Newspapers / The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, … / Nov. 24, 1896, edition 1 / Page 1
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V .The Progres Farmer is a Se arcs ".nd possibly 1 "The Progres sive Farmer is a good paper far above the average- -and possibly the best advertis ing mecium in N. C." Printers' Ink. GtJREb Sr medium m N. p. printers' Ink. .' 3 INDUSTRIAL AND EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS OF OUR PEOPLE PARAMOUNT TO ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS OF STATE Pu- vol. n. RALEIGH, N. C, NOVEMBER 24, 1896. No. 42 SITE c- i 1 RATIONAL FARMERS' ALLI AHCH AND INDUSTRIAL UNION. ftesi&cnt Mann Page, Brandon, Vice-President H. C. Snavcly, Leb aon. Pa. georctary-Treasurer R. A. South ccrih, Denver, Cel. CXKCUTIVS BOARD. q L. Lcucks, Huron, S. D. ; W. P. pricker, Cogan atation, ra. ; J. vvu letts, Kansas; W. L. Peeke, Ga. JXJEIOIASY. H. A. South worth, Denver, Colo. 3! W. Beck, Alabama. M. D. Davie, Kentucky. 80S"Ii FARMERS' STATS ALLI ANCE. president Dr. Cyrua Thompson, SeMand3, C. Vice-President Jno. Graham, Ridge fray, N. C. Brrctary -Treasurer W. B. Barnes, Hillsboro, N. C. Lecturer J. T. B. Hoover, Elm City, NT C Steward Dr. V. N. Seawell, Villa cow, N. C. Chaplain Rev. P. H. Maesey, Dur hm, N. C. Door-keeper Geo. T. Lau-j, Greens boro. N. C. , Asaistant Door keeper Jaa. E. ju on. Durham, N. C. Sorgeant-at-Arms A. D. K. Wallace, Rutherfordton, N. C. State Busineos Agent T. Ivey, ill la bcro, N. C. Trustee Business Agency Bund w. A- Graham, Machpelan, N. C. suxcutive committee of the north CAROLINA L-ARMERJ1 STATE ALLIANCE. A. F. Hileman, Concord, N. C. ; N. C. English, trinity, N. C. ; James M. Slewborne, Kins on, N. C. jTiTB ALLIANCE JUDICIARY OOMMirrZZ. John Brady. Gatesville, N. C. ; Dr. J.F. Harrell, Whitovillo, N. C; T. J. Candler. Actcn. N. C. 2ti5 Carolina Reform Press Association. Officers J. L. Ramsey, President; varum Butler, Vice-President ; W. S. Same. Secretary PAPERS. m ?sslve Farmer, State Organ. ge: ! C. ilercury. Sartor, (Kir Home, Whitakers N. C. Beaver Da.ni, N. C. Lnmberton, 2s. C T People's PaDer. Charlotte, N. C. - - - - - Concord, IN. U. WAdtosboro, N. C. fs:lilary, N. C Carolina Vatcfcma.n, -Y.o. V r. v i Inr. nr h si the- .vtMfl-iiamfrl firra tire, icqps-tted to keep the list standing cm fast page and add others, provided iht'j are duly elected. Any paper fail isgio advocate the Ocala platform will H dropped from the list promptly. Our &o$lc can noto sec what papers are M&tfiked in their interest. AGRICULTURE. It doe3 not make much difference whether a good farmer bujsarichor pwr farm. He will get the poor farm cheap and will bring it into proper con dition all right. A leading object of every farmer axtiiuon should be to provide for an old ae of only moderate labor, so that he may secure a fair liviDg without overwork and by the aid of hired help. Bgia to plan now. There is no more important work on the fruit farm or garden than winter protection, and there is no work more generally neglected. Let it be done thoroughly, after the frosts have come, and bs'ora winter, sets in. If we acquire an interest in tho agri cultural journal, such a journal will become invaluable to us. Let us not neglect it because we are buey. There are hmts therein, which reading to-day will food use for to morrow. An agricultural paper tells farmers that they must remember that they have a living anyhow. So do tramps. It would seem that a man who works hard from fourteen to sixteen hours a day, a part of the year, ought to have & :re than that. Make the farm worl; as light and pleasant as possible to the young folks, remembering that they cannot see from the same point as do their elders K:mtine work ia tiresome to young or old in any calling. In many ways can the monotony be avoided The proper time to divide lily of the valley roots is in the fall. When planted ia the spring they must be handled without much disturbance or they will not bloom; but they are not tender, and it the flowers are not considered, the division of the clumps may bo made at any time. Efforts will be made to establish beet sugar factories at many points in the United States. We hope North Caro Una will get the advantage of one or pore, for beets grow well here. Sugar k one of the few products of which the consumption far exceeds the produc tion in this country, much of it coming from abroad. We certainly have the for the beets. THE VALUE OF AGRICULTURAL PAPERS. We certainly owe a large per cen. of our improvement in methods to the influence of the agricultural press. Ho who reads and profits by the informa tion given from time to time in good farm paperp, whether he owns a gar den spot or hundreds of acres, is sure to ba benefited thereby. It is not only tho immediate profit, but the inspira tion and pleasure that adds value to tho paper. Agricultural periodicals will not, in tho widest sense, teach cne how to farm. Farmirg is so varied in differ ent localities that very few methods are universally applicable. For in stance, ia my native c; unty the quality and condition of faroi lands is so varied that what would suit one man would often be entirely