STATUS OF VIRGINIA AGRICULTURE IN 1870. 277 
rotation, or to the intervention of green crops. This is one of the lead- 
ing tobacco counties, and the system of cultivation pursued ends in 
total or partial exhaustion in five or six years. On almost every farm 
there is a large extent of uncultivated land. Franklin: This is another 
great tobacco county, and wherever this staple is largely cultivated 
it is accompanied by few evidences of improvement; but a consider- 
able portion of the county is adapted to grain and grass, and there 
incréased attention is paid to a judicious rotation. The green crops 
consist of clover and orchard-grass mixed, and are generally allowed to 
stand for three years. The best lands are mowed annually for hay, 
which is of excellent quality. At the end of the third year the land is 
deeply failowed, and either seeded in wheat or rye or planted with corn 
or tobacco. Large quantities of Smythe County plaster are used. 
Patrick: This is another tobacco county, situated in a remote and retired 
region, with no market facilities. The system of farming is rude and 
primitive; hence no attention is given to alternation of crops; the term 
is hardly appreciated. Notwithstanding these features, the value per 
acre of farm products will compare favorably with that of any other 
section of the State. : 
The Valley.—Clarke: No increased attention paid to alternation, with 
or without intervening green crops, but rather a falling off. Farming 
is mostly carried on by tenants, under no particular system of rotation, 
and no calculation of results. Augusta: One report states that some 
increased attention, and another that but very little, is paid to the use 
of green crops for the improvement of lands. The usual rotation is 
corn, oats, wheat, and then grass. Rockbridge: The farmers seem 
alive to the importance and desirability of a judicious alternation of 
crops, and especially of the utilization of clover with a view to improve- 
ment; but owing to their depressed condition they are making but little 
progress. Highland: This is a mountainous region, and better adapted 
to grazing than grain crops; hence the chief occupation is to fatten 
cattle for the northern markets. The same remarks will apply substan- 
tially to Pendleton and Bath. Botetourt: Farmers are just beginning 
to improve their lands by a regular intervention of green crops. They 
find it pays better since the decline in breadstuffs and advance in labor. 
Roanoke: The alternation of crops, with the intervention of green crops, 
has been practiced for many years, though much interrupted by the 
war. Red clover is the green crop mostly relied on as an improver. 
The four or five field shifts are the usual rotation, which is so well un- 
derstood by farmers as to need no illustration. Tobacco for shipping 
purposes is generally raised on manured lots or rich bottom lands. 
Southwest Virginia.—Montgomery: Increased attention is given to ro- 
tation. A favorite course is to fallow an old clover sod for wheat, follow 
with corn, then oats, with clover and the grasses again—to remain four 
or five years in grass, in which the land will yield as great, or perhaps 
a greater, net income, by means of stock-grazing, as during the 
years of cultivation. The county offers a wide range of choice for 
agricultural productions. The valleys between the spurs of the Alle- 
ghanies produce the finest quality of manufacturing tobacco. Pulaski: 
No attention given to rotation of crops. A grass county, owned in 
large part by wealthy men, and devoted to stock-raising. Wythe: 
Another grass county, and, the grazing of stock being the principal 
business, the course of rotation is adapted to the production of the 
greatest amount of grass. Bland: Increased attention paid to rotation. 
The course is generally corn, (on sod,) wheat, and oats, which bring 
the land in good condition for grass. Carroll: Farmers are beginning 
