Scrapbook and diary: Mary Magruder,1886-1887

And here I wish to remark, and render honor, to whom honor is due. The late Dr. T. Patterson, in substance, said to me some forty years ago: "John, buy up all this old land around you (it could then have been bought for a nominal price.) It is remarkably susceptible to the action of lime, and can be easily made to produce vegetable matter to return to the soil, and make the best farms in Maryland. The recent general application of lime to our worn out soils, and remarkable results always brings to my mind the sage advice of the Doctor.

While those former neglected lands are now realizing what would then have been considered fabulous prices; and while the past attractions to farm life not encouraging; the present opportunities are unsurpassed. Also we anticipate according to all human probability, our grand future. All the elements of national greatness surround us—our native population are being educated to a proper appreciation of the local and general advantages of soil, and climate, turnpikes, canal, and railroads, over which are daily conveyed our vast surplus of agricultural products.

And I consider premature the caustic remark of the railroad guide, "The Unfruitful Montogomery County."

The sound of the mechanic's hammer resounds daily as the numerous cottages and barns arise over the county, and forcibly illustrates the fact that agriculture brings into existence all the mechanics' arts.

Having sketched man, physically, and intellectually, I will now point to his moral development, as illustrated in the advance of our county.

The immortal Washington, in his valedictory, said "of all the dispositions and habits which lead to prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness—these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens."

And to-day we realize the importance of those prophetic remarks, in the stability of our institutions; as on the cultivation of the moral virtues and intelligence of our citizens the whole foundation of government and happiness of the people depends.

The sceptic may philosophise and the fool laugh, but Washington had seen and experienced the fearful effects of a Jacobin Democracy, without the restraints of morality and religion, turned loose to riot in plunder and murder; while France, from infidelity, was unable to prevent anarchy and ruin leading to a military despotism.

And happy will it be for our beloved homes and country to be preserved from the threatening danger of infidelity, anarchy, and crime, by adhering to the sage advice of the patriots of the revolution. The application of these remarks needs no comment. And I proceed to show and contrast the twenty years since the war with the history that preceded it.

Before the days of canals and railroads the Cumberland turnpike was made, over which the ponderous wagons were drawn lader, with flour, bacon, lard, butter, clover seed and whisky, etc., passing through the central parts of the county to the District of Columbia.

The way side accommodations for the trade were also the popular resorts of the citizens. And in those days it would have been considered a breach of politeness not to have accepted and returned a friend's treat to alcoholic stimulants (with the exception that in those days old rye whisky—not the poisonous compounds of the present day, was drunk).

These convivial gatherings were supplemented by cock fights, horse races. And when the liquor temperature reached blood heat, generally a knock down with the pugulists settled the dispute.

At that time not only the villages, but also Rockville or the county seat, was no exception to the general custom.

The lands of the county were cleared the virgin soils exhausted, and emigration commended westward. From 1820 to 1840 the population decreased about three thousand. The subsequent introduction of Peruvian guano and its application produced a reaction and revolution in farming. Emigration was checked. The Montgomery County Agricultural Society was organized, and up to the commencement of our last Civil War Montgomery county was advancing in agriculture, morals and temperance.

But here my pen recoils, and I pass over a period of five years. While all are aware that civil war does not elevate or refine the morals of a community.

The consumption of liquor, the very counterpart of old rye, was inaugurated, poisonous drugs was substituted, and the prohibition movement has scarcely eradicated the evil.

Also at that period only one fourth of the county was well cultivated. While to-day more than half of the cultivatable lands are thoroughly utilized. Railroad facilities convey to our farms lime, commercial fertilizers, and also export vegetable, fruit, dairy, and meat production.

But my narrative would fail to show the grand results were I to omit demonstrating the advance of intellectual and moral culture, such as schools, churches and temperance organizations.

Montgomery county to-day has educational facilities of a high order—primary schools are general, academies for males and female are numerous, with competent instructors.

The numerous churches, a large number of which are recent and costly structures, show the taste, appreciation, and high moral culture of the population

—whose liberality has not only erected them, but contribute willingly to ministerial support and church contributions.

