North Carolina Newspapers

p i .. mil, f THE INDUSTRIAL AND EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS OF OUR PEOPLE PARAMOUNT TO ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS OF STATE POLICY. ?ol. 14. y RALEIGH, N. 0., JANUARY 30. 1900 jjo. 0 - I i i 1 PUBLISHED WEEKLY The uatt- on your label tells you when your inbscripttnn expires. Receipts for money on abPcrtitlon will be given In change of date on label. If not properly changed In two weeks, notify as. D1SCONTI NUANCES. If a ubscriber wishes hlB copy of the paper discontinued at the x niratlnn "f kis subscription, notice to that effect ahould be sent. Otherwise it la assumed that a contlnnanee of the subscription is desired, and 11 arrearages must be paid when paper is ordered stopped. Money at our risk if sent by regie' ered letter or monev order. PIsom dont send stamp. Be sure to give both old and new addresses In ordering change of poetomce. Basis of Advertising Rates: ten cents per agate line. Liberal discounts for time and space. Thl" item le marked to remind you that you ahou d eare fully examine 1 his sample copy and ndu $1 for a ear's subscription. Will also send paf-er on trial 6 months for 50 cents, or 3 months for 25 cents Or we will send your paper free for one year If j ou will send us $5 in new subscriptions, or free six months for S3 in new- BiiVwriptlons at these rates. We waut intelligent correspondents in every county in the state. We want tacts of value results accomplished of value, experiences of value, plainly and briefly told. One solid, demonstrated fact, is worth a thousand theories. Th Proores8Ivi Farmkr is the Official Organ of the North Carolina Farmers' State Alliance- FARM AFFAIRS. TOBACCO GKOWINC-FROM SfcfcD BHD iO WAREHOUSE. n rxbausMve Article by an Fxperi encd -utnor If Special Interest to Tobacco -rowiog Readers of The Pro gressive farmer EY J M HAUKK OF HENRY CO , Va Th- rul iv--ioa tf tobacco rf quiro much t Y om ht a: d care If thi3 is ne g l3Ctfd Htdyo i hava mide a cmmi n noodle ip- (DO your labors bav. been in :in Bat, upon the other hand, i' yoa hive made a fiae crop you bi ell regarded financially, which is the mere er j yable. You tray go in almost any com muni y wftpre tobacco is grown, and yon flrd some farmers who usualh got good pr:cta for their tobcso, while other, wno have cq'ia'ly as eooj lands, npver get eat:sactory price 8, ard ttry at ribute tha success of thtir neifibb rg to "iuck " This is not al ways trap, tho succ:S3 0r "iucs" cocqfh to tea gc-fr who locks cleetly aTter his cr and never neglects them. Ther is no crop grorn that varies ia pner liso looaco; it eells all the way from 50 cents to $50 per hundred pounds I m1 give ynu my experierco in the culture o t ba?co for thirty years First, I eelrct some ecol variety of S2d th-. v? ill euit my land, as there are several kinds of bread and narrow leaf toacc grown in my county (Herm) The narrow leaf is more gen eraily grown, and I prefer it, aa it lakes a tough, Eweet filler, and on gooi gray eoii will make fine mahog any wrappers After selecting the kid cf eted, I then select a eui able place to burn a seed bed. I usuallv Eele? a sou'hern or southeastern ix pojur vvh9e the eun can shine on it-rno-: of tue day, which causes the p'a v- t grow rapidly, and to c.me in e.rh . Ton I eo 8hculd be planted by the 25 ;r. i y, but I havo seen good, fiac tnb c , ri vd- that was planted af t r tbi- f . bat. a general rule, early plan l z i. in-3 b; BK. A' t r . n v j eelected by land for a 9:1 n ... hi h ehculd bo a new p'ace ea h - f turn the land euffi :iently hard to u: vegetation. This burc 11 :g ru at any time from No ve:?:b . ui.il the 25 .hot March, bu: te -.