Largest Circuit
tioa of.any Paper
in the South At
lantic States.
t Your Ad-
jHTertiiement ia
?v;Rich Soil.
W INDUSTRIAL AND EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS OF OUR PEOPLE PARAMOUNT TO ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS OF STATE POLICY.
RALEIGH, N. 0., JANUARY 14, 1896.
No. 48
if) Vol. 10.
i I 1
I
ft
f
X
TOE NATIONAL FARMERS' ALLI
ANCE AND INDUS i
V UNION.
! President-J. iTwilletts, Topeka,
; ce-President-H. O. Snavely, Leta
5 tw-Treasurer--Ool. D. P. Dun
i , can, Columbia, 8. O.
i a. L. Loucks, Huron, 8. D. ; Mann
I r- f A "Tivcririn. T K. DfVUl.
Honeoye Falls, New York; H. C. Dem
ising, Secretary. Harrisburg, Pennsyl
vania; Marion Butler, Raleigh, ft. C.
j I JUDICIARY.
EL A. Southworth, Denver, Colo.
U 1 R. W. Beck, Alabama.
II. D. Davie, Kentucky.
''jOBTB CAROLINA FARMERS' STATU ALXJ
1 ANCE.
'President Dr. Cyrus Thompson,
Hichlands, . O. ,
Vice-President Jno. Graham.Ridge
Vay N. C.
' aretary-Treasurer W. 8. Barnes,
1 llsboro, N. C. oM
. Lecturer J. T. B. Hoover, Elm City,
"i G
Steward Dr. V. N. Seawell, Villa-
1 now, N. C.
I Chaplain Rev. P. H. Maesey, Dur
ham, N. C.
Door-keeper Geo. T. Lane, Greens
boro, N. C.
Assistant Door-keeper Jas. E. Lyon,
Durham, N. C.
! Sergeant-at-Arms A. D. K. Wallace,
I "State Business Agent T. Ivey, Mi is-
i OrO, JN. U.
. Trustee Business Agency Fund W .
, Graham, Macnpeian, . v.
jXEOTTrVE COMMITTEE OF THE NORTH
CAROLINA FARMERS' STATIC AJ-t-uuxu-.
A. F. Hileman, Concord, N. C. ; N.
1. English, Trinity, N. C. ; James M.
lewborne, Kins on, N. C.
ITATB ALLIANCE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE.
I John Brady, Gatesville, N. C. ; Dr.
I.F. Harrell, Whiteville, N. C; T. J.
"andler, Acton, N. C.
,rth Carolina Reform Press Association.
Cfficer-J. L. Ramsey, President;
Marion Butler, Vice-President; W. 8.
Barnes, Secretary,
I PAPERS.
ProgresslTe Farmer. State Organ, Raleigh. N, C.
Caucasian, wvi m n
, rt"rv Hickory, N. U.
Rattier, " Vt" X
ur Home. Bearer Dam, N. C.
vhe Populist, Lumberton, N. C.
I he People's Paper, Charlotte, N. C.
The Vestibule. Concord, N. C.
h Plow-Boy. Wadesboro, N. C.
i irolina Watchman. Salisbury, N. C.
t patch of the above-named papers are
list etandina on
1 ihe Jlrst page and add others, provided
'ihey are duly elected. Any paper fail
ing to advocate the Ocala platform will
H dropped from th&list promptly. Our
sople can now see what papers are
jiblished in their interest.
'AGRICULTUBE.
Try to improve your farm methods
.nd business management this year,
iltmembar that it is not all in work,
lor manv of the hardest working peo
pie in all lines of business are the most I
unsuccessful.
The art of handling tobacco is one of
the most important points in success
ful tobacco culture. Proper handling
adds greatly to the appearance and
Value of the crop. Oa the other hand,
I Si
I an extra goca crop may, Dy poor nanu-
s . . 1 J
. ling, be made to fall below the ordinary.
j! England would be reasonably sure:
I This country would lose a good slice of
jits foreign trade in cotton, breadstuffs
7 and provisions. South America, Aus
tralia, India, Russia and Egypt are able
j and willing to feed and clothe Europe.
