"Tht Progrei
tlrt Fanner is a
Vood paper far
bore the aver
se a"1 possibly
Jfe best adTcrtit
ia2 medium in N.
C. Printers' Ink
Ras the largest
circulation of any
family agricultu
ral or political
paper published
between R i c n
mond and Atlanta
1
i
S&liTh "n m o ri na TrTrrro MK&fa "tnsTA nTriTrT
falls
V E 1MMI
S- ; . ' : .
THE INDUSTBIAL AND EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS OF 0U PEOPLE PARAMOUNT TO ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS OF STATE POLICY.
Vol. 13. v . RALEIGH, H. C, JULY 26, 1898. No. 25
2 i V
; I i i i i
Agriculture.
-ORIDA BEES AND HONEY.
Corresvwndencs of the Progressive Farmer.
Aa I wrote you in my article last
Harch, I went to Florida to raise
fcoaey an kat 9 ust wnat
bad 549 hives to care for and run for
extracted honey. About 30 of these
were not strong enough to produce any
eurplus, 8o from about 520 "hives I pro
duced 120 barrels of Tupelo honey, a
grade of honey that my employer
brands as "Orange Bloom" and ships
a9 such to the Northern markets. But
the bees that gather it never see an
orange bloom.
Down there where I was located is a
most delightful climate in summer,
with the thermometer standing at 96
to 9$, a3 Jt was or tnree euccepeive
weeks' before I left there (June 7cb),
the breez3 from 'the Galf 18 milos dis
tant was constantly blowing from
about S a. m. to 5 p m. each day. The
nights were cool and pleasant. The
pine land sections of the country were
free from malaria, chills and fevers.
The natives are very indolent and lazy,
little inclined to do any work.
There is more work done there in the
honey extracting in spring, than there
is in farming all summer. I am writ
ing of Calhoun county, West Florida;
I don't know that these conditions are
true of any other parts of the State.
I left North Carolina February 26tht
under contract with S. 8. Alderman,
of Wewahitchka, Fia , to care for hi?
b:es for "four or five months" at $40
per month and board, but as soon as
the honey season closed this Florida
4 Cracker" settled up with me, at the
end of two and half months, without
even an hour's notice. I had no alter
native but to accept his settlement
and leave. I left there June 7 th and
rode on my bicycle about 270 miles
through the country to Valdosta, Qa.
There I took the train for Charleston,
S. C, and from there I wheeled it
about 240 miles to Wade, N. C. While
wheeling it, 1 had ample opportunity
to see the country and test the hospit
ality of the citizens. I am sure that
Georgia has more life and activity than
any Southern State I visited.
I find the Populist party in Plorida
almost a thing of the past ; they have
been fused and confused till they are
disgusted. I learned but little of poli
tics in Georgia, but in South Carolina
the Tillman crowd ia about dead. The
present Governor is credited with be
ing a Tillmanite, but he is a tool of the
straight Democrats. The Democrats
tell me the way the thing is managed
is this: The ticket is nominated m
the State by a primary ballot at the
polls; this allows everybody to vote
3d the Democrats go to the primaries
and vote for the Populist candidate
and nominate him, who will be their
tool when elected. See? The job has
been easy and the masses are disgusted
with Tillmanite Governors.
A. L Swinson.
Goldaboro, N G, July 19, loC
STANDARD SQUARE BALES.
Correspondence of the Progressive Farmer.
AuomsTa, Ga , July 1, 1898
To the Ginners:We take the lib
erty of calling your attention to the
importance of txsrting all your efforts
in favor of the adoption o! the stand
ard siz 3 cutton bale, which is a bale
made in a press box, measuring on the
Inside, 24 inches wide by 54 inches long,
and deep enough to make a bale weigh
ing about 500 pounds.
The complaints made by the trans
portation companies and the foreign
mills, about the d faculties of stowing
different size bales, and the damaged
condition in which the American cot
ton ia received, are bo numerous that
we are sure a great discrimination will
be made against our cotton next sea
son, unless there is a change made and
an universal size bale adopted and en
forced. After a number of experiments with
bales of all the different sizes it was
found that the best results could be
bad from those mt de in press boxes 24
inches wide by 54 inches long, and this
si3 has been adopted as the Etandard
by all the cotton growers' associations
in the Western and Gulf States; also
by the convention in Atlanta, Ga.,
Ian May.
Thig eiz? (24x54) was found to press
a greater density, and when pressed
at the compress, the baggiDg usually
Placed on a bale of cotton would then
cover the bale completely and prevent
a&y damage.
