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t "The Progres sive Farmer is a good paper far above the average- -and possibly the best advertis ing medium in N. C." Printers' Ink. O the r- bTst advertis- j inz medium ?. printers' Ink. THE f EUL AyD EDUCATIONAL IKTEEESTS OP OUR PEOPLE PARAMOUNT TO ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS OF fcATE POLICY, RALEIGH, N. C, OCTOBER 6, 1896. Vol. 11 No. 35 VST T (rPr? fterr- i .a NATIONAL. FARMERS' ALL!- UNION. prudent Mann Page, Brandon, ! Vlf;(Frcs!dcnt H. C. Snavely, Leb VI anon, VeSrv-Treasuror-R. A. South- iv.At-nr Col. EXECUTIVE BOARD. - r Loucks, Huron, S. D.; W. P. Rrf;r Sgan Station, Pa. ; J. F. Wii EtcsasjW. L. Peeke, Ga. JUDICIARY. a q-uthworth, Denver, Colo. W. Beck, Alabama. H I Davie, Kentucky. vioeident Dr. Cvru9 Thompson, 1 EeIiSsident--Jno. Graham,Ridge j Wr-Treneurer-W. 8. Barnes, j SfrJT. B. Hoover, Elm City, eWd-Dr. V. N. Seawell, Villa NT P Door keeper ueo. x. uicviw &rc, N. C. T a - distant Door-keeper J as. E. Lyon, Durham, N. C. Qorcvpant-at-Arms A. D. K. Wallace, Butkerfordton, N. C. State Business Agent T. Ivey, Hi:ls bore, N. C. Trustee Business Agency Fund YV. i. Graham, Machpelan, N. C. jlS'TVE COMMITTEE OF TH33 NORTH CAEOLISA FARMERS' STATE ALLIANCE. A F Hileman, Concord, N. C; N. C. English, Trinity, N. C; James M. Hewborne, Kins on, N. C. S7A72 ALLIANCE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE. John Brady, Gatesville, N. C. ; Dr. J.F. Harrell, Whitoviile, N. C; T. J. Candler. Acton. N. C. SSfUi Carolina Reform Press Association. nn- t T, TLnmspM. President: &,.;r Butler, Vice-President; n. S. Bima, Setrezary, PAPERS. ffcKtve Farmfcr. State Organ, Kalelrii. N. C. 1 Hickory, N. C. Wnitakers, N. C. Beaver Dara, N. C. Lnmberton, N. C CixarlotteN. c. Concord, N. C. WadeslKro, N. C. Salisbury, N. C. Hi ftus numc l PcpnJJf.l rolina Watchman, Each of the above-named papers are the. list standina on l& pit paae and add others, provuied 5:i arc duly elected. Any paper fail ing to advocate the Qccia platform will & dropped from the list promptly. Oat psopk can now see what papers are Smhlished in their interest. AGRICULTURE. The eduction of the farmer and his family is the great necessity of our day. 'no man cm succeed a3 a farmer un ite he is in love with the work he haa to do. Too mujh meney invested in large tracts of land means an unequal contest vrith undraiced fields and impoverished soils. In getting your wheat ground ready fcr sowing doa't step the work of prep aration too aoon. Iduch depends upon thorough cultivation. There is an old Scotch saying that l'mfi enriches the father and impover isSfsthe poij' That is because lime on the reserve fertility of the s'--il. Tin father who would look cut or his rjes mun apply plenty of vegc- ,-ie matter bi3id.a the lime. aul appie business s?ems to be de r&iszed by the big crop and growers gl7e a11 rts of quotations for fall and Plater 'ruits, ranging from fifty cents tofitty dollars a barrel. Some are al rs shipping Baldwins to Europe, CectlD8 about one dollar a barrel. The fruit garden should be a source plsa&ure, profit, inspiration, devc t0a" li ebould bo one of the strong 3 that bind us to home ever after, 'tea such a garden is located on tbo a m' a Seral improvement in all jsukural surroundings quickly fcl- ihe side or ton nf n ry.-f v,ni f?ot USLa -cat win destroy the -6 -cation bflnw tv. 1L.i. aL ccld slowly settles down from . . e it forces tho 1 u Jk&VLU forces the warm air in the . i ... ia 2!Leh"!sideauctU the valley T, mlea wb cold air. If tta b M i enclose'1. so that there ft. . . 1U1 Wlt"l blowing throih it. u c.ontiQue untilthe 88t 11 a,r TD at enou to cauae the imnev ll rise'JU8t aa does in a K0Jywhen a bright ficeiamafn lBtove anrt k-1"1 the m0rnin8 alter Wthafn;lh:mney h "eea cold jApft the night. 7.. n. BEET SU .OR. In 1747, Marggraf announced to the Berlin Academy of Sciences, of which he was a member, that ho had discov ered a method of producing sugar from the beet, expressing tho belief that great practical benefits would follow from it and that Europe would find in that root the basis -of an immense in dustry. The Academy received the announcement with incredulous sur prise. Being poor and without the aid of commercial or political influence, hi3 discovery slept in undisturbed re poeo for half a century. In 1797, Achard, a pupil of Marggraf, announced to tho Berlin Academy the results of his own improvements in the methods of producing sugar from beets. Baron DcKoppy, attracted by Achard e discoveries, devoted one of his estates in Lower Silesia to tho culture of beeta, and erecting in 1805 a factory for the manufacture of beet sugar, placed both estato and factory under the control of Achard. So great was Achard's con fidence that he built a factory on his own e&tate at Cunera, and on his own account embarked in the culture of the beet as well as in the manufacture of sugar. William I, King of Prussia, exempted from taxation land's devoted to the cul ture cf beet3 and factories used inmak icg sugar. In 1779, Achard called the attention of the Institute of France at Paris to his discovery, and it was received with great satisfaction. This lead to the in troduction of thia new industry into France. In the North American Review for S?ptember, Mr. E Sowers shows the growth of this industry in Europe. In lSi 9 30, France produced 4.380 tons; in 18S9-90. 