Has the Largest
Circulate and is
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est, and only all
Home-Print Farm
Paper in that Rich
Farming and
Truckit g section
Between Rich
mond, Va , and
Savannah, Ca.
Has the largest
circulation of any
family agricultu
ral or politic!
paper published
between R i c h
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x9 ijm
A
f "V
fv i
VIL. xWj '"'1 i 4mJLb
THE INDUSTRIAL AND EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS OF OUR PEOPLE PARAMOUNT TO ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS OF STATE POLICY.
7 ol. 14.
RALEIGH, N. C, MAY 2, 1899.
No. 12
10G1ESSIYE
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ries. The Progressive Farmer Is the Official
Or.:anof the North Carolina Farmers' State
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" I am standing note just behind the
urtain, and in full glow of the coming
nnset. Behind me are the shadows on
Vu track, before me lies the dark valley
ind the river. When I mingle iwf A its
iark waters I want to cast one linger
ina look upon a country whose govern
22 is of the people for people
snd by the people" L L. Polk, July
tht 1890.
PRACTICAL FARM NOTES.
Written for The Progressive Farmer by
the Editors and Hoa. Guy E. Mitchell
Planting overgrown nursery stock,
because it can be secured cheaper than
young stock, is ft serious mistake. In
the first place the cost of handling is
much greater, and again, such trees
npvpr make the sturdy and vigor
oub growth of the younger trees. To
use them at any price is poor esonumy
Gleason'a Horee Book was first sold
exclusively by agents at 12 CO per
copy. A new edition has been issued
which contains every word and every
illustration in the 2 00 edition, but
i
is printed on lighter paper ana naa u
heavv. toush Dacer binding. Erery
J T CI K
man who owns a hcrse should have a
copy. Send U3 tl in new subscriptions
to The Progressive Farmer or o m ro
newals and we will send ycu a copy
free pre-paid. D:n't fail to take advan
tage of this liberal effer at once.
m m
IlnortH of the DeDartment of Agri
culture, Washington, D. Q, show that
in 1j2 there were in the United States
110 horses valued at f 65 01 each
cr a total of II 0C7.E93 636, while in
17 the total number ol Horses was
li 301 tiC7. their total value only f45,
ittSK, or 31 51 per head. Where is
the Biinnlv nnd demand argument in
this? We find a falling cfi in number
of 1,133 473, and a loss in value of
I.J3 50 ner head, a total loss ol f 504,
r '
;i 9ia Whnpo loss is it. and why?
Tne Progressive Farmer would like to
know.
Secretary Wilson states that the in
VKJtitrdHnns of the DeDartment in to
bacco ferments have already born
fruit and that some important ana en
tirely new ideas have been brought to
lizht in rpeard to tobacco curiDg. The
Secretary made a trip to Florida last
year to see how the Cubans cured
thpir tnboceo. He found, he says, 40,
00 Cubans in the Slate, who had come
there to engage in cigar making rather
than fieht. and he found that they
knew nothing whatever about their
; racesses. They cured cigar tobacco
a-cording to certain rules because
-heir fathers had don9 sd before them,
but he could find nothing as the scien
tiflc reasons for doing eo. He states
that something of high importance to
tobacco growers may shortly be looked
for from his Department.
Ferments in cider is a subj c which
"-cretary Wilson has caused to be in
vestigated during the past year. Thou
sands of tons of apple parings, corings
find dried apple3 are exported annually
to Europe where they are made into
:i Jer, furnished with a ferment which
European manufacturers have pro
iuied after many years of experiment
and study, bottled and shipped back to
the United States and sold at high
prices. The Secretary states that hi3
agents have been making a study of
this subject for some time and bae
now secured some of the ferment, and
ho proposes that Americans shall
nufacture their own nigh priced
hampagne and beverages, give them
the "coquet," and keep several mil
lion dollars at home which now an
nually goes abroad for these products.
"If our people will drink these sorts
of things," he said, in talking on the
Buoject, "i see no reason why we
should not keep the industry within
our own borders and work up the 8p
pie coringp, etc., here instead of ship
ping cu this raw material to Europe
and then paying six prices for it when
returned to us m the form of beverages
t m
wun toreign laDeis.
