Marked Progress on Eastern Shore

The Eastern Shore of Virginia Produce Exchange has just completed a $20,000 office building at Onley, Va., that represent the success of co-operative marketing of farm produce on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. The building was built from plans drawn especially to suit the needs of the Eastern Shore of Virginia Produce Exchange for which it forms the general offices. It is two stories high, has fourteen rooms, and is heated by steam and lighted by electricity. On the first floor are located the president's office, sales department, telegraph and telephone offices, and the offices of the secretary and treasurer. The second story contains three rooms, separate by rolling partitions, which can be quickly converted into one large room and will be used for stockholders meetings. The building is constructed of pressed brick and is the finest on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.

The organization is controlled by the farmers, who elect a board which has full management of the active business of the exchange. W. A. Burton is general manager, at a salary of $5,000, and A. J. McMath, secretary and treasurer, at a salary of $3,000. To the resourcefulness and energy of these two men is largely due the success of the organization.

The Eastern Shore of Virginia Produce Exchange was incorporated January 6 th, 1900, and has been uniformly successful from the start. It operates at each shipping point on the Peninsula, about forty in all, and has a local agent and inspector at each point. The business has grown each year. In 1900 it amounted to a quarter of a million dollars. It has grown at the rate of $250,000 each year, and last year the business amounted to $2,500,000.

HAS HAD RAPID GROWTH.

So rapid has been its growth that the exchange now handles from 75 to 80 per cent of all the produce grown on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.

Twenty-five years ago, when the rails of the New York, Philadelphia and Norfolk Railroad were laid through the two counties of Accomack and Northampton, the farmers of that section were poor in purse, but independent of the outside world for all necessities of life. All the food they consumed was raised on their farms or taken from the surrounding waters. In some sections even the material for the clothing they wore, was made in their own household. Their only trade was with Baltimore and Norfolk by vessel.

The advent of the railroad changed all this. The farmers began to ship produce to the Northern markets, and with the money received bought goods in return. The main farm products of that time were the white or Irish potato, and the yellow or sweet potato. In the last few years, while the shipment of potatoes has increased steadily, until Accomack county alone grows more sweet potatoes than any other county in the United States, the farmers have gone in for other crops and now ship heavily of cabbage, turnips, radishes and strawberries.

THE STAPLE CROP.

The potato crop, however, remains the chief product of the two counties. It is at once the staple crop and the main source of the farmer's income. The farmer in that section is now the most independent of his tribe anywhere in the world.

The soil of the Eastern Shore of Virginia is naturally fertile, fitted to grow almost anything, and this section is a natural trucking region. The first crop of the season is cabbage, quickly followed by strawberries and radishes. Then comes the white potato, which in turn is succeeded by the sweet potato.

Cabbage is grown most extensively in the southern part of Northampton county, where the farmers usually plant from twenty-five to 100 acres. Early cabbage is a product that must be disposed of quickly, or the crop will be a total loss to the grower. It is loaded in barrels or crates and shipped to the Northern markets.

Here is where the exchange is making good the farmers. By being able to distribute to a wider market, they are able to get better prices, because they keep in better touch with market conditions, and ship the produce to points that want and need it. This prevents a glut in the market.

There are up-to-date farms on every side. The spirit of progress has permeated the land, and to day it is very much alive to every opportunity that presents itself, and on every hand may be seen improvements that are evidence of this spirit.

A HOMOGENEOUS PEOPLE.

The people are descendants of the early English settlers of that region. They are a homogeneous race, unmixed with any blood, undivided in religion, politics or general aspirations. They are as progressive and keenly alive to their present condition and future prospects as are the people of any part of this land. They are steadily establishing better schools, and illiteracy is rapidly disappearing. They are creating a more diversified system of agriculture, so that the farmers will not have to depend so largely upon the success of one staple crop. They are introducing all the improved farming machinery, so that to-day the farmer is able to do many times the work that he did a score of years ago, and above all other things they are willing to work together for the general good.