Newspapers / The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, … / Sept. 15, 1896, edition 1 / Page 1
Part of The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
; llSi ISWk mat "The Progres sive Farmer is a a naoer lar "The Progres sive Farmer is a far fbove the aver-; -and possibly ; te best advertis- , insr medium tn w. C." printers' Ink. ; IVllilJLttio ing meciu C." Printers' Ink. THE oTRIAL and educational intekests of our people paramount to all other considerat 1' Vol. 11. t' RALEIGH, N. C, SEPTEMBER 15, 1896. No. 32 MHE OGtESSITE " . SS " - raS NATIONAL FARMERS' ALLI ANCE AND INDUSTRIAL UNION. President Mann Page, Brandon, Vico-President H. O. Snavely, Leb- tS'retory-Treasurer R. A. South worth, Denver, Col. EXECUTIVE BOARD. B L.Loucks, Huron, 8. D.; W. P. Briefer, Cogan Station, Pa. ; J. F. Wil letta, ansa3; W. L. Peeke, Ga. JUDICIARY. B A. Southworth, Denver, Oolo. l' W. Beck, Alabama. LJ. D. Davie, Kentucky. COST3 CAROLINA FARMERS' 8TATX ALXJ- AKUK. President Dr. Cyrus Thompson, Bichlands, . C. Vice-President J no. Grakam,Ridge fray, N. C. Secretary-Treasurer W. S. Barnes, HUlsboro, N. C. lecturer J. T. B. Hoover, Elm City, 4 Steward Dr. V. N. Scawell, Villa- v n Chaplain Rev. P. H. Massey, Dur ham, N. C. . Door keeper Geo. T. Lane, Greens boro, IN. u. Assistant Door-keeper Jas. E. Lyon, Bergeant-at-Arrna A. D. K. Wallace, Buthertoraton, in. vj. State Business Agent T. Ivey, Hi.la Trasteo Business Agency Fund w . A n.kr m XT 0VlTl ATI "N Cj. sxrcunvE committee of the north CAROLINA FARMERS' STATE AXAOAWUffi. CYmmrd. N. C. : N. C. English, Trinity, N. C; James M. ilewDorne, xv.ms on, rriTl ALLIANCE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE. John Brady, Gatesville, N. C; Dr. J.F. Harrell, Whiteville, N. C; T. J. Uandler. Acton, in. Serth Carolina Reform Press Association. Q&cersJ. L. Ramsey, President; Marion Butler, Vice-President ; W. S. Bzmes, Secretary, PAPERS. Hickory, N. C. R:tt i nr Wnlta t era, in . Mm.. Beaver Dam. N. C. T, Pnmillst. Lumberton, in. low-Hoy. adesboro, nmjA ruiner are AUUt C J tVO iv.i.rwX'-X requested to keep the list standing on -:Jte )lr8t pae and add others, provided ity are duly elected. Any paper fail--ng to advocate the Ocala platform will dropped from the list promptly. Our zecme can now see icrmi j. '.'liOHailfXi XT tAtcr 7ttotoif. North Carolina has the soil and cli mate, why not have improved farms? No man will make a success of dairy ing unless willing to look after small thing0. Young trees may be trimmed in Sep tsmW na wtU as anv time. The idea to remove the branches that inter- erv and the sprouts. Vter sproute on apple trees are easJy pUiied away at thi3 season. They are useless and suck away the sap in siderable quantities. Tt the recant annual meeting of the ftional Apple Shippers' Association al reports and estimates pointed to a afger crop of apples than ever before rcorded. Let young stock, as well as the milk catr0, have access to salt and frteh Vater. If salt is not where they can et it whenever wished salt them regu farly at least twice a week. Everv farmer should have a little farm library. Bound volumes of agri r-nltural naDers are good, and there jsnouia uo u iow fejovA teach theabe'sof the business ; also j books upon the crops which are your ) specialty. Of course nobody should be elected r,m -.o oimni v because ne is a mruicj , vu uuiww tr J hut there is denty of material for hon est, sensible, capable law makers to be mind among the agricultural ranas, and this country is just beginning to discover the fact. The waste in the orchard should be looked after closely, and that which is nrmV and defective fed to tne noga. Th nA nroeess of sun drying, or the still better one of evaporation, or the preserving, should all go on now, so that nothing goes to waste. Rn F. Darlington, 01 xei, Pstablished cross between tne L.a r,ri n.irham would make the iUlU t"v il beef steer. By using pure Drea X3 on both sides he thinks thatm- distinct type of beef ffi0,ild be established that would s lctly fill the bill for this western WEEKLY WE HF CROP BUL- .IN For the Week Ending Saturday, Sept 5, 1896. Central Office, Raleigh, N. C. The week ending Saturday, Septem ber 5sh, 1896, was comparatively warm, with two or three days slightly below the normal in temperature, and scat tered showers on the 3rd, 4th and 5th, poorly distributed, howev er, except in the western portion of the State, where the rainfall was more general; over other portions the drought in many places is unbroken. But little improve ment is now possible in the crop con ditions. Eastern District. The week was pleasant, not too warm, with some cool nights, and was fine for farm work. Rains occurred at scattered points on four dates, but it is still dry over the greater part of the district. Cotton- picking is going on rapidly ; the crop will be nearly all open by October lsr. I Peas and potatoes are needing rain, but J will be good, though peas are slow to mature. Turnips are not comiog up well generally on account of the drought. Peanuts will be short, the usual result of a dry August. Rice is only ordinary. On the whole very little improvement occurred this week. Central District. Several thunder storms occurred this week and the rain fall was beneficial to late corn, turnips, peas, etc., but was poorly dis tributed. At a few points amounts over an inch fell and the ground was softened enough for plowing. Cotton will soon be all open ; many fields al ready look as bare and brown as if ruined by frost ; lint being picked out rapidly under favorable conditions. 