North Carolina Newspapers

The Progres sive Fanner is a good paper far above the aver age and possibly the best advertis ing medium in N. Printers Ink. "The Proftres sive Farmer is a good paper far above the average- -and possibly the best advertis ing medium in II, C." Printers' Ink. THE IKDUSTKIAL AND EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS OF OUB PEOPLE PARAMOUNT TO ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS OF STATE POLICY. Vol. 12. RALEIGH, N. C, JULY 20, 1897. Ho. 24 jSR NATIONAL. FARMERS' ALLI ANCE AND INDUSTRIAL UNION. Resident r- Mann Page, Brandon, Vice President C. Vincent, Indian apolis, Ind. Secretary Treasurer 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. South worth, Denver. Col.; John Bro nte W. Va. ; A. B. Welch, New York; w!A. Gardner, Andrew's Settlement, Pal JUDICIARY. S. A. Southworth, Denver, Cclo. i. W. Beck, Alabama, k. D. Davie, Kentucky. iGSJ2 CAROUSA FAUiEKS1 STATS ALLI ANCE. President Dr. Cyrus Thompson, Eichlands, . C. -n- ' Vice-President Jno. Granam,Ridge- ray, N. C. Secretary-Treasurer W. B. Barnes, aCIsboro, N. O. ' Lecturer J. T. B. Hoover, Elm City, ? C Steward Dr. V. N. Soawell, Villa- aow, N. C. Chaplain Rev. P. H. Massey, Dur ham, N. C. Door-keeper Geo. T. Lane, Greens- soro, N. C. Assistant Door-keeper Jaa. E. Lyon, Durham, N. C. ergeant-at-Arms A. D. K. Wallace, Sutherfordton, N. C State Business Agent T. Ivey, Hnls boro, N. C. Trustee Business Agency Fund YV. L Graham, Machpelah, N. C. 2IJCUTIVS OOMMTTTEE OF THE SORTH CAROLINA FARMERS7 STATE ALLIANCE. A. F. Hileman, Concord, N. C. ; N. 0. English, Trinity, N. C; James M. slew borne, Kins -on, N. C. STATU ALLIANCE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE. John Brady, Gatesville, N. C.; Dr. J.F. Harrell, Whiteville, N. C; T. J. Candler, Acton. N. C. nzzh Carolina Reform Press Attociatioo. Oncers J. L. Eamsey, President; Marion Butler, Vice-President; W. 8. Barnes, Secretary, PAPERS, : :3ir5il?e Farmer. State Orsan, lete O. !'cnrv. Hickory, J. L. j-'mpt Whitakers, N. C. --. populist, s1?1?,' 5 CLe People's Paper, Charlotte, C. rno Vestibule Concord, N. U. ?a Plow- Boy. Wadebboro, N. C. ro!lna Watcnman. bailsbury, i ach of the above-named papers are 'Acslea to neep ive twt 874wy . page a?ui add ethers, provided ? y are ciu etecf ed. Any paper fatl n in nrfiwit the Ornla nlatform will i dropved from the list promptly. Our pie can now see tcruii yu-ii ; ou'5cd in tTicir interest. A.GRIOTJIL.TXJIIB. C?.rriacrcs and bueeies are cheap and -.very farmer should possess good vehicles. To make the most of the feed con- rained, horses should bo given a little nit at least once a day in their looa. N'ature eeems to have provided it as a promoter of good digestion. Sul Siy is a sharp trader ; he usually :e.s the best of the bess of the bargain; 13 does thi-i by misrepresenting thing?, Ih boy tell lies and Saul wonders vhere he learned how to.$ell it. Lx. One ef the best investments a farmer :an make is to buy a chest of such oola a are oftenest used. They are he means of making the boys handy iad of cen save a trip to town in a busy .ime. If the plan of pasturing the meadows a followed, do not turn the stocic in mul the plants have had time to make i flood, vigorous start to grow, and ;hen be careful not to pasture down too cloae. A hired man who whistles is worth five dollars a month more than the one who doesn't. The man who whistles is neither sad, sulky, nor morose, and a a rale he docs not swear at the cows k-d hj?8r:3. H lf a day for fishing and time along t ' - 'd niht to visit the "swimming u nut waated cn boys. They v . i- ter foreuch things and don't to , f t away from work at the l.irunwho saya the farmer does i-ot (t. tf,rve the best of everything s -.ul.i go to Mexico, and the farmer ko-ps and eats only those thiegs CAnnot sell would make a fitting cpanicn for him. fine clothes do not make a fine man 6ly more than fine feathers make fine blf da, but you will notice that the man r'ho pays attention to his persanal ap pearance is the one who is listened to wth the most attention. THE SOUTHERN COW PEA AS A NITROGEN GATHERER. Correspondence of the Progressive Farmer. During the past four months we have raversed quite a considerable portion of the States of Alabama, Georgia, North and South Carolina and Tennes see. We have visited truck farmers, fruit growers, cotton planters and nur serymen, stock raisers and even rice farmers in the above named States, and more especially that portion of them that might justly be termed 'live," "wide awake" and "progress lve ; ' men who, as agriculturists, have made for themselves a national and at the same time a very enviable reputa tion ; as, for instance, G W. Truitt and J. C. Sim, of Troup county, Ga ; both of these gentlemen having harvested upwards of four bales of cotton from the single acre in a single season, and this not on a single acre, but on five acre patches; Capt. Z. J. Drake, of Marlboro county, S. C, who harvested 255 bushels of corn from the single acre in a einsle season: and many others too numerous to mention who have made themselves famous along their individual lines. We mention this to show that