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;o $ 1 .00 - Xbe Prcres ,re Fanner is a ood paper far ove the ayer re and possibly I the best advertia ' lac medium in N. c Priflters' Ink. f "The Premie sire Farmer is a good paper f&s above the aver age -and possiblj the best advertise ing medium in IJ. Printers Ink. THE IKDUSTBIAL AND EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS OF OUE PEOPLE PARAMOUNT TO ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS OF STATE POLICY. Vol. 12. RALEIGH, N. C, JUNE 15, 1897. Ho. IB KMttERRIYf, fMttWIR. : 'H m iuLB till i : II fnn J J ATI ON AL FAR&IERS ALLI AHCE AND INDUSTRIAL UNION. president Mann Page, Brandon, Vice President C. Vincent, Indian- 6PretaryTreasurer--W. P. Bricker, Cogan Station, Pa. LECTURERS. j p Sossamon, Charlotte, N. C. Hamlin V. Poore, Bird Island, Minn. F. H. Peirsol, Parkersburg, W. Va. NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. Mann Page. Brandon,- Va ; R. A. Rmithworth, Denver, Col.; John Bre Sie W Va ; A. B. Welch, New York; W. A. Gardner, Andrew's Settlement, Pa JDDICIABT. 3. A. Southwcrth, Denver, Colo. $ V7. Beck, Alabama, k. D. Davie, Kentucky. fiOBia GLBOLX3A FARMERS' STATE ALLI ANCE. President Dr. Cyrus Thompson, Sichlands, . O. Vice-President-Jno. Graham,Ridge- SeiKtay-Treasurer-W. B. Barnes, flillsboro, N. O. Lecturr-J. T. B. Hoover, Kim City, Bteward-Dr. V. N. Seawell, Villa- aSaDiaiin-Bev. P. H. Massey, Dur- aam, rJ. C. . , Dobr-keeper-Gco. T. Lane, Greens aero, N. C. ' T Assistant Door-keeper Jas. K. Lyon, 6ergeant-at-Arms A. D. K. Wallace, Butherfordton, N. C. Etate Business Agent T. Ivey, Hills - boro. N. C. , TTT Trustee Business Agency Fund W. L. Graham, Machpelab N. C. aXXCUTIYX OOMMITTffiE OT THE NORTH CAB0LIS1 FARMERS' STATE ALLIANCE. A. F. Hileman, Concord, N. C. ; N. ifewborne, Kinsxm, N. C. 8XATB ALLIANCE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE. John Brady, Gatesville, N. C. ; Dr. J.F. HarreU, Whiteville, N. C; T. J. Candler. Acton. N. C. - sjtrta Carolina Reform Press Association. QflcersJ. L. Ramsey, President; izarion Butler, Vice-President; W. 8. Same, Secretary, PAPERS. 'wtTMtlr rrroer. SUte Organ, Rlelgh, N. O. iercuTT Hickory, N. C. Xtu! Whitakers, N. C. Om Home, Beaver Dam. N. C. The Populist, - LBmberton. N. O. The People's Paper, Charlotte, N. C. the Vestibule, Concord, N. C. The Plow-Boy. W&desboro, N. C. CaroUna Watchman, Salisbury, N. C. sLach of the above-named papers are 'quested to keep the list standing on e jir&t page and add others, provided Jy ore duly elected. Any paper fail- to advocate the Ocala platform tail a dropped from the list promptly. Our tuple can now see what papers are relished in their interest. AGRICULTUBE. Stirring and fining the soil helps very materially to make plant food that is already in the soil available for use by the growing plant. If you want your manure quickly fitted for helping the crops, throw salt on it. Salt hastens decompDsition and makes manure soluble. Get special customers for your butter and furnish it every week. It is worth a few cents per pound to the customers to know that they are eating pure, clean butter and net oleo, or some other manufactured stuff, and there is a big difference between cash and trading out butter. There is no reason why a farmer ehculd pay fifteen cents for beef and 8;11 his chickens for less, norhouldhe be content with pork and potatoes when he can have poultry on his tablo If the markets are dull and prices are low, the best place to dispose of the surplas i3 at home. The farmer who wishes to keep his Irish potatoes during the winter, should not have them exposed to the sun for any length of time. Dig them on a cloudy day, early morning or late evening, and let them dry in the shade. Thi3 plan is recommended by a corre spondent of a Kentucky paper. Corn fodder contains more starch than clover, while clover is richer in protein. A ration of both clover and dodder ia excellent where no grain is flowed, as is sometimes the rule in warm weather. A mixed ration is bet ler at all times than to rely entirely u?on one kind of food, and for all classes of stock. The average yield of milk per cow for all the cows in the country in 1850 700 quarts a year, Iu .1890 the average was 1200 quarts per cow for a year. This increase has been accomp lished by the greater use of improved breeds, and is equivalent to nearly doubling the