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THE HfDUSTEIAl AHD EDUCATIONAL HTTEKESTS OP QUE PEOPLE PAEAHOUBT TO ALL OTHEE COKSIDEBATIOKS OP STATE POLICY.
f Ol. 13.
RALEIGH, IT. C, JULY 12, 1898.
I7o. 23
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DBYBSKJ IRBY, RALEian, N C
-"-TTTl n1. Irby, lat- Piofesso- of Agrieul-
a cultural ind Mechanical College, Ral
tnI'v, become a regular cod nibutor to this
S1 .rtment. AH Questions relating to the farm,
dSdenor orchard will be answered by Prof.
f-
soil- humus.
Thi3 subjsct is cften discussed' by
agricultural writers. Mr. Bryan Ty
eon has recently had something to eay
of it in these columns. A recent bulle
tin of tho North Dakota Station, dis
using thi3 important subject, opens
with the following statement :
'Tae matter of humua in the soil is
attracting the attention of all thought
ful farmers, and -many are asking for
information and how to prevent ita
loss or how to increase Boil humus. An
attempt will here be made to explain
what is meant by the term soil humus
and in what way it3 presence in the"
eoilia beneficial. Oar statements are
ba3ed in "part upon cur own investiga
tions and in part upon results drawn
from data of other stations." A few
definitions and explanations may as
sist in better understanding what may
follow.
That portion of earth that is culti
vated for plant growth is the eoil. It
is made up of mineral and organic mat
ter. The mineral matter consists of
lime, potash, phosphates, iron, mag
nesia, aluminum and various other
minerals of less importance.
The organic matter includes every
thing that one 3 existed as vegetable or
animal matter.
Volatile matter consists of the moist
ture gases and organic matter, all of
which can be driven eff from a spade
fal of soil by heating it or burning it
Humus is that part of the organic
matter in the soil which has partially
decayed, such as leaf mold, rotten
roots and blades of grass, clover or
peas. Rotted manure is rich in humus.
Unrotted manure, or green crops
plowed tin, soon make humua by rot
ting down in the soiL
Tee opinion seems to be gaining
ground that much of the available
plant food is the portion in the humus,
and as the humus increases in the soil
the potassium, phosphoric acid and
other mineral products existing in the
soil in insoluble forms not suitable for
plant food are taken up by the humus
to form new compounds better suited
to nourish the growing plants.
In eight determinations of North Da
kota soils, 41 per cent, of the phos
phates was found in the humus, and
the proportions ranged from 10 per
cent, to 91. Of the nitrogen from 46
to 80 per cent, of the total was found
in the humus and on an average 61
per cent.
What becomes of thi3 nitrogen when
the humua is destroyed by decay! It
goes back into the atmosphere or is
washed into the rivers and bo carried
out to the ocean. In these ways five
pounds of nitrogen are lost for every
pound used by the growing crops.
If, then, the mineral matter taken
up by the plants and the nitrogen, are
drawn largely from the humus of the
soil, it will be seen how important it is
to maintain well the supply of organic
matter in the soil, that it may be trans
formed into humus as needed by the
plants under cultivation. Continuous
wheat growing is a process destructive
of humus and of all organic matter in
the soil. Not that the wheat uses up
such large quantities, but under con
ditions of wheat growing as generally
practiced in this State, there is a rapid
decay of organic matter, nitrification
under these conditions being very
rapid and the products escape as gases
into the air and are washed out of the
Boil, or in case of the mineral products,
phosphates, etc., they combine in such
forms as to be no longer readily avail
able for feeding the plant.
An acre of soil to the depth of one
foot weighs about 3.225,000 pounds, or
1 .600 tons, and some soils as much as
1800 tons per acre. Experiments have
shown that soils containing the most
humus hold the most moisture, are
warmer, looser, mellower, most easily
worked and most fertile.
Following is a summary of this im
portant bulletin on soil humus :-
1. By twenty years of wheat grow
ing from 40 to 60 per cent, of the or
ganic matter of our soils have been
lost.
2 For every pound of organio mat
ter that has gone to furnish its nitrogen
to wheat, five pounds have bsen lost.
3. Many of our soils that originally
contained from 8.000 to 10,000 pounds
j . .
of nitrogen per acre to the depth of one
foot now contain from 3.000 to 6,000
pounds.
4. By the loss of humus our soils
have become less retentive of moisture
and give it up by evaporation sooner
than when they wero well supplied
humus.
