Newspapers / The Smithfield Herald (Smithfield, … / April 30, 1909, edition 1 / Page 6
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r Our Farm Department | Devoted to the Interest of Those Who J W Till the Soil f f CONDUCTED BY J. M bEATY 1 I-"77" ^ About Cotton and Corn. The result of the mistake of put ting all the eggs in one basket is a thing that is well known, and the smash of all the eggs caused an en tire loss to the egg-vendor. The farmers of the South should not put all of their dependence In cotton, for when they do so there is a possible disaster to be faced. With cotton the main reliance a slump in figures means havoc, and a setting back of the dial of pro gress. Diversification has been preached so often, that it Is monotonous to repeat it, but still It is only by ham mering that the big nail is driven home. The subject is so important that of necessity there must be con tinued hammering about diversifica tion, and till* time it is to raise corn as well as raise cotton, to stock Southern cribs from Southern fields in place of sending West for the ,!PPn>, ** And when corn is raised the farm er is putting himself In the way, not alone to feed himself, but to feed his horses, his hogs, his cows, his chickens. The stalks will do for months for the cattle apd horses, the hogs fed with corn will furnish meat for the family. A bushel of corn this fall ought to sell for not less than fifty cents. Therefore, diversi fy, plant corn, and lookout for the hogs, the cows and the chickens, which mean a well supplied table, with a ready market for the corn, the butter and milk, the eggs and the chickens. Have the smoke house at home In place of In the West, and corn Is the starting of it, a thing to be remembered also in this day of the advance in the price of wheat, as there is as much blood and bone making substance in an ordinary small sized pone of corn bread as there is in half a loaf of wheat bread, Itnd (lour Is around eight dollars a barrel. Don't bp terrified at the Idea of getting away from an all cotton crop for the result will pan out all right In the end. If the farmer can go no further than to try to raise corn, let him at 1< ast combine this with bis cotton raising, and there will be big results of work if put behind the corn crop. Talking of the out look for corn and cotton this year, the Birmingham Age-Herald has the following, which bears directly upon the question at issue: "Middling spot cotton is worth In New Orleans nearly 10 1-2 cents, and Southern holders will get for about 1,000,000 bales the recent Increase In price. The rest of the big crop was parted with at 8 or 9 cents. The man who held cotton will get about $5 more per bale than his neighbor did who sold earlier In the cotton year. "The recent rise in price will op erate to increase the cotton acreage and outside of some weevel infested districts In Louisiana and Mississippi no one anticipates any considerable reduction In that acreage. The world wants 13,000,000 bales of American cotton, and that is about all the cot ton belt is capable of in the average season. "While it is well to make 13,000, 000 bales of cotton, It is also even better to plow deeply and make more corn. No one asks the South to grow corn as a surplus crop, but there is every reason why every far mer should grow his own corn. This has been explained so often it has become trite, but Its truth stands erect and eternal. No Southern far mer can be prosperous who refuses to make his own corn."?News and Observer. The Houso Fly. The 101 se fly, which we were taught in our childhood to treat with kindness, has been ex[>c??.l. It breeds in stables and garbage pails and car ries the f'lth it revels in across the sugar, the butter and the beefsteak. It paddles its horrid feet in the ba by's milk. The doctors have declar ed war on the houso fly. It probi.My disseminates every disease. It is a nuisance. It must b? ext--rminatt>d It can be driven out of every city. In an age of knowledge, screens and cheap disinfectants, there is no ex cuse for flies in any household. Clean up your premises and report to the health department your neighbor who does not. Get rid of breeding places of flies and will get rid of the flies, says a learned physician, who knows whereof he speaks.?Blue Ridge Dai ly Breeze. Applying Commercial Fertilizers. In some sections of the country there has grown up a pernicious hab it