Newspapers / The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, … / April 2, 1911, edition 1 / Page 11
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THE OHA£LOTTE NEWS APRIL 2, 1911 II Farmers* Forum and Monthly Digest EDITED BY J. N. BIGHAM. j • ■;, !l Refelections Concerning Soilt ccM. i' for bvf^akfast ijijn b:ui>n and ,'".aioo'^. nud a ' dc ihi! thing? Ml? SiMue como :',f> t-.ouie from i;i'w I hat in the yihiug tlun you plant Where do ''•> all know that ' thp soil. Your r.d thr Ilf-’ of oin* 'T' li vt>ry quickly ' • were heathen iti ca'iire. we i\e Moihor Earth lot'!5«>cs, for every to thing knows ■• V or life. '.‘iorful thing from ’' o ’ Take np a ■ i ill vMur hand, •u\Tish din. Mayhe sand pnrrlrles You loel It, and and a clay, ’!• and that if fviimWle to pieces. smell or taste. ’ intich yet. Then * hx)i? at the 8oil •h It when the ' , loojt ?.t it after > :i\ the water le -oi! It is carrying th!ni;? year Ut poii when ^ Is dry. working harrow and cult!- ihluss for vt'nr father has ' \\\» wonlil 1o;'i‘n nonderfv.l 1- trn all that '.v'ry\y Ui ordef to ■n U. bnt 1 nni I’ke 'o ! f ■ j'lsT i-anse • "rstin? Tf - ' ;rnct' more ■> soil v.ni - )•, I von •' . - I r-nd ‘f. • t . .1 can ■r> lla't i.ird ot a ’ looked. and • i * ' • ’ \ ’ d. ’iv? did ti be v^as^’t ' r-' ”.nder ' •'.-..I I’lT,t i ’■lY-' '\v ?'•'^ci \vf>rr !=-'> pmail that if yon wotild lay five thousand of them side by side they would ct)ver a space an iuch^ long. Others of the soil particles were so big that fltty of them laid side by side w'.uld make an inch. He noticed that the sandy soils had mostly these bigger giantiles, wbiie the clay soils were made up largeh of the smaller ones. Me noriced iliat some of the particles were lound, while others were point I, jagged and angular. Yes, our soil expert looked at the poil very carct'uily under the micro scope and learned many very in teresting thinp,s. Jle took t^oil and weighed it. Which do you suppose weighed the heaviest, clay soil or sandy soil? I suspect that most of you would make a bad guess at this question. The soil ex pert found that a cubic foot of clay soil weighs al^out seventy-five pounds, while a (ubic toot of sand soil weighs abotil one hun'.ired poiinds. Then our imaeinary soil exiiert watched the way water and air act in the solV He found the li(fle soil’ particles had air spaces between them. He also s iw how that, when soil is modevatelv mol??t, each lit- tU' granule has a film of water around ii. He looked at the very small plants and animals living in the soil, and especially the soil bacteria. These I are smaller than the end of a I point on a pin, yet they do a w'on- I derful work In the soil, for if they ' were not there, you and T would not ■ be living. He took soil to his labo- ratorv. and found thai it had in it uitrosren, phosphorous, potassium, 1 mapnesbnn. ?iluminum, and several , other tliin!.r.-:. Some soils had more ! of one thing, p.nd some had more of anot her. '>'hf'n perhaps he thought, "Where I tlid Hoi! c»mie from?” So he went to ! .T j;cologi5t and asked him about I t how rock bioke up into soils. He i h 'Miied thou'-ands nf in'^repting • 'liiiigs. rnd many things th.it are valnah'e In farniing One of the most valuable things . thi-; irwa^inary man learned was *'\i-''n utrned farmer himself for ;>v.'!:ile, and watched the way plants irow in the soil. He fottnd that I'lar's. just like peoi)lo. p.pnrcriate a nood h.;-me. They wanr enough to .i: and drink; ihey must hr'vo air N'. breathe; 'hey must not have too mueii or they will dwon; the'.' iiice a trood soil in which lo push aronnd and place their roots.—Wal- ku e P'armer. iWTOPfiOTECT PUNIS FROM fBflST BIIE Spnng Plowing- iTypL [|C Some ,p _,,p If'Hlbtl IS iHt (By A. A. Otto, Observer, Charlotte.) , (Written Especially for the Far-1 mors’ Forum.) ♦ ♦ m Lije School ‘1 ar; in wih 'he : '.Mil, and !.",o'^'n . Th^ •qr.) -,1 however. h.-fS bopn refocus.^ed I . ■■ r’.f'pcars in n'lite a different ii'iiit. \ 'd hisfl;. so. ’Fhoic is 'lo wider ■'1(1 o*' i-;;towif'dg'' thni agriculture. I'.^r good i i'i*’ 'rri'ions roasons too nu- >n» '■ci'P to mr-r^'ly mer-'^ion. n'>ii'’hl^'‘5 :i-,'us.; ill this arti(de. the 20th century '■■’.vn’.ing nmn. of noc.e.'^isity, be con- rii. ri\e, as a2:ain.i deslrucHon; re- i as u2:ai/ist d:ple;ion. Our na’'- - I -- and farrV did the ’ f.ry best they kno •’ijf.nu ■ nial^ ' knowledge of i ieir 'hp ^arm should prefer no unkind r, .,aid'.