5. Bare summer fallowing and burn
ing of the wheat stubble destroys large
quantities of organic matter and hu
mates. ...
6. To keep the supply of humus n
the eoil we must imitate nature, and
grow for the present at least ono year
in five a grass crop on our land.
7. By keeping up the supply of hu
mus m the soil, the crops will feel the
effects of drouths less than in soils
poor in humus. '
9, Clover would bo an ideal crop to
maintain the humus in the soil and to
aid in collecting nitrogen from the air,
but any grass will serve the purpose of
supplying humus, anal Bromu3 inermis
has done well in this State, and may
be used.
WHEAT, OATS, BARLEY AND
lime;
In the variety of tests with whf at at
Maryland Experiment 8tation'for a
period of six years, Fultz leads, with
an average of 37 8 bushels, followed by
CurrelFs Prolific, yielding 36 2, Wis
consin Triumphs 34 9 bushels and Val
ley 33 7 bushels.
Promising varieties of later intro
duction are Beal, Rocky Mountain,
Ruby and Terry.
With two crops, corn and wheat,
the increased yield produced by di&er
ent amounts of lime, placed the limit
of profit with an application of 40
bushels per acre.
Lune in connection with peas in
creased the yield of wheat slightly and
produced a marked improvement in
the set of grass.
Twenty bushels of stone lime per
acre applied for corn in 1893 produced
an increase of 110 per cent, in the hay
crop of 1896, and a second application
of lime (twenty -five bushels of oyster
shell lime), for corn produced an in
crease of 66 per cent of grain in 1897.
Tne best variety of winter cats tested
was Virginia Gray, yielding 48 8 bush
els per acre.
The most favorable time for seeding
winter oats in this latitude seemed to
be about September 1.
The hot water treatment of barley
seed was effective in preventing smut,
increasing the yield 16 per cent
One of the things which should re
ceive more attention that it does upon
many farms is that of making the
labor that is performed as efficient as
possible. Upon most farms there is
work enough done. During the busy
sco3on the average farmer works even
harder than he should. But he does
not always work to the best possible
advantage. Much that he does really
counts but little. This is often due to
the fact - that he does the work at an
unfavorable time. Sometimes, too,
there ia a great loss inefficiency be
cause of the manner in which the work
is done. Both of these errors should
bo guarded against. For labrr is al
ways expensive and no one can afford
to use it carelessly. The way to make
it effective is to study how it can best
be employed, Tne men who make the
most money farming are not abler
men than many of their less successful
competitors. Nsither do they work
harder than do the others. The secret
of their exceptional prosperity lies in
the fact that they plan their work so
carefully that everything that is done
helps to swell the total of efficient, and
therefore of profitable, labor. Prac
tical Farmer.
CLOVER.
After the first crop of clover is cut
the management will depend largely
upon the purpose for which the second
crop is desired.
The second growth of clover makes
good pasturage, and often comes in at
a time when it will be needed. It is
often the case that as hot, dry weather
comes on the grass in the pastures fail,
and if the stock has been kept out of
the clover fields until the plants have
made a good start to grow a consider
able amount of good feed may be re
ceived at a time when it can be used to
good advantage. Clover makes a quick
growth, and sun shades the soil, and
will often continue to make a vigorous,
thrifty growth even after hot, dry
weatner sets in.
ll not needed for pasturage;4he sec
ond growth of clover will make & fairly
good yield. of hay, and can be cut,
cured and stored away to use during
the winter. Good. clover hayisespe--cially
valuable for the dairy cows and
all young., growing stock, and there ia
little risk m securing too much.
While not always the case, yet in
many seasons it pays to allow the sec
ond growth of clover to mature seed,
and then cut and thresh. Sometimes
prices get so low that there i3 little if
any profit in growing the seed, as it is
an expensive crop to harvest and
thresh. The yield is email, running
frojn-four to seven busheb to the acre,
afcdv rarely getting more than this;
then the cost of threshing is consider
able, so that a fairly good price must
be realised ifAths crop is a profitable
one..
The mulch or straw o! clover after
the threshing is done makes splendid
bedding, and is equal to wheat or oat
straw as feed. One of the best ways
of using the second growth of clover ia
to turrrit under as a fertilizer for the
wheat crop, as it supplies nitrogen, one
of the essentials to a good wheat crop
to the soiL N. J. Shepherd.
WORK FOR JULY.
Millet and cow peas may yet be
seeded and make excellent hay crops.
