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i THE INDUSTRIAL AND EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS OF OUR PEOPLE PARAMOUNT TO ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS OF STATE POLICY. Vol. 2. RALEIGH, N. C, AUGUST 4, 1887. No. 24. LABORIOUS PLOWING. An Indian traveler relates how "the native of India uses a plow made of a piece of iron a foot in length, an inch wide and half an inch thick, which is sharpened at the lower end and fixed in a triangular piece of wood attached to the yoke on the necks of the bul locks by a rope of manilla grass. This plow tears up the ground like a har row, and by hard work can be made to go over nearly an acre of land in a day. The operation of plowing is repeated five or six times before each sowing, or about ten times a year, as two crops are raised. After the last, plowing the sower follows after the machine and carefully drops the seed into the furrow." We have the" perfection of imple ments, combining strength and light ness. Yet the farmers of India, and especially, of China, by the most labo rious attention to detail, raise various crops upon land that has been under cultivation perhaps for thousands of years. How many American farmers, especially on the rich, alluvial soils of the "West and South, understand their whole duty in practically getting the best return from their soil without un duly depleting it ?" Farm, Field and Stockman. ' ' NEGRO FARM LABOR.- The labor question comes nearer "cleaning -me up" than anything else. I have, however, become convinced that the Negro is our main . depen dence;" we have got him, or. he has las', I don't knowwhich; sometimes I think one way and sometimes the. other. ,At any-rate, we have to stay together, and we must feed him or "he will feed Himself, and I. prefer feeding ...Him;' it takes lesstq , do him or there - is -,' less waste attached to pur feeding him,' for he had .as soon eat a Berkshire pig worth twenty-five dollars as a scrub worth only two dollars; or your Ply mouth Rock chickens, as any other cheaper food. On the shares, we can't afford to give him a good mule or horse to kill, or a costly lot of tools; or seed to throw away; for if he was to make six bales of cotton and three hundred bushels of corn, he would think he ought to live easy the rest of his life. You should feed him, and you or some one else will be certain to do it, too. Now when you take the expense off of these bales of cotton (for 150 bushels of corn don't go to his support; it goes for Sunday clothes and whiskey), we see very plainly that it will not feed and clothe his family. I can suggest no remedy that will meet the case.' If the negroes would work and quit their stealing, I would be on Wall street. New York, prepar ing myself for Canada in less than ten years. At the present prices of cot ton, to work them on shares, or rent them land and furnish them, is sure bankruptcy. Jeff Welborn in Southern Cultivator for august. LIME DUST FOR CHICKENS. The lime dust treatment is the best . of all cures for gapes in chickens. It is cheap, simple, and effective.' I put a whole brood of chickens into a peck measure with a bag over the top. A barrel partly filled with air-slacked lime, as dry as powder, was turned on its side and the lime was stirred with a stick until the whole barrel '; was filled with lime .floating in the air. The chickens ;were put into this, with the bag over the 'mouth of the barrel They were put into the dust three times, not more than a minute each time. They should be kept in the measure all the time. We lei one brood stay in too long and lost five out of seven. The windpipes of the dead chickens were found more than' half filled with gape worms, which made it more difficult for them to breathe: My little son, 7 years old, treats his chickens in this way successfully. The lime caji be slacked with water arid then allowed to dry so as to powder. A lot of lime thus prepared will last for years for this purpose. Planter and Stockman. ' ' FERTILIZING WITH. CLOVER. As regards keeping up the fertility of the farm, bought manures are too expensive, and it is hardly possible to make a sufficiency of home-made ma nures ; we then must resort to sowing clover, rotating crops, and resting part of the farm. Sowing clover is our cheapest and surest way of fertilizing, for when growing on the land, we can graze it or mow it for fc rage, and its effects as a fertilizer last f 0 several years. W aldo F. Brown, of Ohid, one of the 'most intelligent and suc cessful farmers of the West, says this of clover : i: With thirty-five' years of careful . observation of the effects of clover, I have each year valued.it higher than I did the previous year'; a crop of clover cannot be grown on my soil without benefiting it ; no matter what use it is , put to -whether, pas tured, cut for hay, allowed to mature a crop of seed, plowed under, or