^« hoolsha’i':^li'^»-c against them. Nevertniess the - - -0 ol of the I20fh century tonnd the •1 ■ instruc-!^ condition; ' nar i on farm-■•• - To ^^^et that condition .oir^--’ bv him. farmer must have a greater knowl- • co'’rse of!elge a better mental and mechanical ‘ equipment and to furnish this equip ment the county farm-life school has set Itself to the task. ♦ ♦ ♦ DAVIDSON CAMPUS NEWS. ♦ navidfon. Ai>rll 1.—The track team under Director Osborne left yesterday time and he I i >”• any time. > r. .s gi’-en any ;:al conditions rV.at such a train .•' us take Meck- ■ ''cultivated land • l ed ami p'it in ! j ’ips: the first • : y or in other years ago. For r.'tir'T.l work on md practicfl roiaring to house- iiig ’.y the girls, he A. ’M. in the f house, said '■'T a train ac a n^gTO >j*'ing aak- j on tiT'e replied: | r-.. b”t r esent^ v/an^d | f’feensboro. where today they will :i iro meant r.nd'ent^r the meet with Guilford college. .-'-Vy mepnt that 'fhe baseball team is leaving today " e bur h“ hadn t Durham. They will plav A. & y\. in Raleigh Monday, and 'd iho f‘»”n*ry I Forest in Durham Tuesday. Dr. Smith is preparing a question- aire to submit to all the students In coliege who failed on any tickets last fall. A large list of questions w'ill be asked, and in this way the president hopes to probe more fnlly Into the causp of failures, and as far as possible correct them. Dr. .1. W. MacConnell, of the biology department, left a few days ago for - - his old home in McConnellsvllle, S. C. ■ IH after it ! gjj-jce iijg arrival there, however, he ‘■i'>n It responjied gj^ attack of tonsilitis. and as > et is unable to return to Davidson. Dr. C. M. Richards is evxpected to arrive home today from Hamer, S. C.» V’here he has been attending the cele bration of the eighty-third birthday of bis father. The finals in the declamer’s contest will be held next Saturday night, when the six men who won in the ])relimin- nries will speak for the two medals. Mr. .1. E. Evans. '10, was on the hill vesterdav. He has just closed his school near Red Springs, and is on his wav home. :li .re i.f that da.v, V ' -It i,n the virgin I : ■ tritr n's of the exhausted to . the most casual : u la (I to lie done ’ .1^0 of return from '■ \b.j\ii this time :hp 1f*th century I . ru '' •■rf' fliscover- .T ■ () .a!' r of t he ->)iituerfial fertll- • ‘ i;i'. Kurrka—we ‘ ^ aiiii behold, all ■I i I ill. As I iiiu' went ' , n:. ! less ai)parent rad i-il dcpjf'tion of s ■ ■ i!0» ice.iWle on 111 'inn*, say, the ' 1 .li ii nry, the a ^ta ion. made pos- • li 1'1!1, I In- agricultur- ' ■ farihcrs institutes A Lively Shoe Sale. The shoe sale at Foreman & Miller C'omanv's store opened Saturday morn ing with a crowd in waiting that quiciilv filled the store to its ca])acity. It soon become necessary to lock the i.ihc.j, doois to prevent dangerous crowding. 1“ A’lantif and the admitting new customers as those no • iilix .i and l/,tws onlhad been served passer out. j-. n fliscover some j So many were unable to gam a m ni.ii Ii their findings, tance to the store Saturday that uie liat i.K'M with .scien- management has decided | I (li ;iv ivd that the special Monda..v morning bargain w i O’! was rs>*>ntial- is advertised elsewhere in this lor the benefit of those who could not be served Saturday. “Nothing is .so bad that it couldn t bo wursp." quoted the Wise ‘■V'es.” a.greed the Simple Mug, 'i.ai lie who is to - I '.ii ., inust have a • that covei'ii I 'ii ii t ht* "ginl;" !(»(( ;iiiiiiil lo -iuiis—law, medi /iirv ittW, iJir-wi- i H li . !h* was graded can’t suffyr from insomnia and nignt Iv a farnar. 'I'his view mare at the t'.itie. ’ o be able to protect vegetation \ from thi damaging influence of frost, it is quite necessary to know the conditions which cause it, and in a general way to understand the theoiy of Its information. Tt is well known that clear, cold weather, and a night with little or no wind, are necessary conditions. Further, the dew point must fall to or below the freezing ]joint of water, (:’2 degrees,) and for this to occur, there must be a low per centage of relative humidity. Tlie terms, humidity, absolute hu midity, relative humidity and dew- point ai'e ones we hear quite fre quently, yet are rot often Vinderstood. By atmos))heric