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THE mt fRIAL AND EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS OF OUR PEOPLE PARAMOUNT TO ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS OF STATE POLICY. T ! -I L RALEIGH, N. C., MAY 7, 1 889. No. 13 Vol. 4. , DIRECTORY OF FARMERS' OR GANIZATIONS. KORTH CAROLINA FARMERS STATE ALLIANCE. Presidenk-S. B. Alexander, Charlotte, Vice-President T. Ivey, Ashpole, N.C. Secretary L. L. Polk, Raleigh, N. C. Treasurer J. D. Allen, Falls, N. C. Lecturer Dr. D. Reid Parker, Trinity College, N. C. Assistant Lecturer D. D. Mclntyre, L&urinburg, N. C. Chaplain Rev. Carr Moore, Towns- ville, N. C. t m v Door Keeper W. H. Tomlinson, Fay- etteville, N. C. , Assistant Door Keeper R. T. Rush, lit Gilead, N. C. Trim. Sergeant-at-Arms J. S. Holt, Chalk Level, N. C. State Business Agent W. A. Darden. 1XECUTIVE COMMITTEE OK THE NORTH CARO LINA FARMERS' STATE ALLIANCE. Elias Carr, Old Sparta, N. C, Chair man; Thaddeus Ivey, Ashpole, N. C; J. S. Johnston, Ruffin, N. C. THE NORTH CAROLINA FARMERS' ASSOCIATION. President Elias Carr, Old Sparta, Edgecombe county. B. F. Hester, Oxford, Secretary; S. Otho Wilson, Vineyard, and W. E. Ben- bow, Oak Ridge, Assistant Secretaries. VIRGINIA STATE ALLIANCE. President G-. T. Barbee, Bridgewatar, Virginia. , Vice-President T. B. Massey, Wash ington, Virginia. Secretary J. J. Silvey, Bridgewater, Virginia. Treasurer Isaiah Printz, Luray, Vir ginia. . Lecturer Q-. H. Chrisman, Chrisman, Virginia. Asst. Lecturer J. S. Bradley, Luray, Virginia. Chaplain Wm. M. Rosser, Luray, Virginia. Door Keeper B. Frank Beahm, Kim ball, Virginia. Asst. Door Keeper G-. E. Brubaker, Luray, Virginia. Serg't-at-Arms C. H. Lillard, Wash ington, Virginia. State Business Agent S. P. A. Bru baker, of Luray, Virginia. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. E. T. Brumback, Jas. E. Compton and Geo. H. Chrisman. . WAYNE COUNTY. More Grain and Less Cotton and Less Commercial Fertilizer. Bro. Polk: As Correspondent of Wayne County Alliance, I write to say that grain crops of all kinds will this year be increased in acreage. Wheat is increased 30 per cent, in acreage and is looking very promising. Oats is increasing 40 to 50 per cent.; sown on good land, stand good, growth strong and hearty. There are only a few lots seeded to clover as an experiment. Wayne is not consid ered among the clover and gras3 coun ties, but I have seen some very fine clover in. the county. In the matter of orn, the great bread and food crop in Eastern North Carolina, the acre ag? is large, beyond any former crop of ihis county. The greater portion oitne crop is planted ana coming up in fine condition. Our farmers are apused and are determined to raise ead for man and food for beast, irf ipendent of the .great northwest. fhis year's acreage of cotton will not be so large as formerly it will be at least 20 per cent. less. There is but a (small amount planted up to date; how ever, the last ten days of April and tie first five of May are considered otton-planting days in this section. in the matter of home-made manures this year, it is not perceptiblv in- creased, xne amount of commercial fertilizer used this year is small com- pared with former years not more than one-half as much as last year. At Walter station, on the Gol,dsboro and Smithfield railroad, there were 280 tons delivered in the year 1898, but up to date this year only 35 tons have been delivered and a great many farmers in the vicinity are ready to plant their cotton. The amount de livered at Walter this spring will not reach 45 tons. The prospect for a large cotton crop this year in this sec tion is not very hopeful. The old mortgage system and increase in price has waked up the country, and the matter has been talked over by fifteen hundred Alliance men in Wayne county. Old Grangers have waked up from their lethargy and showed themselves at the front, ready to fight the old mortgage and trust tyranny. Guano, like the bagging trust, oper ates entirely against the fanners, ex cept when a " boycott ". sets in and the tide turns, and thp.n tlo 1 i.O I at the other end of the line. And I then, oh, what a sin and disgrace, that I a farmer should show independence j and manhood ! lrucjang Has become quite an in. teresting business .around Goldsboro. There are thousands of acres planted in the various croDs for NnrtWr markets, and nearly every acre yields profit. The trucking business has been mosily in the hands of a few city men, but at present it bids fair to spread all over the county, as more or. less vegetables are pUnted in every part of the county. , The day is not far distant'when trucking will divide honors with cotton as a money crop. Peas, beans, cabbages, sweet and Irish potatoes, tomatoes, asparagus, straw berries and many others of this class are raised and shipped for market from Goldsboro. The( fruit crop promises to be immense; peaches, plums and pears are well loaded ; apples are just beginning to bloom. Yours fraternally, J. H. Caldvtell. CANE CULTURE. Elizabeth City, April 15, '80. Mr. Editor: In response to the in quiries of ",Hog and Hominy," con cerning the " Culture of Cane," I will say I have had a little experience