Newspapers / The progressive farmer. / May 5, 1896, edition 1 / Page 1
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If TTJl? Largest Circuit, tion of any Paper in the South At lantic States. Plant Your Ad Tertisement In Rich Soil. THE INDUSU?;, ..EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS OF OUE PEOPLE PARAMOUNT TO ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS OF STZ POITCY. r- . Vol. 11. RALEIGH, N. C, MAY 5, 1896. No. 13 THE NATIONAL FARMERS' ALLI ANCE AND INDUSTRIAL UNION. President Mann Page, Brandon, Va Vice-President H. O. Suavely, Leb anon, Pa. Secretary-Treasurer- It. A. boutb worth, Denver, Col. EXECUTIVE BOARD. H. L. Loucks, Huron, S. D. ; W. P. Bricker, Cogan Station, Pa ; J. F. Wil letts, Kansas; W. L Peeke, Qa. JUDICIARY. R. A. Southwortb, Denver, Colo. il. W. Beck, Alabama. S. D. Davie, Kentucky. SGST3 CAROLINA FARMERS' STATE ALLI ANCE. President Dr. Cyrus Thompson, Richlands, . O. Vice-Predident Jno.Graham,Ridge way, N. C. rkoretary-Tra-isurer W. G. iarnos, FT, ISnro. N. C. Lecturer J. T. B. rioover, Kim City, N C. " Steward Dr. V. N. Seawell, Villa qow, N. C. Chaplain Rev. P. H. Hassey, Dur hr.m, N. C. Door-keeper Geo. T. Lane, Greens b:ro, N. C. Assistant Deer keeper Jas. E. Lyon, Durham, N. C. Sergeant-at Arms A. D. K. Wallace, Rutherford ton, N. C. t jtte Business -igent T. Ivey, Hi Is boro, N. C. , Trustee Business Agency Fund v. . A. Graham, Machpeloh, IS. C. sXF'-UTIVE OOMMITTS3 OF THE NORTH OA.SOLI5A FARMERS' STATE ALLIANCE. A. F. Hileman, Concord, N. C. ; N. C. English, Trinity, N. C. ; James M. Mewborne, Kins on, N. C. STATS ALLIANCE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE. John B.ady, Gateevilie, N. C. ; Dr. J.?. Harrell, Whiteville, N. C; T. J. Candler, Acton, N. C. isrih Carolina Reform Press Association. Officers J. L. Ramsey, President; tzrion Butler, Vice-President ; W. S. Barnes, Secretary, PAPERS. ftrasrewlve F&rmer, Btaite Organ, Rlelh, N. C. Caucasian, Raleigh, U nerc-ry. Hickory, Is. C. attier Whi takers, N. C. Our Home, Reaver Dam, N. C. -Vlie Populist, Lumberton, N. C. TT seople'3 Paper, Charlotte, N. C. T-l Vestib ale, . Concord, J. . C. The j low- Ci-v. W ades-boro, . . C. Carolina Watchman. Sa isbury. Is. C. Each of the above-named papers are requested to keep the- list standing or. the first page and add otters, provided they are duly elected. Any paper fail ing to advocate Vie Gcala platform will dropped from the list promptly. Ckir people can now see v:hat papers are zvblizhed in their interest. AGEICULTUEE. Toe more pork, the more beef, the more mutton and wool, the more but ter, the more egs and poultry pro duced on the farm the less the fa? in contributes to holders of watered rail road stock. ' Every experiment along the line of feeding at the experiment stations cor rborates the experience of every in tdligent feeder that loss follows keep ing animals after they are fini&hed or ready for the block. Keep all gates -where arirnals are likely to get through and breed indis criminately tied with rope3 or chains Sjme animals become very "cute1' in opening latches on gates, A chain is a combination beyond their inteili geace. All through the South you will find corn fioids with rows of cow peas grow ing b jtween the rows of corn. The pea vines do not interfere with the core, and when plowed under after making their growth, furnish fertility for the next corn crrp. I have always found it profitable to hive the best of seed. It does not pay to risk poor seed when so much of sue cess depends upon it. Foul seeds mul tiply very rapidly, and sprouted grains and grains with weak vitality always prove a Lss to one who dots not elimi nato them from the s ;ed. The beat way I have found to keep clippings from papers that I value, is to put thrm in a Favorite Letter Ftle, which i3 arranged alphaphaticaily. i paste, aud when it is necessary to look t t jT anvthinfr if: ia in ftlnh.ahr t.ircil nrdnr. and can easily be found. The file costs about thirty five cents. It is not always the crop that brings the most money that is the most profit able to the farmer who owns his land, -nio one that brings the most money liiiy be the most exhaustive of fertility, and in the long run it will not pay to farm upon lines by which the fertility f the land constantly runs down. There are paying crops that will not exhaust fertilitv. and thorfl &ra others ) that will. Farmers are not always in- was enougn on thra line. WEEKLY WEATHET7 lh "F P.UL LETIIT - ;i :"'J For the Week Ending Saturday, April 25, 1896. Central Office, Raleigh, N. C. The reports of correspondents of the Weekly Weather Crop Bulletin, issued by the North Carolina State Weather 8ervic for the weekendiDg Saturday, April 25th, 1896, indicate very favor able conditions. The temperature con tinutd very high until Wednesday, when cooler weather set in, but the temperature has not been below the ndrmal. Showers occurred on the2lt, and pretty heavy rain-ion Friday, 24 h, with some hail, but only slight damage in two or three counties. The rain-fall, greatest in the east, has been of incjil culablo bent fit, and hes broken the drought everywhere, except in a few western counties. There was more than tho normal amount of eun&hine during the week. Eastern District. R-ports this week are generally very favorable The breaking of the drought jut in time, greatly benefiting all crops, has putfarmeis in good spirits, and they are working with ene gy. Seeds already planted will now eprout. Farmers are now planting cotton es rapidly as pos Bible. Crn where up is looking weli, and some young corn has been plowed for the fi.-9t time. Transplanting to bscco has begun. Garde-LS and veget abies, tthih were injured moat by drought, are Lack ward, but rain will bring them cut considerably. Setting out cabbage, collard, tomato phu t?, etc., is progressing. Planting iice has yist b?gun. Much complaint about potato bugs, which are very numerous. Cen:ral District.- Riin on two days ended the drought, which con tinued almost unabated up to the 24 -h, and, though many places did not re ceive sufficient rain, there was er.ough to put new life into vegetation and to cause seeds to germinate. S3me dam age by hail was reported in Anson and Rockingham counties. Cotton plant ing now making more rapid progress ; in south cotton is being chopped ; etand irregular. Some young corn has been worked, and planting of remaining crop is bei&g pushed. Winter oats are thin ; spring oats have improved. To bacco plants are plentiful, though dam age is reported by ins'ictg; a few farm ers took advantage of good season to commerce transplanting. The appear ar.ca of potato bugs, cut-wcrms and chir.ch bugs i reported. Western District. The showers which occurred in thi3 district were lee3 in amount than in other portions of the Scate, and a fe w counties are still fcufforing from drought, but as a whole crops have been f.realy bene filed. A good etand of both cotton and corn is reported at many places, and planting is making good progress. Po tatoes are up and bugs beginning their destructive work. Clover is doing well. In the northwest counties breaking land and preparations for corn is mak ing good headway. Ou the hih plateaus in the mountain section the woods &rr just showing green. Plant ing oats, Irish potatoes, garden s uff. ec is priori ssing, while the condition of fruit eerns exceptionally gocd. ONE HUNDRED AND FOUR BUSH ELS OF CORN PER ACRE. F. D. Col-urn, S ecretary Kansas De partment of Agriculture, sends the fol lowing: ilr. J. A. Baxter, of Wave land, Shawnee county, Kinsa", who raised as high as 104 bushels of sheik d CDrn per acre in 1895 furnishes tho State an account of it, together with some of his corn raiding methods in general: "The portion of my crop giving a yield of 101 bushels of husked, dried fifty six pounds shelled corn per acre was fie acres of fifty seven I planted last year. My land is s'ightly rolling prairie and about a fair average of Kansas soil, with a hard, impervious subscil. Tne five acres mentioned were at one end of a twenty five acre field, part of which had been in potatoes for two years and the last crop wLh a list ing plow late in October, which was about the equivalent to a deep fall plowing. "In spring the ground was much like a bed of ashes. It was then deeply plowed, mada fine and smooth with a plank drag and drilled the first week in May with a Farmer's Friend planter of medium width, with a deep grained Dent corn; about the same quantity of seed was used as would have been if from three to somewhat less than four grains had been placed in hills the or dinary distance apart. This was cul tivated four times with common gang cultivators and hoed three times the last hoeing after after it had been fin isbed with the cultivators. 