North Carolina Newspapers

r T 1 H PBOGEESSIV IMIEB. fg ! THE INDUSTRIAL AND EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS OF OUR PEOPLE PARAMOUNT TO ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS OF STATE POLICY. . -?g. ' Vol. 6 3 RALEIGH, N. C, APRIL 14, 1891. No. 8 : i r i : " 1 : n CIRCULATION. The actual circulation of Volume V, which closed with the issue of Febru ary 17th, 1891, was as follows: February 18, 190, 12,840 12,240 12,000 10,5ti0 10,560 10,800 10,800 10,800 10,800 10, ao 11,040 11,040 11,160 11,160 11,400 11,280 11,280 11,400 11,400 11,400 11,520 11, B40 12,360 13,800 16,320 16,680 August Sept. 19,1890, 16,680 2o, 26, 16,680 16,800 16,800 March 4. 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, 7, 14, 21, 23, 4. 11, 18, 11, 18, 25, 1, , 15, 6, 13, ), 27, 3, 10, 17, 24, 1, S, 15, s; 5, 12, 17,040 16,800 17,280 17,040 17,280 17,280 17,280 17,280 17,760 17,760 17,760 18,2;W 18,240 18,240 18.240 April October May Not. Juae Decemb'r 2 9. 16. Julyt January 6. 1891, 18,240 13, " 18,240 2(3, " 18,240 27, " 18,240 February 3, " 18,240 10, " 18,240 17, " 18,240 August, First C months, 307,080 Second 6 months, 458,160 Making a total circulation for the year of 765,240; averaging for 52 suc cessive issues, per issue, 14,716, and showing a net increase for the year of 5,400, or more than 113 per week. The above statement is taken from the records kept in the office of The Progressive Farmer, and ii correct to the best of my knowledge and belief. J. W. Denmark, Business Manager. I am Book-keeper for Edwards & Broughton, Printers and Binders, Ral eigh, N. C. The press-work on The Progressive Farmer has been done for the past three years by Edwards & Broughton, and I have kept account of the same. I have compared the above statement with the account I have kept, and find it tallies throughout, and is correct. T. J. Bashford. Personally appeared before me, W. T. Womble, Notary Public, J. W. Den mark, Business Manager of The Pro gressive Farmer, also T. J. Bashford, Book-keeper for Edwards & Broughton, and mike oath that the statements contained above are correct to the best of their knowledge and belief. In witness where f , I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my notarial seal of office this day, February 26th, 1891. W. T. Womble, Notarial Seal Notary Public. EDITORIAL NOTES. The New York Herald begs the play goes of that hopeful village to not shoot the theatrical managers. For the life of us, we can't see any good ground for this plea. It is now claimed that New York is the one city nearest heaven. We are not surprised. Successful contrasts cannot be instituted between objects far apart. Mr. Parnell has been rebuked in Ireland a second time within the last few days. It does now really seem that Ireland is determined to repudiate ParneU. If the vague hope of such a result should be made a certainty, there would be an immediate brightening of the prospects of Home Rule for the Green Isle. A New York contemporary devotes its leading editorial in a late issue to the subject of The Emancipation of Wives. Great Scott ! Has the Empire State of New York slipped clean off the map of the United States? We can tell our New York friend that wives have been emancipated hereabouts, for certain. What is wanted in this part of the American Union is a so ciety, or something, for the emancipa tion of husbands. It is.stated that four of the nine men killed in the riot the other day in Penn sylvania were subjects of the Austrian Empire. That power being a member with Italy of the Triple Alliance, the killing of those men may have an un favorable effect upon the negotiations now going on between Mr. Blaine and the Italian Foreign Office. It seems that it wi 1 not take much to fan the feeling of irritation now felt in Italy into a veritable flame. Mr. Jay Gould has been to the White House. The object of his visit is only conjectural. It is by no means certain that the President sent for him to see if he could get him to corner the sentiment in favor of the McKinley bill, so that he (the President) might be able to use its whole immense weight in the next National Republican Con vention. It is not known to be true that the President said anything about borrowing money from Mr. Gould to put the yawls and canoes of the United States Navy into a condition to blow the armoured ships of Italy out of the water, if that somewhat hot-headed nationality does not make up her mind to behave herself. It may be that the L President sought to avail himself of the benefit of Mr. Gould's knowledge of the power of water to increase the amount and value of public securities. with a veiw to replenishing the United ' States Treasury with the means to en able the next Congress to pass an addi tional pension bill. Any how, Mr. Gould has visited the President ; and, as we said, the object f his visit is wholly conjectural. . Diplomatic language is a queer af fair. The use of vigor in it is never indulged under any circumstances. The representatives of two great coun tries meet and discuss matters of the gravest importance in the use of the most