N
The Prcjrei
gtn Farmer is a
ffood paper far
tbare the aver
gge and possibly
the best advertU
fa medium in N.
r " Printer' Ink.
Has the largest
circulation of any
family agricultu
ral or political
paper published
between R i c h
mond and Atlanta
I
it
i l THE INDUSTRIAL MD EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS OF OUK PEOPLE PARAMOUNT TO ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS OF STATE POLICY.
7ol. 13. U RALEIGH, N. 0.f NOVEMBER 22, 1898. Ho. 42
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PUBLI
The date on your label tells yon when yonr
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Basis of Advertising Rates: ten cents per agate
line. Liberal discounts for time and space.
We want Intelligent correspondents in every
connty in the State. We want facts of value,
results accomplished of value, experiences of
value, plainly and briefly told. One solid,
demonstrated fact, is worth a thousand theo
ries. The Editor are rot responsible for the views
of Correspondents.
The Progressive Farmer is the Official
Organ of the North Carolina Farmers' State
Alliance.
" am standing now just behind ttu
Ttain and in full glow of the coming
wnsef-. Behind are the shadows on
',e tracU, before me lies the dark valley
:nd the river. When I mingle with ite
iark water s I want to cast one linger-
Uh, 1890.
SDITORIAL NOTES.
Two pest3 to keep constantly in mind
ia connection with the fl :ck are lice
and rats. Toe rata may work quicker
bat they are no more deadly.
Old and young stock never thrive bo
well when housed together. The poul
try house should have at least three
compartments, one for the old stock,
one for the pullets and one for thf
cockerels.
During the warm fall days the crim
son clover ia growing right along. It
will continue to grow eff and on all
through the winter in the warmer sec
tiona of the country and will be the
first legume to shoot forth in the
spring. By corn planting time it will
be a crop.
J It ia undoubtedly a fact that more
'farm in ieeaiog leguminous urups,Huun
as clover and cow peas, rather than
plowing them under, but tho cost of
hauling them both ways, to and from
the barn, must bo considered. When
plowed under green, tbey are alrdy
evenly "spread" over the land. Tma
does not take into consideration the
dairy question or stock feeding. That
ia another story.
This i? a good time to cut away all
diaeased canes of the grapes and all
dried up branches, which were affected
with mildew; they can readily be seen
hanging on the vine?. Gather them
together and burn them. Then re
member to spray with fresh Borboaux
mixture in the spring when the buds
are swelling. Old Bordeaux should
never be used. If kept over from year
to year, or even month to month, it
loses most of its efficacy.
Oae of Hobson'a men, Oaborn Deig
nan, returned to his home in Stuarr,
Iowa, a few days ago. "At the depot,"
we are told, "eighteen or twenty club
girls surrounded him and attempted to
ki33 him, but ho pushed all back, say
ing there were handsomer men in the
crowd than he." DMgnan'a act is con
tralto! with that of Hobson, who, it
will ba remembered, kissed Mies Ar
nold, of St. Louis. But even Hobson
would doubtless have refused to kiss
the microbes off the lipi of more than
adcz:n girls.
m
Tne figures of the Agricultural Da
partnent show that the yield of hay
P3r aire has been excellent on an aver
a?e d iriug the year, probably 10 per
cent greater than that of last year, in
fact the average yield per aero ia the
lirgoa: on record, and the total crop
probably the largest ever gathered.
The estimated average yield of Irish
potatoes is ab3ut 75 bushels per acre as
compared with 64 bushels last year and
buhtis in 1896 The pDtato crop
n&s proven somewhat better than was
a ftrt txpected.
.
Waat is the meaning of all these
lowing machines, reapers, horae rakes
and othr farm implements being left
tin the weather! Have they just
b'-ea taken out temporarily for some
eon? No, not much. They have
een left to stand where last used, and
l we mistake not they will stand there
a the rie'dp, or in the fence corners
until wanted again. What kind of a
Wa7 is this to do and expect to keep
balance on the proper side of the
ker Wet and sua will, spoil the
ng look upon a country whose govern
ment is of the people, for the people,
snd by the people. yL. L. Polk, July
best iron or steel and the best wood.
This sort of practice don't happen in
isolated cases by any means. Why
not take the parlor chairs out on the
open porch and leave them there
through the fall and winter?
The question of raising American
sugar from beets has lest none of it?
interest. Not so much has been hearO
about it this year as last, because last
year the project was fairly launched
upon the country, but as a matter of
fact nearly double the number of farm
ers have been experimenting with
plots this year, with a view to determ
ining whethrr their land is suitable to
tho production of high grade beeta
The samples are coming into thechem
ical division of the D?partment of Ag
riculture for analysis much more
freihly than they did last year, run
ning from one to two hundred samples
e :ch day.
