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VOLUMN XII.
Our Wasting Fertility.
W. F. Massey in Southern Agriculturist.
In the South and East we have
always associated in our minds the
West with a luxnriently fertile soil
and great crops. But of late years
it is becoming evident that the
West is falling off in production,
while the South ia gaining. The
covernraent statistics are sometimes
interesting reading. They show
that the corn yield ia North Caro
lina has advanced from an average
of 12 bushels an acre to 18 bushels,
while that of Kansas fallen from
over 30 to 22 bushels an acre. And
no in the great spring wheat sec
tion in the Dakotas ye read in the
Crop Reporter that the average is
13 bushels an acre, and thousands
of acres were abandoned after sow
ing .
Maryland has gone op ahead 'of
Kansas in the average of her corn
crop, since she makes an average
36 bushels an acre, and there are
wheat growers in Maryland who
have for over twenty years avera
ged 40 bushels an acre. And now
the Crop Eeporters says that Mis
sissippi has the greatest corn crop
in her history, and that there is
corn for sale in Mississippi.
Perhaps the boll wevil is not
6iich an unmitigated curse as it
was supposed, if it drives the cot
ton farmers in the Lower Mississip
pi Valley into rotative farming and
moves the corn belt to the southern
part of the great valley, where it
naturally belongs, and where no.
untimely frost ever cntsit short, as
is often the case in what is com
monly known as the "Corn Belt."
One thing is very evident, and
this is that care1ess farming and
single cropping is av ruinous in the
West and Northwest as in the
South. The growing of wheat as
the sole crop in the Northwest- has
led to poor yields, just as growing
cotton as the sole crop has led to
poor crops and impjoverished land.
Ia the older sections ofihe country
in the East farmers: have realized
the importance of better methods,
and the slow adoption of them has
already shown its influence on the
general average of the crops, while
the decreasing averages in the
West show that the work of soil
robbery is still going on there.
There is still too much of it in the
East and South, but there is a wave
ot interest going over the whole
cotton country in leaaning improv
ed methods.
Fifty years ago the writer of this
was a young railroad civil engineer
in The Mississippi Valley. At that
time the prarie sod was being turn
ed and the farmers laughed at the
notion that their lands would ever
r.eed manure. They got rid of what
as made as fast as possible by let
ting it wash down the streams, of
ten building their stables conven
ient to the streams so that the ma
nure could be washed away. Now
in all the states of" the Mississippi
Galley they are passing laws regu
lating the sale of the commercial
fertilizers, and they are finding it
necessary to restore the wastedfer
niity. Some years ago I was in
Tlted to speak at a farmers' insti
tute in Southern Illinois. They
assigned me the topic on the pro
gramme, "How to Restore Worn
Out Land." I was surprised at
coming from "Egypt."
But on reaching the place for the
meeting I found that the same
Practices that have made worn
.and8 lu the South have made them
Illinois. The hill lands cultiva:
year after year , in corn were
Jhed into gullies and refused
Thgtrt make Profitable crops,
ne humus formerly so plentiful in
son there had been used up and
Zl' aSDr- Thorne has said
the old dead skeleton of sand
ciay ln pe of the living soil
was once there. A livi
use with the abounding Sum
uome Ior tne counl.
Hion8 0f bacteria that are
'HERE SHALL THE
i " ; , L. : :
always working for the farmer if
given the chance. But with the
wearing out of the humus the bac
teria were starved out and could
grow no longer, and the soil became
literally a dead soil. " ; V
And there are millions of acres
of this dead soil all over the conn-
try, and men are trying to gal van'
ize it into a temporary, life with,
commercial fertilizers, speculating
merely on the chances of a crop as
to the character of the seasoil into
such a condition that the changes
of the seasons have less effect upon
it.
Hundreds and hundreds of let
ters come to me from men calling
themselves farmers, the great bur
den of whose letters is My land is
poor. How much and what .kind
of fertilizer shall I use to insure a
good crop!'7 The main idea, espe
cially in the South, seems to be that
all the old, dead skeleton of sand
and clay needs is some plant food
added in a concentrated form, and
that for every crop planted or sown j
there must be a special formula for
a fertilizer to be used. ,V
There is no doubt that the in
creased average of crops in the East
has been to some extent due to.the
use of commercial fertilizers, and it
is not the use of these that I wonld
object to, but their injudicious use
the dependence solely on fertilizers
to get a crop to sell off the land and
to leave the land still poor.
