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' ' ' J i t, ... ,,,.., ; ... , .... V:k.-----.,-:,.v--..U .u ,;,; ,s. !f .-':r7r ' f : , - -; WfiE JrtOGtESSIfE llMfe ) J &-H?7' " - . : ---- . W INDUSTRIAL AND EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS OF OUR PEOPLE PARAMOUNT TO ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS OF STATE POLICY. Vol. V WINSTON, N. O., FEBRUARY 10, 1886. iNo. 1; gticultuval. TOBACCO. I How to Manage It. FROM TIIK C j!tAXT-BKD TO THF. WARE- U IIOl'SK. ; t For the guidance and benefit of our readen. and more particularly those who tire just beginning the cultivation f tobacco, we shall spare no pains to present them from time to time with the best and most re liable inforir.tion from the most practical and,sicce'ssful tobacco farm el's, as to the iVst methods of culti vating and ha Ailing it. We begin with the first &p the plant-bed ; and we shall fow it with articles from the most trustworthy sources, all along throujjt the seasons, to the warehouse. The following vis from the pen of .Messrs. X. H. AA. G. Fleming, f Dutchville TowiUiip, Granville Co., who were flelectetjto write the treat ise, bj' the Durlam Fertilizer Co., because of their Itill and success in raising fine tobaco, and who are en dorsed by all of t Warehousemen of Durham as 'anbng the best and most successful gwers and hand lei's of fine briglt tohai-co in the Stale." With suci an .endorsement we do not hesitattb covtmjwdvlrot' j they say to our nailers. Our next will be on "theselction and prep aration of the land for the crop I. .Plant-bed axu tikir treatment. The growth and.forwa-flness of the plant depends greatly ujon he location of the bed. The location shoud be of a south ern exposure, the soil ioist, with xweet guin and post-oak grAi'th -principally, and near a small brancllif possible. II. Bcrmn'o axd Maniring. The IkmI should le cleared nieelyof all shnihbery and litter before burniz. Plant land should never be burnef when wet, but when-the land is in goo rder. We pre fer to burn from the It of January to the 1st of 5larch, though the time 'ex tends from November Qi to April 1st. The, manuring is one jAnt to be well looked after. The manie for the led should never be of a burfing nature, as that is apt to letard thetrowth of the plants in dry weather. Wsuae.irW stable "manure, which should bejmplied evenlv ver the lied after the ad coals and aslies are rake I off; thenwith gmbbing hoes, hoe up three or foirf, inches deep, not turning up the sril nirjb than ean.be helped. If the bed w nerirakft off the roots and apply from thiry-five to fifty pounds jer one hundred jards, of the standard toWeo fertilizer, Durluim Bull is used a great deal thrOugl our section,) t?-en with weedinc-hoe. cion the bed thoroughly jmd rake, with fine rake, j taking off all coarse obsiasles. W hen the bed is ready for the 4ed, which j suoum oe sown, one tablesponful to the one hundred aquae jards, mixed well with about one gkllofi of rjr ashes, or fertilizer.; sow asj evenly j possible; when sown, tread to l Went the beds " peich,g" ih dxtreine col weather ; drain well and putpn canyast)vhich can be removed as soon as the plajts are safe from the fly and frost, which i( about -the 10th or 15th of April.. It is 4 ry impor tant to keep the vW and jrass pulled, as they are very injurious to fiie plants. The following inethod k prepar ing the plant bed lis given W Cait. if. B. Davis, of Catawba! county, t He is a native (Hlalifa. county, u one of tbe lariest tobaco-grow-! ing counties in thaji State, ad there as here, ibr the last ten years, he has J oeen highly succeful in tie culti vation of the plantl 1 The combiiK.,1 oxAiriencesTthese gentlemen, thus phlnly andfintelli gently given, we th nk, Will i enable aiiy of our fanner i avoid i ny, se rious mistakes in tlfc first , viirv im portant work of sefiring a Ripply I 01 nealthlul. vigqi-ou(T) Captain' Davis siiy: r?' ; J iO tlu planter ah ealv ;,l,in,,l lupplof tol,a planj; js the tiling of prime importance. To secure this the seed may be sown at any time between the 15th of December and the 15th of March, the earlier the better, and allot lotting 100 square yards of seed-bed to every 10,000 plants that will be needed. The ground selected for the purpose should be virgin soil, of sandy texture, rich and moist, with full exposure to the sun, but sheltered to the north and west by rising ground or growmg timber, against the cold winds of eaily spring. Such spots can be readily found in wooded hollows, at the foot of hills, and near to or alongside some water course. Otljer things being equal, the farther into the-woods the spot selected is the best in order to escape the bug. The ground having been well chosen, the next thing is to rake it cleanly, and then burn it thoroughly so as to kill all germs of vegetation. The burning can be at a single blast, if done with dry brush, heaped upon the entire bed a height of some four feet. A better but costlier method is to