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if iliiOj "DID A n TP P Q Q TT7" "The Progres sive Farmer is a good paper far tbove the average- -and possibly toe best advertis ing medium in N. q " printers' Ink "The Progres sive Farmer is a good paper far above the average- -and possibly 1 1 the best advertis ji ing mecium in N. C. ' Printers' Ink. THE INDUSTRIAL AND EDUCA UL INTERESTS OF OUR PEOPLE PARAMOUNT TO ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS OF STATE POLICY. RALEIGH, N. C, JULY 7, 1896. Vol. 11. No. 22 AIR If TO JO iiJalVi Jdj KL. TBB NATIONAL FARMERS' ALLI ANCE AND INDUSTRIAL UNION. President Mann Page, Brandon, Vice-President H C. Snavely, Leb anon, Pa- . c Sectary-Treasurer- R. A. South worth, Denver, Col. EXECUTIVE BOARD. E. L. Lcucks, Huron, S. D ; W P. R-ieker Cogan Station. Pa ; J. F. Wil led W- L Peeke' Ga' JUDICIARY. K A Southworth, Denver, Colo. Hi W. Beck, Alabama. U. D. Davie, Kentucky. SC3TH CAEOLINA. FARMERS' STATE ALLI ANCE. President Dr. Cyrus Thompson, Richlands, . C. Vice-President Jno. Graham,Ridge way, N. C. Secretary -Treasurer W. 8. Barnes, Hiilsboro, N. C. Lecturer J. T. B. Hoover, Elm City, C Steward Dr. V. N. Seawell, Villa now, N. C. Chaplain Rev. P. H. Masscy, Dur ham, N. C. , Door-keeper Geo. T. Lane, Greens boro, N. C. Assistant Door keeper Jaa. K. Lyon, Durham, N. C. Sergeant-at -Arms A. D. K. Wallace, Rutherfordton, N. C. State Business Agent T. Ivey, Hi Is boro, N. C. ttt Trustee Business Agency Fund w. A- Graham, Machpelah, N. C. ixrcunvE committee of the north CAROU5A 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 Brady, Gatesville, N. C. ; Dr. J.F. Harrell, Whiteville, N. C; T. J. Candler. Acton. N. C. Herth Carolina Reforo Press Association. Officers J. L. Ramsey, President; Hzrion Butler, Vice-President ; W. S. Sanies, Secretary, PAPERS. rxtzroesive Farmer. State Organ, Raleigh, N. C. Cancaelan, v P Mercury. H tekory, N. C. Rattler, Whitakers, N. C. Onr Home. Beaver Dam. N. C. The Populist, Lumberton, N. C. The Plow-Boy. Wadesboro, N. C. Carolina Watclimau. Sa.isbury, Is. G. Each of the above-named papers are requested to keep the list standing on the first page and add others, provided ihey are duly elected. Any paper fail ing to advocate the Ocala platform will bt dropped from the list promptly. Our &&ple can now see what papers are hublished in their interest. AGRICULTURE. Liquid manure is always used as a top dressing. It is one of the most valuable in the whole category of man ure?, and prompt in its action. It is not only for corn that the recent speli l f hot weather has been beneficial. Grapes need heat to mcike thern push forward rapidly. The merely moder ate temperatures that other fruit3 re j iire are of no bent fit to them There probably never was a season too hot or dry for the grape. Vine roots run deeply, and we never smw the leaves suil-ring from lack of moisture. Cows at pasture are greatly helped by feeding a bran ma?h morning and night when giving miik. Good as grass is is dees not furnish the full propor tion of nitrogenous and mineral sub s auce that the cow requires to give the 1 irgpst quantity of milk, and bran is a better food for this than is grain or grain meal. Cows that will not eat corn meal when at pasture will eat and relish a bran mash made with water heated to biood temperature. Tnere is always profit in breeding pigs, providing the breeder is not too greedy, and is willing to sell his stock at reasonable rat7 s. Lrveand let live should always be the rule. Ia nothing is this more true than in the breeding and sale of stock. It is very easy to get a surplus of stock greater than can be either kept or fattened with profit As the pigs grow older it costs more to produce a pound additional growth, and what is worse, this extra weight is not worth so much per pound as is that of the smaller pig. Tne best way to manure the growing corn is by keeping the cultivator at work among is as much as possible. If the field has been manured over the whole 8urfac3 no extra manure can be applied to much advantage in midsum mer. Of course no bulky manure could ba drawn on the field. The mo3t that can be done is to apply a little commer cial nitrate where the corn wa3 poorest, in order to bring it up to the average. If this is done and the cultivator is uaed freely, it will mix the fertilizer with the soil and add greatly to its efficiency. EXPERIENCE WITH ALFALFA. W. Hight, in an Indiana paper, gives his experience with alfalfa as follows: The first alfalfa I sowod was fifteen years ago on limestone land in a creek bottom. I sowed only on the email gravelly patches that w re so rocky yGU could not plow them very well. The water in the creek would all sink in the gravel by the 10th of June. I have sowed several patches since on the same kind of land. They all did well I sowed some cn clay upland and it did not do well. Bottom land underlaid with water is the land for alfalfa. The water under my land is down eight to twelve feet, and the roots run to the water. I never sowed any on good bottom land. Drouth has no effect on the growth. When timothy will burn alfalfa will grow right along, green as can