While, as a supplement, the prohibition, or temperance auxiliaries, are fast ridding the county of the hydra headed monster. A majority of more than fifteen hundred votes for prohibition, and a remonstrance against the repeal of the law signed by nearly four thousand citizens, and sent to the Legislature, sufficiently attests the determination to counteract the degrading influence of intoxicating beverages. And the climax was reached when the cold water wave recently culminated on the Montogomery County Agricultural Fair Grounds.

Having reviewed the past, and contrasted the present condition of our county, I shall anticipate the future. As our government, laws and institutions are not to e preserved by miracle, so our future destiny will depend on the preservation of the moral virtues.

The astonishing increase of our national population becomes more and more a grave consideration. From nearly four millions in 1790 to about sixty millions in 1886 (or in ninety-six years) will with the same (or only half) the former ratio of increase, reach a moral sublimity without precedent in ancient or modern times within the next hundred years.

The Saxon race now dominates the earth, while the undeveloped future points to the prominent part our county will fill in the future history of the noblest race in existence.

JOHN T. DeSELLUM.

A Month in Kansas.

WRITTEN FOR THE AUGUST MEETING OF ALNEY GRANGE, BY MRS. M. C. BROOKE.

I was requested to tell the Grange something of my journey to the West and farming in Kansas. The first is easily disposed of. In these days when the traveller can dine in Washington and breakfast in Cincinnati, there is but little to be seen of the country passed over. I only knew that we were rushing on at what seemed a reckless rate, down steep grades, sweeping around curves and darting into tunnels, until my head swam and it was quite a relief when the deafening reverberations from the mountain sides ceased, and I knew that we were in the more level country of southern Ohio.

To show what advance we have made in forty years, a lady passenger told me that when she was a child her father was a member of Congress from Kentucky and when he brought his family to Washington, it always took a month to accomplish the journey. Now she would reach her old home near Louisville in twenty-four hours.

I was surprised to find southern Indiana and Illinois so hilly. The stone fences small, irregularly shaped fields and rocky hill sides were all so different from the northern parts of those States that I remembered as the most level of prairies. Of course I saw nothing of Cincinnati or St. Louis except the immense Union Depots and the throngs of travelers rushing in every direction. To the uninitiated it would seem difficult for any one to go right, but on the contrary the arrangements are so perfect it is almost impossible for any one to go wrong.

All the way from Washington to Springfield, Mo., there had been recent rains, no dust and the fields green and fresh; but as we neared the Kansas line there were evidences of a drought, which they told me began unusually early. They generally have a long dry spell later in the season, in which case is not so disastrous. This year the corn is almost a failure, and some of the farmers are cutting it now to save the fodder.

Wheat and oats were good crops where they were not injured by the chinch bugs, which after the grain is cut pass on to the nearest corn field, and woe unto that field unless wet weather comes soon. The corn, which had been so attacked, looked as if a fire had swept across it, so dead and brown were stalks and blades. Some farmers are giving up wheat, as this destructive insect appears to originate in that crop.

The portion of Kansas that I saw, the valley of the Neosha, has been settled some eighteen or twenty years; now the land is all taken up and the most of it is under cultivation. The large villages and towns are all connected by railroads, the making of which is a small matter in that level country. There were miles of road on the Frisco line, built by laying the ties and rails on the prairie sod and then attaching heavy plows to the engine, one on each side, to plow out the ditches. Of course there was some leveling to be done afterwards, but the contractor had his trains running within the specified time.

When once the breaking is done farming in Kansas ceases to be the labor that it is here. I saw a corn field of twenty-five acres that a lad of sixteen had put in and worked over four times by himself before the middle of June, using as is the custom, a sulky plow and cultivator. The farm houses are generally small, but neat and comfortable. Every house that I was in was fly proof; even the porches are often enclosed with wire screens. I saw but few large barns. The settler's first care is to plant an orchard and shade trees about the house, dig a well and cistern and enclose the farm with a hedge or fence, as the grain can be stacked, a barn is always an evidence that a man is "getting on"

In most instances they have neglected to lay down or trim the hedges, so they have grown to an inconvenient height and width, and have become a positive nuisance, as they shade the land and draw the moisture from the adjoining crop for several yards each side. I heard one farmer say he thought they would all be glad if they could exterminate the hedges and substitute wire fences. They do protect the young orchards but another plan is to plant a strip around the orchard thickly with peach trees, which make a good wind break and bear some fruit. The peach trees looked healthy and are not subject to the diseases that make them so short lived here. The fruit trees are never trimmed, the object being to protect the bodies from sunburning.

