Newspapers / The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, … / Jan. 26, 1897, 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
"The Progres lve Farmer is a good paper far above the aver age and possibly tne best adve'tis lag mediun. jN. C." Printer 114 1R ME P "The Progres sive Farmer is a good paper far above the average- -and possibl j the best advertis ing mef,:-.n in N. C." Printers' Ink. yi y , x v niri) H UiDU THE INDUSTRIAL AND EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS OF OUR PEOPLE PARAMOUNT TO ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS OF STATE POLICY. Vol. 11. RALEIGH, N. 0., JANUARY 26, 1897. Ho. 50 & i:vriOMAL FARMERS' ALLI ANCE AND INDUSTRIAL UNION. president Mann Page, Brandon, Vico-President H. O. Snavely, Leb- wSry-Trea'arcr R. A. South worth, Denver, Col. sszcrrivE boafjx rc T, Trucks, Huron, S. D.; W. P. BHteto & Swtion. Pa.; J. P. WU- JUDICIARY. a A Bouthworth, Denver, Colo. tV V7. Ik'ck, Alabama. X D. Davie, Kentucky. eOXTtl CABOLKfA FAI15IEB3' STATE ALLI ANCE. President Dr. Cyrus Thompson, H'rhlands, . C. Vieo- President Jno. Gra jam,Ridge iSrarv-TiTMurer W. 8. Barnes, Hilisboro, 'N. C. Lecturer J. T. i. Hoover, cacuiy, V&ward-Dr. V. N. Seawell, Villa- aov. N. C. Chaplain Rev. P. H. Massey, Dur ban, . C. 5:-ro, N. C. Assistant Door-keeper Jaa. E. Lycn, Durham, N. C. c3ere ant-at -Arms A. D. K. Wallace, Rutbcrfcrdton, N. C. Ecarc Business Agent T. Ivey, HUs- tiO1 N. O. Trustee Business Agency Fund W. A. Graiiam, Machpelah, Im. C. gSSCLTIVS: COM2HTTEE Or TUB NOBTH CAROLINA FAEMESS' STATE ALLIANCE. A F Hileman, Concord. N. C. ; N. C. English, Trinity, N. C; James M. Mewborne, Kins cn, N. C. STATU ALUANC3 JUDICIARY OOMMITTES. John B-ady, Gatesville, N. C. ; Dr. J.b Harrell, Whiteville, N. C. ; T. J. Candler. Acton. N. C. tfsrth Carolina Reform Press Association. Oncers J. L. Ramsey, President; Partem Butler, Vice-President ; W. 6. Sarmj, Secretary, PAPERS. .fjfTcaWe Farmer. SUte Orgn, Rlelgh, N. U Our A Vase. Beaver Dam, N. C. -r',e TJoT.-iii-t Lumberton, U. f he Peo-oIe'eVaper, Charlotte, N. C. "itia Vt;UTi'e Concord, rs.C Ihe Plow- Ro v'. Wadesboro. N. C. CATolina Watchman. fcil&bury. C faci of the above-named papers are 'zquciicdto keep the list standing on he firdt page and add others, provided t v are dirty elected. Any paper fail ing" to advocate the Ocala platform wxll U dropped from the list promptly. Our 7scple can now see what papers are iiished in their interest. How to urow crop3 the cheapest ie the farmer's cne chief duty; how to get the largest possible price for them is the next. Trio latest estimate put3 the world's wheat crop this year at 160,000.000 budhIs shore of last year; the lightest crop siaca that of 1890. Toere cannot be too much care taken ia keeping potatoes during the winter, and at a low temperature. It is warmth and light that cause3 them to sprout. S ze up the situation upon your farm Find out jiat where ycu stand at the beginning of a new year. It is worth tome hrd thinking to get started right again. There ia no beet occupation. It is a matter ot preference and adaptation Farcing is, for the right man, the bet business but for tho wrong man it is one of the worst. There should bo tenfold more fruits consumed in many families than there ia, and if there should be, both the health and the pocketbook would te butter c-fl than now. Did y'u ever stop to think of the amount of capital you had tied up in the fenefs on your farm? It may be a good iave-vtment and it may not. Very ?ev? farir.8 have too few fences. The p.aoitary c Dndition of the premises require constant attention. Cities have sanitary inspectors. The country has nne. It is, therefore, the more im prtunt that a careful watch is kept in regard to the&o matters. It is sid that not enough popcorn is produced in this country to supply the home demand If this is true, and we havo u re uon to doubt it, why would it no: pay far mora to raise more pop corn. Growing cuo crop not only impover ishes the soil, but dwarfs the man. To have a variety and rotation divides tho iabor of tho year, reduces the number f team?, gives regular employment every month in the year, and develops the husbandman into a capability greater than that of mere mechanical sowing and reaping. HORACE GREELRY'S MISTAKE I was talking with a man who has had 40 years' experience in the CDmmia sion bueinees, about the condition in which a great deal of produce is sent into market. He gets many small thip ments from farmers, some of whom, at least, either do not know how toessort and pack their produce properly, or elso do not use the knowledge they possess. Ho said that, of many of the apples received, if seven barrels were sorted down to four, the shippor would have less freight, cartage and comrai3 sion kto pay, and would get fully as much for tho four as now for tho sever, and perhaps more. His father was in business when Horace Greeley began farming at Chappaqua, and sold some of the first produce the great sage ever sent to this market. Neither tho editor farmer nor his help understood tho