burned off, and each farmer who grows clover can determine for himself what is the best use he can put it to ; the roots of clover ! are the most important factor in the fertilizing value of the soil, be cause their dried weight considerably exceeds that of the dried weight of the top ; and- ateoecause they are richer in food'elemerits than the tops." John H. Dent, in Southern Cultiva tor for A ugust. , ; . : ' WHO IS TO BLAME ? Co) t The: agriculturist often complains of the learned and professional world of .the contempt with wThich they speak 'of the 'farmer and his calling.' But the truth is undeniable that the farmer by his own - conduct and profession often does more to degrade his position than those who f are engaged r in other professions and industries: ' JOlq out ward dress and badge .of the farmer is no disgrace, except in the eyes of fops and fools. The sensible -world knows tie cannot dress every day in fine linen, and if he did they -would at once de cide that he could not be trusted at bank, and that mortgages would soon swallow his farm., There are many errors in the educational prejudices of the farmer, even against his own busi ness, which are the ; children of ignor ance. Col. Scott, in reviewing, this subject, embodies many truths which it would be well for us to ponder : " The average tiller of the soil lacks faith in his calling. lie is prone to regard the earth and its : seasons' as capricious, and wanting in sympathy with his laborers ; he evinces this in his forebodings as. to the. jfuture and his discontent with the rpresent A He imbues his" sons' with the' sairiVfeelingj and they forsake the shop for a trade or for a profession. His daughters take the same idea, and they favor the suit of the fine-haired youth in fine clothes, rather than that of , the bronzed and brawny young man who faces sun and storm without ' fear or care. The children follow the father in contempt for the substance 'arid admiration for the shadow. He further shows his want of faith in the business of tillage by failing to investigate its principles, to note carefully its teachings. Suc cess is too often regarded as the result of chance, and misfortune is rarely imputed to aught : else than "bad luck.?' The lesson of facts is unheeded; a theory based on credulity : occupies the theme." ;Ben.!Perley Poqre. r ' : Farmers must be governed by the 'circumstances7, around them. !. "What they may do'tHis year at a ppfiF cir cumstances may make impossible next year, or make it a Ipss to do' it " a second . time. ' ' The : most successful farmer is the one that can use his sur roundings to the best advantage; You should catch on to every r favorable circumstance that surrounds j you and make. the most. 01 it, ior mis,is wnai many times makes the difference be tween a profit or loss at the close of the year s reckoning. -During the hot weather ' don't let the horses drink to excess. f A little and often will, do them . the most oronn 5 o SUCCULENT FOOD. The need of succulent food for win t'er feeding is t not so sorely felt in Great Britain as on this' side of the water. Turriipi and root crops are largely raised aslapart of the rotation, ann largely fed p. the fields, since the frosts are not generally so severe as to prevent this manner of f eeding. Here this is not possiple ; the roots must be gathered, topped, pitted, and again taken out and prepared by costly hand labor. Hence the avidity with which ensilage came into use in the United States. The use of the, root crops, swedes and mangels has now, it is stated, be come universal in winter dairying ; in order to supply these crops one-fifth of the total cultivated land of England and Scotland and one-tenth that of Ireland, other tfoa land laid down to grass and clover, has to be devoted to their growth. -Thus, in England, 2,300,000 acres 4re annually cropped with turnips, swedes and- mangels ; in Scotland, about 500,000 acres ; and in Ireland, 350,000. So that over 3,000, 000 acres are devoted to the growth of crops, and at least 45,000,000 tons of food are raisee which would be to tally unneeded could we but preserve in hay the characteristic properties of grass. ' Of this 45,000,000 tons of food no less than 40,000,000 consist of water water which may without exaggera tion be considered as mainly required to replace that which was driven away in converting grass into' hay'. Fariii, Field and Stockman. t MACHINERY AND LABOR. John Swinton, a labor advocate of some reputation at the East, J recently gave an- address. riri Boston on the revolutionarv forces of the times. His audience, ' according to" a report of the address in a Boston paper, pre tended appreciation ; but, according to . the report before us, , if true, he must have, dealt largely in incoherent talk about Romej Greece and mediaeval history. ' Moreover his language must have been found very difficult of ap plication , to , the points