The news in this publi
cation is released for the
press on receipt.
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA
NEWS LETTER
Published Weekly by the
University of North Caro
lina Press for the Univer
sity Extension Division.
DECEMBER 13, 1922
GHAPEI. HiEL, N. -
VOL. IX, NO. 6
i
EdUorfal Board . E. 0. Branson, 8. H. Hobbs, Jr., L. R. Wilson, B. W. KniRht, D. D. Oarroll, J. B. Bnllltt, H. W. Odnm. Entered as second-class matter November 14,1914, at the Postoffioe at Chapel Hill, N,-o„ nnder the act of Angnst 24, I9I!
THE LITTLE FARMS OF CAROLINA
BUNCOMBE, THE CHAMPION
Buncombe county's farm display took
first prize at the state fair this year.
Buncombe took second place last year.
The same county took first place in
1920. This is a worthy record and one
deserving commendation. Why does
Buncombe lead other North Carolina
counties? The general impression is
that Buncombe farm lands, on the
whole, are not as adaptable to good
farming as the more tillable areas of
the Piedmont and Eastern Carolina.
We think of mountains and hill slopes
when we think of Buncombe. What is
the secret, then?
It is diversified farming, says the
Asheville Citizen. Neither tobacco nor
cotton is grown in Buncombe.
Combined with diversified farming is
the intelligent co-operation with the
farm demonstrators, and the use of
improved farm machinery. Dairying
has also been given a big impetus in
Buncombe county. In explanation of
this superiority, The Citizen goes on to
say:
“The fact that she grows neither
tobacco nor cotton emphasizes all the
more her richness. Her orchards are
famous beyond the confines of America.
Not even Maine surpasses her as a
potato grower. She has given sur
prising impetus in the last few years
to the dairying business and to the
pure-bred cattle, hog, and sheep busi
ness. Her per-acre production of other
crops puts her in the front rank with
the leading counties of a state that
leads every agricultural state in the
Union in per-acre crop production.
“But all of this is not entirely ex
plained by her fertility of soil. Some
of it is due to the Buncombe farmer’s
enterprising agricultural methods. He
is using labor-saving machinery more'
than he ever did. He is employing the
latest scientific information available
for fariaing. He learns from farm
demonstrators. Also he is inspired by
the co-operative spirit and methods in
troduced by the Farmers’ Federation.
In brief, Buncombe county is showing
the state how to reap big profits and
the great blessings that come from in
telligent diversified farming. ’ ’—Gas
tonia Gazette.
TAXES IN NEW JERSEY
Some people in North Carolina who
think they are being heavily taxed, giv
ing no thoughts to the benefits derived
from that taxation, ought to move a-
bout a bit and make observations. Cer
tainly they would find comfort in the
tax figures from New Jersey, where
the aggregate of taxes levied for the
year 1922 amount to the comfortable
sum of ?169,944,939.
Making analysis of the New Jersey
situation, Mr. McCready Sykes, writ-
in Commerce and Finance, says
that this is $J 7,000,000 more than was
ever before paid for similar purposes
in that state. It includes the taxes levied
by local assessors, county tax boards,
and state boards. Local or municipal
taxes account for $95,609,276. State
school taxes are $9,775,031; state road
taxes in one year amount to nearly $4,-
000,000; county purposes call for more
than $24,000,000.
New Jersey has a population of 3,-
155,900, so that her state, county, and
local taxes alone amount to the stag
gering sum of $61 per capita. On the
statistical average of five persons to
the family these figures seem incred
ible. It seems impossible that the
average family should be paying over
$250 per year in these local taxes alone,
exclusive of all income taxes and fed
eral taxes of every kind. New Jersey
suffers an additional burden from the
fact that a large part of her people
make their living in New York and are
compelled to pay income taxes there.
The average rateof taxation in New
Jersey, as Sykes has it, is $3,661 per
$100.
Compare that with the comparatively
low rate in North Carolina, setting the
North Carolina rate against the benefits
secured, and be happy.—Charlotte Ob
server.
AMATEUR PLAY PRODUCTION
Realizing the seriousness and abiding
worth of the work now being done by
The Carolina Playniakers, whose aim is
to encourage the production of good
plays wherever they may be found,
The Bureau of Community Drama of
The University Extension Division last
year provided a trained director to take
charge of amateur productions at any
community in the state that might de
sire her services.
