Newspapers / The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, … / Sept. 21, 1897, edition 1 / Page 1
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The Progrc jlTe Farmer is a rood paper far Shove the aver age and possibly the best advertis ing medium in N. " Printeri Ink. "The Progres sive Farmer is a good paperfor above the average- -and possibly the best advertis ing medium in N. C." Printers' Ink. THE INDUSTBIAL AND EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS OF OUE PEOPLE PARAMOUNT TO ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS OP STATE POLICY. Tol. 12. RALEIGH, If. 0., SEPTEMBER 21, 1897. Ho. 33 RATIONAL FARMERS' ALLI- AND INDUSTRIAL, UNION. fresent Mann Page, Brandon, Vice President O. Vincent, Indian , Ind. " "'Secretary Treasurer W. P. Bricker, jgan Station, Pa. LECTURERS. r p Soppamon, Charlotte, N. O. Hamlin V. Poore, Bird Island, Minn. F. H. Peirsol, Parkersbunr, W. Va. NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. Kann Page. Brandon Va ; R A. ,uth worth, Denver, Col. ; J ohn Bre- W Va. ; A. B. Welch. New York; A. Gardner, Andrew's Settlement, JTJDICIAEY. f Southworth, Denver, Colo, a W. Beck, Alabama. y, D. Davie, Kentucky. ORH OA30LISA. TAKSIKIIS7 BTA7E ALLI ANCE. President Jno. Graham, Ridgeway, f C V -c3 Present W. G. Upchurch, vfcrriviik?. N O. gr-att Tres surer J.T. B. Hoover, lilisboro. N. 0. S.-.at Business Agent T. B Parker, Hilisbor. N. C. Lecwri-r-Dr. V. N. Ssawell, Villa no, N. O. A-"istant Lecturer W. B. Brick 'Chaplain- W. S Mercer, ,N. C. vcr keeper tfeo. T. Lano, Greens Mro. N. C. distant Door-keeper Jaa. E. Lyon, 0 irtiwn, N. 0. ant-at-Arma A. D. iv. Wallace, Jtteigb, N. O. irn rje Business Agency Fund v. i. r, iham, Machpelab, N. O. IXSCUTIVE COMMITTED 0T TEE NORTH CAR FARMERS7 STATE ALLIAKCE. J. W. Denmark, Chairman, Ba'eigh, NT 0. John Graham, Ridgeway, N. C. W. B. Fiemiug, Ridgeway, N. O. A. F. Hilf man, Concord, N. 0. Dr. J. B klpxander, Charlotte, N. C Themis D. O.dham, Teer, N. C. STATE A jLIASCS JUDICIARY OOHMITTS2. D?. J. E Pt reon, Pikeville, N. C. V. S Berr.ee. Reigb, N. C. T. Ivey, Hillsboro, N. C. tils Czssilns, Reform Presi Association, vrfser -J. L. iiamsey, President; rarior. Euiler, Vice-President ; W. & e&s, Secretary, papers. .-3zmslT8 Farmer, SUte Orsrn, RlelK&. N. C. ?Ar".arv Hickory, C f ix ' WMtakere, N. C. Jar Home, Beaver Dam, N. C. die Popuiist, Lnmberton, N. C. "He People's Paper. Charlotte, N. C. flle Vestibule, Concord, N. C. &e Plow- Boy. Wadesboro, N. C. 'wcUna .Watchman, ' Salisbury, N. C. -a-Ji of the above-named papers are WMtty&to keep the list standing on : f first page and add others, provided Kii aredmy elected. Any paper fail to advocate the Ocala platform will t dropped from the list promptly. Our Oilier can now see what papers are tK:!Mi in their interest. .IGBICULTURE. Nest eek we shall publish an article n the 4 Sin Jjso Scale" written eepe :iilly for The Progressive Farmer by hat veteraa fruit grower, Mr. J. Van v'ndley, of Pomona, N. O. American Girdenicg recommend3 jutting turnip3 that are to be used o vh3 table in barrcld in layera of eand .Mticg the turnij.8 will alao keep them resh and plump, bus the sand packing vculd be good where the roots are to o kept ia a callar. It will pay you to ditch out and clear ip that muck swamp. It ia composed )' dsciyed vegetation and the very Jesc elements of the higher land around t that have waahed down into it. It will soon pay for iteelf in any crop you aay grow upon it. Farmers Voice truly says that it is in uphill business to attempt to eradi cate the weeds from a man's own farm when the winds which blow and the aircU which fly and the wagons which travel up and down the roads all carry the seeds of a neighborhood to his acres ; but thus it must ever be until farmers unite their forces in the assault upon them. W e are glad to note that North Oaro Una 'armors now eeem to realize more than ever the need of education even to farming. An evidence of this is u- i in tu,3 iacrGa8ed attendance of fct'uiy ft.it our schocld, and especially A & M. College at Raleigh An tX'.'h-.vr.gn wisely eays that education ia fcs r-Hcn:!al for the farmsr as for any i m.n. Good farming consists not wk :ly of manual labor; it re q lires the (x -! -e or gxi intellectual powers. re a vast diffjrenso between c euuii-j and theoretical farming. If irrnera wiil cultivate the mind as cll as th3 soil, perfection