Newspapers / The Smithfield Herald (Smithfield, … / May 14, 1909, edition 1 / Page 6
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I Our Farm Department | Devoted to the Interest of Those Who W Till the Soil d f CONDUCTED BY J. M BEATY | L- ' -i The South and Live Stock. The South needs more and better live stock. It would be to her ad vantage to double the number of cat tle raised, to improve the quality, to shorten by one-half the time required for maturity, to increase the size of each animal by one-half and to in crease the proportion of high-priced parts. The course of cattle raising In Texas Bhows that the South can grow Just as good cattle and at a lower cost than can any other part of the country. Climate is in favor of the South as a great breeding ground and grower of young animals. Cotton seed nu al and other cheap foods which the South can produce to better advantage than can the North or West gives her a peculiar advantage as a feeding or finishing section for good beef and other ani mal products. There are two chief factors which have conspired to hold live stock hus bandry In check throughout the cot ton belt. The first of these is the cattle tick, the presence of which means death to from 75 to 60 per cent, of all imported unlnnoculated stock. This has militated against quality, as it has been very difficult to maintain Improved breeding ani mals any great length of time, free of these ticks. In the light of mod ern discoveries it Is becoming a com paratively simple matter by dipping cattle and proper rotating of pastures to keep them free of ticks, which In short time may be eliminated com pletely. Thus the great obstacle to the improvement of Southern cattle is within control of man. That means that better cattle may be raised. The second factor holding live stock development back Is that of Insufficient forage and pasture. Our farmers are spending much time and energy each year in vain efforts to kill Bermuda and other grasses, that would make from three to four hun dred pounds of beef per acre at absolutely no labor cost, In order to make from fifteen to twenty dollars worth of cotton at costg varying from fifteen to twenty-five dollars. Is It not time for some thought along this line? Continued cotton growing im poverishes soil, while live stock hus bandry properly conducted enriches them. It would be well for our far mers to begin a move right now which in the course of a few years will enable them to market one hun dred pounds of beef for each bale of cotton produced. Better pastures are necessary in this move. Good Bermuda land should have as high earning capacity as a similar area in corn or cotton. We must pay more attention to pas tures. Put the land In good shape, fertilize properly, put in the right kind of grass in the right quantity and then get good stock to consume the growth. But whatever else is done, don't overstock the pasture. The preparation and maintenance of a pasture Is not a difficult Br expen sive operation. The main point is to decide upon what is to be done and then do it. After the pasture has received at tention the crops for winter feeding should not be neglected. For this purpose there are a great variety that may be utilized. The condition it the soil and the general system of 1 farming must have much weight in de'ermining the particular one to be given preference. The legumes, though, are to be given a place on practically every soil and in every rational system of farming. The elimination of the cattle tick, the production of pasturage and the growing of forage in unlimited quan tities are within the sphere of the Southern farmer. This all means greater prosperity.?The Cotton Jour nal. Raw and Finished Farm Products. I During the past twenty-fire years the wheat crop of thla country has increased from an average of 465,000, 000 bushels a year for the five years 1880-84 to an average of 654,000,000 bushels a year for the term 1904-08. The rate of increase has been only 40 per cent. During the same quar ter-century the average corn crop has increased at the rate of 67 per cent., from 1,600,000,000 bushels to about 2,670,000,000 bushels. We produce ; one billion more bushels of corn now than we did twenty-five years ago, which is nearly equal to the in crease in the wheat crop of the whole world and nearly six times the in crease in the yield of our own wheat fields. It Is not to be Inferred that we have changed our diet and passed from the consumption of wheat bread to hoe cakes. In fact, the use of cornmeal as feed for humans has declined. Inasmuch as our popula tion has doubled In the period re ferred to, our wheat crops ought to have grown correspondingly larger; but they have not, and instead have increased at a rate less than half our increase in number. The simple explanation Is that in farming, as in other industries, there is more money to be made