The news in this publi
cation is released for the
press on receipt
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA
NEWS LETTER
Published Weekly by the
University of North Caro
lina Press for the Univer
sity Extension Division.
JULY 25, 1923
CHAPEL HILL, N. C.
VOL. IX, NO. 36
Bdiiorxal Board: E. C. Bransoa, S. H. Hobba, Jr., L. R. Wilson, E. W. Enisht, D. D. Carroll, J. B. Ballitt, H. W. Odum.
Entered as second-class matter November 14.1914, at the Postofficeat Chapel Hill, N. C., under the act of August 24, 1912
IV—A COUNTRY ESTATE IN WURTEMBERG
Schlos.sgut Engelberg where we are
lodged for a month or so gives me a
chance to ''study a score or more of
nearby farm villages and hamlets, what
the Germans call dorfer and weiler—
such a chance, as few American stu
dents of rural economy have ever had.
But before my pen gets busy with the
small, home-owning farmers huddled
together in compact communities, I
want to sketch the Castle Engelberg
and farm life on an estate of 260 acres,
which is a rarely large estate in this
end of Germany.
A Medieval Castle
The castle sits on a projecting shoul
der of the low mountain range that
flanks the Rems valley on the south. It
is some 600 feet above Winterbach, a
typical farm village, sixteen miles east
of Stuttgart on the railway to Nurem-
burg. The foundations of the castle
are those of a nunnery a thousand
years old. The nunnery with the mon
astery on a neighboring eminence' was
destroyed in the Thirty Years War.
The ancient nunnery cellars are two
and in places three stories deep. Alto
gether they have a floor space of near
ly an acre. They are in good condition
and are now used to house the root
crops and fruits, the cider presses, the
winery and distillery, and the cider,
wines, and brandies of the farm season.'
The barrels of these cellars contain
60,000 gallons in an average year and
50,000 gallons are consumed by the
work-people of the estate. They are
fourteen in number and each must have
his litre a day, which is about an Amer
ican quart. In the mid-summer and
harvest season, he must have his three
jjr four litres. It is so nominated in
the bond, and no cider or wine means
no hired help on a farm estate in South
Germany. The farm foreman is a
giant from the neighboring Black
• Forest of the Swabian Alps. On yes
terday he got away with four litres of
most or strong hard cider. He has a
voice like the Bull of Bashan and judg
ing from the roar of it he enjoyed him
self immensely. Trying to cool off, he
said.
Counting the cellar floors below and
the attic rooms above, the castle is six
stories tall. It is a rectangular build
ing of sandstone walls with heavy open-
wood work above. The high-pitched
roof is covered with weather-stained
. terra cotta tiles. Eighteen dormer
windows are set into the roof and on
one end of it is a picturesque canopy
that shelters the bells and chimes of
the mighty clock below. The date on
the sun dial set against the castle wall
is 1698. Which means that Engelberg
was being rebuilt while the first set
tlers on Durant’s Neck in North Caro
lina were spanking the first generation
of Tar Heels.
Modern Conveniences
Water from a mountain spring is
piped by gravity flow into the kitchen
quarters, laundry rooms, and ba;^h-
rooms of the castle. The water supply
is sufficiently abundant for all the farm
buildings, the terrace fountains, and
the little lake on the lowest level of the
castle yard.
A telephone connects the castle with
the outside world. Electricity lights all
the buildings, and operates all the barn
machinery. The three big barns within
the walls of the old nunnery have a
floor space of nearly an acre. It is all
needed for the carriage and Work
horses, the big Switzer oxen and dairy
cows, the grain, hay, and forage crops,
wagons of every size and type, car
riages, dog-carts, and sleighs, and farm
machinery, more than I ever expected
to see on a 250-aere farm in Europe.
The castle yard is parked on six ter
race levels with shade trees and flower
ing shrubs, grass plots and flower-beds,
and, after the German fashion, with
fruit trees, grape vines and vegetables;
with fountains, a tennis court, a sum
mer house, and seats wherever the
views of the valley below and the
mountains beyond are loveliest.
Safe Farming
Like all the farms of- every size in
Germany, Engelberg is given first of
all to grain crops, hay and forage,
fruits and vegetables, for every farm
must feed the farm animals and the
farm family, and then to the money-
crop, which in Wurtemberg is wine and
brandy, mostly wine. These are the
abc’s of a safe agriculture, which the
farmers of Europe learned long cen
turies ago.
