M.S.

M.S.

M.S.

Thirty-eight farm sales occurring over a five year period in two adjacent Coastal Plain counties and 84 farm sales in a Piedmont county were studied in an effort to identify and analyze factors affecting sale price. The effect of soil productivity and landscape characteristics were of particular interest in this study. The effect of soil productivity on farm sale values was found to be significant in both study areas but was somewhat Overshadowed by other considerations. Factors affecting sale price in the Coastal Plain study area were: (1) inflation, (2) location, (3) proportion of farm in cropland, (4) soil productivity, and (5) value of improvements. Eighty percent of the variation in sale price per hectare could be accounted for by a multiple regression equation which included variables representing each of these factors. Factors affecting sale price in the Piedmont study area were: (1) value of improvements, (2) proportion of farm in cropland, (3) inflation, (4) soil productivity, and (5) size of flue-cured tobacco allotment. A multiple regression equation including variables representing each of the factors accounted for slightly less than 50% of the variation in sale price per hectare. The effect of tobacco allotment on sale price was found to be considerably diminished from that found by previous studies. Crop yield ratings were more highly correlated with sale price per hectare than were SCS land capability classes among the Piedmont farm sales. The opposite was true for Coastal Plain sales. Classes I, II, and III lands were found to be positively correlated with sale price per hectare while Classes IV, VI, and VII were negatively correlated with sale price per hectare in the case of Coastal Plain farm sales. None of the three land capability classes were significantly correlated with sale price per hectare in the case of the Piedmont farm sales. A weighted average of all land classes occurring on each farm was found to be significantly related to sale price. Crop yield ratings for forages, soybeans, and small grains were found to be significantly related to sale price in the case of the Piedmont farms. Yield ratings for small grains were also found to be significantly related to sale price in the case of the Coastal Plain soils. Indices of soil productivity were found to be more highly correlated with sale price among the Coastal Plain farm sales than was the case among the Piedmont sales. The soils and topography of the Coastal Plain are more conducive to intensive crop production. In both study areas, a closer relationship was found between soil productivity and sale price in those soil associations which were well suited to intensive cropping. Farm sale prices rose rapidly in both study areas during the five year period studied. Farm sale values increased at an average annual rate of 47% in the Coastal Plain sales. In both study areas, about 2% of all farms were involved in bona fide sales within a given year. / Ph. D.

The Big Walker Mountain-Crockett Cove area lies in the Valley and Ridge province of southwestern Virginia and is made up of Middle Cambrian-Lower Mississippian strata which are exposed in two separate northeast-trending strike belts. The area is bounded on the northwest by the northwestern limb of the Greendale syncline which has been overridden from the southeast by rocks of the Saltville block. The northeast-trending Saltville thrust probably dips less than 25° in the area near Bland, Virginia, where Middle Ordovician rocks are exposed in a fenster. The rocks exposed in the fenster are probably part of the northwest limb or near-trough portion of the Greendale syncline. The major structure of the Saltville block is the walker Mountain homocline which has subsidiary folds that plunge eastward into a much larger structure - the Blacksburg synclinorium - which is located just east of the area studied. The Saltville block is broken at its southern limit in most of the area by the Tract Mountain reverse fault which essentially parallels the trace of the Saltville fault. Stratigraphic displacement along the Tract Mountain fault decreases from a maximum of about 8,000 feet near its southwestern terminus where the Pulaski block overrides it from the south,to less than 1,000 feet nearly 18 miles away at the eastern border of the area studied. The Tract Mountain block, which is bounded on the northwest by the Tract Mountain fault, is made up of a series of northeast-trending folds which plunge eastward toward the Blacksburg synclinorium. Mapping of the Tract Mountain block and stratigraphic studies of two of its larger folds, the Crockett Cove anticline and the adjacent Queens Knob syncline, show that there is no appreciable thickness or lithologic change in Middle Cambrian-Lower Ordovician rocks between syncline and anticline. However, the basal Champlainian Series in the more southern fold, the Queens Knob syncline, has an aggregate thickness of about 4,400 feet, whereas the same interval near the crest of the Crockett Cove anticline is less than 2,000 feet thick. Most of the beds present near the trough of the syncline are markedly more clastic and less pure than the corresponding beds on the crest of the adjacent anticline which is less than 2.5 miles up structure to the north. Based on this evidence, it is concluded that the present structural axes are identical to axes of maximum and minimum differential subsidence of the sea floor during Middle Ordovician-Late Silurian time. The synclinal trough was the site of maximum subsidence and the anticlinal axis was the site of minimum subsidence. The date of inception of these two folds must correspond to the beginning of pronounced vertical movement of the sea floor which started in early Champlainian time. The anticline which must have at one time lay adjacent to and southeast of the Queens Knob syncline was probably eliminated as a large fault slice during movement along the Pulaski fault that strikes obliquely across the axis of the Queens Knob syncline, which is the southernmost structural element of the Tract Mountain block. The leading edge of the Pulaski block forms the southern border of the Big walker Mountain-Crockett Cove area.which contains approximately 160 square miles that was mapped on a scale of 2 inches to the mile. / Ph. D.

