The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-10-22
THREE MEN AND A BUSINESS.


OF Richmond. oishty-one years ole
last week; Daniel Baugh. OF Philadel-
phia- sevcnty-nine years old on his
last birthday. and Edmund Il. Addison,
of Richmond, who has passed good
many useful years in this community
Mat around 4 most inviting table in
Aa.n upper room at the Westmoreland
iCsluo Thursday night With them
tthcre were q number of youngsters,
inone OF whom was under age. and all
Snf whom have voted early and often.
Gt was d symposium, that's what it
wes, and the symposiarch was Mr..
b. T. Morgan, the President OF The
Virginia Carolina Company: n meet
anS together OF men who make things
Sgrow, Of 5ourneymen and apprentices
IN tho science OF tickling the soil so
What It viii laugh with harvcsts. There
54se not beon more notable meeting
IN Richmond. or anywhere else. at
eny time, and 1t can never be repeated.
After tho eating there followed the
hspeaking. and tho three men in tho
Sountry most familiar with tho fertil-
j1xer business recounted their expo
asiences and explained tho very close
relation between tho agricultural pros
jperity Of the country and tho de-
,velopment Of the present era Of COM
pnercial fertilizers. Mr.. Baugh has
been in the business since 1861. and
Mr.. Branch and Mr.. Addison nearly
or quite as long, and to them more
than to any other men has been due
the enormous growth OF tho most i'm
portant industry in the United States.
While the Philadelphia was working
up his trade in ground bono and other
Ingredients prepared by tho most eS-
pert chemical formulas, Mr.. Branch
was making the wilderness in these
parts to blossom like the rose with
Peruvian cuano, and Mr.. Addison was
proving that the fish OF tho sea wero
as good az tho birds of tho air In
promoting the advance of higher ag-
riculturc; and these venerable, but
Yet very active. young old men talked
about the progress that has been made
in solving the problem of producing
OH our wasted IuIuS lopN anu ClobH-
ini for all the world.
In Mr.. Baugh's beginning, not much,
81 anything. was known about agri-
cultural chemistry. about the best way
Of supplying the elements Of the soil
that had beon exhausted by use and
abuse. Of tho nitrogen in tho air
and how TO get il out. OF the lack Of
essential things in the earth and how
TO coax 1t into giving the husbandman
tho best results from his labor; and e
Tho solution of these questions he di-
rected tho study OF tho most expert
no land SO poor that with intelligent
and intensive cultivation Will not
yield abundant'ipc crosse. Standing with
him and working In tho same direction
and with the same objects In Wow.
were Mr.. Branch and Mr.. Addison.
ipel OF Progress, three workers In
nntried fields. three men who can look
cut now with satisfaction upon the
trdumpha they have achieved. We
wish there had been stenographcr
present 30 that he might have taken
down their conversation and preserved
TO- ell time their simple stories O,
how a great Industry was started and
what st has done for tho world
1t has grown and grown until from
the manufacture OF 5000 tons OF com
mercial fertilizers half century ago
many million tons. and stu IT grow.
end must continue 10 grow; for. as Mir
Branch said. 1t Is only By inteng.y,
sgriculture-and there can be no i'm
tensive agriculture without tho us.
of commercial fertilizers-that tn,
world can be fed and clothed Th!nl
OF what has been accomplished by IN
tolligcnt farming IN the last twenty
fve years. of tho enormous advanc
.n the price Of land. Of land That ,,n.
worth not more than s. tho acre tuen
" years q go and that cannot be bour !,
now for ten and twenty tines as mucl,
of the fact that the best paper In tn
banks now ia the paper If the scien
tifc farmer; OF tho increase OF tn
cotton crop OF the South from 5000.
600 bales to 100000 or 1900. on
bales, and that was worth last yea
one thousand million dollars. o
land that would not "sprou
peas few years ago and tha
is now Welding bale to tn
acre; OF tho fact that North Carolin.