Tbc Prcffrei
g Ire Firmer is a
rood paper far
Jje the aver
are and possibly
the beat advertij
InS mediflin In N.
C." Prlatera' Ink.
Has the largest
circulxtica of a&7
family agricultu
ral or political
paper published
between R i c b
mood and Atlanta
o
TV x
TEE IEBUST2IAL AND EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS OF QUE PEOPLE PARAMOUNT TO ALL OTEES CONSIDERATIONS OF STATE POLICY.
7ol. 13.
EALEIGH, N. C, JANUAEY 3, 1899.
No
47S
2.
n. 11 m.
PUBLISHED V I'EKLY
subscription will be Sn m ct .
label. If not properly chant".
notify us. - .
his cooy of the Pni noSIto that effect
plration f his ssrrlption. n a
Inonld be sent. )icVTPVio3 defied, and
contlnrauceof thVt Said wntn paptr is
all arrearages must be yaia
ordered st -pped- .
TSZi toti- ioth old aud new addresses in
of Advertising Rates: ten cents per agate
line, liberal uimuu""""
t,u Iteml marseu ij irm.uu j
oudca fully examine i Li sample copy and
gdulear's suoscri.tion.
WAwant Intelligent correspondents in every
r- tv in the State. We want facts of value
rwofts accomplished of value, experience of
tL n'ainly and brieflv toid. One solid.
SeiSnaSfied fact, is worth a tnousand theo
ries. -
" " i ay.tw flint Villi
TheEditon are rot responsible for the views
of Correspondents.
"Solsr Fahmer is the omciai
Organ of the North Carolina Farmers' fctate
Alliance. -
ind ihrir When I mingle with its
iark waters I want to cast one hnger
iq look upon a country whose govern
SSrfi. of the people for the$eoge
and by the people. L. L
UK 190.
gDITORIAL NOTES
It ia not too late to prepare for ecma
of the severest of winter's weather
Then it would be well to think out a
plan or system for the coming spring
Man was intended to work by system;
therein lis hia advantage over brute
creation, which generally is incapable
of thinking ahead.
mi
Whil fives are turning Southward
in the direction of tropical islands, it is
interesting to note, according to me
United 8tates Minister to Hayti, that
Arr,wnfl carjitalia about to seek an
entranco into that is'and to develop its
resources A Now Jersey company is
boing formed to construct artesian
wellTand water supply in various local
ities Another company proposes to
develop the native wocds which are
very hard and sua.ieptiole of a high
polish. Another syndicate ia being
formed to build a railroad which will
op9n uo the northern part of the island
Republic, the nativa government is
aiding thee enterprises as far as pos
sible, and d'sirnato induca American
capital to iavest tbere and assist in de
veloping unknown rppource3.
The San Francisco Call prints a de
ecription of what is undoubtedly the
largest 'single field of wheat ever
planted, in the Rtate, if not in the coun
try. It covers 25 00 1 acres or 40 -qu ire
mile3 and is one fl it, almost level plot
of ground. If the day is clear every
part of the fieid can be seen from every
other part. Tnere are no roads thiougn
the field, and every foot of the field
will be made to yield wheit. Pio ing
end planting began about the middle
of las': July and will not be completed
before the middle of the winter, bus the
grain will U mature at about the sune
time, when will come the herculean
task of hatvetins; it. The owner of
the Clovis wheat fiH Mr ClovisColft
has to employ ove 2 0 men, over 1 000
horses and a number of tons of big ma
chinery. The entire harvesting will
be done by machinery ; cutting, thrash
ing and even sacking and leaving the
grain in rows iD bags, will be done all
in one operation. The time of the
"good old times" and the hand sickle
have indeed passed
Prof Gilbert H Hi ;k, of the Divia
ion of Botany in the Department of
Agriculture died suddenly last week at
his resideccs in Washington. Ha was
a native of Michigan and graduate of
the Michigan Agricultural College,
where later he taught botany. He was
in charge of the seed testiDg laboratory
of the Department, passing upon all
eeed3 coming into this country for the
Dapartment and Experiment Station
work. Prof Hicka perfected a very
excellent system of seed examination
and clarification before distribution;
also scad testing for impurities and
adulteration, as practiced by both by
foreign exoorters to the United 8tates,
and nativa dealer?. He discovered
and brougtt to account a number of
firms selling highly adulterated farm
and garden seeds the Department be
ing empowered by act of Congress to
publish the names of such seedamen
doing fraudulent business. Mr. H cks
was a young mn, j ist starting on a
bright and useful career and his lo?s
will be mourned by the many close
friecda ho has made as well as felt in
directly by the great agricultural fra
ternity in whose interests he was a
tireieea labDrer.