in cgricul turo could be approached in a few Sears. The tilling of the Boil is des eed to become the most learned and Practical of all the professions. WEEKLY DIGEST Of Experiment Station Bulletins. No 87. EFFECTS OF ROTATION ON SOIL FERTILITY The effect of crop rotation and also of farm manures on the humus content and fertility of soils has been under in vestigation by the Minnesota Station since the spring of 1892, and bulletin 1 3 gives an account of the experiments and the results reached. The field chosen had been growing small grain for forty years without fer tilizing, and though somewhat ex hausted, was in fair condition as to fer tility. It was divided into six phts, and all were sown in wheat the first year to see if they were of equal and uniform fertility. None differed in yield more thsn a bushel per acre. The plan of the experiment was to grow wheat continuously on one plot, oats on another, barley on a third, corn on a fourth and all thee crops in rota tion with clover on the fifth, and in ro tation with clover with clover and ma nure on the eixth. Each crop was weighed and analyzed, and the soil of evih plot was analj zd before and'ifter the .experiment to determine the gasn or less of fertility. The land was well drained and in good mechanical cendi tion, and the plots were separated by strips six feet wide. The rotation on one plot was firet year wheat and clover, second year clover, third year wheat, fourth year oats, fifth year corn and manure. Tho o:her rotation was first year oats and clover, second year clover, third year barley, fourth year corn aud manure. It wa3 found that the clover seeded with wheat did much better than that sown with oats, y ielding over a thou sand pounds more hay per acre the second year. This is probably due to the f act that oats are deeper rooted and grosser feeders than wheat, acd hence they deprive the young clover of more of the soil food than -wheat does. It is well known that oats will find soil food enough to make a good crop on soil too poor to produca wheat. In 1895 the plot that had been in wheat continuously yielded 17 bushels per acre &nd the soil showed a Iocs of 171 pounds of nitrogen per acre, only 25 of which was found in the crop removed, hence the other 146 pounds must have been leached out by rain and evaporated into the air. On the other hand, in the same y ear (1895), the rotation plot, which had been in clover the year before, yielded 22 bush els of wheat per acre, and the soil showed a gain of 61 pounds per acre each year of the rotation, not withstand ing more had been removed by the crcps, because they were larger than on the all wheat plot. It is thought that this gain is due to two facts namely : First, the clover gathered and stored in its roots and stubble a large amount of free nitrogen from the air; second, the humus added to the soil by the decaying roots and stubble of the clover held the soil moisture in which much nitrogen was dissolved, as a sponge holds water, thus preventing much loea by leachiDg and evaporation. These results show that in continu oua wheat growing the soil becomes so barren of humus that it loses by leach ing and evaporation five pounds of nitrogen for every pound used by the crop. O its and barley show about the same rate of loss. In 1896 the rotation plot produced but one fourth of a bushel more oats per aero than the plot that had been in oats continuously because of the above noted ability of oats to get a good liv ing on poor soil ; but the all oats plot lost 196 pounds of nitrogen per acre, while the rotation plot still showed a net gain of nitrogen. In 1896 the plot which bad been in corn continuously yielded bushels per acre, acd the rotation plot, with manure, yielded 66J bushels per acre a gain of 22 bushels per acre, and at the E&me time the all corn plot showed a yearly loss of 84 pounds of nitrogen per acre ; while the rotation plot showed a substantial net gain of this valuable fertilizing element. Ol the 84 pounds lost annually on tho all corn plot, 55 pounds were stored in the crcp and 29 lost by leeching and evaporation. Thus it is seen that while wheat, oats and barley lands lose about five pounds of nitrogen for every pound used by the crop, corn lores but little more than half a pound of nitrogen for each pound used by the crop. This is thought to be due to the fact that the corn crop shades the land throughout the hot