold $150.00 in meat and pigs. Keep two cows. Last year sold $50.00 in butter and supplied my family with all they could consume. Sold three calves for $24.00. I came to Charlotte from Pittsylvania and consider Charlotte the place of the best opportunity for industrious citizens that I know of.
J. O. BURCH.
OWNER REFUSED 600 PER CENT. PROFIT ON FARM, WHICH RAISES FINE CROPS OF ALL SORTS AND POUND PEACHES.
REESES, VA., January 7, 1907.
I bought the Ben Dickerson farm in 1893, containing 220 acres, for $425.00. This was considered one of the poorest farms in the county when I bought it. In 1905 I planted 17,000 hills of tobacco and made 6,000 pounds, which brought me an average of 9} cents, or $555.00 for the crop. I seeded on the same land three bushels of wheat and threshed 102 bushels. On this farm I averaged from two to two and half tons per acre. Have been offered $5,500.00 for the farm, but refused it. I raise from seven to eight barrels of corn to the acre, and also raise a large quantity of pork. Have planted an orchard of some 500 trees, consisting of apples, peaches, pears, plums, grapes and prunes, which grow to the greatest perfection. My peaches last year, a bad fruit year, many of them, weighed as much as a pound. I can sell all the peaches I can raise at $1.50 per bushel at my orchard.
Yours truly, A. B. RICE.
To J. C. Carrington, County Commissioner.
TWENTY-SEVEN BUSHELS OF WHEAT AND TEN BARRELS OF CORN TO THE ACRE.
KEYSVILLE, VA., R. F. D., January 7, 1907.
I live upon the farm which I bought in 1887, containing 350 acres,
VA. DEPT OF AGRICULTURE
Alfalfa Scene-State Test Farm, Saxe, Va.
z
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CHARLOTTE COUNTY HAND BOOK
for which I paid $2,100.00. This farm lies three miles from Keys- ville. In the year 1905 I made 9,450 pounds of tobacco, and upon the same land I made 185 bushels of wheat. Think this is a fine fruit coun- try, and have just set out upwards of 300 fruit trees. From eighteen acres of highland corn I measured 175 barrels. I averaged from one and one-half to two tons of grass per acre.
Yours truly,
R. E. PETTUS.
To J. C. Carrington, County Commissioner.
RANDOLPH, VA., February 1, 1907.
DEAR SIR: In reply to yours, will say I commenced life on my own resources in the year 1890, without a dollar and largely in debt. It took me about two years to pay out, and then I commenced saving each year. On one year's crop I netted $1,300.00. The crops usually cultivated by me are corn, wheat, oats, hay and tobacco. I raise sheep on a small scale, and find there is nothing more profitable on a farm. Hog raising is also found very profitable. Last fall I butchered 6,600 pounds of pork, fattened upon peas and the waste stuff upon the farm. This pork did not cost me over four cents per pound. I raise cattle and find this very profitable, also. Poultry raising is wonderfully renumerative. Have planted quite a large number of trees, and expect to have plenty of fruit in a few years.
Since I commenced farming on my own hook I have bought and paid for over 1,400 acres of land, and have it well stocked. The actual cost of the same, and the amount of money I have on hand, amounts to $12,500.00; besides, I have supported my family all the while.
C. T. LAYNE.
To J. C. Carrington, County Commissioner.
1
WHAT ONE MAN CAN DO.
ROUGH CREEK, VA., January 24, 1907.
DEAR SIR: According to promise, I will tell you what one man can do if he will work. When I was twenty-one years old I was not worth twenty-one cents, and then I saw my only chance was to go to work, and at it I went. Saved my money until I had $600.00; then I bought 325 acres of land and paid $500.00 for it. It was grown up and very little open land. I had to take everything from the stump. A few years later I added to my farm 257 acres, at the cost of $600.00. This makes my farm 582 acres, and cost $1,100.00.
Four years ago I had bad luck. I had a fire that burnt my stable and six head of horses and mules and a lot of other things. My loss was $1,500.00, with no insurance. I had money enough to replace
Barn State Test Farm, Saxe, Va.
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CHARLOTTE COUNTY HAND BOOK
everything that was burnt and had money left, and now I have on my farm a good dwelling-house, worth $1,200.00, ten cabins, eleven tobacco barns, all necessary buildings, about 4,000 panels rail fence and 6,000 pounds wire fence. Now my farm is worth about $4,000.00, and I dont owe a dollar in the world and have some money ahead.
Yours truly, W. A. TRENT.
