VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY
471
College at Salem, X'irginia. and after a bril-
liant career was graduated Bachelor of Arts
in 1872, being then in his twentieth year. In
1872, at the close of a post-graduate course,
he was graduated Master of Arts. He began
active business life immediately after gradu-
ation at the Koiner farm in Augusta county,
that being one of the fine properties of the
county. Here he carried into practical effect
the same whole hearted enthusiasm that
marked his college career. He did not make
his work a drudgery, but applied to field,
orchard and stock the scientific facts he had
absorbed, and proved the value of education
for the farmer. He farmed very success-
fully along these new lines until 1899, gain-
ing local fame as a scientific farmer, and
state fame through his public service in the
state legislature two terms from Augusta
county, and national notice as president of
the Virginia world's fair commission. In
1899 a vacancy occurring, the office of state
commissioner of agriculture, Mr. Koiner
was chosen by Governor Hoge Tyler to fill
the position. He assumed the responsi-
bilities of the office with a determination to
make it a valuable department of the state
government, and how well he succeeded
may be inferred from Governor Tyler's
annual message of 1901, two years after Mr.
Koiner assumed control. The governor
said :
Too much cannot be said of the great benefit the farmers of the State have derived from the Depart- ment of Agriculture under the able administration of Commissioner G. W. Koiner. No money value could be placed upon the results directly attributable to the work of this branch of the State Govern- ment; it would probably reach into the millions. But the good to the State cannot be reckoned in dollars and cents. It is beyond such a calculation.
Later a prominent newspaper said editori- ally:
There has seldom if ever been an of^cial in the State Government who has been more efficient than Mr. Koiner. He has made the department of incal- culable value to the farmers of the State and is improving it all the time.
In his work the personal equation is very large, but he invokes the aid of law when necessary. The adulteration of fertilizers and dishonest weight were made the object of special enactment, and through his "ton- nage law" the farmers of Virginia, who spend $7,000,000 annually for fertilizers, are
safeguarded from adulteration or fraud in
their purchases. lUit his work is largely
personal until he finds a man or men in each
community that will plant, cultivate, har-
vest and pack according to the advanced
methods, carefully worked out in laboratory
and office. Then with an object farm, or
perhaps only a field at first, that community
is left to await results. When it is demon-
strated that this man is earnest and knows
what he is talking about when he says seed
selection, rotation of crops, scientific ferti-
lizing and honest careful packing pays, he
has added another company to the army of
men who look to him as their guide. He
has also instituted the farmer's institutes of
the state in his work very largely. Here
he meets the farmers face to face, and here
he has worked out with them many prob-
lems, and sent them forth with a new hope
and higher ambition. His practical knowl-
edge of farming they know equals their
own, while his scientific knowledge of chem-
ical values of soil and fertilizers places him
in a valuable position to instruct. They
know he is not alone a "Book farmer," and
are therefore glad to listen to his institute
addresses, which have been of inestimable
value to thousands of the farmers of Vir-
ginia. His mail is very heavy with letters
from the farmers, and not alone those of his
own state. They submit every sort of a
question to him, and it is a fact that he can
call thousands of Virginia farmers by their
first names and have an item of special in-
terest to take up with each one. The selec-
tion of crops, fertilizers, seed, cultivation
and market is all talked out with him either
personally or by mail or bulletin, by many
of the servants who have seen the wisdom
of following expert advice. However, his
path is not altogether one of roses. There
are in every community men to oppose any
innovation, men who try to belittle and im-
pede his work, also, but they are becoming
fewer and fewer each day, and soon Virginia
wull be a state not alone "Mother of Presi-
dents," but the abode of intelligent farmers
who yearly are adding to the wealth and
glory of their state by valuable crops, so
planned that each year finds the soil richer
for what it has given. Scientific fertilizing
and rotation crops which replace what the
former crop has taken, is the new Gospel
preached by the state agricultural depart-