bo. Taen is the time to lock at ir. It would make an old cow's mouth water when timothy would parch her tongue. Sow as soon in the spring as the ground gets warm and dry. Get your ground in as good fix as you can. 1 sow broadcast thirty pounds to the acre, and when it comes up I plow any spots where it did not come up well. If weedy laud mow two or thre times the firs!; year, and rake it eff clean. The second year it is all right and ahead of the weeds. B.t it don't get to its best till three or four years. It has to have time to 82nd its roots down to water. I do not know bow long it will Jive My oldest is fi'teen years old end just as good as it ever wae. It never bloated any of my stock. I cut three times a year, and get about one and one half tons at each cutting. I think it would do well onsandiand. Dairy men should try it. Don't sow anything with alfalfa HORTICULTURE TREES FOR PLANTING. Generally all things considered two year old trees are best for planting, and thi3 applies to nearly, or quite all kinds of fruit trees, especially. Select those With Straight StPima. Bmrvotfa, Hoaltky looking tops, with plenty of small fibrous roots. Be sure that they have entirely shed their leaves. Tres on which the leaves remain after the first frosts set in and stick to the branches in the spring may be safely regarded as unhealthy. In taking up it is quite an item to secure all of the roots possible, and not to bruise or ii jure in any way. The roots are of more importance than the top, as with plenty of good healthy roots a strong vigorous top can readily be grown. But in all cases the tcp3 must be cut beck in proportion to the roots. All of the bruis:d or injured roots should be cut eff with a long sloping cut. Tiien the tops can be cut back in the same proportion. In cutting back the top ail crossing and crooked limbs should be cut out. Tne best tree is a straight stem with the limbs branching off at regular in tervals. Cut back so as to secure a low spreading head. With fruit trees, at last, it 13 of no pcsaible advantage to have them tall. A tall tree gives more purchase to the wind and the fruit is more easily blown off and harder to harvest, while a low spreading head protects the etem from the sun, shades the ground more thoroughly, so that tbe tree eufff rs lss from drouth. It is important to use care in the selection of the trees, a3 when set out and properly cared for they will re main a long time and when the work and trouble necessary until they come into bearing is considered, it is worth taking considerable trouble to secure good trees. N. J. Shepherd. Eidon, Mo. CLEAN CULTURE INDISPENS ABLE TO SUCCESSFUL STRAWBERRY GROWING. Correspondence of the Progressive Farmer. There are few if any plants to which clean culture is as essential as it is to the strawberry. Its peculiar nature, habits aad time of ripening make this the case. It grows blooms and bears its fruit down on the ground just where weeds and gras3can choke and smother it. It bears and ripens its fruit just when the warm weather of spring is coaxing weeds into such rampant growth as to deprive the berry of sun light, without which it cannot mature and color. Being about 90 per cent, water, the strawberry of course needs an abund ant and constant supply of moisture and the yield can easily be lessened one half or more by the presence of weeds, voracious of moisture for their own needs. The fact that the wild strawberry at tains some degree of excellence in a wild and uncultivated state, has led some people to question the necessity, or even wisdom, of giving this fruit too much culture. But observers of nature know that the wild strawberry plant is productive in proportion as it chances to grow it a fpot free from weeds and grass. When rs lot is cast amid grass and weeds, it makes only a slender spiudling growth, and bears sorry and few berries, or, often none at all It is the highest economy to give the crop which precedes the strawberries scrupulously clean culture, allowing no grass or weed seed to infest the soil. I have fields which have had uch close attention in this respect that thev are almost free from these ps's. Wnen one does appear it is kilied before seed c m be produced Just as a young cuckoo in a spar row's n?st appropriates all the food in tended for the lawful occupants of the nest and soon gets strong enough tode stroy the young sparrows, so weeds will appropriate the manure you in tend for the strawberry till they get strong enough to overpower your crop. The richer the soil the harder, but all the more necessary it is to give the weeds and grass short thrift. Tniscare should extend not only through the summer, but begin as early the follow ing spring as weather will permit; never forgetting that a weod puny and insignificant amid the cold of March and April, may spring up into all the vigor of Jonah's gourd when the sun waes warm. Oa fields once cleared of these, strawberries can be grown with comparatively little hoe work. Take the ad vie 3 of one who makes the strawberry his life business and gives this king of berries shallow cul tivation frequent enough to keep the above truceless enemies from