North Carolina Newspapers

The Progressive Farmer, May 29, 1900. Published i Weekly at Raleigh, N. C. Mrs. L. L. Polk, - - Proprietor. Ci ajience H. Poe, - - Editor. Benjamin Irby, ) Corresponding Frank E.Emery, Editors. J.W.Denmark, Business Manager. SUBSCRIPTION Single Subscription One Year. . .$1.00 " . . Six Months. . . .50 " " Three Months, .25 4i 'The Industrial and Education al Interests of our People Para mount to all other considerations of State Policy, is the motto of The Progressive Farmer, and upon this platform it shall rise or fall. Serving ao master, ruled by no faction, cir cumscribed by no selfish or narrow policy, its aim will be to foster and promote the best interests of the whole people of the State. It will be true to the instincts, traditions and history of the Anglo-Saxon race. On all matters relating specially to the great interests it represents, it will speak with no uncertain voice, but will fearlessly the right defend and impartially the wrong condemn." From Col. Polk's -Salutatory, Feb. 10. 1S3G. RENEWALS The date opposite your name on your napor, or wrapper, shows to what time vour subscription is paid. Thus 1 Jan. '00, shows that payment has been received up to fan. 1, 1900; I Jan. '01, to Jan. 1, 1901, and so on. Two weeks are required after money is re ceived before date, which answers tor a receipt, .an be changed. If not properly changed within two week- after money is sent notify us DISCONTINUANCES Responsible subsTily m will continue to receive this journal antil the publishers are notified by letter to discon tinue, when all arrearages must be paid. If you do not wish th journal continued for another year after your subscription has expired, you should then notify us to discontinue it, Vddressall business correspondence to and iiukUc money orders payable to "The I'uohkks sivk Fabmkk. It A IjF Kill, N.C.," and not fcoany individual connected with the paper. R mire to give both old and new addresses in ordering change of iostoitice.. Tiik FkogkespJivk Kakjikk js Uie OHicial Organ of the North Carolina Farmers' State AUjauce. I When welding your renewal, be sure to give ijcactly the nain' on label and postoilice to which .the copy ot paper you receive b sent. Editorial. EDITORIAL NOTES. Mr. R. H. Battle has been selected to deliver the address at the unveil ing of the Vance monument in this city next July. No better selection could be made. Mr. Battle was Private Secretary to Vance during liis term as Governor, and was ever after in close touch with the great North Carolinian. The monthly bulletin issued by the North Carolina Department of Agri culture, by a recent act of Congress, haa been classed as second-class mail matter, paying one cent a pound. It now goes third-class, eight cents a jKJund. The bulletin has been greatly improved of late and should go into thy homes of all reading farmers of tho State. The House Committee on Agricul ture fixed today, 20th, for taking a final vote on oleomargarine legisla tion, at which time it will Ik; decided whether the Grout bill or the sub stitute measure will le reported to tho House. It is getting very late in th'i season now, and it is more than possible that the oleo men will stave off all legislation against their inter ests until the next session of Con gress. On page 8 of last week's Progres sive Farmer, an item was republished from Farm and Ranch, which should have been accompanied by the fol lowing explanation : Tho Govern ment can tax the colored oleomar garine any amount necessary to be come practical prohibition of color ing, but it is declared to be uncon stitutional to prohibit the manu facture, or to force it to be colored some distinguishing color. We have heard of coloring it pink for about fourteen years, and this would put an effectual stoppage to the fraud, as has been proven in Europe but our Constitution does not allow it. The verdict of coroner's jury as to the Cumnock disaster, made public iHith, is as follows : "We, the jurors sumoncd by the coroner, have inves tigated the Cumnock Coal Mine dis aster and find that these 21 men came to their deaths by the explosion f gas and the after damp, but how the (ire originated we ennnot sav." Tho law provides that "all the mines in the State shall be inspected as of ten as possible," but as no ap propriation has ever been made for this purpos, the statute is a dead let ter. It appears that the legislature intended this as a part of the duties of the Commissioner of Labor, but he has never so regarded it. The next legislature should give this their attention. In the Cumnock mino alone sixty five lives have been lost within less than five years. This is too grave a matter