Our best farmers, men , who re
ally farm, and are not mere plant
ers and gamblers with fertilizers,
have' long ago found that it ia ne-
cessary to study the special needs"
of their soil, and to thus avoid buy
ing what they need not buy. They
havefound it to be true,-as I have
been insisting for thirty-fiive years
that any farmes whose interest is
in grain and stock, or in cotton and
stock, needs to buy an ounce of
ammonia in a fertilizer, if he farms
in a good rotation, grows plenty of
legume crops and feeds them. They
have found out that on most of our
strong clay soils, especially the red
uplands of the South,- resulting
from the decomposition of feldapa
thic rocks, they need not buy any
potash if they lime occasionally aid
get plenty of humus in their soil to
bring the plentiful supply - of pot
ash in these soils into use.
Then they are reduced to a need
of but one element that they : must
buy,-phosphorus; and they have
found, that with the development
of the humus in the soil through
the growing of legumes arid the
feeding of thenl and making manu
re they can get better results from
the pulverized Tennessee phospate
rock than from the dissolved rock
or acid phospate and get them
cheaper. This element of phospo
rus, jvhich we get in the combina
tion with lime in the phosphate
rock, is the one thing chat is always
and everywhere most deficient in
all old cultivated soils. Every ani
mal raised on a farm carries it away
in his bones. Every bushel of grain
carries it off. and unlike nitrogen,
we cannot get it from the air by any
sort of plant culture.
We can get all the nitrogen we
need for farm crops through the
growing and feeding of the legumes
such as cow-peas, soy beans, velvet
beans, vetch, etc., and can at the.
same time increase the humus con
tent in our soils, but thephosporus
we must buy in some way, either,
as Dr. Detrich says, b buying and
feeding grain grown on other men's
farms or by buying the phosphatic
rock and applying it. Phosphate
rock used for. the increased. growth
of the legumes and the legumes us
ed profitably in feeding farm ani
mals and making manure, and thus
restoring the wasted humus, are
the means through which our woi n
landsare too be redeemed, and not
through speculating on the chances
of a crop with a dribble of 2 8-2 or
The Record is but fifty cents.
PRESS. THE PEOPLE'S RIGHTS MAINTAIN: UNA WED BY INFLUENCE AND
MOCKSVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7. 1910.
What Waits For the Boys an?
i Girls of Today. .
Progressive Farmer. .
When you are a man, Farmer
Boy, the farms in your neighbor
hood will be better farms; they will
be cultivated better and grow big
ger crops; better live stock, and
more of it will be on them; there
will be better buildings, better
roads, more machinero, . less hard
physical work and greater demands
for clear and accurate thinking.
All this means that the farmer ol
that time will have to be a better
farmer than thOBe of today and this
in turn, means that right now,
while you are a boy if you would
be one of those ood farmers, you
must begin to prepare yjourself for
it. You must lose no chance to
study, to acq aire useful knowledge
to keep yourself strong in body and
raind,.to form good habits. If yon
do these things, the future is yours
if you do not, you will be swept
aside by the march of progress, and
be one of the "poor farmers," the
"failures.' V What are you going
to do about it? Are you making
the most of your school, of ihe
practical training you get on - the
farm, of the books and papers you
read! Have you ever thought a
bout a college course the short
course in agriculture, at least and
about the fact that a farmer needs
to prepare for his work jnst as does
a lawyer or a doctor? If you begin
your life work poorly prepared, the
blame will be largely your own, for
on every side the doors of opportu
nity are open.
When you are a woman. Farmer
Girlthe-bbmes of the Ountry may
not be any... nearer to those-.. who f
share them, but they will be bri
ghter, more beautiful, better fur
nished, equipped with a hundred
conveniences of which your mother
has never known. There-will be
Jess hard work in the housekeep
ing ot those days, but there will be
demanded of the housekeeper a
wider jange of knowledge, a capa
city ro deal with problems which
are now left entirely to the physi
cian, or the teacher, or the legis
lator. All this means that you, too
must keep both body and soul clean
and pure and strong, that you must
train your hands and discipline
your mind, so as to be ready for
the duties that will be yours. If
you are prepared, . you will help
lift the whole race to a higher plane
of living; if you are not, you will
tend to hold it down. You are de
ciding right now which part you
shall play. ,
Ends Winter's Troubles.