German millet is the best variety of
millet to sow, as it makes a heavier
yield of better quality hay than the
others. Tne land should be plowed
and harrowed down to a fine seed bed,
and the seed be then sown at the rate
of one bushel to the acre. In this issue
will be fcund a report of the result of
seeding millet and German clover to
gether, which was most satisfactory,
two excellent crops being secured from
the land. Millet should not be seeded
on poor land. To make a good crop,
the land' should be in good heart. If
the crop is cut when in bloom, which
is the time at which it makes the best
hay, it i3 not exhaustive of fertility.
Where land is poor, cow peas or cow
peas and German clover should be
sown, and should be helped with 300
pounds of acid phosphate and 200
pounds of kainit, or 50 pounds of xnuri
ate of potash to the acre. This will
ensure a crop which will add materi
ally to the fertility of the land,, and if
German clover is sown with the cow
peas, will secure a covering crop for
the ground during winter, and one to
turn under as a preparation for corn.
Southern Planter.
RURAL SCHOOLS
Here ia where every wis a parent who
lives in the country will give his most
serious thoughts and attention and we
can with the greatest assurance de
clare that this is not as difficult a ques
tion to provide for with reasonable
satisfaction if close attention ia given
to several important facts concerned.
Parents please sit down and vwe will
reason together. You have children
who are the very center of your love,
all your plans of life are directed to
their future welfare. You know that
education is good for them, will be of
service and credit to them, and is a
necessity these days and they must
have it. These thoughts conflict with
other plans. You see in your farm
life many things in the most favorable
way of your ambition; you, cm have
comforts and health and promise of ac
cumulating for the future and perhaps
plenty of good compary, but the ques
tion of school stands before you as a
vexatious one, preventing permanent
plans for the futura and keeps you un
settled, questioning how long should
you wait, and how to do. Perhaps
you have the ordinary country school
taught by a neighborhood girl in a lit
tle frame building on the cross roads
near by or miles away. Yes, and per
haps you send your child or children
over there like all the neighbors and
they go day by day and you console
yourselves by merely knowing they
are going to, school. You get them
ready each morning and hurry them
off with their books and dinner in
hand and they' usually go cheerfully
and hopefully, walking along j nning
other children alike on their way to
school and perhaps j ou watch for them
anxiously at the time for their return.
Of course thero aro little vexatious
things occurring from time to time,
day by day, as they come and go, they
get tired of the walk, they get to school
late, they straggle along and play, the
neighbors1 children quarrel with them,
they cannot study becauso they hur
ried to school, they get careless, and
are sub j ?cted to numerous and trying
conditions that their parents don't
think of because they ore . thoughtless
and you only know that .they don't
improve, and you think it is because
of the natural difficulties to country
schools; and you think ycu must go to
tqwn to educate your children. Now
let us point out to you the mistake.
You eay you love your children and
tnai you are living for them. But you
are neglecting them. You give them
none of your time and you should
gr o them ono third of your tims, even
if you only care to use them for your
own selfish purposes of saving and
making money out of their services.
Remember that every hour of your
time given to your children will bring
you greater return to your own profit
and to their benefit than any other
labor you can find. .
It is no trouble to get a good teacher
in any neighborhood, and get a place
for them to .teach, if nowhere else nave
it f at your own place. But it at an
other's place, near or far, always go to
school with your children and go after
thsm. Carry them there, if too far to
walk, and in that way eee the teacher
every day and you will know how she
is doing, and who the children have as
associates. You can in that way pro
tect your children from all the difficul
ties and danger and disadvantages
common to country schools and they
will progress, learn and profit by it as
well as they could in any school. If
you are capable you should assist them
in tbieir studies ; if you have no educa
tion and you love your children you
will so conduct yourself as to influence
them to lcajrn those things for their
good. Do your part as far as you can
to help and correct them. Let each
neighborhood practice this plan and
the school question will not be difficult.
We repeat that for the time you give
to your children for their improve
ment you will be rewarded ten fold
more than any other thing you have
you have to do. This neglect of chil
dren is a common fault, not intentional
but owing to thoughtlessness and cus
tom, and one that is seldom estimated.
Southern Fruit Grower.
.. A FUNCTIONS OF ROOTS.
vThe roots of a plant are the organs
by which it , absorbs water from the
soil, and with this water a variety of
food elements are introduced, observes
a writer on Farm Chemistry.
The roots take up apparently all the
diffusible substances (those capable of
passing through a membrane) which
are present in the water which they
draw from the eoil. The plant may
thus receive a number of substances
not actually required for its nutrition.