We cannot too strongly nor too often
urge tho supreme importaEce of plant
ing seeds that are perfectly pure and
fresh. Seds that are offered at cheap
price3 are almost invariably of doubt
ful origin and uncertain age, sure to
cause the planter disappointment and
loss. Tho thoughtful plauter'3 only
eurety lios in buying seeds eent out by
a conscientious and trustworthy house.
N3V7, we have received a copy o! the
verv handsome seed catalogue isfusd
by F. B Milla, Rose Hill, N. Y. Mr.
Mills is one of cur very be6t seedsmen,
and we advisoour readers to drop a
postal to the above address for a copy
of hi3 catalogue. Do not fail to say
that vou ta v their ad in The Pro
gressive Farsier Toon, too, a vast
numoer of American gardenero have
(nd have had for yean-) the utmost
?onfl ience in seeds that bear the name,
D M. Ferry & Co , Detroit, Mich. The
present generation cf planters can
nardsy remember the time when
Ferry's eeeda were not on sale every
where each year and as regularly
planted by thousands with the great
eat faith in the unvarying quality of
the seeds and in the integrity of the
firm that grew them Every planter,
whether already a buyer of Ferry's
seeds or not, should snd for Ferry's
Seed Annual for 1899 It is mailed free
to anyone who mentions The Pro
ores si ve Farmer
Toe firm of J J. H. Gregory & 8ons,
Marblehead, Mass , is also perfectly re
liable and catalogues free. None of
our subscribers need hesitate to buy
from either of these threo houses.
Mst extravagant claims have been
made both for and againsc the Mid
African Limbless cotton or the Jack
eon Limbless cotton, which is one and
the eame tbiDg. That theclaim3 made
as to the wondrous advantages of this
cnton are fakes, is beyond question,
aa thia papsr has more than occa given
facts to prove; but on t&e other hand
the Btatoment made that the variety
is absolutely worthless, ia also mis
leading. Taero were tbree firms in
Atlanta selling seed, charging aa high
aa 1200 per bushel, but it ia probable
that with the publisity which tho press
has given the matter, their sales have
rapidly decreased. The Cotton Planter
says ironic illy that a liberal pruning
ia necessary to make it limblesa, that
there was nothing with the Jickeon
Ltmblees cocton eeed pent out; the
fault lay with thick headed Mississippi
farmers who were not smart enough to
keep their cotton pruned. L. H.
Daey, Assistant Botanist of tho Dj
partment of Agriculture, who investi
sated the matter at the instance of
S cretary Wilson, believes the Jack
son to be a good variety and useful in
some sections, though not worth any
faccy prico. While not in any sense
limbless, its limba are much shorter
toao these of other varieties, which is
an advantage. Tne heaviest yield of
toe cotton plant ia borne on tho lower
oranches and the weight of the bolls
amkiDg iheae down near the ground, in
the event of rain the cotton ia certain
t) be bespattered and injured. This
trouble ia absent in the Jackson, as the
limbs are Ehort and stout and do not
ag, 80 as to endanger the bolls being
spattered with mud Mr. Lewey re
girds the Jackson as one of a number
of the best varieties
"How shall we get at the wealth in
the subsoil?" asks an exchange which
then answers its question thus : Why,
plow to the surface, to the air and sun
and froat and mix vegetable matter
with it ani pulverize it thoroughly."