to be passed over lightly. WHY N0T1 At Fall River, Massachusetts, a nnmljer of mill operatives have or ganized a company for the manufac ture of cotton goods, to be known as the American Cotton Manufacturing Company, with a capital of $1,000,000, par value of shares $100, to be taken exclusively by operatives. It will have no capitalist at its head, but will be conducted by labor in the office as well as in the spinning and weaving. The experiment will be watched with much interest. Now, why cannot our cotton farmers or ganize a cotton growers' co-operative cotton factory, as The Progressive Farmer has been advocating for some months, and share the profits of manufacturing as well as of grow ing? Or are cotton mill operatives more alert and progressive than cot ton farmers? The question of calling a Constitu tional convention to frame a now constitution to eliminate the negro vote was passed upon by the people of . Virginia, Thursday, 24th. A very light vote was cast, the advocates of the Constitution winning by a small majority. HITS THE MASK. The effort to boom Governor Jar vis and other out-of-date politicians for the presidency of the State Uni versity met a warm reception at the hands of the Statesville Landmark last week. We quote this refreshing ly bold paragraph : "No man who has the inerest of the University or the educational interest of the State sincerely at heart would suggest a politician, and especially an old and worn-out politician, for this impor tant position. It would be better to close the doors of the University at once than to have it die of the dry rot, which it would most certainly do under such management. The man who is placed at the head of the University should bo, first, a teacher a young, vigorous and pro gressive man, not an old fossil look ing for a job." As Uncle Tom would say, "Ain't it do truth?" THE COMMENCEMENTS. The commencement season is now at its height. Our schools and col leges were never better attended or more prosperous than during the scholastic year just closing. Through out the State are evidences of a great educational cwakentng. The commencement exercises of the A. & M. College occur this week, closing the most rosperdu3 year in the history of tho College. It is an nounced that it is President Winston's purpose to develop the institution along purely industrial lines, and "to cut it off from all competition with other institutions of learning in North Carolina. Hereafter this col lege will not receive as students young men desiring merely general education without industrial and technical training." Oxford Seminary celebrated its fiftieth anniversary a few days ago. President Hobgood is justly proud of his success with this fine old in stitution. As has been truly said, "The school does not break with its past, but strives to add to rather than take away from the work done by these men of the past. ' ' For the past five years the increase in the boarding patronage has been at the rate of 20 per cent, a year, so that the school has more than doubled in the last five years. During the sea son just closed various improvements have been made. Peace Institute, of this city, ended a successful session last week. Prof. Edwin Minis, of Trinity College, de livered the commencement address. Whitsett Institute is steadily growing in popularity. This year there were 27 graduates. The 98th commencement of Salem Female Academy was attended by a host of friends of this old and justly popular institution. There were 40 graduates in this year's class. The school has had a prosperous year with between 300 and 400 in attend ance. A splendid high school is being built up at Cary by Prof. E. L. Mid-, die ton. One of our best known academies in the State is Buie's Creek. It has had a remarkably rapid, but healthy and substantial growth. The Prin cipal, Prof. J. A. Campbell, is a born teacher. Other commencements will be re ferred to next week. Truth is tho most valuable thing we have. Let us economize it. Mark Twain. THIS WEEK'S PAPER. "The Croatan Indians" on page 4 deals with some historical facts that should be familar to every North Carolinian. The article is long, but well worth the space, we think. Truth is indeed stranger than fiction. "Tho Philosophy of Mixing Feeds" should be read by every farmer. Prof. Soule's "Calf Feeding" and Mr Liles' speech make excellent reading. North Carolina has room for more manufacturing enterprises, but our agricultural future is bright. 