The fiftsentn annual convention cf
the Association of cffi.nal agricultural
chtmisis was held in Washington last
week (.jommncing Nov. 11). The re
f ults wore rather technical for ordinary
non chemical mortals to understand
thoroughly, but they dealt largely with
experiments which have been made
during the year with various kinds of
fertilizers and fertiliz3r constituents;
also with food adulteration. The mem
bers of the association are men of high
standing; Dr. H. W.Wiley ia its sec
retary and he reports that the associa
tion is doing excellent work, which
when completed, can in each case be.
I a X . . . m I
reuureu ic practical Denent to tne
farmer and fertilizer user, as well as
the consumer.
Less than a year ago the Executive
Committee of the Democratic party
met in this city and decided that the
campaign this year must be fought out
upon the Chicago platform that free
silver must be the issue. This was not
at all pleasing to the goldbugs and cor
poration lawyers. How and why it
was decided to abandon this policy
may be learned from the folio wins;
paragraph from the Charlotte Observer
of Nov. 11th. Coming as it does from
Democratic authority, wo do not fear
to pass it on. Says thf Observer:
"Tne first suggestion Tne Observer
ever heard it must have beon'n veu
ago as to tho policy of the D:mccrauc
party fcr the campaigu of 1893, was
from Herioc Claikon, Esq , one of the
Representatives elect from thi-3 couaty
to tb.3 next legislature, and is was that
the fight ehould be made on the color
line. Mr. Clarkson, a member of the
Democratic State Executive Commit
tee, proposed this policy to the com
mittee at a meeting in the early spring
of this year, and it went through by a
majority of only two. It has proved
to bo a winning policy, and in common
justice and fairness we make public
Mr. Ciarkson's record on it."
While it is not probable that labor
conditions will ever be such in this
country as to enable us to compete
with China in the production of cheap
teas, there certainly i3 a fiold for the
high grade article. It is well known
that we can grow the tea plant to per
fection in the Southern States; it is
also a recognized f&c j that the best teae
that we can import from China are net
the best teas produced, which ar kept
for home consumption. Several tea
plantations have been started in the
South for tho production of high grade
tea, anl it is stated thai ons located at
Sumoierville, South Carolina ia prov
ing a success, The cost of raising the
tea is something less than 30 cants per
pound, with a prospect of still further
reduction, while it is said that none cf
the tea has brought less than $1. Gret
care is taken in the curing and rolling,
with the idea of placing on the market
nothiDg but tea of the very fiaest grade
and fUvor. So, in South Carolina te
grower a have mot with considerable
success. Our North Carolina Station
a few years ago attempted to enccur
age its growth in this State, but eeems
to have failed to awaken much inter
est in the matter.
We print the following item from
Farmer's Voice not because we endorse
all tho sentiments therein expressed,
but because it contains a few etubboro
facts which we had as well face now as
in the future. Says tho Voice:
"The results indicate two tnings: 1,
8ilvtr is no long3r the issue, the issue,
greater and mro fundamental ques
tions having driven it into comparative
obscurity; and, 2. the Populist party,
with its innumerable factions, its petty
jangles and the evident desire of its
leaders to "reform" things by getting
possession of all the offices, thereby
putting themselves oa the low levels of
partisanship which have so diegusted
honest citizenship with the Democratic
and Republican parties, has driven out
a large and respectabla element. This
election ought to clear the atmosphere;
it should arouse the people to a com
prehension of the fact that as long as
they strive selfishly after the material
gains of political life they may not hope
to secure reforms all honest friends of
the plain people so earnestly desire.
Populism had its origin in a eincere
purpose to correct existing evils. The
very magnitude of tho movement at
tracted to it political self seekers who
have come to dominate it in their own
ee fi3h interests Hence the selection
of secondary questions as issue? ; hence
the interminable factional quarrels;
bonce tho overwhelming defeat of
Tuesday. We believe that millions of
our people are ready to follow the lead
of capable and henast men, who, disre
gardiog personal int8resta,ure prepared
to do battle fcr those true principle 3 cf
government through whose adaption
and practice justice may be secured,
and may be secured by no other
means." .
AGBICULTUBK
IS YOUR CELLAR WELL STORED?
