Newspapers / The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, … / Nov. 9, 1897, edition 1 / Page 1
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-bc Prcgrei ;Frnier it paper far . the er dpossIMy "The Prcgres Ive Farmer la a cood paper far above the average- -and possibly the best advertis ing medium in II. C." Printers Ink. edium in N. fri"kw" THE INDUSTRIAL AND EDUCATIONAL INTEEISTS OF OUB PEOPLE PARAMOUNT TO ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS OF STATE POLICY. 12. RALEIGH, It. 0., NOVEMBER 9, 1897. Ho. 40 , v.' fi M1 n t i .1 n 1 1 -1 1 iv fv i u i i ii tTT r'-f n t i Mil 1111 n V J I 11 J 1 V 1 lii V 1 11 -AVNAT-y J It I fi I J ll 1 I I 1 J " I ) IJ VI w i ca i - kill MCS AND INDUSTRIAL iB ONION. ent Mann Page, Brandon, . president C. Vincent, Indian- Jary Treasurer W. P. Bricker, - gamon, Charlotte, N. O. tin V. Poore, Bird Island, Minn. , liDJ'l - " .oSAL CXEOUTTVB COMMITTEE. Pass. Brandon, Va.; R. A. prth Denver, Col.; John Bre- Gardner, Andrew's Settlement, judiciary. geuthworth, Denver, Colo, !eck, Alabama. ffARKEBS' STATE ALLI ANCE. . lent-Jno. Graham, Ridgeway, Prent W. B. Upchurch, Xtv-T'surer-J.T. B.Hoover, VM.J Atrent T. B. Parker, Sr-Dr". V. N. Seawell, Villa- ' n Lint Lecturer W. B. Brick VUckpv Ferry. N. C. i-:w a Mercer. Movock. keeper Geo. T. Lane, Greens- C. ' int Door-keeper Jas. E. Lyon, , tat-at- Arms A. D. K. Wallace, N 0 le Business Agency Fund W. iam, Machpelah, N. C. VE COMMITTEE OF THE NORTH fciA ARMER3 STATU ALLIANCE. -3r&ham, Bidgeway, N. C. t Fleming, Ridgeway, N. C. Hueman, vjoncoru, j. I B Alexander, Charlotte, ci. U. ae J O dbem, Teer, N. C. UUANCS JUDICIARY OOMMTTSa. E Poreon, Pikeville, N. C. Barnes. Raleigh, N. C. . Flillsboro, N. C. omTTT .rTTT"RTT.. u FOR THE MONTH OF NO VEMBER, 1897. t the wood shed is filled with - vood, bo that no trouble may laring -wet weather in securing a:c:e8ary to cook meals and uqc comfortable, out, repair and make ready etock all barns, etables and ted house the stock at nights ie weather ba caused them to fUsh and improvement made bo summer and fall, good road3 and paths between Q and farm buildings, and let 1 yard be go drained as that it : becomo a puddle hole during '-t-er. A good raised pathway e made ne t all the buildings, t vail not bo necessary to walk mud from one building to an- provision for saving and stor manure !rom tha stock. Let j selected for the manure heap from the buildings, and where r will fail upon it except the rainfall; and have the site d sned towards the centre, so ?epage shall run to that point : away from the heap, r up and place under cover all I implements not in actual use. e din cleaned from them, and ie briht parts. In the winter, tesiry repairs can be made e weather is not fit for outdoor id a cat of paint can be given, ervaaee of this sj'Stem would farmers of the country many is of dollars every j ear. ! the land to be plowed is cov- 11 vegetation an application of to luo bushels of lime to the be found to be of great service ! for cropping next year. It rove the texture and make 5 the plant food in the soil ould. always be applied in the 'er. If applied along with ti:'z:rs, it has the effect of set toe nitrogen and thus impair- ldj8 and pastures may be Novated by an application of 1 broadcast at the rate of hundred bushels to the acre of the year. The lime 6 followed by harrowing the 11 heavy harrow, which will luh old sod and open the 9 action of the air and the e oil the trash thus harrowed en sow a mixture of orchard grass, red top and tall meadow oat grass, at the rate of one bushel to the acre, and later in th8 winter, top dress with farm-yard manure. In the spring, the long litter should be raked off and the land be rolled, and the field will take on a new growth and stand for several years. The question of the crops to be grown next year should have attention at this time so that proper preparation may be made for them. The subject of the rotation of crops is one to which much too little attention has been given in the South, and the neglect of a proper rotation is one of the great causes of so much impoverished land With the observance of a proper rota tion, land should gradually become more fertile instead of becoming im poverishfd. One crop takes mainly one element of food from the land whilst another takes another, and a third actually feeds the land with at least one most important element, and draws from the depths of the soil other elements of food and leaves them near the surface for the support of the next crop. A wise rule is, never to grow two grain crops succeeding each other, and to let a deep rooting crop always be followed by a surface feeding crop. As far as possible, always provide that a leguminous crop, such as peas or clover, shall intervene between two grain crops, and let a grass crop always follow a deep rooting crop, and be only seeded when the land is in a good state of fertility. Now is the timo of year when steps can be taken to establish a system of rotation under which the land can be improved. What is the best rotation to fellow is a question de pending largely upon local conditions, and must be decided each for himself, subject only to the general