0d corn nearly dry in the fields. To bacco cures continue poor in quality ; most. of the crop has been housed. Some oats were planted. The absence of a general rain fall will cat short all late crops. Western District. Gjod, soaking rains fell on the last two or three days of the week at a large number of plact 8 in tne western district, eueciuany breaking the drought, but came tco late to materially benefit crcps. Cot ton will be no better than already esti mated; picking going on rapidly, cx cept for two days, when interrupted by rain. Lato corn is shooting up tall, but little crop. Good crop of pea viue hay ha3 been harvested. Turnips fairly good and much beneficed by the rain. Seme wheat land has been broken, this work baing quite backward. Leaves of forest tree3 are beginning to take tne variegated hues of fall in the west. The farm tools and machinery that have been scattered over the fields should be gathered up and cleaned and put in order for next year's work. A dollar's worth of paint will go far to ward the preservation of the wocd, as well as add 50 per cent, to the appear ance. A little oil will also prevent rust. COTTON SEED. The cotton seed oil trust has fixed the price of cotton seed for the present year at f 4 per ton. This gigantic cor poration evidently fee's that has the farmers in its grasp and is determined to crush the life out of them. The farmers should combine against the trust and resolve not to sell it a pound of seed except at prices to be fixed by themselves. Cotton seed ia worth more than the paltry sum of $4 a ton to the farmers as fertilizer. Let the cDtton producers ccmbine against the trust and the trust will be the first to capitu late. Shreveport Judge. A ROAD HOWL. A correspondent to the Michigan Farmer makes the following plain state ment of facts as they hold in many road districts outside of Michigan. It may be you live in one of them, we do not. We are fortunate in being in one of those districts where they began to draw gravel years "ago and an occa sional load here and there keeps our roads in A 1 condition the year round. The correspondent says : "I want to make a small howl in regard to road making. I do not suppose it will do any good, but it will relieve my mind. This, as we all know, is the reason for the former to go out with the new road machine and scrape the sod along the side of the road into the middle of the same, and call it a road. "It is very nice for a few weeks, ana there comes in a little here and another there, so that by the time winter sets in we have a muddy, rutty road to ride over. And it is not a few rods, either, for a road district can do a mile or two of it in the time required to work on the road.' Now, why cannot they work say twenty or thirty rods with the road machine, make a good, wide road bed, and then draw on good gravel, not sand? Almost every dis trictr has a bank of gravel within its limits. If not on the road go back on the farm. If the farmer is a good, generous, freehearted man, he will give it to his own district If not, can cel his road work for the gravel. He certainly should be willing to do that. It is a good plan to get the teams and men cut together, and, by a little sys t(m, you can get a great deal more done. Of course it is hard to do so, but once get your district in that habit, and they think there is no other way ''Perhaps some may think that the first part of this is all imagination, but I know of one road district (and I pre sume there are others) that has not drawn gravel enough in two years to cover twenty rods of road in good shape. Yet they have scraped and scraped, and will probably continue to screp3. "Anyone who has driven fifty miles with a horse knows that when he gets on a gravel road, he gets on a good road. It is very seldom that you see a railroad company drawing sod, sand and clay to ballast their road. "If the proof of the pudding is in the eatiDg, the proof of good road is in its smoothness and lasting qualities. And a well made gravel road will knock out a sod, sand and clay road every time." CRIMSON CLOVER HAIR BALLS Prof Coville, Botanist of the Depart ment of Agriculture, has just written and the Department has sent out a cir cular-on Crimson Clover Hair Balls found in horses, and decided to be the cause of their death. Those of our subscribers who have been taking the Planter for several years will remem ber that we drew attention to tirs sub j3Ct several years ago in consequence of one of our subscribers losing a horse from this cause, and had a report thereon from Dr. Niles, the veterinarian at Biackjburg. He arrived at the sam-a conclusion as Prof. .Ccville, v z , that the feeding of crimson clover