It ia well understood that the more
cotton that can be stowed in a steamer,
the less the freight, and consequently,
the more the cotton grower will re ceive
for his crop. It naturally seems that
a few inches in the size of bales would
make no difference, but a few inches
running irregularly through an ocean
steamer amounts to a great loss of
space, and in stowing bales of irregular
siz 3s, they are so screwed in odd shaped
spaces as to often break, and nearly
always are torn and twisted out of
shape by the time they reach the
foreign ports. The lost spaces also
form air passages and in case of a fire
the damage is much greater, conse
quently the insurance is higher than it
should be. The same complaints are
made by the railroads, and by the
milis when they put their cotton in
warehouses.
We think we have fully explained
the reasons for this change, and that it
is to your interest to do all that is in
your power to have every one make
this change by next season. As a gen-
ercl rule, the press boxes will have to
be made smaller, either one way or
both, This can be done with very lit
tle expense by lining the inside with
boards, one lining on another where
the eizo is to be reduced several inches.
Then the follow block can be sawn off
to fit the box. The cost of making this
change in most cases will not exceed
5. This amount is too small to spare,
and thereby continue to suffer the loss
caused by discriminations in the past,
as well as additional ones that will
surely follow.
The European mills use about three
fourths of our cotton crop, and of
course they have a great deal to do
with the price of cotton, therefore it is
to our interest to see that it is shipped
in the condition they want it, and by
reducing the damage and the cost of
transportation, the grower will get that
much more for his cotton.
We have received letters from a ma
j ority of the ginners in our territory,
and they promise to alter their press
boxes to the standard size. We re
spectfully solicit the co-operation of all
growers and those interested in the
cotton crop, to urge upon the ginners
the importance of making all bales of
the standard size, as the success of
this movement and the benefits to be
derived from it, depend upon them.
We are confident that a large majority
of the ginners will make this charge,
but it is necessary that the change be
as near universal as possible.
We are anxious to hear from those
that are interested in this movement,
and especially those that have made
this change.
Yours very truly,
J. H. Sloan.
DOES A COLLEGE EDUCATION
PAY THE FARMER?
Say 8 Col man's Rural World:
Tnis theme is discussed until the ar
guments pro and con are familiar to
every schoolboy. The proof of the
pudding is in the eating. Facts are
more potential than fancies. So a few
illustrations will be more conclusive
than theory or argument. A few years
since it became the duty of ttie Gover
nor of Missouri to appoint a new State
Board of Agriculture, to comprise fif
teen members.
In making the appointments the
Governor took particular pains to
8alecli persons who were known to
have been successful farmers. Some
time after the board was made up,
biographical sketches of the members
wera prepared, and it was then found
that of the fifteen men twelve of them
were college educated men.
An individual case can be cited that
is one of unusual interest, T. B. Terry
is perhaps one of the most widely
known practical farmers in the coun
try, and one of the most successful.
He is a college man, educated for the
ministry, but shattered health at the
time of his graduation compelled him
to engage in outdoor work. A son of
a minister, raised in town, without
capital, and with so little knowledge
of practical farming that he was led
into buying, on credit, a poor, run
down farm. Oa this he and his young
wife began farming under conditions
all discouraging, excepting he had a
college trained mind. This fact has
enabled him to become famous in agri
cultural circles as a financially sue
cessf ul farmer ; to make of his farm
which, when he took it, was of such a
character that an experienced farmer
to whom it was offered as a gift would
not accept it, one of the most produc
tive in the country ; to acquire for him
self and family a comfortable com
potency ; all of which have been ob
tained from the farm unaided other
than by his own physical and mental
effort, not forgetting his wife, who has
been an equal partner with him in his
work.
There have been successful farmers
that did not have college educations,
but each of these realizes that larger
knowledge would have made success
easier and perhaps brought success
sooner. A well trained mind is of in
calculable value, and when farmers
secure for themselves end children
educations equal to those rc quired for
professional careers then 'clod-hopper,"
hayseed and such appelations ap
plied to farmers will become obsolete.
NEED FOR MORE THOUGHT.
Everybody worries too much, but
very few do too much thinking of the
right sort. In no department of life
is careful, constant and intelligent
thought more necessary than in farm
ing and in none perhaps is less exer
cised. Says a writer in the Home and
Farm:
"What farmers most need is to learn
to think. Tniuk carefully, correctly.
"Think about your business, about
your stock, orchard, garden, soil. Talk
about them and learn all you can about
them. If ycu know men who under
stand gardening, ask them questions
abont gardening. Ask questions about
breeding stock for milk, for beef. Ask
questions about taking good care of
hoga how to feed them. Ask ques
tions about how to thin corn fcnd cot
ton. Don't ask only one man, but ask
many questions of many men.
