Newspapers / The progressive farmer. / May 9, 1899, edition 1 / Page 1
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Has the largest circulation of any family agricultu ral or political paper published between R i c h mond and Atlanta B , Va, and - THE INDUSTRIAL AND EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS OF OUR PEOPLE PARAMOUNT TO ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS OF STATE POLICY. fol. 4 RALEIGH, If. C, MAY 9, 1899. No. 13 PUBLISHED WEI -"V t . on your label tells you when your V..nn exmres. Receipt for money on 3 ' ,i will be civen In ctange of date on "s5I'if tot pioperly chanced in two weeks, Jtlf j "7w:TI "U A.NCES. If a subscriber wishes 01 rrf the pier discontinued at the x - f? n . f M "inscription, notice to tbateffect !;'-:', ho i'ct. Otherwise it is assumed that a Isva.d rr -thwKiihf.rrintioa isdpsiitd. and Jost-1 must be paid when paper is - ney order. Ftowe tfcn't :rui stamp. 313:0 r-a wth nld iind new addresses in p, fiT?fH II 1 1 ' ' ,-deris change of postoffice. - . . il..l,nPoao tun ranto TKrffttB fVjWral discounts for time and space. 36. ' rrVnm 1- marked to remind you that you i rnilly examine 1 his pample copv and i f ir a i ear's eutcription. vvni also iflJ QJ ' rol mnnths for SO cents, or 'J ?h'-f,- 2' cents. Or we will fend your t -lef .t one year if ou will fend us $5 ju & wrijuons. or free fix months for S3 in sBtiMrii'ii'-". " - . i.tjiiiTuni rnrTPsnnnfnts in everv ri-a-H imriuSiu vv...., . ,Jn the "-state. We want fa errs of value. '" kiromplifhed of value, experiences of Suoiistrateil fact, is worth a thousand theo- 17!,-H F.ss it b Farmer is the Official Cas of the North Carolina Fanners' State . f ... . ji.inltno now? iusl behind the H-tain anrf tn fuW glptoof the coming Rphitul me are ffte shadows on t Jack before me lies the dark valley fte river. When I mingle tcith iU iari waters I tcant to cast one linger '71. ,-r,in n. rmxntrv tchose aovem- ur.i of the people, for the rople, Si bir pecSe-L. lu Polk July PRACTICAL FARE3 NOTES. 'Written for The Progressive Farmer by the Editors and Praf Guy E. Mitchell worthy of beirg teetel recently been made by R W. Qo'.hier, of the Kacsaa State Agncul Co!l?ge, Manhatthan, Kanaas, anl i?. in eubstance, as follows: I la the middle of the field of corn Wt to or three rows with aef d corn tf a vtie.y different from that planted atbe rest of the field. Pail out the base's of ths corn in these roxa before Viey cvdep pollen, so that the ears Will bi i-rtil r i with the pollen cf the ether corn Select the seed for next j-ear's plat tirg rem these rows. It is 'chircrd thai D7 this method an in-'cres5?-3 yield tf at least ten bjshele ;pr acre t&3 been obtained. j A thoroughly practical and useful biiie'.ia is about to be iaaued by the Djpa'rmnt of Agriculture cn diseases 1!poUtoP8 and their treatment. It is short &cd to the point, being not over J 10 page a of straightforward statements jwt'.en cm be ea3ily grasped by any iJarser, without requiring hours of hies in searching through voluminous fcinntera. Ssme five di3eo893 are de scribed, including Early B.ight, Late B.ighc or Rjr, Brown RdL Scab and baf Barn or Scale. I.' j on de?ire a copy of this work, ...... yuaifit fcVJ tua i;ciaikuiuii w. A2ricuVure, Waghineton, D C a&k Afor Fra- ra' Bulletin No. 91, and uj ui'iiieu you irey. Secret ly Wilson states that tbo D3 prtm rt nf Agriculture will likely pd $io ('CO during the next two in buying date palms for the fejahe-t One of the expert veg& jble -.T--c,lo;jst8 of the Department, T ri vintcle. is now in Morocco pakir,r a cl.si etudy of the African iiit? avi coiting tbe very fiaeet vari -3 a those supposed to be best jkp'eJ this country. It has been iiiGd thu date palms, under iriiga ili trow a3 well in Arzona as in r-.irly Mormon settlers in the -ri rifH proved this many years S-ir 1 1. m xi 1 i. uh treca were do ol me uetsi; l, '' " rid date growing never de pep:: a 5 rn industry. The Depart 'fcln o ttt:i - J : JP-e:rr; i to push the experiment on 3 ex---.-i.Y3 f:Cai3. Each date palm l 1,1 b; tjppgd jn jt3 own tub and f---li JrnvQ at its destination with -Civ . ri U if any iDjury. 1 ' rrts best crop 13 its crop of ra ' th,j 3 atn. and some one has I "1 ? . 1 (hut- u : -u ; -.u ":lr 1 j or teactus them bad habits 1 athf-m wrote views of life or "Ja 'nv WflV tn dwiiff tVir.if man Jj;i or .imanhood ii verv bad farm- H, b au?e it defea a the very end of -ni;. Too man who mikea lr 'ctlin2 ai3 boy dishonesty or (-Pur it j or iQ any other either j ' VGrt:i or dwarfing their natures h . d farmer no matter how rich hie la 5 how large his crops, or how fine hia' r"ck. Farmrb eona and daugh ter Sre not exposed to many of the ten cations which beset the path3 of tbo who live in the city, but the fan nevertheless, tffjrda splendid opp mitiea for strengthening the mor v tbre and building strong char acrers. Thia calls to mind anexclama tjoa once made by an old farmer: "What a row the farmer would make if some one planted poison ivy in his garden. Yet he often puts a hired man with a poisonous mind right in with his children ! 