summer, -while the wheat, barley and oats are removed in midsummer, leav ing the soil exposed during the hottest season to the volatilizing effect of the August sun. For this reason it has been found that the growth of a crop of corn between two wheat crops is less exhaustive to the soil than a bare sum mer fallow between two wheat crops. It also forcibly illustrates the import ance of keeping the soil covered by some useful crop throughout the sum mer season. In 1895 the plot which had been con tinuously in barley yielded 35 bushels per acre, and the rotation plot yielded 42i bushels per acre, a gain of nearly four bushels per acre for rotation, and the rotation plot also showed a gain in nitrogen, while the all barley plot showed a heavy loss. A strip of land adjoining one of the above plots was summer fallowed (kept plowed and cultivated, though no crop was grown,) for two years in eucces eion, and instead of gaining in fertility,' as is supposed by those who practice summer fallowing, analyses of thi3 sttl before and after the two years1 fallow showed a loss of 590 pounds of nitrogen per acre. Nitrrgen purchased ia c im mercial fereiliz?rs c sts 12 to 18 cents per pound, an average of 15 cents, and at thi3 rate the 590 piunds lost by fcbe two years' fallow was worth $88 50, equal to 144 25 per ye&r, a pretty sub stantial loss on a single acre of land. However, tho poorer the land the less the loss; but ths above ought to be stffi ;iont to demonstrate the fallacy and follow of the summer fallow. The latter half cf this bulletin is de voted to a consideration of the value of humus, the ways in which it is lost from the soil and the most economical way in which it may ba stored to the soil. The animal and vegetable substar ces in tho soil in varying degrees of decay or decomposition aro collectively spoken of as humus, or organic matter. These substances, when they reacli the proper stage of decay, units, chemio ally, with the potash, phosphoric acid and lime of the 30il, forming ccmpcuud? called humates. Humus b a? been found to bo valuable in the following ways: 1 It absorbs or "fixes" nitrogen, thus preventing the loe3 of this, the most valuable of all fertil zing elements 2. It absorbs water, thus enabling the 6oil to better withstand drouths. 3 It renders potash and phosphoric acid soluble, so that they can be taken into the sap of plants through the roots. For these reaaons farm manures poa sess an advantage and value over and above the market price of the nitrogen, potash and phosphoric acid they con tain. Their balk is mostly humus, a valuable material which exists in very small quantities in commercial fertili zers. For the same reason clover, pea3 and other green crops even weeds turned under, aro largely bene ficlal to land, aside from tho nitrogen they have gathered from the air and the phos phoric acid and potash their long.roots may have brought up from the eub3oil. Investigations at the Minnesota Sta tion prove the following interesting and valuable facte relating to humus: Farm manure, green clover, blood, fiah, tankage, cotton seed, etc , produce humus rich in nitrogen, while oats straw, sawdust and carbohydrates form humus poor in nitrogen but rich in carbon, and? the nitrogenous humus moro readily unites with the potash and phosphoric acid of the soil to form humates than does carbonaceous hu mas. The humas of virgin soils is much richer in nitrogen and humates than the humus of soils that have been cropped for a series of years. Forest fires have been found to cause a loas of as much as three- fourths of the total nitrogen cf the soil by destruc tion of the hursus. The practice of burning off lands preparatory to plow ing often permanently injures their crop-producing powers. Clean culture to hoed crops tends to exhaust soils of their humus, and this is why the old cotton fields of the Ssuth have become bo poor. It baa been found that the growth of clover, cow peas, etc , soon restores these lands to a high degree of fertility, if all needed potash and phosphoric acid be applied to tho clover and pea crops. Soils most in need of humus ara sandy and sandy loam soils that have long received clean culture without the application of farm manure. Munky, peaty, clay and prairie silos do not need humus for many years aftdr tey are put in cultivation. An ordinary prairie soil needs no humus added for about ten years after it is