Newspapers / The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, … / March 21, 1899, edition 1 / Page 1
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Hs the Largest Circulation acd is the eldest, Larg est, and only all Home-rrint Farm paper in that Rich farming and Trucking section Between Rich cond, Va , and 5&T&nnah, Ga Has the largest circulation of any family agricultu ral or political paper published between R i c b mond and Atlanta THE INDUSTRIAL AND EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS OF 0U2 PEOPLE PARAMOUNT TO ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS OF STATE POLICY, inl, 14. RALEIGH, H. 0., MARCH 21, 1899. No. 6 ) PUB LISHED WI JKLY Tlir your lall tells y when your r'., t"u expires. Receipts for money on ;v -':'i iin will be iven In change of date on Vc . ifuot pioperiy changed in two weeks. no: p , ONTI NUANCES. If a subscriber wishes V4--v ef the rier discontinued at the ex ;t;, n- f ki-i subscription, notice to that effect -hnr sent. Otherwise it Is assumeu mat a .11 arrearages arrearages must be paid when paper is JJor.ey at our risk if Bent by regltered letter or ruoi.ey order. riwe don't jiemi ttamps. Pe stire to pive both old and new addresses in order'.:;.; change of postcfllce. p..'- of Advertising Rates: ten cents per agate " w . 1 1 t 1 1 .1 .iAAn Lice. Liberal discounts for time and space. p item is marked to remind you that you Ou " 1 carefully examine this sample copy and W u- SI fr a a ear's subscription. Will also Zr Mier on trial 6 months for 50cents, or 3m..' th- for 25 cents. Or we will send your 'a.' e' free fr one year if ; ou will send us $5 in Jew -ubM-riptions, or free six months for J3 in lew eul.rlptlons. at these rates. We wnt Intelligent correspondents in every ro-nty in the State. We want facts of value. L"- r- accomplished of value, experiences of Til-' plainly and briefly tOid. One solid, deiao iist rated fact. Is worth a thousand theo ries. The Editor.- are rot responsible for the views of C rresyondenta. The Progressive Farmer is the Official Orv of the North Carolina Farmers' State j i v.h standing now just behind the ? nnd in full alow of the coming rwi. Behind me are the shadows on iht tr icH, before me lies the dark valley irJ the river. When I mingle with its izrk tca'ers I want to cast one linger ing loo' upon a country whose govem ner.t is of the people, for the people, ind by the people!.. L. Folk. Jul lift, lM PRACTICAL FARM NOTES. Written for The Progressive Farmer by the Tditors and Haa. Guy E. Mitchell Tbe industry of paper manufactur ing is doing it3 share to deplete Ameri can r-.rct3. Tne recent discussion be fortf the Canadian Join: High Commia e;on called attention to the importance of wood a3 a paper etcck. A late re port o' the D .vision of Forestry of the Agricultural Department shows that a g-rcsi i-zrijif of woods ib used for this rjrpcie. Spruce, poplar, pine, hem Jbck, awoxd. balsam, cypress, birch, nap'"', beech, brae chestnut and gum arc all u.-eiin paper manufacturing. x n - i: is much eai'jr to cut tree9 Jn;h:in it ia to grovv them is shown by exp rirnents made by the Forestry .. i. Three hundred spruce trees of niirkitabie e:'z wero measured aai oorerved during a period of growth and it was a-rcertained thai th3 rr in annual gro wth ia'c nly about elcvra hundredths of an inch; or on an a7crar3 that about nine years are re ji;.--1 ei add one inch to the diameter cf aoru:e tree after it his attained marketable eiz2. We are Klad to note that the legislature authorized the S:if Acriciltural Dipartment to aio:: me -.aurcs for the protection cf cur '!-ts. T.. ' rs's arc considered one o! the ni:: v .luable national possesions in tu; ol i c )untries. In Bavaria the for est r.r ; is jbout one third o' the totai arc:, o' the kingdom. Oae tnird of t-i- .:- a i-? owned by tho government whiM has spent oince 1830, ai;outeght :;'!r n dollars in acquiring forest land. A regular system o forest culture is en.r,!,ycd. The yield per ecro is gen cn.:U large, valued at about $1 92 nnd the r et in ome of the S ate amounting to about $4 000 000 for a year. I:. formation rec?ived at the Fruit Di vi: jii of the Agricultural Department sh; vs, in common with other general reports that the entire fruit industry c' th country received a severe blow with tb.3 recent blizz rd Ex Governor of Connecticut, who is the fore c j pLach grower in the country, pa-3:d through Washington the other day ou his way South. Mr. Hale, in kl-Uion to owning peach orchards in Conaocticut, operates immense acre a in Georgia, and he wai travelling Svu:h to personally investigate condi ti-rn there. Reports received from kiJ S u hern superintendent indicated th ax while the paach buds were all killed, it was thought that the trees tkc easel ves were not badly injured. V"aa: alarmed Mr. Hale mo3t, how ever, wai the report that the bardy and fremi hardy ornamental tree3 about the home, which had never previously teen cfl.