1 a prominent agricultural writer A m - very truthfully eays: ''When one ia very much rushed with work it is a good idea to adopt the plan of one of the most successful farmers I ever knew. When he found work crowding him he would j )t down in a email memorandum each taek to bo dene, then number them, beginning wita the most pressing. He kept two hired mei-, and after his memoran dum was completed he would read it to them, so that they would under etand hia plans, and when one job was done they csuld pass to the next with out a moment's delay. If any mate rials of any sort were needed to enable him to complete any job he would jot them down and procure them the first time he went to town. It seems that everything on his farm moves aa easily and steadily as a clock. The hired men know jaat what to do next, and a vast amount of work is accomplished with no apparent hurry or worry." More than ordinary attention has been devoted toil year to the Year book of the Department of Agricul ture. The present Secre:ary from the first has impressed upon hia employees the importance cf proaucing simple, practical articles which every farmer can understand and prcfi; by, rather than abstruse, scientific articles., unin telligible to nine-tenths of the popula tion of the country. One of the many popular articles which the Yearbook will contain is entitled "Improvement of Plants by Selection." It ia q ute simple, yet instructive. It shows that improvement in this line ia as simple and important as is improvement in the dairy herd. For instance, in select icg Indian corn for teed, it ia tbe com mon practice to s lect the best ears at the time of husking, the main object being to secure ears of good eiz9, ehope, and having large, well formed kernels and a proper proportion of cob and kernel This, while good as far aa it gcea, does not take the vigor cf the plant into account, and hence does not accomplish all that is intended. The largest ears may grow cn comparative ly unproductive and weak stalks; therefore to obtain the best results, seed should be selected in the field. By patient selection, year by year, although the improvement each year may bo slight, entirely new varieties of plants are evolva J. The article con eludes with 'Common methods of selection are simple and inexpensive and should become general practices in agriculture. Every farmer and her ticulturist should devise for eaoh crop a syttematic method of selection so that the general crop may be grown continually from selected pedigree stock. The common agricultural crops respond readily to successive selection and in every caso valuable results will doubtless reward the agriculturist's attention to this principle." New tru& ta which propose to prey directly upon the farmer are now be ing organizad. Recent Chicago dis patches say ;that a gigantic trust, to include all the large farm machinery factories of the United States, is in proces3 of formation. Articles of in corporation utder the laws of New Jersey are expected to be filed wiihin a few days. The capital ia to bo $50, 000,000, of which $15,000,(00 has al ready been subscribed. It i3 the purpose of the promoters to consolidate under one management ail the factories for the production of reapers, harvesters, thresnera, traction engines and other important machines us.d in the great agricultural industry. The De?nng, McCormick, David Braalej Sc Co , and Walter A. Wood factorke of Chicago, are said to be in eluded in the plans, and in Wisconsin tne J I dee plant at Racine, acd the W. A Stevens plant at Mari tte. The trudt, it is said, will maintain pa.e e, curtail the product ar.d will, as far as possible, deal direct with the coceuxer in order to put a stop to large commissions and the exchange of old machinery. The consummation of vhe plan will probably throw out of employment a large number of men who aci as middlemen for the manu facturers under the present system. Despatches from Near York eay that a peanut trust also is about to be fcff cted. Tne promoters of the con soldiation several mcnths ago secured options from many of the peanut growers. Seme of the larger ones de clincd to give options, but it ia said that now since the plan of consolida tion ii known, meet of them are will ing to fell and take stock in the com paoy. Tbe options expire on May 15 :h and the promoters express confidence that the new company, which is to be called the American Planus Company, will be incorporated before then. The main t doers and warehouses of the company are to be in Norfolk, Va , and shipments will be made from that point to the large citiaa of the country, id stead of being distributed from New York, as bai bsen the custom of the past. The value of the peanut crop of the United States annually is estimated at between 6 000 000 and $9,000 000 0.ie of the plana of the consolidations to increase the product and export part of it. Tne peanut crop ot the United States is raised almoat entirely in Vir ginia. North Carolina and Tennessee By the way, an interesting article on "Peanut culture" will appear in next week's Progrespive Firmer. JUST A FEW HINTS. Jorreepondence of the Progressive Farmer. I