in it. In answer to his first question as to how and when to plant. My time for planting is from the 20th of April to the 10th or 15th of May. Have your land well prepared ; manure same as for cotton or corn; plant in drills, fifteen or twenty inches apart, ten or twelve seed in a hill, Don't under stand me to say the drills must be fifteen to twenty inches apart the hills, I mean. Rows same distance as for cotton or corn. Cultivate same as any other crop; when it needs work, work it, of course. Thin to three o four stalks on strong land, and on weak land, two to three stalks. It will yield, on land that will produce four barrels of corn to the acre, from one to two hundred gallons per acre. A gentleman in my county made 126 gallons from thirteen hundred cane hills last year. The syrup is very good. We find a ready market for all we make at 30 cents per gallon, by the barrel. It retails at 40 cents per gallon very readily. Elizabeth City buyers send out their kegs and have them filled and tell us they would rather have it than the 60-cent syrup. There are several kinds most of our farmers prefer the Early Amber. It ripens earlier than the other varieties and gives a longer time in which to make it before freezing weather sets in. It must be jnade before it freezes, as that injures the taste. The seeds are said to be worth as much for hogs and poultry, as corn. In other words, the seed from an acre of cane aVe said to be worth as much for stock as is the corn from an acre. Our mill cost us about one hundred and ten dollars, fixed up and ready for use. We made 1,22 gallons last year. I don't think there wa3 less tnan ten or fifteen thousand gallons made in our county during the year 1888. Fraternally, H. M. Pritchard. P. S. Since writing the above I notice C. P. Edwards' method, which is good. About the top suckers. We have been raising cane for the last twenty-five years, and I have never seen or heard tell of anyone pulling them off before. The idea may be a good one can't say as I have never tried it. But I do not like his plan of cutting off so much top. Six inches below the seed is about as much as we generally leave. I think he is mis taken about injuring the syrup. ! H. M. P. AN APPEAL TO THE BROTHER HOOD. Alliance No. 449 sends greetings to you, and all the brethren. As you seldom hear from us, hope you will not consider this simply a begging scheme. Our lodge is in a prosperous condition increasing in number every meeting and we hope to accomplish a great deal, socially, as jvell as finan cially, though we are without a house to meet in. ' About the first of the year 1889 some miscreant, without the fear of God before him, did feloniously set fire to and burn ur onr liall, a nice chapel belonging to Fall ing ureeK bchool and. the Masonic Fraternity. Said brute of the human type was an enemy to the school trus tees and the Alliance brotherhood. We, the members of Alliance No. 449, are anxiou3 to rebuild, and ask your help and the co-operation of the Masonic Fraternity; by combining, both orders can build a nice house and not be worsted much. Please aid us through your excellent journal. Any contributions, however small, will be gratefully received. Send to E. A. Stevens, McClammy, N. C. The Alliance work is being'pushed in Ohio. Organizing committees have been appointed and a State Alliance will be Organized March 28th and 30th. "WOOLVERINE" GETS DOWN TO " HARD-PAN." . I knew not what I was playing, Or what 1 was dreaming then, But I struck one cord of music ' Like the Bound of a great " Amen ! " Did I strike the "Lost Cord?" Truly a grand " Amen ! " has been borne to me on the wings of the mighty South Wind from my South ern brothers; perhap3 a prophecy of the golden future, when the common brotherhood of our common country, broad shouldered and strong, march ing onward and upward to worship at the temple of Fraternal Love, shall hear the white-robed priesthood of purity and peace chant " Liberty and Union, now and forever, one" and in separable ! " Yet-through all the letters run the minor cord, ' We are in trouble; help us ! " Only they who .have suffered can truly sympathize, and this revelation that "The trail of the ser pent is over all" the Eden of our sunny South is very saddening. I would that some mighty reformer and leader of men might arise and " as a Father pitieth His children " aid you to achieve the ultimate purpose of being, happiness. The cause of your woes are clearly pointed out by different ones. "The war left us impoverished." " We have struggled manfully to rebuild, but falling values and changed condi tions of our laboring class have left us in debt." "Our plantations are too large." And the most pathetic wail of all is, " We want some one to do our work." Your land tracts are too large. . One man offers me 2,000 acres for about $75,000. That is three square miles or sections. The section 1 live in, the one west and the one east, have about twenty-five farmers, ranging from 120 down to 20 acres, and a number of 5 and 10-acre tracts; also a village of about 400. With a bank, two ele vators, three mills, eight stores, cheese factory, tile and brickyard, &c. It would take nearly a quarter of a mil lion to