The feeding power of roots is not,
however, cor fiied to the taking up of
ready formed solutions, they are also
capable of attacking some of the solid
ingredients of the soil, which they red
der soluble and then appropriate. This
important action of roots exists in dif
ferent degrees in different plants. The
action enly takes place at the points of
contact between the rootlets and the
particles of the soil, and is brought
about by the acid sap which the roots
contain. This action of roots probably
plays an important part in the supply
of phosphoric acid and potash to the
plant, as these substances, especially
the former of them, exist in the soil in
difficulty soluble forms, and are rarely
found in solution in the water present
in soils. Besides furnishing the plant
with its ash constituents, the root has
the important function of supplying
nitrogen ; this ia nearly always taken
up in the form of nitrates, A plant is
capable of making use of nitrogen in
the form of nitric acid or ammonia;
it also, according to several experi
menters, is able to assimilate nitrogen,
when in the form of urea, uric or hip
puric acids, and several other amide
bodies.. The facility, however, with
which ammonia and other nitrogenous
substances, are converted into nitric
acid in the soil is so great that nitrates
become by far the most important
source of nitrogen at a plant's disposal
Most plants are unable to assimilate
the nitrogenous humus contained in
soil. The very weak solutions taken
up by the roots are concentrated in
the upper parts of the plant, the water
being rapidly evaporated by the leaves,
as already mentioned. Tho essential
ash constituents ore employed in the
formation of new tissues. The non
essential ash constituents which have
been taken up by the roots are partly
disposed of in a solid form, as a per
manent incrustation of the older tis
sues. The soluble salts which are not
thus disposed of, at first accumulate in
the sap, and are probably mora or lees
removed from the surface of tho leave?
and stem by the washing effect of rain.
The deposition of silica upon the ex
ternal tissues of wheat, barley, and
other graminaceous plants is a familiar
example of the exception of a non ea
sential ash constituent. Silica ia also
abundant in the leaves, and in the
outer, bark of many trees, and is com
monly found as an incrusting constitu
ent of old tissues. Insoluble calcium
salts, frequently the oxalate, are also
deposited as incrusting matters in old
tissues. These incrustations are indi
rectly of Bervice to the plant, as they
tend to harden the tissues and thus'
protect them from injury.
Soluble non essential ash constinu
ents, as chloride of sodium, are found
abundantly in the succulent parts of
plants when such ash constituents
have been present in'theeoil. They
generally diminish in quantity as the
plant matures, and are never stored up
in the seed.
The amount and composition of .the
ash of succulent plants, as meadow
grass, xlover, and mangel, is greatly
influenced by the character of the soil,
and the manure applied. The ash of
a seed, on the other hand, is very con
stant in composition, resulting from
the selective powers of the plant.
Of the particular action of ash con
stituents within the plant little is
known. Phosphoric acid and potash
are undoubtedly the most important
of - the ash constituents ; they are al
ways found concentrated in those
parts of the plant where cell growth
is most active, as, for instance, in the
layer (cambium) between the wood and
bark of a tree, and are abundantly
stored uy in the seed. '
Silica was long supposed to be an
essential constituent of wheat, barley,
and other similar plants, and to be the
ingredient on which the stiffness of
their straw chie fly depended It has
been shown, however, that maize may
ba successfully grown without any
supply of silica, and with no percept
ible difference as to the stiffness of the
stem. The grass growing on peat bogs
contains scarcely any silica, though
silica is abundant in ordinary hay. 1
WASHING OF THE LAND. -
You cannot too strongly insist upon
the value of humus in the eoil to pre
vent washing, is the true statement
made by Mr. W. F. Massey in the
July Southern Planter. The great
trouble all over the South has been
that the constant clean culture of the
soil and the constant use of chemical
fertilizers to f queez3 a little more sale
crop, has brought about the conditions
that jcquire. terracing to prevent the
bodily carrying away of the soil on the
hillsides. Then, too, all over the coun
try land has been cleared of forests
which should never have been cleared.