we have gained quite a large fund of valu able practical information from our brother "planters" of the Sunny South. We have learned amongst other things that the Southern field pea, or cow pea, however good it may be as a "nitrogen gatherer," is by no means equal (is a source of nitrogen, or as a means of furnishing a hungry plant with nitrogen in a quick acting and readily available form) to any of th. nitrogenous manures or fertilizers that are to be found on the ordinary farm or purchased in the market, and more especially is this the case with all ligut, loose, eandy soils. We believe that we have been affected with tho "psa craze" quite a9 badly as anyone else, in fact, we haven't go": over it yet, but we try very hard not to expect more of them than they are capable of accomp lishing. Peas furnish neither potaeh nor phos phoric acid ; yet, because they extract from the surface soil, and pump up from the subsoil beneath considerable quantities of these manurial substances, they are often given credit for tho full amount of both, as though they had enriched the soil to that extent, while the fact is (tf the vines are removed from the soil in the form of hay) that they have actually impoverished the soil to that extent. Peas are greedy consumers of both potash and phos phoric acid, and these must be fur nished to them in liberal quantities (aever less than 200 pounds of acid phosphate and 100 pounds muriate of potash per acre, or its equivalent in kainit, while double that amount may be used with manifest advantage) if an actual increase in fertility is the ob jecS in view in planting them. Peas at tract their nitrogen from the atmo sphere and store it up in the soil in tho form of "organic" nitrogen, and al though we are well satisfied in cur own mind that wo have, in times past, gained an increase cf 10, 15 and 20 bushels of corn per acre from a single crop of cow peas turned under, we are j ist as well satisfied that nitrogen ob tained from any other source (as nitrate of soda, cotton seed meal, crushed cot ton seed, rotted cotton seed, stable ma nure, etc ,) will act quicker and give more satisfactory as well as more profit able results than if the cow pea vine had been turned under. We expect to make a liberal planting of pea3 every succeeding year; lit, as an economical feed crop for hoga nd live stock of all kinds; 2nd, to keep up a good supply of organic matter or "humus" in the soil; and 3rd, as a source of nitrogen, the comparative value being in our opin ion in the order named. We paid a visit recently to the Ex periment Farm at Southern Pines, North Carolina, and we wouid advise agriculturists everywhere, more espe cially those cf them engaged in raising either fruits or vegetables for market and who are located anywhere within the bounds of the long leaf pice belt, and whose byA light, loose, ear.dy and comparatively poor, to thoroughly f amihar.iz 3 themselves with its work ings and with what is beiDg done there for their especial benefit We took particular notice of the fact that nitro gen is badly needed on this soil, and that where nitrogen bad been applied in the form of nitrate of soda, the vari ous crops responded in no uncertain manner. The same was equally true of potash in any and all of its forms, of phosphoric acid and of lime; but in every single plot where cow peas were turned under and relied upon as a source of nitrogen, the crop, no matter of what kind, was invariably and pos itively inferior. Theoriza over this as we may,- the fact remains, that organic nitrogen is Blower in its action, and decidededly less satisfactory, as far as either imme diate or final results are concerned, than are the more readily soluble and immediately available chemicals, as nitrate of soda, sulphate of ammonia, etc. In the instance of the Expcri mental Farm at Southern Pines, we think the land is too fresh (humus be ing already present in excess) hence already too open, loose, mellow and porous, which said "too loose and open" condition the pea vines would have a tendency to exaggerate. Possibly, as Prof. Massey and his very efficient as sistant, Mr. Alexander Rhodes, are superintending the experiments at that place, these gentlemen may be able to throw some light on this question. From tho beneficial effects of lime upon every plot to which it has been applied, including those plots where pea vines had been turned under, we cannot avoid the belief that our theory as briefly outlined above is correct, but if not, we are open to conviction, and anxious to be put upon the right track. G H.? Tukner, Burgess, Miss. HOW TO DESTROY MOLES. A subscriber asks how to destroy moles. We doubt very much the policy of killing moles. Frcm very careful investigation made, it has boen proved that their food is almost wholly insectivorous. They destroy in im mense quantities the larva of some of the most destructive inseci pests, and are always found working where these pests abound. We admit that they do some damage by uprooting plants and causing them to wilt and die by tun neling under them, but we doubt much:. whether this damage amounts to any thing like the good they do by ridding the