Carolina Farm Comment
By F. H. JETER
I
By F. H. Jeter
The growth of interest in dairy
farming throughout North Carolina
during recent years has been al
most phenominal. For instance, I
have before me a typical report,
coming in last week, from Ruther
ford County in which F. E. Patton,
farm agent, said he had just finish
ed looking over an old dairy list
which he had compiled back m
1928. This old list showed that in
that year, H. M. Sain was milk.ng
5 cows, B. G. Moore was milking
7, J. L. Crow was milking 9, W. S.
Bridges was milking 11, J. C. Me
Fadden was milking 5, and O. J.
Holler was milking 5 cows.
These six men were about all the
dairymen there were in Ruther
ford County at the time and each
of them had a small pasture of
some kind—probably the tradition
al old pasture in which three
strands of barbed wire enclosed
an eroded pine thicket—. They each
grew a small amount of feed crops;
they had no dairy buildings of any
kind, and they were selling a “D”
grade of milk.
But visit the six farms today.
Each of the six men is an expert
dairyman and proud of his pro
fession. All of them are producing
grade A milk with the exception
of one and he is installing a
modern plant at this time. The
best pastures to be found in the
county are located on their farms
and they are producing an abund
ance of all kinds of feed crops.
Messrs. Crow, Moore, and Bridges
are milking about 50 cows each
and Messrs. McFadden, Sain and
Holler are milking between 25 and
30 cows each at this time.
There are other men in the
county who are watching this
dairy progress with considerable
interest and Mr. Patton says they
will eventually begin to expand
their herds and their feed-growing
activities. This interest in dairying
seems to be contagious because
as toW about an incident in Iredell
County in a recent column, those
farmers who milk cows generally
have the most fertile farms, the
most comfortable homes, and the
most dependable income sources.
So firmly do the people over in
little Polk County believe this that
they are beginning to add the
dairy heifers which are being made
available through the 4 - H club
Foundation recently formed in that
county. J. A. Wilson says that
eleven fine Jersey heifers were
brought into the county last Mon
day and were distributed to Gerald
Edwards, Allen Wilson, Roy Jack,
John Steppe, Clarence Wilson,
Ray Wilson, Russell Stott, Annie
Powell, William Earl Skipper, Al
vin Stott, and John Ruff. Alfred
Walker was another club member
to get a heifer, but his arrived a day
or so earlier.
These eleven highly-bred ani
mals were selected from the best
herds in Catawba County and
their purchase was made possible
through donations of $100 and
above by civic-minded individuals
and business firms who aided
Farm Agent Wilson in organizing
the dairy foundation. Each person
interested donated $100 which is
sufficient to buy on^ purebred, reg
istered heifer calf. With the 12
calves distributed to deserving
club members last week added to
the six which had previonsly been
bought by farmers for their sons,
Polk County is on its way to have
the 25 animals which was set for
a goal in 1945.
The boys and girls have already
begun to blanket, brush, feed, train
and prepare their an mals so that
they may be entered in the two
junior cattle shows to be held at
Charlotte on September 26 and at
Asheville on October’ 4.
The calves will be formally pre
sented to the boys and girls at a
public ceremony in Tryon when
the boys and girls start to the
Charlotte show. There will be band
music, a parade, a speaking pro
gram, and other activities so as to
publicize the fact that Polk is
joining in with those other North
Carolina counties which are seeking
to establish a dairy industry. Polk
has had to start from scratch but
she is starting in a sound way by
giving the young people the best
foundation stock available in North
Carolina, considering the price that
the foundation can afford to pay.
Each boy and girl given these
heifers will be required to return
one to the foundation and this one
in turn will be handed on to other
deserving farm boys and girls.
Further east in the old - time
tobacco growing county of Person,
F. K. Sanders says that H. C. Gen
try of the Holloway section, who
operates the milk trucks for Person
County, is now delivering 1,200 gal
lons of fresh milk each day to the
Yanceyville receiving station.
There has been a tremendous
increase in the amount of milk
being delivered each day to the
Oxford receiving station in Gran
vine u-oumy. inis is laigcij ue
eause pastures are appearing on
the Granville tobacco farms. W. B.
Jones, assistant farm agent, tells
a story of how he visited the farm
of T. N. Hobgood about three years
ago to talk pastures to the farm
er.
