Newspapers / The Smithfield Herald (Smithfield, … / Oct. 14, 1904, edition 1 / Page 6
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Farm Department Conducted bv J. M. Bkaty. The Cotton Situation' The cotton crop and the mar keting of name are now interest ing topics alike to the farmer, the manufact urer aud the speculator. It is very evident that for the past several months there has been a determined and concerted effort to "bear" the cotton mar ket. All signs point to that as plainly as the finger board on a mile post does to the destination of the road. The cotton mill men of the South, generally, have been the natural enemies of high prices for cotton?and not, under for mer conditions, without somede gree of justification. Tbeircapa city to manufacture was limited and their products have not been established in many of the world's best markets. For them to have stocked their warehouses with high priced cotton and see the surplus go to their Northern and foreign competitors at a re duced price, would have been courting disaster and ruin. The situation to them, especially for the last year, has been exceed ingly perplexing. Their capital was invested in machinery, sup plies, etc., aud to lie idle meant loss. On the other hand, to buy exceptionally high-priced cotton, not being able to even guess at the size and price of last year's cotton crop, might mean still greater loss. So indeed they were in an unenviable position, and the only thing in sight for them was to fight down high prices, which they have done as faithfully as any one could have wished for. M A N U F ACT C HE If NEEDS, NOT COW PRICES, HI T STEADY PRICES. Hut the conditions which first faced the farmers, a few years ago, and later, the manufactur ers, have put all hands to think ing, and from their research will evolve a plan or method by which both producer and consumer will be benefited. The cotton manufacturer does not need low-priced cotton but be does need steady priced cot ton. With steady prices he has something to base a calculation on and knows just what he is do ing. With steady prices the buy ers of his products will know what to do and will keep on hand a stock sufficiently large to meet his demands. And the farmer, too, is much better off with a steady price, carrying with it a fair profit, than to have the ex tremes in prices that he has ex perienced within the last few years. Hut these years of experience with the barometer of prices marking very high and then very low, have been productive of a not unmixed evil. Thinking business men have been studying the situation and think they can see in the cotton crop of the South even greater possibilities than most of us have dreamed of. Hut to bring out these possibili ties there must be harmony be tween the producers and consum ers, or rather between the farm ers aud the cotton mill men. THE WAKEHOl'SE SYSTEM EX PLAINED. 1 be most feasible plan in my opinion, for this that has been suggested i* the bonded ware house system. My this plan the promoters claim (aud not with out a slow justification) that the prices of cotton can be more steadily maintained by market ing the cotton crop only as the trade requires it, and withhold from the market any surplus that may accrue until a short crop will cause a demand for it. i This, it seemo to me, would be an ideal condition. When we think of the crop in 1898 of 11,- i 270,000 bales selling for $325, 000,000 and last year a crop of ' about 10,000,000 bales selling i for twice as muen, we can readily understand what a mill stone i around the cotton farmer's neck i is a surplus of a million bales. If we can eliminate that sur- | plus or keep it off the market the 1 question that most confronts t and concerns the cotton farmer t will be immediately solved. This i is just the thing the promoters ; of the warehouse system propose ( to do. They propose to do it in i this way: The man who must 1 have money to meet his obliga gations can carry his cotton to i one of these warehouses, have the f ?otton weighed and graded and I ?et a receipt for it upon which he 1 can get money at the bank to i meet his obligations without i throwing the cotton on the mar- i ket. Of course, if prices are all < right and to his liking, he need 1 not take his cotton to the ware- i housi. rt '!!, but sell it on the I open market. And also if he it* iu position to hold the cotton tnmself be need not take it to one of these bonded warehouses, but store it on his own premises if he so desires. Hy this system, it is claimed, the speculator will be largely eliminated and the "bears" who have been pulling the prices of cotton down, will have to seek cooler climes fortheiroperatious. THE OUTLOOK FOB CONTINUED (iOOI) P BICES, As a matter of course if the bet ter prices that cotton would bring under this system of selling were to run our cotton people crazy, and they were to persist in making more cotton than the trade couid consume, there would of