North Carolina Newspapers

THE INDUSTRIAL MD EDUCATIONAL EJTERESTS OF QUE PEOPLE PARAMOUNT TO ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS OF STATE POLICY. fol. 14. RALEIGH, N. C, NOVEMBER 14, 1899. Ho. 40 r th- v, T Vol. 1.. A 7UP- '.r -. ACQ ite for truth Jerful po. E. ce 50 7 a!J Rusi fork 8 or surso ueecS rees, ar, . C. PUBLISHED WEEKLY -SUBSCRIPTION- Subscription One Year 0 tix Months ,--. Si.oo , 60 , Three Montna -,, "vo-ub:crirtion entered on onrbo-i UompHiiUs order Thte moi ,p.i,ws are disc ntii.ued promptly ;iau tf time raid f r. j n datTon your label tells you W ht-irtinn expires. Receipts for C iKViptlon will be given in change c ?X? If not properly changed in up 1111 s PUb i.ira- jyour y on e on Ceks, 20V.lT US. tu coW of the pater discontinued at the ex .;! -n "f Ms subscription, notice to that effect 1';,'-'ll )e sent. Otherwise it Is assumed that a, nnnuanceof the subscription is desired, and Si arrearages must be paid when paper is 0rier.'i stopped. Money at our risk if sent by registered letter -.rVoney order. PUate don't mend stamps. Ye ;,nre to elve old RD( new addresses In onlf riu change of postoffice. rv of Advertising Rates: ten cents per agate lirie. Literal discounts for time and space. Tvi, item is marked to remind you that you V-1T1 (1 CareiUllJ eA.LUl.ue tuia rniuiJio i I'l'J o.uu V-.l u SI for year's subscription. Will also .l ra' er on trial 6 months for 50 cents, or s ciontb for 25 cents. Or we will send your n-er free for one year if j ou will send us to in r Ytv subscriptions, or free six months for $3 In new subscriptions, at these rates. We want intelligent correspondents in every ronntv in the State. We want facts of value. snlts accomplished of value, experiences of vtlne Plainly and briefly told. One solid, demonstrated fact, la worth a thousand theo- -ies. Taa Progressive Farmer Is the Official Organ of the North Carolina Farmers' State Alliance. NORTH CAROLINA FARMING. Mr. 5. B M. Farmer, of Jackson ccuntr, writea us that the acreage of wheat there is unusually large. The Norfolk Virginian Pilot saya: Ooerf the finest etcck farma of the North Carolina section contiguous to Norfolk is Avrca. near the head of the Albemarle Scund, in B.-rtio c:untv. N. C. This croat e sae comprises 6. COO acres of fertile well watered lmd and i3 owned bv Dr. W R Capehart, who i3 known fr and wHo cn acocunt of his connection with the Avora steam power fi-herie? and the artificial prop agations of eha'.'. Mr. George E. Bo?, of Haywood county expects to exhibit s:me of hip a; pi at the Pari Exposition. The Bio?'' Dr.rmcrat state that Mr. Mo3s II. Cna. of Blowing Rock, is also pre paring a lot of Watauga apples for the exposition. The fruit is being carefully packed, will bo shipped to Now York and r.ut in cold etofaze until spring, when is wi l bo exported to France. There are few better apple-growing regions than Western North Carolina. And thera the work ha? just begun. Mr. D F. 8c. Clsir, writing (in a re C3nt'"s?ue of the New York Outlook) of the S;ate Normal and Industrial Col lege at Greensboro says: 44 Another line of work which is b:iog organized, and which will give support to a f core or mora of girl etudenti, is the dairy farm. This collegp is most fortunate in having attached to it some one hun dred and sixty acrea of fioo farmiDg land. Tai3 has been etosked with a pinery and some fifty head of choice J raey cow?, which are to be milked by the colleges girs. Twenty college dairy maids, with the genuine dairy maid's cap and milk pail, will at least add picturef queness to this most demo cratic of colleges for women. The dairy will be not only be self-sustaining, but it will bring money to the institu tion from the butter these young ladies will make. This butter has the college stamp on it, and already the demand for it outside of the college is greater than the supply can be." Three cheers for our dairy girle ! The Commonwealth wants Scotland Neck to establish a great peanut cleaner. Writing of the matter in its last issue, the editor sajs: "Scotland Neck is the largest peanut market in tho world, That is to say, Scotland Neck handles more Spanish peanuts than any other market. The Common wealth mkes this statement on good authori;y of a number of weli-posted business men of the community. Those who have stuiicd the matter carefully have become convinced that the farm ers