In June the Bureau published Flay
Production for Amateurs, a bulletin
containing simple, adequate, practical
instructions and sane advice, based on
the experience of The Carolina Play-
makers in producing playc cicditc-bly
under crowded conditions and with in
adequate equipment. The book ex
plains .the best methods for amateur
groups with limited means to produce
plays that they not only need not be |
ashamed of, but also may point to with j
justifiable pride as examples of a com- \
munity expression of the best that the 1
locality has in it. The trcatiuont .-fj
the various subjects is direct and cen-1
cise, so that an amateur director can|
go to the book for aid in an emer- j
gency. |
Play Production for. Amateurs con- [
tains chapters on Organization, Pro-j
duction, Adapting a Platform Stage, |
Lighting, Scene-Painting, and Make-
Up; and a bibliography of works on
these subjects and on acting, folk songs
and dances, and the theatre in general.
It was compiled, under the direction of
Professor Koch, by several persons
connected with the productions of The
Playmakers.
The Bureau is also offering to the
people of the state the services of a
capable, well trained Field Agent, who
acts as director of amateur produc
tions, plays and pageants, in the vari
ous centers at which the people desire
to present more elaborate productions ;
than their own training and experience I
would make possible. This fall the.
University secured as Field Agent of i
this Bureau Miss Elizabeth M. Taylor, |
of Morganton, who was graduated
from the University in 1920. Miss
Taylor’s training began in the early
productions of The Playmakers, in which
she played leading parts for two years.
Later she studied for a year at The
American Academy of Dramatic Arts
(the famous Sargent’s School); and
last summer she attended the Dramat
ic Institute for Amateur Production
conducted at The Art Centre, New
York, by Miss Elizabeth B. Grimball,
the director of “Raleigh, the Shepherd
of the Ocean,’’ and of “A Pageant of
the Lower Cape Fear.” Miss Taylor’s
usefulness is already apparent. She
has, since the University opened, assist
ed with the make-up at the pageant
given at St. Mary’s School, Raleigh;
given classes in folk dancing and talks
about production to High School stu
dents in Caroleenand Henrietta; and at
Caroleen she coached a play. Now Miss
Taylor is in charge of the historical
pageant soon to be given by the people
of Macon county in Franklin.
The Bulletin and the employment of
Miss Taylor by the Extension Division
are indicative not only of the desire of
the University to serve the state, but
also of the seriousness with which the
question of dramatic production, par
ticularly community dramatic produc
tion, must be regarded. It is danger
ous to the drama and to the community
if the production is bad; well done, it
is a thoroughly healthy expression of
an artistic impulse and the result of
commendable enthusiasm.—Dougald
MacMillan.
DRAMATIZING CAROLINA
The University of North Carolina has
adopted a plan for preserving the his
tory and traditions of the state which
promises to be as instructive as it is
popular. For many years Harvard
University has had a course in play
writing; this department has justified
itself by turning out several play
wrights who have won extended fame
and fortune on Broadway and in Lon
don. The Harvard course, however,
aims to produce playwrights of univer
sal scope, whereas the course recently
established at the University of North
KNOW NORTH CAROLINA
A Georgia Verdict
The wonderful prosperity of North
Carolina is on every lip. Florida
challenges the admiration of the pub
lic but not in the same way that
North Carolina does. The great
boom in the Old North State dates
from the time that the people voted
a $50,000,000 bond issue for good
roads. Immediately after the elec
tion the Highway Department set
to work to build 1,000 miles of im
proved roadway during the year
1922. Last week the Department
closed contracts for the construction
of lOy miles of hard surface roads
and 79 miles of graveled roads which
nearly completes the undertaking.
North Carolina has closed con
tracts for building 1,600 miles of
highways within the past twelve
months and during the past three
years she has contracted for a total
ot 2,500 miles. Some time ago,
Mr. James B. Duke, the wealthiest
man in the state and its leading
citizen, said that $26,000,000 could
be expended to advantage in the
mountain region alone. Spending
such vast sums of money not only
makes for the improvement of trans
portation facilities, but makes money
plentiful—so many road hands get
ting good wages.
