Chapter I: Front Matter

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Holden Harrison, 1935 6
Harrison dairy barn, 1936 6
McNair Guernsey bull, 1918 7
Interior Harrison dairy barn 7
Spring plowing on McNair farm 12
Shock of wheat, Ellmore farm, 1925 15
Mechanical hay loader, 1935 15
Small orchard apiary, 1925 17
Inventory of 1920 farmer 20
Plan of Smith farm, 1929 21
Rebecca Rice canning fruit 25
Elizabeth Harrison, Herndon 25
Homemade manure sled 27
Broadcast harvester, 1921 37
Wheat being mechanically harvested, 1925 37
Tractor-drawn drill, 1922 40
McNair aboard a Row Crop 70 tractor 40
Soybeans on a demonstration farm, 1925 43
A wild cherry tree destroyed by web worms 45
"Hard Work Made Easy and Quick" 54
The Fairfax County Grange meeting, 1940 60
The Floris Home Demonstration Club, 1930 63
A 4-H Club, "Achievement Day" displays, 1930 63
A community fair, 1922 64
A suggested model farm for Fairfax County, 1924 64
The 4-H Girls Camp at Woodlawn, 1925 66
A Piedmont Dairy Festival parade float, 1930 66
Map of improved and unimproved roads, 1930 70
Stuck in the mud on one of county's roads 71
Aerial of Kidwell farm and Floris vicinity 75
1930 map of Floris community 88
G. Ray Harrison, 1925 90
Early threshing machine 118
Laura Parham and Kim Stanton work in vegetable garden 118
The farmyard at Frying Pan Farm in the early fall 118
Farmer's house--Frying Pan Farm 120
Two young girls meet two young goats 120
John Hopkins in the Moffett Blacksmith Shop 120
Pat Middleton at 4-H Club Fair 121
Cattle judging, Floris School, 1950 121
Dressage competition at Frying Pan Park, 1978 123

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Cooperation and goodwill were the essential characteristics of the agricultural communities examined in this study, and it has been my pleasure to discover that those qualities are still very evident today among the county's rural folk. Many residents of the Herndon area shared their personal memories and offered really old-fashioned Virginia hospitality to those doing research. Without the help of Neal Bailey, Elizabeth Ellmore, Emma Ellmore, Virginia Greear, Holden Harrison, Mr. and Mrs. Ray Harrison, Margaret Mary Lee, Edna Middleton, John Middleton, Rebecca Middleton, Richard Peck, Elizabeth Rice, Louise Ryder, and Mary Scott, this monograph could not have been completed.

Special mention must be made of retired County Agricultural Extension Agent Joseph Beard, who shared his detailed knowledge of county agricultural practices on numerous occasions. He willingly arranged interviews with county farmers, and often helped to break the ice by accompanying the interviewer. This was always done with abundant good humor and his enthusiasm was infectious. I am also particularly grateful to Dr. John T. Schlebecker of the Extractive Industries Division of the Smithsonian Institution. His expertise in the field of agricultural technology and special interest in living historical farms added significantly to the quality of the monograph. Additional thanks go to Anthony Pryor of the Rockefeller Foundation who read this paper and helped to put its conclusions in perspective with trends of agricultural economics.

Nan Netherton originally conceived the project and did much of the initial groundwork. The majority of interviews with Floris area farmers were conducted by her. Mrs. Netherton's reputation in the county made it possible for us both to acquire private papers and photographs which might otherwise have been overlooked or withheld. What is more, she sympathetically "initiated" me into the project, offering suggestions and constructive aid without discouraging my own ideas about the direction the study should take.

Elizabeth Brown Pryor
Fairfax, Virginia
June 21, 1979