While we were fighting, these nations
Vould be at work securing that market,
t ft was while Americans were fighting
among themselves that England won
: our shipping trade. We might win
I that back, but what would it profit the
I American farmer if American bhips
( ciried foreign food to Europe?
If you have not hitherto kept ac
counts showing the income and expen
diture from your farm, commence at
once to so. Place a fair value on all
) that is upon the farm on the 1st of
v January, and enter these items in a
book, and then keep an accurate record
of all you spend upon and receive from
the farm. Open an account with each
iop and with your live stock, and
,-thus know exactly what each costs.
I This will enable you to know at what
price everything must sell to leave you
fX a profit. In this way the small leaks
S are detected and can be stopped.
J The Short horn breeders have done a
Aleparate breeding class for such cows
L.ui. iueir Dreea aa enow marsea aoiucy
UC0W8 are gocd milkers; in fact, you will
cd traces of Short horn blood in manv
bf tho best grade dairies. The breed,
as a whole, has been developed on beef
lines. The scale of points, priz s and
other incentives to improved breeding,
liave all been in the direction at meat
production. Naturally, dairy qualities
nave oeen maae secondary. Now it is
v. m C MU
i i urui ihhu Li i urefu liih iihht, nmnr am
1 I J it. 1 . t
D' ROYING WILD ONIONS.
C o you give me some remedy for
destroying wild onions? They are
about to take some of my land. W.
R. W., Lewiston, N. C.
f Answered by W. F. Massey, Horti
turist, North Carolina Experiment
Station
The only practicable way to get rid
of wild onions ia by means of a sys
tematic and short rotation, and the use
of smothering crops. Plow the land
before any top sets are formed, and
sow field peas, two bushels per acre.
Cut the peas for hay, and chop the
land over with a cutaway harrow, and
sow in August crimson clover at the
rate of 15 pounds per acre, with a thin
scattering of winter oats. Cut oats
and clover together for hay, and put
the land in corn, and follow with win
ter oats and red clover. By the time
this oat crop ccme3 off the onions will
be about gone.
THE FARMER AND THE PAPER.
The work that is accomplished by
farm papers, in uplifting the agricul
ture of the country can never be told.
The eilvt r veins in Idaho and the gold
in the mines and streams of California
are not sufficient to represent its value,
Silently their teaching falls into the
soil, and we behold the harvest in the
better returns that are reaped in the
fields and gathered in the stalls. And
so mighty is the influence of this teach
ing that it is gradually uplifting defec
tive practice. It is enabling the farmer
to place the foundation of his methods
on the bed rock of correct principles.
It is shedding a new light and a new
interest around his work which too
frequently in the past was looked upon
as cheerleES drudgery. It is transfer
ring the burden of back-breaking labor
to the horse and the machine or imple
ment which he draws. And it is bring
ing to him greater gains than he could
possibly have secured without the in
fiuence of such teaching.
The benefits are great ; the price is
small. Fellow farmers, we complain
of depression and low prices for our
produce. We murmur if we get no
nroflt on our products. But do we
ever stop to reflect that the publisher
of the agricultural paper Eeldom gets
any profit from the subscription reve
nues of his paper? It usually cost? him
more than the subscription price. His
profits come from the advertising
pages, Let us think of these things as
we enjoy the luxury of the farm paper
that comes to us from week to week,
and as we think of them, let us try and
do something to help the men who are
giving us goods below cost.
Take one issue, and what do we find?
We see there information on its every
page that would have rejoiced
the hearts of the readers of a hundred
years ago. We are almost sure to find
in it something bearing on our life
work that is worth far more than the
subscription price of the paper for a
year. It keeps us so informed as to
agricultural discovery, that in our
work we can keep abreast of the times
It summarizes knowledge in many in
stances and thereby saves an immense
amount of labor on our part to get at
the conclusions reached. And in
single article it frequently gives us the
cream of the results of the labors of t
life time spent in some special work
Are we not under some obligation to
the agricultural press? Have we no
duty to perform by way of helping on
the good work, other than that of re
mitting the subscription price at stated
times?