To many, winter is a season of trouble.
The frost bitten toes and fingers, chapped
hands and lips, chilblains, cold sores, red
and rough skins, prove this. But such
troubles fly before Bucklen's Arnica Salve.
A trial convinces. Greatest healer of
Burns, Boils, Piles Cuts, Sores, . Eczema
and Sprains. " Only. 25c. at C. C. Sanford's
- Sounds Fishy. .
'That corn can be raised in Stan
ley at a cost of 4 cents per bushel,"
says the Albemarle Enterprise,
"has been demonstrated by. T. B.
Huneyeutt, of the Leo vicinity, and
this by charging time at the rate of
$f per day to the hand." - We're
disputingmobody's word, but there
wiil be many from Missouria on the
proposition that corn can be raised
at a cost of 4 cents the bushel. It
would be of interest if Mr. Huneyr
cutt would give the facts and - fig
ures' and the -Enterprise would
publish them. Statesyille Land-
mark. - -. - . , '
The Same Old Trouble.
' The Durham ' Herald broadly
hints that there need bo no fear a
bout the next Legislature "doing
any thi ng. We perfectly agree with
our contemporary - Before onyone
else claims the glory, The Weekly
dubs it a "6tandpatter,--Webster's
Weekly. ...
The Record is only 50c. a year.
i . -' . . i i i .
" -v " An Avoidable Loss.
' According to the United States
r census reports three people die in
our country every minute, 4,000
every day, 1,500,000 every year
and undertakers continue to order
caskets by the car-load. . " .
Of these million and a half deaths
U2 per cent or, 600,000 are preven
table. Thus, the productive ener
gy wasted annually, as estimated
by political economists, amounts to
11,000,000,000- more than enough
to run our national government.
Each North Carolinian pays more
than $10.00 for that annual amount
while the State pays less than one
cent per capita for preventation.
- According to statistics hookworm
disease is the most prevalent of
these preventable diseases in our
State. Not so many lives are lost
directly Irom this disease as from
some others but the power of resis
tance is lowered on account of it
and the victim readily falls prey to
othei infections. Hookworm dis
ease is courageous wherever, soil
pollution is allowed. Many of our
country schools are breeding places
for the disease. County school
boards local school committeemen
and influental citizens ahould con
sider this matter more seriously.
The Board of Education of Bo wan
county has taken the lead in this
great movement by ordering the
establishment of sanitary toilets at
every public school in the county
regardless of cost. It is hoped
that; others will do likewise.
"I had been troubled with constipation
for two years and tried all of the best
physicians in Bristol, Tenn.. and they
coultf do nothing for me," writes Thos. E.
Williams. Middleboro, Ky. 'Two package
mtefiahVa Stomach, and Liver Tab
lets cured me. For sale by all dealers.
When The Women Vote. ,
One of the most interesting pieces
of reading matter that has been
handed out to the public for some
time is an account of the manner in
which some. of the ladies recently
went about voting in a state where
the fair sex are permitted to have
a say so in political affairs. A pa
per states that some of the female
voters marked out names-appearing
on the printed tickets and " substi
tuted names of favorites, which of
course made it necessary to throw
out the ticket when the votes were
counted. Others returned within
a short. time after they had cast
their ballots and wanted to see their
tickets, as they had forgotten the
name of the man for whom they
had voted. The reporter referred
to doesn't say so, but we'll just bet
those women had lots of questions
to ask regarding the platforms 'of
those whom they supported. Is he
in favor of the hobble skirt! Has
he solved the servant problem?
Does be like big hats? These and
hundreds of similiar questions per
haps had to be answered. But after
all, the ladies are coming into their
own and in all - probabilities will
make the opposite sex set up and
take notice. Ex,
When you have a cold get a bottle of
Chamberlain's Cough Remedy. It will
soon fix you up all right and will ward off
any tendency toward pneumonia. This
remedy contains no opium or other nar
cotic aDd may be given as confidently to
a baby as to an adult. So'dby all dealers.
. Timely Truth.