That ia good advice, but jaat a word
of caution wants to go in here: to do
it gradually, a little at a time, an inch
each year. Ic is supposed, of courpe,
that such advice relates to poor land;
deep, rich land is satisfactory as it is.
But if land which has been -plowed to
the depth of five inches for as far
bck as can be remembered ia suddenly
plowed a foot deep and six or seven
inches of hard, clay subsoil thrown up
onto the surface, it will take a mighty
lot of vegetable matter to work it
u profitably. We once saw in the
sand bills of Florida an instance of how
land could be properly enrinhed and
deepened. Most of the land in the sec
j tion referred to wa3 about five inchoa
: deep with soil (loamy sand) and below
, tint was a sub. of bright yellow sand,
appearing to contain humus. The
'crackers," in plowing were care care
ful never to turn up any of this yellow
sand; they only worked and produced
in the top soil. A farmer who know
the value of cowpeaa, planted a crop
broadcast and plowed them under,
turning up an inch of yellow soil,
which was mixed in with the surface
soil by harrowing. Planting a winter
crop, ho sgiin sowed peas in the spring
and again lurned them under, throw
ing up another inch of yeilow ecil.
Taia. it will be seen, came next to the
soil containing the first crop of p?as,
with wnich it was mixo.1. He had
been continuing thia process, when we
saw bis Und, for six yeare, u&icg a lit
tie lime, and hia eoil was a fiao black
loam nine or ten icche3 deep and capa
ble cf producing immenss crops for
that eection.
The following lttm from a corre
epondent of one of our exchanges was
copied by us sometime ago and eee ms
to have attracted considerable atten
tion :
"So, fellow farmer, I say raifl3more
onions. Put out an acre or half acre
for experiment you might say but I
aay you need not experiment, for if
your eoil ia mellow enough to produce
corn, wheat, etc., then it will produce
about S0J0 buehela of onions to the
acre, that will bring you from one to
two dollars per bushel. The imple
ments won't cost more than $20, and
say about $30 will pay for your labor
on them. Don't tell me onions don't
pay ! I have tried it and know what I
am talking about. If you wish you
can make arrangements with some
buyers for your crop at a certain price
before you raise it, and so be always
sure of good money."
One farmer asked ua to get the author
to write an essay on cnion growiDg
This we did tot do, because th9 author
lived hundreds of miles from North
Carolina, and therefore did not know
the needs and environments of onion
growers in thia 8tate; but we did get
Prof. Frank F. Emery, of our State Ex
periment Station, to write ua an article
cn the etibj ?ct, and ic ia netdleia to say
that he has covered the ground in
every particular. Prof. Enery will
continue to contribute regularly to our
columns, but will not in future confine
himself to dairy subjects. Hence wo
hope that any of our farmer readers
who have any questions to ask or sug
gestious to make regarding the farm,
crops, live stock, etc., etc , will not
hesitate to eend them in And do not
forget that we shall be glad to have
your experierc3 and your idees for
publication. Remember The Progress
ive Farmer ia here to serve you and it
always gives us pleasure to do so in
any way poeeible
AGBICULTURK
ONION CULTURE.
Where to Grow Onions--When to Grow
1 hem How to Grow Them-Prof
Emery Tells Progressive Farmer Read
ers all About the Subject.
Correspondence of The Progressive Farmer.
Tne culture of thia excellent vege
table has largely been left by farmers
to the market' gardeners. Too much
"trouble;" "too fussing," and "too
much backaching hard work" for the
farmer and his hired help. But it re
quires patient application to make suc
cessful cropa of any kind, and thia is
no objection to the onion more than to
other crops. We do not propose to in
terfere with the market gardener in
advocating the production of onioLS
on the farm, b it the tendency is un
avoidable to put more onions on the
market, as our stock will not eat many
of them beyond a few which can be
cooked for hogs and poultry. O a ions
must be sold for human consumption
if raised. If more were consumed the
general health of the community would
doubtless average better than at pres
ent. At the ruling prices for onions
many thousands more bushels can be
put on the market than are now grown,
and find profitable eale, but the cream
of profit to some growers and dealers
would be lost
LAND AND PREPARATION.
