ten undesirable" people. Hearing rumors that a nudist
colony was to be established in the county's Dranesville District, the
_Herndon News-Observer_ declared stoutly

We have a lot of objectionable people in the county, who have
spilled over from Washington, but we will at least require that
they bring their 'duds' along before they can hope to experience a
cordial reception.[287]

A more critical matter was the importation and propagation of insects
from the city, such as the oriental fruit moth, which thrived in the
carelessly kept backyard plantings of suburbanites and then wreaked
havoc in commercial orchards. County agents Derr and Beard spent
considerable time advising these newcomers and helping them plant their
gardens.[288]

Aside from these minor alarms, the urban influx had really serious
consequences for the farmers of Fairfax County. As the numbers of
non-farm residents grew, political interest lines began to be drawn and
in some cases the farmers began losing control over local governing
policies. This did not happen in all areas; for example, the County
Board of Supervisors consisted solely of farmers well into the 1940s.
However, in some vicinities there were definite political repercussions
from the suburban population, such as in Herndon, which although
commercially oriented, had always been sympathetic to the farmer's
views. In the years after the arrival of the electric trolley, city
workers and farmers battled at the polls over mayoral candidates and
council representatives; by the 1920s the town council was dominated by
businessmen and professionals.[289]

This growing tendency towards political alienation for the farmer was
foreshadowed in a letter of complaint written by the Farmer's Club #1 to
the Governor of Virginia in October, 1909:

The attention of the Fairfax Farmer's Club No. 1 has been called to
the fact that the delegates from this county to the Farmer's
National Congress are not farmers, one being Sheriff of the County,
the other a merchant--both reputable citizens but neither
interested directly in agriculture.[290]

Like the other changes shaking the farmers' world, the loss of
government influence created a disturbing sense of impermanence and
estrangement. This, coupled with the previously mentioned tax rise
(which was exacerbated by the influx of people, all purchasing land and
creating a rise in prices due to demand) indicated t