humidity is meant the moistnrp existing in the atmos phere in the form of water vapor. Absolute humid!iy is the measure of this amount of vapor per given vol ume of air. It may be expressed in grains per cubic font or yard, or as a part of the weight of the atmos phere. usually expressed in fraction al parts of an inch of barometric pressure. Relative humidity is the ratio of the amount of moisture inj the atmosphere at a given tem])era- j ture and pressure, to the greatest: possible amount which it will hold at that temperature. This is usually ex pressed in percentage. If the humid ity is !iO per cent, then the air is half-saturated and at the same tem perature and pressure could hold twice as much moisture. Tlie dewpoint is that point to vvhich if air is cooled, precitutation of moisture results. As stated be fore, to produce frost the dewpoint mi’st fall as low or lower tnan 3- dei>.T ee':. -\s soon as the sun sets, the earth and vegptaiion lose their heat tjUite rapidly radiation and convection, prin cipally. By radiation, the heat passes out ward in .straight lines in rays sim-j ilar to rays of sunliglit. 'i’hey lose ih^;ir hf^a; to convection currents in the atmo.spbrre caused b.v unequal cooling of dif-'erent layers of air, thus causing a sort of circulation. When water tiasscs into vapor, heat is used up in th“ process. Tiiis re mains latent in the vapai'. and is! known as the latent heat of vanoriza-j ticn. When ihe waiter vapor is con-| densed. this heat is released a.gain. j On a cool night, v«iien tiie a’r is riui':' humid, this condensation be gins «‘arly in ihe night, and so niiuh lieat is released in the j-rocess of condensation that further cooling '.f flu-' sir is prevented and the frost ieuit^^rature is nor reached; therefore. i!‘^ dryer tlie air, the better the cliance lor frost, other conditions being favorable to its fcirmatio'!. F’-om a .''tv.dy of the forcgoiiig. it can Then, be reasoned that to pi-event frosT. ii'f l>est methods will be il) to prevent I'adiation of heat to tiie air, (2i, raise the ternperatnre of t*''''- ail'. (■’.*, cause convection cur- rnits a'tiricially. or (4) add moisture to tite air. 'Ihe first two methods are perhaps the o’lf'S most easily used by the or dinary grower, and of these two the first one is used the oftener. This can be don' by a direct covering of. the veg:''taiion with newspapers, dry) boards, straw, moss. etc. It is a v.ise! priivision for the small farmer toi have on hand a good supply of' some protective material ready for use on indication of frost. For the extensive farmer, these mcrnods can hardl.v be resorted to on account of the great amount of labor involved. If tiie field be in a-^ valley or surrounded by woods, smudge fires are the best protection, filling the air with smoke w'hich acts as a blanket to jirevent further radiation of heat from the plants and the earth. Wet straw, with enough dry straw to aid burning, is good material for this purpose. Wet ma nure soaked with kerosene is another good substance. Any thing that will burn slowly and make a dense smoke, old leaves, moss, rotten hay, etc., wl'l answer admirably. Where water can be turned around the plants, this ha.s proven a good preventative of frost, but Is hardly practical in this section on account of tiie rolling surface of the land. The farmer who locates his orchard, trucK patch or vineyard on a hill side, acts wisely on account of what is known as tempevatvire inver sion, 1. e., the air over the hillside being warmer at night than the air in t.he valley, the cold air settling into the valley after nightfall. 'But he who has inadvertently located his orchard in a valley, can use the smudge fires to a better advantage, as the smoke will settle into the vailey on a still night and remain there with but little replenishing dur ing the night. Fruit trees, w'hen laden with blos som, can be protected b.v heat plac ed under the trees or by fires built at intervals In the orchard, thus rais ing the temperature of the air over the orchard and setting up convec tion currents in the surrounding at mosphere, both aiding in frost pre vention. This method has been suc cessfully used where the temperature dropped below freezing Some will say these methods are expensive. Seemingly, they are, but where a fruit crop can be saved by a few cents expenditure