Sanator Billy Mason secured permis
sion from Congress, before adjourn
ment, to investigate the food question
during the interim between eeesions
and look into food adulterations of
various produce subject to inter state
commerce. The Senator has goto into
the eubjact with hia accustomed vigor
and has secured the servicas of the
Chemical Division of the Department
of Agriculture for the purpose of an
alyBes. He expects to have a report
for the next Congress which will show
to what extent some of our common
foods are adulterated. All food which
is shipped from one State to another,
or abroad, is liable to come under his
notice. Senator Mason early announced
himself as a champion of pure food
and this action shows that he is alive
to the necessity of gathering evidence.
The National Department of Agri
culture is receiving a large number of
requests and ir quiries from the islands
lately acquired by the United States.
From Puerto Rico, Hawaii, the Philip
pines and even Cuba come requests
for seeds of various sorts from Ameri
cans and natives. Army officers who
expect to stay in the islands for some
time send home for grass seed and
other products; they want their sta
tions to look something like home. As
far as is known Bermuda grass is the
best grass for the tropics, but it isdiffi
cult of propagation on an extensive
scale, as this is carried on by means of
cuttings. Secretary Wilson says that
no ne knows much about propagating
by seed, but the Department is now
making investigations along this line
It is proposed to find out what propor
tisn of the seed will germinate, when
it will germinate best and under what
CDnditions. Mr. Wilson says that he
expects to have this information soon,
and then he will buy up all the Bar
muda gra89 seed in the world for dis
tribution among the islands. Investi
gation, he thinks, will produce other
va'uable grasses for those sections.
Experiment stations should be estab
1-sbed, he state?, in all the islands, both
for the sake of themselves and the
S:ate8. The subject of conditions there
is sjmething of which but little is
known by the Department.
There are a number of seedsmen in
the country who are not satisfied with
making a fair profit on the seeds they
sell, but who resort purposely to adul
teration. The seed section of the Da
nartment of Agriculture is operated
expressly for the protection of farmers
and gardeners who buy seeds, and its
officers invite the attention and co op
eration of farmers to make its sphere a
useful one. The adulteration of fertih
zsra was at one time a paying business
and farmers were defrauded of thou
eanda of dollars by having their fertili
zer3 adulterated with worthless "fill
ing." This practice has been stopped
almost entirely by State regulations,
with severe penalties attached for ad
ulterations and these regulations pro
vide that any farmer can have a sam
pie cf fertilizar analj zsd free of charge
by the 8tate authorities or the Experi
ment Station. The government eeed
testing operations are conducted on the
same order. Many seeds of entirely
different plants are quite similar in
aoDearance and it requires expert ex
amination to detect the difference so
that the farmer is likely to be imposed
UDon. While the reputable seed houses
use every precaution to protect their
customers, thre are other dealers who
are not only careless but who must de
liberatelv adulterate their seeds. Ad
ulteration is practiced in several ways;
bv uaine similar but cheaper seed, Dy
using "tailings" and by mixing trash
and weed seeds. In some ca3es the
seeds contained in the trash are killed,
but in others, they are not, and in the
latter case, the farmer not only actually
navs dear for the good seed he gets,
but he lays up extra work for himself
by planting with his crop seeds, count
less weed seeds. In some of the samples
received by the Department only a
small per centage of the true seed is
found ; in some instances as little as 25
per cent. Mr. Peters in charge of the
eeed section has recently sent out a
circular to all Orange organizations re
questing farmers to send him in sam
pies of the seeds the seeds they pur
chase, and this invitation the D apart
ment extends to all other farmers. The
Secretary of Agriculture is authorized
by Congress to publish the names of
seedsmen who are found to be adulter
ating seeds, and Mr. Peters states that
without general co operation of farm
era, it cannot be expected that much
actual evidence will be obtained.
An instructive remedial treatment
for wheat smut is now being carried
on by the Department of Agriculture.
It involve s no new scientific discovery
or principle but the process is interest
ing. It was found that the various
Siberian and Russian grains recently
procured by Mr. Carleton and which
are now being distributed for trial in
various sections of the country, were
all badly affected with emut. It be
comes necessary, therefore, before dis
tributing it, to cleanse it of this fungus,
which is being done by the hot water
process, as follows : The grain, in bags
holding about a bushel each, is first
soaked for five hours and then allowed
to drain. Then a bag is immersed in
a barrel of water at a temperature of
110 to 120 degrees and held there for a
part of a minute, when it is removed
and plunged into another ban el of
water at a temperature of 132 to 133
degrees In this second barrel it is
kept for five minutes, being constantly
agitated. The water is kept at exactly
the right heat by the introduction of
steam through a hose pipe connected
with steam pipes, running from a
boiler. The grain is then taken from
the bag and spread out two or three
inches deep on wire bottom trays, and
dried off rapidly. Toe grain, when it
finally comes from the water has al
most the consistency of stiff dough
and to the uninformed would appear to
be ruined for planting purposes. As a
matter of fact, however, grain so
treated is not only free fsom all smut,
but it germinates more readily and
surely than that which is untreated.