ouphc, to get beirer prices for their peaunta. One c the surest means of securing better prices for the farmers 13 to eetatiith a great peanut cleaner rihj here fit tho very gates of the fields vrliichproducjthemin euch large quantities, so that rhe peanuts may be Holi directly io the cleaners and thus rave to tho farmers the per cent, of commission that the local buyers get for ht-ndlicg them, ' A wise move. FARM AFFAIRS. PREPARING FOR NEXT YHAR'S V COTTON. Prof. Maasey Writes cn an Important Subject. OarreaiHjndence of the Progressive Farmer. In our travels over the State this summer attending our summer series of Farmers' Institutes we have been very much impressed with the immense in crease in the cultivation of tho cow pea. Fewer flalds are to be seen "rest ing" in tho old way by growing up with weeds for future browsweating?, but iusttad the farmers are fa3t learn ing that the best reet for the land is to keop it in a crop that will shade end protect the soil and gather fertility for succeeding crops far faster than the natural growth. Wide areas are now in peas that bore a crop of small grain and the 'Clover of the South" is cover ing fields that never before grew it. Many of these fields are intended for the cotton crop of next year, and as a matter of course the owners are think ing how best to use the pea crop. If they have taken our advice so often given in the press, the peas have had a good dose of phosphoric acid and pot ash in some form, and where this is the case the course is plain is and the cot ton crop can be grown at the smallest cost if the owner simply adds the seed from this year's crop to the land. Oae of the most thoughtful farmers in South Carolina wrote us that he had found that in his case, being far re moved from oil mills where he could exchange the eoed for meal and hulls, ho found that the whole seed after be ing crushed to destroy germination, gave him excellent results when op plied as he uses them. He found that when a ma3s of seed or other bulky manure was applied directly in the furrow under the cotton, there was d ffi:ulty in getting a good stand of the cotton. He found also that while tho seed weie a valuable fertil'z:r, they were elow in booming available to the plant as food. He therefore adopted plan cf opening a furrow midway ba tweea tt:o beds for the cotton, and thiT3 burying tho seed. B the tim ihe cotton had developed to the noint of making b oom audVruit ithadfeund thefueJ, wnfch by that timo had de ciyed to an extent sufficient to enabl? them to yield up their plant food and he get better crcps in this way. What we most want to get at, how ever, is the tesS and most economical way to apply the pai chased fertilizsrs to the cotton. We have said that where the pea crop of this year has been well supplied with phosphoric aeid and potash there is a better chance for next year's cotton. Experience has shown that an applica ion of the potas s o fertiliz?rs especially, eomo months before the planting will show from them better results than from a direct app'i cation at the planting time. And not only this, but their application to the pea crop will give a heavier crop of forage. There is nothing that the cot ton farmer needs more than plenty of forage and plenty of caf.la to feed it to. The use of the entire growth of peas gs a manner direst will undoubtedly show a greater effect on the succeeding crop than the cutting eff of the growth. But the cutting and curing of the crop as hay, and the feedicg of this hay to cattle, with the careful saving of the manure will do more for the farm and the farmer than the burying of a crop worth $20 per acre as food, three fourths of which value can be recov ered in the manure made from the feeding. Another fact in connection with the using of the whole growth for the cotton crop ia that it may give an excels of nitrogen and a rank and long limbed growth, and a late crop. The true way to use the pea crop preceding a cotton crop is to cut and cure the vines as hay, feed them to stock and return to the land the manure thus made. But what shall the man do who did not put any phosphata or potash on his peass? If he takes them eff, he will cer tainly have taken eff more of tbephoa phoric acid and potash of which his land was probably already deficient, and useless he applies fertilizers to his cotton, he cannot hope for an increased crop