buy these three sections, $15, 000 to buy his. Your lands are too cheap. If you could give away half those large tracts in 40 -acre farms to a pushing population like ours, the remainder would increase in value 100 per cent, every two years until it reduces the limit of producing value. Your labor is too cheap. A man who earns and gets but 25 cents a day can buy but 25 cents worth of goods. It is no use to produce luxuries for that class. They can't pay for them. Give a laborer $2 a day and he wants to buy everything in sight. His wife and family will buy the rest. That makes good times spin. The amount of money a laborer spends and puts in circulation is limited to his wages. " Good times " are limited by the amount of money in circulation. Our country is racing down the road trod by all nations of the past, a crushing out of the small proprietors in all the lines of production. You are having the soul and spirit and life and liberty crushed out by the monop olists of money. So are we of the North. Beware ! the millionaire lumber barons of the North are among you. They will buy your cheap timbered land and you may ,live to see that timber worth $100 per acre. After the timber is off it will be sold for taxes. That is the history of Michi gan's pine lands. Beware the wolves ! They have less soul than a worn out shoe. " Our industries are varied enough." Quite likely, though one writer says " we make about 25 per cent, on cot ton and tobacco, and have to be con tent with that." Shades of Adam Smith ! Why, the farmer who clears 8 per cent, here is a financier of the first water. I am still ignorant of the situation down there, but there is a host of things ycu might try. Will alfalfa grow on your land ? California boasts of two to five crops of hay a year and one to two and a half tons at a crop. It does well in the South. Fifty acres should keep twenty-five cows all the year, and that is quite a dairy. A few such dairies could co-operate and run a creamery or cheese factory. There are three cheese factories and a creamery inside of five miles from my farm, and the cows have to be fed from November 1st to May 1st on an average. You can put creamery butter down in New York at half or two-thirds what it costs us. You pasture on cheap lands nearly the year round. If your land is worth anything as pasture you ought to clear enough money every year on each good cow to buy three acres of the land you wish to sell. At Lansing, capital of this State, is a condensed milk factory. They coin j money,? With your splendid springs and streams you ought to do well at that, ahd then you wouldnlt ruin your land by shipping its fertility to Liver pool in: cotton bale and tobacco hogs head. Abqut 16,000,000 dozen eggs are imported annually, mainly for the coast cities. Can't you raise eggs, poultry, spring chickens, etc , as easily, numerously and cheaply as foreigners? Up here it is a great " biz." In sum mer the roads are hot with peddlers and two-horse wagons loaded with crates hunting for eggs. The hen that steals her nest " successfully must be a Napoleon of strategy, an Early rn attack, a Stonewall Jackson in defense ! Eggs often go to 20 and 25 cents a dozen here in winter, and roosters leading a "strike" among the hens. .You. ought to make quite a little' wealth 365 to 366 days in a year off poultry. " " t ' : : ; An 80 -acre farmer' here will sell about fialf a .ton of pork a year on an average, say $50 worth about. His hogs must be shut " up in a yard or pen most of their lives no land for them to run on. 1 should think you might sell pork to the value of $1 per acre of plantation and never notice the additional labor. If you get good breedsEssex, Poland China, Jersey Red, Berkshire you can raise them on clover in your climate and no great amount of grain will be necessary to fit them for block pork in May and September, say at eight months old. Lots of profit in it here. Can you raise Deas ? Nothinsr better. Turn your shoats in the field and hear the drover shout " poeg ! poeg ! as soon as he sees them. California has captured thousands of people and millions of money with her tales of climate, soil, raisins, figs, olives, walnuts, almonds, peaches and small fruits. Possibly 25 per cent, of her soil can be cultivated. You can match her climate if you brag as loud. You can raise all those fruits and nuts. ro to I Crow, advertise, brag, work arid-getVitf. ' "OuChTl " Again " mine ears attend the cry, " We want some one to do our work; so many of our people are lazy." Are you the original " Lotus eaters ? " " They sat them down upon the yellow sand Between the sun and moon upon the 6hore, And sweet it was to dream of Fatherland, Of child, and wife and slave ; but evermore Most weary seemed the sea, weary the oar, Weary the wandering fields of barren foam." " And round about the keel with faces pale, Dark faces pale against that rosy flame The wild-eyed, melancholly Lotos-eaters came." Twenty years since the war I The South is waking from its Rip Van Winkle sleep. I'd like to live with you awhile. The current of migra tion here is setting for Washington Territory. You have the greater advantages, I am convinced; but the people 1 talk to fear for