proper method cf preparing produce for market, and the result was that, some of the firftBhipm?nts were nearly unsalable, and muh of it brought hardly enough to pay expenses. Cor. Rural Nsw Yorker. The enterprising farmer who wishes to bent tit others by raising the standard of agriculture in bis own locality, and at the same timo turn an honest penny, should induce his friends and neighbors to bubscriba for and road good agricul tural literature. THE COTTON PLANT. The 433 page bulletin on the Cotton Plant, its History, Botany, Chemistry, Culture, Enemies, and Uses, just issued by the Department of Agriculture, is probably tbe largest publication de voted to asiEglebranchof agricultural industry ever issued by the Depart ment. Cotton, as stated by Assistant Secretary Dabaey in an introductory chapter devoted largely to the econom ics of tho subject, is tho principal prod uct of eight great States and the most valuable money crop of the entire country. While it furnishes tho raw material for one of our most important manufacturing industries, it consti tutes at the same time from ono fourth to one-third of our total exports. In view of such considerations this treatise has been prepared by the experts of tho Departments, with the collaboration of various specialists connected with the agricultural colleges and experi ment stations of tho South, and of a practical planter (Maj. Harry Ham mond, of South Carclino), whose valu able contributions to the literature of cotton production long ago brought him into prominence. These different writers discuss the subject, each from his own scientific or practical stand point. The purpose of the bulletin is stated by Dr. A C. True, Director of the Office of Experiment Stations, uu der whose supervision it has been com piled, to be tho presentation of euch facts as would bo useful to students of agriculture, to investigators at the ex periment stations, and to that increas ing body of intelligent agriculturists who are interested in thoroughly ac quainting themselves with the past and present condition of our agricultural industries, with view to discovering means for their improvement; and the researches of the chemist, the climat ologist, the botanist, tho entomologist, and other investigators aro all made contributory to this important end. The chapter on tho botany of cotton, by Dr. Walter H. Evans, is concerned chiefly with the structure and varieties of the plant. Mr. J. B McBryde, of Tennessee, and Mr. W. H. Beal, of the Department, j jint authors of the chap ter on the chemistry of cotton, discuss the composition of tho plant and the demands it makes upon tho soil. Prof. Milton Whitney treats of climatology and soils, using weather tables and scil analyses in explanation of tho condi tions most favorable to cultivation. Prof. H. H. C. White, of tho Georgia 8 Gate College, discusses the manuring of cotton, stating the conclusions drawn from numerous experiments. Prcf. S M. Tracy, of Mississippi, contributes a description of the principal cultivated varieties of the cotton plant, with their origin, distribution, and relative values The diseases cf cotton are discussed by PiOf. G. F. Atkinson, of Cornell, and tho insects which affect the cotton plant by Dr. L. O. Howard, the Depart ment entomologist. Tho feeding value of cotton seed products forms tho sub ject of an important chapter by Mr. B W. Kilgore, of North Carolina, while 88 pages are devoted to a discussion of the culture, handling, and uses of cot ton by Mw j Dr Harry Hammond. Mr. R. B. Handy furnishes a chapter on the history and statistics of the indus try. Most of these articles are iilus trated. The volume includes a biblio graphy. The publication is not available for general distribution, as the law limits tho edition to a thousand copies, but the Superintendent; of Documents, Union Building, Washington, D. C, can supply a iirnitec number of copies at 35 cent3 each, and "separates" of most of the artic es will shortly ba issued by the Department for misc-1 laneous distribution. It is, however, within the province of Congress to order a larger edition of tho complete work, but no steps to this end have been taken as yet. LIME AS A FERTILIZER. The crops which are mostly improved by the application of lirno are those which com aiu most lime, namely, tur nips, clover and grasses. When lime is first applied to land, white clover generally appears in abundance. The corn crops are slightly benefited by the application of lime barley probably more than the other cereals. The effect of lime in liberating potash from clay soils has caused it to be used with ad vantage for roots requiring much pot ash, and also for tbe potato, which crop it greatly improves. Flax is said to be in no way affected by tho application of limo. Wit;h regard to tho frequency of tho application of lime, and the quantity to be applied, it is somewhat ciifli L-ult to lay down precise rules Ex perience has taught that soib which require liming do so periodically, for the lime gradually sinks into the soil, and lose3 a great portion of