burn with wood laid upon green poles, which serve the purpose of ventilation, in which case the wood should be piled the whole length of the bed, and of convenient width, say six feet, and after the pile has been well kindled, it should be allowed to burn some two hours, or until the poles underneath are. burned up. The burn ing wood and fire coals should now be moved by using old hoes fastened upon long handles, and again spread a conve nient width and fresh wood added, which should burn until the ground un derneath has been burnt as thoroughly as before, and so on until the entire bed has been burned over. As soon as the ground has cooled enough to walk upon it, and without removing the ashes, it should be broken deeply and finely with the mattock, care being taken not to in vert the soil, and then chopped with weeding boss and raked ,un,tij, clean ot nuitu .111(1 wt.iiiiiilvtuM'jrrtH fnrwriiph r a., . - . - . A I son land should never be burned when too wet. The quantity sown should be one and a-half ; teaspoonfuls to every 100 square yards, and in that exact propor tion for each fraction or multiple thereof. Great care should be taken to sow the seed asregularly as possible, so as to pre vent somepots from being too thin, and what is wwse, other spots from being too thick. To, do so the seed should be care fully meiysured and then thoroughly mixed ina convenient quantity of dry ashes, antj the mixture divided into two equal parts. The bed should be marked off into convenient sowing breadths by lilies four feet apart, and sowed, entirely over with one half the seed and in one direction, and then over again with Uie other half and in the opposite direction, the sower retracing his steps. The seed should le left upon the surface and neither hoed nor raked into the soil, but trodden in with the foot, or pressed in with the back of a weeding hoe, or bet ter still, by passing a light roller over the bed. To prevent drifting or puddling of the seed by washing rains, where the ground is rolling, trenches slightly in clined and two inches deep and four feet apart should be made with the mat tock across the bed. Where the ground is flat and subject to being sobbed, it should be thoroughly drained, as nothing drowns more easily than tobacco plants. For the three-fold purpose of warmth, moisture and fertility, the bed shoulu now letop-dressed with a covering half inch thick of good stable manure broken fine, the fresher the better, bqt in any case free of grass seed. When such sta ble manrtre is not convenient that from the hen-house or pig-pen will answer, hog hair also making an excellent top dressing. If neither of these is at hand, some strongly ammoniated fertilizer should be applied at the rate of half bushel of it to every 100 square yards, and raked into the soil before seeding. The bed should now be thickly covered with tine brush to prevent both drying and freezing of the soil, by which the plants are either checked in the growth or lifted out by the roots. The next thing to be thought of is to guard against the ravages of the tobacco bug, an insect which by a popular mis nomer is called "The Fly," which makes its appearance about the first of April, ami for which when once it gets posses sion of a plant-bed, no remedy has yet been found. None of the insect poisons, such as carbolic acid or kerosene oil, has any effect upon it. A partial preventive is to sow the Iorders of the bed thickly with black mustard. It springs up quick ly, and upon it this bug loves to feed. A still better preventive is to shut the bug out by a fence around the bed one foot high, built of 12 inch plank nailed to pegs driven .into the ground, with a little earth pressed against the bottom of the, planks, so as to make thef fence bugJ proof. Such fence or cold frame doesr theadd itional good of keejring the bed warmer and moister and should never be omitted. Ordinarily and after each seeding the plants will begin to show themselves about the first of March, at which time an additional half tablespoonful of seed for every 100 square yards, should be sown as at first. 8o soon as the plants are well up and have begun to grow, they should le pushed as rapidly as pos sible by top-dressing the bed before each successive rain with some good fertilizer, at the rate of one gallon of it to every 100 square yards, mixed with an equal quantity of damp earth. The fertilizer should never be applied while the plants are wet with either dew or rain, for fear of scalding them. Dry leaves and young grass should be hand-picked off the bed. But the covering of brush should not be permanently removed until the plants are large enough to set, but should then be, in order to toughen them. And after it has been removed, and while waiting for a season to transplant, should the plants begin to parch from drought, the bed should be well watered and again covered with green boughs laid upon a scaffolding two or three feet alove the growing plants. I have never known