first put in cultivation. Mucky ard swampy soils are apt to contain sour humus in large quantities, and these must be well drained and dressed with lime or marl before they will become productive. Thus treated, ' a soil which is more than half humus may ba brou ght into cultivation. They make fine permanent meadows. Such soils have been known to pre d ice hay every year for forty years without any decrease in the annual yield. In localities where the rainfall is evenly distributed throughout the year the loss of humus is not so severely felt as where there are periods of drouth. MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS. Bulletin 64 of the Virginia Station, dessribes many internal parasites of sheep, gives their life history, eymp toms of infection and treatment. Fol lowing is the prescription for tape worm, which requires a much more powerful treatment than round worms: Areca nut, 2 drachms; powdered male shield fern, 1 ounce ; mix and give at one dose. Repeat after ten days, if necessary. To avoid parasitical infec tion of sheep allow access to none but pure water, change pastures often and be careful to see that newly purchased sheep do not mix with the flock till they have been qiarantiened long enough and thoroughly examined to make sure that they are not infected. If one of a fl )3k is found infected treat tho whole flock as a precautionary measure. Bulletin 31, of Wyoming Station, is intended to put the farmers and ranch men of that State upon their guard against the worst weeds of Wyoming. Pea descriptions of theee weeds are given, with their history, habits, dis semination, eeeding, and the best means of combating them. Those treated of in this bulletin are Russian thistle, Squirrel tail grass, cockle, Canada thi3tle, Bull thiatlo, prickly lettuce, buffalo burr, poverty weed, rag weed, pig weed, dandelion, false flx, skele ton weed, wild tomato, deck, purslane, crcb grass, mallow, cactus, burr grass, dodder, green foxtail, sunflower, cockle burr, tow thistle, yellow flix, hedge bindweed, wild oats, wild buckwheat, lamb's quarter, rib grass, porcupine grass, larkspur (poison), leco weed (poisoc), gum plant, wild mustard, shepherd's purse, Rocky mountain bee plant, wild liquorice, stick ssed, goose grasp, Spanish needle, march elder, pepper grass and wormwood sage. Tne S:ate laws on weeds are also given. Bulletin 34, of the Iowa Station, also treats of weeds, among other subjects. It is confined to a consideration of weeds of the mustard family. These embrace tumbling mustard, hedge mustard, false fl x, shepherd's purse, horse radish, winter cress, wild radish or Indian turnip, etc. The best method of exterminating these troublesome weed3 is to pull them out by the roots during any wet time when tho ground is soft, before the seeds form. If the ground is thickly seeded, plow it shal law early in spring and leave it un planted, but as fast as a crop of weed seeds sprout and appear above ground, run a two horso weeder over it, repeat ing as often as necessary till midsum mer and then seed it to buckwheat, millet, cow peas, or some good late cover cover crop. Every State should hwe stringent anti weed laws, fixing severe penalties for permitting weeds to go to seed in the fence corners or lanes about one's premises. FARMERS AHEAD. Statistics from the last censu3 show that the United States contains to day 4 564,000 farms, of an average size of 137 acres each. Of the bread winners among the people 44 per cent are en gaged in agricultural pursuits, only 22 per cent., or just ono half as many, are engaged in manufacturing. Twenty three per cent, are in professions of all kind and in personal service, acd 11 per cent are gaged in trade and transportation, it will thus bo seen that farming is by far the largest icter terest, engaging the most people. O these 4 564.000 farms, a fraction more than 71 per cnt. are occupied and cul tivated by their owners and a fraction more than 28 per cent, are occupied by tenant farmers. Prof. Georgeson. . There's pay in fruit raising provided the business is conducted &3 business should be. Some Tdr Heel farmers realize the truth of this and profit by it. A recent issue of the Spartanburg (3. C.) Herald says: Wednesday after noon three wagon loads of fine, luscious poaches were brought to the city from Chimney Rck, N. C, 17 miles above Ratberfordton, The wagoners sold the fruit at fl per bushel. PROF. EMERY