The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1888-09-22
CONCERNING CECIL COUNTY.

/ CONCERNING CECIL COUNTY.
DIR. II. g. MscKaII Writes of the Advanta
ges and Resources of the County
The Baltimore weekly Sun of last Sal
urday contained the following interesting
paper from the pen of DR.. r. g. Mackall
The fame of the Eastern Shore of Mary
land is so wide spread that even the
large circulation of the Baltimore Sun
can extend it but little. From Mason
aud Dixon's line to Accomac county, Va,
Ii may truly be termed the garden spot
of America. To live in this garden is the
highest ambition of Shoreman until he
turns politician, and then if we lose him,
account afterwards. Having once tasted
the tieshpots of public life he is no longer
content with even the luxuries of either
his native land or water. Cecil county
at the head OF the Chesapeake bay, is the
wealthiest county of the nine inro which
the Shore is divided. A glance at the
map shows the advantages she enjoys
commercially. The bay heads in her
soil. The Sassafras river is her southern
boundary. The Bohemia divides the
first from the second district. The Elk
traverses for twenty miles her territory
north and south. The Northeast cuts into
it from the head of the bay, and the Sus
quehanna bounds it on the west. Through
its centre passes the p. w. u B. Rail
road, and little further north the B. &
o, whilst the northern border is crossed
by the Philadelphia and Baltimore Gen.
trail. This topography challenges COM
parison with any county in the State or
the United States. And Cecil has not
been slow to avail herself of her advan-
tages.
WHAT CECIL CAN BOAST.
Let US look over her somewhat in detail
Her first district is either level or rolling
land. The soil is chiefly sandy loan,
well adapted to general agricultural pur
poses, and especially to the raising OF
corn, wheat, potatoes and clover. Here,
too, the peach is a prolific crop. The
draw back to Sassafras Neck is the fact
that the farms are too large, and conse
quently the population is not one-fourth
of what it might be with advantage to
the county. 1t is true the farms are
generally we'll cultivated and fine crops
of wheat and corn are raised, but wheat
and corn are not among the protected
industries of America no artificial mar
ket is provided for them, and the farmer
has nothing whatever to do with the
price he gets for his crops. He must take
not what he asks, but what he is offered.
BY the use of tried fertilizers he improves
his land and makes from twenty to forty
bushels OF wheat to the acre, and from
thirty to sixty bushels of corn. He raises
but little else for market except his
peaches. Our Sissafras neckers are in
dustrious, but they are not thrifty. They
work to live, and not to accumulate. The
stranger is ever welcome. Old Maryland
still lives in this district.
The second district, of which Chesa-
peake City is the chief town, Is very much
like the first, and is rich in capabilities
not utilized on account of sparseness of
population. Chesapeake City is the west
ern terminus of the Chesapeake and Del
aware canal, and is thriving business
place. The third district comes in be-
tween the southern and northern section
of the county, with Elkton for it's chief
town. Here we are at the head of tide
water. and Immediately north of us the
hill country begins. Here also the soil
changes; and with it both the processes
of agriculture aud the variety of crops.
The farms are smaller, the culture more
careful and thorough aud the population
more dense. The soil varies from a rich
loan to barren clay. The proportion,
however, of barren land is small and is
generally left in wood. The iron mills at
Nor beast and Principle own large por-
ton of the Cecil barrens in this and the
fifth district, and use the wood for coal
In the immediate vicinity of Elkton
is extensively carried on, and
From here to the Pennsyl.
vania line the two E ks, the two North
Easts, the Principle and the Octorara
furnish fine water power for flour mills,
paper mills, cotton mills and iron mills,
all wards of the nation except the flour
mills.
THE HAY FIELDS OF CECIL,
We are now on the borders of the cele-
brated hay fields of Cecil, but we do not
see them in perfection until we reach the
fourth district, and then from the Della
ware line 10 the noble Susquehanna.
Timothy is the staple crop of Cecil, and
the pride of her farmers. Why her hay
ranks higher than ary other in the Bal
timore market is question often asked.
| can remember when the lands on which
most of it is grown were poor and unprof
liable. What has brought them up to
their present value? The division of large
farms into small, careful cultivation by
the owner of the homes tead, the liberia
use of lime. boue dust and first class
super phosphates. Cecil farmers, as
rule, know what they buy, and they do
not throw away their money on cheap
goods. They have, for instance, three
large fertilizer mills in the county, open
to the eye of the farmer and conducted
by our own citizens. Cecil farmers are
not only readers, but they are close OBJ
servers. Their experiments are carefully
made, so that the value of manure is
the cost of crop, and the
profit or loss of years work. Our farms
are better at the close of each season than
thew were at the beginning. There may
be but little money in the pocket and no
bank account, but there is just a little
capital laid up iii the land and buildings
1t is a continual feast to the eye to travel
over the fourth, ninth, seventh, sixth and
eighth districts of Cecil in the month of
June. l have travelled North, South and
West, and have never seen anything COM
parable to these sections of Cecil.
OXFORD FALL FAIR
Sept. &c, 81, %.
The Eighteenth Annual Fall Fair of
the Oxford Agricultural Society will take
place Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,
Sentemher 26 u 2S- 1883 The disnlau