"The Progres
sive Farmer is a
rood paper far
above the ver
gge and possibly
the best advertit
lam medium lo N.
C.Tt Printers' Ink.
lias the largest
circulation of any
family agricultu
ral or political
paper published
between R i c h
mond and Atlanta
5
THE IEDUSTEIAL AND EDUCATIONAL IKTEEESTS OF OUB PEOPLE PARAMOUNT TO ALL OTHEE CONSIDERATIONS OF STATE POLICY.
Vol. 13.
RALEIGH, IT. C., DECEMBER 13, 1898.
Ho. 45
- k.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY
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enbecription expires. Receipts for money on
subscription will be giwn In change of date on
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notliy ns.
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Basif of Advertising Rates: ten cents per agate
line. Liberal discounts for time and space.
Thi item is marked to remind you that you
thou d carefully examine ibis hample copy and
s-end us $1 for a ear's subscription.
We want intelligent correspondents in every
county in the State. We want facts of value,
reeulta accomplished of value, experiences of
value, plainly and brieflv told. One solid,
demonstrated fact, is worth a thousand theo
ries. The Edltort are tot responsible for the views
of Correspondents.
The Progressive Farmer is the Official
Organ of the North Carolina Farmers' State
Alliance.
' I am standing now just behind the
urtain, and in full glow of the coming
lunset. Behind me are the shadows on
Ihe track, before me lies the dark valley
ind the river. When I mingle with its
lark waters I want to cast one linger
ng look upon a country whose govern
ment is of the people, for the people,
xnd by the people.' Z L. Polk, July
4h. 1S90.
EDITORIAL, NOTES.
A9 a rale the average farmer who
farms for a living, growing everything
he can, gets a better living, and far
more satisfaction out of the farm and
out of life than the one crop man.
The longer the manure lies in the
heap, the greater the losa of fertilizing
constituents; gratting, however, that
there ia no loas, will there be as much
time in the spring to do the hauling cf
it, when there are forty other thugs
to do daily ?
m
No animal takes more cemfort in a
good warm bed than doea the pig. A
damp bed is apt to be fatal to mm. a
farmer who believed in giving his pigs
warm sleeping qu&rters. allowed them
to lie on the fresh horse manure,
thrown out daily. Those pigs never
went to market.
The Wisconsin Experiment 8tation
reports that about five pounds of ekim
milk ar the equivalent of one pound
ef corn meal in nutrition value. Bat
t:rniik hold? the same relation a?
ekitnoiilk. Much more, however, tbar.
theu- actual nutrition valu, lifs in
thjir relishsorne qualitic-3 and their
bilacco as a diet.
Reports from some of our sister
States would seom to indicate that
naiiy planters of the South are rea iz
ing that an agricultural pecple canno;
thrive who buy their grain and meat
with the price of othe r farm product?.
Next year will see some real diversifi
cation of farm crops, and North Caro
lina should j-in the r roces3ion.
Sjcre'ary Wilson eays that the hog
furnishes the beat market in which to
b;11 the by products cf the mill and
-airy. He assimilates more of the
rnDit concentrated feed Bluff than any
ether aniooal on the farm. In con
junction with the cow he will redeem
the worn out cotton and tobacco fields
of the South. Select your breeding
fjwj, he eays, from good milkers; that
i is the beat indication of fecundity.
m
President Andrade, of Venezuela,
issued a proclamation concerning
a national exposition to bo held at
Caracas. The Ministers cf Agriculture,
Industry and Commerce will take the
matter ia hand and afford opportunity
for foreign governments and mer
chants to participate and exhibit goods.
American exporters will doubtless ob
tain their full ehare of the increased
trajV likely to re-ult from such an un
dertaking: The exposition will open
January 1, 19j0.
Man? who h ave given the subject
veful thought and study believes
that the cow coming in fresh in the fall
3 about a quarter more profitable dur
ing the year than one coming in dur
the spring, other things being
equal. The calves are dropped from
September, to December and are car
ned through the winter on ekimmilk
rgely, with good shelter against the
cold. When the pastures are ready,
ley are turned out and need little at
Nation till the following winter.
GonsuUGeneral Holloway reporta to
the Scate Department that the rice in
dustry in Russia has largely increased
of late years. The demand for this
product is constantly increasing and it
is now generally used by the peasants
throughout the empire. The finished
product ia packed and sold in jute bags ;
the broken grains are made into starch
and the "flour" is fed to hogs. The
price in Russia for cleaned rice fluc
tuates from 93 cents to $1 per 35 pounds
and the flour bran sells for about 15
cents per 36 pounds
Quick fattening makes tender meat.