North Carolina and Georgia are
working with the same object in
view. When the road program is
completed, every county seat-in the
state will be connected by a good
road. It was a huge undertaking in
North Carolina, but the fact that
government aid matched the
bond issue dollar for dollar made it
easy. The enhancement values will
more than pay the cost before the
bonds come due. Besides, you issue
bonds for one dollar and get two to
spend. As a prosperity producer, it
is a world beater.—Athens, Ga.,
Herald.
Carolina has a more restricted field.
North Carolina has a history particu
larly rich in legend as well as in^actual
achievement. The mountaineers in the
western part of the state are among
the most delightful and historically
interesting survivals in this country.
Practically every mountain has its.story
and the wilds of Scotland itself are no
more full of feuds and adventure and
romance. The association of^Sir Wal
ter Raleigh with this state and the
lost colony, the Croatan Indians and
the Mecklenburg Declaration, the stir
ring scenes of the Revolutionary War,
to say nothing of the excitement of the
Civil War and of the reconstruction
period that followed, certainly contain
material enough to keep many play
wrights busy for a considerable time.
These are the traditions and the his
torical incidents to which the new
course in playwriting at the I:Jorth Ca
rolina University is now devoting its
energies. Even though the successful
playwrights who have been developed
at Harvard may not materialize at
Chapel Hill—though there is no good
reason why they should not—the work
is well worth while. It is educational
in the highest sense and university ex
tension work of the finest kind. More
and more modern universities are real
izing the new conception—that it is
their business to be part of the com
munity in which they exist; to preserve
the best traditions of the state and to
familiarize its people with all good
thoughts and actions. Certainly no
more attractive way can be found of
doing this than that which the Univer
sity of North Carolina has now discov
ered. The fact that the plays are not
only written by the students but staged
and acted by them gives the Univer
sity an undergraduate activity of an
especially wholesome and elevating
kind.—World’s Work, Dec. 1922.
A YANKEE TRIBUTE
Southern men were unsurpassed a-
mong the nations of the earth in cour
age, spirit, hospitality, and generosity
to their equals. They were apt to com
mand and apt to succeed. They were
able politicians. With the love and
habit of truth, which becomes brave
men in all common concerns, they
were subtle and skilful diplomatists
when diplomacy was needed to accomp
lish any political end.
My long conflict with their leaders
has impressed me with an ever increas
ing admiration of the great and high
qualities of our Southern people. Their
love of home; their chivalrous respect
for women; their courage; their deli
cate sense of honor; their constancy,
which can abide by an opinion or a pur
pose or an interest of their state’s,
through adversity and through prosper
ity, through the years and through the
generations, are things by which the
people of the more mercurial North
may take a lesson. And there is an
other thing—covetousness, corruption,
the low temptation of money has not
yet found any place in our Southern
politics.—George Frisbie Hoar, senator
from Massachusetts, 1877-1904,
THE CIVIC MIND
If people learn to love their country,
if their vision is raised beyond the pet
ty circle of their personal and family
interests to appreciate the true width
and splendors of national life as a thing
which not only embraces all of us who
are now living here and grouped in a
great body seeking common ends, but
reaches back into the immemorial past
and forward into the^mysterious future,
it elevates the conception of citizen
ship, it fills the sheath of,[empty words
with a keen-edged sword, it helps men
to rise above mere party views and to
feel their exercise of voting power to
be a solemn trust. It is common to
talk of ignorance as the chief peril of a
democracy. It has, however, another
foe not less pernicious—this is indo
lence. Indifference to public affairs
shows itself not merely in a neglect to
study them and fit one’s seif to give a
judicious vote, but in the apathy which
does not care to give a vote when the
time comes.—James Bryce.
CULTIVATED ACRES PER FARM
In North Carolina in 1920
Eased on the 1920 Census of Agriculture covering (1) all improved land in
each county, (2) divided by the number of farms.
Cultivated land includes all land regularly tilled or mowed, land in pasture
which has been cleared or tilled, land lying fallow, land in gardens, orchards,
vineyards, and nurseries, and land occupied by farm buildings.
The average for the United States was 78 cultivated acres per farm; for
North Carolina it was 30.4 and only Massachusetts had smaller farms.
