62 



ADDRESSES 



of 8.3 persons per year. Of course, as stated above, this loss was confined to 

 about 70 percent of the townships, which makes it all the greater in the town- 

 ships in which it did occur. It may be that this decrease in rural population 

 is wise; we are not prepared at this time to say; it is merely our mission in 

 conducting this work, which we are now undertaking, to gather the facts and 

 state them so that others as well as ourselves may try to draw conclusions. 

 Certainly, however, we. should keep this fact constantly in mind in connection 

 with all our field investigations. 



These four statistical studies: centers of agricultural production, taxation 

 valuation, climatic conditions and population, are sufficient to indicate how we 

 shall endeavor to use all available statistics and to prove, I hope, that even dry 



Map 

 'Showing Townships 



inQhio 

 n which rherear-E 



Unused Churches 

 From records of 



QK. 5far E Baard of Agriculture 



FIG. 23. 



statistics may become very valuable and even interesting if one translates them into 

 graphical illustrations. 



A STUDY OF AGRICULTURAL HISTORY. 



In traveling over the state in years past our field men have noticed many 

 local agricultural conditions which we feel we shall not be able to trace entirely 

 either to the climate or to the soil. For instance, why do we find the large 

 farm area in Fayette, Madison and other nearby counties? Can it be because 

 that area was settled by Virginians whose ancestors were the landless younger 

 sons of old England and who came to Virginia with a pronounced appetite for 

 land? Why do we find tobacco growing in but limited areas of the State? May 

 not the likes and dislikes and previous training of the settlers of those areas 

 have something to do with determining their location, rather than or as well 