And the help brought by the agricul
tural press is not confined to tho3e who
live upon revenues obtained from the
farm. Farm papers have probably
helped none so much as the teachers of
agriculture. The agricultural teaching
of to day is not based upon the knowl
edge obtained from standard works
These, as a rule, are yet to be written
It is rather based, first, upon the expe
riences gleaned on the old farm at
home; second, upon the experiences of
men eminently successful in their re
spective lines of work; and, third, upon
information gleaned from the agricul
tural pres3, and the last mentioned is
the most prolific sourca of such in for
mation at least it has proved so to the
writer. Go on, then, publishers of
farm papers, weary not in the good
work; you are building better than you
know.
Perhaps nine out of every ten farm
ers in the land do not take an agricul
tural paper at all. They do not take
it, because they do not know its value.
Think of the great disadvantages under
which they labor. Is there no duty
that we owe to these our brethren?
Have we ever tried to persuade them
to take an agricultural paper?
The old year is dead and gone and a
new year has arisen from its ashes, and
as we step across its portals, we are
doubtless resolving to be more helpful
to our fellows than we have ever been,
and in carrying out these good resolves,
etus rem3mber our duty to our feltow-
faimirs who take no agricultural
paper. Tell your neighbor the worth
of such a paper, and persuade him to
take it. You do him a greater kindness
than if you gave him gold. This article
has been penned in the hope that many
farmers will thus be aided by those who
can render such assistance. Farmers,
will you not give such aid? One new
name added by every subscriber see
what it would mean to the publishers,
and tftink of what it would mean to
farmers and farming !
Thomas Shaw.
Minn. University Exp't Farm.
m
SOUTHERN' FARM LANDS.
Is not an acre of land in the South
that will produce in a year more reve
nue than an acre in Iowa, Ohio and
New York worth intrinsically as much?
And yet, while land in the last named
and other Northern States is held at $30
to $100 an acre, land in the South,
capable of yielding more money in a
year, can be had for from $2 to $10 an
acre. The price is low because there
are millions of acres more than the
present population can cultivate. As
the population increases through im
migration, prices will rise. Prices are
now much higher than formerly in
some localities, uan tne iNortnern
farmer afford to go on cultivating
high-priced land that will never in
crease in value, when for a tenth to a
fourth of the value of his farm he could
get another in the South on which he
could make more money and live in
more comfort, and which would be
getting more valuable every year?
Southcrn States Magazine.
m
MAKE YOUR PLANS.
The month of January being the one
in which, probably, as a rule, the least
work can be done out of doors on a
farm in the South, is a most convenient
one for a review of the results of the
last year's work and a planning of the
work for the coming year. In this re
view, failures, as well as successes,
should receive at least equal considera
tion. The lessons taught by failures
are often more valuable than those
taught by successes, and it is certain
that they are usually much more deep
ly impressed on the memory, and there
fore not so likely to be disregarded.
They usually touch the "pccket nerve,"
and this is a most sensitive one. Suc
cessful farming being so largely de
pendent on climatic conditions which
vary from year to year, it is impos ible
to lay down hard and fast rules deduced
from past failures or successes; but
these can and do establish principles
which have great bearing upon future
operations, whatever may be the cli
matic conditions. The failure to raise
a good crop of wheat or corn in a very
dry year, teaches us that these crops
require a certain amount of moisture
tor tneir succes3tui growth, whilst a
failure to make a good crop in a very
wet year equally teaches us that an
excess of moisture is prejudicial. These
facts put us upon ecquiry as to how
thi3 moisture can be best conserved in
the event, of another dry year coming
upon us, and how injury, from exces
sive wet, can be best prevented if that
should be the character of any particu
lar year Southern planter.
BEES IN WINTER.