principles above laid down. Prof. Roberts has made a calculation from experiments made by him, that the farmers of New York State lose $50,000,000 annually by neglect of their manure heaps and of the means at hand for making farmyard manure; and it is well within the mark to say that the farmers of the whole country lose annually from thiscauss $500,000, 000, a sum equal to the increased value of the farm crops this year, which is the cauee of so much rej 'icing and satisfaction. In order to provide a part of the plant feed thus lost through causes wholly preventable commercial f ertilf zsrs have to b3 bought and a large part of the crop3 have to be sold to pay for these The farmers of the Southern States alone last year bought 1 138 802 tons of commercial fertilizers. Even at $20 per ton, which is less than the average value of these goods, this means the immense sum of $22,776 040. to be provided out of the crops grown in these States. Of this total tonnage Georgia took 335,617 tons; North Caro lina 185,000 tons, and Virginia 171,704 tons, and even this immense consump tion has been exceeded this year in all those States. In the State of Pennsyl vania, where the Dutch farmers know and realize the value of farm yard ma nure, and make and save it more care fully than in most Spates, 150,000 tons of commercial fertilizers only were sold. If the immense loss of farm yard manure was prevented by a careful husbanding of all the means of making and saving it easily within the compe tence of every farmer, the commercial fertiLz rs bought would yield a much greater return, as only when supple mented by humus in the soil can they do their beat work. Southern Planter. SEED CORN. Dr. E. L Sturtevant, says: "The true principle or rule at the foundation of successful corn culture is to select seed of a variety adapted to our uses, market and climate, which has prolific parentage through the largest series of generations possible. In order for this we must plant our seed fields by them selves, away from other corn. We must then, at the period preceding the bloom, go through our fields with the knife, and ruthlessly cut away every feeble stalk, every overgrown stalk, every stalk which departs from the type of growth that we desire, and above all, every stalk which does not show indications of bearing several strong ears. In this way only, can we insure the fertilization of our seed corn by pollen from productive plants, and in this way only can we intelligently keep the heredity of the plant in the direction of the continued prolificacy that we desire." If some person in every county would give special atten tion to improving corn by careful selec tion of seed and proper cultivation, he would soon find it a profitable business, with a brisk demand from his brother farmers for supplies of eeed. SOME REMARKS ABOUT THE CONDltiON OF GERMAN AGRICULTURE. Dr. Ernest T. Bynum, the newly elected Professor of Hi&tory and Eco nomics, in the University, has written for the Chatham Citizen a very inter esting article relating to the condition of German agriculture. Dr. Bynum says: In comparing the price of land in Germany with that in America it is necessary to bear in mind that the farmers there are heavily protected by the government and. received in conse quence a much higher price for their produce. Ae near as I have been able to com pute, the price of wheat there was $1 20, of rye $1 00, of barley $0 75 and of oats $0. 50 cents a bush? 1. Good butter sells for 35 cts., beef at 20 cents and pork is a little higher than beef. Peas bring about $2 00 a bushel and potatoes about $15 00 a ton. Now these are cash prices and every producer finds a ready market in every town. The public highways aro in.superb condition and the cost of transportation is very small. It is even doubtful whether land could bring such prices without tbe ex tremely low rate of interest prevailing all over Europe and the sugar beet cul ture. I regret my inability to compare with any degree of accuracy the prico of sugar beets. In the Province of Saxony and the Duchy of Anhalt this is most import ant crop and requires a far greater de gree of intelligence and skill in its cul ture. The farmers generally own and operate the sugar factories as stock companies and those who market their own beets are paid according to the polarisation or the amount of sugar contained in the beets. Suffice it to say, this is considered the most re munerative of all the crops. ' Another element to be considered in accounting for the cost of land is the price of farm labor. This is in general higher than in North Carolina. A farm laborer receives about $17 00 a month and about half an acre upon which to plant potatoes. I will eay just here that the Irish potato is the chief food supply of the poorer classes in Germany, and, indeed, in most of the European countries. I have in the abovo list enumerated the chief farm predicts with the ex ception of hay. In regard to grass cul ture I can give very little information of value. Besides lucerne and clover, lupine is extensively cultivated and especially prized as a green manure to be U3ed on red land. I have been told by agricultural scientists that this im proved