Although the history of Green Spring Farm during its ownership by the Moss family does not contain evidence of agricultural experimentation and leadership in scientific farming, it seems clear, on the other hand, that John Moss and his descendants advanced with the progress of their times and, indeed, may have been among the most progressive husbandmen of their day. They had broken away from the pattern of farming that typified the colonial tobacco era, and they exemplified a new and successful type of agriculture based on careful management of the land and production for a diversified market. They were certainly aware of the new developments and new philosophy which were growing out of the search for the principles of scientific farming, and they accepted and used some of those that applied to their situation.[37] GREEN SPRING FARM AND THE TURNPIKE ROAD. The successful operation of Green Spring Farm, like the success of numerous other farms in Northern Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley, was closely linked to the transportation system of these areas. Tidewater Virginia in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries relied mainly on coastal waterways and rivers as avenues of commerce and travel. When roads appeared on maps of Virginia in this period, they followed trails laid down by Indians who, in turn, had taken over the game trails along the ridges of the land. Therefore, by 1750 there was only a basic network of roadways running east-west to the passes in the Blue Ridge and north-south to the colonial capital of Williamsburg along the Tidewater and to the Carolinas through the Piedmont. The eighteenth century development of roads in Northern Virginia emphasized east-west travel for the obvious reason that residents of this area saw their future prosperity more closely linked to the rich resources and fertile lands of the Shenandoah Valley (and through it, perhaps, to the Ohio River) than through connection with the political capitals of the state or the great plantations of the James and York Rivers.[38] [Illustration: Figure 2. Survey Map, John Halley, 1840. Fairfax County Deed Book H-3, p. 227.] [Illustration: Figure 3. R. R. Farr Survey, Fairfax County Deed Book C-8, p. 448.]