The honey-bee has nothing of the
nature and constitution of the polar
bear. Although bees have some times
been known to winter under seemingly
most adverse conditions, yet, on the
whole, the more Jprotccjion we give to
them the surer we may bring them
through the winter all right and the
eurer will be the honey crop, writes e
corresponent of the Farm and Fire
side. Continuing, ho says: A person
may be able to endure zero weather
without an overcoat; still, he would
probably take comfort with one pos
sibly live longer for wearing one. Even
should your bees be in unsightly box
hives, give them a little protection. If
your hives have an empiy chamber in
the upper part, fill in some dry moss,
fine hay, chaff, or something of that
sort. Set up corn fodder around the
hives, but be sure to give or leave a
chance for the bees to go out and in
whenever it becomes warm enough.
Instead of setting up corn fodder you
may also, or better, place each hive in
a somewhat larger box of any descrip
tion and fill around with dry sawdust,
planer shavings, moss or chaff, in such
a manner as to provide an exit for the
bees. Put a rainproof cover over the
whole. Next winter when it blows and
snows you will feel all the better for it
to know your bees are comfortable.
"V"ery likely, too, you will take a greater
interest in your bees next year and
make them pay better. Pos3ibly one
of the boys, or even the girls, may get
interested in the bee business, and it
may start him or her into a way of
making a comfortable ' living in the
near future.
HORTICULTURE
SOME LARGE STAMINATE
STRAWBERRIES.
Correspondence of the Progressive Farmer.
After the advent of the old Wilson,
now run out. the earne3t efforts of
propagators to produce a variety which
was a staminate or perfect bloomer,
and at the same time highly productive
of large berries, long met with only
partial success. The reason is evident.
rne ssaminate bloomer having a
double function to perform, that of
producing both stamens and pistils
(both pollen or impresnating dust are
f unctifying organs) its fruit producing
power is almost sure to be much less
than that of the pistillate or female
blootn. When a staminate (or double
sexed variety) turns out to possess the
productiveness of the pistillate, it is
the exception that proves the rule; and
in this case a very large exception.
But it was imperative to find a pol
lenizer for the largest pistillates like
Greenville & Co., a variety rich in
pollen, which bloomed just with them
and was also productive of large berries
matching the pistillates in siza.
After testing all of promise in the
past ten years, I find Woolverton, Ten
nessee Prolific, Gindy Balle and Lady
Thompson the nearest perfect. They
are rich in pollen, will thoroughly poi
lenfze the pistillates and come nearest
matching them largest in siz). Thus
not lessening their market value by an
admixture of swell berries.
Where it is not desirable to plant
pistillates, the above four varieties are
aighly profitable market varieties.
have no monopoly of them. They are
geaerally grown and well known.
O. W. Blackball.
Kittrell, N. C.
A NEW CABBAGE PEST.
The cabbage maggot, the larval form
of a fly, anthomyia brassicce, is the
most destructive pest of the cabbage
in Europe, where it some times destroys
whole fields of young plants. It has
been occasionally troublesome in the
United States since 1846 It has the
past spring appeared in alarming num
bers in a portion of the trucking sec
tion of this State.
The fly is slender and gray colored,
rather smaller than the common-house
fly. The female lays her eggs in early
spring on the roots or stem ot young
plants, both in the saedbed and field.
The eggs hatch out in about five days.
The maggots eat off the young rootlets,
producing what is ofcen called "club
foot;" they also bore into the larger
roots and stems, causing the plants to
turn yellow and soon after die, or re
main as stunted plants which refuse to
head. The flics continue to breed al
the summer and pass the winter as
dormant pupa in the hollow stems of
cabbage and stumps if left in the field.
Some of the winged insects also hide
away in cellars and places where cab
bage is stored, but the greater portion
of the firat brood of fl es come from the
dormant pupa in the fiald. The mag
gots feed by preference upon the roots
of cabbage and other cruciferous plants
collards, kale, cauliflower, radish,
mustard, etc ; but they breed also in
stable manure piles, human excrement
and rotten fish.