am at times disposed to give my tests and observations of land prepara tion for the various crops and also to prevent land waste and failure to yield bountiful supplies. The high fillings on our railroad b:da through sorr-o of the poorest lands, are, to my observa tion soon grown up in briars, poke, rich weeds and the various grasses. Why thia fertility! It is not in all cases caused by deposits of manure along the line. Land should not be turned deeper than the soil, but you cannot cut the under strata too deep with a long old fashioned coulter made of a strong bar of iron with a flattened point. Let it down two feet if you wish ane cut fine below and your soil ia on top, where it should be. The land wants air below, and such preparation gives air and moi3ture. Cultivate shallow and open after every rain or oftener. Let your hillside ditches carry all the waterand prevent water from standing on any place that is to be cultivated. R R Mooes. Greensboro, N. O. VALUE OF SOUTHERN SOIL FOR HEMP CULTURE. In a letter to the Southern Farm Magazine Mr. B. Adams writes: "Having seen in your March num ber a letter by Sydney SmytheBoyce in regard to the raising of hemp, and having studied hemp culture in France, I made up my mind that I would in vestigate the Southern lands and see if tbe true hemp could be found there. I have done so. and thia letter ia to let the great mass of people who are in terested in tbe South and its develop ment know my opinion of the matter. I found all along the bottom lands of the Mherrin river, which runs through Greeneville county, Virginia, fine bodies of first-class hemp land that would bring from 1200 to 1800 pounds of hemp per acre. Thia means a net prcfic of about $75 per acre. The great advantages of hemp are that there is always a good market for it, and that seeing it only takes ninety days to de velop the crop for market you soon have your money out of it ready to be invested again. It will grow any time from April to Djcember; it helps to build up the soil; the coat of raising the crop ia about $25 an acre, while a fair crop will bring from $100 to $120 an acre, xne proper way 10 siari in the business would be to form a stock company, buy a suitable body of land and put it into this cultivation. Tnis would demonstrate the value of the lands for the business, and, at the same time show to the country at large that a new and paying industry could be carried on in thia section of the South. There in no doubt in my mind that more thn 100 per cent, could be made in thia business upon the capital in vesUd." It will be remembered that Prof. Emery wrote The Progressive Farmer a short time ago that hemp could be profitably grovrn in this State if a market could be secured. "CHEAP" HANDS THE DEAREST. The farm hand of to day, that is the cheap man, is a shiftless fellow, who works on the farm because there is the only place a man of hia habits and ability can get a j ob. He cares little for his employer's interests, dees noth ing he can avoid, his sole object in life seeming to be to do as little as he can to hold his job and draw his pay and ho seems to enjoy being on the perilous brink. Nothing gives him more satla faction than cheating the "old man" ou5 of an hour's work, says the Na tional Stockman. Hs would count it almost a disgrace to rake the lead and do an honest day 'e work without the eye of bis employer on him. He never sees anything to do until it is pointed out to him, He has the sagacity of the Indian when it comes to telling the noon hour and quitting time. It is a point of honor with him to break a pitchfork handle. Ax helves too mu9t suffer. Tools are misused and lost. Th9 farmer dees not dare trust him to look after the stock. . The money paid for such help is worse than lost, and sooner or later the farmer must be brought to recog nizo that fact. He will be forced to limit hia business to a ecale correspond ing to hia own working ability, or in the end find himself worse off for his folly. The causa of all this lies with the farmer himself. Through a mistaken idea of economy he will not materially recognize the value of the good man over the poor one. There are other more lucrative positions for honest, trusty men, and they cannot afford to work as a farm laborer. A poor hand gets the same wages a good man is paid so there ia little inducement held out to a man to put forth an effort. "But we cannot afford to pay high wages," farmers say. That may be. We do not debate the point. We do maintain, however, that if it pays to hire at all it pays to add a few dollars paid to tne cneap nana ana secure a good man. Cheap labor ia not cheap in the long run. For an illustration: A few years ego two young men came to a farmer here to hire out. One set hia price and the other underbid. and after half an hour's dickering, took service at $3 less per month than the other young man. who stuck to his price, saying he felt he could earn that much. At the end of tha first two weeks an account kept with the "cheap" hand would have stood some thing like this: Two weeks' wages $7 50 Pitchfork handle and axe helve. . 