- id c-n uld not be eorn before Jir.ua v one tablespooLful o' sed t . li'O iq tare yards. By eowmt thr; q u;i i of eeed ycu will to: huve ycur i i .u s rco thick in the led. After burning I prepare the bed verj very fin and from two to three inches deep. I cver like to dig or coulter up the clay. From 75 to 100 pcunts of som? good tobacco fertilizer f h uld be applied to each 100 square yards, and wellrhk'd in before feeding. About the firpt of March I covtr the bed with a canvas, which costs from 2 to 4 cenie per ybrd; thicker in reason the better for the plants. Ween m plants get largo enough to Bet out I ta&e cfl the canvas Fay about four days before drawing them; this will toughen them, so they will etani the tun batter when set out. If I think that my plants have be?n killed I resow about the last of March; but if the first aowing has not been killed the las; sowing will be in the way, a- early plants will get eu3h a start tha they will keep the young planta bask. The next thing of importance is to aave gocd tobicco growiDg land. I usually select gray gravel soil for fine tobicco. I prepare my land thorough ly" just before my plants era ready to set out. I lay off my land 3 feet be tween the rows, and make the hills or pats three fest in the row. I drill from 400 t3 500 pounds of some good fertili xer to the acre. When I get a season for setting out, I draw out the largest plants first and keep them separate from the others. as a large plant will usually grow eff quicker than a smaller one; by this plan I have my tobacco more uniform in the field. I never like for my plants to gt bruised or the roots to get dry, as this will prevent them from starting . ff early after they are set out. When I set out my tobacco I wans to work it jjat as quickly as I can; this working will give the plants an early start. Never let your tobacco get grassy, as this will stunt its growth, and make it small and probably late. I lay my tobacco by, or Etop cultivation when he plants are about 10 cr 12 inches high. I never like for my lind to bake nni I usually plow my tcbicco afier every hrd rain until I lay it by. Some -ay that when it is rainii g nearly every day that they cannot keep the rasa out, but I God by usiog cuttivc: tors I can soon run cv3r my crop, and should the ground continue too wet to plov, I take hoes and scrape around the plat ts. By this plan I can keep tnp grass cut without injury to the to bice x When tho plants gst in top you reach the most difficult points in grow i i tobco that is, to know just now mm haves to leae on each etal. tVia will depend on the growth. If it is a larg, vigorous plan, I top it to 10 r 12 leaves after priming. In priming I always leave the first two lorg leaves on tho Etalk- pay, frcm 6 :o 10 inches from the ground. A tobacco plant is shaped like a hornet's ne3t. It starts email from the ground and elopes out broad; thn it topers to the bud. AsmU, weak p'.-int ehculd never ba topped ai hih as a !ar vigorous one. If you top too lor t "e plant wi'l have a tendency to droop, which mil usually make a com men leaf. If j cufind ycu havetoppeJ ri her too high, break cut tho top L avg mtil it t riht. After topitg, keep tho puckers cfl N ver let tbcm gft th-m ges over 4 i leaea Linir. Tcoro areujuUly bustwo full coats of tuckers to tho leaf, bu; sjmettacrs there aro mcro, owing to the failure to got the firsi suckers cfl ciean. It is important to keep the worms off, a a leaf eaten in part will not make a wrapper, and will have to b3 put in the filier pile, which is lees valuable Wrjen tobacco cea?es to bsar euckers it is usually ripe, though this is not an infallible rule. It is very important to have your tobacco ripo when cut, and good j ldgment should be used, as green tobacco brings the lowest price of ail tobaccos. Tobacco should nn stand loDg after i& is ripe, ea it wiil soon begin to dead, speck, and burn at the bottom of the plant, ar d will bo come thio and papery, which general y makes a nonde-cript tobacco. If I am not satisfied about my to bacco being ripe, I take a leaf from an average plant, end bang it in a cloee ro m. Is the tobacco is ripo the hat will yellow a whiteifih color, or what I term a clear yellow. If it ia not ripe, the haf wiil go dark, an 1 will be s reaked with green. If tfci3 occurs la: your to:accj stand longer before cutting. I h ive beea mi3taken about tobacco bping ripe from the color of the leaf. Tobacco is not always r pe when the leaf looks yellow. If the wea her is dry