But much nec?esarily depends upon
the condition of the animal when the
fattening process begins If it is lean
and run down, forced feeding at first
ia an evident mistake. The digestive
organs will speedily become upset and
not so good progress will be made in
laying on weight as though the in
creased feeding is more moderate. The
animal's system must bo brought into
a healthy state where it will easily
digest everything it eat3, and ther its
appetite must be kept up. The excre
mem will not show all the undigested
food.
With the many methods of dehorn
icg in such common use, from a touch
of acid to a scientific cutter for the ma
turn horn, it eeems strange that farm
era will allow their cattle to retain their
horns, jeopardizing the live cf the
farmer and his family, endangering
the lives of other stock, and keeping a
condition of unrest and worry in the
herd. Where a farmer or dairyman
once practices dehorning, and see the
benefit to his herd, he will never after
allow a horned animal in his yarta
Look in the advertising columns of
The Progressive Farmer for good
brands of dehornere.
Aleike clover is a valuable forage
crop and can be grown to advantage in
many places vhere ordinary red clover
will not yield profitably. It is a pe
reDnial and has no hairs on the stalk
so is net dusty Its bloom is sweet and
makes good honey. It will ttand any
amount of wet. Planted in wet swales
and depression?, it will make abund
ant growth and reeeed itself from year
to year, tffording a vast amount of ex
cellent feed. It does not; throw out
and freez out as do red and mammoth
c'overs. Farmers would do well to
try a patch on any low lying land on
the farm. It withstands cold well and
haa made good growth in Alaska.
The experiments of tho Cornell Sta
tion go to snow very clearly that till
age is fuiiy aa important a factor in
g'owing 8ucces8rui crops as oven eoil
fertility. For seven yean the station
has been making careful experimpnts
in tillage and eoil fertility. Potatoes
were rown on a soil containing loss
fertility than the average soil, yet by
means of careful tillage, and without
the uee of any commercial fertilizer or
manure of any kind, crops have been
grown hich are far above the aver
age of the State. The crop raised this
year is the fifth one removed from tho
soil sinse fertilizers of any kind were
applied; yet it is a very satisfactory
one. The time for listing in a crop and
cultivating it once has gone by.
The President of the C)ntinental
Company, of Chicago, btatea it is hi3
opinion that the Tamworth is the com
ing hog. 4After semi experiments
and quite a Utile experience," he eays,
"I think that that breed possesses mere
qualities of general utility than any
other. If desired, it can be slaughtered
at 175 pounds and makes excellent
bacon; otherwise it can easily be
brought to 5(0 or 600 before killing.
The virtue of the Tamworth lies large
ly in its uniformity. I have seen hogs,
however, of the Tamworth variety,
weigh as high as 1,000 pounds. Cana
dian bacon, the popularity of which is
undeniable, is produced almost exclu
sively from the Tamworth. I am cer
tain that as soon ae the merits of this
breed are known to the American
farmer and packer, it will be but a
short time before it will be very large
ly bred."
m
Mr. D G Fairchild, who has charge
of the work of se2d and plant introduc
tion of the Dopartment of Agriculture,
has recently started on a trip to South
America, where he hopes to find new
plants which will be advantageous to
thi3 country. Mr. Fairchild is an ac
complished linguist, which smoothes
over many difficulties in such an un
dertaking, ia a botanist, and also a
specialist on plant diseases. Mr. Fair
child has strongly advocated seme
measures being adopted by the United
States looking to the shutting out of
the many diseases and insect enemies
which are constantly being imported
along with foreign eeed3 and plants,
through the ignorance of growers and
merchants. It seems reasonable to as
sume that action should be taken to
keep out, by quarantine, deadly dis
eases of plants, as well as diseases dan
gerous to human life. A man's life
may pay the result of cnrelessness in
the latter instance; his fortune or
means of a livelihood in the former
AGRICULTURE.
SOMETHING IN REGARD TO FER
TILIZERS Mr. Q. B. Dillon, of Tennessee, who
last week contributed a helpful article
our Dairy Department, writes an ex
change regarding the use of fertilizers.
We quote:
Different soils and d fferent crops
require different treatment and differ
ent elements of plant food.
JUDICIOUS SOIL CULTIVATION.
Ajudicicu? cultivation of soil adds
to its producing capacity as the ele
ments of plant growth contained in
soils are unlocked and made available
to some extent by proper working of
the soil. It was formerly believed that
it was necessary to add all the con
stituents of plant growth to the soil be
fore plants could be produced. That
if we wished torais) wheat we must
add the constituents of wheat. If we
wished to raise potatoes we must add
i he constituents of potatoes. Tnis is
not now considered absolutely neces
sary. If we use a fertilizer, rich in
nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash,
with judicious rotation of crops, we
may not only raise good crops inde fi
nitely, but brit g the land up to a higher
state of productiveness every year.
