62 



AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



THE Rn^EK COUNTIES. 



The river couutics, excepting those of the "Panhandle," and those south of 

 the Kanawha, arc Wetzel, Tyler, Pleasants, Wood, and Jackson. They con- 

 tain a great variety of soil, from light silicknis to deep alluvial of the river bot- 

 toms, -with hill-tops of decomposed shales in a large admixture of humus, and 

 slopes with a sufficiency of lime and clay for certain and heavy crops of cereals. 

 Some of the bottoms have a sandy, others a clayey subsoil. In some localities 

 the uplands along the Ohio river have a sandy loam, admirably adapted to 

 fruit aiid market-garden culture, seemingly quite light, but of a tine and eilty 

 texture, richly intermixed with vegetable mould. It is a quick soil, and highly 

 productive, and is easily worked, but free, becoming exhausted rapidly, yet 

 easily kept " in heart" by annual dressings of manure, green manuring, or 

 other modes of fertilization. It is a soil that richly repays the labor of the 

 skilful and industrious husbandman. There is a fine body of such soil in 

 Wood county, above Parkersburg. 



The counties of Tyler and Wetzel have a small proportion of bottom lands, 

 except upon the Ohio river. The streams are small and unimportant. The 

 hill lands, as yet brought into cultivation to a very limited extent, are pro- 

 ductive, and a very small per-centage of worthless or waste land exists. 



Unlike the " Panhandle," this section has a much larger amount of unim- 

 proved than improved farm lands. In Wetzel the acres of each stand rela- 

 tively : 124,821 to 31,332; in Tyler, 39,794 to 97,922; in Pleasants, 15,809 

 to 36,798; in Wood, 46,199 to 94,229; in Jackson, 36,457 to 102,881. This 

 difference in improvement, with perhaps a little difterence in quality, occasions 

 a great diminution of the average value, as is shown by the following table of 

 values and products : 



Counties. 



Wetzel 



Tyler 



Pleasants . . 



Wood , 



Jackson — 



Total 



Value of 

 farms. 



11,176,511 



1,500,003 



649, 220 



1,673,864 



1 , 355, 201 



Av. price 

 per acre. 



$7 53 



10 89 

 12 36 



11 92 

 9 72 



6,354,799 



10 14 



Bushels of ] Bushels of 

 wheat. corn. 



31,652 

 43, 729 



22,785 

 27, 488 

 88, 336 



180, 150 

 182,239 

 102,172 

 115,046 

 219, 377 



213, 992 



798, 984 



Pounds of 

 tobacco. 



84, 989 

 11,225 

 27, 930 

 166, 3&5 

 74,691 



365,200 



Considering the proportion of unoccupied lands, the proximity to the Ohio 

 river, and the sparseness of population, this section must speedily receive the 

 benefit of progressive and high development, and its land owners the advantage 

 of corresponding enhancement of prices. It is a successful tobacco region, pro- 

 ducing (in 1860) 365,000 pounds of tobacco. Nor has the troubled state of the 

 country prevented its culture during the war, as is shown by the fact that the 

 tax on what has been manufactured in Parkersburg during thirteen mouths 

 amounts to S15,881. 



An examination of the census returns shows a good variety of products, and 

 a yield indicating a quick and fertile soil. In noting the quantity, it should be 

 remembered that the population of the five counties is but 35,517, divided as 

 follows: Wetzel, 6,703 ; Tyler, 6,517 ; Pleasants, 2,945 ; Wood, 11,046, and 

 Jackson, 8,300. Comparatively a wilderness, it is one which flows with milk 

 and honey, yielding 409,050 pounds of butter after feeding the population, and 

 giving 16,077 pounds of honey, in addition to 44,266 gallons of sorghum sirup. 

 A profitable trade in fruit, principally apples, is carried on by means of the 

 river — a trade which has extended even to New Orleans, a distance of eighteen 