The purpose of this study was to explore and document the perspectives of the Black students who were the first to desegregate Roanoke, Virginia, schools during the 1960-1961 school year. In September of 1960, nine Black students were chosen to desegregate formerly all-White schools in Roanoke. The stories of these students have not been comprehensively researched or formally recorded. Their perspectives on the desegregation process provide valuable insight to add to the body of knowledge about the desegregation period. A review of the history of Black education on the national, state, and local levels, as well as a brief history of the City of Roanoke are provided as historical context for the desegregation of schools in Roanoke. A review of the literature documenting first person accounts from other Black students who went through the desegregation experience revealed only a small number of formally recorded accounts. Examining the perspectives of Black students who were among the first to desegregate schools can provide a critical perspective on both desegregation and the larger societal issue of integration. The effects of the desegregation experience on students have received little attention. Recording and analyzing their stories provides an important piece of the desegregation record that is currently lacking. The researcher conducted a qualitative case study incorporating interviews of the students, a review of newspaper articles and documents from the time period, and any artifacts and documents that the participants had retained from the time period. Five common themes emerged from the interviews with participants. They were: (a) rejection by White and Black peers, (b) family support, (c) preparation for life in a desegregated society, (d) a sense of loss related to not attending all-Black schools, and (e) the reflective meaning each participant made of their experience. These themes were similar to the experiences of other Black students who desegregated schools. These themes were also similar to themes found in the literature dealing with the value of all-Black schools. Continued documentation of the perspectives of Black students who desegregated schools is one of the recommendations of the study. / Ph. D.