per tree and a small amount of labor, it v/ould be folly not to make the ef fort. The frost warnings issued by the weather bureau are very reliable, and tlie farmer who makes use of these warnings will find it greatly to his advantage. Too many risks are taken by the average farmer. A se vere frost may, in a single night, lose the labor of a whole month, or per haps !noi'e, wlien by simple and in expensive methods, judiciously used, the crop might be saved, whether it (By R. B. SULLIVAN.) (Written Especially for Farmers' Forum.) I desire to caution against subsoil ing in the spring, or plowing up the unpulverized subsoil. Either is absolutely injurious after the winter freezes are over. I know from ex perience as well as from observa tion that one should not subsoil in the spring. The subsoil is too wet from the winter's rains, and will not be dry enough any more until after the time for spring preparations have passed. So do not subsoil in the spring. In all the breaking done after the 1st of March it is very necessary to keep the smoothing harrow fol lowing the plow—never more than a haTf day behind. 1 make it a rule to keep my harrow with me and before the noon hour I harrow all I liave plowed in the morning, and In the laie aiiiernoon harrow what I have plowed in the evening. One will ntver be able to catch the soil in as fine a condition to pulverize as when freshly plowed. If you supply yourself with easy way of coupling and un coupling. I would suggest a harrow ing Up with plaw twice each half day. I have been practicing this meth od this spring, and think I can see the surface soil In finer condition than if left for several hours ex posed to wind and sunshine. T I Farm Poultry Balance the Account. With the first of Anril comes the season of spring. The responsibility of another crop forces itself upon the farmer, but what of the past? Have your efforts been generally suc cessful. or are you unable to realize the gains you have made? Have you kept accounts as you w'ent along so that you have ijeen able to know the extent: of your success, or the lack of ir? This is as important as any other incident of farming, but it must be confessed that farmers do not give it the at'.ention it deserves. Few keep accounts as they ought to do, and in thi.s the farmers lack in business. If a merchant, or a manufacturer, or a miller, or even a doctor or lawyer, wp-pp to fail to keep accounts theie would soon t)e work for the bank ruptcy courts. Hut let us assume that the present reader has kept accounts and knows the condition of his business. If in balancing his accounts he finds prof its to his credit, from which side of farming did they come, the produc ing side or the selling side? Both, he is readv to say; he produced well and he'sold well. All right; con sider it so. Hut suppose the balance shows a loss or fails to show a gain? ^Nliicb side is responsible for the failure? Hov.- w’as the production? About as usual, pob.^ihly a little better than us ual. At all events, that depended u];tin you and nature, and you did your best, didn't you? Why. then, was there not a T)alance in your tav- or? The lU'ices were low and you marketed unseasonably. The failure was clearly on the selling side, and there is where it is almost every time. And if properly analyzed the gains will nearly alway,s be found on that side also. We. therefore, urge fariner.s in this bright spring time, in this season of begi'ining things, to cast up their ac counts and strike a balance. T.earn w’hat you have been successful in and in what you have failed. T.ook well to the sflling side, and see fo it that tlie producing side does not mo nopolize your knowledge, attention and efforts.