unfit for hia neighbor More than thi?, the capacity and in clination of the individ :ol needs coneid eration. Ooe man may be a huge sue cess at what hia neighbor couid but ail. If a man fancies horees, let him raise horses for success; if be fancies rwine, let him rais3 swine for ucces3 No cne will ever be a real s jcc-ss in a lino for which he is not euited. We have known scores of men whom we believe have made Hit failures, not be cause of indolence or general capacity, but beeauoo they did not reach the line for which they were especially suited However, let our line of farming be what it may, w e cannot fail to be bene fitcd by the visits of good agricultural papers. Ooe or two will be sufficient, if the right kind. We have often noticed that a man who reads one or two papers carefully is informed bet ter than one who receives half a dczen and reads none carefully. Read and learn what others a: e doing then win now the chaff from the straw, and finally, after duo consideration, act ac cording to your judgment. One will get cn occasional receipt or suggestion for treament of a sick ani mal that will much more than repay the cost cf papers. Some perplexing question ari?es. We ore at a lots to kuow what to do. Fen a postal to pub lisher, stating want, and in a few days question is before tens of thousands of persons. These are only a few of the helps that the paper tffords. We might mention among other things of value the market reports, at d that of the "scrap" correspondence, and, most valuable of all, special de partments for each branch of rural effort. We make it a point to preserve our papers, filing them away carefully, each publication to iteelf. Most pub lienors supply an index once or twice a year. These indexes are very valu able, as by them any information that ha3 been read once and forgot vU can be readily traced up when wanted. Again, by their use one can find all that has been said on a given subject for years past. We think it very essential to thus preserve papers, as their value is by no means spent when once read and thrown aside. H. E Tweed. Brown county, Ohio. There ia more than one reason why we should strive to procure a large per centage of lean in our pork ; perhaps the most important is that we may in crease the consumption of our pork, while one almost as important is that it enables us to increase the vigor and stamina of our herd3. BURNING CORN IN NEBRASKA. We frequent read in the political papers that farmers in Kansas and Nebraska are using good corn for fuel in place of coal. A friend in Lincoln, Nebraska, sends us the following note concerning this practice. We shall be glad to hear from other readers con cerning it: "Little, if any corn 13 being burned in this part of the State. It seems to me very evident, however, that there must be many locations where it would be economy to burn it. Corn is selling here in Lincoln for about 13 cents for 75 pounds of ears, some times as low as 11 cents. At 13 cents thia would be about $8 50 per ton of cars. Pennsyl vania hard coal now sells at $8 50 per ton, while thero are some very cheap soft coals that can be got at, perhaps, 3 50 to $5 per ton. Farther west in then State the corn ia worth less, prob ably not over 10 cents in some places, while eastern coal, at least, must be higher. Now the problem depends upon the heating value of corn, and that I don't know, neither have I found any satisfactory answer, though I have talked with those who have burned it to a limited extent. I eu?pect that lit tie, if any, corn will be burned near the railroads, but suppose that you were 10 miles away from, the place to sell your corn and to buy your coal, and had to make two or three trips to effect the exchange ! I am inclined to think that it would be only the part of wisdom to burn the corn. ''For my part, I see no reason why there should be any more hesitancy in using for fuel a material which the consumer cau replace at will, than in using a decreasing supply of one that cannot b3 replaced. It appears to me merely a business problem. "Farmers get onec?nt less for shelled corn than for unshelled. Cobs form the staple for kindling wood and light fuel of this section, and are sold by the elevators. Loads of thf m stand on the street corners evrry day in the year, I suppeso. "We usually pa? $1 5 ) per double box load for them delivered." Rural New Yorker. Goa little out of the way this fall to overhaul your machinery in general; see that it is well cleaned and well oiled where needed. Ic not put away in proper yh3pe it cannot bo expected to do service year after year. In this regard "lino upon line, precept upon precept" seems necessary. FARM NEWSPAPERS. Hon. J H Bingham, Master of the National Grange, says in a recent ar tide : "There are many journals in circula tion among the farmers, which are especially devoted to the agricultural interests. We should make use of these important agencies to aid us in advancing to a higher plane those who till tho soil. Extend their circulation. Farmers should use their columns for the purpose of forming a closer ae quaintanceship with each other a' d give and receive help in their work. We can thus bring