or "saving work" by "shape bed ding" and putting the cotton fertili zer at or near the surface of the ground, almost In contact with the seed. The result is that at the time the cotton is fruiting and needs the plant food the fertilizer has dried up, and the plant food Is not available. When you hear a fellow complain that his fertilizer does not pay him you may u>> kujv that he 1" one of those who save work at planting time and thus utarvt- their cotton at fruiting time. Any intelligent man who will give the subject u thought know.'i these two facts: thut plants can only take up and use lne plant food which Is dissolved In water, and ihat the move ment of the moisture of the earth ex cept while It Is actually raining, is toward the surface. These facts taken together should teach any rea sonable man that his commercial fer tilizers should be put below the sur face where there Is moisture to hold the plant food In solution, and that the capillary action of the soil will bring the available plant icod Into contact with the feedlu? roots. Top-dressing oats, wheat, etc., with nitrate of soda Is s< melhing given as an argument i.fiinst bedding on fertilizer, but it has no bearing on fertilizing cotton and corn which need their greatest supply of plant food during the hot dry summer months. The nitrate of soda is (tulckly soluble and sinks a short distance into the ground w.ih the water which dissolves it, and Is us ed by the plant In the spring when the ground is moist to the top. Cot ton, on the contrary, needs but lit tle extra plant food in the early spring. It is during July, August and September when the plant is fruiting that It needs help to make a big crop. I cite two examples which nave come uuder my immediate notice. A few days since a farmer told me that last year he was putting 165 pounds of fertilizer to the acre Im mediately under his seed. He tried six rows, putting at the rate of four hundred pounds to the acre, and that his cotton was not one hit bet ter on these Bix rows than on the balance of the piece which had only 165 pounds to the acre. Here is a where more fertilizer did not pay. It was not the fault of the fer tilizer, but of the man who used it. Before the plants had used up the plant food In the fertilizer, it being at the surface of the ground had uried up, and was as worthless as that much sand. All that he ap plied in excess of what the plant could use while the spring moisture was in the laud was that much thrown away. Had he put It In the ground where It would keep moist his cotton could have kept drawing on it through the season and used it all. Then he would have found a big difference where ho used the 400 pounds. The other case was of a neighbor who planted near my house, running the planter immediately behind the distributor. In the spring it was the finest looking piece of cotton near us being on fresh land. In July we had a drouth which dried up his fertilizer. The cotton turned yellow and shedded badly. About August 1st there was a good rain which started the fertilizer. The cotton at once got green and began frulttng rapidly. Another dry spell coming on it again turned yellow auu shedded. Had his fertilizer been in moist dirt his yield would have been twice as much. Starvation causes more shedding than sunshine.?Southern Cultivator. Oh, Yei, Burn off Your Fields. The evil practice of burning off the grass and vegetable matter that would put humus and fertility into the land seeuis to be confined to no particular section of the South. The last Issue of the Oklahoma Farm Journal says: "Putting off plowing until spring, raking the stalks and grass together and burning It, listing in the corn without plowing or other previous preparation of the soil, all of these very wrong ways of farming seem tc be still the rule In Oklahoma Instead 1 of the exception. The vegetable matter which every Oklahoma sot , needs bo much is consumed by flrt and the nitrogen, cos'.inK l.r> cents a pound In commercial f<?til':ers. goef up iu smoke."?Progressive Farmer. "Are you a Farmer or Merely a Con tractor?" E\ery now and then, a thought la flashed from ?ome brain bearing the stamp both of originality and com pleteness. so that it become* current from thence on. Just as the govern ment puts the official stamp upon a gold dollar and sends it forth to pass current among all mankind; so V-se minds stamp the impress of their thought into certain words and j send the idea forth to pass as men tal currency for all time. All times of unrest and crucial times, cause ; uien to think more deeply, and some minds coin these expressions that afterwards become household words. 