REMEDIES
The first and most essential'remedy
is to clean cabbage flies thoroughly o
stumps. Either plow these under at
least six inches deep and then roil the
graoud, or rather the stumps and com
post them with lime. Never follow
cabbage by the same crop on any fiald.
If the maggots appear on plants in the
seed bed, apply a good dressing of lime
or muriate of potash to the soil, or suffi
cient kerosene emulsion to wet the
ground one inch deep. If plants in the
field are attacked, take a dibbler or
sharp stick and make a hole near each
plant as deep as the roots of the plane
and about one inch in diameter. Fil
this hole with kerosene emulsion. If
the emulsion does not wet soil on all
sides of the plant, make and fill another
hole on the opposite side. Usually, one
treatment will be sufficient for each
crop, but if neighboring fields are left
untreated, they will breed flies so fast
that a second treatment may be neces
sary alter ten days. The emulsion
must be thoroughly made. But it will
be safe in any case if it is not allowed
to touch the leaves of the young plants.
the kerosene emulsion.
Hard soap, i pound.
Water 1 gallon.
Kerosene oil, 1 gallon.
Directions. Shave the soap and boil
till all dissolved in the water. Remove
from the fire and pour into the kero
sene. Churn this or pass it through a
sprayer or syringe until it becomes a
thick cream and the oil does not sepa
rate from the soap. Dilute with nine
times its bulk of cold water before
using.
This remedy i3 equally as good for
the onion maggot, cut worms and ail
other burrowing insects. When thor
oughly made it will not burn the plants,
but if any free oil rises to the top. it
will burn Gerald McCarthy, Eato
mologi3t, N. C. Experiment Station.
FOXJLTJRY YARD
The Experiment Station of North
Carolina has established a poultry de
partment in connection with the Sta
tjon and placed it under the charge of
an expert poultryman with the view
of thoroughly investigating and report
ing upon the capabilities of North Caro
lina as a poultry section, and the adapt
ability of the different breeds of poultry
to the requirements of the people. We
congratulate the Station on this action.
There is a great future before North
Carolina and Virginia as producers of
chickens and eggs for the Northern
market, and the farmers of those States
should have placed before them all the
information which the experiment sta
tions are capable of affording on the
subject.
MEAT THAT IS WASTED.
A large quantity of excellent meat
suitable for poultry is wasted in the
country every year. Old horses that
are intended for destruction are as
suitable as ordinary beef for poultry.
More money can be realized from a
useless horse by taking off his hide,
feeding the meat, and using the bones
for fertilizer, than by other mode of
disposing of them. Any kind of meat
will answer for poultry. In Texas,
rabbits are used because they are plen
tiful. Horses that go to the rendering
establishment are converted into
"ground meat" and sold in that form.
Tney can be used to better advantage
when the meat is fresh. A bone-cutter
will reduce both bone3 and meat to a
fineness suitable for poultry, and in
crease the number of eggs. In winter,
such meat will keep for a long time. It
pays better to use horses for a large
flock than to buy grain, as the extra
number of eggs secured will more than
return the cost of the meat. Meat will
induce the hens to lay when other
foods fail. Give more meat, but avoid
that which is very fat.
FEED
FOR POULTRY
THE WINTER.
DURING
For the successful production of eggs
at any season of the year, it is neces
sary that the hens should have a mixed
animal and vegetable diet. During the
summer months insects, worms and
grubs are so abundant that fowls hav
ing a range can easily meet the require
ment for animal food. During the
winter, this necessity must be supplied
to them if the best results are to be
had. Meat scraps and green bones are
the best substitute, and should be fed
at least twice a week better three
times. Meat and bones, at three cents
per pound, are cheaper than grain as
egg producing food, and should be fed
liberally. Break the bones small enou gh
to be swallowed, and they will be eaten
quickly.