4 1 am a strong believer in deep and thorough cultivation, and Jong since learned that a goc d crop of corn and a rank growth of ccckle-burs, crab grass and similar weeds cannot occupy the same ground at the same time. I have not subsoiled for previous crops, but last fall invested in a Perine pubsoiler and used it on fifteen acres. I intend planting 100 acres in corn this season and aim to hive it all subeoiled. Am &ubeoiling my fields the narrow way first (:hey are from forty to eighty rods wido ar d 120 rods leng) as deeply as four horses can do tho wo;-k, ar. dis tances of two atd a half feet. Will then throw up the ridges cress wise of thid with a listing plow, fcilowing it in each furrow with the eubsoilor as deep as three hers? s can puli it, End drill the s?ed immediately ia tho track of the fcubjoiler. This will leave the land eubsciled in both direclions. "My whole crop for 1335 averaged only fifty s.ven buihels per acre, yet would have male seventy fie buehels Lut for an unfortunate invasion just at the- c.'i'.icil time by an army of chinch bugs from an adjacent thirty acre field of oats With proper treatment of our soils and thorough cultivation I am of the opinion that in all favorable seasons such as last we ehould raise from severity five to 100 bushels of corn per acre instead cf the m:re common twenty fivo to fifty bushels. I am al ways careful to avoid cultivating when the land is very wet, and think many farmers make a serious mi-take by workiug the;r corn when the soil cleaves from the shovels in chunks. The sun is likely to then bike the ground and the growth loses its bright, healthy green and turns a sickly yellow." Western Rural. SU3S0ILING AND MOISTURE. As to the effect that subsoi'ing has upon moisture, it may be stated that tho water retaining power or humidity of a soil will be greatly influenced by the depth and nature of the eubsoil. The greater the depth of a soil, the greater its power of retaining water. A shallow soil will allow the rain to pass through it rapidly, and should great heat and drouth ensue, it will dry up and all vegetation upon it perish. A deep subsoil, on the other hand, will retain a store of moisture, which capii lary attraction will bring to the sur face scil as required. Ilenee the hu midity of a soil and its other physical properties depend partly upon the sub soil. In times of exocf sive rain, if the fcubsoil bo eatd or limestone reck, both of which have large absorbing puwer for water, the soil is not hhciy to be Hooded; but if the subsoil bo clay the water will accumulate upon it. and though it may not flxd the eurfaee soil, yet it will remain below exerting detrimental qualities. The soil, tfcen, in dry weather give3 up its water to the au by evaporation, the s jrface soil becomes dry, and then the capillary power of the soil comes into play, and the water in the subsoil rises to the eur face. If, on the other hand, rain falls, the water passes from the surface scil into the subsoil. Tiius in every soil thero is more or less continuous move ment of water. This water is never pure, but contains some substances in solution. Farmr rs' Voice. If pure milk only was Bold in London, it is estimated that from 30,000 to 50, 000 more cows would bo wanted to keep up the supply. Every form of food adulteration knocks out the farmer somewhere or somehow, and the con sumer is not bsnefited, but rather swindled. And still there are farmers who sneer at all the efforts that are put forth to stop this swindle of adultera tion. CULTIVATING THE ORCHARD. Bearing orchards often lose their vigor and give small and poor fruit when allowed to grow in grass land, without any cultivation, If the soil is naturally rich, a shallow plowing aud an occasional harrowing will restore their vigor. Or, if plowing cannot conveniently be given, they may be much improved by being converted to pasture for sheep, adding occasionally a top dressing of manure in autumn. These animals will serve in part to en rich the land, keep the grass grazed short, and pick up the prematurely fallen fruit, infested with worms or in sects. The amount of cultivation or top dressing to be given to such orch ards must be determined by the annual growth of shoots. If less than a foot in length, more vigor must be imparted to them. If more than a