Well-Rept Forests
The estate begins half way up the
mountain slopes and runs back over the
crest at various angles into the State
Forest. The State Forests, I may say
in passing, occupy thousands of miles
of mountain land in South Germany,
and these wooded areas are as carefully
cultivated as the fields of the farmers
themselves., Nothing looks neglected
anywhere. From the terrace seats of i
the castle yard, we look out upon miles j
of forest, fields, and farms. What we |
see in every direction is a panorama i
of perfection. So it is at Engelberg,
and so it was every inch of the way on
our sixty-mile trip up the Neckar valley
on yesterday to Tubingen, the ancient
university town seated at the foot of
the Swabian Alps.
Hohenstaufen Schloss
It was out of the Swabian Alps, the
reader may remember, that the strong
men came who ruled Germany for the
last eight centuries—the Hohenstau-
fens and the Hohenzollerns. The ridge
road ^ little way above the castle af
fords a clear view of the Hohenstaufen
Schloss, a huge fortress on a solitary
peak sixty miles south. It looks as in
destructible as the everlasting hills.
The ancestral stronghold of the Hohen
zollerns presents the same appearance
in the Swabian mountains near Tubin
gen. The castle dens remain, but the
supermen they littered are vanished.
Such is the useless lament that I have
heard oftener than once in Germany.
■ , j
'A Cosmopolitan Farmer
Our hosts in the Castle Engelberg,
speak, English and know America. The |
Baroness von Der Lippe has many!
friends and acquaintances among the
Georgians we used to know. The Baron
is a cosmopolitan at home in many
lands, a lover of books and children,
dogs and horses, a famous horseman, a
crack steeplechase rider with quite a
hundred trophies won in open-field con
tests in many countries, a veteran of |
three wars, with wounds and broken
bones from head to toe, but neverthe
less he stands trimly erect, lithe and
alert—a gallant figure of radiant, in
destructible youth and buoyancy. Bred
to war, he is by nature a lover of fields
and forests and farm animals. There
is no mistaking his genuine interest in
every detail of life and business on his
farm estate. In the new social order
in Germany, he is contentedly a farmer
—a farmer of the sort that every coun
try needs in multiplied millions—a
farmer who is putting culture into agri
culture and getting out of it a life of
abundant satisfaction.—E. C. Branson
May 8, 1923.
VALUE OF FARM PRODUCTS
Measured in terms of total value of
farm products North Carolina holds a
respectable place among the states of
the Union. In 1922 the total value of
all farm crops and animal products
produced in the state amounted to
$428^,100,000 and we ranked fifteenth
among the states of the Union. The
total value of all crops was 361 million
dollars and only four states were ahead
of us in the production of crop wealth.
But we must learn in North Carolina
that agriculture is not wholly a matter
of crops. In several states the value of
animal products is more than the value
of all crops grown. It is due to our un
believably low rank in the production of
animal products that North Carolina
takes only fifteenth place in the total
production of agricultural wealth. The
prevailing opinion that we are^the fifth
agricultural state is far from the truth.
In the total annual production3>f ani
mal products North * Carolina ranks
twenty-first, or so in 1922.
GRAHAM MEMORIAL
According to an announcement re
cently made by the Graham Memo
rial Committee of the University of
North Carolina, plans have been per
fected for the completion of the cam
paign for funds for the building dur
ing the summer, and twenty repre
sentatives of the student body and
alumni are now at work throughout
the state in the interests of the
movement.
Purpose of the Building
The purpose of the building is to
provide a student activities center
for the use of the student body and
at the same timb do honor to the
memory of Edward Kidder Graham,
President of the University from
1914 to 1918. Subscriptions are be
ing sought for it in recognition of
the fact that if men are to be trained
for effective participation in mod
ern community life they must have
the proper setting for it—in this in
stance an adequate, well planned,
student activities building.
The need of such a building can
not be overstated. The present Y,
built in 1904 when the student body
numbered 500, is hopelessly inade
quate for the 2,250 students to be en
rolled in September. It is as badly
outgrown as the dormitories or the
dining facilities were in 1920 when
students slept in three-deck beds
and ate in shifts. Furthermore, the
student organizations have increased
more rapidly than the student body,
and have no place in which they can
be carried on systematically and
satisfactorily.
