The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1889-12-28
CECIL ia RMEHS' CLUB,

II COudon's, PerryVilIe. An Ii
structIve Paper Read by Maj,
Henry Il. AIvOrd, Director ,
u the Maryland Agricultural e,
pertinent Station.
4 The regular monthly meeting of IL
Cecil Farmers Club was held on Thur
: day the 18th inst, at "Woodlands" IL
f handsome homestead of Joseph Coudol
Esq. The general regret was eXpresse
that the meeting was not as large a
usual, a number of members being prt
vented by business and other engage
ments from being present. Promptly a
1870 a. M, the President of the Gu
called the meeting to order when the fol
lowing members responded to thei
names. VIM. w. Moore, Thos. c. Bond
Joseph Coudou, George w. Sutton, Johl
p. Wilson, s R. Carson, Enoch MOVE
and Henry r. Torbert. The visitor
present by invitation were, Major Henri,
E. Alvord, President of the Maryland
Agricultural College, and Director of the
Maryland Agricultural Station, State
Senator elect John S. Writ, William H,
Simcoe, of North East, Member-elect OF
the Maryland House of Delegates, and
Joseph Coudon,. Esq, (of Henry of
| Perryville.
The minutes of the last meeting having
been read and approved, reports of ex-
perlhents being in order, Mr.. Noyes
stated that he had sown Hungarian grass
seed on ground that had been in corn the
precious year, and had cut a good crop
winch left clean ground for wheat to fol.
low. Ia could not say yet what the
wheat would be, but previous experience
had been fvorable to this manner of
sowing. lie Vas feeding the Hungarian
hay very successfully to his stock. There
being no further r>,tine business before
the Club, the Chairman informed the
members, that althoLb Major AIvord
had been informally int,duced to each
of them, yet he took very reat pleasure
in presenting him more fonauv. That
excepting his visit to the Elkt, Fair I.st
fall he believed this was his frs appear.
ance in the county, and he knew no. ba
voiced the sentiment of the Club il oor
daily welcoming him to Cecil, and IN
dering him its Inequalities. The Cha |
man referred in very complimentary terms
to the promising future OF the Agri
culture College under Major Alvord's
able and efficient management of it's af.
fairs, and hoped that this visit to Cecil
would prove the prelude of oth,rs vet to
come.
Major Alvord with that easy antgenial
manner which distinguishes him, asured
the Chairman that he was sincere in his
expression of qualification in meeting IA
members of the Club, and that he di.
not propose to present them formally
prepared lecture. but in the converse
tional presentation of the subject he il
tended to talk about and which he haoI
prepared chart to illustrate, he hoped
to be able to evoke from the members of
the Club perfect freedom of inquiry and
plenty of questions with view to max
ing their meeting profitable. He then
announced the subject of his familiar
talk as
COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS, THEIR PUR-
CHASE AND USE.
The history of commercial fertilizers may
be said to have begun when Alexander Won
Hum boldt, having observed the use of
tention of Europe to this subject. Members
of this Club were then alive.
Early settlers in this country saw the In
dams put fish in their hills of corn, and an
cient writers record that when Britain was
first invaded by the Romans, phosphate
mari was found to secure better crops; but
these practices were the result of accident,
and were not understood or based upon any
knowledge of the relation of fertilizers to
plants.
That class of substances now generally
known as artificial manures or commercial
fertilizers, began to be used more or less
Understandings about seventy-five years
ago. Sir James Murray is credited with
making the first super-phosphate in Eng
land in 1917. A lit lie later a few ship loads
of Peruvian guano found their way to Eng
land, and this continued from time to time.
But up to 1910 the introduction and use of
commercial fertilizers in Europe was looked
upon with suspicion and made little pro-
gress.
As late as 1880 Sprengsl, one of the ia
| nous German botanists of his time, posi-
lively asserted that ground bones had no
effect on the growth of plants.
But in 1910 Liebig published the results
of his researches in the relations of chem
| istry to agriculture, and the growth of the
| traffic and use of commercial fertilizers has
been very rapid from that day. That same
| year (1840) ship load of guano was sent
to England for special use as fertilizer.
| In 1912 one firm in England, devoting itself
| to this trade, handled 1872 tons, and 80 years
later, in 1872, the Chincha Islands alone fur
nished 100000 tons of guano.
Following guano other fertiizing mater
ials were discovered and developed, manip.
ulated, compounded and tested, till the
great business grew up, OF which B fillmore
is the acknowledged American centre, and
with which you are all familiar.
Besides the long list Of articles formerly
regarded as waste products in various
branches of industry, we now have full
knowledge of natural deposits of nitrates
phosphates and potash salts, so vast in
quantity as to insure an adequate supply
for the agricultural needs of centuries t.
come.
1t is not my purpose to describe the many
forms in which plant food is found at tn,
present time, in the fertilizer markets, or t,
review the history of their discovery ant
development, or discuss at length their rel
atiye merits or the methods of preparing
them for use. These are interesting subject
but this is not the time and place to enlarg
upon them. Not long ago the State o
Maryland employed an agricultural chem
list to compile just such information as thi
and his published reports were distribute,
over the State by the thousand. Progress
in our knowledge of the subject may max
it desirable to repeat the effort in measure
If so, the Maryland Agricultural Expert
ment Station, supported at the Agricul
tural College by Congressional endowmen