price based on their live weight. When far enough advanced they are
collected and shipped to eastern markets.

The rapid growth of near-by cities and the development of
transportation facilities have exerted a great influence in the
progress of the dairy industry in Loudoun County, increasing the
demand for dairy produce, making possible the delivery of such
produce in said cities at a profit to the farmer, and thereby inducing
many to adopt dairy farming as a specialty instead of following it as
incidental to general agriculture.

The dairy cows in Loudoun, June 1, 1900, numbered 8,563, of which
7,882, or 92 per cent were on farms, and 681, or 8 per cent, were in
barns and enclosures elsewhere.

If the number of dairy cows, June 1, 1900, be taken as a basis, the
five most important Virginia counties arranged in order of rank are as
follows: _Loudoun_, 8,563; Augusta, 7,898; Rockingham, 7,312; Bedford,
6,951; and Washington, 6,792.

If prime consideration be given to the gallons of milk produced on
farms only in 1899, the counties rank in the following order:
_Loudoun_, 3,736,382; Fairfax, 3,310,990; Bedford, 3,244,800;
Rockingham, 3,141,906; and Augusta, 2,993,928.

If greatest weight be given to the farm value of dairy produce, the
order is as follows: Fairfax, $301,007; Henrico, $247,428; _Loudoun_,
$242,221; Pittsylvania, $200,174, and Bedford, $194,560.

From every point of view but the last, Loudoun ranked as the leading