The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1902-03-01
BALTIMORE COUNTY FARMING.
Original Paper Read by Mr.. Asa B. Gar
diner, Jr., at the February Meet
ing of the Senior Gunpow-
der Agricultural Club.

county are in many respects different from
tnat Oh any other location and require care
ful study in order that farming may be con-
ducteu 70 the best advantage. Our county is
favored IN its great fertility, its many beautiful
larry in its market
In considering what course of farming is best
aoapeed TO our county we should first consider
our market, and then which of our products
can De placed in that market at tie greatest
pTone. owing to cheap transportation some of
ene ySIops raised IN our section of the State are
in direct competition with the immense pro
ducLlons OF the great West. and to handle such
crops as these, except for home consumption,
we must expect our profits to be lessened. il
not enIirely Withdrawn. Our county has the
streangun OF location and through its many rail-
roaos ana short hauling to Baltimore is fitted for
the production of milk for city consumption.
HOW greatly Baltimore is favored in this re-
sPecI - SHOWN by comparison with other cities.
Boston. for instance draws its milk supply even
from vermont; New York reaches to the st.
river for its daily receipts of milk
Is stretching out to greater distances, and Bal
timore can, and does, receive not only the major
portlon OF her milk supply, but by far the best
of 1t ALL from our county and the neighborinp
county of Hartford.
Before passing from this idea let us remem-
per tnat az this particular time there is an or
dinance before the City Council regulating the
conditions under which COW stables are main
talne1 within the city limits. Nearly one-third
of the milk supply is derived from these CITY
stables: These cows are bought from dealers
and 1ed as long as they continue to give milk
and then go to the butcher. Their feed is most
heating and the stables are far from clean, and
to US, knowing the requirements under which
only good milk may be produced, can but won
der that the city has beenso blind as not to class
these sW1ll-fed COWS with swine and prevent
them ever being harbored in the city.
OF the different advantages enjoyed by Balti-
more county the greatest lies in the opportu-
nifty TO produce and market milk. Old methods
are passing away Today the silo, selling crops,
improved stabling, cooling apparatus, etc, show
the great advance.
Within the city. the advantages afforded by
large dafsies, with irst-class equipment, are
being appreciated by the public and are draw
ing trade away from the small dairyman. While
this move $ inevitable and unavoidable, it
promises grelter security to the milk producer.
In the producing of milk the cattle, their
breed and thecapacity in production, is very
than the breed of the cattle is the personal
equation OF theowner. This determines whether
6ne COW con1ees 10 improve H on profitable lines
might be considered the original COW, crea-
ture that gave milk in the spring, when her calf
was born, and inamount only sufficient to main
tain the calf until its stomach developed suffi-
GENTLY for it to support itself by grazing.
The feeding of the cattle brings us to the
question of economical methods of producing
sustenance. 1t would seem without question
that our farms areall too large for the purpose
for which we own them, for dairyman today
could make more money with stable of one
hundred COWS and acres of land, than he could
with the same number of COWS and 200 acres.
To give one instance of this would quote the
Dairy. They have 400 cows and aside from
enough land to fill their immense ensilage pits
they have but little else. Even the bedding of
the COWS is purchased, as is all the grain and
hay.
of any kind, farm of so acres is more than
sufficient. OF this acreage. 10 acres should be
devoted to ensilage and fill silo of $50 tons ca
pacity. This is sufficient to feed those COWS a
whole year. Ten acres should be appointed to
clover hay 10 acres to wheat, 10 acres to corn
which in rotation would supply the roughage
and bedding and the feed for such horses as
might be needed on the farmland of the bal
ance of the land acres could be used for an
ofo0 lot nd 10 root fOr inn q
found necessary. Such farm would require
little labor. The maintenance of a large num-
Der of horses or mules would be found unneces-
sary, and many other savings, such as fencing,
taxes etc., made. The quantity of manure pro-
duced, together with commercial fertilizers.
would result in large yields OF provender and
soon it would be found that with this intensive
cultivation the area of the farm could still fur
Their be reduced. When farm is in excess of so
acres it would seem the most advisable course
to sell the excess or if this is not possible to
set the balance of the land in permanent crops
such that they can be marketed in Baltimore, or
in their own neighborhood, and the crops grown
at their best and in sufficient volume to insure
the best results. Of the permanent crops al
falfa and timothy promise the best results and
of the two timothy is preferable. When it is
well demonstrated that the land of any particu-
lar farm is adapted to alfalfa then either one or
the other, or both, crops could be grown.