I had often heard of "Sunny Kansas," but had never realized the full meaning of the term. Imagine incessant, unmitigated sunshine, the murcury from 105° to 112° every day for two weeks, a dry hot wind blowing until the ground was full of great cracks, and you have a picture of what Kansas can be in July. But the strange part is that the nights are generally cool; no one seems to suffer from sunstroke, in fact, there was very little sickness of any sort. Very few have reached the luxury of an ice house, and cistern water is used for drinking and all domestic purposes. The well water is generally hard, either lime or alkaline, but the stock learn to like the mineral water and thrive on it.

If the sister who suggested this subject has any idea of going to Kansas, it would be well for her to know what farmers' wives get for their small articles of trafic. Butter during the summer brings five cents per pound, eggs seven cents per dozen, chickens $1.25 a dozen, and turkeys 50c apiece. Domestic labor is very hard to obtain at any price; a few men work by the year, but they very naturally prefer taking up land for themselves, as it soon increases in value; so the farmers, when the work requires it, help each other. The most successful among them have made their money by grazing. To protect the cattle from the possible storms, they provide shelters, using the lofts for the prairie hay, which can be cut in the fall after the crops are secured.

Soft coal is generally used for fuel as, it is abundant and costs only $3 per ton.

Improved land sells from $20 to $40 per acre, according to location and improvements. Wheat brings from 80c to $1, oats 30c, and corn, when there is a full crop brings, from 25 to 30c; but in one respect they have the advantage of us, they use no fertilizer; and as it may happen when there are three or four successive favorable seasons, a man who has gone there with little or no means, finds himself in possession of a comfortable home.

Last, but not least, the educational advantages are most excellent. The public schools are all graded, and the standard for teachers is so very high they must be well qualified if they pass the extended and rigid examinations. The school houses are among the best buildings and are furnished with all of the modern appliances. The mothers use their privilege of voting at the annual school meetings, and for several years the superintendent of public instruction for Labeth County, has been a woman. Do you wonder that the children are inspired with an interest in their studies?

As a sample of the way a Kansas boy makes his pocket money, I was looking at the herd of young cattle one day when the young son pointed out one which he called encyclopedia. In explanation of his name he said I got him with my Christmas money and when school commences he will sell for enough to buy my encyclopedia, so I can answer the questions our teachers give us." I did not hear anything about archery or tennis, nor yet whist or progressive euchre, but I did see young ladies who could drive a reaper or play on a piano as was needed, and I heard them. In the winter a debating society was sustained by the boys and young men.

In conclusion, if you have a family of boys who want farms, Kansas is a good place to go to, but it is a question worth considering, whether the same industry and economy that the pioneer must practice would not bring as good results here, and whether the dreaded fertilizer bills are not overbalanced by our lower rates of interest and better prices for all that our farms produce.

Hon. A. B. Davis` Address.

The following is the address of Hon. A. B. Davis at the dedication of the new hall of Brighton Grange, No. 60, on September 15th:

I have requested by the chairman of committee, Brother Hartshorne, to address you a few words of advice and encouragement. Advice, I deem it presumptuous to offer; but words of encouragement I may well speak, seeing the improvement which has been made, and the intelligence, enterprise and success which mark your farming and domestic operations.

Contrast the plows, the harrows, the drills, the harvesters, the threshers, and, I may add, the mills where the patent steel roller is fast superceding the French stone burr, with those of even 50 years ago, and what a mighty change! Also in our style of living and home comforts and conveniences! There is scarcely a house, however humble, in which you will not find something to dispense with the drudgery of former days.

A tenant on my own farm has this year, at his own expense, introduced the patent Michigan Cremery, where all the work of the dairy is successfully carried on directly at his door, instead of at the spring house, nearly a quarter of a mile distant.

