NEED A NINE-MONTHS SCHOOL.
The Smithfield High School Cannot
Get on Accredited List of Schools
Because the Term is Too Short.
The Smithfield High School made
application for accredited relations to
the Commission on accredited schools
and the following letter is in reply:
Chapel Hill, N. C.,
Dec. 15, 1917.
Supt. H. B. Marrow,
Smithfield, N. C.
Dear Mr. Marrow:
Your application for accoredited re
lations was presented to the Commis
sion on Accredited Schools at its
recent meeting and was held up be
cause of the fact that the Smithfield
school has only an eight months' ses
sion. The commission declines now to
accredit any schools that do not run
for nine months exclusive of holidays.
I hope that you will present this
matter to your committee in order
that they may know definitely wherein
the Smithfield school is not measuring
up to the standard required by the
Commission on Accredited Schools of
the Southern States.
Cordially yours,
N. W. WALKER,
State Inspector of High Schools.
It is evident from this letter that
before our High School is placed on
the accredited list we must have a
nine months' session. This means that
we will have to have more money.
But it should be done for we had a
nine months' session until the last few
years and we should not allow our
school to fall short of its former high
standard.
Seven Ways to Increase Winter Com
fort on the Farm.
We ought to make winter a hap
pier time than it is on the average
farm; and here are seven suggestions
looking to that end:
1. Hardly anything else produces
more discomfort, at least for those
who do the feeding and milking,
I u>?n the mud, mire and filth around
' the^ burnlot. \nd yet tiiis evil, witu
little trouble, can be largely remedied.
As we said sometime ago:
"There is no reason why the stock
shoud not be kept away from at least
one &ide of the barn and a mud-free
approach maintained if a little atten
tion Vvere given to the drainage and
the nVaking of a walk, path or drive
way. \Vhere there are large numbers
of animals, the whole lot may not i>e
kept sj!>lid and froe from m- but at
least a portion of the L-.rnlot should
be paved or made solid in some way,
so as to give a comfortable jrtace for
the animals to rest."
2. The absence of suilable winter
clothing also does much to add to the
unpleasantness of winter ? and also
to it's dangers, hundreds of people
dying of pneumonia and kindred dis
eases every winter because of negli
gence at this point. Sweaters, over
shoes, overcoats, raincoats and leg
gins should be available for each man
or boy in the family; and substantial
raincoats, overshoes and cloaks for
each girl or woman. School children
especially should have warm cothes
and stout shoes.
3.The rooms of the average farm
house. are large and consequently
heat slowly. A small bathroom with a
quick heating oil stove will enable
the family to dr?ss with much greater
comfort and satisfaction on cold
mornings.
4. The average farmer has plenty of
firewood but no woodshed to keep it
in. It's hard enough to keep up fires
in winter even with dry wood. If a
farmer can't build a woodshed now,
he can cover the woodpile in some
way, if only with loose boards.
.^Have a sheltered place and an
"un-itinerant" trough for hog feeding.
It is not very pleasant on a dark
rainy evening to stagger to the hog
pen with a bucket of slops and find
that the trough is about ten feet from
the fence and the mud between you
and it ten inches deep. The wise
farmer will therefore have a shelter
ed place with permanent fixtures?
preferably with concrete ? where he
may feed his hogs without great loss
of time or patience.
6.1f he hasn't waterworks, the
farmer should at least provide a good
cover for the well and a firm walk
way to the kitchen. Wc may not be
V able to give the women of the house
> Icy the best thing possible in this
)i\ ? complete waterworks ? but we
car. nt least give them protection in
going c-? and from the well in rough
and wffttr.f weather.
7.Build a vvosh-house. Too often the
farm washing h.is to be done in the
kitchen wher<? it will muss up every
thing or outdoors where unrelieved
cold and dampness mena*V the life of
the womenfolk engaged in the work.