Mr. Hobgood had five acres
wired in at that time but the graz
ing secured would not have provid
ed sufficient feed for one cow. To
day, Mr. Hobgood has added
another acre to the original five,
has fertilized, and renovated the
whole six acres and the pasture
is taking care of seven cows. They
are unable to keep the sod grazed
as it should be. His pasture, though
SMALL in acres, is proving to be
a LARGE demonstration in the way
of promoting the more economical
production of milking in his neigh
borhood.
For instance, A. B. Clement of
Oxford, Route 4, is preparing a
seed bed right now for a six-acre
pasture. He is applying 1 1-2 tons of
ground limestone per acre, 400
pounds of a 2-12-12 fertilizer mix
ture, and is seeding 10 pounds
of orchard grass, 3 pounds of white
Dutch clover, 2 pounds of Ladino
clover, and 4 pounds of herds grass
per acre. This makes a total of 19
pounds of seed to the acre.
But Mr. Clement says he will
not depend solely upon this pasture
and is therefore planting 4 acres of
alfalfa for a hay crop. He has se
cured the seed, fertilizer, and borax
needed for the alfalfa and, weather
permitting, will have had his pas
ture planted by this date. Claude
Morgan, farm agent in Granville,
thinks that the good farmers of
Granville and other eastern Caro
tobacco and will depend upon it as
a great cash crop but they also are
looking to the future and will have
some cows and some feed as a
kind of income insurance should
tobacco growing become so wide
spread that the price will drop to
low levels.
1755 ^ 1945
St. John’s
Lodge No. 1
A. F. & A. M.
The Dgeree of FELLOW CRAFT
will be conferred by this lodge
this MONDAY evening, Septem
ber 17th, at 7:30 o’clock in the
Masonic Temple. All qualified
brethren are cordially invited to
attend. By order of the Master.
Chas. B. Newcomb, Secretary
I ATTENTION I
BORROWERS
Our Loan Committee
Will Inspect Properties
For Loans
11:00 A. M. TUESDAY
File Your Application Today
For IMMEDIATE ACTION
$
Save With And Borrow
Through An Insured Institution
Q
COOPERATIVE
BUILDING & LOAN ASS'N.
124 Princess St.
Frederick Willetts, Sec’y.-Treas.
i
Wilmingtonian Honored
Pictured above is a sextet of campus leaders at Wake Forest Col
lege during the current school year. Top row, from left—H. D. “Bus
ter” Mabe, Jr., of Kinston, president of the student body; Sallie
Vaughan of Durham, president of the Women’s Council; Dewey Hobbs
of Wilmington, president of the Baptist Students Union and football
guard.
Bottom row—A1 Jennings of Norfolk, editor of OLD GOLD and
BLACK campus weekly; Charlotte Boone of Castalia and Richard
Griffin of Columbus, Ohio, co-editors of THE HOWLER, yearbook.
Expert Advises Buying
Superior Bred Poultry
By Dr. C. H. BOSTIAN
(N. C. State College)
The general public is learning
the value of buying eggs which
have been graded, but the poultry
man who produces the eggs has
frequently failed to realize that
pullets exist in various grades of
Quality. In the majority of in
stances we obtain about what we
pay for, and that is especially true
when it comes to buying pullets
for the production of eggs.
The performance of a pullet de
pends on two principal factors that
are always present. These are
heredity and environment. A pullet
is born with heredity permanently
established, and if that heredity
includes such things as late ma
turity, small egg size, low rate of
laying,, and broodiness, they cannot
be removed during the life of the
hen.
Environment includes all the in
fluences besides heredity which
affect the chicken from the time
the egg is laid and during its in
cubation to the death of the in
dividual. Feeding, housing, the
presence or absence of diseases
and parasites, and climate are
some of the things included in the
environment.
The relative importance of
heredity and environment can be
summarized by saying that one
establishes a ceiling to the rate
of production and the other de
termines how nearly the ceiling
will be reached. Probably there
has never been a laying hen which
had throughout her life a perfect
environment.
To make more sure of obtaining
pullets with a high potentiality foi
| laying eggs, it is necessary to buy
! them from stock which has been
improved by breeding. Various
degree of imporovement have been
made, and the buyer of chicks
for pullets may obtain stock hav
ing the ability to lay from 100
to 250 eggs per year under average
conditions.
How can the buyer of chicks or
pullets know their capacity for
laying eggs? Actually, there is
no way of predicting the inherent
ability of chickens in an absolutely
exact way, such as in knowing
how. much light will be produced
by a 10 or 100- watt light bulg
On the other hand, egg-laying
capacity is very definitely related
to the breeking methods which are
used to perpetuate the stock.