-cted by the freezes, were deal. Advices from all over the coun try indicate that the peach crop ia practically killed. Mr. Hale reports peach trees in Connecticut prob ably killed, with the exception cf Hill's Chili, the thermometer reaching from 22 to 23 degreoa below z:ro. In the ATesouri peach belt the buds are con ceded killed, but it is not thought the. trees are seriously injured. Some re ports indicate, however, that the trees were killed. Imports received i.om the lake region of Northern Michigan indicate all trees with the exception of Hill'a Chili, killed to the ground. The thermometer stood below zero for a great number of consecutive dajs and the ground was frcz?n four feet deep. Reports from Southern Indiana indi cate trees badly damaged, the tempera ture reaching 15 below. In Eastern Tecreeseo trees were probably unin jarecf, but not a living bud is to be found. The peach region in Kentucky along the Oaio River reports the entire destruction of the crop. In a few eec tioc8, owing, apparently, to local con ditions, peach buda were uninjured Mr. Hale reports receiving buds from Northeastern Pennsylvania, two thirds of which were sound. He has some trees of Hill's Chili in his Connecticut orchards and from these he expects a fair crop. HUTs Chili is eaid to be the hardiest peach grown and is planted to a considerable extent in New Eng land, New York, Ohio and Michigan After the great freeze of 1874-75 when everything in Michigan was froz?n to the ground, growers planted immense areas of this peech, and though reports have not been rec:ivf d at the Department as to condition in this 8tate, it may bo presumed that the crop largely withstood the fret zo Since the great freeza in question there has been a constant tendency to produce a hardy peach of good quality and great improvement has resulted in this respect Hill's Chili is not con sidered a good eating peach, and the problem for fruit experimenters is to evolve, by hybridization or otherwiso a peach which will combiae hardiness with good eating q-ialities. Thiscou'd probably be done by crossing HuTe Chili or Wager, both hardy but eomo what inferior peaches, upon some im proved or mora tender variety and allowing the trees to grow up to fruit icg in nursery rows Mr. Taylor, the Assistant PcmDlogist of the D:par; ment, states that he has received enly i wo specimens of uninjired peach buds, and these may hava bjen pro teCed by enow drifts. An interesting development has resulted through at tempts to improve the Hill's Chili, This peach comes quite true to seed and while but little has been done in fflorts to hybridize it, large seedling orchards have been planted. While tne parent peach is a yellow free stone variety, many of the seedlings have borne white free stone peaches. The seedlings from these, however, the grandchildren of the Hill's Chile have reverted again to the yellow flsh and considerable improvements have re suited. In Western Now York, around Ni agra where the thermometer only reached about ten below zero reports are more favorable There are, how ever, few peachf s in this region, but :arne orchard? cf cherries, plum? BLd pears aud the buds were not largely i j ired Michigan seems to have come ia fcr as hard usage as any section. In addition to peaches being frozen, en-; args arple grower states that all hi Ben Davis, Bildwin, Early Harves-t and sweet apple tree?, eome of them twenty years old are dead to the ground. An interesl ng fact is noticed in x mining semi o? the trees in the Department grounds While the pith ot Duchees, Bartlett and other pears are blackened by the freeze, KsiflLr shows absolutely no irjury. Mr. J. Van Lindley, of this State, also tells the Greensboro Record that we shall have no peaches this year. He th nks the recent cold snap killed them all in the bud, as a day or two of warm weatber about February 1st had caused the buds to