this protection to fail in even the severest drouth. But after a rain this shelter should be removed in order to accustom the plants to the heat of the sun.. ENSILAGE-SILOS. As Cheap Beef and as fine Butter Milk as can be produced in the United States. and For the Puocibkssivk Fakjiek. Many are now inquiring in this grand old State of ours, what change can be made to make "airriculture pav. cotton, in tne sections. . best H'nSltf&fT pa i I l . . l y S . i pay; neither does the makinir of nor the improved grasses. Where the land is adapted to the growth of tobacco, and where all the re quirements of its . production and curing have been carried out fully, it has been found profitable in a small way, but the difficulties in the way of accomplishing this are so many and great, requiring sd much time and trouble, that the probabil ities are that only a- comparatively small portion of our farmers can be successful in making this important croi), With these facts fully established, the question arises, what can we raise that will relieve us from the difficulties under which we are laboring, and that has the possi bility of . getting us out of our troubles? I maintain that the stock and dairy business, .with the assistance of the silo and ensilage, will meet all 'the requirements. I insist, and to a certain extent have demon strated, that by using only the food plants for our stock, natural to the South, without attempting to bring to our aid clover or any of the im proved grasses, we can make as fine quality of beef and butter here, and at as low cost, as in any portion of the United States. This, of coursej is an advanced position for a far mer in the State of North Carolina to take; of this, I am fully aware, yet I stand prepared to make the assertion good, and any other far mer can do the same. And now how to do it : I com menced with a thoroughbred Jersey bull of, good butter strain to cross on good native stock. In this way I have obtained good grades, which I have been able to sell at from fifty to seventy-five dollars each when two or three years old, or when they drop the first calf. This calf; if a "bull, is worth $20, if a heifer, $50. If the grades are nearer up to the pure blood, say f to Jersey, there is a corresponding increase both in the quantity, and' quality of butter, as well as increase in the sel ling value. If money can be spared to purchase thoroughbred heifers in the beginning, the profits will be much greater, both from butter yieh's, and the value of young stock, as "i thoroughbred 'y. Jersey Keifers from one to 'two years old, are worth from one to three hundred VdoUars, and will sell readily at that price. &To-:ieea tms stock weir w simpm and inexnensive ' bv means i of the - X mr silo. I have written several articles, giving descriptions of silos, so that it is probably unnecessary to speak here. The plant for ensilage is our field or cow pea (the best I have found for that purpose, being the Whip-poor-will variety). These I plant after wheat first breaking up the land, then running the rows three feet apart. Then put eight to twelve peas in each hill, about twenty inches apart. After they are three or four inches high, side up with a cotton plow, and if the -A- becomes grassy', side up a second time, going over with a hoe and cutting out the largest weeds W V' V and grass. No other cultivation is necessary. From four to eight tons of pea vines are made on each acre, making the ensilage cost (including two dollars' worth of manure per acre) from $1.50 to $2.00 per ton. These vines may be put in the silo just as they come from the field, without being cut in a cutter, without injury to the ensilage. From these vines I make the finest quality of ensilage, and also the most inexpensive. This, however does not average more than one dol lar and a half a ton, and two tons of this is wrorth more, in feeding value than one ton of the best hay. I would ask : Is there any portion of the United States where good hay can be bought for $3.00 per ton? Then why can we not raise butter and beef as cheaply ' as any other section ? IS htrnTMist;iiianci'nnie corn is sufficiently matured to gather without injury. I let the ear remain on the stalk a few days later than when we consider the fodder is ripe enough to gather. At this time the grain is well glazed. Then pull the the ears from the stalks and throw in small heaps convenient to haul to the barn. Then cut down the stalks at the ground, blades on them, haul and pack in silo, as closely as possi ble, taking care to have them lie so as to have them fit closely to each other, avoiding vacant places and in equalities Mix in pea vines if need be to fill up. When full cover the whole with inch boards, laid length wise the silo. Then put common earth or sand 18 inches deep. This answers the double' purpose of ex cluding the air and weighing the silo, and will be sure to preserve the ensilage. An acre' that will make four barrels of corn will make four tons of