Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1874-01-16
For the Sentinel.
Montgomery County Silver Spring, &c.

! am not a farmer but from my relations to
society have great deal 10 do with that bony,
sinewy part of our population, upon the gen
eral thrift Of which hinges the prosperity as
we'll Of smaller communities as of politics.
The late rction Of the Maryland State Agricul-
tural and Mechanical Association in your city,
whereby committee was appointed charged
with the duty of providing Essays at their
monthly meetings, in which the interests, va
rous and important of the whole State, shall
be discussed has been hailed by us all with
great pleasure. As a citizen Of Montgomery
county, / must be allowed in this connection
to express the thanks of myself and neghbors
to our cool-headed, warm-bearted countyman,
Hon. ALLEN BOWIE DAVIS, who seems to have
been the mover in this matter. If gentlemen
from the several counties of our State will
prepare Essays upon the various dominant in
terests of these sections, and read them at the
meeting of the Association, much good in
many ways will come of this movement; and
the more so, if the people Of the city will then
take hold Of them ard thus herald the many
and marked advantages of Maryland 10 the
reading world. With your permission, | am
to-day to say a word or SO in regard TO my
own county and of my own neighborhood. If
you stand on the rortico of the Capitol IN
Washington and look toward the mountains,
your eye will wander over one Of the most
beautiful sections of the Atlantic slope Of our
country. Watered by two rivers, the Poio-
mac and the Patuxent, between the two, you
will find beautiful, undulating, well watered
plateau extending throughout the entire coun-
ty, the crest of which is traversed by fine
turnpike leading from the extension of Seventh
| t7th) ST., from Pennsylvania Avenue by Silver
Spring through Mechanicsville on to its pres
ent terminus at Brookevile Were you to ride
with me along this great feeder of our Solons
and Lycurguses, you would be struck with
the many beautiful building sites, the trees of
aboriginal growth, fine springs Of limpid, cool
water, the we'll fenced farms, the general air
Of prosperity afied and at home. Were you
to stop one of the many market wagons, and
ask TO be allowed TO examine the load, you
would find butter as sweet and golden as ever
came from the Glades or from Goshen you
would find The apples as fine as any you ever
saw, while the stream OF wagons laden with
sweet Timothy would tell its tale Of well titled
farms by hands skilled in husbandry. The
health of this section is wonderful. Whether
it be that the forest trees have just enough OF
the pine growth among them to tincture the
breezes with the balsam of health, or this COM
bned with its latitude and altitude, the one
neither that of the mountains nor yet of the
valleys, but the happy one of the hill country;
the other neither the northern nor yet south
ern, but enough Of both TO escape the excuses
of each, | know not; but if you will 60 from
house to house, as my duty leads me to do, !
reckon that no where i'll the world will you
find the standard of health more uniformly
the people is that of which as Marylanders we
may be proud. The general occupation Of the
people is that OF husbandry in some one Of its
various kinds The soil is peculiarly adapted
to truck-farming, while the proximity TO the
best market in the world, is rapidly developing
this branch of industry. Had the time, With
pleasure, without mentioning names here, !
would introduce you 10 yonder simple-heart-
ed, but far from supplemented, old farmer,
who is driving his own wagon to town. ]
would enjoy your surprise and wonder in en-
gagng him in conversation, in which he would
impress you with the fact that all of the intel
ligence of the State is not found in towns. Do
you see yondcr wagon returning from market?
1t has stopped at honest old John Saul's nur-
sery garden, and is well supplied with bulbs,
cuttings, and crooks OF flowers. Do you know
where il is going? It is bound for the Sand,
Spring ncighborhood, whose thrifty, honest,
peaco-loving, law-abding people have devel-
oped wonderful foudness for and proficiency
in raising Fruits and Flowers, as the premium
register of our Agricultural Society will at
test. Some time, if you would like it, will
take your readers there and introduce them
TO our "Friends'' there who will shew us that
they have read the xiii. chapter Of LIST CORN
thians to some purpose, and who from their
steady progress in the development Of all the
essentials of quiet, rustic happiness are among
men to be enyied. But must hurry on, for
have so much to say that must compress or
Sudli be OpllStu ~ lulllCl On your Feduefs
another communication. have told some
what of what we have, and now of that which
we have not. In the county of Montgomery
there are thousands of acres which are bur
den TO the owner, for they are taxed and YET
t they yield no revenue with which TO make
peace with the ubiquitous gentleman, the tax
collector How can this be renedied Easily
enough, if we set about it bravely and intelli-
gently. Our wants are two-fold. We want
more population, and we want and must have
some wise, braye-hearted legislation. Through
out that wonderful "0Gcina Gentium," Ger.
many, aud the other parts of Europe, We mus
, have scattered broadcast a paper setting forth
; our proximity to Baltimore and Washington,
reached by fine lurnpikes and our Metropoli-
tan Branch of the B, & 0, r. r., not TO say
! anything of our fine canal; the peculiar a6ap-
tation of our soil and climate to the growth O
] the Grape, and the great demand for the pro-
ducts of our market-gardens and dairy-farms
in the rapidly increasing cities just mentioned;
i the cheapness of much of our land, the hearth
ness with which population, which is the
synonym of wealth, is welcomed among us
our fine building sites, good water, fine mills
: and many churches, representing the various
schools of religious thought and taste, both
male and female, the general character of our