Dairying's Exemplar:
Westmoreland Davis at Morven Park
Southern Planter: A Monthly Journal, November 1906
Courtesy of Morven Park |
Westmoreland Davis, Morven Park, 1906
Westmoreland Davis is standing in the middle of the photograph supervising the farm work.
Courtesy Morven Park |
"Morley" Davis (1859-1942), a New York corporate lawyer, had no farming experience at all when he returned to his native Virginia in 1904 with the idea of renovating Morven Park, near Leesburg, into an elegant country seat and agricultural showplace. Davis set about dairying with all the latest scientific ideas about breeding, feeding, and keeping cows healthy. The point was to design an environment that could be ventilated and washed out easily to control germs that infected cows, and through their milk, people too.
He purchased the South's most read agricultural journal, The Southern Planter, in 1912 and used it to advance progressive farming and his own political career. Elected governor in 1918, Westmoreland Davis was not only dairyings's exemplar, but that of what later generations would call "the farmer's golden age."
in Loudoun County Virginia
Westmoreland Davis: Dairy Farmer
I instructed the workmen to knock out the side walls and install windows, allowing more sunlight into structure. I bought 150 choice Guernsey cows. My Guernsey's are producing a high grade yellow cream that is in great demand by hotels in New York City.
History
1914-1918 World War I (United States enters the war in 1917)
Economy 1910
United States
Total population: 91, 972, 266
Farm population: 32,077,000(estimated)
Farmers made up 31% of labor force
Number of farms:6,366,000
Average acres: 138
Virginia
Total Population: 2,061,612
Loudoun
Population: 21,167
Number of Farms: 2,144
Farm Acres: 309,704
1909-Wheat: 461,612
1909-Corn: 1,119,384
1909-Whole Milk Sold in lbs: 4,439,045 |
Science
Extensive experimental work was carried out to breed disease-resistant varieties of plants, to improve plant yield and quality, and to increase the productivity of farm animal strains.
Hog cholera serum developed.
Be sure to visit the Morven Park's site for more information on Gov. Westmoreland Davis.