number of cows by esti mating from the amount of milk de rived in 1890. WEEKLY DIGEST Of Experiment Station Bulletins. No. 73. SUGAR BEETS.. The destruction of the sugar indus try of Cuba and the certainty of in creased protection to American sugar under the new tariff bill are causing a widespread interest in sugar beet pro duction. Bulletins 27 and 33 of the U. 8. Department of Agriculture, bulletin 75 of Ohio Station, 55 of Wisconsin Station, 36 of Colorado Station and 23 of Arizona Station are devoted to this subject.; These bulletins have been issued in response to a flood of inquir ies from farmers, which have been pouring in by every mail since the first of the year. This article will be confined to a summary of the salient points set forth in the above named bulletins. It will take years after the war ends to restore the sugar plantations of Cuba. The United States now con sumes eight times as much sugar as it produces. The value of the sugar im ported into this country each year almost equals the value of the wheat and flour exported ; yet sugar beets are a more profitable crop than wheaL, Why should we produce cheap wheat with which to buy dear sugar? There are now eight sugar beet factories in this country, and it will require 500 factories of the same average capacity to supply our own markets. The fac tories thus far started have made great progress and are now very profitable. During the season of 1894-95 the world produced 7,800,000 tons of sugar, of which 4 800,000 tons were beet Eugar and 3,000,000 tons were cane sugar. Beet sugar ia in all respects equal to cane sugar. Germany leads all other countries in producing beet sugar, hav ing 405 factories. The German Govern ment gives a bounty of a third of a cent a pound on all sugar expc r e 1 from that country and puts a tax of 2 cents per pound on all sugar produced there and consumed there, and a tariff tax of 4 cents per pound on all sugar im ported from other countries, which is prohibitive. The bounty paid by the government to sugar producers is nearly . six million dollars a year in Germany, ten millions n Franco, five millions in Belgium, two millions in Austria, and three millions in Russia, Denmark and Sweden. In this coun try sugar has been protected by a tariff duty ranging from 1 cent a pound in 1789 to 5 cents in 1874. till the McKin- ley bill put it.on the free list and gave sugar growers a bounty instead of a protective duty. England consumes 86 pounds of sugar per each inhabitant, the United States 63 pounds, Denmark 41, France 31, Holland 31, Germany 37, Belgium 22, Austria 20, Spain 14. Russia 10. In Germany, each factory pays a license tax of $800 to 12,500 per year, owing to capacity. The following facts show what pro gress has been made by the beet sugar factories in this country: The one at Lehi, Utah, has been running 5 years, and in that time the acres of beets grown by surrounding farmers has in creased from 1500 acres to 3,300; the tons of beets produced has increased from 9,960 to 38.108; the average yield per acre has increased from 6 tons to Hi; the pounds of sugar per acre has increased from 1,162 to 2.539; the num ber of days in operation each year has increased from 58 to 118. In the last five years, the factory at Chino, California, has made still greater progress. In 1891, the farmers real iz 3d but $28 37 per acre from their beets, but in 1895 they averaged $47.08 The factory at Norfalk, Neb., worked up 8,183 tons of beets in '91, and 27,204 tons in '95. It got 161 pounds sugar from each ton of beets in '91, and 183$ pounds per ton in '95. These statistics all go to show that the farmers now get a much larger yield per acre and a better price per ton for their beets, than 5 years ago, and the factories get more sugar per ton of beets than at first. This is grati fying progress all around. Analysis show that the average rich ness in sugar and purity of juica is somewhat higher in the beet growing regions of this country than in Ger many. The beet sugar industry is only about 100 years old, and since in that time it has far outstripped the cane sugar in dustry, it offers an inviting field of competition for the future. A hundred pounds of beets contain about 95 pounds of juice, and this juice will contain about 15 pounds of solid matter, of which 12 pounds is sugar. To determine the purity of juice, chem ists divide this 12. pounds of sugar by the 15 pounds of total solids, which gives twelve fifteenths, equal to four, fifths, or eighty one-hundredths ; hence, they say its coefficient of purity is 80. That is about an average of purity. Some beets go above that and some below,- A high degree h of purity is very important; for every pound cf impure solid matter in the juice keeps a pound of sugar from crystalizing. For instance, in the average case above given, the 3 pounds of impure solids would keep 3 pounds of sugar from crystalizing so that of the 12 pounds of sugar actually .