out of finished products than out of raw material. The pioneer frontier farmer who raises wheat on cheap lands does so because it Is a ready-money crop; beiug a small capitalist, and probab ly owing for the land he cultivates, ho must have the quickest possible returns. As civilization catches up with him the one-time frontiersman turns to raising corn, which he con verts Into horseflesh, beef or pork, In which form the crop will give a larger profit than It would in the form of cornmeal. If the farmer raises cows from his corn he would advance his product yet one other step; and in the form of butter and cheese the crop would bring still bet ter returns. The immensity of our hay crop and the increase of our oat-crop to double the former output confirms what has been said above. The simultaneous quadrupling of our barley crop might be taken as a reflection of the In creased consumption of whisky and beer, which is not so commendable. Of all cereals wheat is the least im portant as a money-maker. Aside from its use as a breakfast food. It Is the basis of only one finished pro duct, flour; and the difference be tween the cost of this finished pro duct and the raw material from whlcb it Is made is very small. The total value, of the wheat used by 7685 flour mills in this country in 1905, according to a census report, was $456,306,503, and the value of the flour made thereof was $480,258,514. The difference was less than 6 per cent., and. after allowing for the miller's profit, there was very little left to add to the wage fund.?Phila delphia Record. Intensive System Needed on the Cotton Farm. It will not profit a producer, though he may boast of 1,000 acres planted each year to AV''crop, unless the av erage yield per acre be in accordance with what Is known as the "Inten sive system." That system, boiled down, is nothing more or less than the sum of thoroughness, from firfcti to laBt, in the management of the crop. That system is possible to any and every cottou grower who has the energy to adopt and practice It. The higher the average yield per acre the better, but the minimum can and should be made one bale of the usual number of pounds. The future of cotton Is dependent in a large measure on a policy which will reduce acreage, and, by the ?se of Improved labor-saving Implements and machinery, make each acre a seed-bed; require higher fertilization and the most approved cultural meth ods. This will guarantee a general average of not less than one (500 pounds) bale per acre. This will give more profitable results at greatly re duced cost. This wise policy once established, practiced and enforced, there will be no necessity for conference or con ventions, useful as they have been, with a view to holding cotton or prescribing a price. The policy Indicated Is not new. It Is similar In detail to that which made the ante-bellum planter the wealthiest, the most cultured and the happiest in the world. Back of It, and Intimately associated with it, is a general diversification of crops? making the cotton crop a clean mon ey crop.?Hon. Martin V. Calvin, Di rector Georgia Agricultural Experi ment Station. Lived 152 Years. Win. Parr?England's oldest man? married the third time at 120. work ed In the fields till 132 and lived 20 years longer. People should be youthful at 80. James Wright, of Spurlock. Ky? shows how to remain young. "I feel Just like a 16-year-old boy," he writes, "aftet taking six bottles of Electric Bitters. For 30 years Kidney trouble made life a burden, but the first bottle of this wonderful medicine convinced me I had found the greatest cure on earth." They're a godsend to weak, sickly rundown or old people. Try them. 50c at Hood Bros. Making Corn. Most of us try to make enough corn to do us, but late in th?? spring the supply has a way of giving out, and many of us are compelled to buy and very few have corn to sell. The fact that cotton is our main money crop is no reason why we should not grow our corn, for our land is well adapted to this crop al so. The main trouble seems to be that the land owner with tenant la bor can obtain more money per acre from cotton than from corn on aver age land, with the usual method of cultivation. Just so long as these conditions continue, the South will continue to buy corn. It is up to us, however, to see to it that this pur chase of corn from the West is re duced to a minimum. While 1 do not claim to be aa ex pert corn grower, I have learned some things in connection with this crop which may be of help to others. Incidentally, I may add that I have grown 78 bushels of corn per acre on my farm here near Atlanta, and while this is not a record-breaking crop by any means, it is a good yield. Preparation. Just as soon as land is dry enough to plow in March or April, break the land deeply broadcast. Always be careful to see that the land is dry enough to crumble easily when