Of course, the basement is the logical
place for the laundry, but the avenge
farmhome has no basement. Build a
wash-house of rough boards there
fore; put in a laundry stove, and a
washing machine, and let the men
folk and boys run the machine when
thev/can spare .Jhg, time.
pan
after putting in window panes where
they have been broken out, stopping
cracks in the floor and leaks in the
roof, etc., and then by adopting
these seven other suggestions we be
lieve the members of the average j
farm family in the South will find
their store of winter happiness ma
terially increased. ? The Progressive
farmer.
TIME SAVING.
The Colorado College of Agricul
ture is presenting to the farmer an
efficiency matter concerning farm |
planning that will apply to a good
many farms in Indiana as well. The
reference in regard to the water
trough hits me for that condition ex
ists on our farm. A change is going
to be made.
Efficiency means accomplishing
work in the shortest possible time
with the least possible exertion, says
Alfred Westfall. To be efficient does
not mean work harder; it gets more
returns for the work done. Efficiency
is frequently lacking on the farm.
Sometimes the horse trough is not
placed near the barn. It may mean
that it takes three minutes longer to
water the horses. Yet when the
horses are watered three times a day,
the farmer loses practically ten min
utes. In a year this would amount to
sixty hours, or six working days of
ten hours each. Wouldn't it pay such
a farmer to spend four or five days
piping his water to the barn?
Sometimes the gate into a field is
two hundred yard3 out of the way. It
takes the driver five minutes longer
to go round where the gate is than
it would if the gate were in the most
direct line. He uses the gate only once
a week, yet in a year he would waste
four hours going around by that out
of-the-place-gate more time than it
would take to put in a new gate.
I know of one farm where the water
supply is a hundred yards from the
house. On an average, half an hour a
day is spent carrying water from the
well to the house. If a man were hired
to carry the year's water supply at
one time, it would take him eighteen
10-hour days. If he were paid only a
dollar and a half a day, the water sys
tem on that farm would cost $27. A
water system that would bring the
water to the house and last a life
time could be put in for less than
that.
How many days per year is lack of
efficiency costing on your farm? ?
Indiana Farmer.
Save All Manure, Straw and Leaves
for Fertilizer.
With commercial fertilizers scarce
and high-priced, every pound of home
made fertilizers should be carefully
saved and used in 1918. With nitrogen
at 35 cents, phosphoric acid 6 cents
and potash 30 cents a pound when
bought in commercial fertilizers, it is
of interest and value to calculate the
plant food values of the materials
commonly found around the average
Southern farm.
Stable manure, of which we waste
a tremendous amount, contains in
each ton about ten pounds of nitrogen,
worth $3.50; five pounds of phosphoric
acid, worth $.30; and ten pounds of
potr.sh, worth $3, or a total of $f>.80
per ton. To this we would add a value
of at least $3 per ton for the humus
vaule of the manure and because of
its promotion of beneficial bacterial ac
tivities. Thus where potash is needed,
as is the case over much of the South
east, a ton of manure is worth about
$10, while in those sections where
potash is not needed, a ton of manure
is well worth about $7. When we con
sider that an animal weighing 1,000
pounds will in a year produce eight to
ten tons of manure, we can begin to
see the importance of saving every
possible pound of this material. To do
this, cheap sheds for housing the
stock at night should be provided,
plenty of straw, leaves or other ab
sorbent materials should be used in
the stables and barnyard, and all
manure should be put on the fields as
soon as practicable after it is mpde.
Straw and leaves are another
source of plant food and humus that
should not be overlooked. These will
probably average higher than stable
manure in nitrogen and fully as high
in phosphoric acid and potash. More
over since they contain less water
than the average manure, ther humus
making vaule will be considerately
greater. When other work is not press
ing, several days may well be devoted
to hauling these materials out of the
woods and putting them in the fields.
In the meantime, keep fire out of the
woods. Fertilizing material worth $10
should not be sent up in smoke.