is not necessarily dangerous to horses, but only becomes so when the crop is allf wed to stand until the seed becomes ripe and the hairy s'leath with which it is surrounded beconifs hard. In thia State the hairs become stiff and barbed, and are dangerous, as they mat together and form the balls which cause death. When the clover is cut whilst in 11 wer, which is the proper time, it is no more dangerous than other grasses or clovers. Southern Planter. PRINCIPLES OF PROFITABLE FARMING. Tne attention of our readers is called to a most valuable little book, entitled "Principles of Profitable Farmirjg " We do not know of any book on the subject that gives to the farmer so much practical information in the same short space. In this book experiments are described up m different soils and crops, and the farmer is instructed howto"e fertilizers properly, in or der to t ocure the largest yields. The reading matter is divided into three parts, as follows: Part I de scribes some of the important results first obtained by Prof. Wagner, Direc tor of the Experiment Station at Darm stadt, Germany, through green manur ing by means of potash phosphate fer til z ition. Part II gives an account of the Experimental Farm at Southern Pines, North Carolina, whish is under the auspices of the North Carolina State Horticultural Society, acting in co operation with the State Experi ment Station. The object of the ex periments conducted at this farm ia to ascertain the relative proportions of the three principal fertilizing ingredi ents needed by various fruit acd veget able crops, viz : potash, phosphoric acid and nitrogen. Part III is a sum mary of many important results ob tained by the use of potash in expert ments conducted at experiment eta tions in the United States. The foregoing outline will give the reader some idea of the scsope and character of this little bock. All the facts are stated in clear and concise language, and the principles of profit able farming are set forth in a prac tical way. The book, which is full of illustrations and neatly printed and bound, is free of charge, a card ad dressed to the German Kali Works, 93 Nassau St., New Yorn, N. Y., being all that is necessary to secure a copy. No intelligent farmer should be without it. IMPROVING POOR FARMS The greatest difficulty with Ameri can farmers in making their farming successful is lack of available capital The greed for more land affects all sec tions of the country, though its exces sive manifestation is in the West and South, where land is, or rather has been cheaper and more easily acquired than in any of the Eastern States. This desire to buy as much land as possible is due to the belief thajt until recently was justified by results that land was the safe3t kind of investment, and bound to rise in price with every im provement made either en the farm it self or in its neighborhood. But the slipshod farming which too large fai ni3 necessitated made it impossible either to keep up fertility or to make the im provements required to increase farm productiveness, says the American Cultivator. The result is that in all the older States are many run down farms, gen erally held by farmers with very small capital, because such farms are the only ones they have money enough to buy. It is always the poorest farmer who owns the poorest farm, The man with plenty of money buys a farm that is making money for its owner, and he is accordingly able to continue in the some line. On the poor farm the pov erty of the farmer grows worse with each year, and it is mainly because he lacks the money to make the kind of improvements that he well knows will pay. No man should remain long in this most uncomfortable and un profit able position. Fortunately it is within the power of any farmer willing to work to begin making his land more productive, even if he cannot get money to purchase manures or improved stock with which to make them. If there is an intelligent comprehension of what the farm needs, a small amount of money, with what labor the farmer can himself do, will make a ereat chance. We Knew a Scotchman many years ago, who, like most Scotch farmers, was a thorough and intelligent cultivator. Some parts of the farm he had lately bought were wet. With his own hands he dag ditch, plowing out as much as possible so as to lessen the work. After the ditch was dug he gathered stones and carefully laid them so as to leave a good water course at the bottom. He had. not the money to buy tile, which were then scarcer and dearer than now. But his stone drain kept this land dry for 30 years, while he knew the farm, and it is doubtless doing good service yet. Bat the best; way to improve a poor farm is to intelligently use brains with labor. Seeding with clover as often as possible, and using all the home made manure to make this clover grow, will bring land into condition for profitable production quicker than can be done in any other way. If the land is sandy use all the ashes possible, and if cat not be had in sufficient quantities, buy potash salts. More potash is what sandy soils need to make clover grow. After sandy land can