and h t the leaves will turn j ellow, while really the plant is green, When cutting tobacco drop rticks in every fourth row, sufficiently elope to hang the plants as they are cut. If I should decide to pick out the ripe p ants and leave the greep ones, the eticka leffi over will be ready for the s cond cutting. I usually put from 6 to 8 plants on each stick. One person can h Id sticks for two to cut. When the sticks are full lay thm gently on the ground with the stalks towards the eun, when tha tobacco is supple, so that the leaves will not break cfl in hanging. I load on wagon two coops of about 50 sticks each, and haul to the barn, and place the sticks 8 inches apart on the tier poles. I like to fill a barn in one day, so the tobacco will yellow uniformly. Tobacco barns should be built 18 feet square and 5 firing tiers high, and, if busit af log should be well chinked and daubed. Log barns are better than framed cns, as tiey hold heat better. Aftsr I have filled my barn I build a fire in each fiae sufficient to make the tobacco supple alike all through the barn. This I do at night, and by morning the fires will have burned down. I then want a regular heat, If the weather is warm, 85 or 90 degrees will not hurt, but if the weather is cool this amount of beat will bpgin to dry the leaves. If the weather is cool 70 degrees will be heat enough. I always regulate tho heat by tbe condition of the weather. When my tobacco U ellow enough to commence the curing of the leaf I open my barn door to giva ic air. This is the most critical point in the whole crop, for if you start the heat before your tobacco gets yellow it will cure up green, or probably htwe yellow and green etreaksv through the eaves, and if you let your tobacco get very yellow before starting the fires to cure it will often cure red Or, as some call it, a pumpkin yello ), and will have a thick sluggish appoarat:ce; therefore, be sure tnat you havci j let the proper ehade of yellow before ou beia tho curing process. I never let my tobecco get thoroughly yellow before etarticg up the heat. I like to hnvs a little green ish appo iracce on the leaves near the stalks; this will all leave when tho heat s.rikes it Tno very best j lament ehou!d be u?f d when tho heat is s arted to cure, for if tbe heat is too fast the tobaco may sc ild or ges into a s vcar, whicb, if allowed to continue, will give tbe leaf a dingy, dull appearance. In starting the heat to cure j our tobacco you may iu:n it by a slow a3 well as a fast heat, fDrslow heat will causa a sweat as eoon as a ft ss heat. If the s wea 3 is produced oy fast fire3 knock out the chinkiDg ju-t under the tobac co, op-n tfce door wid, give plenty of air until tho leaves dry cfif; then start up the hear. If the sweat comes from a flow heat incrtase the fires until tbe tobacco is dry. Wh:t. ymi begin to rfcieo the hrafc, go up to 105 iJfgrees and hold at trat for a f-h iri while. Tbi will tougieu the ief; the-u rdu-..lly iacreas- tre hr-at to, say, 110 d.?vr?ee, when the faco ot your t bicco rrsamoicj the gram of upper leather Yju may con tiaue raiding the heat, and if 5 cu reach 120 dero a wifvuc injury ycu are Sife, for this bias will cure the leaf; but I always pu.-h my fires a3 faet as tha tobacco wtll alljw. This will give tha leaf a clear ! ; while a slow he it gives a dirty appearance. I mualiy rua the heat up to 200 degrees, and keep ic there until my tobacco is thcr oughly carec. If yt u have fine wbi'e tooucco don't let the heat get over 180 degrees If you warn to givo your to bacco a gocd eccrch you may raise the heat to 220 degree?. When you have flushed curing, atd your tobacco corses in damp order, if h is a white yellow it wiil sometimes caaL g-3 by getiitsg too damp. To pre vsrtt this change iu color the tobacco should, vbiie iu proper order, be cljeed up tihi in tbrj brns. When your tobacco has thoroughly seasoned, open it out, so that is may como in Eupple order. Tiiea strip it out while in thid cjnaiticn. I usually maka from 4 to 6 grades of tobacco in each barn. If I aa not want to mar k t m t ob ceo aa I strip, I rehacg in barn, placiug 8 Co 10 smll bandies to each stick, leaving f pace between the sticks, eo it will t ry out. If you can g.