On some soil we could safely leave out
the potash, enough being yielded an
nually by decomposing particles of
soil unlocking the sand grains, as it
were, to get these treasures. Oa some
soils nitrogen perhaps would not be
celled for at first, and on others, rarer
still, phosphoric acid might for a time
be found sufficient in the soil.
CEREALS AND NITROGEN
Cereal crops are especially benefited
by nitrogen and nitrogenous manures.
Generally from forty to sixty
pounds per acre are required for
full crop. I believe clover to be the
best medium to use in charging Foils
with nitrogen. It is a trap easy set
and euro to catch. Clover may be
ersiiftlly fertilized with plaetcr. For
Indian corn phosphoric acid is perhaps
the beat fertilizing element.
LAND PLASTER
Land plaster often does good eervhe.
On some eoila potash proves valuable.
Grass requires all theelemer ts of plant
food. Well rctt?d manure is perhaps
tho best special manure for it. Bone
dust comes next. Either of these can
bo used at see ding, or afterward as top
dressing Clover requires nitrogen
and phosphoric acid iu small quantities
Potash and lime are its most valuable
manures. Turnips require nitrogen
and phesporic acid, the latter in solu
ble form.
potash f :r potatoes
Potatoes are like the turnip and on
most soils they need a supply of potash
furnished. There is usually potash
enough in our common barnyard ma
nure for potatoes. One hundred pounds
of good bone, thirty five pounds of
sulphuric acid and thirteen pounds of
water, mixed in a wooden tub or vat,
will make one hundred and forty-eight
of superphosphate dry. In mixing,
however, much more water will be
found neceestary to possibly properly
mix the mass, and when properly
mixed, if after standing a day or two
it is too damp, may ba dried by add
ing ground plaster or other material
The bonedust should be wet with water
first, then the acid added, a little at a
time; by so doing the vessel in which
the mixture is made is less acted upon,
and the incorporation with an action
upon the bone is better. Stir with a
wooden hoe or mixer. Never attempt
to reduce whole bones with the sul
phuric acid.
LIME ON SOILS
The advantage of reducing bores or
rock phosphate with sulphuric acid is
to render the solubility in water the
greater when applied to the foils.
Liming soils really adds no plant food
to the soil, but has a tendency to de
velop it in the soil by the caustic, dia
solving, breaking down t ffct that the
action of the lime has upon the par
ticles of the soil. G. B, Dillon.
Eva, Tenn.
MAKE WINTER LEISURE PROFITABLE.
Winter should be the farmer's time
of rest. Whether it is not depends
largely on himself. If he is properly
prepared for winter by having his feed
stored handy to his live stock, his fuel
stored in a dry place and his farm
work done on time he may find many
rest days during the winter. If feed
must be hauled for the stock, fuel for
the house and odd jobs of all kinds at
tended to, winter may be a time of
hard work at a time when work is
hardest. It is not too late to prepare
for severe weather and after this is
done it would be well to take a little
time to think how much the best of us
fall short of doing as well as we know.
We know we could make every field
tillable by draining a few low places
early in the spring. When you come
to this just note it down in big letters.
We know we lose a great deal of the
value of the manure made by allowing
it to leech away in the rains of winter,
and we know we could save all this by
u little preparation and a small amount
of work every day.
We know plows and cultivators
work better if the bright parts are cov
ered with tallow when they are put
away in the fall, and if so it happens
we have not put them away, we know
wo are wasting money by letting them
rot. Better attend to that to day,
don't you think? We discover, when
we come to think the matter over, that
we have onr farm buildingf arranged
that we are walking miles and miles
needlessly every year while doing the
chores.
Ic isn't a very good excuse to say we
haven't time to attend to all these
things. D jing the best we know is the
one sure way of making as much as we
can, and to say we haven't time to do
the best we can is very much like the
excuse the man made who eaid he had
so much to do that he couldn't attend
to business. Let us take time this
winter to make a plan that will allow
us to do the beat we can next year.
Tela would be a profitable way to use
the winter leisure. Farmers' Vo.'ca.
ODDS AND ENDS.
Now is the season when there is no
big jjb (hiving but there are a plenty
small ones to keep the farmer out of
mischief until winter sets in. Most of
them will begin at the barn and more
likely than not never get to the house
ac all, but we will begin with the hou&e
in reminding them of the things which
they know very well ought to be done
bat are very liable to overlook.