foot and a half, they are quite thrifty enough. Farmers' Voice. HORTICULTURE SMALL FRUITS ON THE FARM There are three reasons why farmers do not have a succession of small fruit from tho time theflrct strawberries ap pear until the Concord grape is gone: Frst, the high price asked by many dealers; eecond, the prevalent opinion that 6( tting and caring for fruit is mys terious business; third, the thought that it will be many years, or a short lifetime, before any fruit is obtained. I believe wo are mistaken in all three reasons. Plants are quite cheap if we go to the right placo to buy them. Sit ting is no myetery, and any farmer can do it. Instead of having to wait a long time for returns, some sm ill fruits will bear in one year, llow many farmers have a strawberry bed which will yield berries enough for home use for two weeke, and plemy to can? Any land which wiil raise corn will raise strawberries. Plow up a strip 10 rods long and ono rod wide. Put it in good condition, and with a email plow lay off three rows the entire length of the strip. Send to ono cf your reliable nurserymen and get 300 plants. Sek'ct 100 Crescents, 100 Bubaehs, and 100 Captain Jacks These varieties are quoted at $L per hundred, or $3 to 15 per thousand. If over a hundred are ordered, the plants are secured at the thousand ra'es. Put one hundred plants in a row, ep eading tho roots out weli, and pressing the earth firmly about them. Ten days after they are set, cultivate ihem with a two horte cultivator, and continue this every week for eight weeks. You may have to go over the patch onco or twice with a hoe, e nd be sure to pick off all the bud3 and flower stems, for it will not do to let them fruit the first season. In the fall cover with rye straw, and in tho spring rake the straw between the rows, and my word for it, you wiil have all the berries a farmer's family can eat, at a cost of lees than three cents per quart. Currants and gooseberries can be raided as easily as corn. I have tried k , me six or ei-ht varieties of currants, and find the Rid Dutch the only kind which gives a good crop every year. I would plant 90 two year old R2d Dutch, and 10 two year old White Dutch. Set in one long row, and cultivate as you would corn. Tne second year from planting, a fair crop will be obtained. Mulch well in summer. They wiil then retain the leaves, which protect the fruit and give it a chance to get well ripened. PUnt 100 gooseberries in a row, selecting 50 Houghton and 50 Djwning. If well caliivated, they wjII give a half crop the first year after planting. R.d Dutch currants can be had for three cents a piece, and goose berries five to eight cents With a lit tle trimming each spring, 100 goose berries and 100 currants wiU be all one family can use, with seme to sell. Grapes can be produced at less than a cent a pound. Put out two rows in some lot or field near by4 50 vines in each row, six feet apart in the ro w, ar.d the rows ejght to ten feet apart. Buy 20 Moore's Early at 8 cents apiece, 30 Worden at 6 cents apiece, and 50 Con cord at 3 cents apiece. You can hardly make a mistake if you buy all Con cords, but tbe Moore's Early comes first, then the Worden fills in tho space between the early grapes and the Con cords, and you will have grapes foreix weeks. A3 support, set good o:tk posts, and attach to them three good wires. Sometime in February, cut back the new growth to four or six buds, plow and cultivate well. The best and cheapest fruit of all ia the Early Richmond cherry. The trees are cheap and they will grow and bear well with but little care. The fruit sells readily if more is produc d than is desired for home use. Good trees fcur to six feet high can be had at large nurseries for $10 to f 12 per hundred. If you have only six or eight bearing tree3, the birds and boys will annoy you so much that you will have to pick them before thoy are ripe. But get 50 trees, eet them along the garden fence and in some fence corner where nothing but weeds have been growing for years. We do not realize that every square rod of land on our farm has eight or ten tons of choice soil capable of rais ing a fine cherry tree. Look around ycur farm, and see how many square rods are going to waste which might grow a cherry, a peach, or plum tree. When the trees arrive, cut off the ends cf the roots, making a clean cut. Pack the earth firmly