be made to grow even one crop of clover, there will, with good management, be no difficulty thereafter in getting either a clover or grass seeding. Every farmer on a poor farm should study to take the benefit of every ad vantage which even the least fertile faim may effer for making money. Many a poor farm has a wood lot, from which, if the farmer is willing to work, he may cut and haul away enough wood every winter to make more real profit than he can get by working the land in summer. If he u?es the winter earned money in improving his culti vated land, it may soon be brought into a high state of productiveness. Where there is much stone on the farm or it is underlaid by rock, the opening of a quarry will some times prove the most profitable enterprise that the farmer can go into. In still other places run ning streams of cold water may be stocked with trout, and fish may be grown in large quantities by making small ponda with dams, and protected at both inlet and outlet so as to prevent them from escaping. Wherever these trouta ponds are provided it is easy to make the farm on which they are located a popular resort for city visit or8, who will leave more money for their en tertainment than can be made by ordinary farming. In every way the farmer should study to device the new and more paying uses to which his farm may be put. When he once begins to make profit in some way the after improvement of the farm will follow as a matter of course. Some times there is on the farm neglected orchards that with proper care, cultivation and pruning may be brought into a profitable pro duction. Even if there are only a few such trees, making the most of them will be a quicker way to earn money than will anything else that the farmer can do. After all ia said and suggested, good, sound judgment will be require d and also some practical experience in farm ing. Many of the wealthy beginners in farm improvement use their money in way 8 that do not and cannot return the money they expend. It ia not, of course, safe or wise to follow their ex amples. By keeping eyes and ears open and noting what the successful money making farmers are doing, and so far as possible imitating them, more sue cesj will be attained than in any other way. m o The grazing districts of Arizona and New Mexico have been having a good share of rain-fall. This is good news to cattlemen. It means a good quality of bee! to ship and the stock in better shape for wintering. There is certainly no overproduction of cattle on the ranges this year. One Arizona paper estimates a shortage of 20,000 head of feeding cattle in one valley alone. All the conditions except those of our na tional finances indicate improved prices for beef. SOME GREAT FARMS. We boast of the big farms and ranches of the United States, but away down in Australia they have planta tions or "stations" so big that many of ours seem Email in comparison. One Australian, James Tyron by name, says a recent visitor to the antipodes, has about 2,000,000 acres, or a terri tory nearly as large as three States like Rhode Island, one and one half Dala wares, or even one third the siz9 of Vermont, or one-seventeenth the size of Iowa. He has nearly 1,000,000 sheep or the equivalent in cattle. Oae Mr McCaughey has one station of 1,214,877 acres, with some 500,000 sheep. James WUson has 640,000 acres, or just 1,000 square miles, in one station, and over 400,000 sheep. I have a friend in th9 interior, whom I visited recently, who has 500,000 acres and 300,000 sheep. Oae can drive 100 miles in a straight line on his estate. Of this 500,000 acres, 700,000 are freehold, and the rest is leased from the government of New South Wales on long time, for a definite annual rental. I have another friend, a member of the New South Wales Parliament, who hold3 240,000 acres in Q leensland on long lease, at an annual rental of one farthing, or one-half cent per acre. Recently the governmenc sunk an artesian well on this land that flows 3,000,000 gallons per day, accord ing to newspaper reports. Most of this station, I am informed, is good land. All these stations, like the petty duke dem 3 of E irope, are named, and the names, pronounceable, are not easily forgotten. But their nam9s serve a belter purpose than mere ornemnt. As there is a considerable difference in altitude, latitude, soil, vegetation, breed or care of sheep, there is a very notice able difference in the wool, and the reputation of the station has no little influence on the price of the respective clips. In the Eoglish trade reviews, or prices curreat, the names of the stations of Australia bcc.m) as familiar to a large business class as are the names of the nations of the globe to the aver age educated man. The largest farm in this country is situated in the southern part of Louisi ana. It extends 100 miles north and south, and twenty five miles east and we3t. It was purchased in 1883 by a syndicate of northern capitalists, by whom it is still operated. At the time of its purchase its 1,500,000 acres was a vast pasture of cattle belonging to a few dealers in this county. Now it ia divided into pasture