swell. AGRICULTURE. THE FERTILIZER QUESTION. Correspondence of The Procresslve Farmer. The last few issues of The ProgreS3 ive Farmer have contained much that ia of practical value to the farmers of our 8tate. There is no question in which we should be more interested than that of fertility how to secure it at least cost, and how to retain it, Tne letter of Mr. Kivett, in a recent issue of your paper, was very interest ing and should be laid away and re read until the farmers realize the groat saving by adopting the plan suggested that of buying chemicals instead of manipuiatad guanos. If necessary, I could corroborate his statement as to che saving to be gained thereby, often as much as f 5 per ton. If our people would buy for ca?h, which is not an impossibility, and club together so as to increase the tonnage to car loads in one order, we then could get the vari ous ingredients at the lowest possible price and make still another saving, atd in this way reduce the price of our fertilizers to tho minimum I think I have seen a statement that there are about a quarter of a million tons of fertilizers sold in North Caro Itna annually. I have no means of knowing how much of this is manufactured guano, but it is safe to say that if the farmers would come together as oae man, and buy for cash, that they could eave thousands of dollars, that are needed to put into the necessities of life and make homes brighter and happier. The letter of Mr. Tyson, calling our attention to the gathering and storing of nitrogen by plants, instead of buy ing it at t'ae high prices that we have to pay i!or it, needs more than a pass ing notice. Lrtt'o do we know of the possibilities of our cow pea, for is is the clover of the sandy sections. I do cot know the analysis of the cow pea vine. I wish Profs. Massey, Emery or anyone who has it, would give it to us. Also that of red clover. But according to the letter of Mr. Tyson, which I think is borre cut by the observation of practical farmeas, it is a plant that should be found on more farms than it is. Taere is no section of North Caro lina that I have ever seen that it does not thrive. When I came to the red hills of Orange I was told that I could not grow many things that I raised on on my farm in the Eastern part of the State; among them, cow peas were named. However, I preferred giving them a trial, and the result is that I gathered 40 bushels of clean peas eff of less than 20 acres of corn, for I planted them among the corn. Not a big yield, to bo sure, but just 40 bushels more than 8onie others have mado on the same number of acrep, aid the only cost was tho seed and gathering them In addition to the 40 bushels of peas there are many pounds of ammonia etored up in their roots that would have cost me 14 cents per pound and freight if I had bough! ic in the ehape of commercial fertilizers. There may be aleo many pounds cf potaeh that were pumped up by their deep rcot3, and put where the shallow roots of corn, wheat and oats can get it. W( do not know the value of our cow pea, because we have not intelligently ex perimented with it, and tried to find out its worth to us. There is a man in Western Pennsylvania who annually buys from me from 10 to 30 bushels of cow peas. His first purchase, eome five or six years ago, was an experi ment, but he was eo well pleased that ho continues to buy them and says that with cow peas, acid phosphate .nd potash, ho has solved the problem of 'howto restore fertility to the soil.' II 3 wrote mo that be plowed and planted in cow pea?, a strip through hi3 clover field, that the summer was exceedingly dry, and the clover waseo parched that the field would have ourncd over, but the strip of cow peas k pt green and luxuriant throughout tho eeasou. I mention this fact to show how some people appreciate the cow pea in sections where they can't raise their own eeed, owing to tho short seascn for ripening I had another man from Northern Ohio write me that he raised cow peas 18 inches tall on clay land that the top sjil had been washed off and was too poor to pro duca csrn, and he felt convinced that they would be of decided benefit in his section as an enricher of the soil. It will pay us to experiment with cow peas, acid phosphate and potash to see bow cheaply we can add fertility to the soil. I am 8 i tit fi 3d that judicious experimenting will reveal a great deal to us that will be of value. I have some suggestions to