which he as sumed to illuminate. One of the forces which were mentioned by him was the growth and massing of ma chinery. The truth of . his statement is not to be disputed, but when he alludes to it disparagingly as working to the detriment of the laboring classes, he is running tangent to facts that have been demonstrated time and again as favoring the social and ma terial condition of the working people. Though said with a sort - of raillery, there .was much truth in the vulgar remark : " When the clodhopper reads, - the ' clodhopper i lost. ' - When the i guttersnipe's head becomes a knowledge-box, the guttersnipe is im; possible' . The lowness of man's em ploymerit is raised in proportion to his mental education. ' No vocation is service or degraded in; itself, andit becomes so only because intelligeriCO does not enter, its, execution. Iiet the mind be educated to the employment of the hand and street-sweeping def velops into a science. The meanness of labor is so because of the abasement of man's nature ; elevate that and all that . he undertakes is elevated. . Jnj stead of denouncing the condition 01 affairs in their relations to mankind the best thing that can be done is to improve themriot toloyerthrow them. Pacific'Rural'Press. ' 1 " ' , ; GOOD USE FOR ONIONS: Those who are in the ; habit of in--dulging in raw onions may be consoled for the " mature and able-bodied odor which wraps, them as a veil, and causes men, women and children to flee from their malodorus vicinity, I by the "fact that , onions are the best nervine known. -No medicine is really so effii cacious in cases .of nervous prostra tion, arid they tone up a worn-out sys tem in a very short time. -' Their ab sorbent powergare also roost valuable, especially:in time of epidemic It has repeatedly, been observed that, an onion patch in the immediate vicinity of a house acts as a shield against the pestilence, which is very apt to pass over the inmates of that house. Sliced onions in a sick room , absorb all the germs, and prevent contagion. During an epidemic, the confirmed onion eater should eschew his usual diet, as the geims of disease are present in the onions and contagion can easily -result. Ex. CROPS AFTER PEAS. In addition to the )good things al ready inentioned about peas in 2he Southern Cultivator, it may be said that after taking off the vines which make excellent hay, capable of keeping stock fat with the addition of a very small quantity of corn the land is left in good condition. The roots have broken and mulched the soil to a great depth, while the growing crop has sliaded'the ground, which, its at tendant conditions is the best part of the results of pea culture. Three pecks to one bushel of life preserver peas is best for hay -making, because the crab grass will then race with the vines and make a good mixture, which shortens the time of good curing. Mown in the morning after the dew is off, raked into windrows the same eve ning, on the next day, and put into cocks the second evening, it will be ready for housing on the third day. To insure perfect safety posts might bev arranged for ! inserting ' bars as the hay is stored, which will give air-passages through tne hay. Dry fodder or straw may be interlaid of the bars (which may benefit all round.) Fine crops of oats or rye may be grown after peas without addition of fertiliz ers. L know of a patch of rye follow ing peas that was grazed T all winter arid till AjDril, and then fnade the best crop of rye I ever saw. Any crop following. peas has the advantage of a considerable application of fertilizer. My first observation of pea culture as a benefit to land occurred the sec ond year of my experience. Not hav ing enough peas about two acres of corn were without a pea crop that fall I sowed oats, using about seventy five pounds of guano per acre. Where the peas had grown the year before I gathered twenty to forty bushels of oats, while the oats' after corn alone were hardly stout enough to be cradled. In a certain field, which was partly in corn and peas and partly in oats last year, and which is now in cotton without fertilizer, the difference in appearance of the plant is the differ ence of a moderate application of fer tilizer iri favor of the peas. About 250 pounds of ash element is excellent for peas' sown after small . grairi'Jn J une. TV ,N. R v in Southern Cultiva tor for August. s HOGS AND CHOLERA. Thanks for sample copies of The Southern Cultivator. I see that some one wishes a cure for hog cholera. 