Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1903-04-15
FARMERS, CLUE NOTES.

EAkM Ehso OhOD MI I~o.
The April meeting of the Woodlawn
Farmers Club was held at Walnut Hill,
the residence of Mrs. Anna S. Walton,
on the afternoon of the l1th.
The minutes of the March meeting
we're read and approved.
The secretary reported that he had
communicated with DIR. Woodward as
directed at the March meeting and had
received card in acknowledgment.
The report of the critical committee
which is appended brought out quite a
discussion on the proper handling oi
manure.
The committee to draft resolutions
relative to the condition and manage
ment of the W., A. and Mt. V. Ry. re-
ported as follows:
Whereas, the members of the Wood
lawn Farmers Club in Fairfax county
feel that the services as rendered to the
public by the Washington, Alexandra
and Mount Vernon Railway are not ade-
quate. equitable, or just, in cOnsidera-
ton of the high rates charged for passen-
ger traffic and for goods and merchan-
disc shipped by this line, therefore be 1t
Resolved, that a committee of three be
appointed to call upon the officers of the
said company and present the following
facts for adjustment:
|. That the rates charged for shipping
milk are in excess of rates charged on
other lines and that charges are not
equal or graduating between different
points of shipment on this line.
2. That owing to the frequent delays
on account of the late arrival and de-
parture of trains, passengers and others
having business with this road are put
to great inconvenience and more or less
loss.
8. That railroad company is not a
private corporation, operated solely for
The benefit of the officers and stOckhold-
ers. but is a quasi public corporation,
dedicated to public use and interests.
4. That its duties and liabilities are
defined by law. That in accepting its
charter it necessarily accepts with it all
the duties and liabilities annexed.
5. 1t tundel lakes to construct the road
contemplated by its charter, to keep it
in good condition, equip it with good
rolling stock and safe machinery, EN-
ploy skilled and trustworthy assistance,
deal fairly and impa. ally with its pa
irons, keep pace with improvements in
machinery and adapt its service to the
VARYING necessities and improved
methods of doing business for the bene-
fit of the public, from which revenue Is
derived to operate the road.
The report was considered seriatum
and section l was voted down, those
present being unanimous in the belief
that the rates for shipping milk over
this are as reasonable as on most steam
roads. The discussion on the resolu-
tions was brought to close by the host
announcing supper and the Club ad-
iourned to meet at the home of Mr.. and
Mrs. J. n. Gibbs May 9th.
CHAs. NJ. PIDGEoN, Secretary.
The President appointed the follow
ing committees: Critical Committee, +.
Walton and A. L. Lnkens; con uittee
on subject for discussion A. r. Har-
rison and II. PiersOn.
REPORT OF THE CRITICAL COMMITTEE
TO THE woODLAwN FARMERS CLUB
APRIL II, 1908.
Our host is like others of us who are
engaged in the honorable calling" en-
raSed also in other business, but your
committee believes this meeting will
agree with them that the other business
must be paying one to make the farm
ing interesting, at least In this section.
We believe you will also bear us out
when we say that the farm requires either
very close attention or lavish expendi-
ture to keep things up in proper shape
The stock, which consists of a small
dairy herd and barely enough horses to
cultivate two-hundred acre farm is not
quite up in condition to what we would
like to see and we would advise first a
silo. which we are informed is cOntem-
plated for the coming season, and next1 a
competent assistant which we believe he
now has in the person of MIR. t. S. Wright
then if his Alexandria business will only
help the farm a little it will "bloom
and be "thing of beauty"
The crops last season were all good ex'
cent the hay which was no better than that
of his neighbors. We think if the rain
will only continue a short while longer
as it has since the dawn of 1903 the
the hay crop will be all o. X. this time:
We noticed that the manure is piled
unite a distance from the stables and the
cattle kept away from it. This we be-
lieve is a requirement of the health de-
partment, and we could but think how
much better from a sanitary point OF
view, as we'll as economic, it used to be here
when all manure, corn fodder, straw and
other litter was spread under the she'd
and over the yard where the cattle tram
pied it down and stood around ankle
deep in dry straw, as we have often seen
on this farm, trampling all down in one
solid mass. No loss by teaching, no dis
agreeable odors escaping, but all in the
good old-fashioned way which, alas,
must be doomed, for the new and the
unsightly pile must appear 100 feet from