-t tho leavts :n a Dundio all tho same leogta it will ljck tioer. If I nave tine tobiCCJ I ueuiliy tu; up eachplaac ia a bundle oi 6 or 7 leives. Handle your tobacco carefully, as it always looks better wnen eo handled, and when you pkei it oa the market it will bring more tnan it would if rough ly bandied. If I do not market my tobacco be fore epring or summer, I take it down when a warm season come, let the leaf be soft and the stems brittle, put it down in bulk, and when the bu'k is finished, put on some heavy weight to press the tobacco together, so that dampneas cannot penetrate. If you get the order right the tobacco will keep all summer. The bulk should be kept covered to prevent dampness and mold forming on the heads of the to bacco. Before taking your tobacco to market be sure a; d have the tobacco on outside of bulbs in pliant order, atd then select a warm, damp time for selling If you comply with the fore eroinBr directions you will more than likely be one of the lucky ones referred to in the beginning of the pe psr. THE FERTILIZER QUESTION. JorTespondence of the Progressive Farmer. I waot to say througi your paper to the farmers everywhere that I think it important that we look ou; about our fertilizers as well as our leaf to bacco. We certainly cannot raise much tobacco without fertilizers of some sort. That we shall now, under the pre83nt low prices of leaf tobacco, be compelled to pay several dollars more per ton for guano, is absurd, leather than be run over in that way, I, for one, instead of reducing my acre age 25 per cent., am willing to reduce it 75 per cent., or to any amount that we can fertilize with our home made manure. What say you, gentlemen? I suggest that we do without guano if taey ask one cent more than they made us pay last year We can do wiihout it as long as the manufactur ers can hold it, and the soonrr we get a move on us the so jner we can com plete tbe job. L3t us set a price say to them we will pay the same as last year, and if they don't wane that, let them keep it. What say you, brethren? Let us buckle on the whole armor and fiht like mcn. Is it not best to meet both the guano and the tobacco trust, at the sms tim ? Io certainly esema so, since it makes little d iff Gr eece whether we make much tjbacoo or not until we fiaisfcuhe fihc J. D. Yates. Chatham Go , N O There aro some things about an incu bator than very few learn from read ing directions IC we were getting cut a book of directions we wi.u d tell as nearly as possible what to do and then taken up about the same amount of space in telling what not to do It is not in failing to do whas should be dona so much as ia doing sj many thiags that should not b done that failure come to the beginner with in r.ibators. Send for every incubator catalogue that is cflared and study carefuly vhat the makers say, and choose that one whisi seems be?t to you, aad nino time in ten yoa will havo made the bst pelpction Es blnc3d rations for the soil. urrt syondence of tbe Progressive Fanner. In tho application of manure and fertilizers to the coil success deprnds as much upon proper proportion &8 on q iantity. It is much like feeding ani mals. A cow or stoer fed too largely ou fattening food loses muscle and strength, and ir time may become sick through tbe unbalanced ration. Again, with little or no fattening grain or food, the animal may grow muscular and bony, with msat hardly fit for the table. Ic has r: q lired years of ex peri meet to discover the right combina tions for cittle, and no man wculd enter into dairying, catcle or sheep or poultry raising without some funda mental ideas of what cocs'ituted a regular balanced ration. Yet many continue to feed tho soil without any idea of the meaning cf the food. It is piled on and pi j wed under in any sort of mixture ani proportion until the soil gets sick, through indigestion. That i3, too much of humus or other nubstance accumulates there, and this sours and irjures the