make to our Alii onces along this line, but will defer them for another issue. In the mean time let the brethren be thinking and gathering facts to put in some article to be sent The Progressive Farmer eo that we all may be benefited by each other's experience. Fraternally, T. B. Parke a, S. B. A. Chicken feed is going up. The war or the fellows who corner the grain market have brought price s way up. Fowla and eggs should also advance in price. VALUATION OF FERTILIZERS. The commercial valuo of a fertiliz9r ia regulated by the prices demanded in commerce for the different forms of the three ingredients, nitrogen (am monia), phosphoric acid and potash, says the Southern Cultivator. The Louisiana ExperimsntStation says that these prices fluctuate according to the demand and supply. In some parts of the North nitrogen is assigned a separate valuation for each of its forma that in nitrate3 and ammonia salts receiving the highest figure, and in leather and peat the lowest. In Connecticut or Massachusetts, a determination of the forms in which this ingredient occurs must be made before its commercial value can be cal culated. All tho forms of nitrogen have heretofore been considered of equal money value in the Sauth, and but one price assigned. This, of course, precludes the existence of nitrogen in form of leather dust, or powdered horn, forms rega dedars unavailable and of little money or agricultural value. The soluble and reverted forms of phosphoric acid have together been styled as 'available," and assigned one value. The insoluble phosphoric acid has received no valuation. All forms of potash soluble in water have been regarded as equal value. The following tariff of prices have been adopted for the past and coming season : Nitrogen, 12 cents per pound, which makes ammonia 9 9 cents per pound. Soluble phosphoric acid, 5 cents per pound. Reverted phosphoric acid, 5 cents per pound. Potash, 5 cents per pound. The above prices may be used to f lustrate the method by which the commercial value of a fertilizer may be approximately estimated, e. g. : A fertilizer containing by analysis the following: Nitrogen, 3 per cent. ; eolubie pho3 phrric acid, 6 per cent.; -reverted, 4 per cent. ; potash, 2 per cent. What id its approximate commercial value p'er ton? A ton will contain : 60 pounds nitrogen, 12 cents $ 7 20 120 p-.unds soluble phosphoric aci 5 cents 6 00 80 pounds reverted pho?phcric acid, 5 2nriX3 4 00 40 pounds potash, 5 cents 2 00 Value per ton $19 20 In thi3 way the approximate com mercial value of any fertilizer can be estimated. Tneee prices are by no means fixed. They fl actuate almost daily in the markets of the world in accordance with the law of supply and demand. But the tariff given is be lieved to be nearly representative of the average of prices during the past year, and hence are adopted for the ensuing seapon. MONEY IN ONIONS. A fiae crop of onions can be grown on any soil which will produce a good crop of corn, unless it be a stiff clay, very light sand or gravel, or certain varieties cf muck or swamp lands, in which they invariably grow necky and cannot be made to ripen down well, while other muck soils give im mense crops of the finest quality. The difference is generally, though not al ways, due to drainage. Muck lands must be eweet and well drained in or der to raise good onions. Ordinary swampy land will not do, and even in the best of muck the first crop is apt to be soft and nscky. I always prefer a rich, eandy loam, with a light mix ture of clay. This is much better if it has been cultivated with hoed crope, kept clean of weeds and well manured for several years previous, because if a sufficient quantity of manure to raise an ordinary soil to a proper degree of featility is applied at once, it is likely to make the onions soft. There is no crop where a liberal use of manure is more essential than in this. Even on the deep, black muck lands of the Great West, manure is essential to a good crop, and not only is the quantity, but the quality of the manure used of the greatest import ance. If it is too rank, it is sure to make soft onions with many scalliona. It should be well fermented and shov eled over, at least twice during the previous 6ummer to kill weed seeds Of course when it is not possible to secure manure, one must resort to commercial fertilizers I prefer the ground bone to any other but large crops are raised by the use of super