the problems we wish to have solved to the attention of thousands of intelligent farmers of wide experience on the farm and in the home. Wo can ta!k -with ou;- broVb-O farmers of questions which interest us as tax-payers and citizens. These dis cussions should bo carried on for the purpose of receiving and imparting in struction. Inexperienced writers and undisciplined thinkers may some timf s f eefinclined to re fleet upon those who do not agree with them upon public questions, but time and discussion wiil give experience. And when the dis covery is made that there are depths which have not been sounded by the superficial thinker and writer, he will become more guarded in expression, and will soon learn to respect the opin ions of others. The editors of the3e papers may u&ually be relied upon to exercise a wise supervision over the matter that finds a place in their col umns, and thus prevent proper discus sion from sinking into unfraternal wrangling, to the injury of the writers. A fraternal spirit and a wise forbear anco will strengthen our cause and hasten the time when all shall know the truth.17 KEEP THE BOYS ON THE FARM. We will venture to assert that if each boy is given a flock of fowls, if only Bantam?, and ho alone have the management, and the receipts a very important adjunct the flock of fowls will cause the boy to take an interest in farming from the start. L?t him become accustomed to the breed and he will soon learn the points of all breeds. And he will not stop there. He will aim to know the breeds of cat tle, sheep, horses and hogs. He will look forward to the exhibitions of the country fairs, and strive to win prizes. He will havo a love for the farm bred in him from the start, and when he is a min he will yearn for tho happy days spent on the farm, and will get back to it if he can, should he be in duced away. When one becomes in terested in poultry on the farm, he be comes educated to an interest in every thing else. As soon as your boy can manage them, give him a few Bantams, and after he is older start him with some pure breed of standard eiza. It is the best plan for teaching the boy to remain on the farm. So important has the potato become in all parts of the world that its great commercial value has developed the highest skill of the experimenter and grower in the improvement of the vari eties and in the culture, together with labor-saving potato machinery Va" ety, soil, planting, manuring, cultiva tion, disease, digging, are each a study. "FARM BUILDING.' There is always something "new un der the sun." We are informed that Mr. D L Risley, of Philadelphia, whe has sold some three hundred New Jer sey farms a month for several years past, and who was the projector and builder of the Jersey towns of Pleasant ville, Milmay, Etelle and McKee, has purchased 20,000 acres of land at Reig iate, Brunswick county, Va , and wiil immediately build it up as a farming city after the plans successfully car lied out by him in New Jersey. These rlana which Mr. Risley intends to fol low in various portions of the South ere to purchase tracts ranging from p 000 to 40,000 acres, thus enabling pim to lay out five, ten, twenty and j?orty acre farms, with paved roads and ill conveniences, as a town boomer ;ould lay out lots. In fact his com inunities in New Jersey are virtually xo'ns where ev?ry inhabitant has a five acre yara and every family near neighbors. Ungate, Yd , where Mr. Risley will commence his Southern operations, is known as an unusually good farming country. It already has stores, schools, churches, etc. Mr. Risley expects to assemble there within the next sixty days, a population of 5 C00 people. Es cursioDB are to be run from the Nonh and West, every week, the first leav ing N9W York, November 18 .h, by the Old Dominion line of steamers. The farms mil be sold at $15 an acre in in stalments of $1 a week. Mr. Risley 's ill 2ea are at 211 S. 10 ih St , Pbiladel phia, 150 Nassau Sc, New York, and 63 Chauncery Lane, London. There are some pastures, or portions of them, that should never have been cleared of timber, and where practic able it would ba better for such places to grow up again to woods as a means of renovation or of future income What robbers we have been of our vir gin frcsta APPLYING MANURE. Uoonthe returns from the manure he 'fapohes, the farmer must; mainly de pend for his pre fit. It is therefore ex tremely important for him to use it where it will do the most good. Not merely the present crop, but future soil fertility must be considered, else while getting large interest on his capital the farmer will fh d that it is insensibly disappearing. Manuring must not be applied exclusively to the crops sold from the farm. If it is, the crop is sure to take away something more than is given to the soil by the manure. It is the characteristic of manure on which its value largely depends that it makes more available the fertility of the soil in contact with it. Hence the necessity with grain crops of sowing either gras.3 or clover which will use part of this fertility and retain it in the soil in their roots, and on the farm, in the manure from stock to which they are fed Where clover