Show RO B ROADS AS CROP PRODUCERS government studies show how agricultural cultural 11 outlook of country de pe ads upon its highways that nn an improved ro roid ad will increase vastly the productiveness or of the area through which it runs his has nov del been sa demonstrated by bv studies conducted ori ducted by the unit d states depart beut of 0 agriculture in virginia virinia uia con dillons in spots 1 hania ania count IN ere in Nesti instigated gated with particular enre care and the results baio h ii 0 pi pitied oi ed surp surprising g in 1909 the county noted to tin im prove 40 miles ol of two seirs ears aripe tho the completion of 0 this work vork the e railroad rall roid took away allay in 12 months from rom bred fredericksburg ericksburg tile the county seat 71 tons ot of agricultural and forest products hauled 0 over ver tho the highways to thit that town ton before the improvement of 0 the roads this total v as only tons annually annu all alb in other nords the quantity quint ity of 0 the county counts s produce had risen more than 45 per cent still more interesting however Is the in crease arcise shown in the quantity quant lt ot of the dairy dalr products in 1909 these amount ed to pounds in 1011 1911 to pounds au all increase of practically per cent in tro years sears in the same time shipments of wheat had in creased 69 59 per cent tobacco 31 per cent and lumber and other forest prod acts 48 per cent in addition to this increase in quan tit alti the cost of hauling each ton ot of produce was mas materially reduced in other words the farmers not only pro duce more but produce moro more cheaply tor for the cost of transportation to mar ket het Is of course in an important factor in the cost of production from this point of view it Is estimated that the spent in improving the roads in spots 1 hanla anta county san saed ed the farm ers of that count a year ear in the past tao years ears the traffic studies of the federal experts show that approximately an average of tons of outgoing products were nere hauled over the improved roads in n the tha counts an average distance of eight miles or a total of ton ten miles before the roads were im proved it was vas estimated that the aver age cost coat of hauling nas mas 20 cents a ton mile after the improvement this k 54 ra wl za P A pike in eastern iowa fell to 12 cents a ton mile or a sav ing of eight cents A saving of eight cents per mile on ton miles Is 41 a year ear the county count 8 I 1 in vestment of 0 in other words returns turns a dividend of 40 per cent an dually because this saving in cases of this character does not take the form of cash put directly into the farmers pockets there Is a widespread ten dency to believe that it Is fictitious profit chile as a matter ot of fact it 1 is just as viell ell a source of prout profit is as the increase in the price of cheat in Dl county virginia tor for example where peanuts Is one of the 13 staple crops the average lodd load for two mules on a main road was vas about one thousand pounds before the road was as improved after its improvement the average load was as found to bo be 2000 pounds and the time consumed in hauling the larger load to market was vas much reduced in III other words one on man with a v agon and two to mules could do more than twice alce as much ork v ath the improved road than math alth tin an unimproved roid road this Is the explanation of the extraordinary rise in the total output of tural products in a county NN alth ith a lood road system |