health; fear your soil, your customs, your politics. ' I don't fear anything. I look for a good time and lots of it when I come. I'll try to help you out. Ernest Hollenbeck, Davidson, Mich. FOREST FIRES, POOR CROPS AND SHERIFF'S SALES. Oxfobd, N. C, April 15, '89! Mr. Editor: Our section has been pretty generally singed lately by woods fires, and considerable damage done by burning 'fences and some houses, and but for the desperate efforts of the people a large number of houses would have been burned. It is doubtless a blessing to have the ticks and potato bugs thinned out, but unless we raise more meat this year than last, it is a bad plan to be burn ing of all the rabbits. What is tne matter with the country any how ? It seems that ever thing will happen at once: Fire "burning up everything! Sheriffs selling out everything ! Rail roads fighting ! Niggers all going away ! No money in the country ! and as the frog said when his tail dropped off, " the Lord only knows what will happen next." The other day, as I looked out of my window and saw a field full of grown-up negroes playing base-ball in the middle of the week, thought, surely this is the cause of it all; but just then . several spanking teams of fine horses and shining vehicles were driven by like a flash by some "young bloods," who were not only idle, but spending lots of money on themselves and the idle young ladies with them, and this called "to my mimi the fact that so many young men are trying to be "bloods;" and some of them so poor, and so common, and out of place in thing you call society, that perhaps the country would, be better off if the white folks will work more. But we are taugnt m the tiooa book tnat charitv is the strongest element in Christianity, and so I felt greatly re lieved when 1 coukh think , of some- thing else to pat the - blame - on .than the people and that is le, exceed-' ingly, supremely ajicL sublimely poor crop we made last year:' vThe next day, after having wrestled with the sheriff about one of jthose three things, Bro. Fails Turner,.says a man never stops to think about: tax and then going through the .humiliating! ordeal of riding out of town, on a1 load of nasty, stinking; pld ; Western! hay (and yet it is so precious). I was consoling myself with? the thought that it is all because of a bad crop' year, when, looking- up the path I saw my gtfod old neighbor coming, whose bestting sin is in believing that whatever he has is, .better i than what anybody else has, an$ always know ing something bigger .- than anybody else knows We took seats together on . mother earth, and 4 -after telling awhile about the prospectf or collards and snaps, I asked him "if he ever knew, a year when a worse crop was made than last year, and one that left' the , people in a worse condition. " Yes," he said, about forty. five years ago." What caused it, said I, drought ? " No," said he, " worse than that the army worms; they eat up every grown thing upon the face of the earth even to the broomstraw; and when they had eaten up every thing else, they, fell into eating one another. I took up eight in a piece of paper, and before I could get home they had eaten one, leaving only seven. I put them in a bottle, and by night they had eaten themselves all up but one; and by next morning he had eaten himself up,, and there wern't nary one left." Of course I had to give up, and I feel greatly en couraged that, although there has been a " wus year than last year," ' we are all here yet," or at least enough of the Farmers' Alliance are left to see that some who were mem bers of the last Legislature can have the pleasure of staying at home next time and attending to their little family matters. Very respectfully, John Buck. REPLY TO OUR MICHIGAN FAR MER BY AN ORANGEITE. Chapel Hill, Orange Co., N. C, April 16, 1889. Mr. Editor: I have just read your Michigan letter " with interest, and as the vacancies caused by the negro exodus ought to be filled, I will en deavor to answer some of Mr. Hollen beck's questions. 1. "Why don't you get rich off such cheap lands?" We live in such a highly favored section that it requires but little effort to make a living hence we rely too much upon natural advantages and have formed habits of idleness. If we were to work as he says he does and had a market for our products we could soon become rich. 2. "What do you think of a man who runs in debt for nearly all of forty acres of such land (worth 50 per acre) and pays for it from the ground in eight to ten years ?" Well, we have known men to do that well in this country, notwithstanding our idleness. 3. "With your climate, why don't you get rich ? " We have so little severe weather that we do not provide food nor shelter for our stock as we should. We do not realize that time is money. If we were to have snow for forty days and eight months win ter and four months' steady cold weather, we would spend less time in amusements, &c, and do better. 