Farms in North Carolina are small partly due to the physical features of the
land in our rougher areas and to the relatively dense farm population, but
mainly (1) to excessive farm tenancy with the landlord interested in per acre
yields' and consequently in small tenant farms, (2) to maximum attention to
cotton and tobacco our two best cash crops, which require a maximum of
human labor per acre, and little machinery, (3) to small total grain, hay, and
forage yields, which require larger areas and more machinery, (4) to small
livestock values per farm, which require broad acres in pasture, grain, and
forage, and (5) to a minimum acreage in fruit and garden spaces.
Our cultivated acreage per farm should be larger. Farm profits lie mainly
in per worker yields. Only 26.8 percent of the land area of the state is im
proved. But our farms are smaller every decade. The cultivated acreage per
farm in 1910 averaged 34.7 acres; in 1920 it was 30.4 acres. In 1920 we had
16,038 more farms but 615,000 fewer acres under cultivation.
Other tables in farm economics to follow as already announced.
S. H. Hobbs, Jr.
Department of Rural Social Economies.
University of North Carolina
Rank Counties
Cultivated
Rank Counties
Cultivated
Acres per
Acres per
Farm
Farm
1
Alleghany
66.1
51
Yadkin
.... 29.8
2
Currituck
61.4
62
Cumberland....
29.7
3
Ashe
46.4
53
Vance
29.6
4
Richmond
43.2
54
Tyrrell
28.9
5
Cabarrus
42.0
65
Mitchell
28.7
6
Rowan
41.8
66
Stokes
28.7
7
Watauga
41.7
57
Lenoir
28.6
8
Scotland
41.4
68
Avery
28.0
9
Lincoln
40.6
59
Montgomery..
, ... 27.9
10
Camden
40.4
60
Bladen
.... 27.8
11
Haywood
39.4
60
Wayne
27.8
12
Iredell... .
39.1
62
Yancey
27.7
13
Catawba
39.0
63
Surry
27.4
14
Davie
38.3
64
Harnett
26.9
15
Caswell
37.7
64
Henderson.....
26.9
16
Pasquotank ...
37.5
64
Jackson
.. .. 26.9
17
Alamance
37.3
64
Macon
26.9
17
Gaston
37.3
68
Pamlico
... . 26.7
19
Guilford
36.3
69
Burke’
.... 26.6
20
Madison. ., ..
36.2
69
Moore
... . 26.6
21
Edgecombe....
36.1
71
Bertie
26.1
22
Hoke
35.2
72
Rutherford....
. ... 25.8
23
Buncombe ....
35.0
72
Sampson
26.8
24
Mecklenburg ..
34.9
74
Warren
... . 26.6
26
Stanly
34.8
76
Johnston
. ... 26.3
26
Jones
34.3
76
Lee
... . 26.3
27
Randolph
34.2
77
Franklin
... . 26.0
28
Davidson
34.1
78
Onslow
24.9
29
Person
33.6
79
Wake
24.8
30
B’orsyth
33.1 .
80
Beaufort
24.6
30
Perquimans ...
33.1
80
Greene
24.6
32
Chowan
33.0
80
Pitt
24.6
32
Cleveland
33.0
83
Nash
24.3
84
Halifax
32.6
83
Transylvania ..
24.3
36
Union
32.6
85
Durham
24.0
36
Hyde
32.3
86
Graham
... . 23.4
37
Granville
32.1
87
Pender
23.3
38
Alexander ....
31.9
88
Polk
23.1
38
Washington...
31.9
89
Craven
23.0
38
Robeson
31.9
89
McDowell...
23.0
41
Hertford
31.8
91
Wilson ........
22.2
42
Martin
31.6
92
Swain
22.1
43
Ornrig-p
31.4
92
WilkpR ....
22.1
44
Caldwell
31.1
94
Columbus
22.0
45
Gates
31.0
j96
Cherokee
21.9
46
Clay
30.8
,96
Duplin
21.0
47
Rockingham..
30.6
; 97
Carteret
20.2
48
Anson
30.3
97
Brunswick ....
20.2
48
Chatham
30.3
99
New Hanover.
19.0
60
Northampton.
29.9
100
Dare
14.6