Newspapers / The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, … / July 28, 1887, edition 1 / Page 1
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J -'i I WAAi. a v iI fi.oirq a JIT YAV7 THE INDUSTRIAL AND EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS OF OUR PEOPLE PARAMOUNT TO ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS OF STATE POLICY. Vol. 2. RALEIGH, N. C, JULY 28, 1887. No. 23. - am mmi'W Mm mm m m OPR FARMERS' CLUBS. What our Farmers are Doing and How the Work of Organizing is Progressing. The Farmers' Club of Hickory Grove, Mecklenburg county, has forty eight members. I. Milton Caldwell, President ; E. W. Lyles, Vice- Presi dent ; M. F. Trotter, Treasurer ; C. B. Cross, Secretary. Postoffice address Burdett, Mecklenburg county. ' v Cq) Auburn, N. C, July 15, 1887. The farmers' alliance 1 met here Sat urday, July 15th, for the first time since the organization. It was to meet July 8th, but on account of an address delivered by Col. L. L. Polk EditorV of The Progressive Farmer, it was j postponed until the above named time The farmers in the section of St. Mary's township, or at least the ma jority of them, think that the alliance is the very organization that they needi It was organized by J. B. Barry, ; of Texas, on the 28th of June, if I make no mistake. The following were elected as officers : Jno. S. Johns, President ; Wm. Watts, Vice-President ; Sellie M. Smith, Secretary ; A. G. Powell, Treasurer ; Jeff Smith, Chaplain; Reuben Kelly, Lecturer ; D. D. Beas ley, Assistant Lecturer ; S. C. Smith, Door-keeper; H. C. Massey, Assistant Door-keeper.. The organization was composed of V 16 members. On the 8th. mst., after Col. Polk finished his address, 1 3 gave their names. At this meeting (July 1 6th V they were accepted. At our next meeting (Aug. 4th) these will be i initiated, proviaea our supplies arrive by that time. The alliance at this placets in its infancy and ot course y( make very, slow progress, 1 f , Hoping that the secretary of every alliance, club or grange in the good Old North State will publish the pro ceedings of their meetings, I am, Yours respectfully, Sellie M. Smith, Sec'y. QUERY FOR THE ATLANTA CONVENTION. Is it right to foster or allow wealthy companies or combinations to gamble in the staff of life the various kinds of provisions and cotton to the op pression and depression of the working people ? If it is a sin to gamble in paper, is it not a much greater sin to gamble in the necessaries of life to the detriment of the laboring classes ? . Please con sider. H.N.Parker. FAIRS. The time and places for holding the various agricultural and mechanical fairs in the State, so far as reported, are as follows : Edgecome Agricul tural and Mechanical Fair Association, Tarboro, Nov. 8-11 ; Eastern Carolina Fair and Stock Association, Golds boro, Oct. 26-28 ; Cumberland County Agricultural Society, Fayetteville, Nov. 9-1 1 ; North Carolina State Ag ricultural Society, Raleigh, Oct. 18-21. The date for the Roanoke and Tar, River Agricultural Society has not been made known. TOBACCO. There has been a great improvement in the tobacco trade during the last month or six weeks, in all the markets of this country, and prices have ad vanced in many grales from one hun dred to two hundred per ent. All reports concur in the opinion that the present crop will be a short one, and this fact has helped to stiffen prices. It is unfortunate that so many farmers had disposed of their crops before the advance took place, but if they had all gotten good prices, they would probably, have planted full crops again, and thus the over production would have continued. As it is, the market will be relieved, and all who make fair grades of tobacco can safely calculate upon remunerative' price for the grow ing crop. Durham Recorder: FEEDING STOCK. No kind of stock' should be fed more than they v can. .eat up clean at any one feeding.- If any is left over from any cause, "it'sEould be carefully gathered and given to some other ani) mail at once. ' If allowed to 'become stale and then offeredit has generally become offenf sive and will be refused. The stock will go without and suffer rather thaii eat it. ' - ' i ; Horses especially dislike a manger wmcn nas oecome sour irom ; tne ret mains of former feeding; ; or a hay rack where the hay Jbas been picked over and contaminated by an hour's breathing upon it. Keep this cleanly and fresh, x SQUASH. Squash requires rich soil with plenty of well decayed manure. The manure is plowed in six or eight inches deep and the land is well harrowed. Th hills are six by seven feet apart and a shovelful of fine manure and a light dusting of Peruvian . grass should be given to each , hill.' Three vines are left to 'grow in the hills. The ground is well worked with the plow while the plants are young; and": after that with the cultivator and - the hoe. As the vines get to be four, or five feet long the ends are pinched to make the lateral shoots grow vigorously. , As these are . the . bearing shoots this - is very important, uy tnis curure l u, u u u quashes averaging seven pounds m - . ... i - ach have been grown upon one' acre f larger fruits are desired only three or four should be left to each hill One thousand hills are made to the acre. Muskmellons are grown in pre cisely the same way. but the hills are five feet apart only, and, the pinching is done closely to ' make " a compact growth, which covers the ground. JV. Y. Times. LITTLE MATTERS. The constant care of little things is demanded during all this season in the orchard.. All the wormy fruit should be gath ered for the hogs, as fast as it falls ; or, what would be better for both the orchard and the fruit, turn the hogs into the orchard and let them devour the fruit and cultivate the orchard at the same time. ' ! Continue to prune by rubbing off the useless sprouts, and use your knife if any have become too strong for the thumb and finger. ." From time to time let the ashes be scattered under the trees ; not close up to the trunks, but anywhere beneath the cranches. Nothing is superior to ashes to improve fruit trees, both as to growth and fruiting.- . ' ' The caterpillars are still to be watched. They have been ' at work during all the past month, and promise now to strip your trees of both leaves and fruit ; for no fruit will mature where the leaves are wanting. ' Mark the trees which are worthless, either as to the quality of their fruit, or as to bearing, so that you can re place them with others. .New Farm. : : FLAG ROOT. In Fayette county r there is a farmer who makes more from a quar ter of an acre of swamp than he does from the remainder of his farm. He made last year from this quarter of an acre $5,265. That beats any thing but a rich gold mine. The explana tion is given in the words of the ven erable and well-to-do farmer : " I tell you," said he, "when I first moved on this place it was very un healthy; my stock died rapidly and and family had no health. My wife had been in the habit of keeping cal amus in ' the house for her own use, and she decided to . plant out a small patch on the edge of the swamp. It begun to spread rapidly, and in a short time the whole quarter of an acre of marsh was covered - with it. The cattle drank the water : from the branch on which it grew, became healtny, and. ceased to die. It was then that L first began to take an interest it the growth of the the cal amus, and to take pains to save and dry the root for market, as I under stood that it, would sell well." Calamus is the botanical name for "flag-root." Ex HEALTHY HOGS. It has been pretty definitely proved that filth, impure j water, and general want of care are largely conducive to epidemics of , so-called hog cholera, a number of 'diseases- lung; intestinal and blood iseases-goin under that name when more4 than usually fatal. In view of the fact that water-courses and ponds . are, especially low this season,- owing to the drouth, those who have droves of hogs should be especially careful" that swine do not get water from? these sources. Such water will be more than Ukely to carry tne germs oi malignant disease, xne better plan would be to use only the water of wells,1 even at the expense of considerable extra labor. In addition to this, great care should be used that all the surroundings be kept perfectly ciean.- iSo less important is a diver sity of food. The man who places his dependence on corn as diet for hogs, old and young, is generally the first to suffer when .... malignant diseases be come epidemic., , Swine is not only gregarious in their habits, but they are dependent upon a variety of food,' and cannot be' kept on one single ar ticle even as well as . other farm ..ani mals. The sagacious man will easily understand the necessity of changing the gram food of swine, as well as supplying a daily quantity of vegetable food. This may. consist of any, plants the hogs will eat including clover. So far as roots are concerned artichokes and potatoes will -be indicated, and if swine can be allowed to gather these for themselves so much the better. At the first symptoms of disease the feeder should look to the surroundings and remove all the animals to clean pasi tures, separating the sick from the well. When we find drooping ears, low-hanging head, diarrhoea, vomiting rapid breath, and an aversion to light, the hog is far on the road to death. Salem Press. ' ' THE