Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-06-18
h
MARYL AND AGRICULTURAL
EXPERIMENT STATION


Eight miles from Washington, on what is
still known as the Baltimore pike, stands an
old brick building erected in 1913 as a road
house, and famous for many years as the
Rossburg Inn. The walls are fiat and we'll
proportioned; the bricks, probably English,
are laid in Flemish bond; in the court yard
stand three splendid English elfns more
than a century old, and on the Keystone
over the door is a grotesque mask of
bearded man carved, according to the In
scripton, by certain stone cutters of Lon
don in the year A. D. 1T9S. Within there is
a long, broad hall dividing the mansion into
equal halves and leading through an arch
to a rear entrance and hospitable flight of
square stairs. To the right this hall opens
into two large rooms, with high, colonial
mantels, and to the left, originally, into
three-the formal reception room, the great
pantry and the bar, from the last of which
stairs descended to the cellar. Here in an
upper chamber, still pointed out to visitors,
Lafayette stayed over night when he last
visited Washington, and was met by the
escort that conducted him to the city. And
here during the early years of the past cen
fury 1t was the wont of merry pleasure
seekers to ride out from Washington and
dine-for the Rossburg Inn was famous for
its cookery.
These days are gone, but, through some
Jest of fate, the building is still occupied by
those whose business 1t is to care for the
welfare of the inner man; for in becoming
the home of the Maryland agricultural ex-
pertinent station, it has merely progressed
with the time and given itself in a larger,
more scientific manner to the production of
edibles and to the betterrnent of mankind
1t is not generally known that every state
and territory in the Union has agricul-
tural college and an experiment station, es-
tabhshed and supported, In part at least
by the national government An act of
Congress Of 1862 gave to each state and ter
ritory land grant for this purpose, and a
subsequent one in 1880 made available an
annual appropriation. Maryland, however
established her college in 1856, and in this
enterprise led both the states and the ma
ton.
Its purpose was to educate the sons of
Its farmers not merely in agriculture, but
in science and the liberal arts, and for their
profit to conduct "a model farm on which
experiments upon the cultivation of cereals
and other plants adapted to the latitude and
climate of Maryland were to be annually
carried on" This was the beginning of ag
ricultural investigation, but the experiment
station as separate institution awaited es-
tablishment until the passage of the Hatch
act in 1887, which carried with 1t an annual
appropriation of $4,000. To this amount
the state of Maryland adds 5000. and with
this comparatively meager sum vast work
Is being prosecuted.
X
Maryland stands fourth in the production
OF canned corn, devoting annually about
II 900 acres to this crop for canning pur-
poses, and packing about 1,00o,0 900 cases;
and yet Maryland growers to large extent
purchase their seed corn from northern
farmers, bringing the greater portion of it
from New England and northern Ohio,
where the climatic conditions are entirely
different This jS hOfh illOpical nd
cessful; the sweet corn of the north rapidly
deteriorates in the Maryland climate and
yields smaller and less satisfactory crops
than in its native soil That its importa-
ton is unnecessary the experimenters at
the station have been endeavoring to dis
cover, and have now, through actual dem
onstration well nigh established. They have
planted in patches four acres at the station
and fifteen in several sections of the state,
and, cooperating with Maryland farmers,
have experimental these in many ways.
There is, for example. one patch made up of
100 rows, each of which stands for a single
ear of corn whose pedigree has been re-
corded far back the fourth and fifth
generations. Each OF these rows, made into
forty hills, will be given even chance,
and the result in quantity and quality care
fully noted, and from the best will be taken
other ears for further experimental pur-
poses. Thus Maryland corn of the best
variety will be produced from Maryland
seed-a corn suited to this climate and soil
sweet corn of the north. Experiments along
the same line are being made with toma-
toes and peas, which are also large canning
interests in our neighboring state, and
special effort is being made to discover in
foreign varieties OF the potato one which
will be imperyious to the disastrous blight
which during the past few years has been
more and more damaging to our local crops.
X u
Hay crops of different varieties are also
attracting much attention. The alfalfa,
lately introduced into this section of the
country, has been found most productive
and peculiarly well adapted to the soil and
prevailing conditions. Resembling some
what vetch. or the common partridge pea,
1t yields from seed sown the preceding Au-
gust from four TO five crops in a season,
growing from eighteen to thirty inches in
height and affording greater nutriment than
an equal amount of clover. Several large
patches of ground at the station are laid off
in alfalfa, various experiments in these in
stances being made with the SOIL some of
which has been inoculated with the bacteria
furnished by the Agricultural Department,
some mixed with alfalfa soil, and others by
clover soil in varying proportions.
Much attention Is shown to the study of
fertilizers, line after line of the same plant
being set out at the same time and under
similar conditions In soil varously enriched
This is a peculiarly interesting and profit
able feature of the work A single note
common hay, which, when fertilized by 200
pounds of sodium nitrate, produced an ex-
cess OF LOO pounds of feed, or a gain to
the farmer OF So per acre.
X
The winter vetch, grown from foreign
seed. is being tried as fodder both alone and
nlanted with oats II lie a small pIopt haas