Location and Plans
The building, which will be of the
late Georgian style of architecture,
brick with limestone trimmings, will
be located on the old Inn site. It will
face west across the campus to
wards the. Battle-Vance-Pettigrew
dormitories, with north and south
extensionsfacing respectively Frank
lin Street and the walkway between
the Inn and Alumni building. The
main entrance from the campus will
be through a spacious portico, into a
large social room, 40 by 80 feet, on
the first floor, capable of being used
for a variety of purposes such as
class an4 alumni banquets, meetings
of the larger clubs, group singing,
and other general get-together ac
tivities. It will also give direct ac
cess to stairways leading up and
down, coat rooms, administrative
office, serving room, and ladies’ re
ception room. The basement will
contain toilets, a barber shop, stor
age space, a large cafeteria, and a
well-equipped kitchen connected with
the first and second floors with a
system of dumb waiters. The floor
above the social room will be divided
into fifteen rooitis of varying sizes,
which can be connected with folding
doors, and will be used exclusively
for student activities. The north
and south extensions will provide
quarters for musical clubs, college
publications, the student council,
county clubs, the athletic associa
tion, and similar organizations.
Cost of Building
In 1918, when the building was
first proposed, the student body
numbered 1,000, building prices were
lower, and the present building
reorganization of the University was
three years in the future. One hun
dred fifty thousand dollars was the ob
jective set, of which $123,000 was sub
scribed, and $80,000 has been collect
ed. To meet present requirements
$400,000 will be required and subscrip
tions are being asked for on that
basis, construction of the central unit
to be begun as soon as subscriptions
and collections justify letting the
contract.
In the more disWnt future, it will
be possible to extend the building
to the east. Ample space remains
on the plot for the purpose and the
architects have drawn the plans so
that extension can be made in
complete harmony with the plans of
the building itself and the general
scheme of campus development.
Totals Vs, Per Farm
There is a vast amount of difference
between total values produced by the
entire state and values produced per
farm. The latter is far more import
ant than the former. Due to the fact
that only four states have more farms
than we, our rank is fair in total agri
cultural wealth production—fifteenth.
But when the states are compared on a
per farm basis, which is the only fair
comparison, then our boast becomes a
whisper. The total value of all farm
products,'crops, and livestock, produced
per farm in North Carolina in 1922 was
$1,587, and our rank was thirty-seventh
amjng the states of the Union. This
figure represents the total value of all
products raised on the farm, not what
was sold. It is the farm value of every
thing produced on the farm. The aver
age farm produced $1,338 worth of crops
and $249 worth of animal products.
The weak link in North Carolina agri
culture is the lack of livestock of the
meat and milk variety, not mules and
horses, but dairy and beef cattle, hogs,
poultry, sheep and the like.
In the total production of animal
products we ranked twenty-first in 1922
with $67,100 000. But the total produc
tion per farm was only $249, and on
this basis our rank was forty-third,
with five southern states below us. We
rank fifth in the number of farms,
I twenty-first in total value of animal
products, and forty-third in value of
such products per farm.
So it is clear that there is a vast
amount of difference in whether North
Carolina is ranked on a basis of totals
or per farm, or any other comparable
basis.
You cannot look at the farm homes
and outhouses in this! state and pro
claim her the fifth agricultural state;
not if you have travelled in other states.
North and West. No one doubts that
we can acquire fifth rank. We have
the resources but not the attainment.
Why Low
There are many major and minor
reasons why we rank low in the pro
duction of, agricultural wealth on a per
unit basis. The biggest reason is
the'small average number of cultivated
acres per farm, 30.4 acres. We rank
forty-seventh in this respect. Even
though our rank is high in per acre pro
duction, the number of acres cultivated
per farm is too small' to give a large
per farm production. The number of
cultivated acres per farm can be
doubled, with a proper farm system,
because only one-fourth of the state is
cultivated, counting pastures.
The second most important reason is
our small production of animal pro
ducts. This fact must not be lost sight
of. The rich farm areas of the world
are founded on livestock, not crops.
As a livestock state we rank 43rd on a
per farm basis, the only fair basis of
comparison. When we were a rural
state with relatively few city people we
were forced to grow cash crops, for
which there was a world-wide market.
There was little local demand for ani
mal products. Conditions have changed
but the custom of growing crops
exclusively has become too firmly in
grained to be changed over night. We
•must become an important livestock
state or we will never become a great
agricultural state.
In the third place farm tenancy is a
very vital factor. Nearly half the
farmers of the state are tenants. Ten
nant farmers operate small farms.