CROPS. Farmer Norwood, who is working land just beyond Town creek, says the prospects for the finest crops of corn and cotton are of the most encourag ing character. Mr. Norwood has al ready gathered a fine crop of honey. Mr. David Blum who returned to the city Saturday night1 irorii a trip by " pike " to Monroe and vicinity, says the fields are studded with the beautii ful bloom of king cotton and corn and wheat now look well, but that farmers are alarmed about the possibility of drought destroying all hopes of good results. Charlotte Observer. Thus far the crop prospects from the section of country tributary to "Wilmington have been, almost with out an exception of a highly favorable character. As usual, the time for a reaction seems to have arrived, and it is likely we shall have to take some of the bad with the good hereafter. Ad vices from Columbus county are rather less encouraging, : and a sub scriber to the Star at Maxton writes as follows : You have been, no doubt, receiv ing good reports from the crops in this section, but if the present dry spell continues for many more days, the effect will be appalling. Rains have been very, local. Corn is very small, and the crop will be short. Cot ton is falling back every day." . We regret exceedingly to receive so discouraging a report from rMaxtoni and trust refreshing rains may come in time to revive the suffering crops. It has been some time since the farm ers along the -line of the Carolina Central Railroad have had an abund ant harvest and they would be serious ly affected by even a partial failure of tne corn ana cotton crops tnis season. We may add that the report from Maxton is the first we have received of a really unfavorable character, and we hope our correspondent at that point may have the pleasure of writing us at an early day that there is a marked change for the better. Wit. Star. ' ;. ik-) : . ' " The improvement in Southern ag ricultiire has been remarked by every experienced farmer who has passed through the States South of the old border line. The writer has traveled extensively and frequently through the Southern States for five or six years past, and has taken pains to note down in a minuter,eord the changes which have occurred in several locali ties. Six years, ago, from Alexandria to Atlanta, there were scores of chim neys standing where houses had been ; few fences were visible! few or no cat tie or horses in the fields; no appear ance of comfort and thrift, and very little work going on. In the fall the cotton crop was almost the only one gathering the com , was scarce and poor, and a few stacks of small grain could be seen here and there. The change during these past six years has been remarkable. New houses and barns on the farms ; clover fields ; cattte, sheep and horses ; large fields of wheat and oats ; much better corn ; new clearings, drains cut through the wet bottoms and swamps numerous wagons delivering cotton at the village stores ; many large, new storehouses ; good houses in the villages ; piles of merchandise at the depots, and stocks of tne best farm implements mowers, reapers, grain drills, steam engines, sawmills, thrashing" machines and other evidences of agricultural pros perity are to be seen on every hand. Arid there has been a large influx of Northern farmers who have helped greatly to make the change noticed." A7. Y. limes. ;, . r ; n ... FARMERS' DUTY TO THEM SELVES, f o Farming never will be as profitable as itr is made out to be until farmers begin to ., realise their importance as citizens "and begin to use the power they really have, not only in the mar kets of the world, but in halls of legis lation. "Trust to luck" policy has kept them down these ages, and will continue to do it until they begin to show themselves men'in the land men worthy of their high calling. They work harder, than any other class and produce wonderfully, but when their produce goes to market, they are at the mercy of whom it may please to rob them. 4 Where is the farmer who was ever known to , have a voice in the price of their produce ? The manufacturer puts his price on his products, the merchant puts his price on his goods j and both put their price on transportation, or, what is the same, they dictate to public carriers what they will pay for freight, and their voice is heard, but the farmer has no voice in anything that interests him. Other classes of men can have almost any law passed they want, but the farmer must worry for years to get through the simplest for their pro tection. Why is this ? I think it is because they are ' not united. With neighborhood clubs, county and State societies' and someriewspaper through which they could communicate, this