tfre Farmer is a
cod paper far
foore the arer
ige. &ad pessibly
the best advertis
ing raediao in II.
C." Printer Ink.
Das the largest
eircul&tisa cf asj
fondly csrienlta
ral or political
paper- published
between. R i e fc
ctond and Atlanta
H
Hi
-0
tA TIE rUBUSTIUAL ASP EDUCATIONAL UTEEESTS OF CUE PEOPLE PAEAUOUCT TO ALL OHIIS CDI3BEMTIQO 2U2m KU7I.
Vol.13. RALEIGH, H, 0., FEBRUARY 15, 1898. : . Ho. 2
i i i , I i i . '
It si re
ncu
ALL AP.QUKD THE FA?,!!.
THBCARE OF MANURE BEFORE
APPLYING TO THE SOIL.
Aa Important Question Discussed by the
Late Professor of Agriculture cf the A.
U. CoUfxe, Paleigb, N. C
Grreepondeace f The Pr2TiTe Farmer.
Just how to handle manure econom
ically and ac the same time get the best
results is a much dicussed question.
Borne laud one theory and some an
other. We can be sure, however, that
wherever manure ia handled it ia at a
heavy cost. Second, that whenever it
ia handled it loses something. With
these two facta in view it can be plainly
seen that it pays to handle it aa little
aa possible. The most economical
method, of course, ia to have the ani
mala in a box stall and use plenty of
bedding and haul the manure out about
once a inonih. If the economy ia to be
carried still further, it would be best,
if the land ia ready, to haul the manure
right from the barn to the Held acd
spread it over the land. By thia 88
tarn you avoid heating, and handto but
ence. Tnen if there ia any leaching it
goes into the soil and ia taken up by
the land. It may not become soluble
as soon aa if it were cum pea ted, but it
will iiullcie be ready for the crop. If
the land ia not ready for the manure it
em bo put under a shelter covering a
pit, or excavation, in the side of a hill,
bo that the manure can easily be
dumped in from above or on the upper
ride, and hauled out from the lower
side. It ia best to cover the shelter
with one layer of planks so that the
rain wili be carried off in the main, but
enough will leak through to keep it
moist and thus prevent firefanging.''
The manure should be sheltered from
tha sun aa well as from the rain.
Now if thia compost is heated with
gypsum or land plaster, it will be still
bvtr. Pat m about SOf pounds to
erery load of manure and mix it in
thoroughly. The best way to mix it
is to put in a layer of manure and then
a layer of plaster. Kainit is still bet
ter, aa most soils are deficient in potash
and most of the lands outside of tbe
eandy belt have plenty of lin.e. The
plaster and keJnit serve a double pur
pose: the latter directly aa fertilizer
and ixuh miirectly in rendering eoiu-
bio xhi. macure and elements in the
soil. Tneu, too, they absorb moisture
from tne atmosphere and thus prevent
herit:32:. If the etables are cleaned cut
daiiy a-i many cattle barn8 are, then it
wou: be besz to put the plaster, or the
po.sn, ei-.ser one, in the guttera be
bin j thi lit, er. Thia eaves the trouble
of ni xing ia the compest heap, and
server u oecdsrizs the barns. By be
ing cirelul no trouble will occur from
injr., tj ihsfeet. The kainit 6hould
l ao b put on tbe platform, but sprink
j tod in me gutters. Put about one
I -. .1 i - .
ui.u oeniaa each animal daily,
fct&bla manures aa a rule are deficient
in both pbGphoncacid and potash and
it would save tha expense of another
application it eome acid phosphate be
nixed with the compost. This would
taea mfco a complete fertiliser eon
taming tne three plant food ingredients
-phosphoric acid, potash and nitro
gen in readily available form.
