The Kent Island Bay Times from Chester, Maryland • Page 9

Page 11April 2006Queen County Tricentennial Farmers traditionally helped one another By ROSE G.SPIK In his book County Frederic Emory called tobacco staple crop of the Eastern years, wrote was not only the leading also the currency. As the land was discovered the soils of Queen County were better adapted to growing corn and wheat later, soy beans.Mills were built along the and Chester Rivers and by 1880 there were about 1,300 farms in Queen County Emory.) Farming meant not only raising livestock as well. In the small towns that made up the were several groups of farmers in different areas who helped one another.It was like that on Kent Alvin lifelong farmer and Queen County resident. father Henry ran the his mother Lena ran the general store in Stevensville. The Grollmans have been in Queen County for four in education and politics.

father had a tenant farmer who helped him run the farm. When the milk check would come, the tenant got a portion of the money plus his Grollman.Those essentials included and flour. Grollman and his three brothers also had to help on the farm. grew tomatoes and sugar corn for cannery school kids would come and work and make 10 cents a day for planting said. had as many as 20 mules and horses to work the farm had to farm with horses and said.

The farmers around the county all knew one ingrained in all of them was a strong work ethic and a sense of community.Grollman and the group of farmers from Kent Island were a close knit said. was a group of us and we would all help Tolson and Buck Grollman.In the spring they would haul manure and plow and the early summer everyone would get in the in the fall everyone would get together and fill the silo. pitched in and helped everyone else and if anyone needed extra help with anything we could always call one Grollman.Extra work could include baling hay or fences and equipment and cutting and husking well as making corn shocks. There were even more help was needed and prison camp inmates were allowed to come to the farms and work.The prison camp was located in what was known as Old off of Cox Neck Road in Chester. state would let you have 10 prisoners and a guard would love to come to the farm and work because they always got good said.

Queen County farmers raised livestock as well as crops. were geese which were shipped live in crates all over the eastern United said Grollman.Sheep were also common on the wool carded and spun for clothes and quilts. Until the 1940s the Grollmans and every other family with dairy cattle milked by one time we had 75 to 80 milking everything was Grollman.Grollman belonged to the Maryland and Virginia milkers cooperative and every month the group would take a percentage of the milk check for rental of the and other equipment for were losing said of the milk sold his dairy herd. Grollman still works everyday on the farm and buys and sells live- stock.He travels weekly to auctions in and New Jersey.He still grows soybeans on the four of his six daughters and six of his grandchildren now live.His daily routine of hard work and taking care of his animals will keep him going for a long said. William recalls the community of farmers who would gather and help one another during different seasons of the used to meet at the store just down here and have said Mason of the Ruthsburg now sits empty.

At one was only one farmer who had the necessary everyone would pitch in to help in order to have their knew we could call on one said. The Masons also used prison labor and hired hands to help on the well as hiring an Amish ing World War was a real hard worker worked everyday and he really liked cows.After the war was over he went back said Mason and the two families kept in touch for many years. Like the Masons also had dairy well as raising chickens for eggs and poultry and hogs for had an ice smoke house and a meat house.We used to go down to the mill pond and cut ice and store it in straw to keep it from melting how we kept things cold before refrigeration. greatest thing about this farm was that it had running water in every field at one said Mason.Livestock has access to water wherever they said. oldest son Billy now operates the 700 acres and is taking the farm into the future with organic farming of about 400 acres.

use fertilizers or must grow organic for three consecutive years before beginning the process of being certified as an organic farm. always thought I would end up working on this farm will never really Mason. Today brings in $75 million a year to Queen Paul cooperative extension agent.He said there are 419 farmers in the 168,000 acres of farmland. Queen the largest grower of wheat in the state. the economy on the Eastern Shore.

Gunther said local growers concentrate on quality and develop beef, hogs and chickens with less fat. A brochure put out by the University of Maryland Extension Office states that Queen County each year produces enough corn to make more than 229 million boxes of Corn wheat to make over 122 million loaves of enough soybeans to make over 3 million gallons of cooking oil. Photo courtesy of JUDY E.EDELHEIT James E.Melvin Sr.and John B.Melvin did their planting and plowing with a tractor and mule team. Photo courtesy of JUDY E.EDELHEIT A farmer plows his field in Price..