750,000 tens. In 1830, the consumption of beet sugar in France was two pounds per capita; in 1S90, twenty six pounds. Ia 1840, Germany produced 13,445 tons of sugar and 8,955 tons of molasses from beetF ; in 1890, 1 213,689 tons of sugar and 240,797 tons of molasses from beets. In 1S90, the proplo of the United States paid to the manufacturers cf Germany f 16. 000,000 for about 200,000 tons of beet sugar imported into the United States. The production of beet sugar in the United States in 1893 was 44,636 527 pounds. Tno United States spends annually about $185,000,000 for sugar, of which more than eight tenths goes to foreign countries. We consume one fourth of tho o:-ported sugar product of the world. The annual consumption of sugar per capita in England is sixty pounds; in France and Switzerland, twenty-six pounds; in Germany, eighteen pounde; in the United States, forty four pounds. These facts are very suggestive and should stimulate the farmers of the United States to make beet culture a prominent industry. If France, Germany and Austria can obtain from beets grown on their own lands and made by their own manufac turers their supply of sugar for domes tic purposes, and have left beside three fourths of a million tons for annual exportation to foreign countries, why should not the farmers and manufac turers of tho United States grow the beet3 and make the sugar ne( ded for domestic uses, and so eave for all the wages and profits incident to such an industry ? The natural conditions in the United Spates aro as favorable for this object as they are in France, Ger many and Austria ; hence there is no reason in the nature of things why this industry should not fl urish here, nor why this large annual expenditure for tho foreign product be saved to assist in further diversifying our industries and increasing our wealth. Southern Cultivator. . FARMERS' WAGES, A great many writers and speakers whn referring to the probable effects of financial or other legislation on the wages of tho workingmen, leave the imprer s-on that they do not include the farmers among tho workingmen who salaries. The 35, 000,- 000 people on the farms one half the population-are as truly wage-wumerd as those who work in store, mine or factory; and, therefore, when discuss ing effects of legislation upon labor and wages, the farmers must be included. The farmer's wages or salary is the net profit on his produce. Whatever reduces the price of farm products, re duces the farmer's wages. At present, farm products as a rule, do not pay any profit, therefore the farmer is getting no wages or salary. A great many farmers, instead of making any monev, are annually falling behind ; this, too, in the face cf the fact that they and their families work hard and intelli gently, live economically, and are blessed with seasons that give them good crops. With prices of farm prod ucts below cost of producti ;n, the wages or salaries cf the millions of workingmen on the farms are cut off, and their purchasing ability being de stroyed or greatly crippled, the mer chants and manufacturers have lost patronage to such an extent that many of them have been compelled to close their door3. They cannot, says the Journal of Agriculture, get aloog with out patrons. It is to the highest inter est of manufacturers and merchants to favor governmental policies that foster agriculture, for no other legitimate in duatry can prosper while tbo ba,sic in dustry is depressed. It may not ba generally kr own that all kiods of feathers are salable. The demand is increasing, and most coun try merchants will take them and sell them upon commitsion. The fowls must be picked dry, and tho feathers kept clean and in good condition. Kep separate the coas r ones as well as those of different kinds of fowls. MONEY IN BEE CULTURE. Bee keeping is an industry that ia adapted in some degree to almost every section of our country, that is not over done, and cannot be overdoue until honey i3 ts common on our tables as milk, writes James Koapp Reeve, author and critic It is an industry that does not demand any severe labor nor require much capital. It may be pursued as an industry by itself, or made an adjunct to every farm and village home. I have eeen it thus in addition to a small vineyard in a coun try town. Each vine shading and pro tecting a single colony, and the bees yielding vas.ly more than the vines. A farmer of my acquaintance has half a hundred colonies which occupy a quiet corner of a small ojard. The farm contains fifty acres, an acre for every stand of bee?; and my friend tells