Bj uaing this method in connection
wi;h the bedding on the platformp,
v' try liuie losa will cocur and the best
results can be obtained. The idea is
&18: Tno potash is to be used anvwav
on mt of our lands, so why not put it
a tn3 manure and eetve a treble
purpos-: deoderiring the Darn, absorb
ing aaa rearing soluble the manure
ub.4 -rbiug moisture from the at-Ph-re
during the process of com
pk5' 16 13 a bad idea generally
Uli to put rich nitrogenous stuff
i0r ' UU6 coon s?ea canoe
kaii t ' fixture of manure and
Tr- 1 "llri0ut wich fear of heating.
fth:: w the roughly mixed and
c,;, , pne ia nauieg out tne
vrt eli Lfl forked over well to be
;;.CtGa distribution of the difler-
Tpp . B. IRBY.
- C0T7QM SEED INDUSTRY.
con '5rraordinary growth of the
isc 1 mluslrv in ho South dur
thsa 'tdtcade constitutes one of
Wri " 'lr,kl' K Mature! of our indua-
-v. - ra KlLico me war.
Iqc
ago the cotton seed was
thL. v JCn with contempt as some-
UUis Which onnM u
Cent f "u u uuiaea ex
ur Planting or fertilizing pur
poses ; and on account of the vast quan
tity of cotton seed produced, most of
the crop found ita way back into the
soil. To day the cot Eon seed ia looked
upon with admiring homage. On ac
count of its increased value the farmer
cannot afford to fertilise his soil with
it as in times past, but prefers to haul
it into mirket, where it becomes tribu
tary to the cotton seed industry.
Since the.birth of the cotton seed in
dustry in this section each year has
enlarged its growing area and increased
the scope of its pocsibilitietr At the
present time the finest quality of ealad
oils, compound lard, butterine and
other products are made from cotton
seed ; while the waste material result
ing ia used to fatten cows and hogs for
market. If such results have been ao
oompliihed during the brief period of
only ten years, can anyone limit the
possibilities which the future holds in
store for the cotton seed!
As to the present size and import
ance of the industry it is estimated
that the total weight of cotton seed
products manufactured in the South is
fully equal to half the weight of the
cotton crop. This is something enor
moua, as the weight of this year's cot
ton crop, on the basis ot 10000,000
bales, em hardly fall short of 5,000,
000,000,000 pounds, making the total
weight of cotton seed products manu
factured not less than 2,500,000,000
pounds. But there is still room for
much greater expansion. On the au
thority of agricultural experts, it is
stated that the total amount of cotton
6oed produced yearly ia double the
amount of cotton baled; and applying
thia ratio to the present crop, it makes
the amount of cotton seed aggregate at
least 10,000,000,000 pounds. As the
products manufactured from cotton
seed aggregate in weight only one
fourth of this amount, it is evident
that the industry as yet consumes only
a small percentage of the cotton ceed
available
Although restricted excusively to
this section, the cotton seed industry
has made itself felt in Northern and
Eastern markets, and la destined li,
time to stamp its impress upon inter
national commerce. Atlanta Consti
tution. THE FARMER'S LETTER BOX.
On January 37th I killed several
hogs. One weighed 600 pounds, an
other 483. I am one of tbe oldest sub
ecribeis you have. J. H. Mills, Ewing,
N. O.
LIKES THE FARMERS' LETTISH BOX.
. It will not do to put hore stable ma
cure and guano directly together for a
fertilizer. . If you desire to apply both
in the drill, one of them should be
mixed with the earth before applying
the other. One seems to destroy the
effect of the other.
My wife says she would like to know
how to exterminate moles.
My advice to farmers is: quit raising
so much tobacco and cotton, and raise
more 'hog and hominy." Then we
will be more independent. Let us cry
"hard times" less, and on election days
,lvote the way we pray." Peanuts is
the most economical food with which I
have tried to fatten hogs. One can
fatten 700 or 00 pounds of pork to the
acre, on very poor land. I plant the
little Spanish pea.
We cay, hurrah for cur shoe factory,
for we are getting anxious for soma
shoes. Our Alllanoe is standing firm.
I admire tha pluck and energy of
Tins Psoosxssivb Fxsmeb. I think
the 'Farmers' Letter Box" will prove
of great benefit to farmers.
J. D. Yatss.
Williams' Mills, N. O.
JLYBSIXIBB IIESTIKO.
