The Delaware farmer., 1883-09-21

Alter It's completion these gentlemen directed
their energies not only to the Improvement Of
their home farms, but had the sagRcity to buy
up any farms that came into the market; thus
laying the foundation Of large fortunes.
UHtil this time the valuable qualities OF lime
for the improvement of the soil were little
known; an enterpriSng and scientific gentleman.
DR.. James n. Sutton OF ST. Georges, in a series
Of articles IN a Wilmington newspaper, called the
attention OF farmers to its great value. In tn
meantime he located lime.kiln on the south
side OF the canal at St. Georges, and for several
years sold his lime at 25 ce,ts per busllel. There
was. however, much scepticisIn among the farm.
erS as TO It's value. About this time there was
an interesting illustration OF the efficacy of lime As
an strument in the successful growth Of crops
The lock at St. Georges was being dug out
and ran through what was then called "black
dirt" which was in reality bed OF shell mari,
containing from Is TO 25 per cent. Of the car
Donate OF lime; VIM. J.HurOck, one OF the con-
tractors, whose land bordered on the canal, or
derrd his teams to return home at night loaded
with "black Dirt" which he had dumped in
80 acre field along the canal. With this dress
ing, tOcoIher with a covering of stable manure
the field was ploughed up and carefully titled by
one of the best practical farmers Of those times,
During the summer a passenger line Of barges,
called ''The Peoples Line" in opposition to the
FrenchtOwn railroad, ran through the canal,
drawn hy horses. Asa peoples man" Presi- /
dent jackson chose this route on his northern /
tour His attention was directed to the size of
this corn as he passed by the field. by the Hon. /
Lewis McLane of Delaware, then his Secretary
Of the Treasury, who was standing by his side;
after looking at it for some time the President ex-
claimed: by the Eternal, it is equal to any
thing have seen in TENNESSEE" The product
vas carefully measured, and showed yield Of
90 bushels per acre.
From this date, agricultural reformation spread
rapidly aided greatly blythe first successful agricul-
tural society ever organized in the United States.
The credit OF this organization Is due to James
Candy. DR.. James W. TOmpsOn. Gen. Henry
Dupont, Major Philip Reybod, John c. Clark
ESD, Col John Higgins and others. This assO.
citation grew to large proportions and attracted
visitors from adjacent counties and surrounding
States 10 listen TO addresses from distinguished
lllGl sHCu - DthhAOI oOhdthau AhoBNAAo " Shh-
sylvania; John S. Skinner, founder and able
editor Of the Baltimore American Farmer, and
others Of like distinction.
There was then no necessity to attract the peO-
pie by horse trotting, for competition in plOwing
was quite as entertaining and much
more useful. The general display of stock at
hat period has never been equaled since. Prom
nent among the exhibitions OF stock may be
named the Dupont herd OF Durhams; the cele-
Drated COtswOld Sheep imported by Major Rey-
bold aud the Devon herd OF Chauncy P. Ho-
'Omb.
In 1888 / commenced farming, and immedia'e-
y subscribed for live agricultural paper. ] {
ound the American Farmer Of Baltimore best S
uited Of all the leading journals, to soil and
mate; for more than forty years tins was a
most welcome and instructive monthly visitor 10
ny home.
In 1852 requested some of my neighbOrs to
urnish the figures IN detail Of the last years I
,rOduce OF their farms for publication in the
Farmer. These statements were given and
we're published; and from the original NJ. s., .
low before me, have no doubt your readers
viii be pleased to learn what had been done in
hat early day toward developing the agriculture .
f New Castle. Unfortunately a corner Of the
has been torn of, making it impossi- 1
lie for you TO carry out in detail the statements
two OF the gentlemen, but sufficient remains :
D give an idea that theirs was quite as eredi;a-
lie as the unsom statements. &
Bryan Jacksons property, 22O acres, assessed
alue S1s,SlO,
roducts No Of Yield No. Of Current Total.