Evening journal., 1911-05-02

ON PENINSULA
Grange Organizer Finds Good
Reads Make Farmers
Spruce Up
BAD WEATHER HOLDS
BACK ALL CROPS

Special to THE EVENING JOURNAL
DOVER, Del. May marion Daw-
son. who is employed as National
Grange organizer. has returned here
from four-months' canvass Of the
peninsula, on which he became ac-
ouainted fully with Kent and Sussex,
Delaware, and four counties on the
Maryland side. particularly Dorches-
ter. Somerset and wicomico.
Good roads, said Mr. Dawson,
"are being established everywhere,
ami wherever good roads have been
built. land shows much Improvement
buildings having been rebuilt old
shacks torn down and everything
painted up.
"The spirit of improvement is every
where In evidence, and il seems re-
grettable to some of us like myself
that we were born fifty years too
soon. With the grange in active
operation i'm all these counties, and
the interchange Of ideas among the
best and most progressive citizens,
the agricultural conditions on the
peninsula are so buoyant that II bids
fair to outrival any section on the
continent
"The strawberry season is extreme
| " late. because of the backward
spring. and fresh strawberries from
the peninsula will be two weeks late
at least. Vegetables Of all kind will
be late. The potato crop will not be
so large as last year because weather
conditions we're against planting and
the consequences are not so many
were planted.
There is a section between the
Nanticoke and Wicomico Rivers, where
many melons are grown, principally
for Philadelphia trade. One grower
i'm that section has planted forty acres
I'm cantaloupes and watermelons. The
sight will be beyond description when
this farms crop Of melons are ripe
and are being picked and loaded on
cars and boats.
state Master S. II. Messick. of the
Delaware Grange. continues to prac-
tice what he breaches in progressive
farming. and his farming operations
are always little short of wonderful.
The kindly smiling faces Of the state
master and his wife would, alone, at
tract Dame Fortune.
Probably every Delawarean has
heard that Mr., Messck has sold his
farm to an apple company, but he
sold only a section of his broad acres.
He is yet owner Of 1000 acres. and
has Just purchased another farm OF
245 acres adjoining the land he sold.
The usual thing happened. He pur-
chased the new land at a price far
below that at which he sold the big
farm adjoining.
IAN through Kent county, In our
own State, improvements are the or
der of the day, particularly I'm Ches-
void. Many homes have changed
owners. some owners going into
larger ones. and some moving on tho
farm or coming in for a rest George
c. Anderson has purchased the Or.
Smith home and is having Il improved.
Ephraim Garrison has just remodelled
his residence. NJ. D. Gasson has
hOught the Mrs Smith lots. Joseph
Ford is erecting a fine new residence
The Cheswold stores are probably as
interesting and attractive as any I'm
the State, and the merchants seem to
be ready for strawberry money. Even |
seed potatoes and seeds of all varie- |
ties are kept In stock here so that |
farmers need not be Inconvenience /
by having 10 send to the cities Every |
thing seems to tend toward the de- |
Of home and home markets |
and industries. and II is the healthiest /
signs of the times Of ALL"