by reason of the pea growth. He may to some extent get benefit from the peas so far as the increase of nitro gen in tho 3oil ia concerned, but while the cotton may make a ranker "weed" it will fail in the fruiting. The peas will relievo him from th3 purchase of the most costly part of a complete fer til zer, and he will not be compelled to buy nitrogen at all, especially if he uses his cotton seed aa suggested. But what shall he use and when shall ho apply the fertil zjr? We have al ready remarked that it has been found that the mineral plant food in the shape of phojphorio acid and potash give better results when applied some time previous to the planting of tin crop, and we know too that a liberal broadcast application of ths39 is batter not only for the improvement of the land gent rally, but for tha crop of cot ton. Tho experience of cur South Carolina friend points to this. Few farmers realfz3 the short time in which fertil zors applied directly in tho furrow under tho plants are available to the plant. Tho part of the roots o any plant which are ergiged in col lecting food are near the extreme tip of the small rootlets, and when these get beyond the area in which tho food waa applied and begin to forage in poorer soil, a deterioration in the growth and fruiting must result. Hence we have become fully satisfied that even for the cotton crop a broadcast application is best in the final results on the crop. We would like some of our friends who have a pea stubble to go into cot ton next year to try the simple esperi ment of applying this fall broadcast on part of the stubble all the phosphate and potash they intend for the crop You need to buy only acid phosphate and kainit in rqaal proportiocs for the pees aided by the cotton seed from this year's crop will give you an abundant supply of nitrogen. Oa the rest of the field apply the fertil: zara at the time of planting in the furrow. I have little fear but thatycu will find that the acid phosphata and potash applied this fall will give you better results in the crop next year than tho spring application io the furrow. And not only tht3, but it will enable you to get a batter stand of crimson clover sown among the cot ton at laying by time next summer. If you get a etanl of crimson clover in the cotton field, you will have dona more for your land than in ?ny other way, fcr the winter cover in worth of itself an application of fertil z r, in tbe prevention of tho wasting of the fril ity in winter, while tbe clover will get more nitrogtn for you to turn into corn ntxt year with tho aid of your h m3 made manure. Li3t us put a little forethought into the o gnomical production of a cotton crop, and get down to real farming with cotton. W. F. Mass&y. Wake Co., N. C. AS A COTTON FARMER SEES IT. Correspondence of the Progressive Farmer. When God made man he p it him in tho Garden of E en and commauded him to till the soil and get his living by the sweat of his brow. Sj yoa eee that forming was the first vocation God gave to man. Gcd knew it then, as it is to day, tho most important of all cccu pations. If it is the most important of all occupations, it should be the most honored and meat lucrative. But what do we see to-day ? We pee theocoupa tiou trailing in the dust, the poor farmer, poor in this world's goods, and last, but not least, ignorant in knowl edge. Now, my brother farmers let ua look fxt the other indus.riea. We see all of them prospering, factories not only working night and day, but are build ing larger ones, declaring dividends of of 30 to 50 cents on the dollar. All of them are dependent on tho products of your labors. You are the producers. Now all of this ia radically wrong There ought to be a change. We can make a change. Will you not say there must be a change f Those who handle the most of your products can sit in his effice at Liver pool, smoke his $1 Havana cigar, drink his Maderia wine, telegraph to the United States, have his agent here to look after the planting of your cottoD, have reports sent as to culture, until it is ready for market, and the price is fixed before it ia picked out. Now, my friends, to the rescue Let us cut off our cotton and tobacco crops one third and make 8 000,000 bales of cotton, and my word for it, you will get 10 cenca per pound for your 1900 crop as tne supply will not be equal to the demand. If something is