mash ed in the hand, however, before we do plow. Every afternoon drag level what has been broken up to dinner time before the land has time to dry out. We try to plow about an inch deeper than the land has been brok en previously, and usually get down from eight to ten inches deeper. Let the land stand until it rains. As soon as dry enough after rain, harrow thoroughly with smoothing or straight tooth harrow. If you have the time, work over in this way two or three times before you are ready to plant, and this extra tillage will make a fine, firm seed bed, prevent the moisture already in the soil from evaporating, and make available a great deal of rormant plant food for the benefit of the coming crop. You may think that this extra work is un necessary, but if you will try it once you will find that It will pay hand somely. When ready to plant, I lay off rowa five feet apart, and run them out deeply with a two-horse middle burster, using no fertilizer whatever at planting; time. As ours is an Ava ry shoe corn planter, it is necessary to make a very small bed in the bottom of the furrow on which to run the planter. We do this with our Planet Jr. cultivator, using three-inch steels on the two back standards, much as you would use It to cover c< rn. At this season the land dries out very rapidly, and we must only open furrows as fast as we plant, so that the seed will go into moist soil. The heavy roller on the planter firms the soil over the seed, and even though no rain follows, we never fail to ob tain a perfect stand. I use plenty of seed and set the planter to drop one grain in a place about six inches apart. When the corn is six inches high we thin to from 12 to 18 inches apart, according to the strength of the land. 1 run around the corn just before thinning, and if grass is starting in the middle, run cultivator once to the row. Do as little cultivation as possible at this time, merely enough to keep the surface broken, and kill the grass. The Fertilizer. A* stated, I apply no fertilizer at time of planting. This is a modi fication of the Williamson method, and I find it pays better to apply the fertilizer at the second plowing. While I do not carry the stunting process as far as Mr. Williamson, and do not believe In as deep culti vation as he advocates, I find it a decided advantage to hold the growth of the corn plant in check in its early stages, and force it as rapidly as possible later, when it is making ears. This produces a smaller stalk and a larger ear in proportion, and enablea us to plant closer and make more ears per acre than by the old method. At the second plowing I run around the corn with a scooter and scrape, and apply the fertilizer in this furrow on both sides of the row. On upland clay land this fertilizer should analyze about 10 per cent phosphoric acid, 3 per cent nitrate and 3 per cent potash. For sandy lands and bottoms a totally different fertilizer Is needed, one containing more potash. Here 6 per cent phos phoric acid, 3 per cent nitrogen and 7 per cent potash is right. Apply from 600 to 800 pounds per acre, preferably the latter amount, and cover by plowing out the middle with cultivator. When corn begins to bunch for tassel, I apply from 100 to 200 pounds of nitrate of soda per acre, or double this amount of cotton seed meal. This forces a large develop ment of ear and Insures a big crop. I continue cultivation until corn is in roasting ear. All the later culti vation, however, must be very shal low using wide scrapes or sleeps on cultivator. For the last working I frequently use a straight tooth harrow, and sim ply scratch the surface. When the cultivation is very shallow, so as to disturb the roots of the corn, it uiay be continued late without danger of firing the corn and will add greatly to the final yield by making avail able plant food and preserving the moisture.?F. J. Merrlam. THE HOUSE FLY. Its Menace?a Bearer of Sickness and Death. Man's victory over his larger liv ing foes is so complete that he is liable to regard himself the unas sailable lord of the earth. The mas t'tdon fell before him centuries ago, and the lion and elephant are his easy prey today. Even the great snakes and sea monsters have disappeared from the regions he has claimed, and in the air he seems to have no more foes at all. But as a matter of fact, there are still some strenuous wars ahead of him if he is to remain the master of the world. What the mastodon could not do the pneumococcus may accomplish. What the python and jackal attempted, the rat, the mos quito and the house fly may achieve. It is only in recent years that the menace of these apparently puny foes has been understood. Twenty years ago It was believed that malaria was caused by foul air. Today we know it is transmitted by the anophles maculipennio, a mosquito. We know, too that the stegomyia fasciata, anoth er mosquito, transmits yellow