phosphates. Preparation of the soil ia one of the main point?; remove all refuse of pre vious crops in time to compleie the work before the ground freezes up, and spread the composted manure evenly, at the rate of twenty wagon loads per acre. This should first be cultivated in, and then the ground plowed a mod erate depth, taking a narrow furrow in order to thoroughly mix the manure with the soil. Carefully avoid tramp ing on the ground during the winter. Cultivate or thoroughly drag the soil with a heavy harrow as early in the spring as it can be worked, and then in the opposite direction with a light one, after which the entire surface should be raked with steel hand rakes. It is impossible to cultivate the crop eco nomically unless the rows are perfectly straight. To secure this, stretch aline along one side, fourteen feet from the edge, and make a distinct mark along ic, then having made a wooden marker, something . like a giant rake with five teeth about a foot long and standing fourteen inches apart, make four more marks by carefully drawing it with the outside tooth in, and the head at right angles to the perfectly straight mark made by the line. Continue to work around this line until on the third passage of the marker you reach the side of the field where you began; measure fifteen feet two inches from the last row, stretch the line again, and mark around in the same way. This is better than to stretch a line along one side, as it is impossible to prevent the rows gradually becoming crooked, and by this plan we straighten them after every third passage of the marker, Sowing the seed should be done as soon as the ground canba gotten ready, and can be done best by a hand seed drill (after trials of many seed drills, I find the Iron King the preferrabie). This should be ad ju3ted oiref ully (test ing it by running it over a beard or cloth) to sow the desired quantity of seed, and about one half inch deep. The quantity needed will vary with the soil, seed used and the kind of onions desired. Thin seedling gives much larger onions than thick. Four to five pounds per acre is the usual quantity needed to grow large onions. Give tho onions the first hoeing just skimming the ground between the rows as soon as they can be seen the length of the row. (We find the McGae cultivator the best by all odis ) Tho hoes of this cultivator allow the earth to pass over tha blade3 without moving it out of place. Hoe again in a few days, this time close up to tho plan's.after which weeding must be continued. This operation requires to be very carefully and thoroughly done. The weeder must work on his knees astride of the rows, stirring the earth around the plants in order to de stroy any weeds that have just started. In ten days or two weeks they will re quire another hoeing or similar weed ing to the last, and two weeks later give them still another hoeing, and if necessary, another weeding. If the work ha been thoroughly done at the proper time, the crop will not require further care until ready to gather. As soon a3 the tops die and fall, the bulbs should be gathered in windrows. If the weather is fiae they will need no attention while curing, but, if it is not, they will need to bo stirred by simply moving them slightly along the row. Cut off the tops when perfectly dry about half an inch from the bulb, then after a few days of bright weather the onions will bo fis to store for the win ter, unless desired for immediate sales. One of the most popular methods of keeping onions is to spread straw to the depth of eighteen inches upon the barn floor, scaffjld or garret; upon this spread the onions six to ten inches deep and cover with two feet of straw. If in good condition, and sufficient depth of covering is used, they will keep in fine condition till May. A cool, dry cellar of some out-building, birn or carriage house, will be found excellent for keeping onions, if it has windows for ventilation. The cellar of a d veiling house is usually too warm. They should be spread on scaffolds about six inches deep, with room enough between the boards for the air to circulate. Upon approach of cold weather, close the doors and windows, and kep the temperature jut above the freezing point. With proper care they can be kept from freezing, and will come out nice and sound in the spring. H. W. Buckbee, Rockford, 111 , in Farmers' Voice. , The eecret in applying whitewash so as to get the