-'Cp-To-Date Farming. This ic an age of progress and ad vancement toward a higher degree o{ improvement, says H. O. Correll m the Araeric-an Swineherd, consequent- 1 ly the breeder and farmer is con- i tinually confronted with changed con- jdiiions; therefore, in order to ad just their opera^ions to the present demand and these changed conditions they must produce as near the ideal hog or yielding the most pork and lard at the earliest a,ge possible by the most economical s>stem. Years a.go. when land and all kinds of feed ajid labor were cheap, ii was the custom (and no doubt most profitable) to feed our cattle for the market at three years oUl and even ' four years of age: also hogs j^ropor- tionately the same. Tt could be done at that time with profit, as the orig inal investment as well as cost of production was not compared with present day conditions, but time and experience has developed this method as improper, and ihe thrifty feeder has disconiinued the plan. The suc cessful feeder of cattle does not se lect a coarse, rough, out of pro portion sort to begin with, but in stead it will be the good sized me dium kind, with style, finish, and good feeding quality, just the kind that respond to feed and care from the first hour of investment. A colt that has been developed inUi a ta'l, rough. taii|le legged horse will never be found in the barn of a succf'ss- ful breeder and expert draft hor.se feeder, who feeds for the most iirof- itable mar!-:ots, but he will select the grade that will develop into large horses with all the style, finish and feeding quality be can get. The shrev.d and mimey-inaking cattle and horse feeder has found that it takes no more attention and not so much time and exi)fise to feed the quick and responsize sort as it does the disappointing kind; the same disai>- pointment comes to ihe breeder and feeder of the undersized kind conse quently if men are devoting their talent to this particular line why not derive the best results possible? The same principles that guide the beef cattle and draft horse feeders into the port of success must be ob served by the men who feed hogs for the great markets of the world, and the breeder of thoroughbred ' hogs, who keeps this practical idea I in hi.s heati and practice, will be the bleeder whose w'orth and in fluence will be felt throughout the commercial world. Disease and feed must be con sidered among the most important factors in the hog breeding and feeding business. From a disease standpoint the sooner into market the less risk of disease; from a prof- it-feding standpoint it is an es tablished fact that the greatest prof its are taken up to the mean ur equal distance between extremes. It is a loss of time and opportuni- t,y for a few breeders or a small mi nority to indtihge in some local ‘fad’ tcven if they are sincere and honest in their convict ions). If a ccrtain style of type does not meet with general or popular favor it will final ly dwindle and die from lack of sup port. Life is too short to swim against the currcn^ Even v.hen corn Is high the relative price for pori; frequently makes it the cheapest feed for finish ing: •’'0 cent corn is not ex])ensive feed for six-cent hogs. Up to the last (By C. W. HUNT.) (Written for the Farmers' Forum.) There is little wonder that the average farmer pays little attention to hens and eggs, whon he brings eggs to town and has to peddle from hr,use to house and store to store and take less for them than the wholesale price for promiscouos by gathered eggs. Or worse still when he or she raised and keeps a large fiock to find them on a strike in winter when eggs often get around 3-') cents per dozen. These, I say, cause little wonder at the remark that there is nothing in chickens; but there is another side to this matter of farm poultry. If a man on a .oOxfiO foot city lot can make 3 hundred hens pa.v a profit at pres ent high feed prices, there is no earthly reason why the women and girls cannot make even more. But chickens like live stock must have something more than bones and feathers back of them to do goc.d^ work, though the same care can make “dvmghills” do more than they do. It costs no more to keep a bunch of good hens than poor ones. In fact it costs less to feed a flock of single combe White Leghorns from a known winter laying strain than to kee]) the heavier breeds—they eat IcfcS. I find a prejudice, against the Ix'ghorn on account tof their forging capacit.v, but as cattle do not do well out in the open, and all kinds of v.'eather. neither do hens, and they m.v.st be limited where grain and su.rh are raised about the near pre.'n- ises. Coutrallsd they are as docile as any and pretty, appreciaiive and prof itable. A few dollars invested in eggs to .set under the mongrel hens, some wire to make hens or better to piece off some rough ground for hen pail ture, a small house, and you will be surprised. Eggs are the most profitable, but chickens always sell, and while getting eggs all winter you ran. if you wanted large broilers, put a Rhode Island red cock with your hens and hatch early broilers then change to White Leghorn cocks for raising your pure layers, which ought to be hatched in April and May, in this climate to do their ' best the next winter. No cross will make a prettjer, quick growing, large fryer than the above cross, and at same time docs not do awaj' with pure breeds. Haphazard selling always discour ages. Make engagements and keep them. Most w'ell-to-do-families like to know where the butter, eggs and chickens come from, and if you raise good stuff you can deal w’ith the.