the quality of land more rapidly than any other grass. I should like very much to see this tried in Chat ham by way of experiment ; because its success in Germany and Poland has been so phenomenal. Ernest T. Bynum. P. 8. I might have remarked that the barley crop exceeds that of all the cereals. One can conceive of its im portance from the fact that the Gar mans consume more than 500 million gallons of beer' annually. KEEPING SWEET POTATOES. Correspondence of the Progressive Farmer, I think the following plan a good one, and would have printed this letter in the bulletin, but the bulletin was out just before I received it, and it would be too late for the next one. There fore ask you to publish this letter for the benefit of the patato growers in the State. J. M. Mewboorne, Commissioner of Agriculture. Magnolia, N. C , Oct. 27. 1897. Mr. J. M. Mewboorne, Commissioner of Agriculture: Dear Sir: Your letter of Oct. 21st received. You did not answer my question in regard to having and keep ing sweet potatoes, but stated that there were many ways of having and keeping them in North Carolina, and wanted to know my plan. I will there fore answer your question as best I can. I have a large shelter covered with shingles secure from any leak. I put all that I make under that shelter. I put all of my large ones at one end of the pile and the small ones that I expect to bed at the other end of the pile. I then put on plenty of pine straw ; long leaf pine straw I think is the best. When I think there is a plenty of straw, it is best to put on just about as much more. Then I saw plank just long enough to reach from the bottom part of the hill to the top of it and set them up all around the hiil. I then put another coat of straw on top of the plank that I set up around the hill, and then bank them with dirt just enough to keep them from being too cold. I use great care in putting them up thoroughly dry and free from any cut ones: I leave air holes all along in the top of the hill. I never shut them up only in the. coldest weather. I pay strict attention to them all the time. If I think they are too cold, I put on more dirt 1 If I think they are too warm, I takeoff some of it. I never house them until frost has killed the vines The great secret is to put them up dry and keep them dry and keep them at the right temperature not to get too cold or too hot. W. H. Kornegay. P. 8. This plan has etcod a test of twenty-four years. We have never been without them since the fall of 1873 (twenty-four years this fall). We have enough old ones on hand now to last us three or four weeks longer. W. H. K WHAT HAS THE ALLIANCE DONE FOR THE FARMER? Mr. J E. Spence, a vigorous and en tertaining writer,' discusses the above question in a logical and entertaining way in the last iesue of the Chatham Citizsn. What the Alliance has done for Chatham it has done for farmers of all other counties. Consequently the article will be read with equal interest in all parts of the State. Mr. Spence writes as follows: "Has the Alliance accomplished any thing for the farmers ? We very often hear it said by thoughtless people that it has not. But the facts will convince any candid mind to the contrary. "It. 13 true the Alliance has not been successful in getting its demands into law. J But that has been due to failure of so many of its members to stand as a unit for them. We have not sue ceeded in raising the price of farm pro duce. I But under the circumstances how could we expect to. So many of our members were faint-hearted and gave tip the fight before the real battle was on. v "But under the most adverse circum staucoj we have aSjomplishcd some thins;. We have certainly succeeded in reducing the margin of profits spec latora were making upon us. Take the price of cook stoves as an evidence. Our Business Agency put the pries down to ten dollars. In only a short time the merchants were compelled to meet our price. Mere was and is a saving of five to six dollars on every stove. Take sewing machines. They sold for from forty five to sixty dol lar. Oar Agency put the very best Quality to about twenty dollars. Now you can buy the best machine for nine teen to twenty five dollars. Take guano as an instance. We were pay ing thirty dollars a ton. Our Agency offered a better article for $22. Now we can buy any standard brand for that. And while we have decreased the price' we have forced the mannfac turers to increase the value of the goods. "Now I notice our new Business Agent proposes to make arrangements for us to buy chemicals and mix our own guano at a cost of about $15 or less a ton, and at the same time get a better article than we have been pay ing $22 for. Now here will bo a saving of about one dollar on each eack we buy. How much will that save to the farmers of Chatham county, if they are in a position to take advantage of it? Can any honest man then say the Alliance has done the farmers no good Remember l nave mentioned only a few articles on which we kave been saved hard earned dollars by our Busi ness Agency. Dozens more could have been cited. "But there is one more thing to which I desire to call attention. You have read of the new cotton press trust now in course of