ced roads.[186]

[Illustration: Improved and unimproved roads in the Herndon area, c.
1930. Note that the only surfaced roads ran between Herndon and
Centreville. Map surveyed by the Office of the County Engineer, Fairfax
County. Copy courtesy of Library of Congress Map Division.]

[Illustration: Stuck in the mud on one of the county's roads, c. 1911.
Photo, Virginia Department of Highways and Transportation.]

Surfaced roads were an obvious boon to marketing but they also had a
number of unexpected positive effects. Conscientious and efficient as
the farmers had tried to be, the county had worn a rather untidy
appearance for several years. A traveler observed that "the fences are
not as trigly mended or the buildings as trimly painted as in the
[Shenandoah] Valley. A haystack is merely a pile of hay and not a neatly
fashioned cock...."[187] County agent Derr also admitted that "in at
least 75 percent of the farm homes there is little or no attention to
the improvement of the home surroundings." The extension service worked
valiantly to mitigate this problem by offering courses in landscaping
and home maintenance, but to their surprise they found that the chief
stimulus to home improvement was the repair of roads. Those areas which
appeared most untidy were found on unimproved thoroughfares, which Derr
maintained had a depressing effect on the farm family. "There is a
direct correllation (sic)," he noted, "between the improvement of the
roads and the painting and fixing up of things around the house."[188]

Another beneficial side effect of the surfaced highway network was the
birth of the roadside stand for selling surplus produce, dairy and
poultry products. There were some distinct advantages to the stands, as
farmers could sell directly to the customer without the costly use of a
middleman, and did not have to transport his goods to city consumers. A
count made in 1937 found 210 roadside stands in the county.[189]
Earlier, the _Herndon News-Observer_ had reported the success of the new
markets which lent themselves "to the disposal of second-grade products
or fruits and vegetables too ripe for distant shipping [and had] grown
to an unusual business ... for the farmers fortunate enough to live
along popular highways." Business indeed seems to have been brisk; by
1926 the farmers were pocketing over $2,000 per month from the roadside
markets.[190]

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