WRITES. . . Correspondence of tne Progressive Farmer. Noticing the letter of Mr. Cline, I was struck by liis offer to send crimson clover seed into North Carolina as a novelty crop farmers ought to be ac quainted with. That Dr. Haverdine may have made an independent impor tation of this seed no one will deny, but that he should be accredited with having started this crop in the Uuitcd States ia absurd. "There is nothing new under the sun," and this clover may have had a dozen independent in troductions before this writer,' Mr. Cline, or any other reader of The Pro gressive Farmer was born. Here at Raleigh we have an unassuming far mer who made an independent intro duction of crimson clover into this sec tion by bringing a little seed in his trunk from England about twenty years ago. It has been-grown by him and others ever since, but has never been as extensively grown anywhere in America es in and around Dataware within the last eight years. There the crop is properly valued as a land im prover and as a cash crop for eeed to sell. Here in North Carolina crimson clo ver was known for at least forty years, as State Geologist Enmons makes some very accurate observations on it though fallirg into the error that it re quired a cooler climate than is feu ad in E istern counties. It was perhaps grown in his time by sowing in spring. If readers respond to Mr. Cline's ofisr of seed as farmers did to another from the Experiment station a few years ago his seed will soon be exhaueted. About 1140 worth of eeed went off like hot cakes, and then only about one- third of the names listed were eup plied. A notice had to bo given that supply was exhausted. Readers of The Progressive Farmer will do much better and credit them eelves to buy seed of some growers and enter into the cultivation of this clover on a scale large enough to afford a cloverseed huller in every county or town, and make cloverseed, instead of cotton or tobacco, cna of the cash crops. It will pay in increase of other crops in rotation. . It will pay in itself It will pay ia the increased number of cattle, sheep and swine which can be better kept on the farm, and each animal made to sell for more money than f ormerly without crimson clover. Frank E Emery Crops in the western part of the State are reported to be suffering less from drought than those in the central sec tion. A correspondent of an exchange says: With an abundant wheat crop, corn above the average and an average day cash market for cattle, Macon county bids fair to receive her share of the good things of earth, and will join in a hearty thanksgiving for the return of better days LIM2. The proper and judicious use of lime is often an item of profit on the farm. Lime enters into the composition of plants and ia an element necessary to their growth. The fact, however, that there is nearly always a sufficient sup ply of lime in the soil to serve a3 plant food proper, renders it seldom if ever necessary to apply lime to make up a deficiency. On the other hand, the aim in giving the soil a dose of lime is usually to improve its physical condi tion. If the soil is sour, lime will e wee ten it; if it is light, lime will make it more compact ; if it is too compact, lime will loosen it. An object lesson as to the effect cf lime upon soil is illus t rated in the following simple experi ment. If two pieces of heavy clay soil, one of which has had lime sprinkled over it, are placed side by efd, end allowed to dry in the sun, the one which has no lime on it will bake, be come hard and crack, while the other piece on which lime has been sprinkled will become more porous and friable and crumbles easily when submitted to a slight pressure. The lime has per meated the pores acd brought about this condition which is desirable in soils and which adds so much to their productive capacity. On an average it will be found ad vis able to apply lime about once every five years. From thirty to forty bush els per acre of air slacked lime would be a sufficient quantity. It is baat to broadcast the lime over the plowed surface of the field. Do not work it into the soil, as it will soon permeate of its own accord. Besides, its action in improving the physical condition of the soil referred to above, the lime also liberates some plant food, notably potash. If potash previously existed in the soil in an in soluble state, the lime will make it available