ever get ting a foothold. An ounce of preven tion is worth not only a pound, but a ton of cure. O W . DtXOCBAI-t. Kittrell, N. C. The agricultural returns for Great Britain during 1895 show that the cul tivated area is 32.57S000 acres. The shrinkage of lands under the plow in creased during the past year by the weather. There wero 510 acres less of wheat grown and 57,000 acres less of rye, beans and peas, but the barley in creased 72,000 acres, and the increase of the oats acreage was also larger. The actual loss in the arable area dur ing the last two decades, which cover the period of depression, amounts to 2,137,000 acres. The reduction in wheat alone is 1,900,000 acres. POULTKY YARD RICH COLORED EGGS. It is a well known fact in the feeding of dairy stock that foods poor in fats or oils cause cows to give milk the cream of which is especially light in color, and will produce very light col ored or white butter. It is also a mat ter of common knowledge among dairy men that the light colored foods will increaee tho color of butter, as when carrots are used. The same principle would probably hold true with regard to the feeding of fowls. Too much bran, oats, and es pecially buckwheat, would have a ten dency to produce eggs with very light colored yolks. Confinement without much variety of food is also known to cause hens to lay eggs with very light yolks, and when such fowls are given their freedom, plenty of green food and a variety of grain food, the color of the yolks will change in a few days so as to be quite noticeable. Some varieties of fowls naturally lay eggs wish lighter colored yolks than others. Dirk col ored eggs are esteemed for their richer quality more than white shelled eggs, and frequently bring a higher price in the market, so that all the difference in the color of the yolk may not be due to the single item of food or confinement. Feeders are agreed that Leghorns and other Meditterauean breeds will bear feeding with much more corn than the Asiatic and American breeds, and a richer die-, consisting of considerable corn, with plenty of green food and range would, no doubt, give eggs from the Mediterranean breeds richer yolks than if confined and fed a diet lacking in corn and green food. Ample variety in tbe food and plenty of range would probably prove an antidote for the white y oiks. American Agriculturist. - ; A pound of poultry can be produced t.nrvi Vian a ti filing nf mutton. )muru uucoij vuuu ' beef or pork. LIVE STOCK. VALUABEE PURCHASE OF HIGH CLASS JERSEYS. List week a special train containing 41 head of registered Jerseys from the Rockwell Prk Stock Farm, owned by Mr. E. B. C. Hambley, of Rockwell, N. C, arrived at the Biltmore Farm, a part of the palatial estate of Mr. G. W. Vanderbilt, situated near Ashe ville, N C. This herd of Jerseys is be coming one of the most important and largest in Amsrica. It contains at present some 130 head of animals, selected for the foundation of a high class Jersey breeding establishment, and for the production of fancy cream, butter and milk, to satisfy the demands of the citizansand visitors of this noted resort. Trie farms, containing some 2 000 acres, together with the Jerseys, dairy, sbeep, swine, market gardens and poultry departments, are under the skillful supervision of G F. Weston. Tne Jersey barns and dairy will be on a scale consistent with the enormity of the other features of tho estate. This purchase of cattle con sists of 28 cows, and 13 heifers, royally bred, and distinguished for their persistent work at the churn and pail, inc uding 7 cows with tests of from 11 to 18i pounds of butter per week, and from 7,000 to 8.000 pounds of milk per year. Representatives of the most noted lines of breeding are in cluded in this purchase. The Rockwell Park herd of registered Jers3y8 has been recognized for some time as among the finest in the coun try, combining great individual merit, largo yields, uniformity of type, and rich breeding; this condition induced Mr. Vanderbilt to draw largely from this herd for the foundation animals of Biltmore. Tnere is no doubt that this section of America possesses many natural ad vantages for the euccessful breeding and development of the highest type of Jerseys. This fact is demonstrated by tho manv fine and valuable herds that aro now to be seen throughout the State. THE AMERICAN HOG. Extracts from a paper read by Geo. W. Franklin at tht late meeting of tbe Iowa Stte Breeders' Associttti n at Des Moiuts. The American hog is divided into two classes, bipeds and quadrupeds. Bjth kinds are found on the farms cf the West, and occasionally boih are found on the sime farm. The biped American hog is fond of usurping two seats in a passenger coach; the q lad ruped is content with standing room for one in an ordinary stock yard. Tne biped American hog is often a very potent factor in the management of financial and political affairs; the four footed kind is not much of a politician, and herein again he differs from the eheep, which is pretty much always in politics. While the American hog is not al ways free from disease, ic is surprising how many different kinds of diseases a &hip load of