high-sounding terms of compli ment. Diplomatic correspondence is the dreariest correspondence to be met with upon this mundane sphere. What a relief it would be to see a few clear affimatives and negatives interspersed amongst the dreary platitudes of dip lomatic speech. On the 2d inst., at Mount Pleasant Pennsylvania, a most terrible riot oc curred. Nine men all foreigners were shot to death in a few minutes. The fighting was between the guards at one of the coking plants and a body of striking miners. There are conflict ing reports of the affair. But the truth seems to be that a body of some five hundred miners attacked the Frick coke works to intimidate the men who were working there. Thee men were ordered to halt. They re fused to d so, and the guard fired with the result stated above. We be lieve it is the clear right of laboring people in this country to combine for the protection of their interests against either individual or corporate injus tice. We also believe that laboring men have the right to strike, when their interests require them to do so. But men who strike have no right to interfere, by violence, with other men who are willing to work. We are in fullest sympathy with all classes of honest, law-abiding working people, and we hate the mean spirit that treats laboring men as bond men and slaves. But we have no sympathy with labor ing men who mob and abuse their fellow-laborers for working for any wages they may choose to take. The fact that all the men killed in the late riot were unnaturalized foreigners, puts fearful emphasis upon the growing de mand in this country for some con servative and merciful restrictions upon foreign immigration to the United States. Laboring men must learn that such transactions as this we are writing of tend only to delay the time when they will be able to get all their rights. News comes over the water, which furnishes striking illustration of the truthfulness of the old, old saying, that the way of the transgressor is hard. Sir Charles Dilko Bart, was found in London one morning, some six years ago, destitute of any reputa tion for gentlemanly purity. He stuck to his place in Parliament until all his friends went away from him and left him hi social and political solitude. He then went into retirement, where he has remained until lately. He has now succeeded in getting an English court to give him a certificate of char acter, and has asked to be returned to Parliament. News, however, comes that when he returns to Westminster he will find himself in the same terrible social isolation under which he went down six years ago Mr. Parnell has furnished another example of the im possibility of a man being accepted as a satisfactory member of the English Parliament whose private life is bad. Whatever we may think of English public life in other respects, we cannot but warmly approve of the healthful public sentiment in England, which insists that an impure man a de stroyer of homes and the enemy of the chastity of women cannot be fit to legislate for a free, pure people. All praise is, also, due to the Bishops and other members of the Catholic clergy in Ireland for the stand they have taken in regard to Mr. Parnell's leader ship of the Irish party. It is said that there is not a single constituency in Ireland which Mr. Parnell can either persuade or bully into an endorsement of his conduct in the O'Shea scandal. We understand that the Irish clergy do not deny to Mr. Parnell a place of repentance, but that they do condemn his impudent refusal to respent at all. FERTILIZER FOR FRUIT. BY GERALD MCCARTHY, N. C. EXPERIMENT STATION. The question is often asked, "What is the best fertilizer for the grape?" As well might one ask What is the best medicine for a man? It all depends upon the circumstances of the case. Like all our best fruits the grape is greatly benefited by potash and in a scarcely less degree by phosphoric acid. On poor soils nitrates in small doses will prove advantageous, but too much nitrates are apt to produce an excessive growth of soft wood at the expense of quality of the fruit and renders the vines more liable to frost bite and rot. For most vineyards in red clay soil a fertilizer c imposed of fine ground raw bone meal and muriate of potash in about equal parts may be used to good advantage and from 200 lbs. to 2,000 lbs. per acre of the mixture may be applied. Sow the fertilizer broadcast in the spring, and after the crop has been gathered, or about August 15th, plant the space between the rows in crimson clover, Trifoliumincamatum. This clover will quickly take posses sion of the ground and keep down weeds and weedy grasses. It will ab sorb and utilize the fertilizer left by the vines, and by drawing off some of this fertilizer will cause the canes to ripen their wood early and thus escape early frosts. . Besides these services the clover will draw free nitrogen from the air and from it produce ni trates for enriching the soil. Usually a good cutting of clover can also be had by November 1st, and it is advised that this be taken off for feed. The clover will sprout again from the butts and will