^e at an advance of 5 to 10c per dozen above the retail market the year ror^nd. The young people are the ones to get interested in such, and if given a show they will soon be paying their oTvn way. be satisfied at home and not wanting to come to town to I .- a slave to for some business house. Your girls can handle rhirkn^s ar.d if Iiusy with time making their o^:'n money they will be less inclined t i worry some light headed "top-no. ’ to suffer the balance of life. It costs but little to ger books and bulletins on poultry culture, and any ordinary mind can comprehend it. Ask your congressman to send you Bulletin No. L’36, "Incubati'.'n and Incubators," and Bulletin ; “standard varieties of chickens, ' and any other they may have. The.-^e help you to know more. Any one 'vl o ^^ill take the pains to get together some good chiokens, make engagr- , ments for guaranteed fresh eg:^;-, ^ can be independent and happy by u-i- • ing rare and good sense and in dustry. I have tested the thing to verv satisfaction a city lot iiOxttO, where I keep 100 hens in a house ?'x:'''> feet, and find the White Leghorn not only in conflnemc-nt, but in ^^*tn'e'' layed more eggs bad days when in the house than on nice days in thft. open. The product has all been sold; at from 5 to 10c above the market price and begged for at times. 1 have gathered as high as 71 eggs per day, all of which are da'ed with a band- dater. so a man knows just how old, the egg is when he buys i'. At thlsi time I am hatching incubator chicks! by the hundred of the single comb White Leghorns, and selling many; settings of eggs. Eggs are the profit, and the size or looks of a l.>roller has little to do with it when the: profit is considered;, for that reason a man wants a hen that will las', first of all things and all the ex perts have agreed that no chicken will lay as much or as saleable a:f egg as the single comb White Leg horn. If I were out where thousands are who read this I would in a gros^i time have an even 1,000 hens laying; eggs by the cross and everj-one would be sold to hotels, hospitals, large schools, and well-to-do people at an advance over the market. Wish soma one would kick me to the farm this very week. (iet a start with the right kind, the White Leghorns, and .vou will lay up money where you have bought on credit. When the Boll Weevil Comes ♦ j six weeks of feeding.’ wheat, rye or I other cheap substitutes may be used Strange Case .-j i* i 11 v. lv. .rj *j\z ^-SCd jwith grass, but in tl'e or’iinary course ( corn will be the best deijendence for the close of the fattenin.^; period. OJ Pamcide Paris. April 1.—A strange case of parricide is occupying the attention of the authorities at a small place near I.e Mans-, where a young farm cwner is alle.gd to have murdered his father, a railway employe in Paris, af ter sending him an urgent telegram. The sou had inherited a farm from his grandmother, and wished to pur chase another piece of land adjoining. His father had been a steady railway employe, and had put by a little money, from which the son asked him to ad vance him a certain amount. The fath er gave him 400 pounas some time ago. but when his »on made the second ap plication he positively refused. A dispute took place between them, and some days afterwards the father received a telegram in Paris, telling him that his son was very ill. The father left Paris at once, and arrived at his son’s place at 4 o'clock in the morning. What happened then is- not yet clearly established. Some hours later, the son. who w^as not il lat all. called on a doctor and told him that his father had committed suicide. The doctor found three bullet wounds in the corpse, Vvhich seemed very sus picious. He informed the authorities and an