4 'About Cows," contributed by Prof. Emery to an exchange, deserves the atten tion of every cow owner in North Carolina This article should do good. By boiling down carefully we have brought within a few columns' space all the new and important provisions of our much-discussed election law. No other paper in the State has ever attempted a complete summary of its provisions. If interested, pre serve this copy of the paper. Three very gratifying facts are clearly set forth in the annual report of the North Carolina Bureau of Labor and Printing, just issued. First, our steady progress along manufacturing lines. Twenty-five cotton mills are now in course of construction. Second, the decreas ing number of children employed in factories. Third, the steady growth of the compulsory election idea. All save 86 of tho 3G0 farmers and till j save 41 of the 331 persons connected ' with factories whose views were ' asked, declared in favor of compul- j sory education. Verily, "the world ; do move." THE GROUT BILL SUBSTITUTE. This is a measure proposed to kill time. It is understood that congress is to adjourn early in June. If by any other sort of delays than those already exhausted a vote can be staved off, oleomargarine manufac turers can continue the fraud of making their stuff up to be sold to unsuspecting people for butter. The Grout Bill simply proposed to take off tho two cents a pound tax now imposed on oleo. and put on a one-fourth of a cent tax on all un colored oleo, but to put a tax of ten cents a pound on oleo colored to imitate butter. All experience with it goes goes to show that so colored, it is sold to people for butter, and this Grout bill is one of the steps in making manufacturers put the food j)roducts up for what they are, and to prevent frauds in selling the same. By the Grout bill uncolored oleo is relieved of 700 per cert, of the tax it pays now. But the trouble is that colored and sold for butter it- retails for nearly the price of good . butter, while uncolored, so it cannot j be used to deceive, it must be sold I i for what it is on its own merits, j Few people will buy colorless neutral j fat to eat as butter. They would I about as lief eat lard and the makers ; know it and are struggling for the j millions of dollars there is in being j allowed to continue to humbug peo ple who buy their wares for butter, crowding real butter out of the market. The animal fats now used in oleo making can return to their old use as cheap Chicago wheel grease and even then the farmers and cattlemen and cottonseed oil men will continue to get just as much for their pro ducts as now. It. nerlnnvs. ennLl 1 i -7 a L 7 ' ' i. f y v shown that these things brought more than now before oleo was made to masquerade as their friend. The cottonseed oil man from Char lotte, N. C, who talked before the Committe for the oleo men, sup posed oleo contained 25 to 40 per cent of cottonseed oil. He must have been a disgusted man after i going to Washington to make u flight j for the fraud on consumei s and ' dairymen to find himself also one of ! the victims of the oleo combine. ' Similar misrepresentation caused j swine and cattle and sheep breeders I to take sides against honest dealing 1 with food consumers and the dairy! ; men. We believe a man must feel 1 chagrinned at such treatmet and re- ; adjust his position to tho right even ' it the traud article does use a little of his product. The people will continue to use it if they wish to use oleomargarine a wit and that is what the oleo men continuously contend. The facts are they want the profits to be made out of cheating buyers of but ter and thev are playing a desperate game to gain time and prevent a vote at this session on the Grout bill. Whether they can do so in the face of a large majority is vet to be seen we hope not. The substitute they know cannot stand a minute except to parley away time on. F. E. E. BUSKIN'S DEE AM. If every page of "Sesame and Lilies" by the lamented John Ruskin were dry and dull except the follow ing paragraphs setting forth the folly of wars and wealth-seeking, the book would still be worth reading. As a parable the quotation is magnifi cent and almost without an equal in the whole range of literaturge. The extracts below are from his lecture "The Mystery of Life" delivered at Dublin in 1868 one of the lectures composing the famous "Sesame and Lilies." Mr. Ruskin said : "Though I am no poet, I have dreams sometimes : I dreamed I was at a child's May-day party, in which every means of entertainment had been provided for them, by a wise and kind host. It was in a stately house, with beautiful gardens at tached to it ; and the children had been set free in the rooms and gar dens, with no care whatever but how to pass their afternoon rejoic ingly. They did not, indeed, know much about what was to happen next day ; and some of them, I thought, were a little