not done soon to advance the interest of the farmer the trusts and combinations. whirh have their chains wound around you will have them so tight that death alone will sever them. To the rescue, my friends, to the rescue. tiespectruiiy, W. H. Morris Wake Co., N. O. ANOTHER TOBACCO GROWER WRITES. A Discussion of Warehousemen, Trusts and Combines Correspondence of the Progressive Farmer. "Agricola," of Halifax county, has been attendirg the sale of tobacco in a nearby warehouse, and judgiEgfrom his correspondence in a late issue of The Progressive Farmer, he is not very much elated with what he saw. The account of seks he copies is a fair sam pie of prices now paid in moat inland markets. All intelligent farmers are agreed, that the auctioneering of to bacco in cur warehouses has become nothing else but an empty farce, calcu lated tci throw dust in the eyes of the unwary. The auctioneer, aa a rule, is hired by the week or month for small wages, and the biggest part of the auc tioneering fee charged goe3 with, the rest :Qto tho pockets of the warehouse men Bafore the advent of the tobacco trust, when much tobacco wa3 bought for speculation, the bidding and buy ingwtra spirited at d lively. No man could tell or guess how much a pile of tobacso would brin?. Then the auc tioneering wa3 pertinent and helpful to tbe farmers. Bit now, since the great bulk of the weed is bought by the American Tobacco Company, which fixes the prices to be, paid for the sev eral grades to its buyers in the various tobacco towns, all genuine competition has ceased . The buyers in turn, through their petty local boards of trade fix the price that is to be paid to the producer, leaving for themselves all the margin they po. sibly can. The warehouseman (sometimes with much gusto) starts the bid, leaving enough margin for the buyers to throw in a few fractional bids simply to hide the clap trap performance. If the farmerj could goc theprica paid by the American Tobacco Company they could still raise the weed at a profit and, as the phrase runs, "make buckle and tongue meet." Far more hurtful than the traatsand combines a thousand or hundreds of miles away from here, is the small cot 3rio of parasitical fellows, these little boards of trado and combinesat home, .rho vary -)ecp!o that send out circulars asking for tbe farmr'a produce ?nd patronace, signing themselves ' Your I 'iiends," that devour tho eubstanca of the country. "Agricola" Bays they are all getting rich. Yes, they are, and wh shouldn't thej ? They have it all their own way, weigh aa they like and pay what they pleaso. If the to bacco is forthcoming, all that remains for them to do ia to help themselves. And they are no ways bashful to do bo. Mcst all of the warehouse people had 'ittle or nothing ia tho beginning but cheek unmitigated and an India rub ber oonsoience. Now they have fine horses, carriages, bicycles, elegantly furnished homes and plenty money to lend out, on chattel or real estate mort gages (for an extortionate bonu) to the very people from whom they filched all their gains. It is no secret that the warehouse man in this and adjoining counties control the happiness of hundreds of horn' s and the ownership of thousands of acres of land. Some eight or ten yeara ago, when the Farmers' Alliance was in its heydays and the ever recur ring mistakes in weighing tobacco (in variably in favor of the buyers) became unbearable, the legislatuae was applied to for redress, being asked to compel tobacco men to employ sworn weighers in their warehouses. Well, if -there were no hidden trioks of the trade and everything conduced right, it seems - :-rr v-fl Hnn wnnlfl hftVA bp.pn mad a tn an fA.irl and equitable a demand. But nothing came of it. The tobacco men became furious and the citizens of the town al A -9 most without exception took eide3 with them. Petitions against the measure were circulated and freely signed by the town and a vast number of country people, Many of the latter were Alii ancemen. Able counsel wera employed to appear in Raleigh before the legisla tive committee, make right appear 1 1 1 J - i. lL. wrong uuu ump uaient iub uietpure. i It is strange, but nevertheless true, that the average well dressed, smooth tongue! Jfcowna man exercises a peculiar t. A. Ill W mi QM v k . w f w ' w.w -f m Door unsuspecting clodhopper. The latter looks up to him as his adviser and