mo that the bees pay him more net profit than all the farm besides. A word for statistics, and I am doi e There are reported to be 2 800,000 col onies of bees in the Unitoci States. The yield is placed at 62,000,000 pound?, which is probably somewhat under the mark, as siDgle colonies in good condi tion should average fifty pounds apuce. But at this estimate there is less than a pound of honey per annum for each person in the country. It id all wrong that so wholesome an article is such a rarity and regarded as a luxury in stead of a thing of general use. It is not so much the price as tho scarcity of it in the markets that makes ic seem a luxury. . . A PROMISING PLANT FOR THE SOUTH. Crimson clover in the South is grow ing in favor. In facv, this plant is spreading from the Delaware peninsula through Virginia aud further south quite as rapidly as it is spreading north. In some placeo it does not do well, al though where it once gets a good stand throughout the middle South it seems to survive the winter admirably. Is may be sown in corn at the last culti vating, say at the rate of 15 pounds of seed per acre. Further south, along the Gulf coast, there has been no trouble in getting a good stand from seed sown in August or September, or even up to December 1st, but in many places in the extreme South, the plants turn yel low during the winter and are mostly dead by March. At Artesia, Lowndes county, Mississippi, E G. Smith has raise d a magnificent crop this year on reddish yellow post oak soil that has been made rich with barnyard manure. Director Tracy, of the Mississippi Ex periment Station says that the great value of crimson clover along the At lantic coast region cannot be question ed, but in spite of Mr. Smith's succe' s, the failures that have been made by the experiment stations show that its 6UC3ess in the Gulf States has not yet been proven. It is easy enough for every farmer to test the matter for himself by sowing a small patch to crimson clover. American Agricul turist. . English farming is terribly depressed and the conditions are evidently worse than in thia country. Lord Rosebery said in his speech at Bristol, "No man can paint the condition of agriculture blacker than it is." A prominent Eng lish farmer said in an interview, My own belief is that a farm rented at 2 500 to $3,000 fifteen years ago was cheaper than ic would be now rent free. THE BOY THAT STAYS ON THE FARM. What Shall He Do? If the man who owns his farm aud ia out of debt, has a hard time, what chance has the young man who has no farm, to be a farmer? There are four things ho can do rent a farm, buy a farm, hire out as a hired man, or get a position as a farm manager. The ten ant of to day has a hard time, unless he has a kind hearted landlord. Just think of i ! A man hires a farm, agrees to pay so much for the use of it, and goes to work. He hes to support his family and pay the rent with prices where thoy are. He has a hard lot He may strike something, if he reads The Rural New-Yorker, which will en able him to mako a good living and pay hia rent. The way it ought to be, is thi? : If a well to do man owns a farm which ho wants some one to carry cn, he should hire a man to do it. Pay him enough so that he can support his family. '-But," says the owner, "I cannot get the interest on my invest ment." What right have you to equeezs it out of a poor tenant ? "But the ten ant will not do well, if I hire him." Then either get one who will do well, or do something with your farm be sides use it to fleece poor men, women and children. Except under certain favorable cir cumstances, renting farms ia the poor est way to farm. If the renter move annually, he becomes a sort of tramp with his wife and children. Five year lease?, when the tenant has an oppor tunity of making a living besides pay ing tho rent, and, perhaps, being able to lay up something ia the only right way of renting. A farm owner ought to be satisfied with half interest, or none at all, these times. If he isn't let him carry on the farm himself. Baying a farm at present, unless you can pay down for it, is very risky busi nees. Even the German, with his 14 children all (?) at work, finds it hard to meet his payments. I should hate to ba in the clutches of a hard hearted mortcago holder now, and I would not adviso any young man to venture it until prices rise, unless he has the knack and enterprise and skill to take up a paying line and push it to the end. But, all the same, it is risky put ting all your capital into a farm, pay ing taxes on what you owe as well as on what you own, and keeping up in terest aud paymen's. The great trouble about being a hired man is the lack of cottages on farms. Most farmers want a single man, and want him to livo in the family. It is vastly better to have a mairied man live in a neat cottage and board at home. It eaves the farmer's wife lots of trouble, and it enables her to get help often tinrs from the hired man's wife. How much better it is