necessity be a drop in prices. That would be inevitable, but it would not be the spasmodic fluctuations that we now see, but a gradual decline until a reaction was brought about. However, that is hardly prob able for some time to come at least. In our new possessions, the Philippine Islands, we have acquired several millions of in habitants, the most of whom ac cording to the pictures we have seen, show the need of a new suit of clothes without much delay. And as our soldiers have been there for the last few years civiliz ing them wore uniforms from cotton cloth, it is but natural that the citizens of those islands will also adopt cotton cloth for their clothing. These islands alone should develop a great market for Southern cotton. And as civilization advances there and elsewuere, the market for cotton goods will iuerease, I in all probability, to thecapacity of our production. Even here where the cotton is grown, tne demand for cotton goods is in creasing. There are more pounds of cotton consumed per capita j among our own people now than there were twenty or thirty years ago, and the consumption in creases annually. It will be so all over the world. As the peo ple advance in enlightenment the consumption of cotton will in crease; therefore with prudence, we need not look for any great surplus in our cotton crop for some time to come. And with the warehouse system a surplus could be carried in all probability until a partial failure in the crop would create a demand for it.?T. B. Parker iu Progressive Farmer. The Craze to Llveln Town. < >n one of the back streets of a country town is a vacant lot. This lot is unimproved, covered with brush and stumps. Hard at work upon this lot, chopping and grubbing, is a man about forty years old. i ask him if he has bought the lot, and he in forms me that he has not bought it, but has rented it for a garden. He pays a dollar and gets all he can raise there this season. He save he cannot afford to buy potatoes and other vegetables, they come so high. I can con ceive no harder task than grub bing and clearing this lot, and the saddest part of the task must lie in the fact that he is not clearing it for himself, but for another. This man owns a small, cheaply constructed house on a small lot in the worst part of the village. Four years ago this same person owned sixty acres of good land, mostly im proved, with good buildings and a fair orchard. He had his own fuel, water handv and fine land for gardening. To-day he buys his fuel, carries water forty rods and pays a tribute for the privi lege of clearing another man's lot. One year in a grocery store, one year in a restaurant, one year working out and this year pick ing around getting a living any old way he can. Hut he and his wife wanted to come to town. They wanted to be where they ;ould see something, and they wanted less work. Well, they are in town now, they can see sometuing?the back end of a livery stable and two saloons, a pile of old boxes and barrels and the front of an old blacksmith ihop. Their childreu play in the streets and their neighbors' pigs and chickens play in the back rard. This man was worth #4, >00 and out of debt four years ago; to-dav I would not give ji.jOO for all he has. Last night I drove by his for mer residence, a handsome, com ortable farm hotne. with scbool louse and neighbors near by. | In my mind I compared this man's surroundings as they are now, and I wished I could ihow them upon canvas to some of my friends. Surely some of them would be made to appreci ate the advantages of a country home. | Every night about 5 o'clock 1 meet or wee imaging and going do ward the village scores of farm ers, their sons and hired men. In wagons, in buggies, upon wheels and on foot, all in a mad rush to get to town. Who does their chores, who cares for their stock I do not know; but there the,v go. and I wonder what they tind to compensate them for leaving the farm at this hour of the day. Hut from 5 to 7 there is a general rush for the village. Twilight is the pleasautest part of the day in the country. The early evening, the cool, delight ful atmosphere, the beautiful sunset, the content, the peace, the rest. And yet hundreds of farmers, their wives and children miss it all, and for what? For an hour in the throng, ft.r a few minutes idle gossip, for a glass of beer or an evening's carousal. And consider the loss. Calves, nigs, cows and horses half cared for or even neglected; money lost, odds and ends of work put off and many an important job left uncompleted. Money fool ishly and hastily spent, bad com panions annexed and bad habits formed. Could a merchant do a successful business that way? i Does the business man desert his place of busines during the most important hour of the day? i know a man who makes it a rule never to go to town in the even ing except upon important busi ness or to some promising and j specified entertainment. A good sermon, a good lecturer, concert