as a plant food. It would be poor policy, though, to continue to ap ply lime alone, since the soil would soon become exhausted of its natural supply of plant food which the lime haa liberated. An economical plan, therefore, would be to keep up the soil's natural supply not only of potash, but also of phosphoric acid and nitrogen as well, since these are elements which usually become exhausted first, and which the farmer has to renew in the shape of manures, etc. M. J Shelton. "GOOD FARMING' A Maine paper gives an account of a farm near Bar Harbor, from which the owner receives a large annual income. Pluck, energy and enterprise" are the terms used to explain his success in farming, but what does ho sell? People who would do likewise will be pleased to learn that 'last year he realized a net income of $7,000 from granite, gravel and loam which he sold from his farm.'' If theee are ennual crops, we ought to know how to produce them without exhausting the soil. Another item in last year's sales was 100 cords of wood, As the farm contains but seventy five acres and produces eighty tons of hay, the woodlot muet be getting small. It complicates the situation still more when we read that he keeps ten horses and and about a dcz?n cot; a and has already sold his eighty tons of hay for $20 per ton. Do his cows and horses live on the brush from the cordwood ? 'There is nothing said about a silo, nor of any grain being grown. There must be another side to his account, and a bottom to his loam and gravel banks. Holding up such a sy stem of combined quarrying, forest destroying and soil robbing as an example of profitable farming through the exercise of 'pluck, energy, and enterprise," is an insult to the' farmers of the State, but is reported so often with slight varia tions that custom is supposed to sanc tion it. Weekly Union, Manchester, N. H. FARMING IN CHINA. Mrs. E V. Edwards, of Minneapolis, read an interesting paper before tho Farmers' Congress at St. Paul, her subject being "Picture que Farming." She said : 'The chief product is rice, and each farmer has a few ducks who are trained to go upon the rice fields and eat the snails, frogs and other animals that in fest the fields. Hens are also trained to follow the harvester and pick up every grain of rice that escapes his op erations, for in China not even a grain of rice is wasted. This refinement of economy is shown in the care with which every thing that could possibly add to the fertility of the soil is saved and applied. When the stubble is burned, clods of earth are piled up in little ovens to ab sorb even theemoke from the fires. The walls of abode huts which have re ceived the emoke of the household fire and the exhalations of the human occu pants for long periods are pulverized and added to the soil. 'Every farmer has hia pig, and tho animal is raised absolutely without cost. His habitat is the front doorstep, unoccupied otherwise, and he forages for his food. His head i the chief offerings for the household god, and his fljsb, with that of the fowls, fur nishes the family with meat." Mrs. EI wards referred to the fact that the hen is forced to work double time. She not only lays her own eggs, but tha Caineae have a fashion of filling egg ehells with the spawn of fieh and allow ing the hen to warm them into life. They are then placed in ehallow ponds for further development. Possibly no class of people give leea attention to the little things pertaining to their profession than farmers. Yet "little things in agriculture represent the difference between prcfls andloa3 a few more bushels of grain an acre, a little heavier yield cf butter a cow, a little faster gain in the fattening cattle; proper care wiil procure all these." To neglect thete little thing means death to profit. Tate him the world over and you will find tnat ths man who haa become a manager of great things is tne man who ia careful in regard to little things. In every profeesion wo find that is ia true that an cuxca of prevention is worth a pound of cure." fho world moves and things on tha " world move with it. When once a thing gets started on the downward grade, it is doubly hard to change its coursa. Attend to the little things before they grow greater and possibly get beyond ycur control.
The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Sept. 21, 1897, edition 1
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