its useful ness. The quantity will vary with the frequency of the application, being less the more frequently it is applied, Western Plowman. A new law has just been promulgated in Germany, having for its obj?ct the doiog away with the evils claimed by the agriculturists and others, to arise from option tracing. By its r.roWsions all time contracts in grain and mill prcductsiare forbidden, as also in ruin mg and manufacturing shares. FAILURES OF 1896. The commercial agencies are figur ing up tho total business failure s for 1S96 and place those in which the lia bilities exceed the assets at 15,112 which is 55 per cent, more than last year and 65 per cent, more than 1894 Tnese figures do not include the numer ous failures of tbe past few weeks which will bring the list nearly if not quite to that of the panic year, '93. The total liabilities for tho year are placed at $247,000,000. Bradstreet3 is responsible for the statement that the commercial death rate was, in 1S96, 1 40 per cent., by which is meant that 1 40 per cent, of every 100 individuals, firms and corporations, in business last year failed. This death rate was ex ceeded only by that in 1893, when it was 1.51 per cent. In 1895 the com mercial death rate was 1.23, and in 1694, 1 21 percent. The "prosperity" of the past six weeks has been euch that a continuance of it would precipitate universal bank ruptcy. Of course such a financial cyclone cannot b9 permanent. It is bound to exhaust itself by its own violence. But every observer must realize that while tbe panic is equal to anything prophe sied in th8 event of a silver victory at the polls the recuperative power of the country has none of the vigor which a policy of true bimetallism would have insured. On the contrary, every pro ducing industry is at a low ebb its credit strained, the demand for its products low and the market already overcrowded. While "better times" are inevitable because they could not be worse rea prosperity is far away and woefully uncertain. But hope on, spread the light and the four years more of darkness must pass like an un plsasant nightmare. When the people have found out what four more years of gold really mean, there will be a change in sentiment on the eut j -ct of the 'real "sound money." Western Rural. If it has not been done before, this is a good time to destroy the black knot on plum trees. Each specimen should be cut out, removing tho limb to which it is attached, if a small one. Keep the knife wet with carbolic acid diluted while making the cuts, and apply the same to the cut surface. In this way the danger of propagating the spores by use of the knife in pruning will be prevented. A HOG CHOLERA CURE. Last fall a Farmers' Voice man met Dr. Frank Baumgartner, cf Peotone, 111., and first heard of the doctor's dis covorits concerning hog cholera. Dr. Baumgartner claims that beg cholera is not an infections disease, &nd brings many arguments to prove his theory. He claims that the disease is due to injudicious feeding, and that it cau bo cured by methods which he has discovered. There have been eo many so called c aes for hog cholera brought to public no i ice that new ones are receivoc with a large amount of unbelief, but Dr. Baumgartner has the courage of his convictions, and we learn that he has tven conducting some very successful e 7. eriments in Iowa under the aus pices of the Burlington road The claim that injudicious feeding is the solo cause of the hog cholera has been made before, but has never beea conclusively proved Right along this li..,e comes a postal card from one cf onr subscribers, which we print as be ig cf interest: Publishers Farmers' Voice $1,000, 000 worth of hogs wera lost in Iowa alone with hog cholera last year. Pumpkins are a sure preventive of hog cholera. I have raised Kincr of Mam moth puojpkins for six years and have not lost one hog, while many cf my neighbors have lost all. The pumpkks weigh from sixty to ninety pounds, and often are 100 pounds. I want the farmers to try these pumpkins and will send a liberal supply of the seed to anyone sending self addressed stamped envelope, as I have saved a large quan tity of seed. C. C. Asfahl. Doran, Ia. No cou'ot Mr. Asfahl's success is largely due to the fact that he has fed ia hogs something besides clear corn, and thus kept them in good condition We would bo glad to hear from others along this liae. Farmers' Voice. rOKTICULTURE IT PAYS TO GROW R.IES. S1RAWBER- Correspondence of tho Progressive Farmer. Marion Station, Md. In order to have a fine crop of berries and make money, it is necessary to have the best, as no fruit pays as well as strawberries, and the first fruit to ripen ; and in ore er to have the best, we have got to keep trying, and there aro soma good varieties coming to the front all the time. I have been grow ing berries for the past twenty-five years, and during that time I have tested many varieties of strawberries. Some varieties have not been worth ground room, but if I had stopped and not tried many varieties, I should have been left, as the first varieties that I