most benefit from it is to put it on as hot as you can use it and spread it on rather thickly. FERTILIZERS REQUIRED BY DIFFERENT fcOILS. Regarding classes of eoila in a gen eral way, it may be said that potash is a very essential constituent of manures for sandy soils, not only because all crops require potaeh, but because they require it in relatively large amounte, and because in sandy soils it is liable to e x :st in minimum amounts. Cn the other hand, in clay soils, potash is liable to exist in considerable amounts, and the deficient element is mere likely to be phosphoric acii, and this applied in abundance may enable the plant to secure the necessary potash. In lime stone soil?, the lime and phosphoric acid, and perhaps the potash, may be in sufficient abundance to cause a nor mal growth of plant, yet the nitrogen be so insufficient as to prevent a full development. These points should guide in preparing and adapting our fertilizers to our conditions, particu larly in the absence of specific experi ments touching these points. Prof. Voorhees, in Americal Agriculturist. Lime furnishes to the land compara tively little plant food directly, but acts rather as a liberator, unlocking the latent fertility of the soil ; hence for best results there must be some thing in the soil for it to work on; hence it is, also, that too much depend ence in lime finally impoverishes the ground. It has a tendency to make heavy clays more light and friable. Epitomist. Poultry and Bses bees Again. Correspondence of The Progressive Farmer. Your letter answering a correspond ent who desired to know when and how to transfer bees from bcx gums to the movable frame hives, got mixed up somewhat. It reads as though the artificial combs were to be put in the box hive to be transferred. If artificial formation i3 to be used at all in such a case, it must be wired in the frames of the new hive. Again: it is not one time in a thousand, that the movable f :ame hive will clcsely when set on the upturned mouth of the bcx gum. So we use a box mado aa ne?.r the same siz3 of tho box gum as pcsEiblo with a few cross sticks across tho inside of this box for tho bees to clirg to. We drum the bees up into this small box and set it near the mcuth of the box gum when it is laid down ready to be cut open, taking care that the omba are standing edgewise, for if the box gum is laid so that the combs will be flat side down, the combs will sag and break. Having cut through the combs at the head of the box gum, we re move the top, and then cut the nails of the gum so as 1 3 get to the combs handily by removing the upper side. We have a board a little larger than the frames, on which we lay paper twine cut the proper lengths, one stran long enough to go all round the frame lengthwise and two to reach round the frames short way; lay these down on the plank or board and lay a frame on thes3 strans ; cut out of the gum a card of comb, lay it on the frame, taking care that the same e ige ia up, just as it was in the gum. Tne eaino Eido up in the gum must be the upper edge when fastened in the fame. Now cut it so as it will settle in the f rame.draw the twine tightly and tie the ends. Box gums are often eo tall and small that it may require two cards of its comb to fill a frame; but be careful to see that what was the upper side of the comb in the gum ia the upper side in the frame, else the bees will cut it out. Having transferred the combs in this way and hung the frames in the new hive, leaving a bee space between the combs of about three-eighths of an inch, set the now hive in its place, or on the ground near where it is to re main, then take the box of bees and hive them in the new hive as we would a 8 warm of bees. They will fasten the combs tnd cut the paper twine out without getting tangled and killed in the fiber as they would with cotton twine. Some use wire for fastening the cDmbs in the frames, but after try ing, the tins, the wires, the cotton twine, we prefer the paper twine. Bes will cut it out, and save the trouble of having to open the hive in order to re move the fastening by the apiarian. No rule can be laid down to cover the whole ground of manipulation; the bee keeper must exercise some judg ment himself. Since my last article published in CONTINUED 05 FAGS 8
The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
March 21, 1899, edition 1
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