ber, 1974.

[205] See _Ibid._, Derr Reports, 1926 and 1928; and Schaefer, _The Social
History of American Agriculture_, 162.

[206] Virginia Agricultural Advisory Council, _A Five Year Program for
Development of Virginia Agriculture_ (Richmond, 1923), 17; and Fairfax
County Land Record Books, 1930-1931, in Virginiana.

[207] "Tax Rate," editorial in _Fairfax Herald_, April 23, 1926.

[208] Hawkes, "Harry Flood Byrd," 281.

[209] Beard/Harrison/Pryor, March 6, 1979.

[210] Editorial in _Fairfax Herald_, September 6, 1935.

PART IV

_The New Deal_

One of the most important changes to influence farming in the years
between the two world wars was the new interest the government took in
agriculture and its problems. For many years the nation had considered
agriculture to be not just the fundamental, but the ideal way of life.
It was with a start, therefore, that people began to realize, soon after
the turn of the century, that rural population was in fact decreasing,
and that farm life fell short of the rosy dream of pastoral independence
so cherished by Americans. A survey of farm conditions undertaken during
the administration of President Theodore Roosevelt revealed that many
rural areas lacked the most basic amenities offered in cities and that
low farm prices retarded the agriculturist's efforts to better his
condition. Farm conditions improved during the World War I years when
the cries of "Feed the World" expanded markets and expectations.
Inevitably, though, this increased agricultural production became a
liability, for when the European and domestic markets shrunk at the
close of the war farm prices fell drastically. Many farmers, hoping to
offset the low prices with higher yields, took advantage of the new
technology to produce bumper crops; the result was an additional surplus
and even lower prices. Throughout the 1920s, the farm situation remained
critical.[211]

The stock market crash of 1929 marked an extension and exacerbation of
the grim farm conditions rather than a sudden decline. It rocked the
farmer's market, of course, by further decreasing the amount of raw
products being sold; unemployed workers bought less of everything, and
often kept gardens themselves. More crucial than the crash of 1929 to
the farmer's well-being in northern Virginia were two severe droughts,
one in the late 1920s and the other in 1931. The latter was particularly
harsh. Wheat planted in October did not come u