stations or ranches every six miles The fencing is said to have cost $50,000. The land is best adapted for rice, sugar, corn and cot ton. A tract, say half a mile wide, is taken, and an engine is placed on each side. The engines are portable and op erate a cable attached to four plows. By this arrangement thirty acres are gone over in a day with the labor of only three men. There is not a single draught horse on the entire place, if we except those used by the herders of cattle, of which there are 16,000 head on the place. The Southern Pacific Railway runs for thirty -six miles through the farm. The com pany has three steamboats operating on the estate, of which 300 miles are navigable. It has also an ice house, bank, ship yard, and rice mills. LIYE STOCK. HOGS BEAT DOGS. About February, 1692, my wife said to me, I want a pig. I am feeding three or four worthlees dogs for you and the boys, and I would much rather feed a pig for myself. I tried to impress upon her the idea that the pig would be the source of more annoyance than profit. I thought, as she made no reply, that she had abandoned the idea of keeping a pig. I knew, however, that she had the peculiar knack of carrying her point, and was not surprised a few days later on discovering in the back yard a diminutive pig in a chicken's coop. I said nothing, but kept an eye on the pig. It soon outgrew its nar row limits, and I built a comfortable sty. Though my wife never called on me for more than one buehel of corn, that pig by December turned the scales at 400 pounds. The worthless dogs are no longer on the farm, but there are three pigs in the sty that will pan out from 800 to 1,(00 pounds of pork, be sides lard and sausage galore. Stock Journal. PIG-KEEPING FOR WOMEN. A writer in the New York Journal saya that pig keeping may be made a3 ithetio aa well aa profitable by wo men. Two girls, who had thought of becoming type-writers, concluded to 8tay on the farm and raise pigs. They had a piece of ground laid out and drained as carefully as a tennis court. It was neatly enclosed, and ao arranged aa to be flooded for cleansing. Here and there the pigs ran at large, and could take baths at will. No food was bought for them, not even corn, but they fed on table waste, on fruit and nuts gath ered for them, on grass and favorite weeds cultivated for them. They were kept healthy, clean and comparatively lean. When ready for market, there 17 pigs were not sold to the butcher, but contracted for to persons who knew of their careful rearing. They brought $255, having cost little more than the labor and care. The woman pig raiser should never think of the open market, but seek epicurean private customers with whom she can make a reputation for fancy wares and obtain therefor fancy prices. She who brings such pork to such palates has competence within her grasp. To do it she must learn a few things first, what sort of piga to raise. Small boned Barkshires are best, or crosses of that blood on native stock not too coarse Next come Jersey Reds, Easexes and Suffolk8. The huge com mercial sorts Chester Whites, Poland Chinas and their kidney while excel lent for the packing houses, are not for the woman's piggery. While pigs are the better for a short range they will thrive in a 12 foot pen if properly cared for. It should have a tight plank floor, with trough at one side for food, and at the other for water. Everything should be cleaned out daily, and if possible copiously fl ashed. The troughs should have slats over them. If there is room outside, have a cemented pool or half hogshead sunk in the ground, where piggy may splash to bis heart's content. The best food is corn meal and wheat middlings mixed and cooked to a thick mush. Feed often, but not too much at a time. Supplement the mueh with all the buttermilk and clabber you can lay hands on, and alternate it with ap les, roots and whatever green food is in season. Purslane from the garden a tid bit, so are freshly cut clover and any kind of grain in the milk. Salt the milk slightly, and once a week give more salt, mixed liberally with hard wood ashes and bits of charcoal. As often aa you please, scrub eff the animals, using a long handled brush and carbolic soap suds. Twice a week rioae out water and feed traighs with a solution of copperaa, and at least once a fortnight brush all the wood work over with kerosene. Be ware of straw beds, which cause mange. Use, instead, dry leaves, marsh hay, or even excelsior. Change them fre quently, and provide shelter from rain, wind and hot sun, but do not keep the pigs too close. The biggest should be ready fer the knife at six months old. Pig8 so kept and tended will be lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their deaths you will divide profits worth naming if you strike a market worthy of your meat. Country G:ntleman. The gold standard is the standard of Wall street. Do you think, there fore, that it is the standard that you should rally tc? -Advance Guard. ge country. 1 1
The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Sept. 15, 1896, edition 1
1
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75