to hire a good, steady, industrious, married man to work cn the farm, than to en gage some half tramp character who happens to ccmo along. Think of tak ing such men into a family where there are. women and children, the farmer going away on busine;s, etc., and leav ing t'aem with such a person, perhaps a day or two. A nice little house, not too far ( ff, or too near the farm house, is a fine trap to catch a good hired man. When a farmer's boy becomes old enough to got married and leave home, what could be more attractive than such a cottage with steady work for himsalf, and oc cisional work for his wife? If the farm needs more men, there should be more cottager. Thi3 is the best solution of the hired man question, and the "What shall the farmer boy do?" question. If he can get steady work, a good home, and fair wages, even if he cannot lay up much, he is well tff as things now are. Of course, the beet place for the farmer boy, if he cannot own a farm, ia to manage a farm or estate. But this requires brains, knowledge, education; these should command a good salary. Farm superintendents and managers are wanted to take charge of large farms, and it is well for enterprising boys to fit themselves for such places. J. W. Newton, in Rural New-Yorker. HUMUS FOR LIGHT SOILS. Fur those soils that are light or sandy humus is an especially valuable addi tion. It consists of the decomposition of organic matter in a greater or less degree, varying in color from brown to black. In the far Southern pine bar rens it has been found of great value. But it must not be inferred that the mucks found in many places, especially near the sea coast, contain much fer tilizing - atter. Analyses have shown that very muc" of this substance is worthless in adding to the fertility of the sandy soil. There are, however, exceptions, as instances may be cited in which results have been great in causing fertility. To light lands humus is highly bene ficial, because it enables those soils to retain moisture which would otherwise be lost either by evaporation or sinking beyond the reach of plants. Experiments with humus at seme of the experimental stations also show that it improves the texture of stiff clay soils by rendering them more pliable and pervious to aeration. Cer tain kinds of plant food are also more readily utilized by the presence of this matter in heavy soils, from the fact that they become available in contaet with tho moisture necessary for their solution. The application of barnyard manure supplies this valuable substance as n adily c s anything else can. Thia and plowing under green crops constitute teady means for improving land where humus ia much nesded. JL JLJLJ-L4 -iSCy l-JLV JL ESTIMATES OF DAIRY STOCK AND FEED. To supply the demand for milk and its products ia this country, 15,000,000 cows are required. To furnish food for them the cultivation of over 60,000,000 acres of land is required. In caring for the cows and their milk 100.C00 men and 1 000,000 hcrea are needed. Cows and horses consume annually 30,000,000 toes of hay, 90,000,000 bush ela of corn meal and tho same amount of oat meal, 275,000,0( 0 bushels of oats, 12,000,000 bushels of bran and 30,000, 000 bushels of corn, to say nothing of the brewery and questionable feed of vorioua kinds that is used all over the country. It co3ta $400,000,000 to feed these cows and horses. Hoard's Dairy man. A NEW WAY OF PACKING BUT TER. In the Australasian there is an inter eating description of a new method of packing butter, a method likely to be attended with important results, revo lutionizing as it inevitably must do to a certain extent the whole of the butter making and butter trading world. It has been discovered that by placing butter in boxe3 made of glas, of which the edges are gammed, and placing them in layers of plaster of Paris, one fourth inch thick, butter can be con veyed to any distance, and kept any length of time without any appreciable change in its condition. The cost of the packing is about two cents a pound, and already an industry has been formed in Melbourne of boys and girls who are employed making the glas3 re ceptacles, and covering them with plaster. Butter has been sent in the way mentioned from Melbourne to Kimberly, South Africa, 700 miles from Cape Town, with perfect success. THE PORTABLE CREAMERY. Correspondence of the Progressive Farmer. What is a pcrcable creamery? It is not a creamer. This is not answering the question, but it givea an opportun ity to explain that there is on the mar ket an article calied a "Creamer, "from which the cans mu3t be lifted before the milk and cream can be drawn and the final separation of the cream and milk accomplished. Tne term final separation" is used in contradistinction to primary separation or the separa tion of tho cream from the milk in ac cordance with the law of specific gravity. To return to the original question : What is a portable creamerj ? It is a construction designed for the practice of the cold