In the mountain region of Western
North Carolina this process is going on,
and lands are in cultivation on the
steep mountain sides which should
have been kept in forest, This clear
ing of the mountain sides is the lead
ing agent in the destructive floods that
sweep down the valleys, &nd if the
practice is continued, the day ia not
far off when the fine lowlands of the
rivers will be uncultivatabie. And not
only in the mountains, but all over our
Piedmont country there are hillsides
which should have been left in forest,
and which' must eventually be re
forested if the best results are to be ex
pected. There is no one thing that
claims more attention from our people
than forestry, and the preservation of
tree growth on our uplands. Then,
too, a tree belt along the rushing
streams that come down from the
mountains is as important as a forest
growth on the mountains. Men clear
the rich bottoms right to the banks of
the streams and every freshet carries
the rich alluvium down to fill the
rivers and harbors t)f the coast A
dense belt of willows or other water-
loviug bushes along every stream on
the bottom lands is one of the most
important things in the checking of
disastrous washing. Tree growth on
hillsides too steep for proper cultiva
tion, and the cultivation of the soil so
as to fill it with vegetable matter ore
the means by which we will most
effectually check the washing so com
mon now. Terracing is at best but a
temporary measure. I had far rather
have a soil, full of vegetable matter
like a piece of new land, without any
terraces, than to have the earn a situated
land terraced but destitute of tho
humus.
Thero would bo rnoro full pocket
books if the tho s:
farm wero stopped.
i all leaks cn tho
STOCK
e
s- vr-v? - i -n
ALL ABOUT HOG CHOLERA.
Last week we promised to give Tns
Progressive Farmer readers a talk on
the above suh j set Our article may
seem rather-long, but the importance
of the subject will, we hope, excuse us.
This dread disease, hog choler, i3
rapidly Spreading throughout Michi-,
gan, and the Experiment Station of
that State is receiving a flood of letters
soeking information about ita cauro
and the best msana of combatinrr it.
Dr. George A. Waterman, consulting
veterinarian of that station, after
studying all the publications of tho
National Government on the subject,
as well as the bulletins of the experi
ment stations of Nebraska, Iowa, Indi
ana, Arkansas and other States, has
issued a well digested summary of all
that it known on the subjact, as bulle
tin No. 157, of Michigan Station.
While hog cholera and swine plague
are different diseases, they so often ex
ist at the same time in the same ani
mal, and their results are so nearly the
same, it is not of much importanco to
notice their difference, but it is j ist as
weiL for all practical purposes, to treat
them as one and the came dissasa.
Each i3 caused by a specific germ or
virus that finds entrance into the body
in the food, drink, or air. These germs
are so small that the eye cannot detect
their presence except when aided by a
powerful microscope. w .
As it has been well settled by scien
tific investigation that these and all
other disease germs are producsd from
parent germs previously existing, and
that none of them are spontaneously
originated without such parent seed
germs, it is evident that in order to
have an attack of hog cholera the virus
of the disease must be introduced into
the herd in some manner. A study of.
some of tho ways by which the virus
is carried from place to. place will bet
ter enable ua to understand how to
prevent the disease;'
The air is a medium by which the
germs of most disaases pass fromplaco
to placo and so it is in hog cholera and
the epread of the disease in this way
ia hard to hold in check. Streams
furnish a means of conveying the virus
from place to place. The water of en
entire stream is often polluted by heg
cholera in some herd which has access
to it Ponds, especially if fed from
streams from other farms, are a source
of contagion. Dogs and other small
animals, that roam at will, may carry
in the dirt upon their feet the virus, if
it so happens that they pass through a
yard or field where an affected herd
is kept, or if they find the carcass of
an animal which died from the diseaso
and has carelessly been left lying
where they can get at it Crows and
other carrion birds may also bo tho
means of conveying the disease in tho
same way. Euyers going from drove
to drove, or visitors, may spread the
disease. The introduction of new
stock into the herd is always fraught
with more or icsi danger, especially if
they have been shipped on the rail
road. All new stock should bo quar
antined upon another part of tho farm
for five or six weeks before placing
them in the herd. Railroads spread
the disease by carrying infected ani
mals. For this reason fields bordering
upon railroads may bo looked upon,
with suspicion for tho pasturing of
hogs. s
The time elapsing after the animate
ore exposed, or the germs ore intra-,
duced into the herd, before tho disc-CD
manifests itself, varies from four cr
five days, to thrco or four weeks.
The symptoms of hog cholera aro
somewhat variable. In somecacc3 it
takes a very acute form, tho animate
living only a day or so; white at other
times it may run a lingering courso of
three or four weeks. In scmo cut
breaks quits a large per cent of tho
cases will recover; while at other times
nearly every animal affected will suc
cumb. At times theco that recover
will do well, growing and fattening
nicely, and again they will seem to bo
stunted and never amount to much.
Generally tho first symptom notlcsd
is that tho animal refuses his feed to a
CONTINUED ON PAG3 8
"s