about the roots. Keep the ground about the tree mellow by cultivating or hoeing. If this cannot be done, mulch the tree with half rotted manure. After two or three yea-.., th cherry tree will take care of itself, and you wiil then have enough fruit fcr tho birds, the boys, and ycur own family use. One of the drawbacks of farm life is securing help in the house when a little extra work is re q iired in picking and putting up small fruit. It is, however, nearly always possible to find some poor women or children in your neighborhood who will be glad to do a few days' work, and take fruit as pay. Start semj small fruit on your farm this spring, set in long rows so that it can be culti vated. Buy at wholesale rates, of any good reliable firm, and in the end you will find more pleasure and profit than in anything on the farm. E S. Furs man, in American Agriculturist. T-HK DAIBYr" G.VE THE COWS A CHANCE. Conespor dence of the Progressive Farmer. Now that butt r bringa a lower price than a few years ago, though even now higher than most farm products, it be hooves the keeper of cows to remem ber it will ipay him to give all details of the dairy careful attention and in telligent thought, from tha selection of h's cows to the marketing cf his produc4". One of the writer's correspondents, Mr. W. T. Hotaling, South Bethlehem, Albany county, New York, is a pro grefslve dairyman and is enthusiaatic ou the subject of farm dairy butter. Hou3-s improved cream raising ap paratus, has kept up with the times and has made a succ si of butter mak ing has made it pay. In one of his letters occurs the following: 4 Tne greatest trouble in way of inducing farmers to adept better methods is that many of them make dairying a s de issue." The above is not only the case in Mr Hotaling's section of the country, but also in many sections. It is especially true in sections where farmers keep but few cows, This comes as a result of its not being fully understood by farmers that even in a small dairy it wiil pay to have certain improvements and apply the best methods. Then, even if butter-making is a side issue, it can be made a paying one. The first step towards success in but ter making in a small or large dairy is to secure good cows. The next step is good feed and good care. Now, eo far as selecting cows, is is of course easier to find a few cows of extra quality than to fiad a larger number of them Then again, a small number of cows can easier be given better atten tion than it is possible to give a larger number this because when the num ber if limi-ed the owner can himself give them all needed attention and such care as a hired man cannot always ba trusted to give. It is easier to work a dairy of five or ten cows up to an average of three hundred pounds than one of thirty cows. When we remember that there are many dairies ke-pt that do not produce an average cf one hundred and fifty pounds of butter per cow, it will te seen that a farm?r who keeps ten cows that produce during the year an aver age of three hundred pounds of butter has a pretty good thing, even if he calls it" a side issue. In addition to the return from the butter, which one year with another should not be less thcin $600, or 20 cents per pound, the by-prcducts such as skim milk, butter milk, etc., are im portant items. Go where you will, you willficd that it is the progressive farmer that is making dairying pay. In all butter making farm dairies, where the yield per cow is good and the price the high est, will be found modern improve ments for cream raising and correct methods for manipulating the product. F. W. MOSiLEY. Clinton, Iowa. THE SUMMER DAIRY COW. All things considered, the summer dairy cow has a harder time of it than the winter dairy cow. It is true that she has more natural pasture and feed in the fields if her owner is in the habit of economizing to the points of stingi ness; but, on the other hand, she is gen eraily tormented to death by flies, heat, and very often by scanty pasturage. The majority of our dairy cows suffer martyrdom in eummer, and it is no wonder that the milk flow decreases and the dairy men talk about small profi ts. Fortunately we have practical dairymen who are looking at the mat ter in the right light. It has been an appeal to their self interest more than to their sympathy that has made thou sands treat their cows