We are not suggesting that these
materials be used to take the place
of commercial fertilizers, but rather
that one be used to supplement the
other. As a matter of fact, present
prices for practically everything we
raise justify heavier fertilization
than ever before. So we would not
only save all the manure, straw and
leaves, but would go rather strong on
commercial fertilizers as well. It is a
time for making every ounce of plant
<? 'i do its duty. -The Progressive
. 1 %
JERUSALEM AM) SUEZ.
Philadelphia Record.
Let no one be deceived by the pre
tt*nse of German military experts that
Jerusalem has no military significance
and that its surrender to Great Britain
is unimportant. It marks the collapse
of the whole structure of German
domination of Asia and Africa. It
brings down in the dust and t shes the
German dream of dividing Great
Britain from India and North Africa
and knocking the corner-stone from
under the British Empire. In view
of the importance of Turkey and the
inability of the Kaiser to send help
to the Sultan it is the most significant
event since the German invasion was
stopped on the Marne.
Ernest Jackson wrote in Das Gros
sere Deutschland in June, 1915, at
which time the efforts of Turkey to
dislodge the British from Egypt were
in progress:
"Suez is the only dircct connection
of European England and the African,
Asiatic and Australian portions of the
British world-empire. Here the vital
nerve can be struck at. The threr.t at
Calais is a blow with the fist which
stuns. At Suez we can stab England
through the heart and kill it. There
fore, Suez is an aim which is most
strongly to be desired. The world
war is now being fought for securing
the territories situated between the
Dardanelles and Suez, for organizing
a wealthy an powerful Turkey, for se
curing the growing Germany against
England's hostility, for strengthening
permanently the centre of England's
| world-power about or in Suez."
Dr. Paul Rohrbach, an authority in
Germany on all foreign questions,
particularly of Asia and Africa, and
now or formerly of the German Colo
nial Office, wrote in the same maga
zine on September 11, 1915:
"When the English troops in Egypt
capitulate to the Turks the blow will
resound from Gibraltar to Singapore.
When the keystone is withdrawn the
whole vault of English world-power
will tumble down. The day on which
I England recognizes its downfall in
j Egypt and in the world will be the
I birthday of the new Oversea Ger
! many."
I And the besotted Dr. Carl Anton
I Sheafer in the same publication two
months later was even capable of
imagining a German Suez canal,
through which British ships would not
be allowed to pass even in peace:
'"As soon as we have the Suez c;>nal
in our hands we can say, answering
The Morning Post: 'We forbid you,
England, to make use of the Suez
canal with your merchant marine even
in peace time.' We must never allow
England to wrest from our hand the
Egyptian scourge by diplomatic trick
ery. Our ceterum censeo must be the
maxim: 'We must conquer the Suez
canal.' "
Where is all this bombastic boast
ing now? Eor 20 years the Kaiser
and all Germany have plotted the dis
memberment of the British Empire
by severing it at the Suez canal. For
that did the Germans, from the Kaiser
down, condone the Armenian mas
sacres of 1895. For that did the
Kaiser before Armenian blood stop
ped ranning stand up in Damascus
and proclaim himself hte protector of
the Moslems of the world. For that in
great part ? though Belgium and
France were also coveted ? was this
war precipitated by Germany. For
that was Turkey dragged into this
war. Its part was to drive the British
out of Egypt and secure the Suez
canal. It failed to do it. It could not
even stop the invasion of Syria from
Egypt. The Kaiser was too hard
pressed to send any aid to the Sultan.
And the fall of Jerusalem marks the
fall of the Kaiser's Oriental am
bitions, of the German hope of de
stroying England, and it is not a
violent flight of the imagination to see
in it the forecast of the fall of the
Hohenzollerns.
Fats Are Much Needed; .Save .The
Sows and Pigs.
Hogs are mentioned by the United
States Administrator as one of the
three main agencies that will tend tc
win the war.
Fats are very essential at the pres
ent time, and will continue to be after
the war has been brought to a close
and their is no quicker nor more baun
dant producer of fats than the hog
Consequently it is extremely urgent
that hogs be conserved and a greatly
increased production of them secured.
