115 



building is a three-story stone house, 50 by 80 foot. The two lower stories are each 7 

 feet high, and are intended for the eggs : the upper story is 11 feet high, and is now 

 filled with ice tightly packed, holding about 1,000 tons ; the second and'third floors are 

 not tight, permitting the cold from the ice to descend. The walls are 2.} feet thick, 

 lined inside, and filled in 1 foot thick with sawdust. The capacity is about 5,000 bar- 

 rels. The eggs are purchased during the summer, and pi'eserved i)acked in oats to 

 ship for winter use. Eggs from Ohio are the best, bringing a cent per dozen more 

 than any other, having a larger proportion of yolk than others. Those of Penn- 

 sylvania and Indiana are the next best. The eggs are all shipped to the New York 

 market. Washington : Being convenient to market, and having access to many points 

 for tools and machinery, are two reasons why a system of co-operatiiu has not been 

 adopted in this county. Another is the diversity of agricultural industry. Tais is a 

 grazing county. There are 427,000 head of sheep, 30,000 head of cattle, 12,000 head of 

 horses ; l-,862,000 pounds of wool and $870,000 worth of beef are i)roduced ; 450,000 

 bushels of wheat, and 67,000 tons of hay are produced from 410,000 acres of im- 

 j)roved laud, supporting a large population of mechanics, miners, and manufacturers 



In the Southern States the rule of individuality has been too predom- 

 inant heretofore to adujit of associated effort, but the idea is now enter- 

 tained in many a southern commuuity, and the reason is anxiously 

 sought why mines are not worked, the grasses of mountain pastures 

 utilized in dairying, a home supply of bacon and lard provided, an 

 abundance of beef and mutton supplied, and twice the amount now 

 realized in agricultural i^roducts easily obtained from a fertile soil and 

 fructifying climate. The fact is beginning to be seen — though few as yet 

 perceive the truth — that all the cotton which the world will take will 

 never aggregate one-fifth the sum which should represent the agricul- 

 tural production of so large a population and so fine a soil and climate 

 as are found in the cotton States. Not that there should be less of cot- 

 ton, but more of all things else ; far more i)roduced by the present amount 

 of labor, and far more labor employed that is idle or worse than useless. 

 The labor of the negro, when left to his own control, is often next to worth- 

 less, but usually efticieut when intelligently and wisely directed by the 

 farm proprietor. The association of a sagacious and sensible i)lanter as 

 manager, with labor represented by former slaves, has never failed of the 

 bestresults. But there is a form of "co-operation" which has been a curse 

 to this region — the aid extended to the landholder by the merchant who 

 advances money and goods on the security of alien on the crop, taking a 

 mortgage at ruinous interest on the possibilities of the year's income. As 

 a correspondent expresses it, the beneficence of this aid is seen in pur- 

 chasing pork at $5 per hundred and in selling bacon to the planter at 

 $15. There is a tendency in many parts of the South to introduce the 

 manufacture of cotton-yarn and cloth from cotton^ machinery for 

 wool-working, and various other enterprises in the extension of the raw 

 material of agricultural production. Cotton-manufacturing especially 

 has been found more profitable, perhaps, than in any other manufactur- 

 ing region. Not only is the cotton there, but unemployed labor needed 

 for its manufacture, and an open market for the goods manufactured 



The following extracts are selected from returns : 



ViKGiNiA. — Botetourt: Farmers are beginning to organize for co-opei'ation, audi think 

 that they have intelligence enough to sell their own produce to consumers and ship- 

 pers, and thereby save the very large amount that now goes into the pockets of the 

 middle-men. The fine flour-mills are kept constantly in motion. A large amount of 

 flour is shipped from the county to the eastern markets. Campbell : To carry success- 

 luUy an association of this sort reqiiires more or less ready money, and this but few of 

 the farmers have. Most of them about a year bcihiudhand, and depend upon their 

 comriiission-merchants to advance upon the growing crop, in order to obtain groceries, 

 fertilizers, &c. Prince William : Some two or three years since there was an organ- 

 ization, called the Piedmont Produce Association, formed for co-operation, which prom- 

 ised great results ; but after trial it did not give satisfaction to the people of the county, 

 and it was abandoned. Craig : There has been no co-operative association the last 

 year. One has recently been formed, but its fruits are yet to be developed. Fafrick : 



