Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1955-09-29

oefS OF the cluD II tney so de-
sired. This rule was adopted too
late to prevent the present situa-
ton of having no original farms
represented in the club
The records of the first five
years of the club are motsly re-
ports on the use of barnyard man.
ure, Peruvian guano and bone,
with some mention of lime and
its results. The first mention of
guano was at Mahlon Kirke's
farm at Woodburn, where IS hills
of corn with a teaspoonful of
Peruvian guano made a yield of
1912 pounds of ears, while 10
hills nearby without fertilizer
made ~ pounds.
From then on, guanO was
used literally in the neighbOr-
hood. 1t was bought in big
Jumps i'm Georgetown and was
broken up in a guanO mill.
In 1849, half of one meeting
was devoted to the question of
whether corn should be covered
with a hoe or with the new
tangled horse-drawn cover. All
but two advised the hoe.
Seven years later, five of these
u were still using the hoe. Hand
dropping was usual long after
1878, when a member mentioned
having heard of a corn planter.
Eighteen-seventy-nine found a
machine for dropping corn at
Isaac Hartshorne's meeting. 1t
belonged to Henry Stabler, and
was described as Opening the
furrow, dropping the hill and
covering it, all at one operation"
Planter Used
Charles F. Brooke planted the
crop at Brooke Grove in 1885
with a two-row planter, and re-
COlIlIIleIlueu II IllSIIy.
Still, most of the club seem
to have used the old way. They
got the land in order, then mark
ed it across with single shovel
ploWs, then crossed these rows
with the same shovel pillow, then
dropped the corn by hand.
Four men planted from six to
eight acres a day, while the two
row platner puts in 10 to IA.
In 1865 there were two grain
and fertilizer drills in the neigh
borhood, neither owned by a
member of the club. 1t was three
more years before the club unani-
mously approved drilling wheat
instead of broadcasting it.
Farmers Club members seem
to have had contempt for the
wire binder, which was first used
in the County. There is no men,
ton of a binder in the club I'M
til 1882, when Charles F. Brooke
showed an Esterly Irvine binder
that had cut 104 acres for him
that harvest.
In the first crop report, the
IL member farms contained 100
sheep, "A horses and 10 head of
cattle of all sorts. There was
no report of livestock on any
other crop report, but the secre-
tary i'm his report on the vari-
Gus farms usually mentioned
the number of cows, horses and
hogs seen around the barn.
The number grew larger very
slowly, but it did increase with
the better crops of corn and
hay. The market for livestock
improved greatly between 1860
and 1870, bringing with it more
interest in the production of
animals, says John e. Muncast-
er, from whom most of this
historical material comes.
In 1943 there were on the 16
farms i'm the club 1882 head of
cows and beef cattle, 743 hogs,
297 sheep and 7,4OO csickens.
In 1861, a vote was taken on
the question that the Union
should be dissolved. The club di-
vided evenly. Shortly after this
the secretary noted that there
had been some political discus
sion which was not considered
proper.
From this there seems to have
been adopted an unwritten law
that political and religious dis
cussions are not to be had at any
time during a meeting of the
club, and any member noticing
one starting must call attention
to the rule.
This has worked so well that
while there have been numerous
members of the club in political
campaigns, it has had no effect
on the smooth running of the
clubs sessions.
Despite its reluctance to influ-
ence outside activities, there is no
dnubt that the rl1h has exerted