Seo that the house is well banked if
it needs it and triat the cellar windows
are all right and fit snugly. Sea that
some of them are windows, cot; plank,
so that the women will not have to
light a lamp or grope around in the
dark two or three times a day. Have
your cellar protected for you do not
want to wake up scmo z?ro morning
and fiod your 'garden sasa" fr.zen.
You will miss your "biled dish" when
you cannot have it. See thai; the house
windows are well puttied and broken
places replaced with new glass, also
that they are snugly wedged up. It
will save fuel and it may save your
getting a ' Scotch Blessing" if the
house plants do not fraez3 this winter.
You will be pretty sure to get one if
they do.
Look to the stove pipe and chimneys.
They have an inconvenient way of do
ing mfschief in the worst possible
weather if not kept safe and you do
not want your insurance money just
yet. See to the water pipes and tubs.
You will use bad language if your
water freezes up and you have to lug
it from the brook. See if the kitchen
floor does not need a coat of paint. If
it does, put it on. Se that your shed
U full of dry wood and some light stuff
for kindling.
Now you may go to the barn and
tinker around there awhile. You will
find plenty of places where a board, or
some banking or a hinge or hasp will
make things more comfortable for
your cattle, and the more comfortable
they are, the greater will be your in
come from them, also your pleasure in
them. Domestic animals have no life
but at our will and spend that life serv
ing us faithfully as they can. It is a
sin not to treat them kiodly and make
them comfortable and happy.
If you make everything snug and
shipshape about your premises before
cold weather comes on, you can then
eit down by your fire with a contented
mind, but if you neglect these things,
they will constantly remind you that
they should be done and prove a source
of annoyance to you all winter.
Green Mountaineer.
LIVESTOCK
? :L -;-K.'--- ---a-z -T-
FEEDING HOGS AND CALVES.
Valuable Facts of Special Intersst to
Stockman.
Correspondence of The Progressive Farmer.
The Utah Station has been making
experimental tests of the profits to be
derived from feeding skimmilk and
whey to hogs and calves. In bullet; n
No 57 of that station, Prof. F. B Lin
field makes the following statement of
the orj33ts of these tests:
Soon after becoming connected with
the station, the writer, from observa
tions made in various parts of the
State, was impressed with the neces
sity for investigation looking to the
profitable disposal of the by-products
of the dairy, both at the factory and
on the farm. The common method at
the factories seemed to be to feed hogs
on milk or whey alone, and where
grain was fed, it was only given to
finish the hog for market. This method
of managing did not appear to be sue
cessful, for it generally took the whole
season to get one crop of hogs ready
for market beside s, in many instances,
it resulted in too high a death rate
among the hogs t) be at all profitable.
In planning this series of experi
ments, the object was to study the
economy of feeding milk alone and
milk in combination with grain, as
compared with feeding grain alone.
In several different experiments with
hogs extending over four years of time,
it was found that milk alone gave bet
ter results than grain alone taking less
digestible food to make a pound of
gain, and also returning larger profits.
But a mixture of milk and grain was
found to ba far superior to either, by
itself. When -fed alone 100 pounds of
skimmilk produced 10 cents work of
pork ; but when fed in connection with
grain, 100 pounds of skimmilk pro
duced 18 cents worth of pork, after
allowing 70 cents per 100 pounds for
the grain used with it.
A point that should be noted here is
that though 40 per cent, of the by pro
duct fed was whey, yet the returns for
the milk and whey were fully equal to
that from previous experiments when
skimtLilk alone was fed. This does not
prove that whey is equal in fe(dtDg
vualue to skimmilk, but it does show
that whey is a very valuable by-pro
duct when properly handled.
But where the hogs ran on pasture,
the grain alone surpassed the ration of
milk alone; but even here the mixed
ration was much better than either by
itself. In this toet, where the hogs ran
on pasture, thoae fed on a mixed ration
of milk and grain were brought up
from 50 pounds each to 200 pounds
each ia 118 days, while tho3e fed grain
alone required 174 days, and those fed
milk alone required 220 days to reach
200 pounds weight, on an average.
However, tha Wisconsin Experiment
Station, some time ago, found that
milk was more economically fed alone
than in combination with grain. At
that station, when the milk was fed
alone 100 pounds cf milk proved equal
to 27 pounds of grain, but when fed in
conjunction with grain 100 pounds of
milk was only equal to 21 pounds of
grain. But in that case the hogs were
very young.
Prcf. Linfleld makes the following
general summary of his long feeding
tests:
Skimmilk and whey, when fed in
cor junction with crushed or ground
grain, makes a valuable hog feed in all
cases and especially for young hogs.