Master of Science

1. Seventy-five samples of soils were taken in Washington County, Virginia. These samples were taken while the soil survey was in progress. In this group thirty-one different soil types were included. The samples were taken from all parts of the county. Notes were made of the soil type, slope of the land, drainage conditions, erosion, and land utilization. When samples were taken from cultivated fields, the yield of the crop was estimated. When samples were taken from pasture, notes were made of the type and condition of the vegetation. 2. The following properties were determined and studied in relation to soil type and plant growth: pH, available phosphate, available potash, percent organic matter, percent colloids, base exchange capacity, exchangeable hydrogen and present base saturation. The results of these determinations were used in conjunction with the physical properties, which had been determined by the soil survey, in studying the various relationships. 3. The laboratory methods of determination were devised by soil investigators. The reliability of these methods was discussed by means of reference to literature. 4. Soils of the same textural class varied widely in percentage colloids. 5. Soils that are relatively high in available potash varied widely in base exchange capacity, pH, percent base saturation, and available phosphate. 6. Soils at like pH values showed no relationship of percent organic matter to percent base saturation. 7. Soils above pH 6.0 contained 125 pounds per acre or more available potash; they were above 65 percent base saturation and were widely variable in available phosphate and organic matter. Soils at similar pH values showed wide variations in available phosphate. 8. Within the same textural class, and under similar conditions of land utilization, soils varied widely in percent organic matter. 9. There was some variation in pH values of residual soils of limestone origin. However, the average values of five samples of each were very close together. The average for Dunmore was 5.4, Hagerstown 5.5, and Clarkesville 5.6. 10. Available phosphate and potash, as well as pH, were closely related to yield of corn and tobacco. 11. Available phosphate and closely related to quality of meadow. In soils where available phosphate was above 50 pounds per acre quality of meadow was good. Potash was present in sufficient quantity not to be a limiting factor. 12. A close relationship was found between some of the soil properties studied. The coefficient of correlation between base exchange capacity and percent organic matter was .7191 ± .0376; between pH and exchangeable hydrogen -.6500 ± .0450; between pH and percent base saturation .9008 ± .0147. This high degree of correlation of pH and percent base saturation, it appears, would hold only for a large number of soils. Within this group, soils at like pH values vary considerably in percent base saturation. There was little relationship between percent colloids and base exchange capacity. 13. In all cases, in pasture soils, where available phosphate was below nine pounds per acre, pastures were of poor quality. There was a gradual decline in the minimum range of available phosphate and potash in the soils from the good, medium and poor quality pastures. There is also a gradual decline in the average pH values as quality of pasture declines. 14. Evidence is shown that, within a soil type, the properties of the soil, under varying conditions of soil management vary widely. The soil type name gives no indication of the fertility of the soil at the present time. However, associated with the type name are certain physical properties which determine, largely, the possibilities or limitations of that soil type, or the degree of productivity that the type may be built up to under ideal conditions of soil management. / Master of Science

Formerly, the elk or Wapiti, Cervus canadensis L., ranged over most of the United States and southern Canada, and is known to have occurred throughout most of Virginia, although it was found more abundant in the mountainous regions of the Allegheny and Blue Ridge Ranges. In 1666, twelve years after the discovery of the New River, Henry Batte, with fourteen Indians, started from Appomattox, near the present site of Petersburg, and in seven days reached the foot of the mountains. On crossing them they came to level, delightful plains with an abundance of game, deer, elk, and buffalo. (Hale, 1886). / Master of Science

In the Middle Ordovician strata of southwestern Virginia, a distinctive succession of yellow-drab and gray mudstones, shales, and limestones occurs between the overlying Martinsburg formation and the underlying red Moccasin formation. For many years, part of this succession was classified with the Martinsburg formation and part with the Moccasin formation. This practice could not be condemned on faunal grounds because the fauna of the sequence between the Moccasin and Martinsburg is so sparse and equivocal in general character. Altered volcanic ash beds which are especially characteristic of the succession range as low as the middle part of the Moccasin formation and are also present in the lower Martinsburg formation. Mathews (1934, p.48) proposed the name, Eggleston, and defined it to include the relatively unfossiliferous transitional beds and intercalated bentonites younger than the upper maroon Moccasin formation and older than the Trenton beds of the lower Martinsburg formation in Giles County, Virginia. Until the present study was undertaken, few detailed studies of the Eggleston, as a separate unit, had been made. The almost barren beds had drama little or no interest from the paleontologist. The intercalated bentonites were studied, only as a part of the Moccasin-Martinsburg succession, and an attempt was made to correlate these related beds with similar beds in other localities. The name, Eggleston, has been accepted and is used in much of the literature published since 1935 but no attempt has been made to correlate the entire succession of beds lying between the Moccasin and Martinsburg formations with similar succession throughout southwestern Virginia. The writer has made a detailed study of this succession between New River and the Tennessee line to determine the relationship of faunas to the intercalated bentonites, and to correlate the beds of the succession with those at other localities in southwestern Virginia. / Master of Science