better. One might talk about the sufferings of the animals until doomsday, and no im provement ia the majority o! cases would be made. Tnis is not because the farmer or dairyman is lacking in human sympathy, but because man ia naturally elo'.hful and opposed to labor that dots not pay him. But when you point out to a farmer, or any person, that he is deliberately wasting money aud profits by letting his cows suffer, you touch him in a way that will get some practical respond. When all dairymen can be convinced that they are losing a great, deal of money by not giving their cows better treatment in hot weather we wiil have a great im provement in this respect. A noted dairyman, says a writer in the American Cultivator, calculated that the farmer who neglected his cowa ia the summer time lost on an average enough to bring do-n his profits for the whole year to 20 per cent, of what they should be. The lofs wus in two ways. One in the permanent injury to the cow's health tnd the other to tho unnatural sbrinkage of the milk flow. The flies, heat and lack of proper food frtqaently bring the cows into tho fall in a condition that totally ulSls them for winter or even fall dairy it g. They require the cold wealber of the fall to recuperate 2nd get back their normal condition. Wc can make life pleasant for the cows if we but supply a few shade trees for them to lie under in the middle of the diy. If theee trees are not in the pasture plane them, and meanwhile erect a cheap t-hade with poles and graes or straw or any litter. While lying dowu ia the shade the cows remasticate their food. Cool, fresh water in the middle cf the day will bo a great thing fcr them. If given shade and cool water in abund ance the cows will need less food to make the same quantity of milk and floch. Farmers' Voice. COMMON PURPOSE COW. The following ia a good description of the common purpose cow. We do not know who gave it: Suppose a farmer desired to raise some email grain and some corn and some truck, such a3 onions, cabbage, etc , and in providing the necessary tools he would conclude he would not fill up hi tool house with a variety of implements adapted to each crop, but weuld just buy one eight inch plow. He knows it is too small fcr field plowing and too large to cultivate cabbage end onions, but it is about half way between and kind of a happy medium a common purpose tool. You would hardly give that man credit for real good j idpment. Cows are the dairymen's tools in a cer tain sinso and ehould be specially alapted to their work. LIYE STOCK. PURE-ERhD SWINE. A notable feature of the season is the handsome prices commanded by the pure bred swine cf firet rate quality. We have already noted seme of the events in Poland China cnclrs that are genuine record breakers, surpassing in prices obtained anything that has ever occurred in the annals of the breed. It is not among Poland Cjinas alone, however, that this strong demand at strong prices exists. Secretary Mills, of the American Berkshire As30ciuti?r, reports a greater demand fOr thic breed than ever before. The eale3 last year by membars of the association were 34 per cent, greater than 1694, and in 1891 were 46 per cent greater than they had ever been before. The ou:hern de mand is good almost beyond the abil ity of the breeders to meet it. The con dition indicates cor.flder.ee in the well bred hog. It shows, too, that the rav ages of chclera have annihilated many herds, and that feeders have sold cfl! unfinished stock rather than run the risk of keeping them until disease car ried them away. This has not only made mature stock comparatively scarce, but has stripped the country pretty bare of young stuff a3 well. Tha farmers and breeders have unabated confidence in the "mortgage lifter," however, and are actively engaged in rephnishing their stocks, which natur ally produces a hardening effect upon prices, and the better stuff is going at high figures. Western Farm Journal. Claver varies less than the grasses in its comprsition, the variation de pends more upon the time the hay is cut, than upon the nature of the eoil, but it is greatly helped by a dressing of phosphate. As for nitrogen, its roots will decompose air in the soil, and get what it wants more cheaply than it can be given in any kind of manure.
May 5, 1896, edition 1
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