GRICXJJL,TXJBE.
GOCD ADVICE.
Keep the hoe eharp by filing from
the inside of the blade, leaving the
side next the ground perfectly level.
Keep the corners sharp and square as
long as possible, and clean the blade
before putting it away. A sharp,
bright hoe is a comfortable tool to use,
and one with which a great deal of
work can be done, No farm tool has
ever been invented with which so
many kinds of work can successfully
be done as with the hand hoe.
When the hoe is bought buy a file
to sharpen it with, and the first thing
give it a good filing and then rub lin
seed oil on the handle until no more
will soak in. If linseed oil is not handy
any kind of oil, or even lard or tallow,
will improve it in flexibility and dura
bility. Take pains to get the oil or
grease well worked in at the shank so
as to prevent water from getting in
and loosening the handle. A hoe should
be good for several years, and after it
has been used for two cr three years it
will be better than when new, as the
blade will become worn thin and it
will be lighter to handle, while just as
serviceable aa when new. Ex.
BERMUDA GRASS.
Bulletin 44, of the United States De
partment of Agriculture, "Economic
Qrasses," contains brief descriptions
of the most important grasses of this
country or those which have been in
troduced because possessing some
mens. Of Bermuda grass the bulletin
says:
A grass widely dispersed over the
tropical regions and warmer countries
of the globe. It has a creeping habit
of growth, extending over the surface
of the ground and rooting at the joints.
In poor soils the leaves are short and
the upright flowering stems are only a
few inches high, but on good land it
grows to the height of 1 to 2 feet and
yields a large amount of excellent hay.
It may be cut three or four times dur
ing the season. In the Northern States
it does not afford a profitable crop and
is of little value for pasturage north of
Virginia, but in the Southern States
and in the warmer regions of the South
west and on the Pacific slope it is cul
tivated extensively and is most highly
prized, chiefly for grazing, all kinds of
stocks being exc3edingly fond of it. It
grows freely on sandy soils where
other grasses will not thrive, and re
sists extreme drouth and high temper
atures. It is particularly a sun loving
grass, and will not thrive in the shade.
It is useful for binding drifting sands
and the loose soil of embankments or
those subject to wash. It makes a
pleasing lawn grass, and is extensively
used for this purpose in the hotter por
tions of the United States, for it will
thrive where the grasses ordinarily
employed for lawns could not survive.
The yield of hay under good conditions
i3 from 3 to 4 tons to the acre, and as
high as 10 tons to tho acre have been
produced under peculiarly favorable
circumstances.
While this grass will survive the
winters of the latitude of Philadelphia,
the leafage is very sensitive to cold acd
turns brown with the first frosts. This
fact renders it obj actionable as a lawn
grass, except in regions where the win
ter season is very mild. In many por
tions of the Southern States there is
probably no grass rq ial to Bermuda
for summer pa3turo3, and none which
will better resist the trampling of
stock. Bermuda does not mature seed
except in the southern porticn.of our
country, but seed obtained from more
Southern latitudes is offered for sale by
some of our leading seed dealers. The
most direct and certain method of
propagation is by transplanting which
may be effected by cutting up Ber
muda turf into small pieces, scatter
ing these along shallow furrows and
covering them lightly. When once
established, Bermuda grass is very
persistent and difficult to eradicate,
and it should not be introduced upon
land which is likely to used for other
crops.
UNNEIGHBORLY ACTS.
It is not much trouble to be neigh
borly, which is simply practicing the
golden rule. But there are some things
that some people do that are not con
j sidered unneighborly and yet they are.
I is a most unneighborly act to per
mit a scrub male animal to run in the
highways and break in among thor
oughbred stock. There is scarcely
anything a man can do that ia more
vexatious. Certainly he will hardly
do anything that is more seriously dis
astrous to financial interests of his
neighbor. The chronic borrower is
not neighborly; far frm it. People
do not like to refuse to loan things
when asked, but usually they would
prefer not to do it, especially if the
borrower is a chronic one. But it seems
that some people do not hesitate to
borrow anything from an expensive
piece of machinery to a rake or hoe.