continue to grow through the winter, furnishing a heavy growth to be plowed under in spring. This green manure will supply all the nitrates the vhes need. Only phosphates and pot ash need be supplied in commercial fer tilizer. The more of these we give the soil the heavier will our vinos yield and the heavier will be the crop of clover we may cut in the fall and the crop we plow under in the spring. Usually the fall cutting of clover will pay for the phosphates and potash put on the land. We may thus enrich our vineyards at practically no expense. Where the vineyard is worked with foresight, energy and skill, both in pro ducing and marketing the crops, the greater the quantity of fertilizer given, up to 2,000 lbs. per acre, the greater will be the profit. But to get any profit from fertilizers we must protect our vines from fungous diseases and nox i xis insects. The spraying pump has now become as much a necessity in the vineyard and orchard as is the plow and pruning knife. The subject of spraying can not be dealt with in this paper. The N. C. Experiment Station has now ready and will soon publish a Bulletin on this subject which will be illustrated by cuts of apparatus and diseased vines and trees. This Bulletin will be sent free to all names on the Station mailing list' and to others upon application. An attempt has recently been made in France, under the auspices of the French Government, to discover by a practical field test under what forms different fertilizers act most effectually upon the growth of the vine. This ex periment was undertaken by the emi nent viticulturist, Prof. M. U. Gayon, and the results, though incomplete, are of great interest and value to vine dressers everywhere. Subjoined is given a translation and synopsis of Prof. Gayon's report which appears in the Annates de la Science Agronomiqiie for 1890. While it must be remem bered that the facts and figures given are fully applicable only to the par ticular field and species of grape ex perimented with, yet as the composi tion and fertilizer requirements of the vine are much the same everywhere, this experiment contains a lesson for American as well as for French grape growers. In order to escape the perturbations which would have been caused by the Phylloxera and the remedies employed against this pest Prof. Goyon located his experimental vineyard in the midst of the Llandes or sand barrens to the Southwest of Bordeaux. The soil of the Llandes is a nearly pure, white sand, porous at the surface but having at a depth of from 18 to 24 inches a water-tight and rock-like bed of quartz grains cemented together by organic matter. The field selected had been in pines for about 30 years. The grape used by Ptof . Gayon in his experiment was the Cabernet au vignon, the best red wine grape of France. The vines were planted in parallel rows of something above 100 vines to the row. The numerical re sults were in all cases calculated for a standard row of 100 vines. The vines were first planted in the spring of 1883 but no fertilizer was given that year. The growth over the whole vineyard was very uniform but extremely feeble. The average weight of green wood produced per row of 100 vines was only about 2 ounces. The fertilizers first applied in 1884 were divided into 4 groups, viz: (1) nitrogenous, (2) phosphatic, (3) potassic, (4) calcareous and magnesian. Group 1 included the following forms : 1. Nitrate of soda. 2. Nitrate of ammonia. 3. Chlorhydrate ammonia. 4. Sulphate ammonia. 5. Azotine. 6. Dried blood. 7. Torrified leather. 8. Nitrate of potash. 9. Phosphate of ammonia. 10. Peruvian guano. The second group included the fol lowing : 1. Mineral phosphate. 2. Pulverized bone ash. 3. Acid phosphate of lime in aqueou3 solution. 4. Mineral superphosphate. 5. Bone 6. Precipitated phosphate. 7. Phosphate of ammonia. The third group included the follow ing kinds, viz : 1. Chloride of potash. 2. Sulphate 3. Carbonate " in aqueous so lution. 4. Sulphate 5. Sulpho-carbonate ammonia in very dilute solution. r The fourth group included the follow ing kinds, viz : 1. Carbonate of lime. 2. Sulphate " 3. Chloride " in aqueous so lution. 4. Carbonate of magnesia. 5. Sulphate " Before the fertilizers were applied samples were drawn and chemically analyzed and their coutents in the active fertilizing principles deter mined. From the results of this analy sis was calculated the quantity of the different forms necessary used to sup ply each plant with exactly the same quantity of the active elements. The quantities required were put up in packets and bottles one for each vine and, taken together into the field on April 8, with a force of hands sufficient to complete the work of applying the fertilizer in one day. To apply the fertilizers the earth was scraped away from the base of the vines to a depth of 1 to inches for a radius of 2 to 3 inches around each vine. Upon this space the fertilizer was scattered by hand as evenly as possible and the soil replaced. The fertilization was repeated in 1885, each vine getting the same kind of fertilizer, but in most cases twice the amount it received the previous year. The fertilizer was again applied in 18S6, the year when the vines were to bear their first crop of fruit, but unfortunately a series of disasters frost, hail and drought followed upon each other and so damaged the vine yard that no more trustworthy data could be secured and the experiment was therefore brought to a premature end. The facts given as to the effect of different fertilizers apply therefore only to the vegetation or woody growth of the vine. The following were the actual quan tities of the active fertilizing principles given to each vine each year, viz : 1884. 