Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1895-02-22
Farmers Convention.

Inc IWenJy'tnlru annual FARMERS Con
vention was held on Tuesday last at Sandy
Spring. Edward F. Thomas presided j
Janney Shoemaker and M. o. Stabler sec
retaries. Farmers were present from How
ard, Hartford and Prince Georges counties
and they took an active part in the discus
sions. A significant feature of these gath
erings is the preponderance Of young men
who, being fully posted on the needs Of the
agriculturist, did not hesitate to express
their views.
In addition to the reports OF committees
and farmers clubs, four subjects were as
signed for discussion, namely.
l. Would an electric railroad from Ken.
sington to ElicotJ City benefit the commu
nifty and enhance the value of farm lands
enough to justify farmers in subscribing to
the stock2
2. Would it benefit the farmers of this
county for the Montgomery County Agri-
cultural Society to construct a half mile race
track
3. To what extent will the exclusion of
American beef and pork from many Of the
European markets affect the price OF those
articles in this country in the near future =?
A. Will it pay to introduce crimson clover
and legumes into our regular rotationsY
William Il. Mannakee, chairman of the
committee on public road legislation, sub.
mtted report on the present method of
repairing roads in Montgomery county, in
which he said that, with economical man
agement, as much work had been accom-
pished with an expenditure of $4,5OO as
was formerly done with $500.
q. Il. Bond, OF the same committee, read a
| paper on public roads, which attracted at
tention as well for the clear and iorcible
manner in which he expressed himself as
for the knowledge which he disclosed OF his
subject He attacked the prevailing system
In use in many counties OF going over the
roads in the early fall months when the
ground is hard and shoveling the earth to
the centre of the road. The time for that
kind of repairs, he said, is in the spring,
when the ground is soft and the earth thrown
to the centre in condition to remain where
it is placed The spring repairs should be
followed from time to time with little work
on the roads to keep them in repair. The
drains alongside the reads should be care
fully looked after and not be permitted to
become clogged.
Speaking of the construction OF stone
roads he said "The roadbed should first be
put in good condition and under no condi
ton should stone be put on an uneven bed,
and the bed should be allowed to pack hard
before the stone is spread. macadam
road is the simplest to construct. II will be
well 10 bear in mind when constructing
such road that a road with stone six inches
deep is two and quarter times as strong as
il il were four inches deep, and read with
stone twelve inches deep is four times us
strong as if the stone were six inches deep.
1t will be found cheaper to use hard stone
at greater cost than for soft stone.
In repairing Il macadam road care should
be taken that large surfaces are not repaired
at time tor the reason that large vehicles
Nurfo "A
will cause damage to other parts OF the road
bed. Another system OF road building is the
Teferd, which the speaker considered better
than any other Such II road is built, he
said, by first placing large stones close to-
gether for foundation and then spreading
broken stone to sufficient depth A Tel
ford road Will last longer and cost less for
repairs than any other practicable country
road.
Mr.. Bond CLOSED his paper with the follow
ing directions Tor road repairing, which the
convention by a unanimous vote directed the
committee to urge the county commissioners
to adopt and to require the road supervisors
to carry out, viz "Begin early IN the spring,
scrape the ground well and crown about one
foot under no circumstances place earth on
the road when it is dry and hard; after
every rain go over the road and make needed
repairs dig up all heavy stones from the
road bed and in cleaning the drains throw
the earth away from the road. In repairing
stone roads be sure there are no hollows in
the bed and always put the stone in the
middle, broken to an even size; keep re-
pairing stones in piles about 100 yards apart
and have the stone broken to uniform size"
William Amos of Hartford county, spoke
of the advantage derived from the work of
the Darlington Road League He said the
| league induced the county commissioners to
permit them to have the expenditure OF the
money appropriated Tor their district. One
| years work convinced the commissioners OF
| the value of intelligent supervision OF the
road intending, and they are now anxious to
encourage the formation OF similar leagues
The question of the advantage OF the an
electric railroad through Montgomery Coun-
ty was referred to u committee. The con
census of opinion was that the proposed road
would be of inestimable value by opening to
the farmers the markets of Baltimore and
Washington 1t was suggested that the
farmers subscribe at the rate OF 81 for each
acre of land owned.
Discussion OF the effect oil the embargo on
American beef and pork was indefinitely
postponed, and much OF the time of thecOn
ventiOn was taken up with consideration oil
the value of crimson clover
Dr. A. Stabler described the peculiarities
of crimson clover and spoke Of the results
obtained in other States where 1t has been
experimental with.
James 5 Robinson, Of the Agricultural
Experiment Station, said crimson clover is
Invaluable as a restorer of worn out lands.
IL has the advantage, he said, tina: 1t may be
grown between crops so that no time Will be
wasted Sown in the fall it will thrive dur
ing the winter and be ready In the spring to
be turned under for green manure.
Prof II. j Patterson, of the Experiment
Station spoke of the value OF crimson clover
as a fertilizer.
Robt II. Miller, Director of the Maryland
Agricultural Experiment Station, gave the
results of some experiments with the clover
He said that three plats Of ground Of equal
size were taken. One was used without any
fertilizer, another with one dollars worth Of
nitrate of soda and on the other one dollar
was expended in crimson clover. The plats
were planted with corn with the following
result
The yield from the first plat was "a bush.
els from the second plat 30 bushels, and from
the third AZ bushels. Similar results were
obtained when potatoes were treated 10 the
same manner, the increase where crimson
clover was used being valued at 10 so an
acre.
The question of the advisabllity Of ia
creasing the size of the race track on the fair
grounds at Rockville was then taken up and
after short discussion was decided IN the
negative. II. II. Miller argued that with
half mile track farmers would have an Op.
portunity to exhibit their horses, and he
thought that in time Montgomery county,
on account of its contiguity to Baltimore
and Washington, would become as great
market for horses as Orange county New
York
In Memoriam.
Died, Friday, February 8th, 1896, at the
home of her son in law, Mr. James Gill,
near Norbeck, Mrs. Isabella X. Rannie, in
the 94th year of her age.
Old Father Time has dealt most gently in