The soil must be rich, worked well
and of a fine tilth in order to produce
the best cropa. A previous crop of
potatoes or of cow peas ia beat to start
onions after. When once started,
onions may succeed onions very well
if maggots do not get into the field, in
which Cass a new place removed by
aoTifi distance from the infested field
will be batter than risking destructive
losses from insects at the old place.
Tne eoil should be a rich loam, but
may grade towaid sandy, or ba of a
peaty character. If the soil is a little
stiff care muat be exercised to handle
it right so it will not bake. A reprint
of an old Arabic work on agriculture
says the land should be plowed three
times before planting, and puts stress
od thorough working the lacd before
planting, and also on irrigation. Ra
cent writers insist on clean land and
the use of chemical manures instead
of barnyard manures, because cf liabil
ity of weed seeds being contained there
in, If a little more care and more fre
quent 6tirring cf the soil is given weeds
need not be feared. But a day or two
of neglect or rain at a critical time
carries them beyond control, hence
tho valuo cf clean land and clean, fre
q ient culture.
seeding
There are a considerable number of
varieties all cf which may bo treated
alika p.a to seedsowiag. Tnere are
some varieties which are propagated
by planting out little bulba grown in
tie ground or on tho tops. Theae are
not the most prol.fi j varietiea, but are
good sorts to grow for home use.
Tne variety may be selected with
reference to us3 to which it is to be
put. Secure some seed catalogues f rem
reliable seedsmen and find out what
they represent aa best according to ex
perience for your region. Then buy
about six pounds per acre, of good
seed, and at onse test it between flan
nel cloths by the kitchen hearth, or
wherever you can keep the tempera
ture between 50 degrees Fahrenheit at
night and 75 degrees or 80 degrees
Fahrenhit at highest during the day.
Lay a flinnel over a shallow plate of
tin or earthenware in which you keep
some water ; count 200 or 300 seeds and
digpesa them in open order by hun
dreds on the flinnel, spread a wet
flannel over the seeds, and a dry one
over it to control evaporation and
cooling. Take out sprouted seeds by
count every day until you know how
many, or what percent, cf the seed is
viable, or alive. (It is well to do this
wito other seeds and to plant only
good seedf ) If you)get 90 per cent, or
ii n?r cent, of seed to grow, then five
I ucde per acre will ba enough to so;v.
SPECIAL TOOLS
needed to cultivate onions are a gar
den seed sower which can be ueed in
tho vegetable garden for other varie
cies cf vegetables to advantage. It is a
labor saver. In obtaining half a dozen
teed catalogues you will find two or
three in which theae tools are illus
trated and offered for sale. They may
be obtained from Business Agent Par
ker. A combination seeder, and a
light wheel hoe with changeable parts
?ill make an oulfis with which the eeed
im be so wn and two men can me at
same time in cultivation. Secure tho
tool to be used most with aa high, light,
and strong a wheel as possible. It is
beet for the purpose. Then there are
several kinds of Hand tools. Saveral
of one or more kinds of these are indis
able. Oae of the most useful is in th9
form of a reap hook. Cos s 25 centp,
or by the dozen perhaps 15 cents. A
piece of scy the web, bent in the form
indicated to 1 inch wide and with
piece of wood on inch side of handle
will be an admirable tool and equally
aa good. It should be sharpened on
both edges for use in either hand on
both sides of the onion row, or row of
other vegetables in the kitchen garden
The piece of scythe should be about 15
inches long. These tools may be rein
forced by two or three each of light
steel hoes, and PcufHs hoes, the latter 8
or 10 inches wide and the same number
of steel tcoth garden rakes, io these
might well be added a sprinkling cart,
tu' woich can be dispensed with.