-sent only 9 or 10 pounds can be gotten out of it. Unripe beets and large, rank beets, grow on soils rich in manure and veg etable matter or on mucky, marshy soils, have a low degree of purity. The leaf stems and the crowns of the beets are also full of impure solids, so that these are cut off and used for stock feed. In practice, the factories get an average of 7 out of every 10 pounds of sugar contained in beets. i The Wisconsin Station has been dis; tributing sugar beet seeds tojthe farm5 ers of that State for 5 years, and has had reports and beets sent in for an alysis from 517 farmers living in 59 counties The average weight of the beets sent in range from a little more than half a pound in Lincoln county to more than 4 pounds each in Crawford. Tne per cent, of sugar ranged from 8 in Jackson county to 16 in Calumet. The purity ranged from 65 in Marinette to 84 in Milwaukee. The average per cent, of sugar was 12 J and average purity 76. The average per cent, in Ohio was 13, and average puritjr 77, the range in percentage of sugar being from 9 in Meigs county to over 17 in Hancock, and range of purity from 69 in Angla'z3 to 85 in Morrow. In Colorado, New Mexico and Ari zona, much higher sugar content and greater purity are reported, but irriga tion is necessary in most places in those States, as also in Utah. The sugar beet belt is where the sum mer temperature averages degrees. At the Wisconsin Jtation, in a good season which produced 21 tons of beets per acre, the cost of production, har vesting, topping and hauling to factory was $1 75 per ton ; but in a dry year, the cost was $3 76 per ton. R M. Allen, an extensive cattle feeder, of Ames, Neb., grew 560 acres for feed, averag ing 15 tons per acre, at a cost of $1 50 per ton. His foreman is an expert beet grower from Germany, and he uses the best machinery. The lowest price paid in Europe is $3 50 per ton, and in this country $4. In California and Ne braska, farmers often clear $20 to $30 per acre. Most of the cost of growing beets is for labor, much of which is thinning, and weeding, and this can be done by the farmer and his family, thus securing good wQges in addition to the the clear profit. The Wisconsin Station produced beets that would yield sugar at the rate of 5,000 pounds per acre, but a good average is 2,000 to 2,5(0. Beet growing is not exhaustive to the soil if the tops and crowns and pulp be fed to stock and the manure applied to the land. Sugar is formed by a union of water and carbon, and the beets get the carbon from the air and the water can be cheaply replaced. A study of the industry in Europe shows that the beet growing regions produce as many cattle and as large a quantity of other crops as do any other section. Beet sugar factories must do all their work within a few months. They can start when the earliest beets mature, and must then run day and night till the weather gets too cold to handle beets. By storing beets in pits the season may be prolonged. Hence, the factories must be large, and as they use large quantities of water and coal, they must be so located as to secure these cheaply. Artesian water is best. The cost of a factory large enough to work up 350 tons of beets hv 24 houis will be about $48,000 for building and $170,000 for machinery. A factory of double that capacity costs about $75, 000 for building and $260,000 for ma chinery. The building should be sub stantial and fire proof. Communities desiring to go into this industry should organize associations 43f beet growers, each member pledging so many acres of beets at a stipulated minimum price per ton. Before mak ing such offers to induce the erection of a factory, however, each member should grow an acre or two of sugar beets for stock feed, to test the busi ness. They pay well as feed. Land rich enough to produce good crops o corn or potatoes