As a rule this is not the result of ina
bility to purchase, but an utter care -lessness
to provide himself with what
he needs. It is unneighborly to live
otherwise than with a regard for pub
lie opinion. We may not believe as
the rest or the community does in re
gard to certain matters, and it is cur
right to dissent from their belief, if we
wish to, but it is unknind and un
neighborly to purposely wound the
feelings of other or to shock the com
munity1 senae of propriety. Francis
King. t m
EXPERIMENTS IN CORN CULTI
VATION. During 1897 the most exhaustive ex
periment ever conducted by the Illi
nois Agricultural Experiment 8tation
in the cultivation of corn was carried
on under the direction of Prof. Holden.
From a circular sent out by the
director last spring we learn that these
experiments were undertaken in order
to determine the effect of different
depths of cultivation upon the growth,
development and yield of corn ; to find
the influence of several of the most im
portant cultivators in common use
upon the moisture of the soil ; to test
their efficiency in removing weeds and
their final effect upon the soil; to note
the condition of the soil at the end of
the season, and the yield of ears and
stalks as the result of the various
methods of cultivation.
The plan of the experiment was as
follows : A piece of ground waa selected
that waa aa nearly level as possible. It
was plowed about six inches deep with
a three horse breaking plow the last of
April and harrowed immediately after
plowing. The corn was planted the
8;h day of May and after it came up
the whole field was harrowed once and
then rolled. Four rows running the
length of the field were devoted- to
each kind of treatment, and each treat
ment of four rows was divided into
twenty divisions, one of which was cut
out to find the effect of the cultiva
tions upon ground on which no crop
was grown. In this way each experi
ment was divided into twenty sections,
in order that any difference in yield
that might be due to a possible d ffer
ence in soil could be detected and elim
inated. Four rows on either side of
the field were cultivated in the ordi
nary way, about three inches deep
with a small shovel cultivator through
the season in order to get a standard
for comparison. In finding the yield,
the two inside rows of each treatment
were taken and the outside rows dis
carded, for the reason that they might
have been influenced by the different
treatments of the ro ws ad joining. The
weight and number of ears, and the
weight of stalks were found separately
for each plant. The yields added to
gether gave the total yield for each
treatment.
The per centage of moisture in the
soil under the various systems of treat
ment was found by accurately testing
the amount of moisture of the ground
for three depths nine, eighteen and
twenty-seven inches, respectively.
This was done for each kind of cultiva
tion, once a week during the entire
season, and the results here given are
the totals for the season.
TABLE 8HOWING EFFECT OF DIFFERENT
DEPTHS OF CULTIVATION.
2 in. 4 in. 6 in.
W't of earp, lb 466 5 466 437
W'c of stalks, lb 465 485 431
Numbers of ears. . . .1003 1086 1168
Per cent, of moisture 451 474 468.5
An ordicary email shovel cultivator
with four shovels on a side, was so
arranged that the shovels could be set
to run accurately at 2, 4 or 6 inches in
depth and maintain this depth through
out the cultivation.
The shallow, or two inch cultivation
required hand-weeding, but the deeper
cultivations thoroughly removed all of
the weeds. - The deep cultivation left
tie ground ridged at the end of the
season, while the shallow cultivation
left the soil in a level condition. The
corn grew most rapidly during the
early part of the season upon the deeply
cultivated plats, but during the latter
pare of the season the corn on the
shallow cultivated plats developed
most rapidly. The vigorous early de
velopment of the corn on the deep cul
tivated plats was due to the opening
up cf the soil to the air and sunshine,
while root pruning at the latter end of
the season tends to retard growth.
Briefly summing up the results of the
different depths of cultivation we can
say that these facts seem to indicate
that deep cultivation removes weeds
thoroughly and tends to conserve soil
moisture, but that it leaves the ground
in a bad condition at the end of the
season, and by reason of severe root
pruning injures the plant so much that
the yield of ears and stalks is greatly
reduced. Shallow cultivation does
not thoroughly remove weeds, is not
as efficient in conserving moisture,
does not tend to induce as vigorous
early development as does deep culti
vation, but it leaves the ground in
good condition at the end of the season,
and does not injure the plant by root
pruning aa does deep cultivation.
HUMUS.
All animal life is nourished and eus
tained by what it eats and drinks' and
the air it breathes. So is plant life
nourished and sustained by what is di
gested for it out of solid substances,
the moisture in the soil, and the air
plants breathe through their leaves,
which are the lungs of plant life. Until
farmers comprehend the philosophy of
animal and plant food digestion they
are walking up hill, and backwards at
that.