deep setting or Swedish system of raising, and in the practice of which there will be no lifting ot cans or skimming of milk and an economi cal use of cooling material. The most complete construction of portable creamery includes in combina tion a refrigerator, which is below its ice and water tank and which can be used to store cream and butter and, if desired, other articles of food. The re frigerator is kept cool by the same cool ing material usually ice and water used in the tank above to cool the milk and hasten the raising of the cream. The construction of an up to date portable creamery is such that many advantages will be secured. For in stance a glass of milk can be drawn at any time without disturbing the cream. While proper ventilation is provided, 4 when the milk is first set for cream raising, it i3 at the same time protected against any outside influences. The conditions of a good portable creamery as relates to inside temperature should be and can be the same es in January. In fact cno with a refrigerator com bined is in and of itself a complete dairy house. That ia a great conven ience, comfort and economy, many a farmer's wife who is to day using one will testify. As thero are about a dezan different kinds of portable cream rias on the market, it will ba readdy understood that this is not advertising any partic ular kind, but recommending all stand ard kinds. That all the cream can be obtained by a correct practice of the Swedish system of cream raising ia now gener ally conceeded by ail intelligent persons who have given the matter attention. Troat a good portable creamery i3 the proper dairy utensil in which to prac tice that system must be apparent to any one who has or who will examine it. It will also be apparent that it fills not only one but several wants on any farm where t ne to any number of cows are kept. It is useful in hotels, restaur ants, boarding schools and in all public boarding institutions. The introduction of the granular sys tem of churning, Swedish system of cream raising, and the portable cream ery, marks three epochs in the history of butter making. F. W. Moseley. Clinton, Iowa, HORTICULTURE MARKETING APPLES. Where spraying ha3 eliminated most of tho wormy fruit, it will pay to throw out the refet, and send only perfectly sound apples to American as well as English markets. If the trees are kept well pruned so that all the fruit has grown in the light, and if the small and wormy fruit has been left out, the grower will find no trouble in selling , his fruit at top prices, and wiil have no complaints to make about the middle man. Such apples sell themselves, and the commission merchant ia sure to do his best to keep the trade of a shipper who puts up his fruit in the best style. N. Y. Farmer. CULTIVATION OF THE SWEET CHERRY ORCHARD. I believe that clean culture should generally be stopped by June 15th or July l3t, so as to check growth and give the wood time to ripen. The ad vantages of thia treatment are also pointed out in the bulletin 72, upon "The Cultivation of Orchards." Whenever the growth becomes too luxuriant, it can be checked by seeding a year with clover. A certain cherry orchard has stood in sod for fifteen years in an ideal soil and situation. The trees are making littlo growth and are filled with dead limbs, and while there was a heavy crop of cherries thia year, the size was small, quality poor, and one half were rotting on the trees. In striking contrast was a neighboring orchard which had been plowed lightly in tho early spring and had had a harrow run over it orca a week up to the middle of June, and al though there had been a severe drought, tho trees had made a good growth and were loaded with luscious fruit of large eiz3. The latter orchardfst believes that he can produce as large cherries as the Californians can, by high culti vation and the conservation of moist ure the early part cf the season. As a means of holding moisture, he is putting humua in the soil by cover crops, and expects to check, too, luxuriant growth by seeding the orchard when ever it becomes necessary. While dry ness is a universal maxim for the cherry, it is advantageous to conserve moisture during the development of the fruit, and the example furniehed by this orchard convinces me that the fruit can be increased one-half in sizo by thorough light cultivation up to the middle of June. N. Y. Farmer. It is well enough to fatten stock in the dark becauee this in cold weather means also warmth. But growing ani mals, especially if they are young, need light and plenty of air. They should have a warm place to sleep in, and this may be made dark, provided there is a yard attached open to the south, and where they may eDjoy the sunlight. The south side of a building, when the suu shines, is not uncomfortable for any animal that has fur, even on a cold day.
The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Oct. 6, 1896, edition 1
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