inquiry was begun, which end ed in the arres't of the son. Two gen darmes who had been sent to watch him tried, it is said, to obtain an ex planation from the young man, who persisted In saying that his father had committed suicide. One of the gen darmes quietly took him aside and told him that this could not be true. He must have had provocation from his father. The son thereupon s^aid that there had been, and, it is alleged, vir tually admitted that he had shot his father, but he persists in maintaining that it was in the course of a quarrel that he fired three shots at his father. On the other hand, a neighbor who remained up on the first night at the wake states that the prisoner took out a number of bank receipts for various bank deposits belonging to his father. This, ogether, with the strange tele gram sent the night before the alleged murder, are points on which the pris oner wili be closely questioned. Civil Service Coming High London, April 1.—A sum oT ii59t'(,7.5r>,- 000 will be required to mee’ the expen- ; dlturc on the civil services during thu | first three months of the fiscal year, I which commences today. Details- of the expenditure are set out in a White j Paper issued recenily. j For the ■whole ye^r the sum esti- j mated for is as compar d I v.ith .|a27,065.420 voted during the ses- j sio nof 1910. A large part of the in-1 crease is accounted for by extra pay- | ments of old age pensi''tns-. The amount taken for the three months on this I account is .$1 r>.O0O,()0O and for the | year, $60,075,will be required as compared with the total of $4S,000,0(j0 v'oted during ir»10-ll. For the pur pose of the board of eduaction SIS, 750,000 will be required: the total ou the year on this account is $71,875,00(1, as compared with $70,323,010 last year. The postofRce vote for the year is 1^101.412.225, of which $27,000,000 will be required in the first' three months Las’t year the total poStoffice vote w’as $99,141,280. They ill Rally Monday Night be the small patch of beans in the garden or the hundred-acre orchard- Mayoralty candidates will have a great rally Monday night, Mr. Haw kins’ forces having engaged the au- ditorluni and the Bland management securing the Academy of Music for the evening. They tell as how they will get out all the voters and speak to them about the issues of the day. The poll books closed at sunset last evening. The campaign of the aldermen is almost as interesting as the one for the ofifice of chief executive of the city, and. like it was said before, “the poiitical pot is seething.” A radical change in the crops of any agricultural state is a matter of se rious and trrmendous importance. Rap id changes in the cropping system of any country do not take place except under unusual conditions and influ ences. and whe such changes do occur, a great disturbance and demoralization ot business results. for illustra tion, Louisiana produced $35,000,- 000 vvorth of cotton and $12,000,000 worth of corn in 1^*00, and $15„000,- UO worth of cotton and $35,000,- 000 worth of corn in 1910. This is a most marvelous change, in the two chief crops of the state, to have taken place in 10 years. No educa- Lional movement could bring about such a change. It took the compell ing force of the destructionof > ing force of the destruction of the cotton crop by the boll weevil to bring about this revolution. In this change, however, agricultural and business dis>turbances occurred, which, in many localities, approach ed panic and demoralization. The effects of the appearance of the boll wevil in its march from v.est to east, have been much the same everywhci'e, differing only in degree, not in kind. These effects have been hurtful, chiefiy because thev forced themselves upon the peo- pie'suddenly- and found them unpre- uared., . , • V\/ill We Learn From Texas and Louis iana? 1 Will the East learn a lesson from I the results of the ravages of the boll i weevil in ihe West and begin the I adoption of a cropping system in I time to make the change, forced by ' the boll weevil, less sudden and 'harmful: or will it continue the one- ‘ crop s-ystem and remain unprepared j for the changes which must as cer- ' tainly be made when the boll weevil ! does arrive as day follows the night! I No student of the human race, es- ipecially of the conservative, slow- ^ changing farmer