According to an exchange, a lady
who understands advertising, says
No lady wishes too be looked upon
as a. shopping fiend; she does not
care to go into a store and have a
merchant show all his stock in . or
der to fihd out whether he keeps
what she wishes to purchase and
whether the article is sold at a price
she can afford. It is much easier
and pleasanter to look throu the
advertisements of a paper than it is
to bore the clerks , and 'aste her
own time. Next to the local news
items, the advertisement to a pap
er stating articles for sale with pri
ces, will keep much of the money
home."
UNBRIBED BY GAIN.'
FINE PONY FR
Boyles Bros. Co., of Winston-Safem
will give away oh Jan. 2nd, a fine
Pony, Bridle and Saddle. Every $1
purchase in Clothing, Hats and Fur
nishings will give you one chance.
c
FOR THE BEST VALUES IN
Men's anfl Boy's Clothing and Furnishings
visit -
Mock-Bagby-Stockton Co.,
"Same Price to AIL" 418 Trade Street O
J -WINSTON-SALEM, N. C
How The Law Delays.
.'I understand that you called on
the plaintiff. Is that sol"
"Yefe" replied the witness.
.."What did -he say?"
The attorney for the defence
jumped to his feet and objected
that the conversation could not be
admitted in evidence. A half hour
argument followed, and the judges
retired to their private room to
consider.
An hour later they filed into the
courtroom and announced that the
question might be put
"Well, what did the plaintiff
8ay?,,
"He weren't at home sir," came
the answer. Exchange.
The Brute.
Soon after the arrival of his first
baby, his wife went upstairs one
evening and found him standing by
the side of the crib and gazing ear
nestly at the child. She was touch
ed by the sight and tears filled her
eyes. Her arms stole softly around
his neck as she rubbed her cheek
against his shoulder. He started
slightly at the touch. "Darling,"
he murmured, dreamily, "it is in
comprehensible to me how they can
get up such a crib as that for 99
cents." The' World's Work.
When your feet are wet and cold, and
your body chilled through and through
from exposure, take a big dose of Cham
berlain's Cough Remedy, bathe your feet
in hot water before going to bed. and you
are almost certain to ward off a severe
cold. For sale by all dealers.
A wisely , conducted newspaper
is like a banquet, says an exchange.
Everything is served vup with . a
view to charity. Help yourself to
what you want and do not condem
the entire spread because pickcls
and onions i may'1 be- included. If
yon do not relish them somebody
may, find them palatable. Be ge
nerous and broad enough to . select
g racef ully such readi ng matt er
from a newspaper as will be agree
able to your mental taste. You, as
an individularrje-iiot compelled to
swallow everything. We do'not
all think alike on every subject and
it is a good thing, as it makes'more
variety, and variety is the spice of
existence. Ex.
NUMBER ?2 ''
Appreciate The Editor.
There is one minister at least who
appreciates the editor. At. a recent
banqnet he offered the following
toast.
"To save the editor from starva
tion take his paper and pay for it
promptly. To save him from bank
ruptcy advertise in his paper libe
rally. To save him from dispair
send him every item of news of
which you can get hold. To save
him from profacity write your cor
respondence plainly on one side of
the sheet and send it in as early as
possible: To save him from, mis
takes, bury hirn. Dead people are
the only ones who never make mis
takes. Jack Johnson, the negro pugilist
who stumped the Stateof New York
in behalf of the Democratic ticket,
is now suffering from a nervous
breakdown.
Suspending the rural free deli
very service on roads that are too
bad for comfortable travel is pro
posed by the postoffice department
as an effective means of 'advancing
the good roads movement Ex.
"Living" Coming DownV
What's this we hear this story
of the "cost of living" corning doH n
Glorious, indeed, is the news, K
true. And we think it is true. Of
course, the "cost of living is going
to be reduced, for did not Demo
cracy sweep the earth and a por
tion of Senagambia on election day!
And it follows, just as night fol
lows day, that prosperity and sta
bility must inevitably follow for all
concerned the farmer will sell' hii
produce cheaper we who coassne
but do not produce, wiil buy what
the farmer has to sell at reduced '
pricesgreatly to the fanner's bene-;
fit fhustock grower will get less
for his stock and will thereby be
greatly encouraged to raise more.
for it will be profitable for him to
sell ofiar declining market but,
then, we who consume but do noc
raise meat, will buy cheaper meat, '
bo great will be the blessings that
come to us the consumers! Hur
rah ior Democracy! . Now indeed
News. .
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