is rich enough for beets. Never apply manure to beets direct.. Always apply it to. the corn or some other crop the year before plant ing to beets. The sed are sown by drills in rows 24 inches apart, and three or four days afterwards , harrow the land lightly so as to kill the sprouting ing weeds but not disturb the beet seed. Plant 2 inches deep in land plowed at least 12 to 15 inches deep. The beet must be grown under ground. That part above ground contains little sugar and much impurity and must be cut off Start the cultivator as soon as the rows can be seen. When four leaves appear, chop out with hoes to bunches 5 to 6 inches apart, and thin these bunches by hand to a single beet, leav ing the largest one. Lay by in low ridges. When the leaves turn yellow and begin to dry up, cut off the crowns a quarter of an inch below the surface of the soil, with a sharp , hoe or other suitable implement, and run a deep furrow close to the beets. Then walk along the other side and kick the beets out into the furrow, from which they are readily picked up and thrown into wagons. The stubble shavers used by Louisiana'cane planters, and drawn by horse power, would doubtless be good to top the beets with. The tops and pulp are good feed for all kinds of farm animals and may be preserved in silo. They are improved by balancing up with linseed meal or oil meal. Lane's Improved and Vilmorin are the best varieties, deed must be bought every year at the rate of 15 or 16 pounds per acre. The production of seed is a high art in itself. A slice of beets is analjzad and those richest in sugar and having the greatest purity are set out to produce eied. By thus constant ly and cirefuliy selecting seed from year to year, the sugar content has been brought up from 6 per cent. 100 years ago, to from 12 to 20 per cent, now. - . Planting may be done from the mid die of March to the middle of June. An 8 hoe wheat drill is a good planting im plement, leaving open the first, fourth about 7&pcjid seventh rows. This puts the rows 24 inches apart. Begin at right hand edge of the field, and in returning, run left wheel in the track it made going over first time. In starting on second round, run right wheel 16 inches from its last track. Thi will- put all rows 24 inches apart. Don't leave beets farther apart in the drill than 6 inches, or they will grow too large. Large beets are poor in sugar. An average of 2 pounds is about right for largest yield of sugar per acre. The more sun shine received by the growing crop, the larger the sugar content. The Arizona Station suggests that in climate, as well as in California and in the Pecos valley of New Mexico, the operating season is much longer than in Europe and the Northern States, and those sections also produce Canai gre in great abundance, and much of the same machinery used in extracting sugar from beets can also be used to extract tannic acid from Canaigre roots, and as Canaigre roots can be left in the ground indefinitely and harvested at any season, the factories might run on Canaigre frcm the close of one sugar season to the opening of the next. It estimates the increased cost of a 200 ton factory to operate on both roots at only $25,000 more than for sugar alone. The best sugar beet soil is a deep, mellow, sandy loam, though almost any soil will answer. Even alkali soils, if not too salty, will produce good beets. The soil should contain a high percent age of potash. Of the $230,417 yearly expense of running the factory at Lehi, Utah, $142,283 was paid to farmers for beets, and $52,924 was paid for labor. The rest went for coal, chemicals, bags, lime, etc This shows what an immense advantage euch a factory must be to any community. THE CULTIVATION QF CROPS. Cultivation is often of greater im portance than fertility, as there are times when the best soil will not pro duce a crop without cultivation, while the soil is rarely so sterile that at least a small crop cannot be grown if it is well cultivated. Cultivation has a two-fold object; to destroy vegetation that would, if allowed to grow, interfere with "the crop, and to loosen and pulverize the soil to allow air to enter it and render the plant food available for the use of the crop. If the land is too wet when plowed, and warm, sunny days follow before it is harrowed, it often bakes into clods and lumps that are impenetrable to the roots of the crop plants, and