Each year more and more
poultrymen are buying chicks of
the certified Grade and rearing
layers. These are superior chicks
of the U. S. approved grade be
cause they come from stock where
pedigreed males (Record of Per
formance) are used in the flock
matings. Practically all 4-H Club
poultry projects stipulate that
chicks of the certified grade be
used because it has been proven
that greater profits can be realiz
ed from pullets of that grade than
of a lower grade.
The initial cost of certified chicks
is usually about seven cents more
than the lower grade. When buy
ing unsexed chicks that increases
the cost of each pullet by 14 cents.
That difference in cost is covered
by just three eggs at present re
tail prices, and if 20 to 40 addi
tional eggs are laid, the extra
profit per laying hen may exceed
one dollar. A five-pound, 100
egg bird consumes about 80
pounds of feed a year; while a
hen of the same weight laying
200 eggs consumes only 94 pounds
of feed. The additional 100 eggs
are produced on only 14 more
pounds of feed. Furthermore, the
100-egg hen requires the same
amount of care and attention and
occupies the same amount of
space in the house.
For both the large commercial
flock and the small family flock,
there is the same advantage in
buying superior stock. It is often
the principal cause in determin
ing success or failure. Experienc
ed poultrymen have come to ap
preciate this fact, but newcomers
generally consider a hen a hen,
and buy the cheapest stock avail
able.
At this season of the year many
families of our towns and cities
are buying a few pullets to furnish
eggs during the coming months
when eggs are likely to be scarce.
The price to be paid for these
pullets should not be based entire
ly on their weight, but partly on
their breeding worth. If they
were grown from certified chicks,
Ihey are worth more than if^rown
from a lower grade. It can even
be said that if some pullets ready
to lay are worth $1.50 each, others
are worth $3.00 each.
—
ROBESON FARMERS
TO WATCH PICKER
COLLEGE STATION, Raleigh,
Sept. 16.—The first cotton picker
in North Carolina will soon be
ready to go into the fields of the
Liberty Manufacturing Compa. y
near Red Springs in Robeson
County to harvest the fleecy staple.
Since leaves on the cotton dam
age the lint in the machine-picking
of the crop, the cotton is being de
foliated by chemical treatment. The
dusting of the cotton to remove
the leaves is being done by air
plane at a cost of about $2 an acre.
The cotton picker is manufactur
ed by the International Harvester
Company, and an engineer of the
company is now making the nec
essary adjustments to fit it for the
picking job. It is hoped that the
machine can begin picking the crop
soon.
Farmers from Robeson and ad
joining counties are planning to
watch the operations of the new
cotton picker when it is put to work
in the fields. It may usher in a new
era of cotton production in that
section. Farmers are anxious to
see the quality of the cotton after
it is picked by the machine and
compare it with the quality of
hand-picked cotton.
County Agent O. P. Owens of the
State College Extension Service
says that a number of farmers
who have exceptionally large cot
ton are defoliating the crop where
they plan to pick it by hand. This
is also a new practice for the sec
tion.
Onslow County farmers have
demonstrated that the cheapest
gains put on hogs are obtained
through supplemental grazing
crops, both winter and summer,, y
ENGINEER WARNS
OF MACHINE CARE
COLLEGE STATION, Raleigh,
Sept. 16.—Prof. David S. Weaver,
head of the Agricultural Engineer
ing Department at State College,
warns farm people to be especially
careful of all types of fa.m ma
chinery, and of vicious animals.
He points out that the kitchen is
the most dangerous place in the
farm home and that housewives
need to exert care in lighting fires
and in doing ordinary jobs in the
kitchen around the stove.
Since there are now more cars
on the road and they are traveling
at faster speeds, Prof. Weaver also
warned that all farm people should
be watchful when walking along
country roads just after sunset,
because the motorist shave the
greatest difficulty in seeing at that
time.
He suggested that people walk
on the shoulder of the road, if pos
sible and where they must walk
on the highway itself, stay on the
extreme left side of the road, i»c
ing the on-coming traffic. “Be
alert for cars coming up from be
hind to pass other cars, and look
carefully for approaching traffic
before starting to cross the high
way,” Weaver said.
Farmers should wait for their
classing cards before selling their
cotton The growers taking advan
tage of the Smith-Doxey Act are
civen the loan value of the cotton,
a true index of its worth.