is seeded when manure is applied it does even more than retain fertility. It increases the nitrogen in the soil by decomposition of air by its roots, and the long deep tap root of closer reaches down into the subsoil and takes then mineral plant food that no grain or vegetable crop could reach and use Southern Farm. LITTLE FARMS IN JAPAN. Japan and not France cr Belgium, would appear to be the land of petite culture. According to a recent Ameri can bulletin a couple of acres is consid ered a iarge tract for farming purposes. Most of the farms are smaller, and on a little plot a surprising variety of crops is cultivated a few square feet of wheat, barley, maiz1? and millet; a plot of beans, perhaps 10 feet wide by 20 feet long, a similar area of potatoes and and peas, and a patch of onions "about as big as a grave;" beetroot, lettuce, turnips, sweet potatoes and other crops occupy the rest of the area. The farmer examines his growing crops every morning, just as an engineer inspects his machinery, and if anything is wrong he puts it right. If a weed ap pears in the bean patch he pulls it up ; if a hill of potatoes or anything else fails it is at once replanted. When he cuts down a tree he always plants an other. As soon as one crop ia harvested the soil is worked over, manured, and forthwith resown to another crop. It is estimated that nine tenths of the ag ricultural land of Japan is devoted to rice, and as this is a crop requiring much water, the paddy fields are banked up into terraces, one above the other, and divided off into small plots 25 feet to 30 feet square, with ridges of earth between them to prevent the water from flawing away when they are flooded. All farmiDg lands ar irrigated by a system that is 1:000 years eld. Some of the ditches are walled up with bamboo wicker work and some with tiles and stone. Nearly half the total population of Japan is engaged in agriculture. Silk aDd tea, the two chief exports of the country, i ere raised almost by the work of wo men, London Times. POSSIBILITIES OF SOUTHERN SOIL. A farmer in Decatur county, Georgia, has sold his tobacco crop this eeason for $0,000. A trucker near Pjant City, Florida, this year realized $375 from one hundred hills of pepper. O E. Ringland, of Dooly county, Georgia, made fifty bales of cotton cn fifty acres and gathered three hundred bu3bela of corn off of srx acres. R. C. Hall, or DeLnd, Fia., gathered and soid Iff. SCO bunches of green and ninety-six bm li tis of onions from one twelfth of an acre. A Mitchell county (Gaorgif:) farmer last year made 500 buahHs of sweet potatoes on one acre, and thia year made forty barrels of syrup per acre. This is an object lesson, teach ing that the possibilities of Southern soil are very great, and adapted to a large diversity of productions. WINTER ON THE FARM. There is no such thing as an end of the work on the farm. It is a round without a break. Whilst this is true, it i3 also true that at some seasons of the year the rush is greater than it is at others greater in the midst of the growing than it is during the season of dormancy for vegetation in general. On the farm during the longer nights and shorter days of winter there is great opportunity for thought and cul tivation of the mind opportunity for revision, for adding to the fund of in formation, for planning for the future in the light of all past experience. E-oK frm ia a. pmbUm by itself, the problem changing with the crop. It is a problem that has to be solved in prac tice, yet out of thought constantly ex ercised. So that from mistakes well considered often come the mo3t marked successes. It is in the midst of such conditions that to the reading farmer the invaluable suggestion from without often appears. Sd more and more the farmer is be coming a student, a reader, profiting often by what he is told of the oxperi ence of others and learning definitely of his place and relationships in the world as a producer. No one, except in empty phre3e, talks any longer sneeringly of book farming, for all good farmers now look more cr less to the books, and no ono who is making a business of farming, and so knows that the farm, and even the field, is some thing to be regarded by itself and in its peculiarities, fellows them to the lettei or blindly. It is only in a vague way that the wholesomeness, mentally as well as physically, of the home life on the farm is mostly viewed. The extent to which the best we have, or as good aa the best we have, in all the depart ments of mental activity springs di rectly out of that life is no-sufficiently real zid as a truth generally. The books in tho farmer's home are not usually numerous, but they are sure to be good and wholesome and are read in the m inner best calculated to make for mind strenQ-iening they are read often and carefully enough to bo substantially mastered. It is the memory of a country home on this order that causes many a man who has made his fortune in city pur suits to go back to the farm, and who ever has such a memory ha3 a blessing that cannot be taken away. The winter on tho farm has, of course, its hardships. This outline picture that we have sketched ia of the bright side, and