almost im pervicus to moisture. Wherever this happened this spring careful cultivation is very essential to the welfare of the crop, for until the soil is fine and mellow much of the plant food it contains is lost. In fitting a field plowed a little too wet, and al lowed to bake before being harrowed down, the clods always remain on the surface and what fine soil there is lies under them. Where there is a roller on the farm these lumps and clods may be reduced to powder, very often by rolling the land, pressing the clods down into the fine soil and allowing them to lie there a day or two; then running over the land with a harrow. The clods being rolled into the fine soil absorb moisture and become damp, and the harrow following reduces them to the proper condition very easily. If corn has been planted where the soil is cloddy and a rain comes soon after, the clods, if harrowed before they again become dry, will break up very fine. This plan reduces the clods and cultivates theurop at the same time. v Where corn has been planted "is cloddy land the cultivator should be set as deep as possible the first time the corn is plowed in order to dig up the clods and let fine soil fall into the place they occupied, that the roots may reach out without obstruction. The old-fashioned wide shovel plow has gone and the narrow shovel is giv ing way to the eagle claw mere and more every year. It is not common now to see deep cultivation practiced, and experience teaches that the roots should be disturbed as little as possible. When the corn is first cultivated the soil should be stirred deeply and subse quent cultivations should be each more shallow than the preceding one, until, at last, but two inches of the surface should be stirred. What is true of corn will apply, gen erally to other crops. After the soil has been thoroughly fined, frequent cultivation will increase the size of the crop, because the plant food in the soil is easily reached by the feeder roots of the crop, and to .this extent tillage is manure. Many fields may be made to produce their ordinary yield by perfect cultiva tion, and as it costs no more to culti vate thoroughly than in a slip shod manner, it pays to be careful in this manner. A plant is never so easily killed as at the time when the first root f tarts. If moved at all at that time it is usually killed, and frequent cultivation by moving the soft kills most of the weed crop before it makes its appearance above the surface. It is always better to cultivate well a small acreage than to half cultivate twice as much. The taxes are no more on a well cultivated field than on a neglected one, and, very often, the in crease in the yield from good cultiva tion will pay the taxes many times over. Farmers' Voice. PROFIT IN SMALL FARM 1 I have always been an advocate of comparatively small farms, believing them to be the ideal farms, says a writer in the New England Farmer, and I have found that a great deal of produce can be grown on a small farm when managed right. To illustrate : I have grown the past . season on four teen square rods of land, twelve bushels of stravebarries, selling to the amount of $29.75, besides using all we wanted in the family of four persons; some were also given away. From five rows of cabbages, fifteen rods long, we had all we wanted to use, stored some for winter, sold to the amount of $10.46 besides some waste and small heads fed out. Nine rows of onions, fifteen rods long, produced twenty-three bushels of fine onions. Oats yielded fifty -six bushels to the acre. In 1895 they did a little better sixty-one and one half to the acre. Onions also did better that year. From a piece of ground 27x64 feet, I harvested forty-three bushels. Now who will say, in the face of such facts, that a small farm cannot be made to support a family in good shape! Indead, lam certain that if properly managed a very few acres will support a family well ; and if I was a young man again I would purchase a piece of land somewhere, even if it were but two acres, and build up a home there on ; then if more land was needed, add to it afterwards as opportunity offered I have a great deal of faith in well en riched and properly managed soil. I like the term "intensive farming," and the more we apply it to our farming operations, the better it will be for us. ACTION OF THE WINSTON TO BACCO BOARD OF TRADE. From the Southern