385 



There are very many acres of laud still unimproved and lying waste, but each added 

 year diminishes the amount. Large tracts within fifteen miles of Washington can be 

 bought at from $5 to |15 per acre. An expenditure of three per cent, of the value of 

 each acre annually for a few years, judiciously combined with careful farming and 

 proper saving of home-made manures, would bring most of it into a good state of cul- 

 tivation, yielding a comfortable living (after the first year or two) to the family of 

 the occupant, and raising the market-value of the land to from $40 to $50 per acre. 



The nucleus of this improvement was probably a section called Sandy Spring, about 

 eighteen miles north of Washington, inhabited principally by members of the Society 

 of Friends, plain, industrious, economical people, with more than average intelligence. 

 The success of their labors was manifested by practical results which soon attracted 

 the attention of observant residents of other portions of the county, and the spirit of 

 improvement, once awakened, spread rapidly, until thousands of hitherto barren acres 

 were reclaimed, aud skillful exijerimeuters and careful farmers in many parts of the 

 county equaled aud even bid fair to surpass the originators of the movement in their 

 judicious and successful renovation of worn-out lands. This was particularly the case 

 in the section bordering on the Potomac River, where au agricultural society, of which 

 Dr. William Brewer was president, initiated numerous valuable experiments. 



The first eftbrt toward arresting the deterioration in the fertility of the soil was 

 made about 1826, by those who directed their efforts toward obtaining a growth of 

 clover by the application of lime. Limestone of a tolerably good quality was found 

 iu an adjoining county. This was hauled to the farms, burned, and applied both upon 

 the sod and ploughed ground. A growth of clover being thus induced, (with very 

 varying results, however, upon different farms,) it was turned under, and a gradual 

 improvement in the character and yield of the soil was obtained. 



The introduction of ground bone about 1839, and of guano about 1844, effected a 

 revolution in the method of improvement, aud the lime-kilns were abandoned. The 

 pioneers in accurate and systematic experiments with the then new fertilizers were Ben- 

 jamin Hallowell, (formerly of Alexandria, Va.,) Richard F. Bentley, the Stablers, Far- 

 quhars, Brookes, aud other practical men. Benjamin Hallowell, in the years 1843, 

 1844, and 1845, tried many experiments with guano, bone, (crushed or ground,) in 

 quantities from 3^ bushels to 30 bushels per acre, ground charcoal, poudrette, and 

 lime. Lime was found to be of little apparent benefit. Charcoal produced no per- 

 ceptible improvement. Ground bone increased in effect with the amount used, 

 though about 10 bushels per acre was found to be the most profitable application. 

 Peruvian guano was at that day magical in its results, and by it, with the bone, he 

 was able to get his farm into a good sod. This once accomplished, careful farming, 

 and the continued application of fertilizers, and what home-made manure he could 

 obtain, augmented the improvement and increased the annual yield. The guano was 

 applied at the rate of 150 pounds to 300 pounds per acre, with 10 bushels of ground 

 bone, upon the wheat-land when seeded to grass. The field thus treated received no 

 further manuring, save compost or poudrette, in the hill, for corn, until its turn came in 

 rotation to be again seeded. The barn-yard manure was best applied as a top-dressing 

 upon grass. The result of his labors aud continued applications by himself, tenants, 

 and sons is shown in the following contrast of the yield of his farm in the years 1845 and 

 1870. In the latter year, moreover, a large family was being supported, and there was 

 much good stock upon the place, while in the former, some of the articles needed for 

 family use were purchased from neighboring farmers, in addition to the hay and corn 

 neeessary for the sustenance of two horses and two cows. 



The crop of 1870 was from the same farm, but of course much of it grown upon land 

 that in 1845 was not capable of cultivation from want of clearing, draining, and 

 manuring. 



As a further illustration of the results of the renovation of worn-out lands and im- 

 provement of that already under cultivation, the following census-returns for 1850 

 and 1870, for one district of the county, embracing about one-fifth of its area, will be 