natural superior, whose hints and suggestions must bo carried out in all things, and if the town gent treats him to a drink or condescends so far aa to" ask him to dinner, poor ruaticus ia elated, and will tell everybody about that great honor done him and at once feela himself raised 90 pounds In the social ecale. "Walk in my parlor," said the spider to the fly. Many a one, that has thus been treated has had ample time to repent being long ago sold out of house and home by hia city "friends." Yet after all, there ia no U3e to com plain. The farmers have been, and still are, the makers of their oppress ors. The railing against trusts and combines is useless. They are here to stay. They seem to be a paramount necessity for the profitable carrying on of any business. To fight trust with trust, and combine with combine, to organize and co operate seems to be the watchword in the struggle for the sur vival of the fittest, and those that fail, or cannot do so from some cause or an other must go to tbe wall and baoome hewers of wood and drawers of water for those th it can. Jeremiah Jenkins. Warren Co , N. C. NOTES AT THE GEORGIA STATE FAIR. Editorial Correspondence. One of the most striking and varied exhibits we saw in the agricultural building was the collection from a Georgia one horse farm. The man who made the crops, gathered and brought them to the fair is no 'one horee" eff air you may be assured with out doubting the accuracy of cur esti mate when you beginto try to name the different kinds of things he had ar ranged in good order. There are at lease three of these exhibits. The Georgia Experiment Station had an interesting and well arranged ex hibit of farm products, insects of eco nomic importance, photographs of the farm experimental grounds and crops, stock, etc. A mounted botanical col lection of grasses and plants poisonous to animals and man were placed on the wall. One feature of this exhibit ehowed the relative amount of each in gredient in a ton of fertilize for crops made up according to formulas shown painted on cloth on the wall above the conanical spscimens. Tnere are many Georgia horses but few good cattle, Georgians seeming to prefer to turn out and see the stock brought for inspection by Northern ex oibitors, but this may not be a lasting condition since they buy freely of the finest stock and will soon have as good as can be brought to them, if they are not too careless on the tick, dog, and cholera questions. These are burning issues hero aa well ai in the Old North State. One lady we met lost enly $2,600 worth of Jersey cows in a brief month by ticks. A Georgia legislator is as certain of being relegated to oblivion by proposing a dog law as a legislator in any other State. The poultry show is the great attrac tion during the last days of the fair and i is a large and fine one. The judge possibly knows ail the breeds without referring to his stand ard, but in going over the collection more than once we have found no one else who did. It seemi as if in point of numbera and appearance the Barred Plymouth Rock and Light B rah mas are in the lead of breeds. Biltmore cattle and swine are selling fast here and if these buyers keep away cholera and ticks they will be able in a few years to give the Biltmore herd some close competition with blood now be ing distributed here. F. E. E. Atlanta, Ga. The ProgrtEsive Farmer recently re printed from a Manila paper sent us by Mr. Fussell an article on the giant East Indian honey bee, its work and im mensa capacity for making honey and wax. A Western paper now states that the Department of Agriculture will make an early effort to introduce it into the United States. S33retary Wilson said in connection with the proposed importation of these bees to the United States, that a special appro priation would be asked in his coming report to Congress for the investiga tion of the bees of the world. A call has been sent out by the Parks and Forestry Committee of the Ashe ville Board of Trade to all persons in terested in forest preservation and in the establishment of a National South ern Park in the Southern Alleghany Mountains for an Inter-State Conven tion to be held there November 22J. The purpose of the convention is to form a permanent association, to in duca Congress to establish a National Southern Park, and to influence legia lation in favor of a scientific