1 he struggle of the Southern far mers to get a higher price for their cotton, has been such a "crucial time," and the fact that we did not get 15 cents for our cotton, does not make our cause wholly lost. The causing of the great Masses of our farmers to think more deeply than usual, goes far to compensate us for our failure as to price. We pub lished two such thoughts. They are too good to lose. They will bear repetition. They are a distinct gain j to the realm of Southern agricultur-1 al thought. No man can put these two ideas more clearly and forcibly than their authors put them. One came from a Tennessee farmer, one from a Georgia farmer. Our Georgia farmer, J. 11. Johnson, of Newborn, (la., says: "I was a contractor once; I contracted with the merchant to grow cotton?for supplies?I was to grow the cotton for the corn, meat, meal and flour that he furnished me during the season. 1 lost out and now 1 am changing m.v method. I am quitting the contr-icth.g business and gone to farming." The uuestlon is for us all?are we coutrectors or farmers? How much of the (ontract ing business enters into our system? Can we change our mode to a bet ter system of farming? Whether you are rich or poor, landlord or tenant, this Is now a pertinent ques tion for us all. The great unrest among our farmers, t-hows conclu sively that something is wrong. We have been told by our would-be lead ers, .that the fault, was in \vall street. In our banking system?In our government; In the English spin ners' greed, aud a thousand outward places, but the truth is that tue chief fault lay at our own door; it is in our lack of a true self-sustain ing, diversified system of farming. Some minds have gone the round, aud like hounds that have been [ thrown off the track, they have cir cled round and struck the true trail, and from different points you hear them "opening out," In tones that tell, that they have struck the right trail. Then comes Mr. W. E. Jenkins, from Tennessee, and says: "All your foodstuff must be grown on some body's farm; It is presumable that it can be most cheaply grown upon your own." Why? You save the freight; you have no hauling from town, you have the demand at your own door for the stuff, you do not have to pay the merchant's price, you do not have to pay the specula tor and the middle man?those two you have been cussing so much. You know the standard of excellence?no impurities?no damaged stuff put off on you and you do not have to pay "time prices." It realy seems as Mr. Jenkins says, that something must be radically wrong with your farm and with your system, if you can not grow this corn and meat more cheaply upon your own farms. ?The Southern Cultivator. Do Not Plow Land When Too Wet. I want to caution our people again, especially those having clay lands, not to plow the laud when wet. This warning can not be sounded too of ten. ll makes no difference whether you own the land or not, you will be damaged by wet plowing. The crop you plant this year will be seriously injured it you plow too soon, and you are entailing an unnecessary loss on all who follow you in cultivating this land. 1 know the temptation to plow is strong, especially when you are badly behind with your work and your nelghbot" is plowing. Remem ber that your plowing when the land is wet is not only useless, but worse than useless. You have given the work of yourself and mule in order to do your own self an injury. It is not the man who plants first or lays by first that wins, but the man who makes the greatest number of bushels of corn and bales of cotton. It does not necessarily benefit you to have your cotton up or chopped before any one else in your communi ty, but it does benefit you to have 2 bales or more cotton to the mule ' than your neighbor has who plowed wet. Wet plowing and cotton rust go hand in hand.?The Southern Cul ' tlvator. 