him consigned to Germany can contract while in transit. The American hog may be any one of S9V eral breeds or may be of no clearly de fined one, and yet like the money of the country7, he always goes, and for the purpose of passing, it makes but little d.ffirenco what is the clor; whether it be dead or living, or even in point of fact, whether it really exists at ail or not, for on board of trade he can be sold as mess pork without hav ing any actual existence. He is a vig orous and ornniverous feeder, not per haps as cultivated as might be, and yet he will bear a gr?at deal more cul tivation than he often rccsives, and there are often some men who could profit by a little better acquaintance with him. The ham and lard hog is giving way to the bacon hog. The bacon hog is ften the result of accident, but skill and science are being devoted to his production until we may in time make him with the same certainty that we make the lard hag. It is quite the fashion to have breakfast bacon for breakfast, and while this is the fashion, the bacon hog must be produced to meet the demand. The changes which fashion prescribes in the hog, as well as in other meat animals, make it not improbable that the pig's tail will in time become as popular as breakfast bacon, in which case there will be uni versal regret felt that our American hogs have but one tail. The pressure for the bacon hog is becoming so marked that some breeders are intro ducing the blood of the 4 'razor backn from Florida, in order to secure the much desired streak of fat. Some of them are so pleased with the results already secured that they are hopeful of breeding a hog presently that will have two streaks of lean to one of fat. As a rule, the American hog is a well fed animal, and his diet is almost ex clusively corn. The four footed hog does not object to corn, whether it be raw, ground or cooked. The biped hog prefers the juice. Corn j lice is eaid to make the two-footed class greatly re semble the four footed ones, and cn good authority it is declared that a heavy ration of corn jaice will make the biped hog wallow in the mire just as the quadruped does on a hot day. Wheat has lately been trying to cap ture some of tho laurels won by King Corn as a feed for hogs, but it finds favor only to a limited t xtenc and most feeders prefer one of its by-products. Corn as a diet for the American hog is without a successful rival, and the farmer who knows how to breed good hogs and grow plenty of corn and grass for them possessas the key to the situa tion, and no foreigner need expect to get the combination without first be coming natural z )d and learning to eat hi3 pork well cooked. In the management of the American hog we have as miny d i II jrent methods as we have breeds and breeders. There is management and mis management "Male and female created he them," and the latter eeerus to be in the ma jority. It is a waste of time and good money to keep anything but the right sort. Whether their ears be pricked or drooping, whether the hair be black, white or red, makes but little differ ence, so that they grow rapidly, ma ture early, have vigorous health, pro duce good litters and then take good care of them when they are produced. They will get to market in time to pay the interest on the mortgage, the taxes on the farm, and have a little left over for a rainy day. With all the expenditure of money and all the application of skill that has been devoted to making the hog healthy and happy, he has not yet been ren dered proof against cholera. If the American hog in Iowa was not subject to occasional attacks of this dread dis ease, it is a mystery beyond solving where the products cf hogs in the 8tate would stop. With absolute immunity agaics j attacks of cholera, Iowa would feed the world. Then a loud wail would go up from the breeders. Perhaps it is on the whole no bad thing that we have this safety valve arranged to ac jast the swine industry, but yet I have ob served that we are all willing that the safety valve shall be permitted to oper ate the other fellow's hogs in cholera time. There was a time when the American hog received very little care or atten tion. His snout was long and his legs as long as his snout. For actual ras catity, inborn cussedness, activity and storage power, the American hog of that age had no equal. With his trunk like proboscis he could root out the third row of potatoes through a crack in a rail fence, and with very little effort he could drink every drop of cream from an old fashioned churn without tif p;ng the churn over or spill ing the cream. Tnere were American hogs because they loved liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and they seemed to get more happiness out of their pur suits than any other animal on earth, They would hold mas.5(t) conventions and they usually convened where there wai the greatest abundance of mass(t). Tae sky was brought into use as ashel ter for them during inclement weather, and when hog killing time came around the old fashioned Fquirrel rifla was an absolute necessity. The boar wasnever selected and wa3 seldom seen except at unexpected moments, and then it was