The North Carolina Federation pf
Home Demonstration Clubs, more
than 40,000 strong, celebrated its
twenty-fifth anniversary at State
College last week. They laid out
progressive plans for the future.
N. C. Infant Death Rate
i#—
Declining, Survey Shows
. ~ i
The infant mortality rate is one ,
of the most sensitive of all in
dexes of adequate medical care,
facilities and services, says Dr.
Selz C. Mayo, assistant rural so
ciologist of the Agricultural Ex
periment Station at State College.
Any society may be iudged by
this factor as the social and
economic status of a people is
reflected in their infant mortality
rate.
There are just about the same
number of infant deaths in North
Carolina each year as there are
deaths in all the population be
tween one and 30 years of age,
Dr. Mayo says. In 1940 about 15
per cent, 4,631, of all the deaths
in the state were infants. By
1942, this number had dropped to
4,324. These were babies who were
born alive but died before reach
ing their first birthday.
The rate at which infants die is
decreasing in North Carolina.
However, the relative decrease is
not uniform for the various parts
of the population.
In 1940 infants died at the rate
of 57.6 per 1,000 live births but
by 1942 the rate was down to 48.3.
This represents a decrease of
about 16 per cent.
The nonwhite rate dropped a
greater amount than the white rate
from 1940 to 1942. But, relatively,
the decrease in the white rate was
greater than the nonwhite—17 per
cent as compared with 14 per cent.
People who are living in the
rural areas of our state can take
some measure of pride in the fact
that babies born alive to the rural
residents in 1942 had a better
chance of living to a year old
than infants born to urban parents.
The rural rate decreased about
18 per cent from 1940 to 1942,
while in urban centers the de
crease was only about 10 per
cent.
une oi tne important xaciors
that is necessary to understand
infant mortality in North Carolina
is a knowledge of the time ele
ment—when infants die.
In 1942 a little over one half
of all infant deaths occurred be
fore the babies had lived one
month (these are known as neo
natal deaths!; the remaining
deaths occurred during the other
11 months of the year. It is in
teresting to note that 64 per cent
of the nonwhite infant deaths oc
curred before such infants had
reached one month of age.
From 1938 to 1942 the neo- natal
ratd went down about 18 per cent
while there was a decrease of
about 42 per cent for the remain
ing 11 months. It is encouraging
to observe that these two rates
decreased about the same per
cenage during 1940-1942.
Infants do not die at the same
rate during each month of the
year in North Carolina. In 1942,
the infant mortality rate in the
state was lowest in September and
highest in February. For the
United States, September was the
lowest month and January was the
highest. The neo-natal rate and
the rate for the remaining months
show about the same seasonal pat
tern.
The significant gains pointed out
are due largely to the extension
of pre-natal, obsterical and post
partum care. Extending such ser
vices are, in turn, due to many
things. Stepping up the extension
of the same services can speed
up the process of lowering our
infant mortality rate, Dr. Mayo
says. Facilities, education, and an
equitable method of payment are
the key factors in saving infant
lives in North Carolina.
STATE CORN CROP
SETS NEW RECORD
COLLEGE STATION, Raleigh,
Sept. 16.—North Carolina has the
largest corn crop this year in its
history and many farmers have
discovered that they can practi
cally double their yields per acre
through improved practices.
The State College Extension
Service has inaugurated field dem
onstrations in every county in the
state and many growers are now
following the improved practices
on their entire acreage.
The use of well adapted hybrid
corns, more plants per acre, better
fertilization, and shallow cultiva
tion are the principal points in the
new plan for corn growing.
County Agent H. K. Sanders, for
example, has just examined six
demonstrations in Person County
and counted the number of ears of
corn on 70 yards of row both on
the farmer’s acre and on the test
acre. The count was 119 ears aver
age for the farmer and 165 ears for
the test acre.
J. D. Winstead, Jr., V. O. Bla
lock, H. Roy Rogers, C. T. Hall, L.
P. Sherman, and Clyde Meadows
cooperated in these tests. The count
showed that Winstead with a count
of 224 ears for 70 yards would
probably make the largest yield of
corn on the test acre.
free of bangs
GATESVILLE, Sept. 16.— Gates
County is practically free of Bangs
disease. County Agent John W.
Artz of the State College Exten
sion Service says that Dr. T. V.