crps. The same fertilizer does not do for every soil, nor for every crop, ad to fkd out a well-balanced ration it is n csssary to etudj local conditions and consider what has been raised on the so 1 in the past a3 well a3 to know hatwillbep anted therein the future. B studying well balanced rotations of crops we partly simplify the subject before us, because in a gocd rotation of crops we add to the soil diff .rent ma nurial articles that always nourieh and feed the soil. Different crcps re -quire difiE 'rent mineral elements in dif ferent proportions. All eoils require humus, enough, in fact to hold the water so that the manure elements will not leach away too qiickly. Humus thus added in tha way of green ma nure or barnyard manure, accomp lishes a purpose that we cannot get along without, but it does not suffice alone. Its function ia more to keep tho mechanic il condition of the soil right than to add distinct fertilizing focd to the crop?. All crops rob the foil cf thi3 humus, and it must be added constantly, and a rotation of crops should always include one green crop that can be plowed ucdar. A substitute for this is an application of fifty to one hundred bushels of wood ashes to the acre annually; bat the wood ashes do not alone supply a per fectly balanced ration any more than the humus or grt en crop turned under The soils must be fed with more phos phoric acid and potash than are con tained in the wood ashes The appli cation of the mineral element in dif ferent forms is almoss essential to our old soils. Alone they do not answer the purpose, but in conjunction with humus, green food, or wood ashes they produce reeults of great value. We cannot cfibrd to neglect either, for they all help to constitute the balanced ration. Borne soils and some crops re quire much larger proportions of one than another, but they all demand both the humus and the mineral ele ments to soma decree. With best wishes for The Progressive Farmer, C 8. Walters. 8hepperson, in his (jotton Facte, just out, gives the commercial crop of cot ton at 9 500 000 bales, composed of about 400 000 bales canipd over (in in terior towns and an farms) from the previous crop, and indicates a yield this season of 9 100 000 bales, dis tributed as follows: Ntrh Carolina, 510 000; South Carolina, 76) 000; Geor gta, 1,300 000; Florida. 50 000; Ala oama, S60 00; Mississippi, 1350 000; LnuisiaLa, 510 000; Texa Inoin Ter ntory and Oklahoma, 2 750 000; Ar Kansas, C10 000; TennM-e, 240,000; Missouri and Virginia, 30 000. FARMERS' INSTITUTES. The Commissioner of Agriculture has arranged the flrt cf a series of Finxer3' Institutes, which will beheld during the spring. Tne following are the first da:es salecteu : Laurinburg, February lit and 21. E fisld, February 8 h. Wilson, February 9-h and 10, h. Baow Hill. February 12 .h. Duplin, February 14ih. Coaimiseioner Patterson wiil bo a3 sisted in these institutes by Dr. Cur tice, Dr, Kdgore an 1 others. FARMERS' QUESTION BOX Tbe Cotton S-ates Commissioners of Agriculture, at their recent session in iew Orleans, petitioned the Governor and legislators of each and every cotton 3tato. ti eiacG laws requiring tie c ounty tax asaessora to report at stated timoa to the 85at8 Commnaioners of agriculture of their respective States the number of acres dt voted to the cultivation of cotton and other prod uctp; the condition of these produce during the period of cultivation; esti mates of yield thereof; shipmert there of, and uch other information relating thereto as may be deroed usaful. HOW MUCH PLANT POOD DOES THE AVSR4GE COMUSRCIAL FERTILIZER CONTAIN? From tha annual reports of seven teen States we find the average to be 317 pounds of available pi a at focd, leaving 16S3 pounds o the ton una vailable, cimmonlv denominated filler. Separating this 317 pounds into tbe three mcst essenctal c impounds, we have: Ammon a, 39 pounds; phes phoric acid, 244 p oind; pjtash, 24 pounds. At the commercial valua usually given these compounds, we have $18 9 is an average for the crude material. If to this we add freight, commissions, interest on investment, we