VIRGINIA 



6095 



VIRGINIA 



only about 36,000 acres; the crop of cotton 

 is smaller than that of any other Southern 

 state. Besides apples, of which t\\;o million to 

 five million bushels are annually produced, 

 peaches and other orchard fruits are raised. 

 Strawberries are the most important small fruit. 

 Dairying and the raising of live stock, espe- 

 cially the breeding of fine horses, are important 

 in the hilly regions, where the blue grass flour- 

 ishes. Agricultural experiment stations have 

 been established, and demonstrations are con- 

 ducted by the state. 



Forests. About one-half of the land area is 

 woodland, which furnishes the raw material for 

 the chief manufacturing industry of the state. 

 The eastern and middle counties produce the 

 greater part of the yellow pine, the principal 

 lumber of the state, and oak, walnut, hickory 

 and other hardwood timbers supply a great 

 number of sawmills and factories in the western 

 sections. Lumbering is one of the state's old- 

 est industries; in 1608 a cargo of cedar posts 

 and walnut boards was sent to England, and by 

 1630 sawmills were in operation. There are 

 over 283,800 acres of national forests in the 

 western mountains and in the great valley. In 

 1915 the office of state forester was created. 



Fisheries. In the sheltered waters of Chesa- 

 peake Bay and the tidal rivers are the largest 

 oyster beds in the world. The Bay furnishes 

 four times as many oysters as all other places 

 on the United States coasts. The oysters found 

 in Lynn Haven Bay, east of Hampton Roads, 

 are the most highly prized. Other sea foods, 

 including shad, menhaden, clams, alewives, 

 crabs, croaker and bluefish, are caught, but 

 over two-thirds of the income from the fisheries 

 products represents the value of oysters. 



Minerals. The extensive and varied mineral 

 resources of Virginia are still largely undevel- 

 oped. The coal fields cover 1,750 square mil< >. 

 principally in the western counties. The an- 

 nual output is steadily increasing and now ex- 

 ceeds 7,000,000 long tons, placing Virginia 

 among the ten leading coal-producing states in 

 the Union. The field of bituminous coal south- 

 west of Richmond was the earliest worked coal 

 field m the United States, and it supplied Phila- 

 delphia before the great mines of Pennsylvania 

 were opened. Its richness, however, was practi- 

 cally exhausted by the middle of the nineteenth 

 century. Stone products, including talc, soap- 

 stone, marble, granite and other building stones, 

 are second in important .unmm tin- mineral 

 products of the state. Clay products and lime 

 rank third and fourth respectively among tin 



state's mineral products, and iron is produced in 

 considerable quantities, the state being sur- 

 passed by only six states in the output of this 

 metal. 



The mining of salt has long been important 

 in the southwest corner of the state and in the 

 great valley. Sand and gravel, pyrite, copper, 

 zinc and lead are produced, and gypsum, as- 

 bestos, mica, feldspar and arsenic are found in 

 small quantities. There are many mineral 

 springs, noted for the medicinal value of their 

 waters, and such well-known health resorts as 

 Virginia Hot Springs have grown up around 

 them. Over 2,900,000 gallons of these waters 

 are annually sold, adding no small item to the 

 total value of the mineral products, which an- 

 nually exceeds $16,000,000. 



Manufactures. Virginia has entered upon a 

 period of industrial growth. The water power 

 in the Piedmont region, the abundance of raw 

 materials from the field and forest, cheap water 

 transportation and good harbors are contribut- 

 ing to the rapid industrial development. 



The lumber and timber products are the most 

 important of the manufactures, and mills and 

 factories are located in all parts of the state. 

 Tobacco products are second in importance, 

 and next to New York City and Saint Louis, 

 Mo., Richmond has the largest tobacco industry 

 of any city in the United States. The milling 

 of flour and grist, the building of cars and . 

 eral shop construction, the tanning of leather. 

 the manufacture of fertilizer and the grinding 

 and roasting of peanuts are other large indus- 

 tries. In the last-named, the state outranks all 

 others in the Union. Newport News, on Hamp- 

 ton Roads, has become one of the country's 

 greatest shipbuilding centers and has one of the 

 largest shipyards and dry docks in the United 

 States. Here the great United States battle- 

 ship, the Pennsylvania, was launched in the 

 spring of 1916, and many other drcadnaughts 

 in the United States navy and large ocean 

 steamers have been constructed in these yards. 

 In boat building Virginia ranks third among the 

 states, the industry being larger in New York 

 and New Jersey. 



Cotton goods and boots and shoes are among 

 the leading manufactures, and foundries and 

 machine shops are important in the western 

 cities. Richmond and Norfolk are the chief 

 manufacturing centers. 



Transportation and Commerce. Virginia has 

 over 4,700 miles of steam railroads, which ex- 

 tend into almost every section of the state. 

 The principal lines are the Norfolk & Western, 