REMARKABLE SUCCESS.
CHARLOTTE COUNTY, VA., January 1, 1907.
DEAR SIR: You want to know something as to our experience in farm- ing. We commenced work about twenty years ago on a farm that had been rented for twenty-five years. Our capital was very limited; our buildings and fences had been neglected. We have built a dwelling- house at a cost about $1,500.00. We now have a well-stocked farm, in a high state of cultivation. Our annual income from crops is about $2,000.00. We are able to conduct our business on a cash basis and have money ahead. We have no hesitancy in saying that, with energy and fair amount of good judgment, farming pays well in Charlotte. Yours truly, JNO. L. & N. H. MARSHALL. To J. C. Carrington, County Commissioner.
FARMING PAYS AND IS A PROFITABLE INVESTMENT.
CHARLOTTE COURTIIOUSE, VA., January 1, 1907.
DEAR SIR: Fifteen years ago I bought 650 acres of land, which left me largely in debt. To-day, with no other income save from the sale of my farm products and stock raised on the farm, I have paid for my land, which I have greatly improved; my buildings and fences are in good repair and I have $5,000.00 in cash, and would not accept $10,000.00 for my farm to-day. I would unhesitatingly say that farming in Charlotte county pays, and that the prices at which our farm lands are now being sold offer a most profitable investment and to the practical farmer a safe income and a good living.
Yours, etc., M. L. DUNNAVANT.
To J. C. Carrington, County Commissioner.
A THRIFTY SETTLER.
DECEMBER 29, 1906.
I moved from Henry to Charlotte county, Va., in the year 1896 with very little cash. Took advantage of the cheap price of lands and bought the homestead of the late John Edmunds for the sum of $2,100.00-terms one-fourth cash, balance in one, two, three and four years. My farming operations enabled me to meet the deferred pay- ments upon the farm and to clear up a great deal of wood
Newly Seeded Wheat Field on Farm of A. B. Rice, Reeses, Va.
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CHARLOTTE COUNTY HAND BOOK
land, and I have gotten the land down in grass. To-day 1 would not take $10,000.00 cash for the place. I consider the advantages of climate, soil and people of Charlotte county superior to any county that I know of. Industrious settlers will find rare opportunities here. The lands are well adapted to tobacco, grain of all sorts and grasses. J. M. MARTIN.
To J. C. Carrington, County Commissioner.
LAND INCREASED 400 PER CENT. IN VALUE.
JANUARY 18, 1907.
In the year 1889 I bought a farm at Ontario, R. and M. railroad, containing 362 acres, for which I paid $2,275.00. Have been offered $5,000.00 for the farm, and would not take less than $10,000 for it. On a lot on this farm I averaged twenty-five bushels of wheat to the . acre, and there has been raised by one of my tenants $158.00 worth of tobacco.
C. M. HAILEY.
To J. C. Carrington, County Commissioner.
WONDERFUL SUCCESS FROM SMALL BEGINNINGS.
WYLLIESBURG, VA., January 14, 1907
I am a native of Pittsylvania county, but came to Charlotte in the year 1895, without a single year's rations ahead. Had only one horse, no cow or hog and rented a farm from Dr. Mason for $50 per year. I had only $80 in money, which I invested in provisions for myself and family and feed for my horse. The first year I made enough from my bright tobacco crop to pay the rent and buy the farm, consisting of eighty-two and one-half acres. I have supported my family all along, and, in addition to the farm above described, have bought 330 acres more of land, and have a team of three horses, five head of cattle, raise a plenty of meat and some to sell. All my farming (except tobacco) is done by machinery, and I have binders, drills, mowers and corn planters. Have about fifty acres of my farm down in grass. All of the above land cost me about $1,800.00. I sold ninety acres for $916.00, so am out in purchase-money only about $900.00 and have a farm of 320 acres. I would not take less than $5,000.00 for my farm to-day. The climate is the best I ever knew, the land is cheap and productive, and the people are kind and hospitable.
Yours truly, J. R. ALLEN.
To J. C. Carrington, County Commissioner.
ONE BLIND HORSE-NOW THREE FARMS.
RED HOUSE, January 5, 1907.
DEAR SIR: I hardly know how to reply to your favor of the 2d,
" Roxobel "-Residence of C. E. Benschoter, Charlotte Courthouse, Va.