"Ask how much more merchants
want for goods on credit than
for cash. A man chopping wood
at fifty cents a cord would have
to chop two or three cords more
to buy 100 pounds of flour on credit
than for cash, You get a great deal
les3 for cotton when you spend before
you make it. Think about this Ask
questions about it. Think about being
industrious Remember what the Bible
says about a little more sleep, a little
more slumber, a little more folding of
the arms in sleep ; so shall your farm
grow up in briers and your family w'ill
be clothed in rags."
RUNNING STORE BILLS.
This is a "bear" that the bravest,
most honest and economical farmer
dreads to meet. With receipts from
sale of farm products in one hand and
unpaid store bill in the other, the far
mer feels that the income of the farm
will pre fin but little when it is already
spent. There is no feature of the farm
finance that needs more attention than
that of the store bill. In the majority
of instances it is always larger than
even the highest estimate the farmer
and his family had made it. Country
merchants are not expert book keepers
and errors are liable to occur uninten
tionally, say 8 an exchange.
The farm home has needs that must
be supplied and frequently the finances
of the farmer's family are so managed
(or rather not managed) that there is
not a continual cash income, and time
purchases seem unavoidable. A far
mer's wife of our acquaintance, who
realized the importance of practicing
the strictest economy, not having the
time for or knowledge of book keeping,
insisted on having bills of all purchases
made, which were filed away. By
referring to these the household ex
penses were quickly determined. They
were also a means of settling differ
ences when the merchant's account
failed to tally with these bills. Re
ceipts were taken for all money paid,
not because that merchant? were re
garded as dishonest, but as a safeguard
against error. When settlement was
made one month the store bill was
found to be eight dollars more than the
filed bills showed- The fact was soon
revealed that eight dollars paid on a
previous account was not credited.
Whenever possible all such pur
chases should be on a cash basis. The
farmer and his family are more inde
pendent, and cash for goods means
cheaper goods.
There is the temptation to lavish ex
penditure when goods are bought on
credit. But pay day will come. And
money paid for goods worn out or
eaten up seems like money paid for
value not received.
Right here is a good opportunity to
put in a word in favor of such lines of
farming as dairying. Oae great ad
vantage the dairy farmer has over the
steer raiser or grain grower, is in the
fact that returns from sales of milk or
butter come at least monthly, thus
providing him with cash for current
expenses. This feature of the dairy
business is one of the reasons why it is
of so much benefit to a community ; it
brings money into the community in a
constant stream and keeps it in circulation.
SCUDDER'S WASTEFUL HASTE.
A Story With a Moral.
The postmaster at Bunkum was not
half a bad sort of a man. He was
alert and quick to see a business chance
and was at work in his store, in which
the post office was kept, from early
morning until weariness drove the
last loafer home in the evening. He
might have made a successful business
man on a large scale if opportunity
had opened the way for him, but be
cause he had not seen a way to engage
in large transactions he did not de
spise the day of small things. Begin
ning &s a huckster who traded various
commodities to country housewives in
exchange for butter, eggs, old rags
and iron, he had built up a trade that
proved profitable and in the end en
abled him to start a modest store at
Bunkum, the stock of which enlarged
and included more and more different
lines until it became the regulation
general store, containing as many dif
ferent sorts of goods as most of the de
partment stores in the big cities. If a
girl wanted a yard of ribbon she found
it at "the store;" if a boy wanted a gun
or a watch or a fish hook Bob Urner
found a supply tucked away about the
place; if a epcol of thread or a log
chain were called for Mr. Urner
promptly exhumed the article called
for and named the price. Besides sell
ing a varied assortment of goods Mr.
Urner bought anything that was
offered for sale at his place of business
at some price.
It may easily be imagined that the
goods in his small store were not given
a very good display, but as he was his
own buyer, seller, clerk, bookkeeper
and jaaitor he could lay his hand on
anything in stock that might be called
for, even if the accumulations of
months were piled on it, and as to dis
play, that was usaless, for the people
of Bunkum were so confident that
whatever they might want was to be
found at the store that they were not
afraid to call for it, knowing from long
experience that on some shelf, in rome
drawer, under some counter or hang
ing from some hook in the ceiling the
article would be found in a short time.
'Squire Bunker dropped into the
store one morning to get his mail and
to his surprise not one of the usual
crowd was there. Even Hank Lister,
who, tradition related, only stayed
away while eating and sleeping, was
absent. Mr. Urner was behind the lit
tle row of boxes which marked the
postoffice report. He had just got to
point where he had discovered that his
salary for the quarter had increased
from 18 11 to $11 08, a very gratifying
showing.