The landlord is interested in pef acre
yields. By choice and by compulsion
tenants in the cotton and tobacco
belt as a rule grow cash crops. We
will never become a livestock state as
long as our agriculture is so largely
steeped in tenancy. Nor will we ever
become a great agricultural state
while this condition continues.
Nearly one-third of our farms are
operated by negroes. They are concen
trated in the most prbductive counties.
They are mainly crop farmers or crop
pers. The presence of such a large
negro farm ratio considerably lowers
the rank of North Carolina as an agri
cultural state. The same is true for
the entire South. The minor reasons for
our low rank on a per farm basis are
largely incidental to the above four
major reasons.
But the future is bright. The state
is undergoing a remarkable change.
Here and there throughout the state are
signs of improvement. We now have
a large urban population. The farmers
are being provided with local markets
for home-grown produce. Hundreds
of farmers are buying improved cattle,
hogs, poultry, and the like. They are
putting in permanent pastures. They
are organizing cooperative creameries,
cheese factories, canneries, and curb
markets. There is more of the spirit of
cooperation between town and country
people. The change is gradual but
sure. We are unmistakably passing
from a cash-crop stage into an era of
diversity in production and cooperation
in marketing and in farm finance.—
S.H.H.,Jr.
HELP PRESERVE HISTORY
The North Carolina' collection in the
University Library now includes about
7,000 volumes and 15,000 pamphlets,
but the Library officials are hungry for
more. They will discover something
of interest in material which you may
think properly belongs in the fire. The
Library asks for assistance in securing
this material for the history of the
state yet to be written. If you have
anything you can give, give it; if you
have heard of books or other records
which may not be in the collection,
write the University Library and give
it an opportunity to get them—Ashe
ville Citizen.
VALUE OF FARM PRODUCTS
Per Farm in the U. S. in 1922
Based on data supplied by the U. S. Department of Agriculture; includes
the total value of all crops, livestock, and livestock products produced in each
state, divided by the number of farms.
Value of all farm products produced in North Carolina in 1922, $428,000,-
000; value per farm $1,587. Value of crops $361,000,000; of livestock produqts
$67,100,000; rank 43rd in livestock products per farm.
United States average value of all farm products per farm $2,219. Value of
livestock products per farm $829, or more than three times the average for
North Carolina.
Howard Holderness, Edgecombe County
Department of Rural Social Economics, University of North Carolina
Rank State Animal Farm Prod.
Prod. Per Farm
Per Farm
Rank State Animal Farm Prod.
Prod. Per Farm
Per Farm
1
Nevada
. $3,383
$6,956
25
Missouri
$1,239
$2,347
2
California
. 1,261
6,012
26
Utah
989
2,346
3
Iowa
.. 2,233
4,479
27
Indiana
1,142
2,303
4
Arizona.
. 1,494
4,341
28
Texas
606
2,297
5
Nebraska
.. 1,832
4,034
29
Delaware
700
2,229
6
North Dakota ..
. 732
3,803
30
Ohio
1,062
2,216
7
Wyoming
.. 2,070
3,667
31
Maryland
764
2,108
8
South Dakota...
.. 1,109
3,672
32
Oklahoma
693
2,004
9
Illinois
.. 1,623
2,287
33
Michigan
823
1,971
10
Kansas
.. 1,621
3,368
34
New Mexico ....
992
1,632
11
Colorado
. 1,410
3,273
35
Florida
260
1,620
12
New Jersey....
. 1,171
3,161
36
Maine
761
1,606
13
Oregon
.. 1,231
3,097
37
North Carolina....
249
1,587
14
Washington
.. 872
3,034
38
Virginia
449
1,470
16
Wisconsin
. 1,447
2,946
39
New Hampshire...
946
1,452
16
Idaho
. 1,083
2,878
40
Tennessee .
521
1,427
17
Vermont
. 1,334
2,866
41
West Virginia ...
603
1,404
18
New York.. ^...
. 1,328
2,837
42
Kentucky
472
1,327
19
Connecticut
.. 1,061
2,749
43
Arkansas
268
1,306
20
Minnesota
. 1,064
2,735
44
Louisiana
164
1,239
21
Montana
. 1,063
2,666
45
Alabama
201
1,149
22
Massachusetts.
. 1,209
2,662
46
South Carolina...
172
1,062
23
Rhode Island....
1,421
2,376
47
Mississippi.......
186
1,068
24
Pennsylvania ...
.. 1,055
2,371
48
Georgia
210
930-