commenced to grow for profit, I only grow them now in a small way for plants, as some customers still want them. The strawberry season of 1896 in the great trucking section of Maryland was poor in yield because plants made poor growth in tho summer and fall cf 1895, and again in the spring of 1896, owing to the severe drouth, and after all, taking it all through, there was more money made from strawberries than all other trucks combined. Not withstanding the severe drouth, I had a very good crop of berries on some varieties that brought me good prices. Many growers had not over one fourth of a crop. I grow mostly large berries that bring frcm 2 cents to 10 cents per quart more than Email kinds. The Buback No. 5 has been one of my favorite large kinds, but in the Hall's Favorite we have something much better than Bubach, which far sur passes any variety that I have grownl It is earlier and a better carrier than Bubach, larger through the Eeason, as productive, if not more so. As a grower the Babach is no comparison. I have seen the vines stand 12 to 18 inches high in ordinary land. Hall's Favorite orig inated five years ago at the Somer set Fruit and Pant Farm. On this farm we have a variety of soils, from very heavy to very light, and I have fruited the Favorite on all. It brought the past season in market 20 cents per quart when other kinds sole at 9 to 10 cents per quart. It is a strong stam in ate and suitable polenfzer for pistiiate varieties. It 13 the coming strawberry, Hall's Favorite has not fruited from home exc( pt at the Maryland and Ohio Experiment Stations. They send us flittering reports for sale for the first time. J. w Hall. Farm life will never be worth living without an orchard, vineyard and garden. PQTJLTEY YAED BEGINNING THE NEW YEAR. No farmer cm expect to b3 success ful with poultry unless he knows what ho is doing. Ho may be gaining or losing, according to circumstances, and if the exact condition of affairs cculd bo known, it would largely serve to guard against mistakes or cs3ist in in creasing receipts. Every farmer and poultryman should keep an exact ac count of every dollar expended and received. By so doing the hens will show what they have done for every week and month in the year, and the prices will partially enable one to know what the market may be for the cor responding period of the next year. It is much easier to keep an account with hens than with the larger stock, as there are usually dady receipts of eggs, which need only bo counted and en tered, while the food can be measured in bulk and fed out until it is consumed. If farmers would keep strict accout t of fowls they would be surprised at the profit derived in proportion to tho cap itel invested; and there is no better time to begin than when tho new year is just beginning, and tho accounts efouid be kept by cue cf tho younger members of the family. Farm and Fireside. . .. WHERE THE FAULT LIES. You say your hens won't lay ! There is just where you are wrong; they cer tainly will lay if you give them the proper food and care. The trouble is not with the hens, but with ycur man ner of managing them It is not in lack of food, but the lack of certain kinds of food that is the cause of the trouble A hen is simply an egg machine, which, if ptoporly fed, will, by the laws of nature, produce eggs; she will lay eggs because it is her nature to; you can't expect something for nothing. neither should you look for eggs until you feed the fowls on an egg producing food. Supply them with the 1026. ele ments of which to make eggs. Right here let us ask "what constitutes an egc?" Fat? starch? carbones? salts? No! but albumenoids, fibrine and shell. The only foods that are directly di gested are the albumens. The salts undergo no change at all. The fats and starches, after undergoing a pro cess of fermentation in the crop, and grinding in the gizzard, finally supply the fat tissue the energy and fuel of the hen machine. Where hens have a whole farm to range over, they know what they want and go after it, but when in confinement common sense should be used in feeding. Farmers' Voice. GREEN BONES AND PROFIT. The profit isralways sure when every detail 13 correct. Cheap food must not be estimated by the price paid for it in the market. The cheapest food for the pcultrymaa or farmer is that which gives him the largest proportionate number of eggs. It is tho product by which we should measure and estimate. Green bonea are not used as exten sively as they should be, says an ex change, because grain can be obtained with less difficulty and at a low cost, but as egg producing material, tbe bone is far superior to grain ; nor does the bone really cost more than grain in some sections. The cutting of the bone into available eizrs is now rendered an easy matter, as tbe bone cutter is with in reach of all. Bones f reeh from the butcher have more or less meat ad her ing, and the more of such meat the bet ter, as it will cost no more per pound than the bone, while the combination of both meat and bone is almost a per feet food from which to