1885. Ounces. Ounces. Group 1. Nitrogen 07 .14 2. Phosphoric Acid 07 .14 3. Potash 1 .14 a Lime 17 .17 " Magnesia 03 .07 Of group 1. (nitrogenous) torrified leather produced "the heaviest growth of wood, but nitrate of soda produced very nearly as much, and for several reasons is to be preferred to the leather. Of group 2. (phosphatic) precipitated phosphate (bone meal) produced the heaviest growth. Of group 3. (potassic) carbonate of potash (hard wood ashes) produced the heaviest growth. Of group 4. (calcareous and magne sian) carbonate of magnesia produced the greatest amount of wood. Sulphate of lime was next in efficiency. Prof. Gayon concludes, therefore, that for a nearly sterile soil, or where all the mineral elements of plant food has to be supplied, an efficient fertilizer for the vine must contain the following ingredients given in the order of their importance: 1. Precipitated or mineral phosphate (bone meal). 2. Carbonate or sulphate of magnesia. 3. Carbonate of potash (unleached hard wood ashes). 4. Nitrate of sod a or organic nitrogen. 5. Sulphate of lime (gypsum). The above is therefore the theoretical formula for a grape fertilizer, but prac tically, vineyards are never planted upon sterile sand, and most soils will have ample of some of these minerals. This can be satisfactorily shown only by practical experiment with fertilizers upon each particular field. The above formula can be used to start with. By omitting one of the ingrediedts in each different trial, those ingredients the land stand most in need of will be found. By varying the quantity, the amount most profitable to use will then appear. To complete the study and to eluci date the effects of different fertilizers upon the chemical composition of the vine, M. Gayon had portions of the wood from all rows analyzed during both years. The growths of all the rows, receiving no fertilizer, were con solidated and an average of the whole analyzed. From these analyse J M. Gayon found 1. That, as compared with vines grown without fertilizer, nitrogenous and phosphatic fertilizers had no ap preciable influence upon the relative assimilation of different fertilizing sub stances. 2. That the potassic fertilizers dimin ished the amount of nitrogen and in creased the amount of potash and magnesia assimilated by the vines, and therefore potash facilitates the fixing of mineral matter in the tissue of the plants, and as a consequence promotes the early maturity of the wood. 3. That calcareous fertilizers favor the assimilation of phosphoric acid and hinder that of all the other fertilizer substances. 4. That magnesian fertilizers act in much the same as potassic fertilizers in favoring the assimilation of mineral matters. The actual amount of nitrogen, phos phoric acid, potash, lime and magnesia given to 100 vines in each year was as follows: 1884. 1885. . (Minces. Ounces. Posphoric acid 7 14 Nitrogen 7 14 Potash VM 14 Lime 17H Magnesia The actual amount of each of the above substances recovered in the growth of 100 vines was for each year as follows : 1884. 1885. Ounces. Ounces. Phosphoric acid 04 .17 Nitrogen w3 Potash .1 Lime 2 .4o Magnesia 05 .18 Taking phosphoric acid as the term of comparison, the amounts of fertilizer actually assimilated by the vines were proportional to 1884. 1885 Phosphoric acid 1-00 1.00 Nitrogen 5.00 4.26 Potash 2-33 2 50 Lime 2.90 2.77 Magnesia 1-21 1.17 Prof. Gayon did not attempt to de termine whether the portion of the fer tilizer not recovered in the woody growth remained fixed in the soil or was washed away by rains. Judging from what we know of the behavior of fertilizers in the soil it is very probable that nearly all of the unrecovered nitrates were leached out of the soil, but that most of the phosphate and a large part of the potash remained be hind and might have been utilized an other year or by a catch crop of clover. Practical grape growers will be in terested in noting the very small por tion of the fertilizer given to the land was recovered in the wood. It must be remembered, however, that these vines produced no fruit during this ex periment. Had they done so, undoubt edly more of the fertilizer would have been recovered. The great lesson taught by these figures is that the grape grower should endeavor by growing a crop of clover in the vineyard during fall and winter, to hold the fertilizer in the soil. As already stated, for North Carolina, on well drained loamy soils, the best plant to use is Crimson clover. If the soil is heavier or inclined to be moist, the Winter vetch will give better results. One or the other of these plants should be used in every vineyard and orchard. 