class, expects an> i section " to prepare for the boll wee vil, in the sense of making all the changes before the arrival of the weevil, which its actual appearance will force; but is it too much to hope that the eastern part of the cotton belt may prepare for the in evitable changes by a study of those crops and conditions ’^\'hich must be developed to meet the necessities re sulting from the invasion of the In sect into any section? That the sec tions now' being invaded by the wee vils are better prepared vhan that part of our cotton belt first invaded is apparent; but this better prepara tion consists almost entirely in ai better knowledge of the changes which must be made to meet the de-| struction of a large part of the cot ton crop, rather than in having actu- ' ally made these changes before the arrival of the boll weevil. I A Change Inevitable. I A change in our cropping system ‘ is inevitable. A depleted soil and ! the high price of foodstuffs ha-ve ( been gradually effecting a change in our farming", and forcing greater at- I iention to the production of heme supplies; but this change has been taking place very slowly. The visita tion of the boll -Wr'eevil forces it at once. Such a change can not be 1 made at once without disa^er to many. New crops require new knowledge and new equipment, and these can not be ac-'tuired suddenly. It is our duty, therefore, to ad monish those sections of the couu- try, which still have time to pre pare for the certain change bcforo them, to do so to the fullest extent possible. To what crops shail "^e turn to take the place of a part of the cot ton crop? Tobacco is an excellent crop in many sections; tut the large amount of hand labor it demands, the small acreage which one man can cultivate, and its influences tend ing toward soil depletion and the one-crop idea or practice, make its adoption, as a .general crop for the South, undesirable. So_- Beans and Peanuts. In fact, our exj:>erience with the one crop, cotton, and the results of the one-crop system every\,here and at all times in the history of larrn ing, makes the choosing o* any one crop to take the place ot the cotton crop undesirable if it were possible. The cotton acreage mus-t be decreased when the boll weevil comes, but no one crop can be found that can take its place and to this exten', at least, the invasion of the boll weevil is# not an unmixed evil. We must select several new crops to ad just our cropping system to the new conidtiocs. We luuf^t grow more food Ciops an(3 more crops for soil im provement. Of these the peanut and the soy bean stand out prominently as offering tremendousr possibilitie3. Of these two the peanut must be given fi.rst place in all those sections fitted to its growth. The sandy and sandy-loam cotton lands offer the best conditions for peanut growing. ^I'he clay lands and the northern part of the cotton belt may well adopt the soy bean as one valuable crop for meeting their needs for a sub stitute for a part of the cotton area. The peanut is promising becau.^e it is a nitrogen gatherer, and Ciur soils need nitrogen, which we no'.v buy in commercial tertilizers, siid for which we pay many millions an nually. It is promising because at the ruling prices for many years past, it is as good a money croj; as coti'n at from 10 to 12 cents a pound. I' is a promising crop because ic is an excellent food crop for man- and beast. It is our cheapest hog feed, making pork at one-half the cost we now pay for it, by the millions of dol lars worth every year. It fur nishes more and better oil than the seed of cotton, which it may dis place. The peanut improves the soil, when proper methods are followed, sells for a price which makes It a valuable money crop and furnishes both hay and “grain” for our live stock. With the sole exception of cotton, perhaps no crop grown on our farms is the equal of the peanut, as a gen eral farm crop. It is inferior to cot ton because it will resent iieglec'. more promptly and because the ne gro, w'ho is a large agricultural pro ducer in the South, has never learn ed to grow any other crop as well as cotton; but it is superior to cottoJi in that it is a soil improver, has a (Continued on Page T^iirteen.)
The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
April 2, 1911, edition 1
11
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