1 The government of the British ' Kast Africa protectorate has prohib ' lted any person experimenting with 1 wireless telegraphy without a license from the governor. I Booker's Shop I | Tobaxco Flues and Trucks |j ? f~~~ ? Prices to Please ?9 I O. V. BOOKER. Prop., 8 g Smithfield, N. C Legal Blanks at Herald Office ======^===============T! Headquarters For Heavy and Staple Groceries, General Merchandise, High Grade Fertilizers, Buggies and Wagons, Furniture, Coffins and Caskets. . Compare our prices before .you buy. Cotter-Underwood Company SmithlJeld. N. C. *1*********** ************* i 5 Something Every House Keeper in the County is 5 yj interested in at Cotter-Underwood Company's ? Jfj Furniture Store. All the ladies in the County M J? ore respectfully invited to call and see it. ... 9R W B 2 We Have Them! Cole Combination Planters, Guano Distributors, Hoosier Corn Drills, Deere Corn Planters, Cox Planters, Cox Distributors, K P. Distributors, Led beter one seed Combination Planters, Syracuse Chilled Plows and all kinds of farming tools. Paints and Oils of all hinds. Furniture! Furniture!! Our Furniture store is full of well selected goods at lowest prices. Latest styles and designs in Mattings, Rugs, Art Squares, Pictures, Etc. We can frame any size picture yuu have. Yours obediently, nail Hardware Company, Benson. N. C. THE J NO. A. McKAY MFG. CO., Dunn, North Carolina. Machinists, Iron and Brass Foun lers, Castings of all kinds. We make he best Swing Saw Machine In the world for the price. OLD MACHIN ERY MADE GOOD AS NEW. High ;rade work guaranteed. Agents for he leading makes of Machinery. 3ood stock of machine supplies al ways on hand. Agents for the celebrated Farquhar Machinery. Agents for the Des mond Injec'or and Phillip- Steel Split Pulleys. A Modern Water System FairbsnKs-Morse Domestic Outfits ' Give the most reliable and economical water supply (or farm or suburban homes. No more fear of fire. No pump handle and water carrying drudgery if you own a Fairbanks-Morse outfit. Always ready to W supply an abundance of water lor your stock garden ana aomest?c use. ine ! I engine also runs your churn, separator, feed mill, wood saw. in I tacc aors more cnorrs man inrre mm ai our muu uuc ui?u ? y. I Operates on gas. gasoline, kerosene or distillate. Cut out *. "//.?.V u./r i xr*t I /or Fwrfing M *1 Fairbanks, Morse d Co. CHICAGO, - - ILL. I ? | \ Bank Account jj Q Saves Yoa ft B Loss of &.oney and Loss of 5 D Sleep. H jjj Saves Yoa jj m Time in making settlements * Q and disputes about them jj ? aft srwiurd > a Saves Yoa Q And your family risk of Q | life 01 personal injury i And Makes Q a written receipt of all your Q ? payments and business 3 I transactions. 0 a a * 4 per cent per annum compound- J Q ed quarterly paid on Savings De- f H posits. lj fl Branch ( 8 Banking ( Company ? WILSON, :: North Carolina ( Do Not Fail to Get a'^Bottle of Rice's G. G. Liniment, Fop Rheums tl?m. Neuralgia and all pains it is the best remedy sold. Try a bottle and you will never be without It as thou sands are ready to praise It. Manu factured, by the Goose Greese Com pany, of Greensboro, and sold by Johnston & Holt, Smithfield, N. C/ - j-? Tobacco Flues Do you want the best flues? If you do get them from 8. B. Johnson the old reliable flue maker. He has beerf making them 15 years. If you need flues bring or send your order and he will make you the best flues at lowest prices. If you need roofing I have the best at very low prices S. B. Johnson* Smithfield, N. C. Selling the Goods You Want! We now sell Hardware, Mill Sup-1 plies, Paints, Coffins and othei* undertakers goods. If you are going to build and need anything in the way of building material, we think we can suit you. Flooring, Ceiling, Weath? er-boarding, moldings, Mantels, Win dow and door frames, Doors, Shingles Laths and brick. We sell Parold, Neponset and other prepared roof ing, screen doors and windows, CALL TO SEE US, John I.Barnes & Bro Clayton. N. C. Tombstones, Mon uments, and Iron Fence For Sale! Write for prices. Fair deal ing to all who patronize us. Dunn Marble works M. B WILLIAMS, Prop. Dunn, N.C. Moved arket 1 have moved my Meat Mar ket and Fancy Grocery store to the new Odd Fellows' building on Main Street where I will be glad to serve roy customers with the be*t of everything in my line and prompt delivery. 1 appreciate very much the liberal patronago I have re ceived and respectfully solicit a continuance of same. In my new place I am better prepared ; to serve you. Mrs. L. L. Liles, J. W LILES. Manager, Selma, N. C.
The Smithfield Herald (Smithfield, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
April 30, 1909, edition 1
6
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