Tobacco Journal Uay 3 1 st. 1897. We particularly urge the tobacco growers to action, because they cart render valuable assistance, and as their interests no less than those of tho manufacturers - are endangered, they should unhesitatingly do all that lies ia their power for their own protection. An 8 cent tax means, beyond any doubt, lower prices for the common grades of tobacco, which constitute tho major part of the crop, and which are already selling far too low. Any man or paper that tells the planters that a higher tax will bring with it higher prices for leaf, misleads them, either intentionally for political ends or through ignorance. v Among the readers of The Southern Tobacco Journal area number of to bacco planters, prominent and influ ential men in their various sections of the country, and we ask them to tako . the lead in this matter. We ask them . to get up petitions or write to their representatives in the Federal halls of legislation, and get thif 'neighrSfa"3u-- write; and lefr their position relative to the proposed increased tax be known, and known atonce. Their opposition will have a good effect, and will well j supplement the work that is being dona ; by the manufacturers and others ecu.- j nected with bur threatened industry. j An account of the meeting Wednes- day of the manufacturers at Washing ton, together with a hearing given their delegation by the Senate commit tee, appears on another page, and it . j will be noticed that the committeo evinced a special desire to learn upon whom the burden of a highter tax rate would fall. The spokesman of the delo gation said truly that the additional two cents would ultimately be borno principally by the grower. What im pression this statement made, it will be further observed, has not been dis closed. Probably, coming from what might be thought a wholly interested source, it did not carry, the weight it; should. The planters need tie'-heartl from, and that promptly. Let them speak out in unmistakable language- They have a right to ask, if not de mand, that the already meagre returns for their labor and investments be not further cut down by legislative enact ments, and to require of those whom they have sent to Congress to stand staunchly by them, irrespective of party politics or anything else. The situation at Washington, so far as we can gather, is this : The Senate Finance Committee is determined upon increasing the internal revenue tax rates on manufactured to bacco, snuff and cigarettes, holding and no other reasons are given that the government must have more rev enue, and that tobacco the world over is recognized as an article to bear heavy taxation. The fact that this m a tobacco producing country, with the greatest of tobacco -manufacturing en terprises ; that growers and manufao turers would be greatly injured by higher taxes, that the proposed rates would likely reduce the consumption and therefore not yield any more rev enue than under the present rates, arc blindly ignored. Nothing may be ex pected from this committee. The Democrats and Populists in tho Senate are solid against the proposed tobacco schedule, and they are able to prevent its passage if two Republican Senators will stand by them. The ncrr Republican Senator from Kentucky,. Mr. Deboe, will be true to his State and its principal agricultural product. What will Senator Pritchard, of North Carolina, do! It depends upon, him. He has declared that he will op pose higher taxes on tobacco in caucus, but has not committed himself to vote against his party's measure-in the Sen ate. Will he sacrifice his people to hiz partisanship! Or will he, like the; California Republican Senators who defeated the proposition to put fruit, on the free list, show that his first alle giance is to the interests of NortJLa Carblina! Senator Pritchard should not be left in any-doubt as to sentiment of tho people in this matter 1 Write to him I Send petitions to him, mariufacturcro growers, leaf dealers and warehouse men ! More than half the yield of any thin, you cultivate depends upon the effort; you put forth to make it productivo. Fertility of the soil is the basis of all real profit, and the farmer who doca not increase the productive capacity of: his soil is surely going down hill
The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
June 15, 1897, edition 1
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