soil of the larval forms of insect life. They may be destroyed by set ting steel traps in their runs, or by placing bisulphide of carbon in the runs. Any strong smeiung drug, sucn as assa'ce ida, placed in the runs, will cause them to forsake the ground. In uaing bisulphide of carbon, be careful to have no lights around, as it is highly explosive. Southern Planter. JULY ON THE FARM. The hot weather of mid summer ia now upon us, and it benooves tne thrifty farmer to "make hay while the sun shines." Most of the upland hay crop is now harvested befora the 4th on many farms, the swales, river meadows and salt marshes being usually left till the uplands have been harvested. The crop is better than tho average on most farms in consequence of the abundant rains in May and June, and there will be no good reason for high price3 or scarcity of fodder this year. After haying is over there is often a comparatively leisure time on" many farms; this is used to good advantage in clearing up waste land, and etpe cially draining wet places and meadows. The springs and brooks are usually low at this season of the year, and for this reason it is easier to put in tho drains than at any other time of year. Tne small fruit grower will be busy harvesting his currants, gooseberries, raspberries and blackberries, and the wild berries of the pastures will give employment to many children and wo men. The harvesting of this wild fruit has assumed considerable importance in some of our hill towns, and more at tention is being paid to the crop than formerly. The market gardener is now busy with harvesting his crops of early cab bage, lettuce, onions, beans, beets, summer squashes, etc., and clearing up th9 land for the late crops, such as late f quashea, cslery, late cabbage and cauliflower. In working the land at thi3 time of year care moat D3 taken in dry weather to prevent the rapid evaporation of the moisture from the surface of the land. Tne plow should be followed quickly by the roller to prevent this. In setting out plants, it is of course well to choose a time after a rain if possible when tha I is moist and the air damp. But in caae of continued dry, hot weather, plants may be-still made to live by using proper care in handling themv Tne tops should be sheared off about.half their length, the roots kept wet while planting, the earth around the roots well firmed after planting by pressing with the foot at each side of the plant, and if water can be had the plants should be well soaked for a few days after planting. Those who omitted planting a straw berry bed in tho spring can still secure a crop for next year by setting the young runners this month or early in August Of course the plants set thus late cannot be expected to run much ; and it is therefore needful to set them about a foot apart and keep the run ners trimmed; this involves some work and for marketing fruit for profit will not pay so well as planting in the spring; but very large and handsome fruit for exhibition or the table can be grown thus. The comparative leisure of this sea son gives the farmer a good opportun ity to take an outing and learn what other farmers are doing, and to meet people who earn their living in various other callings. The business of farming has experi enced in recent years quite as rapid changes as any other calling. The mowing and reaping machines, the horso rakes, sulky plows and numerous other improvements, together with the cheap and quick transportation of Southern and Western produce to our markets, has forced our farmers to abandon many old fashioned crops and methods of working, and to adopt other and more profitable plans. An observing traveller can learn much by comparing the methods adopted 'by others in thi3 rapid change. Massa chusetts Plowman. 4iiOIlTIOXJX,TXJRE An exchang'says that apples may be kept two years by wrapping them in newspapers in such a way as to exclude the air. The newspaper, however, must be ono on which the subscription ia paid in full, or tho dampness result ing from the "due" will cause tho fruit to spoil. v Tillage, manure, care, are all import ant with an orchard. A man cannot expect to rcc3ive paying crops if he does not work and labor and strive and plan for the earns. Do not hesi tate to give the orchard at least as much attention as you would a crop of corn or potatoes. Not only is it wise to take care of what trees a farmer may have, but it will usually be profit able to set out new orchards. Farmers' Advocate. APPLES AS MEDICINE. The German analysts say that the apple contains a larger per centage of phosphorus than any other fruit or vegetable. .This phosphorous is admir ably adapted for renewing the essential nervous matter, lithlcin, of the brain and spinal chord. It is perhaps, for tho same reason the old Scandinavian tradition represents the apple as the food of the eods, who. when they felt themselves growing feeble and infirm, resorted to this fruit for renewing their powers of mind and body. Also the acids of the apple are of signal seivice for men of sedentary habits, whose livers are sluggish in action, these acids serving to eliminate from the body noxious matters