forestry. A RECORD OR PROGRESSIVE FARMING. Prof. Emery seems well pleased with the condition of Georgia agriculture. He sends ua the following account of one Georgia farmer's progress, clipped from a recent isue of the Atlanta Con stitution: Mr, Joseph T. Anderson, of Cobb county, is one of Georgia's leading farmers. His farm of 1 650 acres, lies seven milea southwest from Marietta, four miles northeast from Austell. The drive down is over a pplendid road, and easily made, and is through one of the most prosperous farming sectiona of Cobb county. Among the farms passed are those of Col. R. T. Nesbit, W. J. Manning, A. C. Edwards, J. P. Cheney and others. These beautiful country homes and splendid farms show every sign of prosperity, happiness aad tentment, making the drive to the An derson farm a most pleasant one. On arriving there a spacious old time farm house, with large lawn, well-shaded by fine oaks, and surrounded by commo dious barns and outbuildings greets you. Hia cow barn, which ia the largest building on the farm, is fitted up with stocks and modern barn improvements. Here from sixty to 100 head of cattle are cared for with ease. He has hia barn so arranged that he saves all ma nure, both solid and l'quid, and eaya the manure furnished a cow will pay well for her feed, if no revenue waa made in any other way. He is now milking sixteen head of cows which yield an average of thirty galkjna per day. Thi3 milk is carried immediately to the separator, whero the cream ia taken from it and the ekim milk fed to hogs and calves. He ia getting ninety pounds of butter per week, which is put on the market at 25 cents per pound- Mr. Anderson says it is just aa easy to make good butter that will bring 25 centp, aa to make aa inferior quality and get less. He haa about thirty beautiful heifers which promise to increase hia supply for nexl year to more than doublethe present production. Hia hozs are the finest the country affords. He has Berkshire pigs for whioh ha was offered 125 apiece at three months old. Taia statement will doubtlees open the eye3 of some of the "rr.z?;r back" producers, but if thov should see the pigs ail doubJs would bo removed. There are four in one litter that at three months arid seven days old, weighed 157 poanda each. Their gain in twenty seven daya waa fifty three and one half pounds each. Moro perfect piga were never seen, and some Georgia farmer will have to compete with these at the State Fair this falL Hi baa one brood sow which hai yielded him an average of 160 per year for tha last three years. He thinks thia bow worth more than a "cotton patch." Hr. Anderson says sorghum is one of the best feeds for hogs ha haa ever tried. He also grows artichokes for them, and has raised 800 bushels per acre. Four hundred tons or moro of hay have been harvested eff hie placa thia year. Sorghum and peavines, he says, make the best hay he raises. He sowed 100 bushels of each this year. He gives two good reasons for growing them to gether.; 1. The mixed hay is better feed than either separate. 2. Sorghum ia a very exhaustive crop, and when cut, the roots put forth shoots and grow till killed by frost, and the peavine being a good fertil z?r, will add to the land a3 much aa tha sorghum takes away. Besides the 400 tone of bay he will have seventy tons of shredded corn, fodder and ear corn in abundance, and 100 tons of ensilage or green cut corn. His ensilage pit will hold 200 tons. His wheat and oats are eplendid, and he ia now getting 75 cents per bushel for seed of a very fine winter variety. Thev succssafullv weathered the blasts of last winter and yielded eomething like forty bushels per acre. Turnips, he say, is a paying crop. 'Last vear I sold 10 30 worth eff that little piece of ground you see there," m m m ft. . . wnicn was aoout one eeventn of an acre. Tney are prcntaoio for cattle feed and also for market "I will rrJ-"s several hundred bushels thia year, and have raised 1,000 bushels in one year. "I have tried a small crop of broom corn this year, but not enough to test it, I think there ia money in it, and will test it more tho oughly next year." Mr. Anderson baa tried various grasses for pasturage, end ia thorough ly eaticfisd that Bermuda ia by far tho beat for thfs country. After another year he expects to have his farm fenced in fortv acre lots and rotate cropa and pastures. f i? 1