"Good morning," cried the postmas
ter, cheerily, as he turned to get the
'Squire's mail.
"The same to you," replied the
'Squire, "how's business?"
"Never better," was the reply, I've
just been makin' up my account with
The Department" (it takes double
breasted capitals to say this in the way
the postmaster die) "an' I find busi
ness is lookin' up. I noticed the other
day in the paper that the postc nice re
ceipts are the best guide to judge busi
ness by an' my business with The De
partment is nearly 40 per better'n it
was last quarter."
"That's good," said the 'Squire.
Then he looked around. "You look
lonesome," he said, "has there been an
eppydemic in the settlement!"
"No," replied the postmaster, with
a liberally wide smile, "but they's a
raisin' down to Smiley's an' the boys
know they's to be a good deal of eatin'
after it an' all o' them wanted a taste
o' Mis' Smiley's cookin', so I'm left
alone, I ain't none sorry, either, for I
wanted to git things in a little better
shape. Looks a little cluttered up
'rouEd the edges, don't you think?"
The 'Squire gave a comprehensive
glance at the interior of the store.
"I don't know but it does," he said,
deliberately. "I don't remember's I
ever see a lady's bicycle suit a-hang in'
on a plow handle down to them big
stores in the city, an' I d o n t b'lieve
they use the stove to show off eummer
hats on."
The postmaster laughed in a good
humored way. "I'd re'ly like to keep
things lookin' a little slicker," he said ;
but I don't have time to 'tend to it an'
I guess I sell about as much as I would
anyhow. You see 'tain't like as if I
was in a big city where"
"Gimme five cent wuth o' t'backer
'n a clay pipe 'n do up er do up
blame it all, I come away in such a
hurry I forgot to bring the paper
where the old woman writ what she
wanted. Gimme th' terbacker 'n the
pipe or I won't git down to Smiley's
afore they've got the raisin' over with.
Funny, people alius have to have
raisin's when a feller's in a hurry. Pay
fer this next time I come in ; f ergot my
pocketbook."
The speaker who had interrupted
the postmaster grabbed the pipe and
tobtcco and was gone, the whole"
transaction occupying something lees
than thirty seconds. He was a
man of middle age, showing signs of
hard work. His only clothing was a
hickory shirt, denim overalls, a pair
of cowhide boots and a very dilapi
dated straw hat. His overalls were
hung by one uspender, and in lieu of
a button at one end of this solitary
suspender was a nail.
Neither the 'Squire nor the postmas
ter had said a word from the time he
rushed into the store until he ran out,
j imped into a buggy with a broken
spring and a slivered thill, and disap
peared down the road in a cloud of
dust.
"I wonder if Scudder'll ever find
time to die?" said the postmaster, re
flectively, forgetting the sul ject that
was up before the interruption of that
gentleman.
"I s'pose he will," answered the
'Squire; "but unless he mends his ways
he'll never find time to do anything
else."
"I dunno but you're right, 'Squire,''
assented the postmaster. "He's been
goin' on the jump ever sence I come
to this settlement an' still he's never
got even with himself yet. He's alius
more or les3 in debt an' never has any
money. I'll be lucky if I see what he
owes me in six months, an' I give up
long ago ever gettin' the account
square. I don't mind trustin' people,
'Squire, but between me an' you, I
think a cash business is better. When
you an' two or three others come in to
buy something o' me I know I'm goin'
to git the money right on the nail an' I
allow you'd be wiilin' to say I sell
things to you reasonable? '
"I must say you do."
"Well, I try to make it up to them
as pay 8 cash, for they hain't got no
part nor portion in the credit I give an'
I hain't got to worry about bad deb;s.
There's Scudder now ; he's alius on the
run, but he don't seem to make any
headway. He runs here an' runs there
an' does a little o' this an' a little o'
that an' he don't half do what he does
work at. I've 'bout concluded that it's
better to do a little well that to give a
good many things a lick an' a promise
an' let it go at that, an' never git the
benefit of anything a feller does."
"That's so," said the 'Squire. "Jake
Scudder is in such a hurry that he
don't take time to think an' never
plans a minit ahead. I don't make no
sort of doubt that he's tried to do a
day's work to-day afore be started to
the raisin' an' probably he done half a
dozen different kinds o' work at that.