it ia the side to develop and make the most of it ia the side show ing the time for reading, diecu3sing, planning, tracing causes to effects or effects back to causes. It is the time for the sunshine of home to be at its brightest and best. Home and Farm. There is a positive must in feeding the hogs something more bulky and less concentrated than corn if the feeder expects to keep them in a healthy con dition for any great length of time. There is nothing more better or cheaper than pumpkins to feed with corn, and, when thus fed, they will fatten quicker than when upon corn only. AN ECONOMIC QUESTION. Unier this title, John Gould writes in the Practical Farmer as follows: While the prices of dairy products are low, the man with the farm and dairy is getting a living, and of this there ia little doubt; but what is to be said of the man who is dependent upon shop or mill work, with its strike?, lock outs and threatened collapse, or the man with small capital threatened by a receivership in sight? Of course, there is no fortune to be made now on a 100 acre farm and a stock of 20 cows, but there is living, clothes, and no fear of pinching want, aa is the ciseon tbe opposite hand. Much of the distress of to day is from the fact that money is not made as it once was, and still it ia not greatly different now than from 20 years ago; the few only climb into great accumulations of wealth, but not more are made happy by these abnor mal accumulations of wealth than by the more moderate gatherings that imj ply no rents, abundant food, a freedom s come and go that is unkno-vn to the shopman, and so on through the list. ia economist has figured out that if the actual production of tho country was divided pro rata, it would only give each person less than a half dollar a day. In an able articlo from Mr. J. McLain Smith, in the Farmers' Home, and what he has to say in general, ap plies with equal force to the dairyman, that if we are not getting as much now as we once did, it ia possible that wo secured rather more than tho average share of 45 cents per day in the past, the ugh it is hard to admit that any dairyman ever even in tho wettest weather obtained anything more than waa by exchange his just due. To quote Mr. Smith: "Ambition the desire to 'get on and excel ia well euough in its way; it ia essential to progress. But the ajcumu lation of money is not the highest am bition; and, success, to any marked de gree, is only possible, even in the best of times, to a very few. The total an nual production of the country is all there is to divide. It ia phyaicallv im possible that the accumulations of inaEj can be largp, and the only possible way to increase them ia to increase the total product, or reduce the average waste, and the average expenditure for imme diate consumption. Every man wh se total income exceeds 40 cents a day for each member of his family is getting now more than his proportionate share of the total product; and if this were equally divided his receipts would necessarily bo cut down. How many farmers fall below thia if all they get from the farm house rent, fuel, meat, poultry, eggs, milk", butter, vegetables, ec. was valued at the market price? Very few, I think. Tneroare very few, therefore, who are not getting more than their proportionate share of the 'otil product. LIME AND CLOVER. Tho New England Farmer has a dis sertation upon lime and clover, from the pen of one of the staff of the Raode Island experiment station. Thia writer claims truly that lime is as important aa potash and phosphoric acid in "bringing in clover," and that the last two are entirely insufficient to encour age the growth of clover on some Racda I-land soils; but where lime is added clover grows aa vigorously aa formerly. Some farmers said clover winter killed in late years, others aver red that the soil had become "clover sick," without offering any explanation aa to the cause of clover sickness. It is well demonstrated, however, that in our granitic, and perhaps eome other soils where clover crca flouri&hed, but will not now, the supply of lime in the Boil haa been exhausted, and what it needa to make it produce clover again i3 to apply lime. Any one who has clover sic eoil can easily test the mat ter. Gypsum, or land plaster, wasonco celebrated in central New York for its beneficial action upon clover, but in late years it is of so little value that farmers have almost entirely ceased its use; but just aa largo crops of clover are grown as ever. The fact is, plaster ia nearly, all carbonate of lime, and bo much of it has been used that a largo surplus remains in the soil, and, of course, an addition to it is of no benefit to crop 3. Wood ashes are excellent to apply clover, but where there is lack or lime in the soil, the thirty-five per cent, of it in the ashes does more good than the remainder of the commodity. Dr. Galen Wilson, in Farm and Fire side. If you want to buy a farm, you coed mt go outside of North Carolina to get it. If you can't do well here, you can't do well elsewhere. 1 J
The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Nov. 24, 1896, edition 1
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