organization. What will be the result of it no one knows But we do know it intends to rob the cotton formers of the South of millions of dollars. That's what it's here for. If the cotton farmers were organized they could stamp the very life out of it in its infancy, as they did the Jute Bagging trust. But divided and scat tered as we now are, what can we dot We shall be as straws in a whirlwind before this vast aggregation of capitol. Our only hope for deliverance is through the Alliance, and that will be be a vain hope unless we rally round its banner. Brethren, let us close up the ranks. If you have let your Alli ance die, revive it at once. If you have quit attending its meetings, come back. We need you, and you need us. Talk this matter over with your neighbors. Let us have a revival." OUR GREAT COTTON CROP. Under the above heading the Qzien tific American of October 30th has an article which, to ail cotton growers, will provo interesting. The article is rather long, but unlike many long articles, it is .interesting throughout, and we are glad to repro duce it for the benefit of the readers of The Progressive Parmer. The Scien tific American, we must remember, is published in New York, and unlike us, speaks of it as a somewhat foreign sub ject: While the few unlucky miners who have reached the Klondike are digging for the gold in the frozen ground of their Arctic home, and stories of the wonderful richness of the mines are published to agitate a world of readers, a different kind of a gold mine is being worked in another fairer and warmer part of our country, where the eun shines eternally and the conditions of life are all that one could desire for comfort and pleasure. The great cot ton crop of the Southern States is worth several Kiondikes; it yields profits to hundreds of thousands of toilers, and enriches our country by many millions of dollars. Our exports of cotton alone amount to more than the output of all the gold miners of the world. We get on the average more than $5 00,000,000 annually from the cotton we ship abroad after de ducting enough for Our own use. The lauded wealth of gold and silver mines sinks into insignificance in comparison. Early in October the new crop of cot ton begins to come to market, anddur ing the pleasant autumn months the white fields of the South are alive with pickers. Simultaneous with the advent of the first large shipment of the new crop, a great industry that gives em ployment to thousands of men through out the country awakens into activity. The cotton is picked and baled on the farms scattered throughout the cotton belt, and an army of buyers appear there to solicit trade for their houses. Fully five thousand of these buyers are often in tho fields at ence, trying to secure trade Iqt their respective housss. The advance couriers receive twenty five cents per bale commission, and a good buyer will sometimes secure ten thousand or more bales for his house, making for himself the handsome salary of $2. 500 for a few months' labor. As most of the cotton received in New York is in traneit for Europe or New England, and very little is con sumed here, there is of necessity a great deal of transferring from wharf to wharf, and from vessel to vessel. Besides the longshoremen employed in this business, there are the truckmen and the owners and crew of the light ers. The truckmen transfer the bales when the distance is only a matter of a few blocks, and they charge about fifteen cents a bale. The lightermen charge about the same. The lighters have greatly improved in recent years, and they have labor saving machinery for facilitating work. Taey are mostly owned by the big cot ton carrying companies; but some are the sole possessions cf their captains or small lighter companies who operate two or three. The ordinary lighter carries from 1,000 to 1,500 bales at a time. The lighters can draw up along side of a Southern steamer, and, by means of machinery, take the heavy bales from her hold and transfer them to their decks without much trouble. The crew or these ugnters receive rather less pay than the regular long shoremen, but their labor is less oner ous and wearying. The derricks do most of the lifting, while the men merely guide the swinging bales as they shoot up in the air and land on the deck of the lighter. Each compressed bale of cotton weighs about 500 pounds, and uncom pressed nearly a third less. Sea Island cotton is generally received here un compressed, for there is a prevailing notion abroad that it is injured by the process. Nevertheless, greater care is exercised in handling the Sea Island than the ordinary varieties. There has been considerable discussion in late years about improving our methods of baling Before the bales reach their final destination there is -a large per centage of loss to be deducted through insufficient covering of the cotton, and this has prejudiced foreign dealers against handling American cotton ex cept when forced to. Cotton picking is done almost en tirely by hand. Largjxsums of money have been invested in cotton picking machines, and several have been put in the fields to do the work of nesro laborers ; but so far the problem of re ducing this work