This can be accomplished in great
measure by hog-raisers retaining
their breeding sows and their young
pigs. Prices for hogs are high at tht
present time, and there is great temp
tation for the farmers to dispose ol
them for slaughter, irrespec of sex
weight, age, or condition, on that
account, evidently overlooking tht
fact that prices will remain high, nol
only during the period of theh war, bul
for sometime after peace has beer
declared.
No doubt there may be exceptiona
ir ;tjhneps where farmers may be ir
initvieCi'iate need of money from tht
i;le of their hogs; but where such is
/iot the case, the indiscriminate dis
posul of their stock, for temporary |
gain only, and especially where feed j
is plentiful, is only lessening their {
chances for future profit by decreas- f
ing the number of their breeding uni- I
mals, and failing to get the full bine
fit from their pigs whch they would
do if they kept them until they had
attained greater weight, and, there
fore, worth morem oney on the mar
ket. r
Under ordinary conditions, it would !
seem the better part of wisdom to get I
rid of the old and unprofitable sows, I
while retaining the younger vigorous f
animals for breeding stock to increase f
the herds; but it seems unwise to dis- f
pose of the young stuff for slaughter I
that are under 100 pounds weight at I
least.
By adopting some such method as
that suggested, a greatly increased
production of hogs could be secured,
and, necessarily, more hog prorducts,
including fats, which arc so urgently
needed at the present time. ? W. H.
Dalrymple, in The Progressive Farm
er. j
Do Not Waste the Manure.
As the price of food climbs higher
and higher, the value of everything
which enters into its prodution in
creases in proportion. Every pound
of manure you can produce and save
this winter is worth nearly twice what
it was a year ago.
is mere any manure going to waste
on your farm? If thero is, stop it
now. See that your manure is pro
tected from the weather. If you
must leave it outside, pack it down
by leading a horse aroun dover each
layer as you build your pile, so it
won't fire, and make the pile four feet
high, flat on top and straight on the
sides, so that the rains won't leach
through it.
If your stock are in box stalls, keep
these stalls well bedded with leaves
and straw at all times, so as to absorb
all the liquid excrement. Remember
that the liquid is worth more than the
solid maunre from your animals. By j
keeping plenty of bedding in your |
stalls you can practically double the |
amount of manure you will produce j
this winter, and you will need every I
ounce of it next spring. !
Thousands of dollars' worth of ma- J
nure is washed away every winter I
from the barnyards of the South |
which might be saved with a little
care. Is this the case on your farm ?
If so, you simply cannot afford to let
it continue.
A large amount of manure is lost
from stock in the open barn lot. It is
difficult to keep horses and cows in
stalls all the time. They need exer
cise, and besides, very often there are
not stalls enough to put tljem all up.
Even though you go around with a
wheelbarrow and pick up the manure,
much of it is lost, and, in fact, all the
liquid, the most valuable part, runs
away.
Now, here is where the covered lot
is the big economical manure saver,
and it not only protects the manure,
but shelters your stock as well. You
do not need a large lot for this pur
pose, and you can ke^p it bedded with
oak leaves and pine straw, and it will I
save your bogging around in the mud
yourself when you milk or attend to
your stock. Then, when you clean out
your stalls the manure can be spread
evenly over the covered lot and more
bedding put on top of it, and here the
stock will keep it trampled down and
in perfect condition until you are
ready to haul it out in the spring.
Building, it is true, is expensive, but
more of us are able to make an im
provement of this sort this fall than in
many a year. Also there isn't an in
vestment you could possibly find to
put your money into that would begin
to pay as well. It would simply stop
all loss and solve your manure prob
lem.
Of course there may be a little
leaching into the soil underneath, and
if you could put in a cement floor to
, this yard that would be the thing to
do. You should have cement floors to
your horse and cow stalls, anyway, to
I prevent loss.