or theatrical entertainment will occasionally call this inan and his family to town intheevening; but the occasions are rare when 1 he is not at home as dark comes on. This man reads and studies; his place is in good repair and his livestock shows good care. He and his family are well dress ed, the table is supplied with good food, the library contains good books, and all have time to read, and really do read the best farm journals. Now, who is likely to be "green," this man and his children or some of these people we see night after night standing around the streets of our villages? The farmer needs an office. Let that office be at home. Let him make the evening his office hours. Let the children learn business habits Let these habits be learn ed at home. Such boys and girls will not be half so green when they go out into the world as those who stand yelling around a pool table or trapesing up and down the streets of a country town. The evening hours are the pleasantest hours of country life. The evening hours are the most profitable part of the day to the real farmer. The gadding habit once started makes us dis satisfied with the farm, and it is easy for me to recall instance af ter instance of those who have become dissatisfied, made great sacrifices and moved to town, who are now total failures, liv ing from hand to mouth upon the back streets of little one horse villages These people wanted to be "in it," where they could "see somebody," and where they would not "have to work so hard." One such man is working upon the streets to-day shovelling dirt, and as I look at him I wonder why it was so much harder to work for him self than it is to work under a boss. Fashions change. Even now people of the better class are looking for country homes. Let the change go on. As these dis satisfied, restless and lazy peo ple leave the country a ciass of better, brighter and more intel ligent people from the city will come to take their places, and then, oh! how the country will boom and how some of our poor, dissapointed old neighbors will long to get back to the beauti ful homes they are now abandon ing!?Indiana Farmer. Lulu Stanhope, St. Louis: "I used to liavea horrid complexion, took Hollister's Rocky Moun tain Tea and am called the pret tiest girl in the city." Tea or Tablets. 35 cents. A. H. Royett, Selma Drug Co. The heart is an astrologer that always divines the truth.?Cal deron. Better Than Pills. The question lias been asked?In whnt way are Chamberlain's Stomach and lever Tablets superior lo the ordinary cathartic and Liver I'illl? Our answer is They are easier and more pleasant to take and their effect is so gentle and so agree, able that one hardly realizes that It is produced by a medicine. Then tbe.v not only move the bowels but Improve the appetite and aid the digestion. For sale at 25 cents per bottle by A. H. Boyett, Smithfleld; Selmn Drug Co. .T \V. Ben ion. i) K Stoves, Smithfleld Hdw. Co. How to Handle Manure Produced on the Farm. Manure, like every product of | the farui, ha* a value, but if we put more labor in value, on this manure, from the -table to the Held than the inanure will in crease the value ol the crop, the credit ot the manure will be on the wrong side of the ledger. Manure is a very particular thing to handle without loss If you pile it up so that it throws the rain, it burns and away goes the ammonia. If you spread it 1 out thin, the better elements are washed away. If you put it un der a shed and water it and work it over, from time to time, you exhaust very much of the value by the time you havesubstracted the value of your labor. You can add nothing to its value; you only retain what is in it, and you may get the manure in a condition that the crop will take more of it up the flrst year. Es-, pecially if you use it on garden products it should be well broken down, or rotted as we generally call it. Manure is like food; it must have moisture before it can be assimilated by growing crops, so that sometimes manure in a very dry season does more barm than good bv keeping the soil dry. Mv experience and obser vation have taught me that we get the most profitable returns from manure spread on the sur e. fi. _ ^ l. j L. .. l luue niter nie ^ruuiiu ims ueeu broken, either for corn or small j grain. It is in a condition or rather position, to be carried to the roots of the plants by the rain, and if the rain fails to come it acts as a mulch to someextent. I would always spread manure from the wagons as I hauled it. Never leave it in heaps to burn. Also if it stays any time you get too much where the heap has been. Another argument in fa vor of putting manure on the surface is in reach of the young plant when it needs it the most. The young, vigorous plant makes the large crop. Your horse and cow may travel to the hay stack and help themselves, but your plants cannot go after food any further than the root can reach out, and they may become ex hausted before they