The Ayrshire Breeders' "Association
held its 23d annual meeting at the Fifth
Avenue Hotel, New York, January 2$,
1898.,
The committee on Home Dairy Tests
reported the testing of herds belonging
to N. E, Sears, Eimwood, Conn., L. D.
S to well, Black Creek, N. Y., A. H.
Eiliott, Garratsville, N. Y.y Geo. H.
Yeaton and W. R, Garvin, Dover, N.
H, O. H. Hayes fc Son, Portsmouth,
N. EL, and O. M. Winslow & Son,
Brandon, Vt., and for Fair Ground
Tests, Vermont State Fair.
Voted to conduct seven day testa of
herd and single cows for market butter
and total solids.
Voted to cfler special prizes at fairs
for largest quantities of butter fat from
ore day's milking.
T- T. T. T7nn QlnlrA nf fVlA Ka
York Experiment Station, gave a very J
instructive lecture on "Some of the .
Solved and Unsolved Problems of
Dairying."
1. Voted to hole1 the next annual
meeting in New York at some time in
January.
2. There is general complaint among
breeders of tine cattle jthat railroad
rates on live stock are too high, and in
many cases prohibitive. On motion of
J. D. W. French, of North Andover,
Hata, the Executive Committee was
directed to co operate witn committees
of other associations in trying to secure
lower rates.
CM. Winslow, Sec'y,
lessons rnou experience.
Whon I left my farm I had about
thirty head of nice Devon cattle and
about one hundred head of nice Poland
China hogs. I was in a way to make
farming pay something if only a small
profit. I raided red clover and had
some eight or ten different varieties of
grassca, the seed of which I bought,
besides our native varieties. My farm,
up to the time I left, was improving;
will make now over double what it
would when I bought it.
Now what we want is to raise at least
our meat and bread at home, have
plenty of milk and butter, chickens
and eggs, and we are independent.
Labor is such, and the prioe is such
that we can't make money by hiring
hands to make five cent cotton on a
large scale, nor yet tobacco on a largo
scale.
I can run fifteen to twenty plows on
my farm, but eight is sufficient. This
year I am running too many twelve
in all.
I have a good farm of over eight hun
dred acres five hundred cleared. I
ought not to cultivate over one-third in
a hoed crop, but circumstances are
rucq that I shall cultivate mora than I
wish. I rent upon shares and will not
cost me so much, but I am aware my
land will not improve aa jit has. I
thought I could stand it on year, but
if I live I shall get back to ny cattle,
(but change somqjo Jerseys) and raise
hogs, grasa and clover.
Bal wo ha ?o a serious difficulty to
contend with now The last leftlv
tare passed an act that all stock might
be turned out in January and Febru
ary. Bad law, that.
I have tried keeping up stock before
we had the fence law, and I know it
will pay any man. I know seme small
farmers are opposed to it, and honestly,
too, but they are mistaken. It ia the
only way to have fine stock and good
stock, and the manure will pay for the
trouble.
Now let a man have plenty of good
grass and stock to cat it, and the kind
of stock will depend upon the manVj
situation.
Be eure to have plenty cf meat,
bread, milk, butter, chickens and eggs,
and my word for it we will have a good
living, as tny good woman can make
as good a meal out of these things as a
king ought to eat.
i forgot to state that l cultivate a
part of the land this year simply to get
it in condition to seed down to clover
and grass. No need of pulling fodder,
if you have plenty of grass to cut, and
I include in my hay crop sola beans
and field peas. I consider eoj beans
best. I shall have some land in sowed
corn. Some will be planted the last of
March, two acres May 1st, two acres
June 1st, two acres July 1st, making 8
or 10 acres in all, and when that begins
to tassel, I begin to feed, and never
stop until near frost. Before frost, or
when it gets ripe, I cut and shock up
for feed.
We do not need to hire but one or
two good hands to the hundred acres
of land. Let us make plenty of clover
hay and hay of all kinds up to the
sowed corn, and if we have stcok to
eat it, we will come out ahead.
MoE.
ITEMS TROII THE FARM.