which, if re tained, make the brain heavy and dull, or bring about jaundice, skin eruptions and other allied troubles. Some such experienca must have led to our cus tom of taking apple sauce with roast pork, rich goose and like dishes. A good ripe, raw apple is one of the easiest of vegetable substances for the stomach to deal with, the whole pro cess of its digestion being completed in eighty-five minutes. In the Hotel des Invalides of Paris an apple poultice is used commonly for inflimed eyes, the apple being roasted and its pulp applied over the eyes with out any intervening substance. Long ago it was said apples do easily and speedily pas3 through the b3liy, there fore they do not mollify the belly. And for the sane reason a modern maxim teaches that "To eat an apple going to bed, the doctor then will beg his bread." Fi-uita were given U3 before drugs, and they were ail given soma medicia al virtue. Prunes, apple?, pears, figs, peaches, are 111 aperient, and how much better it is to keep the liver and bowels free from clogging by pleasant fruit laxatives than by resorting every few days to drastic siline purgatives, or to calomel and its various com pounds. Medical Summary. 8heep delight in hilly pastures, and the protection aff orded by sheltering the animals from chilling winds is no small feature of their adaptability to this industry. THE DAIRY. SOME DAIRY DON' PS. Don't keep calves in dark, filthy places and expect them to thrive. Don't be afraid to spend money for a sire from a first class family. Don't think scrub sires can produce choice stock for any purpose. Don't feed a calf grain before its age is sufficient to chew its cud. Djn't try to be called a large dairy man by the number of cows you keep. Don't think that strainers or separa tors can take soluble filth out of milk. Don't make your cows drink water that you could not drink yourself. Don't keep a cow a month without testing her to see if she pays her way. Don'c run or worry cows -going to and from the pasture or in the milking yard. Don't think to raise a calf for a milch cow and feed it up to its time of partu rition for a beef animal. Don'c have pastures so short that cows must work every hour of the day and night to get enough to eat. Don'c forget that a cow is decidedly a creature of that habit, and in all ways try to conform to her peculiar habits. Ex. CARE IN MILKING. Correspondence of the Progressive Farmer. By this I mean the attention we give our dairies during the heated period. Simply turning the herd to pasture twice a day and milking at a regular period is not all that is implied by the word "care." Are you sure your cows have all the fresh water they will drink? Springs need cleaning out often. If they are neglected, a dirty ecum often gathers upon the surface and the water is not pure. If the eource of supply is a pond, it is doubly essential that care be used. The weeds and bogs should be kept well scraped out, so that there may be as deep a body of water as pos sible;and as euch reservoirs quickly dry up in time of drouth unless they be fed by springs, they must not be forgotten or soon the milk supply will be shortened. Cows need more water than many of us think. They must have it or we suffer the consequences. The feed supply must also be main tained. When running at pasture, cattle will soon exhaust a large range. There may be grass enough, but they have trodden upon x it as they went along and the next time they come that way they will pass over large quantities of good feed. I like the plan of having two pasture lots for this reason. After running upon one field for say a week, I turn my cows into another field. There the feed seems much fresher, and it is, in fact. The dew and perhaps a shower or two have washed the grass so that it is sweet and clean. How the cattle do enjoy the change I And there is no question but that they do much better than when confined in the same pasture all the time. Again, did you ever try it to see how much salt your cows will coneume if they get it? If not, you would be sur prised upon making the test. Under the basement of my barn, where the cows go in and out to be milked, I have nailed a board along the side of one of the sills forming a long box open at the top. In this I intend to keep salt eo that my cows can have it all the time. They almost al ways stop to take a bite on the way in or out. They are healthier f jr it, and I am sure it adds to the quantity of milk produced. Shade is an essential to the comfort of stock. In the heat of the day they spend many hours resting under the trees. Of late years, the horse fly has made life a burden anywhere unless we use means to keep it away. Some good preparations are now on the market, and we can ourselves mix oils and cer tain acids very cheaply so that we are able to7 do away with a great deal of the misery which would otherwise be caused by the flies E L. Vincent. - THE MONEY INDAIRYING. When milk, butter and chseGe reach as low, prices asprevail this year the question of whether or not there is any money ia dairying rnu3t be answered exactly as a similar one concerning farming might be answered. In both cases it