Do not think, because you had a
profitable crop of early peas, beans,
lettuce and radishes, or potatoes for
that matter, that your garden is no
longer in debt. On the contrary it
owed you for the plant food given, de
licious vegetables from May until De
cember, and sufficient stored away for
winter use. It ia your fault and not
that of the garden if you do not have
them ; most vegetables that will ma
ture in six weeks from sowing time,
will mature as well in Augupt and Sep
tember as in May and June, while
many, such as turnips, celery and cab
bsge, make their best growths in Oc
tober. Keep up a succession ; tbs mo
ment one crop is out of the way, re
place it with another. If ycur vege
table cellar is empty now, this is a
good time to lay by for mxi season.
F X PER I MEN TESTATION REPORT.
Our North Carolina Experiment S-a
tion has jast issuei iv3 report of
44 pages, covering tho work for tho
year 1897 and for the first half ol 1898
The volume consists of the report of
the Director, together with the chiefs
of the different divisions of the Station,
ar.d ia accompanied by an index to the
report and to the bulletins cf the Sta
tion issued during the period referred
to.
An examination of the report shows
that 16 regular bulletins of the Station
were issued, relating to fertile r an
alyses, compost making, compost ped
dlers, orchard, garden and field crops
and their diseases, the housing and
feeding cf stock, birds and medicinal
plants. There were also various special
press and information bulletins, and
other publications, amounting in all to
fifty, containing 785 pages. The Sta
tion has kept up with its rather heavy
correspondence, its work at Southern
Pines, the study of poultry keeping,
the analyses of the commercial fertili
zeis on sale ia the State, the study of
the digestibility of the common feed
ing stuff, as well as other lines of
work referred to in previous reports,
and the importance of which to the
people of the State is probably well
known and highly appreciated.
In addition, the Station has aided in
securing the enactment of a law pro
vidiDg for inspection of the nursery
stock sold in the fctate, and which is
liable to contain the San Jcso scale and
other dangerous crop pests. At the
timoof the enactment of thisiaw,tbere
wero laws in other States, and since
the enactment of this law many other
States have reeled the importance of
suh legislation and have secured it.
Daring 1897, the Station discovered
the prcssce of tuberculosis in ia herd
of cattle, and in consequence, ecme cf
the anixals wero slaughtered. The
wide publicity given the matter has
served to call the attention of the pgo
pie of the S;ata to tho danger of tuber
culoais, and the result will doubtless
prove very beneficial.
The first edition of the bulletin on
Trucking in the South was so popular
that it became exhausted, and it was
necessary to reprint it.
The bulletin on the Ornithology of
North Carolina and the bulletin on the
Medicinal Plants of the Suite, should
prove particularly valuable aa records.
There waa a considerable increase in
the number of samples of fertilizers
sent for analysis, and attention is
called to the fact that during the year
about 208,000 tons of commercial fer
tilizers were consumed in the State,
and that one brand out of four fell be
low its guarantee in eome single con
etituent.
An investigation has been begun as
to the nature and extent of food adul
teration. The consumption of food in
North Carolina, annually, amounts to
probably one hundred millions of dol
lars, and it will be in teres ting to know
the extent to which our peoplo are im
posed upon by adulteration or mis
branding, or by some other means.
Many States have a Food Control
similar to our own Fertilizer Control,
and it may be advisable, at seme time,
for our State to endeavor to protect
her citizens from fraud by the eame
means.
The report and index will ba eent to
any one, free of charge, who will make
application the Director of the Experi
ment Suasion at Rileigh.
SOUTHERN AGRICULTURE.
An Interesting and Valuable Contribu
tion to the Subject.
In the superb volume, "The Empire
of the South," published by and pre
pared under the supervision of the
Southern Railway, appears a most in
teresting chapter upon agriculture in
the South. Mr. Frank Presbury, the
author of the book, is a recognized au
thority on such matters, and the vol
ume, which is to have a large distribu
tion, will be productive of much good
to the South. We quote from the ar
ticle the following:
To the man of limited means no sec
tion holds forth such favorable induce
ments as the South. Lands are low in
price and transportation facilities are
of the best. All the grain and vegetable
products that will grow in the West
a; row much more abundantly in the
Soutb, and thsre is a wide range of
products that are indigenous to the
!3outh that can only be raised there
and c&nnct be transplanted to the
higher latitudes. Rates of living are
cheaper than in any other section, be
C3U5e of the mild climate, requiring
lesa fuel, and tha greater variety of
products avaiiablo for supplying the
necessities of the family. Ot the fami
lies owning forms, the percentage own
ing subject to incumbrance, the aver
age incumbrance and the average in
teres t charge are shown in the follow
ing table for the whole country and for
several Southern Spates :
FARMS OCCUPIED BY THEIR OWNERS,
WHICH ARE INCUMBER ED.
Average Average
incum- int.
P'roVge. brance. charge.