As you invite people any and every
where to write for your paper, I con
sider that I am welcome to write a few
lines. As I am a farmer, and have al
ways been one, I think it best to write
about that which I know the most
about. I raise cotton, tobacco, corn,
oats, peas and potatoes, andbelieve
raising hogs pays better than any crop
I have tried. I like the red rust proof
best. They "come off" soon enough to
give you good time to plant your peas.
If you plant these oats early in the fall
they will ripen between May 25th and
June 10th, and then you can plant your
peas. I prefer to have my peas planted
in rows and give them one plowing,
pick them early in the fall, and mix
them half and half with oats. This is J
a cheaper food for horses than corn.-1
used peas and corn together last year,
but I intend to try oats ar d peas mixed
thia year. I believe thia plan of farm
ing oats and pears is better and cheaper
than raising corn for horses and cattle.
But a little about corn : I think it is
not best to have only one variety of
corn. My experience proves it best to
have long, narrow grains of white and
yellow corn with a small cob. I favor
wide rows. Let them be H to 6 feet
apart, and the stalks about H to 3 feet
distant in the drill. A good handful of
cotton seed to the hill the second time
plowing is the best manure I have yet
seen.
I intend to sow plant beds this year
without burning them. I think tobacco
should be cultivated in drill rows three
feet three inches apart and 23 inches
betwen the plants. I tried thirty loads
of dirt, forty bushels of stable manure,
and eight hundred and fifty pounds of
guano to the acre and liked it very
well. I think when I finish selling I
will get between sixty and sixty-five
dollars an acre.
I will say a little about cotton. It is
best to select your seed every year
irom the middle of the stalk all through.
The price ia so low I don't care very
much about raising it.
As hog raising is more interesting to
me than any of the field crops, I will
have something to say about them. It
ia a good plan to raise plenty of food
for them in the shape of f quash and
collards. They can be raised as cheap
ly, they are better cooked than raw.
Potatoes make good food in the fall.
Few things are better thanchufas, and
our farmers should raise more of them.
I . took a close observation of my hogs
lost year. I had scrub stock and gave
them but little attention. I will give
the experience an& profit last year,
making the expense as large as possible
and profit as small as poesible. Hogs
on hand January 1st, 197, $13; bought
hogs, $34 ; feed for hogs, $35 ; feed raised
.a field, $10; makes the total expense
$'J3 35. 1 killed 1,833 pounds meat. At
3 cents per pound it is worth $9LC5,
January leilSSS, Th&tf dhhahd
i 33 worth of hogs. This leaves a clear
profit of $35.30. Thia ia better than I
did on any of my field crops; so you
know I am well pleased with hog rais
ing. I will closo on these subjects jipd say
a little about the Farmers' Alliance. I
belong to Bath's Chapel Alliance, No.
1,013. We organized in Dacember with
six member? ; we now have eight and
four to come in next meeting. I think
we will Boon have a large membership.
I joined the Alliance about nine' years
ago and have been a member nearly
ever since, and all I wish about it is
that every farmer could see the need of
it as I do. I am an Allianceman, and
I hope to see the Alliance principles
stand on top before I die.
J. B. TnoRNE.
FARM CROP TESTS.
For the benefit of those of your read
era who have not the time to read the
entire bulletin, I will give an epitome
of Bulletin 116 of your North Carolina
Station. This bulletin gives account
of tests ot eow peas, cotton, Irish po-.
tatoes and wheat.
in tne cow pea tests the biacic cow
pea was earliest and gave the smallest
yield. Clay was latest to ripen and
gave next cmallest yield. Unknown
gave the heaviest yield of the peas,
cloeely followed by Bed Hipper. Clay
Bank gave tha heaviest yield of vines.
In the variety tests of cotton, King's
No. 1, King's No. 2, Shine's Earlj Pro
liflo and Peterkin gave heaviest yields
of lint over 00 pounds per acre. The
general average of all fourteen varie
ties tested was 620 pounds lint and 1,055
pounds sesd per acre. The lowest yield
was 188 pounds lint and 377 pounds
seed per acre by an Egyptian variety.