When I see these great changes, the result of study, industry and the inventive genius of our day, I feel that they are auguries and pledges of a steady and decided progress in the art of husbandry and domestic economy.

Among the agencies to which the improvement of the agricultural classes is largely due, we must mention the grange. Its organization, ritual and co-operation are educational and instructive. They teach us the power and usefulness of combination. To say nothing of the pleasure of its social features, in an economic point of view, it is an institution of great value. Its agency in Baltimore, one man acting for the good of the whole, ought to be patronized and sustained. It is worthy of it, and is the only means of meeting combination by the merchant and manufacturer. They have their clubs, their merchants' exchange, manufacturing association and fertilizer organizations. They are the drilled soldiers, the compact army, while we are the raw militia, frightened and scattered at the first blue rocket set up by the enemy.

You are therefore to be congratulated on the erection of this hall in your midst, dedicated to the promotion of social and agricultural improvement.

A kindred impulse prompted the grandfathers of many whom I now see before me 128 years ago to build and dedicate to the service of the Almighty the first chapel and place of worship ever erected in this part af [of] the county. Maryland was then a colony of Great Britain, which then, as now, claimed the church as an integral and essential part of the state government, and the church as well as the State was supported by a general tax upon the people, which tax in this colony was paid in tobacco; gold and silver being a commodity of modern introduction. In 1758 a petition numerously signed by Griffiths, Gues, Greens, Browns, Gartrells, Dorseys, Davis', Gaithers, Hollands, Ridgelys and Spurriers was presented to Gov. Sharpe and his counsel, requesting leave to erect a chapel of ease on a branch of the Patuxent, called Hawling's river. The petitioners urging that they were too remote to attend the parish church at Rock Creek, which then stood at the cemetery adjoining the late Judge Bowie's, and the petitioners honorably added "that the taxables were able to build a church and support a minister." The leave was granted, a vestry elected and the chapel built so nearly on this spot that I believe the foundations of this house stand on part of its ancient sites. Here our ancestors were accustomed to meet for social, moral and spiritual instruction and improvement.

This chapel was destroyed by a storm, a large oak tree, as I have been informed, falling across the middle of its roof and crushing it to the ground. Other Christian bodies coming in, the congregation did not then deem it expedient to rebuild on the same spot, and removed about 4 miles higher up the same stream, where they built the present St. Bartholomew's, or what is better known as Howling's River church. I know of no one living who ever saw the old "Chapel of Ease," except my venerable friend Mr. Wm. Brown, who at 92 is present here to-day, and who bears the unique honor of having been baptized therein; thanks to a pious mother, who justly revering the seal of the Divine Covenant, would not allow distance to deter her, and brought her infant many miles in her arms to receive the rite of the christian font!

The descendants of the old worshippers of 3d and 4th generations, moved by a like noble and pious aim, have, thanks to our free institutions, not by a State tax, but by voluntary free will offerings, built a successor to the old chapel and continue in the church neaer by the worship of the God of their forefathers. It seems eminently fit and proper that structures dedicated to the spiritual and material welfare of men should stand side by side, for the objects are made kindred by the might Creator of the universe.

Another historical event is worthy of remembrance; it will be found in the "Annals of Ellitcott's Mills," written by Mrs. Ann Tyson, of the Society of Friends, late of Baltimore. She says that before 1772, when the Ellicott's commenced the improvements at Ellicott's mills, the manufacture of wheat into flour was unknown in Maryland; but James Brooke, an enterprising farmer and large land owner in Montgomery county, entertained more advanced views and determined to try the experiment in his mill on Hawling's river. After succeeding in grinding his wheat, he found no market for the flour. There was no Baltimore, and Georgetown was an inconsiderable village. Meeting with an Englishman who understood the art of baking, he secured his services, erected a bakery and converted his flour into ship buscuit, for which he found a market among the shipping of Elk Ridge Landing and Bladensburg— ports in which a fishing smack could hardly be manouvered at the present day. This farm where James Brooke's grist mill stood passed into possession as tenant of one Jonathan Baye, a Pennsylvania farmer. He proved to be a first rate farmer and a good tenant, for it is related of him, on the authority of the venerable Mr. Brown, that he raised