depends altogether on the man who is conductiag the business. There are dairymen who are making money in all the dairy counties of the Weat, just the same as there are farmers who are not complaining about hard times. In such years aa this no one expects to make large profits, but if by good management we can make both ends meet, and leave a little margin cn the right side of the books, we can go for ward with cheerfulness, feeling that lower prices are hardly probable, and that with better prices our profits will be correspondingly increased. Tne good dairyman will breed up his own herd, selecting each year the best, and setting his mark high in order that he may have something to strive for, and something to triumph in when he shall have reached the goal. Heifers should be milked as long as possible the first year, for if allowed to go dry a long time the first year the habit becomes fixed and the cow is less profitable than she might have been. Warm stables are absolutely ess ential to the greatest success, and these should have abundance of light, for no living thing thrives in semi darkness. Regular feeding and milking by the same persons, kind treatment, and plenty of feed must be the rule, and careful grooming and clean bedding also add to the returns. There are a good many formulas f Of feeding dairy cows, but the best one seems to be plenty of feed in as great variety as possible. Anything the cow may relish should be given her, and with dry forage roots or ensilage in liberal quantities. For summer pasture to begin with, and as soon aa that grows short it should be pieced out by feeding green feed of some kind. There is no loss in cutting green feed for stock, as recent experiments show that a field that is pastured does not furnish toex- caed one third as much feed as one in which the grass is allowed to gro w and is cut afterward. Bran oats and corn oats in ths sheaf and corn in the ear or shock, Mr, Judd says, may be fed with profit. Have the cows come in in the winter, as that is the time when prices are the highest, and brings the dry time just when prices are lowest, as a rule. A cow will give about so much milk in a year, no matter what time she comes in, and she should be bred so as to pro duce milk during the whole of the sea son of best prices. By attention to all theso details, care ful feeding from an economical point of view, and a personal supervision, the dairyman can, even at present low prices, count on making a profitable year. Farmers' Voice. " HOW ABOUT YOUR WATER SUP PLY FOR YOUR COWS? Success must ba the watch word of all practical dairymen; and the higher success they achieve the nearer they will have come to realize the ideal of perfection towards which they must strive to reach. It will re q Mire con siderable work, and constant daily at- tention co an Lao Email aetaus, u tne highest standard of success is to be at tained. But no ambitious dairymen can afford to neglect them. And still there are very few dairymen that real "z 3 the nrceseity of supplying the cows with sufficient water, especially in the winter. Milk contains 87 per cent, of water, and a cow that weighs 1,000 pounds, when in full milk, will drink about 11 to 13 gallons of water each day, if she can obtain it whenever she feels inclined to drink. But if she cannot have access to water more than once a day, she will drink a very large quantity when thirsty1 and then again on cold stormy days go thirsty from the trough, after drirking a few mouthfulp. Now, if a cow drinks as much as 12 gallons of icy cold water at one time, it will give her a terrible chill, from which it will often take the cow several hours before she regains the animal heat necessary to make her feel comfortable, and no secretion of milk can take place before she has as sumed her natural temperature. Be sides, a very large quantity of water taken at one time makes the food in her stomach so l q iid that ic cannot be raised lor rumination. Of course, na ture soon removes the surplus, but the process continues, and the contents of the stomach become too dry and solid. 3o the cow is handicapped both ways, when, if the necessary water was at hand, the cow would take a little at a time when needed for the best result. Dairyman who have supplied their cows with 8i-fS ;iant water in the barn, find that the same lot of cows will give from 10 per cent to even aa much as 20 per ceat. more milk on !he earns food, and nodiiryman who keepi cows for prcflo can inoro Uh results. Diiry mm that have not provided for watering devic s in their barn3 should not fail to do so aa poon as possible. For this purpose a V shaped trough running the whole length of th3 Btable, immediately over the center of the manger will be found very convenient. Place the water trough about 3i feet above the floor of tho manger. Ic will thus not inconvenience either cow or attendant, and the water can easily bo let into it from a tank, or pumped directly from the well into the trough. If water cannct be constantly supplied to the milch cows, it should be given to them in the barn at least two or, still newer, wree limes a uay. wjWIS v. j Follow, in Hoard's Dairyman.