In tests with Irish potatoes deep
planting with level culture yielded 254
bushels per acre, and' shallow culture
planting with hill culture gave a yield
of 224 bushels per acre. Early plant
ing yielded 254 bushels per acre and
late planting 145 bushels per acre.
Plata receiving twelve bushels per acre
of seed yielded 224 bushels per acre;
those receiving eighteen bushels of
seed per acre yielded 263 bushels per
acre, and those receiving twenty-four
bushels of seed per acre yielded 275
bushels per acre; so we see that while
twelve bushels of seed per" acre seems
to be pretty heavy seeding, an addition
of six bushels increased the yield
thirty-nine bushels, and an addition of
twelve bushels of seed increased the
yield fifty -one bushels per acre. It
should here be stated that the same i
number of seed pieces per acre were
planted in all cases, the pieces in the
heavier seeding being larger but not
more numerous. Thia Intelligently ac
counts for the heavier yield from the
heavier seeding, for it is well known
that the young plant draws all its eua
te nance from the seed piece till its roots
strike far enough out into the soil to
feed the plant from' the soil; hence, a
large seed piece gives a stronger, more
growth to the young plant than a small
piece could give.
This bulletin statea an impressive
lesson in spraying as follows :
The Colorado potato beetle strongly
attacked the potatoes. They were
sprayed four times. The first time a
shower washed the Paris green off
from tho foliage. The second spraying
was done as soon as the weather cleared
and was very efficacious in removing
beetles aud larva. There wereun
hatched gga, and some beetles which
escaped, The third spraying nearly
cleared up the second lot of larva, and
a week later a fourth spraying was
given for a few scattered lots left, the
tops were in a very vigorous, thrifty
condition, and were in strong contrast
with some garden plats in the neigh
borhood which had not been sprayed
and which were fairly stripped of
foliage."
The wheat test was to ascertain the
effect of cotton seed msal and other
commercial fertilisers on the germina
tion of the seed wheat. It was found
that these fertilizers, and especially
cotton seed meal, kill the germ of seed
wheat if in immediate contact with it;
hence, such fertilisers should be broad
oasted and harrowed in, and mixed
with the soil before sowing the seed.
If they are drilled in with the seed, or
sown on the surface after seeding, they
destroy or weaken much of the seed.
J. L. Lapxx
Bay City, Texas.
TELE DAIfiY.
OUR DAIRY LETTER,
sorrespondenee of the Progressive Tanner.
From a letter-wriiUn by Mrs. J. W.
Gos3, of Hygiene, Boulder county, Col
orado, we copy the following:
"Some people have returned to deep
setting and home skimming, in the
vicinity of the Hygiene creamery, that
they may save so many -trips with
milk and may have sweet (skim) milk
without the addition of water."
An exchange says: "The farmer who
does his own work gets pay for it in
stes.d of having a share of what butter
he sells go to the maker at the factory.
Moreover, his by products are in the
best possible condition."
The above quotations are indicative
and suggestive. For years the great
amount of capital back of the separator
and the public creamery interests was
able to so thoroughly mold public opin
ion doing it in many ways that cold
deep setting of milk for cream raising
and private dairy making were natur-
any toroea to tase oacs seats, m ot a
year or two there has been a reaction,
especially in certain sections of the
country and it is constantly extend
ing. As it relates to the hand separa
tor, such' reaction has taken place to
the greatest degree in those sections
where that machine was first in tro
duced and suOcient time allowed to
demonstrate its non adaptability to the
average private dairy. -For a time its
novelty kept it in place, but workthat
could not always reconcile the users to
the amount of hard work called for
twice a day to run it by hand. Even
if a power was provided the work of
cleaning the separator remained and
was found no small, matter many
users reporting it to be greater than all
the work connected with running and
caring for a modern portable creamery,
including the final separation of the
cream from the milk which ia accomp
lished by drawing the latter from un
der the former and which includes no
hard work.