4. "Do you work, or do you work by proxy ?" We ' work some our selves and employ some hired labor, rent some for cash and some for a part of the crop and furnish stock, tools, &c, for some, but in no case do we feel inclined to work as hard as you say you and your people do. Although some of our farmers work hard (for. this country and fail to succeed because they ao not couple skill with their labor, while others ex ercise skill and succeed without per forming manual labor themselve3. Our latitude only gives us fourteen hours in the longest days, hence we do not work from ten to sixteen hours, a day and milk cows after dark ? We have no necessity for doing that to make a comfortable living if we are temperate, economical, skillful and energetic. No. sir. You, as a landlord, nor any man as a tenant or hired laborer, need not fear being socially ostracised in this country on account of per forming manual labor. Men are re spected here for their moral worth and treated accordingly. ' , Now, Mr. Hollenbeck, your idea of starting a private land bureau to aid :y6urflaDdle33 neighbors in getting: food homes, strikes me favorably, and 'will also constitute myself into a private land bureau in order to aid my ." land-poor " neighbors in dispos ing of their surplus lands and will state that I am authorized to offer 3,000 acres, of the best farm lands in central North Carolina upon very rea sonable terms. "I believe a little mixing a little more Northern element brought South anU'a little more Southern element carried North would improve both section of our common country. W. C. Cole. Blessed be mirthf ulness. It is on of the renovators of the world. Men will let you abuse them if only you will make them laugh. Beecher. ' PROCLAMATION. Call for an Important Meeting. " Whereas, the cotton planters of the Southern States were compelled to pay an extraordinary high price for jute cotton bagging - during the year 1888 by a trust or combination on the part of the manufacturers of that article; and, Whereas, it has been currently re ported that some kind of a combina tion has been formed by dealers to again raise the price of jute bagging, . in anticipation of a demand for that article' to wrap the coming crop of -cotton; and, Whereas, in order to resist the evilJ effects of such combination, the Presi dent of the State Alliance of Georgia did wisely convene the State Alliance nf that St.fl.t.A in nallArl spscirm tn o- liberate upon the best plan of resist ing or neutralizing the power of said trust; and, Whereas, delegates from other States were invited to participate in said meeting, and did so participate,, and the result of said meeting was a definite conclusion and provisions made for.aplan of action; and, v- Whereas, this conflict if gained by the Alliance will require the co-operation of all the cotton States, and all the cotton States desire to so co-operate; and, Whereas, if they do so co-operater and the entire cotton belt should de cide to use a substitute for jute there may be some question as to the avail ability of a sufficient supply in time to meet 30 large a demand: Now, therefore, 1, C. W. Macuner President of the National Farmers Alliance and Co-operative Union of America, do issue this my official call for a meeting to be held in the city of : Birmingham, Ala., on the 15th day of May, at 10 o'clock a. m., said meeting to be composed as follows: - Each State Business Agent. Each State Exchange, one delegate. Each 3tate Executive Committee, one delegate. Each President of State Alliance , to appoint one delegate. The object of said meeting to be - 1st. To decide upon the necessity of all the States co-operating in the conflict with the jute bagging trust. 2d. The ability of the order in eacb State to assist in the conflict. 3d. To ascertain whether, in the adoption, of a. substitute, a sufficient supply can be secured for all sections and, if not of one substitute, to de termine how many substitutes will be necessary, and what quantity of .each. 4th. To adopt measures for the guidance of the brotherhood through out the season and select appropriate committees to carry out their plans. For the purpose of rendering ; this move still more effective, and to further cement the friendly relations and prospective union with the Na tional Agricultural Wheel Hon. Isaac McCracken, President of that order, is hereby invited to send like dele gates from the various Wheels. For the purpose of utilising time" and assisting the work, a committee, -composed of Dr. J. T. DeJarnette, of' Georgia; H. P. Bone, of Alabama; . T. A. Clayton, of Louisiana, is hereby appointed to collect data as to supply and cost of the different substitutes -and report to the meeting as soon as ' convened. . Vice-President L. L. Polk is ap- -pointed a committee of one to extend' an invitation to the jute bagging trust -to present anything they may have to ' say to this meeting, if they so desire, . either written or oral, and to extend the -same invitation to the various juter cotton, pine straw, 'or other bagging manufacturers. Delegates are requested 'to post themselves thoroughly as to tho con dition of their constituents and the extent of their ability and willingness to co-operate. C. W. Macuxe, Pres't N. F. A. and C. U. of A
The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, N.C.)
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May 7, 1889, edition 1
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