would have an additional cost of at If ass 16 p?r ton. rr a tntul of 21 39. Iu ia Etateiin the narlocts Observer thit a Watauga county real estate deal-r sold cm walnut trea last week for $1100. Waluus timbir always sells well and the market is never crowded. Suppose your father, when you were a boy, had sst cut a ten cere orchard for you, and had taken care of it till you were 21; wouldn't that have given you a start? Why net do it for your boy? D:'. D. E 8aImoa, chief of the Bi reau of Animal Industry, has been lecturing to the Kansas farmers and urging a polisy of retaliation on those nations which discriminate against American products. "Shall we," said he, "consent to the prohibition of our meats on the ground of trichinae, bcraz as a preventative, and alleged danger from Texas fever, and, on our part, continue to accept hides from cattle which died from anthrax, brandy made of potato spirit and oil of cignac, wines fortified with cheap alcohol and preserved with borax! Ara not French peas colored to make them green, and German sausage made from the meat of broken down horses I" HOME FERTILIZER LSI2ING. Editors Progressive Fabmkb: I propose mixing a (ew tons of home fertilizer this season and would have you tell me if the formula and mate rials as prepared by the H ime Fertili zer Chemical Works, Baltimore, ild., is as good a preparation as I can get for the price aeked. Tcey gay its an alysis averages: Phoeporic acid, 12 per cent ; ammonia, 9 per cent. ; potash, actual 7 per cent., and embraces a total of 620 pounds to be mixed with good dirt, stable manure, cr crude cottoa seed or all combined to make 1380 pounds plus the 620 pound a, one toa, costing f. o. b. Baltimore $9 60 cash, or $10 50 payable November 1st. This formula has teen on the market for several years end perhaps yea know about its value already ; if not please instruct me how to proceed to be eure I am buying something tfcfct will make corn, cotton and peanuts grow. I don't know anything about chemistry and am entirely dependent on the manufacturer when I buy fcr tilizsrs. I highly value the Agricultural De partment of The Progressive Farcaor and am sure the whole get up of the paper is not excelled by any paper in the State. I am, yours very truly, Eaclo3ed find stamp for reply. J C. F. Johrstcn Co., N. C. (nswer by C irreoporjding Editor Enery, M. S) I know nothing of The Home Fertili z?r Chemical Works. If the 62 pounds contained the percenteges claimed in the analyses, the values would stand thus: to o o t. e c CM C CO -l 46 . a : . NO . a t- . o c'a a . to .5 6 I 6 HI T U) T3 T3 a a a 3 3 3 COO a a a, tJ 00 10 eo i C -4t I I I was 1-100 XXX OC L CD T T3 T3 a a a COO q. a a, 000 CO '-C 0 o "3 a The valuation ia taken frt m the De cern er Bulletin. The valua' ion is fat factory if the ingredients are put together from gcod material. When the mixture bai b"D raised tD 2,000 pounds the amount cf phosphoric acid, nitrogen and potash will have been va creied a litte but covered by cost oi mixing. The percenteges of the ton of com mercial manure will thee stand about as follows: Divide th pounds ot each ingredient by 20 and the quotient will be tha percentage of tha same in foe mixture as it will bo used; or phos phoric acid, 3.7 per cent. ; nitrogen, 2 3 per cent, and pctash 2 2 per cetfe. The nitrogen and potash rank with the ammoniateci goods -which havo been analy zed but ia phosphoric acid there is only from one third to one-half as much as is found in theso commercial articles. Thi3 -s all based on the claimed com pcfition without regard to the sources of the different ingredients, bul sup posing them to be from the beet sources. If the "ammonia" is obtained frcn refuse leather and the phosphoric acid from bone, the valuation dropa eon eiderably. We do not find The Home Fertilizer Chemical Works named among these reported on in the Bulletin for Decem ber, but the company may be all right and its goods found in spring anal ecs. We would advise our correspondent to submit a sample to the State Depart ment of Agriculture after taking it OOSnHUED 03 PAGX $.