produce egg3. If the farmer can get two extra eggs per week from each hen in winter,Jie will make a large profit. If the hens are consuming food and yet are pro ducing no eggs, they will cause a kes to their owner; and this happens every winter on a large number of farms The hens receive plenty of food, but not of the proper kind. A pound of cut green bone is suffi cient for sixteen hens one day, which means that one cent will pay for the bone for that number of fowls. If one quart of grain be fed at night to six teen hens, and one pound of bone in the; morning,- - it should be ample for each day in winter. In summer only the bone need be given. Such a diet provides fat, starch, nitrogen, phos phates, lime and all the other substan ces required to enable the hens to lay eggs. The bone cutter ia as noccs?ary to the poultryman as" his feed mill. It enables him to use an excellent and cheap food, and gives him a profit where he might otherwise ba compelled to suffer a loss. It js claimed that a . bone cutter pays for itself in eggs, and eally cots nothing. Bones are now- one of the staple article s cf food for poultry, and no ration should have them omitted. They are food, grit and lime all combined in one, and the hens will leave all other foods to eat the cut V bone. If cut fine, even chicks and ducklings will relish such excellent food, whilo turkeys grow rapidly on it. To meet with success requires tho use of the best materials, and green bone beats all other substances as food for poultry. rHE DAIRY. THE FAST CHURN FAKE. Correspondence of tae Progressive Farmer. There are some questions that never remain settled never stay down. Churning is on? of them. Time and agaiu has it been decided that rapid churning is not desirable. From twenty to forty minutes is by the most ad vanced dairymen considered not too long a time to churn. Yet every onco in a whiie the three minute or fivo minute churn bobs up either in the hands of a patent right man or in tho advertising columns of agricultural papers. Is has always been that way and the writer begins to think it will always be that way. One does not feel right to be ever lastingly writing on one subject, yet there seem3 to be a need of it when it comes to churning. Would it not be well for publishers to refuse advartisements that are of a fake character? The writer thinks it would, and thinks those expatiating on the merits of the three and five minute churns are within that class. Is time so precious that a five minuto churn is needed? We think not. It ha3 been demonstrated that too rapid churning retails in not getting all tho butter in the cream and in butter of a poor quality than when the proper length of time is taken to churn. Tnen again the so-called five minuto churns have floats or paddles inside. That class of churn was discarded by progressive dairymen twenty fivo years ago. Let a farmer understand this matter just as it is and he will net be a good subject for "patent churn men" to tackle. But how is the farmer to understand it unless he reads or flome one tells him and how is he go ing to read unless it is printed? It has not been a long timo by any means since a letter of tho writer's on this same subject was printed, and it may not be long after this appears in print before another one on the same subject will be in order, written either by him or some one who can no longer keep silent. Bsware of the fiva minute churn and of the seller of it or a patent on it. F. W. Moskley. Clinton, Iowa. - NATURE VS. ART. Nature always adapts herself to cir cumstances. The animals in the Polar regions are white, so as to conform with the color of the snow, and so escape detection by their enemies; the fish in the stre&m3 in the Mammoth Cave have no eyes, for there is no us for them, and the cow that roams at will over the plains gives just enough milk for the calf, because no more is wanted. But the cow that is housed and fed and milked and has been so treated for generations is an entirely different animal from the natural cow. She is in fact an artificalcow, for every ounce of milk that she gives over and above what would be required for a calf is not in accord with nature, says the Ohio Valley Farmer. Therefore in our treatment of her wo cannot apply the same rules by which animals in their native state are gov erned and expect to make a suczesa out of her. Nature never makes mis tikes, it is true, but when we have an unnatural animal, as we have in tho do mesticated cow, we will make a mistake if we treat her as she was in her native state. Those who are inclined to poke fun at the "hot house cow" should stop a bit, for the cow that we now have i3 more or lesa a forced animal and wo must recogniza this fact in our treat ment of her. And we should keep thia fact in mind from the time she is dropped as a calf to the end of her days, that aha is an artificial product and must be treated as euch if eucscsa with her is desired.
The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Jan. 26, 1897, edition 1
1
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75