A fair comparison between grain and
meat will shovr that meat is really
cheaper than grain, because it increases
egg production. It also contains less
waste. A hen kept on grain appro
priates a large share of it to the storage
of fat, which i3 not desirable, while
lean moat is almost entirely nitrogen
ous. When farmers feed more meat
and less grain, they will have larger
profits from poultry. The introduction
of the green bone cutter also lessens the
cost, as cheap bones and meat can be
cut fine and fed without the necessity
of cooking the meat. The farmer should
.not consider any kind of food expen
sive if it makes the hens lay. The most
expensive food is that which produces
no eggs. Southern Planter.
THE DAIBY.
A SERMON.
Subject Air-Churns.
Correspondence of The Progressive Farmer.
Text: "Remember the air churns
and eschew him." From last sentence,
sixth paragraph of "Dairying Fal
lacies," by T. H. Hoskins, M D.
Dr. Hoskins is, and has been for
many years, a sound philosopher. Ho
has always abounded in good common,
sense or horse sense, if you please.
When he strikes he hits the nail, plum
on the head. He is a terror to hum
bugs, fakes and frauds.
This is what he says in "Dairying:
Fallacies" about air-churns: "For
some time it was thought (and churns
to carry out the principle were intro
duced) that the passage of air into
cream during the process of churning;
promoted the separation of butter.
This idea is now exploded, and the
churns ore -found only in garrets. I
allude to it only to show, in the light
of what will be hereafter stated, how
far away from any true conception of
the facts the minds of many must hayo
been when euch a theory could have)
had currency."
Further on in the article quoted from
he referred to the "Current" theory ot
cream raising, and showed the absurd
ity of it. He closed the paragraph aa
follows: "Whenever you hear one of
these 'current theorists holding forth,
you will always find that he has a 'new
patent setting can in the anteroom,
which he would like to show you. Re
member the air-churns and eschew
him."
The fools are not all dead, and just
so long as some of them are alive, and
especially about oi.ee in a certain num
ber of years, when a new crop has ma
tured, the air-churn man will como
around. It is now several years since
an air churn has been offered to the
public, hence the present may prove a
good time to spring that article onct.
more on the dairy public.
The writer was reminded of thiar
matter by receiving from Chicago a
circular relating to an air-churn. The
circular claims for that p irticular air
churn all the old claims made a score
and more of years ago and exploded by
Dr. Hoskins, June 29 ;b, 1878, in the
Rural New Yorker.
When an agent comes around with o.
dairy utensil of any kind for which he
makes absurd claim, "remember the
air churn and eschew him."
F. W. Moseley;
Clinton, Iowa.
NATURAL COLOR OF BUTTER A
MYSTERY.
Prof. Van 81yke, chemist for the
New York Agricultural Experiment
Station, is authority for the statement
that we know nothing whatever of the
composition of the natural coloring:
matters in butter. Whatever they
may be, they are mixed or united witht
the fats so as to defy detection. So
far as chemists have been able to find
out, none of the several compounds of
which either milk or butter is com
posed isof any hue except pure white,
so that the coloring cannot be a natural
part of the fat. Some have suggested
that color in butter is due to the shape
and size of the fat globules; in other
words, that light is the main factor in
color development.
THE
MILK MAN MAV
DANG.
br:ng
Dr. G. W. Stevens, of Liverpool, in
an address to an audience of sanita
rians, made the following remarks:
For a moment, referring to milk as a
cause of diseasa, I am strongly of the
opinion that it may leave the dairy
perfectly pure and inocuous, to be
poisoned subsequently by exposure te
foul emanations and contagia. I have
elsewhere referred to the danger to
which milk is subjected during the
milkman's round from door to door.
The cans are usually taken into the
house and never entirely emptied. I
know of one instance where the can
was actually taken into the room
where a case of enteric fever lay. X
afterwards ascertained that there were
three cases of this disease in the same
street, all supplied by the same milk
man. The dairy and all connected with
it were beyond reproach from a sani
tary point of view. Putting actual
disease out of the question, what pro
tection, may I ask, have we while our
milk is liable to be exposed to the foul
gases and drainage emanations of
many houses? The absorptive power
of this flaid is well known to you.
Your Alliance organ needs your help.
Shall we be disappointed?