best to view him from long raDge or the tcp of a fence. Considering the herd from the standpoint of its figh ting qualities, the boar was then more than half the herd. It takes lots of genuine grit to be a farmer, says the E aral World. Legis latures and trusts combine to rob him and he finds many classes of his fellow men flourishing at his expense. He sees his real estate shrink and his taxes increase. Ha very often has to market hi choicest products below cost, de prive himself and his family of social advantages, work 16 hours a day, and all through it is obliged to be a man of grit. For genuine manliness of this kind the American farmer stands with out a peer. Fresh stable manure contains some 70 per cent, of water, 25 per cent, of vegetable and animal matter, and five per cent, of salts and mineral matter. THE DAIRY, SUMMER DAIRYING. To make the summer dairy success ful may look very simple to one on the outside of the business. Unfortunately the outside view is shared by mary on the inside, and they are conducting eumoior dairying solely on the manual labor idea. Njw it is a fact that sum mer dairying requires j ist as much practical knowledge, skill and care as winter dairying, and the man who ignores these points never has made cows pay, and never will. The diiryman who draws r monthly check from his factory, a portion of which is profit, is not enabled to do so simply because he owns cows, but be cause he knows how to handle them. For instance, turning cows cut to pas ture may be the worst thing you can do for them Y u must be eure that there is plenty of grass for them to eat, or they will be worse eff than if tied to a straw stack. The found Uion of euc cessfuF dairying is to keep the cows constantly furnished with all they can digest of milk forming food. Under this rule good cows are a mint of money, and poor ones will show surprising re sults. Eiiher bring the amount of pas turage up to the number of your cows, or else reduce the number of your cows to the amount of your pasturage. An ticipate the need of feed several months ahead, and plant plenty of fodder corn now. Better plant too much than too little, as the surplus will come in play next winter as silage or cured fodder. I never saw a dairyman yet who put in more fodder corn than he could make use of. He generally has too little. Another important p -int is to take care of the milk after you get it. A dairyman must possess an earnest de sire to preserve the milk quality, or I wjuld not give much for his succees in that direction. A half-hearted policy, or indifference, will almost surely re sult in spoiled milk. Nearly every dairyman now understands the routine work that it is necessary to follow in preserving jnilk quality on the farm. The trouble is that only a proportion of them as yet put it thoroughly into practice. Thoroughness! How much that means in dairy management. If there are 25 thorough dairy ment in a township, that is equivalent to 25 suc cessful ones. No man can expect to always have good milk unless he goes through a routine practice of aerating and cooling it every night during the summer. Even if he has plenty of cold running water, he must not depend en tirely on it to the neglect of aeration. By submerging hot milk in cold water, I have known it to develop the most dangercu3 taint. Tfcus a blessing is easily turned into a curse. Don't despise regularity in the dairy unless you despise money. Be regular in turning the cows to pasture, in milking them, and in drawing the milk to the factory. It t ikes no longer than to be irregular, besides insuring profit. Never attempt to hold butter in the summer unless you have a suitable place to store it. That means a re frigerator. If all farm made butter went into cold storage as soon as pro duced, there would bo less sale for oleo margarine. Goo. E. Newell, in Ameri can Agriculturist. The Nsbraska Farmer well says: Community of t ff jrt might succeed in keeping the chinch bug pest so thor oughly within bounds the present year as to materially reduce the chances of a similar recurrence cf the trouble in so violent a form another year. It is worth working for. Awaken your neighbors to an appreciation of the situation, and be ready to do something effectual toward mitigating the evil. EXPLAINING IT. "Say, Mame," said Maud, as ehe bit off a tiny piece of chewing gum, "I've been improving my mind again." "Go 'way ! You haven't P "Yes, I have. I have been reading all about the convention. It's per fectly fa3cinating, too." "Can you understand it?" "Most of it. I used to think a con vention was stupid, but it isn't a bit. It's just like a gymnasium, of riding a goat at an initiation, or something of that kind, you know." "How do they do?" "Why, they bring out a plank." "Yea." "And it's very wide; and tha candi dates try to straddle it, and other peo ple try to keep them from doing so ; and the side that wins gets the nomi nation. I don't know what it means, but that's the way it's done, for I saw it in the paper.' Wilmington Star.
The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
July 7, 1896, edition 1
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