With tha plot of land well prepared
for se d
SOME GOOD DAY IN FEBRUARY,
earlier in Eastern and later in West
ern North Carolina, try the seeder
with the onion seed in it and set it to
deliver 15 or 20 live seed to each foot
of row. Do this test in the house or
barn and be sure you have enough to
account for the percentage of seed that
did not grow. Tnen put the seed in the
ground, and in this process let the little
covering wheel behind the seed dropper
roll heavily on the row and walk on
the row youreeif. Then do not fail to
see that you know by examination
whether plants come up first where
you did or did not step in the row. Put
the rows 15 inches apart for this crop
The plants being up so the rows can
be seen, take the large wheel tool and
slicing bottom part and run through
twice in a row. Do this yourself and
try to see how near you can come to
the onion plants and not disturb one in
the row. Going twice iaaures close
work by machine on each side and les3
hand work. If you have a straddle
wheel machine set the tool on either
side to come aa near as you can trust
yourself at a walk without disturbing
the plants. Thia writer prefers the
single wheel machine
NEXT THE HAND WORK.
With the hand tools and a coarse bran
sack folded aa a pad and tied over each
knee, start in where the wheel hoe be
gan and cjean the ground in tb.e row
of every vestige of a weed and scrape
over every square inch that the wheol
hoe did not cle9n. Taero may not be
a weed io eight, but two or three may
ba under the eq'iare inch neglected
ready to come up the next morning
after you have passed and clean cul
ture is the rule for good profit in onion
culture. Repeat this often. Every
time a shower causes a little crust to
form, go over with the wheel hoes. As
often as a weed can bo found go over
with the band weedsra. The lezy row
will yield least cniocs and of poorest
quality.
WHEN THE ONIONS ARE RIPE,
which will ba July or August, they
may bo raked loose from thdr roots
with the above named rakes and lio in
windrows of about five onion rows
each and dry out.
In order to hasten the ripening and
help the bulba in some cases a light
barrel is rolled over the tops in June
or J uly, say when the earliest healthy
plants begin to ripen. This checks top
growth and may change the character
of growth from a large top and poor
onion to a marketable onion.
When the tops have withered and
the bulba are quite dry twfslioffthe
dry tops and haul to shelter. Tbis
should be done in dry weather, and it
may ba well to say there should be
little or no rain on the crop after raked
up in windrows.
Store the crop in a cool dry place
ready to ba put on the market. If
early and you are in the East, you
must
WATCH MARKET REPORTS CLOSELY
and ehip at the earner, moment you
eee pricea will pay. Briip North or
South, wherever ycu can getn??tnet
money per bushel. In order to cV.v'thfs
you need in addition to The Progress j
1 . . . T ' l i
ive 3AKMEK line ues'i rtiiauie narssi'
reports from New Orleur.s round the
Gulf and Atlantic seaboard to Boston.
Subscribe for thoee newspapers
which give this information 1 You
may need a Northern and a Southern
paper to get it
One of the first thing3 to do will be
to secure a little treatise on gardening,
or onion culture. These can be had
through your paper publishers. Aa to
LAND AND MANURES.
Almost every writer will warn
against animal manure because of
weed?. You should kno w whether you
feed weedy hay or grain, and be your
own judge whether you can use your
own stable manure. We should use
our j and do use it in garden. Then
add probably only acid phosphate and
kaini, or muriate of potash. Or bet
ter, if you have a large amount of
wood ashes at hand use the S3. Onions
love potash.
Without stable manure as high as
1 0(0 to 2,000 pounds of complete chem
ical manure has been recommended
aid used. This to contain about 7
pounds potash, 6 pounds phosphoric
acid and 4 pounds nitrogen per hun
dred weight. On rich land use lees
nitrogen. But only high manuring
with
CLEAN CULTURE
will pay well. This is intensive farm
ing. Frank E Emery.
THE PEANUT TRUST.
In our "passing events" column last
week reference was made to the fact
that James E Campbell, of Ohio, with
some others, would probably get con
trol of the peanut business in Norfolk.
It has been passed around since that
time that the peanut cleaning concerns
have about completed arrangements
for a peanut trust, and that tha condi
tions on which those not going in will
remain alone ia that they can buy their
proportional part of the crop outside.
It would seem, then, reasonably to
the farmers' interest for them to sell
their peanuts to wha sever agents or
buyers they can find who represent
concerns that do not belong to a pea
nut trust, or do not propose to go into
a trust.