1 25 Broken w hi ffl j tree 3 00 Broken pump handle 75 Saw sharpened, hammer bought 1.50 Total $14 00 Besides the financial part of the story the team had been spoiled for the spring and summer work by allow ing their shoulders to get sore, the milch cows had become almost un manageable and the feed for cattle, norsea and hogs wasted. Dlditpay? Let facts speak for themselves. The remedy is, don't hire cheap labor. If it ia necessary to eccnom z by hiring a cheap man, dispose of your stock, keeping only what can see to yourself. If your farm is more than you can manage rent a part ol it, seed it down or let it rest, but don't try to make it with a cheap man There are other causes of failure than the hired man, but this is one of the greatest leaks. Labor should be purchased with the same forethought as to worth as are the other requisites. Any man who ia making hia lite a bur den by worrying himself with a "cheap" man, will do well to take an idle hour and think as to whether it pays. Should he be unable to solve the problem let him silence his eco nomical scruples for once and get a good hand for next season, just as an experiment. He will never regret the price of the venture. THE SOY BEAN. Bulletin 24 of the Kmsa3 Eiperi ment Station, givea the following val uable information relative to the Soy bean, which, as a drouth resisting crop, might become valuable to some Tar Heel farmers: The K insas Experiment Station has been growing the Soy bean for the past ten years, starting with a small patch, and increasing the area until last year 35 acres were grown, it is a gooa drought resistor, L not touched by chinch bugs, and the beans are richer in proteia than linseed meal. With euffi cient moisture to germinate them, a crop can be grown after wheat and oats are harvested. In 1896 the yield on ground after wheat was eight bush els per acre, in 1898 six and one quar ter bushels. With linseed meal at $25 per ten, these crops after wheat would be worth $6 00 and $4 68 per acre. When planted earlier in the season, tbe yield of Soy beans is from 10 to 20 bushels per acre. The Soy bean not only furnishes a crop rich in pro tein, but at the same time enriches the soil. H 3nry Rogier, one of our grad uatcs, reports an increase in large fields of five bushels of wheat per acre cn land where Soy beans had previous ly been gron, over land that had not been in Soy beans. With dairy cows, Soy bean mea takes the place of linseed meal, being somewhat richer in protein, a laxative feed, and softening the butter fat. Not over three pounds per day should be fed to a cow, and the softening effect on the butter may be overcome by giving feeds having the opposite ten deccy such as corn, Kaffir corn and cotton seed meal. We believe the Soy bean is worthy of a trial in all parts of this State, and that the trial should not be made on less than an acre; five acres would be better. Hundreds of people have tried planting a quart of seed, with the re suit that grasshoppers and rabbits harvested these small patches. FARMERS AND POLITICS. In order to be an up to date politician one must oppose everything the op posite party does, whether it be wrong or right, writes Fred Grundy, in Farm ers' Voice. If one be a Damocrat and a R?publi can administration finds it necessary to thrash the Filipinos into submission he must denounce it in unmeasured terms. If the administration declares that Aguinaldo is a patriot-for reve nue only, he must be upheld as a dar ing hero who has sacrificed his all to lead his little army against the op pressor and spoiler. That he sold cut hia former insurrection to Spain for $100 000, and now has raised hia fig ures into the million 3 for the same sort of a deal with tbe United States should not be mentioned. To be an up to date politician one must never positively state matters as tacts. He must say: "It ia reported, and the report is generally believed;" or, "The statement has been made;" or, "There is a rumor current, and is ia not denied." Then follow this with tbe harrowing details of what might have occurred, or may occur. If such rumor or report is emphatic ally denied by the injured party, that fact must not be mentioned. Simply drop it and proceed to distract him with something elee of the same sort. The up to date politician does not care for facts; he deals in dolorous rumors, woeful hearsays, scanaaious gossip and calamitous suppositions. If he be a Democrat he must bewail the disap pearance of true Jeffersonian eimpli city and constitution loving patriotism. If a Republican he must denounce everything the Democratic party does as being disastrous to the best inter ests of the people and wholly bad. Whichever party he belongs to he must labor without ceasing and talk everlastingly to discredit his political opponents. Before me lies a county papsr. In a recent isaue it said: "We aim to pub liah the brightest, cleanest, newsiest paper in tho county, and people are learning that fact and our subscription list is increasing rapidly." In its latest i3aue it says: "Thia is a straight Democratic paper. If we have ever published anything that Republicans can find any comfort in