1 think there is none, yet . I can give you a preventive which is better than a cure.' I feed my hogs, full-blooded Berkshires, graded and common stock, twice a week, the. following ingredi ents; .1 never had the cholera among my hogs, although my neighbors' hogs had it: I give to twentySve head, bran ' about one peck, salt one quart, wood ashes one peck, soda quarter of a pound, and, about one ; tablespoonf ul of carbolic acidall mixed well. ! If any brie of the The Cultivator readers will follow this receipt, 'arid keep his hogs on good grass and clover pastures, with plenty of clear running water (spring), I don't - think: he will ever see the cholera in his herd. A good many farmers buy fine hogs -from the North,' rbrirhalf to full grown, raised in pens for exhibition, and such hogs' will tumble, at the : first attack. If they would patronize home breeds and . buy . acclauriated stock, there would be a considerably smaller loss.- Being myself a f swine breeder,; wish to see the hog raised ui the South to what it ought to.be a staple article -to a full . and - healthy. ; standard. I know, by observation and . my own, trials that Berkshire males crossed on the common Southern hog give very, satisfactory results, for health, fatten-' ing qualities, etc., and will withstand any disease if properly taken care' of. Your head is level on the hog ques sion, and I wish you success in trying to get the Southern farmer to see his hogs and his faults through other, men's spectacles. G. Camerek, in Southren Cultivator for August. THE PROGRESSIVE FARMER AND ITS FRIENDS. It is known that we started this paper under most disadvantageous surroundings. It is nor. known how we have toiled and labore'd " in season and out of season " day and night, to place it beyond the breakers. We confess with pride and with gratitude to our friends, that it has succeeded beyond our expectations. It has made strong and true friends. It has enjoyed the courteous kindness, t if not co-opera-tion, of the press of the State, for which it expresses its pro found appreciation . Kind words of en dorsement and encouragement are borne to us by almost every mail. For all this we feel gratified. But we desire to speak a few plain, earnest words to our subscibers. Ours is an agricultural State. ' Our people are supporting over one hun dred and fifty newspapers and 'jour nals. Over one hundred of -these are political papers. The Progressive Farmer is the only agricultural paper , (weekly) among them all. It is de voted exclusively to the interests of industrial classes. Is it unreasonable to claim that of the one hundred and ten thousand subscribers t to all our. papers, a majority of ,whom must be farmers, that The Progressive Farmer ought to have ten thousand subscrib-i ers ? "This would be an average i of but a fraction over one hundred 'to each county in the State. Are there not twenty counties in the State that with little effort on the .part of our friends would give us five hundred each by January next ? Are there not fifty other counties that would give us two hundred each? Are there not twenty others that would give us from fifty to one hundred" each? If our friends in these counties will kindly give us their help and. will give half the number named by the first day of January next, we believe we can safely, guarantee to run the list up to ten thousand by the first of June next. It' would enable us first, to reduce the price of the paper to the uniform price of one dollar. Second. It would enable , us to increase the size and give our ! readers the model agricultural weekly ! of the South. Third. It would enable! us to employ constantly' the best edi torial talent in all its departments, ; and lastly, it would give . us a paper that could and would wield a tremend-; ous power in our State. 'Is. not this! true ? If it be true, is it not worth : an effort on the part of our friends; to ; accomplish it? - Who will give us their aid in securing five thousand; subscribers by the first of January. ? -I Look at these rates , . TO clubs : . j 1 subscriber and under five, 1 year $2.00 5 subscribers and under ten, 1 year, .1.65 j 10 subscribers and under fifteen, 1 . ; . ' year, . . . 1 . . 15 subscribers and under -twenty, -1 (year, ' .- . . i . 20 subscribers, or more. 1 year. 1.50 ?1.25 1,00; sncuy casn in aavance. Who will be the first to send us a club? ; Remember that . for any one of the ; above. clubs, you get the paper free, for one year. . 'Will' you not make up f a club in your neighborhood in your! Grange,- in your-' Club,, in your AUi-i ance ? How many of our f riends. will join us in the effort to get the five j thousand? Write, to us for blank j subscription ' list and ' sample copy, of f the paper. Who ; will help? It you I can't lo it; can you not get some one j to do so ? Show the paper to your j neighbor take it with you: to' your j Club,' Grange or Alliance and show it j to your brethren and get them to takdj it.- -Who1 will write first for the: blank t Join us in the work, and let us have, j by the beginning of next year, the very best paper in the whole Soutii for. oui: j fahriers. ::r.r' :-. " ?'...' I ' ! 1 f f' .1 ; I i
The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Aug. 4, 1887, edition 1
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