Now he's goin' down to Smiley's jest
in time to be too late to help an' he'll
rush back an try to make up for the
time be lost He ain't a minit ever
forty five an' yet he looks as old as
me. He's worked harder an' accomp
lished less than any man in the settle
ment. His farm looks worse'n Hank
Lister's an' I allow that's puttin' it
pretty far down. He ain't got no more
ready money than Hank has. all be
cause he goes right ahead without stop
pin' to make any plans. You wouldn't
never a had this store if you hadn't
sot your stakes an' went right straight
for 'em, I allow."
"Nor you wouldn't a had your farm
clear of a mortgage an' stocked bet
ter'n any other in this diggin's if you
hadn't done your work on some sort of
a system that give you a chance to
make a showin' every day," said the
postmaster.
"That's right, that's right," said the
'Squire. " 'Tain't them that goes the
fastest that alius gits the most done
You know the Good Book says: 4The
race is not to the swift, nor the battle
to the strong, but to him that endureth
to the end,' an1 no man can endure
long enough to reacji the end onlesa he
goes at a gait that he can stand."
"Yes, haste makes waste in more
ways than one," said the postmaster,
as the 'Squire started home, "an' a
man can waste his time easier by
war kin' without plans than a'most
any other way." Farmers' Voice.
Intensive farming is the thing that
wins less risks, less labor, greater
yields.
Cyclones seek the point of least re
sistance. The country offers least re
sistance to success. .
COB CHARCOAL FOR HOGS.
Fattening hegs eat charcoal greedily,
but that made by charring com on the
cob is eaten best, and is all that is
needed to keep them in health. But
in one of the Minnesota Farmers' In
stitutes, Theodore Louis tells how he
makes cob charcoal on a large scale
where hogs are kept by the hundred.
He digs a hole five feet square at the
top and five feet deep. Into this he
throws some cobs, setting fire to them
as they are thrown in until the hole is
filled. Then the hole is completely
covered, banking earth against the
edges of the cover. In twelve hours
uncover, and the cobs will be found
completely charred, so that they will
easily crumble. Sfx bushels of this
are them mixed with eight pounds of
salt, two quarts of air slaked lime and
a bushel of wood ashes. Dissolve one
and a quarter pounds of copparas with
hot water, and sprinkle over the mass.
This mixture aids digestion and de
stroys the intestinal worms with which
fattening hogs are always infeeted.
Hogs, thus fed, have no occasion to
root, as they get what they require
without this labor.
THE BEST SHEEP FOR THE
SOUTH.
Mr. Henry Stewart, the well-known
authority on sheep raising, has an ar
ticle on the above su j ?ct in a recent
issue of Home and Farm. Mr. Stewart
says :
Tastes differ: This applies to all hu
man affairs, and as much to the choice
of all farm animals as to anything else.
It is well that this is so. If it were
otherwise there would be no advance
made in the world. We should all bo
keeping the common stock of animals,
and each of us, knowing no better,
would be quite satisfied with what we
had and would seek for none better.
But the restless desire of our race for
change and variety which has possessed
all men from the beginning has led to
a constant advance and improvement,
which seems never to be completed,
judging of each year's change and ad
vance on all previous conditions. This
is to be most noted, perhaps, in regard
to sheep. Anyone well informed of
what improvements have been made
by American breeders of late years can
see this advance most conspicuously
exhibited doubtless in the Merino
breeds and the several varieties of
them. This sheep has been the special
wool sheep of the world since thoso
days in which the old patriarchs' wives
and daughters spun the fleeces and
wove the cloths for their households.
"3he seeketh wool, and her hands
work willingly. She layeth her hands
to the spindle and she holdeth the
distaff. And all her household are
clothed with scarlet." Thio is the de
scription of the virtuous woman, and
mistress of a household in ancient
times. The custom of spinning wool
in those old times and up to the later
Roman Empire, and which was com
mon among high and low conditions
by the maidens, gave to these tho
name of spinsters, by which we call
the unmarried women even now.
There is probably no other part of
the world in which this old custom so
prevails now than the Southern States,
for here cur girls learn to spin the wool
and the older women weave the jsana
and knit the hose. Still it is amazing
to one well informed of the history of
the sheep and the wool business that
in this part of the continent of Amer
ica the sheep is most strangely neg
lected, when it might be increased in
number ten times without an excess
of stock or product. Bat there is an
other item of value in regard to the
rearing of sheep in the South. No
other part of the Union has so rich a
soil, all rich alluvium everywhere, and
no glacial drift has existed to cover
this with vast beds of gravel and bar
ren sand as in the North. Yet no other
part of the continent produces such a
low average of crops. Nowhere else ia
there so much land lying idle and neg
lected in the old fields. And at the
same time nowhere else is the "golden
footed sheep" so scarce, and rarely to
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