Dahl, state' veterinarian at Wind
sor, has examined 15 per cent of
the cattle in the county and found
only one reactor in 80 herds. He
reports that the corn crop is one of
the largest in many years and that
the peanut crop has been cut about
>0 per cent because of damage
:aused by rains and grass. j
The Tarheel ,
Gardener
By JOHN H. HARRIS
N. C. State College
The grape is one of the most
popular fruits generally found in
the home garden and has gained
in popularity with the passing of
years. The North Carolina home
garden is incomplete if it does not
contain at least a few vines. The
Muscadine grape which includes
such varieties as the Scuppernong,
James and Mish are well adapted
in central and Eastern Carolina,
but because of the short growing
season and low temperature, they
do not do well in the mountains.
The bunch varieties such as Fre
donia, Concord, Niagara, Dela
ware, Lutie and Catawba reach
their highest perfection in the
mountains and in the foothills.
However, they can be grown
satisfactorily in all parts of the
state when an annual program of
care is followed which includes
pruning, fertilization, and protec
ting the vines against insects and
diseases.
Muscadine grape vine are dioeci
ous plants, that is some plants
bear only male blossome and
others are female in or bear
ing vines which are fertilized
by small bees carrying the
pollen from plant to plant. It is
therefore necessary to plant a
male vine near the varieties to
be grown when the plantings are
some distance from native male
vines.
Certain varieties of bunch grapes
such as Concord and Catawba do
not set fruit well when planted
alone. These varieties should be
planted with Delaware, Niagara,
Ontario, and Moores Early, in order
grapes like the Muscadine varie
to insure good pollination. Bunch
require annual pruning in order
to develop vigorous branches and
to keep the vines with bounds
Most of all bunch grapes need
many sprays with Bordeaux mix
ture in order to control black rot.
Both the Muscadine and Bunch
grapes may be bought from most
nurserymen and should be plant
ed during the fall or winter.
NIXON
In loving memory of my
dear husband and father
Owen Nixon
who passed away Sep
tember 17, 1944.
Remembrance is a gold
en chain
Death tries to break but
all in vain
To have to love and then
! to part
Is the greatest sorrow of
one’s heart.
The years may wipe out
many things
But this they wipe out
never.
The memory of those
happy days
When we were together.
We’ve missed the sound
of your foot steps.
And your voife since you
have gone.
In our minds you still
live on.
And so we smile in the
day time
But some nights our
hearts are sore
As we think of the dear
one God took away
To the distant and golden
shore.
FAMILY.
Sleeping Sickness Hits
Moore Horses, Mules
CARTHAGE, Sept. 16.— Moore
bounty has had its first case of
sleeping sickness among h rses and
•nules. A horse died from the di
sease at the Pinehurst Farm near
lere. County Agent E. H. Garri
son, Jr., of the State College Ex
tension Service, says that animals
in this area are being treated
against the disease and it is hoped
that in this way the trouble may be
kept from spreading. Twenty-four
farms have recently seeded alfalfa
to furnish livestock with cheaper
feeds and other farms would have
planted to the crop if plenty ol
seed could have been obtained on
time.
r -
---—
Rain Hampers Cotton
Harvesth, Scotland
LAURINBURG, Sept 16
cess rain for the last tv-0'm ^
has caused such abnormal , 1
of Scotland County cotton
is interfering with the “
the bolls. Countv A^en* F 81
Mahan of the State Collet, ~ %
sion Service says that some t"
ers are dusting their cotton""
cyanamid to kill the leave V’4
they use 30 pounds of the L, !
per acre they are getting
suits and the cotton is
nicely. This operation. Cosfs 5
farmer about $2 an acre tor tJl
material, labor, and the ope™?
of the tractor duster. P atiOI>
DON'T JUST BORROW MONEY
On your home—finance it the satisfactory CAROLINA way in
limited funds to lend on acceptable security.
ASSETS OVER $3,700,000.00
Three
The / Million Dollar
Carolina Building and Loan Ass'n.
"Member Federal Home Lean Bank"
W. A. FONVIELLE, Sec.-Trea«.
Refer Moore, Pres. W. D. Jones. Asst. Sec.-Treu.
Murray G. James, V.-Pres. J. O. Carr, Atty.
NEXT WEEK VISIT US AT OUR NEW,
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17 SOUTH SECOND STREET
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NOW! I
READY FOR DEL1VERV
1945
DODGE
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._
- 1
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