As farming is now conducted in this county it
a year of hard work. This is due, as already
stated to the efforts made to cover a large
acoraQe. which the taxes are neaVy, ana be-
ing hfndered by lack Of proper capital full JUS
tice is never done. Wastefulness is often the
cause, but lazness is not often found.
Many of the methods that are today in vogue
in our county seem subject to severe criticism.
For instance, timothy is sown with the wheat.
Later in the spring clover is added, and the ma
much needed moisture. When the wheat is
harvested the burning sun devastates the clover
IN Sne a has rvVe tose6er WEE
the timothy that has lived begin to ripen. 1t
then falls to the lord OF the farm to determine
whether the clover shall wait to be cut until the
timothy natures, or be cut when tender, while
the timothy just coming into head is immature.
The clover is biennial, the timothy perennial,
and thew ripen weeks apart For two years at
most the clover will flourish and then weeds
find Judgment as the clover loses its ground.
Who can say that wheat planted alone will
not yield better in quantity and show profit
over the increased labor
Who will deny that clover drilled in by itself,
after the wheat stubble has been plowed down
and the land well prepared, will yield more in
volume and better in value to pay handsome re-
turns for the added tillage
Who does not realize that timothy seed by it.
self or with similar growth like red top, in its
own field, is the only right way in which to plant
this MAGNIFICENT grass?
I Commend these ideas to our farmers for
their consideration and advise fair trial.
In handling the corn crop have seen a field
of ensijage corn yield barrels year per acre
and the farmer SOW crimson clover with the last
working. Again the same field went into ensi-
lape corn under the same advantage and yielded
10 barrels to the acre. Again the clover was s0wn
and the weld was IS barrels to the acre-an
equivalent of over 20 tons OF ensiage as his re-
ward This shows that field well situated,
convenient to the slo, will stand the re-occur-
renee of the corn crop and under proper meth
DDS will result in increased yields.
In our county oats can be reckoned upon as
losing crop every time. Our oat does not ma
ture the Michigan oa a fhe t dav Of naE
occur. The crop is easily ruined by rust and l
have seldom seen it profitable yield.
Rive is an excellent crop and can be grown TO
odx A however. entirely for the
Baltimore market-long rye in bales-but 1T has
the disadvantage of requiring yearly attention.
In the soiling crops our land will make great
growths of millet, cowpeas, sorghum and sowed
corn and this will take the place of our blue
grass which will not stand great heat.
In our farming let us use methods that will
prove more fruitful and economical. Let us
not hesitate to try any acceptable change. Let
us study TO the best advantage all farming in
terests Let us try to be Self-contailed and in
dependent in our thoughts, though never for
getting that strength is derived from unity of
action.
Annual Report of Successful Com
pany.-The forty-seventh annual report OF the
board of directors of the Northern Central
Railway Company shows that the gross earn
ings of the company for the year ended De-
cember 81, 1901, were 49, 266, 957, an increase of
S421. $40 over 1900. The total expenses for 1901
were s5.754, $3.50, an increase of 1857 .451 over
the preceding year. The net earnings last
year were 2,511 1868, an increase of S164,094
over 1900. The coal tonnage of the main line
in 1901 was $3.50, 252 net tons, an increase of
1,219, 1862 tons over 1900. The total coal ton
mage to Baltimore was /, 131, GA TONS a decrease
of III .437 tons from 1900. The amount of grain
received at the elevators at Canton in 1901 was
13, 761, 874 bushels, decrease of 1894 176 BUSH
els, compared with the receipts in 1900. At
local elevator No 2, in Baltimore, the receipts
we're 2,213429 bushels, as against 2,O06,036
bushels in 1900 There was a satisfactory in
crease in the revenue from both freight and
passenger traffic. During 1901 there was net
increase of 154 miles in company tracks and
sidings The company carries on its rolls
under the provisions of the pension depart.
ment liz employees, who were paid in 1901
S23924. The total mileage operated by the
company is 3S1, including lines operated under
contract.
The officers of the company are President,
John p. Green. Charles e. Pugh s. M Provost