United St'a 22 22 $1,224. $87
Alabama, . . 4 S3 609 . 54
Georgia ... 3 38 681 57
Kentucky . 4 06 1 069 71
Mississippi. 7 70 619 61
N.Carolina 4 88 722 57
8. Carolina 8 00 930 80
Tennessee. . 3 21 667 41
Virginia... 3 16 1 308 79
Tie logic of the agricultural situa
tion is, therefore, that as a class the
Southern farmer has the better end of
the financial proposition. The man
now living on a rented farm in the
overcrowded portions of the North or
West has great difficulty in getting a
4 'farm of his own," while if he goes
8outh it is within the power of almost
every one to secure a place and be in
position to build up and er joy a home,
leaving something fcr his children to
inherit This is emphasized by the
official figures, which show that in the
nine seaboard Northern States, with a
population of 105 to the square mile,
and with 51 81 per cent, of the popula
tion urban, thore is one pauper for
every 559 inbabitant3. Ia the eight
seaboard Southera SSateo, with a den
sity of 33, and with 16 03 per cent, of
the population urban, there is one
pauper for every 1,093
Tee va?t movements in industrial
and mining operations in the South
have to a great extent overshadowed
the quieter agricultural pursuits, but,
neverthelesp, tremeadoua strides were
mad?, as will be eeen by the following
comparative figures:
1880 1897.
Farm? 1,726 480 2,562.127
Acres under
crops.... 54 679,145 93.611,017
Value farm
products. $611,699 145 1,006 476 800
No.livest'k 39.448 360 53 211,613
Value $360,066,883 1516 872 714
It is little understood among emi
grants that the South presents advan
tages far superior to those of the great
West. The climate is much better ; the
number of towns springing up all over
the South bring in iheir train nearer
markets and better prices; the soil and
seasons are so admirable that crop
failures are rare; the farmer can raise
a greater variety of products with the
certainty that he can find profitable
and convenient markets for them. The
small farmer in the South is immense
ly better situated than one of similar
circumstances in the West, and the
possibilities in grain-growing in the
South were illustrated recently when a
South Carolina farmer won the prize
offered by the American Agriculturist
for the largest yield of corn per acre,
in competition with the most progress
ive farmers in every section of nearly
every State in tho Union.
The Manufacturers' Record, of B Ui
more, has Ehown that tho South's pop
ulation supporting power has ecarceiy
been trenched upon. According to the
figures, it is possible for the Southern
States alone to support a population of
upward of 88,000,000 of sculs, baling
the estimate upon conditions existing
in Pennsylvania to day. The latest
census statistics, however, showr that
not one of the Southern States, with
the exception of Maryland, is populated
to the extent of one fifth of the density
of Massachussetts or Rhode Island.
Under the circumstances, it will at
one a be perceived that the fear of over
crowding the South ia groundless. The
South can stand an immense tide of
immigration and yet its power of ab
sorption will remain comparatively
unimpaired. The farmer will partici
pate most largely in the prosperity
that will follow. Already he ia finding
out the value of the "intensive system11
of farming, which by high manuring
produces more on a single acre than he
formerly got from four, and he has
also begun to feel the beneficial effects
of the great industrial population
which he is called upon to supply with
the products of hia farm. As that
c'asa increases in numbers the de
mands made for far aa products will in
crease accordingly, ani thus prosperity
of the one will react upon the other,
and the whole section will be benefited.
All the advantages which make in
favor of agriculture in the South ap
ply with equal force to its allied indus
try, the dairy and stock raising busi
ness. Nearly every portion of the
Southland is well watered and pro
duces nutritious grasses in abundance.
Certain sections, as in Virginia, Ten
nessee, Kentucky and Georgia, have
long b?cn famous for the quality of the
cattle and horses produced, but as a
whole the stock raising interests of the
South are still undeveloped and ff-r
the greatest opportunity of capital and
enterprise.
In nearly every garden there are
numerous vegetables left in the ground
that could be easily stored for winter
use, thereby adding to the profit 3 of
the garden as well as to the luxuries of
the table, as no meal is worthy the
name unless vegetables form a promi
nent part. It is astonishing to see how
much there is, or may be, in the gar
den upon the approach of winter that
ia usually neglected; vegetables that
are difficult to obtain when wanted.
There are always plenty of carrots, an
indispensable vegetable for soupr?, and
a small quantity of which are sufficient
for winter use. A few beets are de
sirable, and usuall there are suffisieLt
allowed to spoil in the ground to make
good dishes.
LETTER TO THE BRIGHT BOY ON
THE FARM.