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CHARLOTTE COUNTY HAND BOOK
but can say that Mr. T. H. Wright bought a farm adjoining me ten years ago. He had nothing but one blind horse. Since that time he has paid for the place-$950.00 (250 acres); has bought another farm, for which he paid $2,300.00 cash, and still has money and a plenty of everything around him. He also bought the White Place and paid $1,000.00 for that.
Very respectfully, H. N. ANDREWS.
To J. C. Carrington, County Commissioner.
FROM THE ENTERPRISING EDITORS OF THE CHARLOTTE GAZETTE.
OFFICE OF THE CHARLOTTE GAZETTE.
CHARLOTTE COURTHOUSE, VA., February 7, 1907. J. C. Carrington, Esq.,
County Commissioner Jamestown Exposition;
DEAR SIR: It gives us pleasure to comply with your request and give you a letter on the material development and progress of the county of Charlotte for the county Hand-Book. After personal know- ledge and connection with the county for the past thirty years, we are firmly convinced that the county is now entering on an era of great prosperity, not only in its agricultural development, but also in regard to the timber and manufacturing interests.
In the past the county has been almost exclusively engaged in the cultivation of tobacco for a money crop, but the farmers are now awakening to the advantages of diversifying their efforts, and the result is, that it is now being demonstrated that all crops are raised in the county as profitably as can be done not only in this State, but almost any State in the Union. There has come under our notice instances where poor men have taken up farms, paid for them from the productions, improved their lands and banked money from Charlotte county farms. Our lands are naturally very productive, rapidly improve under proper cultivation and are adapted to the growth of all kinds of crops. The cultivation of small fruits has received but very limited attention, which is greatly to be regretted, as fruits of all de- scription take most kindly to our climate and thrive abundantly.
The timbers of the county deserve especial prominence in the Hand- Book, as they are almost unsurpassed and constitute a source of great wealth to the county. The difficulty in transportation has prevented much being done in this line in the past, but the increased facilities that are now being built throughout the county will enable this source of wealth to be utilized.
For a man of limited means, who desires to engage in agricultural operations, this county presents facilities and advantages that will be hard to duplicate in any section of the country; cheap lands, a kindly soil, genial neighbors, church and school facilities, and a mild
Tobacco Scene, Staunton Hill.
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CHARLOTTE COUNTY HAND BOOK
and healthful climate that is unsurpassed. With a little capital, energy and up-to-date methods this county presents a field for remuner- ative effort that will compare favorably with that offered by any.
With best wishes, we remain,
Yours, very truly, LEONARD COX & SON.
WHAT POOR LAND PROPERLY CULTIVATED WILL DO.
DEAR SIR: I have thirty-five acres of land that I took up that was poor and full of gullies. I sowed this land in peas and used some fertilizer on it, and also what farm manure I could raise. I got this piece of land down in grass and think I have cnt as much as one and one-half to two tons good hay per acre from a great deal of it. I sow a mixture of sapling clover, timothy and herds grass, and find that this mixture does better than any I have tried; and I find that hay is the best paying crop I can raise as I can always find a ready sale for it at home and at a good price. We have no poorer land in our county than this thirty-five acres was when I took it up; so this demonstrates what can be done with our Charlotte county land when properly cultivated. One year I had this thirty-five acres in corn and tobacco. I made one hundred barrels of corn, at $3.00 per barrel, $300.00; 18,600 pounds tobacco, which netted me $1,525.00. This was several years ago that I did this-before this land was in as good shape as it is now. I shall be glad to show anyone this piece of land and the land adjoining it, that has not been cared for. This will show what my land was before I took it up.
Yours very truly, L. S. JACKSON.
To J. C. Carrington, County Commissioner.
TOBACCO, CORN, WHEAT, ETC.
TOBACCO.
Tobacco has always been one of our staples, and, like most other crops, depends largely upon the adaptability of the soil, though it is not always the case that any particular kind of tobacco requires a peculiar kind of soil. Dark tobacco will flourish well upon a loamy, chocolate soil, and also upon a light gray soil. As evidence of the latter, some of the most prosperous sections of the county have become so by the culti- vation of dark tobacco upon light-gray soil. Bright tobacco
" Belle-Monte "-Summer Residence of R. R. Roberts, Saxe, Va.
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CHARLOTTE COUNTY HAND BOOK
is more fickle in her taste and flourishes best upon a yellowish- gray soil. The lands of Charlotte produce a peculiar texture of tobacco, which easily surpasses other tobacco-growing sec- tions, and is always popular upon the markets. Remarkable instances are here given of farmers who, starting with small means, have become independent, raising tobacco.
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