reach it. Therefore we should get all the manure in such a position that planrs can be fed on it in early life. This is more especially true with wheat. Manures plowed under six or eight inches, and the ground sown to wheat, is of lit tle benefit. Before you get the manure turned back, it has got down below vour reach or the reach of your plant. Many farmers now haul their j manure direct from the stable to the field, and scatter it as they haul, and I prefer this method to leaving it under the eaves of the stable to be placed out. Manure put on the surface in this manner should lie long enough to leach into the soil; that is. the soluble part. Then turn under what humus there is left This plan of hauling direct from the stable at all seasons of the year gives bet ter results on clay soil or clay subsoil. ()n light sandv soil or gravel subsoil, I would put the manure od just before planting. Ther is a great deal of rubbish about the farm that should go into the manure, or to the feed lot where it could be tramped down. Now, I would use all this barn yard manure to produce more manure, in the form of clover, the cheapest manure that the farmer can use. We can fill our soil full of humus and nitrogen with clover, (iuard your ma nure pile well. See that it neither escapes into space, nor starts to the Gulf of Mexico by way of some rivulet that meanders through your barn lot.?Indiana Farmer. For eruptions, sores, pimples, kidnev and liver troubles, con stipation, indigestion, use Hol lister's Rocky Mountain Tea. Carries now life to every part of the body. Tea or Tablets. 35c. A. H. Royett; Selma Drug Co. Where there is emulation there will be vanity.?Johnson. THE GOOD OLD WAV. A severe cold or attack of la grippe Is like afire, the sooner you combat it the better your chances arc to overpower It. Hut few mothers In this age are willing to do the necessary work required to give a good old-fashioned reliable treat ment such as would be administered by their grandmothers, backed by Boschee's Herman Syrup, which was always liber ally used In connection with the home treatment of colds and Is still In greater household favor than any known reme dy. But even without the application of the old fashioned aids German Svrup will cure a severe cold in quick time It will cure colds In children or grown people. It relieves the congested or gans. allays the irritation, and effectively stops the cough. Any child' will take it. It Is Invaluable in n household of children. Trial size bottle, 2'"-; rcgulai ? ire, 75c, For sale by Hood Jiros f asasi?t-a?:4 xts; we are having -noi siull" now. I[ ill I! SI New things in Fall Clothing and Nobby ; ; r : Styles in hats. Metropolitan Fashion in Shoes and up-to-dateness in Dress Fabrics. 5 8 jj | Try our International Clothing, "Key- ij | stone hats. "Arogan" and Anvil brand ? 3 Shoes, and every conceivable pattern in ; i Dress Fabrics. A. A X X jj | We are still in the General Merchandise ;; business and are fully fixed to please you. ilj 5 8 <*?<?. 5? 5 i & If you want a suit made to order we are the "Hot Stuff."A: X X X If ? i *: John s. Barnes & Co. { < ^ CLAYTON, X North Carolina. ^ Complete Stock. We have one of the fullest and most complete stocks of Hard ware ever shown in this county. We carry Stoves, Guns, Ammunition, Builders' Material, Carpenters' Tools, and anvthinp else you want in our line. Devoe's Paints: Fewer Gallons, Lasts Longer. Rural Free Delivery Mail Boxes for sale by us. Come to see us, CLAYTON HARDWARE COMPANY, '?? C! W. CARTER, Prc-netor. THE J NO. A. /Vic K A Y /WFG.CO/VIP ANY DUNN, N. C.. ft FOUNDERS. MACHINISTS AND GENERAL METAL WORKERS I AND DEALRR8 IN Mill Supplies and high-Grade Machinery. AGENTS FOK ?? i Farquahar Machinery, Atkin's Saws, Sergeant & Lane Saw Mills, Etc. ?E ^ o n ? ? E I= 5 w 2 E 1 - ? a 2 ? o a Thornton Music House. Opposite Boyett's Drujj Store. X X Pianos, Organs ? AND ? Small Musical instruments. I If von wish to buy a PIANO r or OlttiAN come to see us or drop us a card. Old Instruments Repaired. GEO. E. THORNTON, Manager. Manless Land For Landless Man And for him whose acreage is limited because he cultivates a high-priced farm* There arc vast tracts IN THE GREAT SOUTHWEST Within stone's throw of farms in the highest state of cultivation which are practically manless and can be secured at one fifth to one-tenth the market price per acre of an "Old State" farm. Write for illustrated literature descrip tive of Arkansas. Indian Territory, Oklahoma or Texas. VERY LOW ROUND TRIP RATES To any Southwestern point every Tuesday In September, and the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays In October and November. Tjflll JOHN SEBASTIAN, GEO. It. LEE, t pftv Phss. Trafllc Mgr., Gen. Pass. Agent. \fBy V *5 CHICAGO, ILL. LITTLE HOCK. AKK.
The Smithfield Herald (Smithfield, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Oct. 14, 1904, edition 1
6
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