The mistaken conclusions in the farm
world to day is the result of trying to
get at the truth by reasoning back
wards and inwards from results and
effects to cause. The progressive
farmer reverses that begins with
cause and reasons forward and out
ward to results or effects.
Humus is defined as a brown or
black refuse of animal or vegetable
matter. It is infinitely more, and the
object of this series of papers is to in
vest it with a dignity it deserves.
When the farmer sees its usefulness
and importance and his dependence
upon it, and how easily and cheaply
he can fill his eoil with it, then his
pockets will begin to fill with gold.
The earth is the first in importance
in plant growth. The earth is the
womb of the world for seeds and plant
germs. Out of which they come in a
form of life each its own.
Next to the earth, humus is second
in importance. It is the baais for the
development of the forces that utilize
the sunshine heat, light, air, organic
life, electricity, nitrogen, the phos
phates, potash in fact all the elements
that enter into plants after and through
the plants into animal life, and that
help to build up the soil.
Humus is also the seat of plant in
telligence that guides and controls the
forces that send the quality that makes
leaf, stem, root, seed or fruit, to its al
lotted places. Humus is the carbon
(fire propertj) of animal or vegetable
refuse. It is the coal of fire; burning
very slowly, as it does, it assists in the
oxydation or burning up of this refuse.
It is the concentrated heat or stored
up sunshine or "storage battery." The
slow fire it keeps up makes a proper
temperature to act as "culture" or
"hot bed" for the germs of organic life,
some of which are always present ex
cept in soil absolutely barren. Humus
is that which these forms of life can
attach themselves to or cling to. It is
a home for them a hive in which they
can work.
The presence of humus is an abso
lute requirement in plant growth of
the kinda farmers grow. These life
mites have their digestive functions
and a capacity for breathing air or
fixing nitrogen. Therefore, a soil rich
in humus, teeming with life, has the
ability and raise the temperature of
the soil several degrees. And we call
it a warm, rich, live soil.
On the other hand, a soil deficient
humus does not invite this form of
life. There is nothing for it to cling
to, no basis upon which it can develop,
no culture plant or hot bed to warm
into life these dormant germs. And
we call such a soil cold, clammy a
poor, dead soil and speak the truth.
It will be upon such soils (without
humu?) you will find "toad hair," wire
grass, sour sorrel and they only grow
upon sour soils, acid soils.
Each of the plants (there are many
others) develop the peculiar conditions
that brought them into existence, and
at the same time develop other condi
tions that destroy other better types of
vegetation. And it is where the plants
named grow the acids that sour the
soil are developed. And ycu can't
grow sweet, nutritious plants upon
such land. The corn, wheat, oata or
grass grown there partakes of like
qualities.
Aerate this soil by filling it with de
caying animal or vegetable matter
(humm), fertilize it, ond you kill out
the "toad hair," wire grass and sour
sorrel, and sweeten the soil, and the
clovers come seemingly of themselvee.
We must remember clover is somewhat
of an aristocrat. It must have good
food, clean eoil, pure air and humus.
It won't grow on poverty points.
If plants and animals live upon food,
drink and air, how do they change
them into animal forms, or plant
growth? To know how will help us to
see the necessity of humus, acd tho
waste of plant food and animal food,
and how it takes place.
What the progressive farmer ought
to be seeking for in these times of low
prices and sharp competition is the
way to get maximum crops at a mini
mum expense.
The mission of the agricultural prees
and farm institutes is to help him.
R. 3. Cook, of Kansas, took first
prize at the World's Fair on "pigs'
over five and under twelve months
old. It was awarded to five of his
"pigs" eleven months old; the average
weight was 528 pounds.
The most startling thing about it is
that this phenomenal result was made
on less rich concentrated food than the
average farmer feeds out to get 200 to
300 pound "hogs."
One purpose of these papers is to
show farmers how Mr. Cook got 528
pound "pigs' and "why" the average
farmer only gets 300 pound "hogs."
Also why one farmer will get double
the results out of the same quantity of
manure or fertilizing materials, and
often at a less expense. The secret of
this is the "why" one farmer fails and
"how" another succeeds
Mr. Cook made and maintained al
most perfect conditions. Other feeders
do not educate themselves to their im
portance and are indifferent as to re
sults. If our animals are made out of
plants, then, to get the most animals
we must get the most plants. It fol
lows that to get the most plants we
must make and keep up the best soil
conditions.
CONTINUED OS PAGX 8.