As Halifax county is one of the finest
peanut sections in the country, this
matter is one of importance to our peo
pie. Scotland Neck Commonwealth.
CAROLINA HOPS.
Soil and Climate of a Portion of North
Carolina Admirably Adapted to the
Growth and Early Maturity of Hops.
Hops of a quality only equalled by
the best Bohemian are grown hre,
says a Southern Pines, N. C, corre
spendent of one of our exchinges,' and
mada ready for market weeks before
tha New York cr Western grower can
begin the picking of hia earliest vari
ety and Q3 the ccst of production ia lees
than in any other hop growing region
it is plainly to be seen why these peo
ple early became owners of land and
are now utilizing it to their prcfit.
That they are doing so ia attested by
the fact that they already have more
than four thousand acres in fruit, pev
eral hop yards of five, to twenty acres
each and a considerable number of
mixed farms, lurg and email, within
convenient working distance of their
homes in town.
It is unquestionably truo that North
Carolina ia the native home of the hop,
as it ia of the grapo and it is equally
true that the best section for hop grow
ing ia the one where nature started the
business.
In this eection where the eoil ia a
sandy clay loam of great depth, are
hop vines which are known to have
produced crops annually for more than
sevent y fi ve years. These native vines
are prolific, the hops produced vary
ing greatly in quality and S'"z3 and
time of ripening. They usually con
tain an abundance of lupulin. The cul
tivated varieties trac eplanted from the
North do well here. The English clus
ter grown here differs materially from
the elm ter grown in New York in that
it contains a much larger per cent, of
lupulin, is seedless and has an aroma
that is considered finer than that of
any hop grown in this country.
The cultivation of the hop in Caro
lina is different from the cultivation
given to it in New York fields and is
done at less cost. Cow peas are grown
in our hop yards, the peas being gath
ered and the vines cut after the hops
are cff. The pea vine hay is stacked
around poles in the yard and is used
the forowing spring as a mulch around
th8 hop viae. Cotton eeed is an excel
lent and cheap fertilizer, ?s applied and
tarried under with the pea stubble at
fcay iimo during the winter. The cow
pea thua grovvn and ultilized, i? a pay
ing Cirop, tes3enk tho work of culti
vation and greatly improving the land.
From one yard of ten acre was har
vested a considerable crop of bopa four
and a half months after planting and
sold at 25 cents a pcund when choico
New York hopa were qc-ied at 17
cents. The crop of a six tcr y urd was
put through the kiln in July. By a
judicious selection of varieties tho
piching season ia extended from the
middle of July to late October.
Hops have never been grown for
market by Carolina farmers and the
business for some years to come will
undoubtedly be in the hands of men
coming from other sections. S me ex
perienced hop growers from Germany
are now clearing land and planting
hops near here. They tell ua our hops
are as good as the best German and
that they can grow hops here cheaper
than in Germany,
Experience ha; demonstrated the"
fact that the business of hop growing
can be carried on under more favorable
circumstances and with greater prcfit
in the native land of the hop than else
where. Here in Carolina, climate, soil
and other natural conditions are favor
able to hop culture and these condi
tions combine to produce the earliest
and the best and to make the cost of
production less than it is in any other
hop growing State in America.
Good field labor costs less than half
aa much and the cost of picking ia not
one fourth as much as in New York.
B lildings cost much less. Hop poles
cost $25 to $15 per thousand. Two
crops are grown upon the same land
for less than it costs to grow a singlo
crop at the North. Hop growers at the
North and West alike should note and
remember that the Carolina hop ia
ready for market long before any other
American hop and therefore cc mmands
a higher price than is ever paid for tho
earliest, but later coming New York
hop. Being seedless it has a still greater
selling value and this celling value is
still further increased because of its
greater strength and finer quality.
Note also the fact that hops grown in
other sections cannot be put on the
market until after the Carolina bopa
are out of the grower's bands. These
facta make it apparent that growers of
CONTINUED OS PAG2 a
f