we would like to have somebody point it out." This paper, like thousands of others, is not a newspaper for the whole peo pie, but a lopsided, partisan sheet that makes it a rule to publish only abuse of one party and praise of the ether. Does it represent the plain people? Not a bit of it. It represents only the officeholders and office seekers of one party; yet large numbers of people read it only, and thereby become lop sided partisans, instead of broad minded patriotic citizens. There are lots of Republican papers engaged in the same business creating bigoted, narrow minded partisans, instead of candid, impartial citizens. Isn't it about time that the farmer learned that this partisan twaddle is all in the interest of officeholders and office seekers? That the leading par ties, as at present constituted, are simply the upper and nether millstones between which he is ground to powder? Thas so long as he allows himself to be tied hand and foot to party, and votes as party bosses dictate,- irrespective of his own interests, so long will he be the hewer of wood and drawer of water for a horde of officeholders and office seekers. It is claimed that a tariff ia the father of trusts. The biggest trust in world is Standard oil. Yet there is no tariff on oil. I think that most prac tical business men will admit that a tariff is a good thing to aid an infant industry in getting on its feet; but when it is fairly established why should that tariff be continued? I think every unprr judicol farmer who raises sheep is satisfied that a tariff on wool is helpful to him; but can any fair-minded man point out who a tariff on lumber benefit, other than tbe few. millionaires who control tbe remain ing small area of pine forests in this country ? Farmers must get rid cf this politi cal dogmatism this narrow-minded partisanship, and shake off the shackles of the "bosses " So long aa farmers allow onesided politicians to dictate their political action so long will they be the mere tools of prof essional office holders and c flic 3 seeker 8. THE COMING FARMER. The farmer cf the immediate future will attend to details much more care fully than his forerunner did. Some of the new generation may be found and each year brings more of them into line, says an exchange. The greatest fault with farmers is, and always has b:cn, in this country at least, their spirit of wastefulness. They have been above attending to the petty details, but have lived in the large spirit of their broad acres, and by so doing have wasted much of their substance. They have generously allowed their manure to lie in pilea under the eaves of the barn until the raina have leached about all the water soluble constitu ents out of them, and later allowed the remainder to fire fang until it was a useless pile of rubbish not worth the cost of hauling to the fijld. They have looked upon the pruning cf the orchard as a work that could bo neglected un til the superfluous branches were large enough to need the services of an axe and saw to lop them off. They could not see the benefit of wasting their time on a pitiful little berry patch for the sake of having a few quarts of berries for the use of the family. Ma chinery and tools have been left to the sun and rains and the tooth of time has eaten them up faster than continu ous use would have done. The cow or horse that dies because it was not con venient to call in a veterinary surgeon has been hauled out to rot and pollute the air for a mile around instead of being burned or buried in the compost heap. The little drain has not been dug and an acre of land ha3 been lying waste all these years; the board has not been nailed on the fence, the loose ehingla on the barn replaced and many other of the details have been neglected all to become a source of positive loss. Thia has been the case to such an ex tent that it may be eatd to have been the rule. Better things are now to be observed. Batter farming is more at tention to details, the closing of the little leaks, the picking up and saving of the unconsidered trifles. From these little things comes to the model farm. HE QUIT DRINKING LAND. A farmer interviewed by the Green ville (3. C.) News explained his suc cess by stating that he read the news papers; that he watched everything closely, finding that he could do some thing on his sixty acres of land every hour of the year, and by watching leaks. Oae statement of his was of unusual significance. He said : "I like whiskey, but I am land hun gry; I want more land. I figured out years ago that with very moderate drinking I'd drink an acre of good land every year. 80 I quit. At the end of a y ear I tell myself I'm just an acre ahead at $25 an acre by not drink ing. I find when I put it to my neigh bors that way it makes them think. You tell farmers to think about land every time they start to buy whiskey, and calculate how much real estate they are drinking or giving away." A farmer who is about thirty years old, with a wife and four children, ia thus described by the News: continued on page 8.
May 9, 1899, edition 1
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