larger crops and sold annually more produce than was raised and sold by several farms in the same neighborhood. He was succeeded by Joshua Pierce, a merchant of Philadelphia, who married a sister of our venerable friend and neighbor, Mahlon Chandler, who is living and in the enjoyment of good health at the advanced age of 95. Being charmed with Montgomery land as well as Montgomery lassies, Mr. Peirce purchased this farm. He thought its natural productiveness might be increased by the application of lime; he accordingly bought a quary on Rattle Snake Spring Branch in Howard county, erected a kiln on the farm at home, hauled the limestone unburned to the kiln, where, with his own wood and under his own eye, he could burn the lime; then at convenient opportunities, he would haul it out and distribute it on the fields.

I well remember a noted yoke of oxen which he owned. They were the largest and handsomest ever seen in the neighborhood. When too old for use, they were fattened and sold for beef, weighing nearly 2,100 pounds each. Our old friend, Mr. Brown, who then, as now, never liked to be outdone, bought from a W. Va. drover a very large pair about the same time, which he fattened and sold, weighing 2,290 each, but they were not so well matched or active as those of Mr. Peirce. During Mr. Peirce's occupancy of the farm his barn and contents were destroyed by lightning. His friends and neighbors, myself among the number, came to condole with him and to offer our assistance for rebuilding and repairing his losses. The incident impressed us all with our own liability to similar misfortune; and if my memory is right, the impression made by this fire had great influence in originating the Sandy Spring Fire Insurance Company, which has acquired so wide a reputation for its good management and usefulness.

I will add another incident. Some years before his death, I met the late philanthropist and munificent founder of the Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. He made particular enquiries about the land and neighborhood of Brookeville and Sandy Spring, stating that he wished to buy a farm for a nephew, and asking my aid in the selection. Upon enquiry I learned that Mr. Peirce's farm was in the market, he having died, and that it could be bought for $80 per acre. This Mr. Hopkins thought a very high price for Montgomery land; but I informed him that the land was originally good, improvements comfortable and substantial; that it had been well farmed and was justly considered the "crack farm" of the neighborhood. The result was that without personal inspection, but at some reduction in price, he soon became the purchaser of the farm upon which James Brooke's celebrated mill was located. Sister Janney, with an interesting family of sons and daughters, is now the fortunate owner of this historic farm. It continues, as it has done for nearly 150 years, to yield its increase, and with care and good farming it will continue to grow crops and yield abundant harvests for generations to come.

BARON DE KALB.

A BRAVE SOLDIER`S CAREER.

HIS SECRET MISSION TO THE COLONIES.

New Light on His Diplomatic Services— An Agent of France—Important Services to America—The Monument at Annapolis.

[Prepared for the Baltimore Sun]

On Monday next, August 16, the one hundred and sixth anniversary of the battle of Camden, there will be unveiled at Annapolis the monument erected by Congress to the memory of Major-General Baron De Kalb. The committee of arrangements having the ceremonies in charge have prepared an elaborate programme which will make the occasion a very eventful one. The Secretary of State, several ex-Governors, foreigh ministers, distinguished army and navy officers and many prominent citiens will be present.

Major-General Baron De Kalb fell in action near Camden, S. C., on the 16th of August, 1780. He was the son of John Leonard Kalb, farmer, and was born on the 29th of June, 1721, in the German town of Huttendorf. He received such education as can be had in a village school, then became a waiter, and as such, when barely sixteen years of age, went abroad. His identity was lost until near the close of the year 1743, when he turned up as Lieut. Jean De Kalb in the regiment Lowendal of French infantry. His first mission to America is a secret chapter in this history of France, and will be unfolded for the first time in the columns of THE SUN today from the letters and family papers in the possession of the Countess de'Alzac, Nee De Kal.

FRENCH INTRIGUES IN AMERICA.

The treaty of Paris, signed with England on the 10th of February, 1763, consummated the ruin of France's efforts for supremacy in America. It gave up Canada, and consequently, control over the whole American continent to the English. Count De Choiseul, the French minster of foreign affairs, bent on redeeming the shame of the treaty of 1763 and retrieving his own honor and that of France, resolved to seek revenge against England through her colonies. The news of the dissatisfaction existing in the American