No 3
From Wallace's Fa mer.1
I have asked you in previous articles
to help me to demonstrate the correct
neas or incorrectness of certain theories
that I hold with reference to taking
care of the cows and the pigs on the
farm. You are, or should be, however,
a graat deal more tfean a grower cf live
stock, honorable as that vocation is,
and no?7 I ask you to help me teat
some theories I have entertained for
many years with reference to the edu
cation of farm boys by trying my
theories on yourseif. You no doubt
have the idea that being a farm boy
and having acceea at the present to
nothing but the country schools it will
be impossible for you to secure a first
class education without leaving home.
Now, I have a theory that the right
kind of a farm boy can get a better
education at a reasonably good coun
try school than the ordinary town boy
actually gets in hia high school. I do
not say thai you can get a better prac
tical education in the country school
than the town boy can get, if ho has a
mind to, in tho high school. What I
mean is that you can get, if you wish,
a more practical education than the
majority of town boys actually secure.
If you will conduct the experiment for
me in the way that I will suggest, it
certainly can do you no harm. I am
absolutely certain that it will do you a
great deal of good.
The greatest good that schools and
teachers ever do anybody ia first to
wake the boy up thoroughly, to fill
him with ambition, to imbue him with
a noble purpose, and the second ia to
practice him in the use of whatever de
gree of intellect he may possess. These
are the only two things that any school
can do for a boy. The rest he must do
for himself. Schools are not knowledge
factories, or at least should not be.
Tne French have a noted and high
priced dish called pate de foi gras,
which in plain English is gocse liver.
In order to produce livers of enormous
elz because diseased, the geese are
fastened to the fbor and are etuffed
to their utmcs1; capacity with food fiiat
creates this abnormal and diseased
liver which our frog eating friends
across the water regard as such tf great
luxury. Sometimes I think that the
boys in our schools are treated like
these geese, stuffed with facts, knowl
edge, rules, definitions, etc , to over
loading and are much like a foundered
horse. The boy gets the notion that
the object of hia going to school ia to
acquire knowledge. He is mistaken.
The object in going to school is to come
in contact with superior minds in the
persons of the teachers and the bright
est pupils and get thoroughly waked
up, and furthermore to exercise hia
body in football and other games ; in
other wordp, to develop the mind and
stimulate it and fill it with noble ambi
tion ia the main object in going school.
Tne acquis i -.ion of facts, knowledge,
rules, etc., is merely incidental.
I had a call last week from an old
schoolmate whom I had not seen for
forty nine years. I waa greatly inter
ested in him. He left echool when he
was fifteen years of age and I was
thirteen. H3 ha? never had any op
portunity ot education and yet he is a
very well informed and intelligent
man. Ha has acquired large wealth
by legitimate metoods and in requir
ing wealth ha has acquired an educa
tion of more practi3al value than many
college graduates. You can do the
same. You can, however, never do it
unless you resolve at the start that
you will vnever undertake a study, be
it grammar, arithmetic, geography, or
whatnot, without the determination
to master it thoroughly and know
everything there is to be known about
it in the book or from the teacher. If
you will cultivate this habit of thor
oughness, it will be worth thousands
of dollars to you in after life.
You have some advantages which
the town boy has not. Your father
has work for you from the time you
can pick up chips or cobs. You are
trained to habits of industry, if your
parents have done their duty by you.
You have plenty of exercise going to
and from school, and you have, if your
father does hia duty, plenty of good
books to read. I advise ycu not to
read many books and only of the best
and read them over and over again un
til they become like the iron in your
blood. Books Ekimmed over do the
boy no good. Avoid novels as a rule,
but read the best. B?gin from the
very first to put your thoughts into
writing. Write imaginary letters;
write real onss. Study how to express
yourself in plain, simple English. That
in itself is an education which many
collsgo graduates never get. Remem
ber that neither Shakeepeare, our
greatest dramatist, nor Bums, -"t
of universal humanity, nor Abi J ted
Li r coin ever had any education .
yocd a common school not to meii
tr n great name? nearer home. You
can get an education if you but will
without leaving home. Read article
in this paper carefully three or four
tims over, then Jay the paper aside
and without looking at it try to ex
press 'he same thoughts in your own
languageJwithout using the same
ptiroee My theory ia that if you will
do as I have suggested ycu will get a
beuer education than the majority of
boys git at high rchool or than some
of thun get at college. I do not eay
thiv, you should not go to high school.
If you are to be a farmer you ehould go
to the agricultural college, but it will
be a waste of time and money for you
to go until you are thoroughly waked
up and get all you can cut of the com
mon school. Is won't hurt you to act
on this theory of mine. It will help
you immensely and you will be a liv
ing demonstration of its correctness or
its falsity. Ucle Henry.