would soon ' be changed ; and then and not until then can farmers hope for anything like fair treatment in this age of sharps and sharpers. North Carolina farmers , particularly need a a central organ in reach of their homes through which they can talk in plain words to each other. They need so cieties and clubs in which to meet and discuss, not only how to farm, but questions of markets, transportation, arid laws, arid they need never hope for much change in their condition until they have these. -Home and Farm. To keep the stables free from : bad odors use dry earth. ; If you are raising cattle for beef you should give them feed as well; as good, pasture. : v ' -ir: j : The most successful shepherd of the future will have his mutton on the market as regularly and in as good condition as the wool. , Attend to the whitewashing of your fences, trees, outhouses, barns, stables, etc. Nothing renders a home more attractive than a liberal use of white wash about the premises. THE PROGRESSIVE FARMER AND ITS FRIENDS. It is known that we started this paper under most" disadvantageous surroundings. - It is not known, how we have toiled and labored "in season and out of season ' day and night, to place it beyond the breakers. We confess with pride arid with gratitude to our friends, that it has succeeded beyond our expectations. It has made strong and true friends. It has enjoyed the courteous kindness, if not co-opera-tion, of the press of the State, for which it expresses its pro found appreciation. Kind words of en-. dorsement and encouragement are borne to us by almost every mail. For all this we feel gratified. But we desire to speak a few plain, earnest words to our subscibers. Ours is an agricultural State. Our people are supporting over one hun-; dred and fifty newspapers and jour nals. Over one hundred of these are political papers. The Progressive Farmer is the only agricultural paper (weekly) among them all. Tt is de voted exclusively to the interests of industrial classes. Is it unreasonable to claim that of the one hundred and i ten thousand subscribers to all our papers, a majority of whom must be j farmers, that The Progressive Farmer j ought to have ten thousand subscrib- ers? This would be an average of but a fraction over one. hundred to each county in the State. Are there !- not twenty counties in the State that with little effort on the part of our friends would give us five hundred ' each by January next ? Are there not fifty other counties that would give us two hundred each ? Are there not ! twenty others that would give us from fifty to one hundred each ? If our friends in these counties will kindly I give us their help and will give half i the number named by the first day of j January next, we believe we can safely j guarantee to run the list up to ten thousand by the first of June next. It would enable us first, to reduce the price of the paper to the uniform price j of one dollar. Second. It would enable us to increase the size and give our. readers the model agricultural weekly ; of the South. Third. It would enable . us to employ constantly the best edi-J torial talent in all its departments, j and lastly, it would give us a paper that could and would wield a tremend- i pus power in our State. Is not this : true ? If it be true,, is it not worth i an effort on the part of our friends 'to j accomplish it ? Who will - give us their aid in securing five thousand ; subscribers by the first of January ? Look at these rates r ... - TO clubs : ' . I 1 subscriber and under five, 1 year," $2.00 5 subscribers and under ten. 1 year, 1.65 ?- 10 subscribers and under fifteen,. 1 f year, . . V . 1.50j 15 subscribers and under twenty,. 1 " vear. . ... . . 1.25- i - - - j 20 subscribers, or more, 1 year,,(1 1.00; ISricuy cash xn aavancex ' r Who .will be the first to send us a club? Remember that for - any one of thof above clubs.; you get the paper free! for one year. Will you not make up a. club in your neighborhood in your,' Grange, in your Club, in your Alii-f ance ? How many of our friends will ' join us' in- the effort' to gVt the. five- thousand ? Write to us for blank ; subscription list and sample copy of , the paper, ; WTio will ielp ? If you) can't do it, can you not get some one, to do so? Show the paper to your! neighbor take it .with you to your Club, Grange or Alliance and show it j to your brethren and get them to take ' it vriU write first for. the blank t. Join us in the work; and let us have, by the beginning of next year, the very best paper in the whole South for our , farmers. ; 1 I
The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
July 28, 1887, edition 1
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