Next to cement, a fairly effective
, floor can be made with clay by pud
dling and packing it down when wet.
This will answer very nicely for your
. lot, and it will pay you to fix it right
while you are at it; anyway, by all
means build you a covered lot this
fall if you possibly can do so. It will
be the best investment you ever made,
to say nothing of the comfort it will
be to you and your stock this winter.
? J. F. Mirriam.
It is to be hoped that salmon will
be cheaper during the approaching
year, for Alaska has done its bit by
greatly increasing the supply. Its sal
mon catch for 1917 was the largest in
the history of the territory and the
most valuable. Its pack of 5,300,000
cases will yield $40,000,000 or thrice
that of lOlfi's catch. ? Wilmington
i Star.
I WE HAVE IN STOCK A GOOI) LOT
i of second sheets at a bargaii\. Give
us your order at once, as we can
i save you MONEY now. Beaty &
Lassiter.'
BOOKS
Look over the list of Books below, and
come and get your selection before they
are picked over. We have lots of good
books not in this list to select from.
SOME LATE NOVELS.
*
Wildfire, by Zane Gray.
Red Pepper's Patients, by Grace Richmond.
Heart of the Sunset, by Rex Reach.
When a Man's a Man, by Harold Rell Wright.
Salt of the Earth, by Mrs. Alfred Sidgwick.
Polly and the Princess, by Emma ('. Dowd.
The preacher of Cedar Mountain, by E. S. Thomp
son.
In Happy Valley, by John Fox, Jr.
The White Ladies of Worcester, by Florence Rar
clay.
Anne's House of Dreams, by Eleanor H. Porter.
Bab: A Sub Deb, by Mary Roberts Rineheatr.
The Ranks of Colne, by Eden Philpotts.
Changing Winds, by St. John G. Ervine.
The Three Rlack Pennys, by Joseph Hergeshei
mer.
BOOKS OF POETRY.
Robert Burns'* Complete Poems, $1.00.
Mrs. Browning's Poems, 75c.
Shakespeare's Works in one volume, $1.75.
William Cullen Bryant's Poems, $1.50.
Keats' Poems, Padded Edition, $1.25.
Mrs. Browning's Poems, Padded Edition, $1.25.
Robert Browning, Limp Leather, $1.75.
Robert Burns, Limp Leather, $1.75.
SUNDAY SCHOOL HELPS.
Peloubets' Select Notes for 1918, $1.25.
Arnold's Practical Commentary, 1918, 60c.
Tar bell's Teacher's Guide, 1918, $1.25.
Torrey's Gist of the Lesson, 25c.
A large number of Books for Children from
4 to 12 years of age, titles too numerous to men
tion.
BOOKS AT SIXTY CENTS EACH.
We have in stock a choice lot of novels which
we are selling at 60 cents each ; by mail, 65 cents.
Here are some of them:
By Harold Bell Wright.
The Shepherd of the Hills.
Their Yesterdays.
The Winning of Barbara Worth.
The Eyes of the World.
The Calling of Dan Matthews.
By Thomas Dixon.
The Traitor.
The Clansman.
The Leopard's Spots.
The Sins of the Father.
The One Woman.
By Gene Stratton Porter.
A Girl of the Limberlost.
Freckles.
The Harvester.
Laddie.
At the Foot of the Rainbow.
By Winston Churchill.
Richard Carvel.
A Far Country.
By Well Known Writers.
The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come.
Prudence of the Parsonage.
Red Pepper Burns.
Dear Enemy.
Empty Pockets.
The Heart of the Hills.
The Southerner.
The Valley of the Moon.
White Fang.
Rebecca of Sunny brook Farm.
Eben Holden.
The Right of Way.
David Harum.
Told by Uncle Remus.
Overland Red.
My Strange Life.
Heart Throbs.
More Heart Throbs.
The Way of the Strong.
The Four Million.
And Many Others.
Herald Book
Store
SMITHFIELD, North Carolina