Small businessmen make their rounds: Tommy Ladson tends the pony cart as chief assistant Joe Nicholson reaches for the next delivery, c. 1929. Thomas A. Ladson became State Veterinarian and head of the University of Maryland Department of Veterinary Science.

Stanley Stabler operates a horse-drawn binder at an agricultural demonstration; a co-worker drives the team. Binders cut and bundled wheat, rye, and barley in preparation for threshing; they were replaced by combines, which both reap and thresh. One of the community's most knowledgeable farmers, Stanley Stabler (1907-99) founded the large Pleasant Valley farming operation, still carried on by his sons and grandson.