ensilage, ora ton of ensilage to every barrel of corn. To save the stalks and fodder in this way is less expensive than to pull and save in the usual manner, while the ensilage is worth ten times as much as .the fodder. Ensilage made in this man ner does not cost $1.00 per ton, giv ing a large feeding capacity (the stalks) which would otherwise -be lost. These stalks and fodder make an excellent foodj of which for the past three years I have fed horses, mules and cows over three hundred tons, and from which I have seen no bad effects. North Carolina, in the tenth cen sus, is put down as making 28,000, 000 bushels corn. One ton of en silage, to five bushels corn would give 5,600,000 tons. Ileduce the quantity to 2,800,000 tons which will equal 1,200,000 tons of haj-, and we see what ah enormous quantity of stock food is throw. away. I con sider corn "stalks valueless, left on the ground as manure. The same census gives the State 94,000 tons of hay showing that v the .corn stalks thus utilized will give over ten times as much of stock food as the entire production of hay. - Now suppose the fanners of North, Carolina would make say two -tons of pea-vine ensilage ta jie : acre a ter.-wheat-; this would iver l,200,o6oTtons eom any "other iccmclusion -Warriveilat f than that Me can feed stock ami raise milk and butter as cheaply as any' portion of the country. ' , . C. W: Gauuett: Maj. Garrett puts up annually over 300 tons of ensilage and below wo give his method of constructing his silos. 'In our next issue -we" will : give his management of stock, show-' ing after an experience of five years, that he " stands; prepared to make . his assertions good. Ed. My silos werO built in 1881, and and have been filled four times, -the ? ensilage, being always well preserved. First, I dug a trench for foundation sills, 43 feet lon'14 feet wide and 8 ' inches deep. Into these; put; the sills, of white oak, all heart, 10 inches square, framing- a sill of the tsame size across the middle.;;; This; makes the foundation for two silos, inside measure 20 feet long by 12 feet wide.' I put studs of heart-oak into: these sills 10 feet long, 2 by G inchcs2 feet apart, inteiidingtne siloso be 10 feet deep ; then with on&inch;: plank boarded up each side the)studs 10 feet high ; fill the spaces betwe"Ti the studs and ijmer ana outer vuii of plank .with-';l'id'---;(wa8i' 'Till answer as well) tfeus making an : ' tight wall, which js all that is hie sary, however it may be dons. i-U 6 feet of studding above f be wails or 1 body of the silo is necessary forl the . purpose of filling, tramping, weigh tCH ing, etc. I have 'one door tb each silo at the outerend; made by hav-ingnthew-jti t ; apart. To these hang two doors 1B; inches wide by 5" feetrl.qng'to'-the ah-;, ner edge of the studs, tlie doors opeii outward. Then cloW the doorsmt; nail on boards to outer edge of stud, ; and fill between; jdoors and boards; with earth, and you have tho same, wall as the other; parts of the silo: When you wish, to open tho doors rip off the boanls in front, wheri the earth falls and t he 6ors;ppen put ward, exposing the ensilage,; Of course, the studs are JfVame4into plates above, which should be done, in a substantial manner, as1 ttepres sure from weighting the silo is qnit, heavy. 31 y rcxjJH extenu a ictj r tt yond the sides Inllends to present j rain ft-oni beingiblown in3;on tli cn- silage. After filling tbeTeilorJiir t j cover, the ensilage with inch naliln J laying them dowii lengthwise f' then cover these with' wljeat or pine I to prevent earth Or. sand frora' pel ting in ; then c6veriih;;ear:U 13 inches deep ami you majrtstv irrff. sured that your ensilage ifiafjCr--: prefer common eaJE:foa?:;wei;htic;;'. for two reasonsfirst, -it is vmore; easily handled; and second, it ex cludes the air better than aiiytlung else. When feeding the ensilap :ir.;t, take out in frontof he doors f . i bottom to top, abouf2 feet; the ; : ; each side, until Uhe- entire en l i taken out; thettjput in good stantial pi-ops to Jiold theptanks and keep the weight from bending tit em down, which repeat, propping every 3 feet as, the ensjlr;:e is 'taken tout, until the whole is -exhausted:-,fCare should be taken that this propptni; be well done, otherwise the plan above may' give fwraynd enclai, , the safety of thef:eders".i l;': It has beert:elii people must learn-fo "grtn c 4 i; -thing for mart and -besr 3 ' can claim to b"e sef-r "1 ::::::;; ;" more, they must, : vto" r !. without running 1 U j . - cj.. j eral prosperity can i . o,v. .1 r can mane wnai-wo vr,-,:. we consume at. - hi!::--V c;. ll destroy any people ; it l. the thrifty and malic? ; nnthriftyl i'y,Xeirjr' tn: '. ;;-:0;V.c ; ;-2-We askel pn about eiisihige. 1 ience with it haill faeto-ryv) Tt t js f ftiroduced; f ?JLbtr 15 -onei acre- wni kc conditim 5 forsnn the bestfiiodjif.tl " 1 t : -
The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Feb. 10, 1886, edition 1
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