to machinery has not yet been solved. The expense of pick ing is the heaviest item in handling tho crop. It costs between fifty and sixty million dollars to harvest the crop an nually. A negro picker in the slave days averaged 100 pounds of cotton per day ; but this average is nearly doubled by the modern employers, who recoive from 35 cents to 50 cents per 100 pounds in various 8tates of the South. When picked, the cotton is carted to the gin house, where it is weighed and piled away. The ginning process is nearly the same as that introduced by old Eli Whitney years ago, and there is no apparent need for any' improve ment. The fiber passes through a series of circular saws or rollers which tear the seed from the fiber and blow them out into two separate compart ments. Formerly all this cotton eeed was practically wasted; but now it adds about $50,000 000 annually to the resources of the Suth. To every balo of 500 pounds there are generally about 800 pounds of seed, and a ton of this seed yields about thirty five gallons of oil, valued at forty to fifty cents per gallon. This part of the industry has sprung into existence only in the past ten years ; but it is already an enormous business. In 1889 the export of cotten seed oil amounted to 6,250,000 gallons, and in the next year it reached 14.324, 000 gallons. In 1895 over 1,200,000 toes of cotton seed were crushed and about 42,000,000 gallons of oil were obtained. Besides furnishing oil, the cotton seed, after it has been crushed, supplies the cattle with good food in the form of meal and cake, which is claimed to be only a little less nourishing than corn. The cotton belt of the South has been greatly extended since slave days. Tnen it was considered to be only a narrow belt through Georgia, the Caro- linas and Virginia; but it now meas ures about 600.0CO square miles All of it is not by- any means cultivated with cotton. Probably not more than 20.C00.000 acres are cultivated with cotton in any one year, and some years it has run less than half this number of acres. The average yield of thisim- moncn tprritnrxr ia hpftfTPon fi Horv and 9.000 000 bales. Texas leads all the other States by nearly one half, with Georgia and Mississippi following in order. With an average crop of 8,000, ; 000 bales, we lead all other countries by far in cotton growing. India is second, with about 3 000,000 to 4,000, 000 bales, and China and Egypt come next in order with less than 2,000,000 bales each. The cotton area in these other countries is being extended, how ever, and while the South will un doubtedly always control the markets of tbe world, she will suffer more or less from foreign competition. Wo produce tho best cotten in the world, and in no parts of the globe can our famous Sea If land cotton be duplicated. Tnis variety, Gossypium Barbadense, grows on the islands off the coast' of South Carolina and Georgia, and pro duces a fiber about one icch longer than that of any other variety grown in this or any other country. The Sea Island cotton is as fino and glossy as silk, and the English spinners take nearly all that we can raise of this su perior grade. There have been many agencies at work to improve the cotton crop as well as to utilize tho by-products; but so far the only real advance has been made through the elow process of su perior cultivation and the improve ment of plants by careful selection. Recently the newspapers gave cur rency to a story of a marvelous cotton plant introduced from Africa which promised to revolutionizo the cotton industry of the world in a year or two. This new cotton plant was described as towering to the height of twenty feet, and producing a great mass of downy balls that would increase the acreage enormously. But R J. Red ding, Director of the Georgia Experi ment Station, discounts the claims of the new variety, and adds: "The claim that the variety of cotton belongs to a different genus cannot for a moment be allowed. It is not even of a new new species, but simply a variety of Gosspyium herbaceum, and very prob ably of local (domestic) origin." Nevertheless, the cotton plant has been greatly improved in the last half century through cultivation and selec tion. Fifty years ago the old "peeler" variety of cotton was used entirely by the Southern planters. This was a long jointed, straggling variety, with comparatively few bolls to the stalk. Tbe comparison between it and a speci men of the present "peerless" variety is vivid. The latter is short, compact in form, and loaded down with bolls. The first step in improving the upland short staple cotton through careful selection and cultivation was followed by an improvement in the length and fineness of staple. This was accomp lished by hybridizing it with the long staDle or Sea Island cotton. The result of these two improvements, carried on through many years oi caremi wore and study, is that the modern "W. A. Cook" variety shows euch an improve ment over the old "Dixon " popular forty years ago, that one would hardly recognfzd them as belonging to tho came class of plants.
The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Nov. 9, 1897, edition 1
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