fever, that the testes fly carries the germs of the sleeping sickness, and that the rat is the bearer of the bubonic plague. Knowing these things, we war upon the mosquito, testes fly and rat?and already the effect is enor mous. Malaria is dying out in the world and yellow fever has disap peared from this worst pestholes. In Africa the sleeping sickness is about to yield, and in the Far East the bubonic plague grows less and less. Hut there yet retrains another bear er or sicuness ana aeatn?the, com mon house fly?and the maladies that he carries still rage. Tubercu losis is one of them, and others are typhoid fever, pneumonia and the terrible disorders of summer. The fly, of course, does not cause these diseases himself, but he carries the germs that do. He walks in filth, and the microscopic organisms stick to his feet. A moment later he in vades the dining room. Weeks af terwards there is illness in the house, and may be death. A great war upon the house fly is now being organized. It has the support of health officers in all the States, and it deserves the active aid of every citizen. It will go slow ly, no doubt, at the start, for the public does not adopt novel prophylac tic measures eagerly?witness the long opposition to vaccination?but in the end it is certain, a house or a city infested by filthy, disease-breed ing flies will be regarded by all as a house or city disgraced. The fly has no excuse for existence. He is absolutely useless and utterly vile.? Baltimore Sun. Eradicating the Cattle Tick. Washington, D. C., April 28.?The recent release by the United States department of agriculture of several counties previously quarantined on account of the cattle tick is most hopeful and encouraging to those waglug war on this pest to the south. That science and bard work are co operating to combat this terrible han dicap to the southern farmer is rea lized in the releasing of 70,000 square miles of territory since the work was begun in 1906. The cost of the work of getting rid of ticks 1? lnsignifi cent compared to the losses sustained by the farmers and stockmen of the south. The bureau of animal lndusry, Washington. D. C., will be glad to send to anyone on request some pub lications giving directions for getting rid of ticks. Roosevelt's African Hunt. Nacrobi, British East Africa, May 5.?Theodore Roosevelt went lion hunting; again yesterday and before the chase was over two more big lions had fallen before his gun. These animals were encountered and killed in the tall grass. Mr. Roosevelt now holds the record for lion killing in the protectorate. Since Saturday last week a total of five Hons and one lioness have been bagged by him. Smashes All Records. As an all round laxative tonic and health-builder no other pills can com pare with Dr. King's New Life Pills. They tone and regulate stomach, liv er and kidneys, purify the blood, strengthen the nerves; cure Consti pation. Dyspepsia. TMlllouBness, Jaun dice, Headache, Chills and Malaria. Try them. 25c at Hood Bros. , 2 Now. is the Time for You to Buv J Your Harvesting * Machinery J We carry a complete W line of Johnston Binders, Reapers, Mowers and Rakes. X m We sell as low as is consistent with good quality and m P? durability. We want you to examiue our Machines be- Jw 0I fore you buy. Remember we carry a full line of Re- J pairs at all times. jg |f Yours to serve, [jf * The - Cotler-Stevens - Co. 1 | Booker's Shop | ? Tobaxco Flues and Trucks ? P > Prices to Please S| 1 O. V. BOOKER. Prop., g || Smithfield, N. C Headquarters For Heavy and Staple Groceries, General Merchandise, High Grade Fertilizers, Buggies and Wagons, Furniture, Coffins and Caskets. . . Compare our prices before j>ou buy, Cotter-Underwood Company v Smithfield. N. C. THE JNO. A. McKAY MFG. CO., Dunn, North Carolina. Machinists, Iron and Brass Foun ders, Castings of all kinds. We make the best Swing Saw Machine In the world for the price. OLD MACHIN? ERY MADE GOOD AS NEW. High grade work guaranteed. Agents for the leading makes of Machinery. Good stock of machine supplies al ways on hand. Agents for the celebrated Farquhar Machinery. Agents for the Des mond Injector and Phillip Steel Split Pulley a. $ 10.60 TO SAVANNAH. GA., & RETURN VIA ATLANTIC - COAST - LINE Account GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESBY TERIAN CHURCH In UNITED STATES, May 20th-29th. Tickets on sale May 17th. 18th, 19th and for trains scheduled to arrive Savannah before noon May 20th; also for trains May 24th. Final limit, leave Savannah up to and Includ ing. but not later than midnight June 2nd. For further information call on Ticket Agent or write W. J. CRAIG, T. C. WHITE, Passenger Traffic Mgr. General Passenger Agf. WILMINGTON. N. C.
The Smithfield Herald (Smithfield, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
May 14, 1909, edition 1
6
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