A lady a farmer's wife who had
for sometime been using a portable
creamery, was induced to try a hand
separator under the representation
that it would result in more cream and
save labor. She Eaid to the writer that
a eareful test and comparison showed
no gain of cream or butter resulting
from the use of the separator, over the
creamery, while the labor connected
with the former was much greater
than with the latter. And that, be
sides,' even if she should use a separa
tor, something would be needed in
which to store the cream, skim milk
and butter, and that she had found
nothing answered that purpose as well
as a portable creamery with refrigera
tor combined, After a fair trial tho
let the separator go, feeling more than .
over satisfied with her creamery
The writer does not wish tobe un
derstood as writing the public cream
ery down as a failure, for in many
cases it has proved and is proving a
success or at any rate apparently co,
if to no one else, to the proprietors. In
some instances it ia without doubt
a success so far as some if not all tha
patrons are concerned. But in many
instances patrons of public creameries
would bo better off by making up their
own milk at home and manj are now.
finding it out hence the reaction re
ferred to above.;
It is safe to 'cay that at the beat not
over thirty percent, of butter made ia
this country ia produced in public
creameries, which leaves seventy per
cent, to be made in private or farm
dairies. In view of this, everything
that can be done, to encourage farm
ers, who' make their own butter, to
adopt the best methods should be done.
And even if they wculd be better cH if
sending their milk or crem to a public
creamery which in very many caeca
they would not bo tens of thousands
of them are in sections of the country
where establishing a public creamery
would b?? fintirfllv imnraf.t.iral.
F. W. MOSELET.
Clinton, Iowa.
IMPORTANT DAIRY EXPERI
MENTS. Correspondence ef The ProgresslTe Fanner.
Formerly calves were raised cn the
farms of Iowa and other agricultural
States by allowing them to follow tho
cows and take all the milk, just as they
are now raised on the Western ranches.
But when a creamery was established
in a neighborhood, whole milk becama
too valuable for calf food and as tho
soured skim milk did not agree with
the calves, many were knocked in tha
head at birth.
But by and by th8 ceparatcr caao
into use, extracting the cream whila
the milk was sweet and warm, and
oniy neeamg eometning to replace me
fat extracted - tot butter making, to
render it as good as whole milk for tha
calves.
There is a wide spread practical in
terest, in the best methods of supple
menting separator milk so as to make
it a good substitute for the whole milk
in calf feeding. For the purpose of in
vestigating this problem, the Iowa sta
tion has conducted three experiments
during three years, and the results
have been very uniform and contrary
to general opinion and practice.
Oil meal (flaxseed meal) is the feed
usaally recommended and almost uni
versally used for mixing with the sep
arator milk to take the place of the
cream extracted for butter making.
But in each of these three experiment
oil meal has given lower and more ex?
pensive gains than either oatmeal or a
mixture of cornmeal and flaxseed, and
even cornmeal alone gave better re
sults than oil meal.
When it is remembered that oil meal
is much more expensive than oatmeal
or cornmeal, the importance thia
test ia apparent. But these results oro
just what ought to be expected. Cream
is a highly carbonaceous substance,
and it is reasonable to suppose that it
would be best replaced by a carbena
cious feed like cornmeal rather than
by athighly nitrogenous feed like oil
meal.
These experiments further demon
strated the well-known capacity of tho
calf to return good results for the food
consumed. These calves gained 1
pound for every li pounds of dry mat
ter in the food they ate, and this shows
clearly that in the early life of the calf,
under favorable circumstances, it ia
possible to get a pound of gain for every
pound of dry matter in the food con
sumed. Wool, in Germany, even did
better than that. In mature cattle it
requires 10 to 11 pounds dry matter ia
the feed to produce 1 pound of gain.
Bulletin 123, of New Jersey Station,
treats of the food value of milk, and
gives results of experiments to test tho
influence of feed on-the quality of tho
milk, and of testa which suggest that
milk 6hould be fgraded in price by tho
percentage of cream it contains.
Milk ia the be3t balanced, most per
fect, most digestible and ono of tho
cheapest human foods known. It con
tains in proper proportion all the clo-
menta necessary for the complete nour
ishment of the body, and as compared
with meat, is very cheap as food.
Yet the small consumption of milk per
capita by city people shows that i'& i3
not properly appreciated, or does cot
CONTEfUED 02T PACI3 8.J