4 m f Winston, N. C, Feb. 12, '91. Mr. Editor: I write to tell you some of my likes and dislikes. I like the Alliance and its principles. I like all true Alliance brothers who will forsake party and demagogues for men of worth and honor and principle. I like a government where the voice of the people rules and where all officers are elected by the people. I like con sistency, truth and righteousness. I like reform papers that will stand firm for the right and oppose all enemies of reform. I dislike not having a Railroad Com mission before this time. . I dislike Vance's re-election. I dislike The Pro gressive Farmer saying Vance's last letter to Carr was satisfactory. I dis like the harm done to the Alliance by Vance's re-election and The Progres sive Farmer backing down on Vance. I dislike the present county govern ment system where the bosses rule and not the people. I dislike to see a sot Democrat county superintendent elected for life by a set of Democratic magistrates, who are appointed by the legislature, who know not wheth r the people are pleased or displeashd with their appointments. I dislike 8 per cent, as legal rate of interest. One per cent, is enough. I dislike to hear so much talk of fear about negro rule in eastern Carolina, and when the negro wants to emigrate they have a law passed taxing emigrant agents $1,000. If I was living down east be fore I would be so inconsistent I would help the negro off so the whites' could have a majority at the polls. I like all the Alliance has done (especially Kan sas's glorious work in electing Judge Peffer, an AUianceman), except its electing Vance and Gordon. Respectfully, S. A. Hauser. A CORRECTION. Mr. Editor : My attention has been called to an editorial item that appeared in The Progressive Farmer a few weeks since in reference to Republican. AUiancemen, not being permitted to attend a certain caucus. Being ha possession of the facts, I think it my duty to set the matter right. The cau cus referred to was held the afternoon of January 6th and was for the purpose of determining on what course the Al liance members of the General Assem bly, who would attend the Democratic caucus that night, would pursue. Therefore, it was not an Alliance cau cus, but a caucus of certain men who had to vote in a Democratic caucus in a few hours. So it was proper for those to be present only who would go into the Democratic caucus and be in a position to carry out the wishes of the caucus or be bound by the results. But every member of the Alliance in good standing, irrespective of party, was not only invited, but requested to at tend and were welcomed to every Alli ance caucus. This I know positively, for I made such statement several times from the chair as the presiding officer of the caucus. Very truly and respectfully, Marion Butler. THE MUTUAL HELP ASSOCIATION Let us Help One Another. The workers create all property. They dig the ore, make and equip the railroads, make the bonds, and make the safes to preserve them in. The policemen and soldiers are armed, uni formed, housed and fed by them; the court houses are built by them ; the law books are made by them; the law schools were built by them. The as tronomer's' observatory, the artist's studio, the poet's study, the author's sanctum, and all their equipments, owe their existence to the workers. All the means of education are provided by the workers, and all the money with which "they are paid for their services" is of their own making. The Extortioners create no property, but acquire it. More than nine-tenths of all the property in the United States now belongs to them. They acquire it by usury. Singly, each worker is unable to extricate himself, or herself, from the toils of the extortioners, but in wise alliance with others the workers can become free and prosperous. "We are many they are few." We use the word " workers" as in cluding all persons who earn their liv ing honestly, either as producers, con structors or distributors ; as teachers, artists, physicians ; or as managers or employers. All persons who earn their living honestly, or wish to do so, are invited to co-operate in the Mutual Help Association, and try to establish conditions under which the workers can own the wealth they create. We must help ourselves. Let us not talk so much about what "they" should do as about what we will do. Let us co-operate wisely, and be faith ful to each other, and we can establish eqitable and mutually helpful con ditions, locally, nationally, and inter nationally. The specified " object " of the Mutual Help Association is "To do all the good we can by scientific organization and association. The "object" is comprehensive enough to mclude all the economies, that may be gained by association, "and excludes no effort or aim that is good and practicable. The co-operation of all persons who are in sympathy with the movement is earnestly invited. For terms of membership, address the General Sec retary, pro tern, Wil Harrison Riley. Townsend Centre, Mass. !