The mixture of milk and grain is
more economical than either alone. To
make one pound of gain required 2
pounds of digestible nutrients in the
mixed ration, 2 pounds in the milk
alone, and nearly 3 pounds in the
grain alone.
When fed in combination with grain,
skimmilk has 63 per cent, greater feed
ing value than it has when fed alone,
100 pounds of skimmilk taking the
place of 23 pounds of grain in the for
mer case and 14 pounds in the latter.
The hogs fed on the milk and grain
ration made much more rapid gains
than either those fed on milk alone or
grain alone. The time required to
make 100 pounds of gain was 79 days
for the hogs fed on milk and grain, 116
days for these fed on grain alone and
147 days when the food was milk alone.
When the ekimmilk and graic were
fed in the proportion cf 3 pounds or
less of skimmilk to one pound of grain,
the return for the skimmilk was
greater than when a larger proportion
was' fed. When fed in the proportion
of 2 pounds of ekimmilk to 1 pound of
grain, 100 pounds of milk took the
place of 31 pounds of grain, but when
fed in the proportion of 4 pounds of
skimmilk to 1 pound of grain, only 24
pounds were displaced.
Hogs fed on milk alone gained very
slowly and did not keep in good health ;
in some cas38 they were tff their feed
eo frequently that a chan?eof feed had
to be made. The milk and grain fed
hogs, however, without exception,
kept in good health.
Young hogs make a better use of
milk alcne and poorer use of grain
alone than older hogs. Hogs fed on
grain alone or milk alone did much
better when permitted to run on pas
ture than when kept in small pens.
The appetite of the hogs and the
palatability of their food seemed to
have a marked effect on the rapidity
and economy of the gains.
Young hogs are in every way the
more economic producers of pork. The
hogs fed milk and grain required 62
per cent, more to grow a pound of live
weight when they weighed from 200 to
255 pounds than they did when they
weighed from 33 to 100 pounds, and for
those hogs fed on grain alone the dif
ference in favor of the smaller weight
was 56 per cent.
In the calf feeding tests 16 calves in
all were used, and the experiments
were repeated four succossive years.
The calves were in every case sepa
rated from the cow by the time they
were 12 hours old. For the first seven
or ten days the calves were fed the
whole milk from the cow, some of the
calves being fed twice and seme threo
times a day. The milk was fed warm
from the cow and the amount given
was about 16 to 18 pounds per day. It
may be asked, why not let the calf
help itself for the first seven or ten
days? The experiment gives no an
swer, but past experience had demon
stratod that by the method followed
both the cow and thecal gave much
less trouble. When the calves were
fed on the whole milk it wes gradually
increased as they got older, till 20 tc 22
pounds were f d per day at a month
old, when tho calves were disposed of.
Those calves which received ekim
milk were fed as follows : For the first
seven to ten days o its life the calf got
the whole milk from the cow; then
skim milk was gradually substituted
till at the end of one week, or when
calves were 14 to 17 days old, the calf
got half skimmilk and half whole milk.
At the end of the next week the ration
was three fourths skimmilk and one
fourth whole milk, and as the end of
another week, or by tho time tho calf
4 to 5 weeks old, the ration consisted
of all skimmLk. If, however, the calf
was not doing as well as we would like,
a little whole milk was continued for
another weeks or two. The amount of
skimmilk was gradually increased as
the calf got older, but the moat fed in
any one day was from 25 to 27 pounds.
The skimmilk ration was kept up till
the calf was 5 to 6 months old, but aa
they increased in age they, had what
water they could drink in addition to
the milk. We have found it to be of
the utmost importance to make all
changes of feed gradually, so as not to
disturb the digestion of the young calf.
Separator ekimmilk was used and in
every instance it wes fed froah To
prevent the milk from souring it wa3
boiled by having steam turned into it
(which diluted it about 8 per cent ),
and then it was cooled to about 63 de
grees Fahrenheit in summer and to
about 40 degrees Fahrenheit in winter.
When treated in this way the milk
would keep fresh for about three or
four days in summer and about a week
during the winter.
The ekimmilk given the young calves
was always fed warm, from 80 to 100
degrees Fahrenheit. The cold milk we
learned from a little experience gen
erally produed indigestion, with the
resulting ecours. The milk, however,
should not be hot. Our method of
warming the milk was by the use of a
lamp stove, only a few minutes being
required to heat a pailful of milk.
Ab scon as the calves would eat it a
little grain was given to them. Chop
ped grain was used, and it was fed dry
in a box, and not put into the milk. No
tests were made of the value of the
different kinds of grain, though quite
OOJJTINXJED ON PAQS 8.