frightened be cause there was some chance of their being sent to a new school where there were examinations ; but they kept the thoughts of that out of their heads as well as they could, and resolved to enjoy themselves. The house, I said, was in a beautiful gar den, and in the garden were all kinds of flowers ; sweet grassy banks for rest ; and smooth lawns for play ; and pleasant streams and woods ; and rocky places for climbing. And the children were happy for a little while, but presently they separated themselves into- parties ; and then each party declared it would have a piece of garden for its own, and that none of the others should have any thing to do with that piece. Next, they quarreled violently as to which pieces they should have ; and and at last tho boys took up the thing, as boys should do, "practically," and fought in the flower-beds till there was hardily a flower left standing. Then they trampled down each other's bits of garden out of spite ; and tho girls cried till they could cry no more ; and so they all lay down at last breathless in the ruin, and waited for the time when they were to bo taken home in the even ing. "Meanwhile tho children in the house had been making themselves happy also in their manner. For them, there had been provided every kind of indoors pleasure : there was music for them to dance to : and the library was open, with -all manner of amusing books ; and there was a museum full of the most curious shells, and animals, and birds ; and there was a workshop, with lathes and carpenters' tools, for the ingen ious boys ; and there were pretty fantastic dresses, for the girls to dress in ; and there were microscopes and kaleidoscopes, and whatever toys a child could fancy ; and a table in the dining-room, loaded with everything nice to eat. "But, in the midst of all this, it struck two or three of the more "practical" children, that they would like some of the brass-headed nails that studded the chairs ; and so they set to work to pull them out. Presently, the others, who were reading, or looking at shells, took a fancy to do the like ; and in a little while all the children, nearly, were spraining their fingers in pulling out brass-headed nails. With all that they could pull out, they were not satisfied ; and then, everybody want ed some of somebody else's. And at last the really "practical" and "sen sible" ones declared that nothing was of any consequence that after noon, except to get plenty of brass headed nails ; and that the books, and the cakes, and the microscopes were of no use at all in themselves, but only, if they could be exchanged for nail-heads. And, at last, they began to fight for nail-deads, as the others fought for the bits of garden. Only here and there, a despised one shrank away in a corner, and tried to get a little quiet with a book, m the midst of noise ; but all the "practical" ones thought of nothing else but counting nail-heads all the afternoon even though they knew they would not be allowed to carry so much as one brass knob away with them. But no; it was "Who has most nails? I have a hundred and you have fifty;" or, "You have a thousand and I have two. I must have as many as you before I leave the house, or I cannot possibly go home in peace." At last, they made so much noise that I awoke, and thought to myself, "What a false dream that is, of children !" The child is the father of the man ; and wiser. Children never do such fool- ish things Only men do." BELGIAN HABES. The New York Sun recently con cluded an article on tho above sub ject with this advice : "New South Wales has spent mil lions of dollars in keeping down the rabbit pest. Let America beware of the hare." The editor of the Raleigh Post, commenting on the article, said : "It was the English hare that almost ruined New South Wales, and which cost so much to get under control. Whether the Belgian species has any predominating merits, enough to justify their introduction into this country, we do not know. It would be well for Professor Hege to give the readers of the Post fuller information on the subject." We cull some of the really pithy points from Prof. Hege's two-column reply (which, by the way, is clipped from different sources and all per tains to booming the animal, rather than to giving any real information in regard to possible danger from the multiplation of estray specimens.) "Stock in hands of breeders has only increased fast enough to supply demands of 'the trade' in breeding stock." This shows why the pelage and racy form is kept foremost in the extracts and tho blocky forms discouraged. The fancier holds the species in control thus far. "The time seems to be close at hand, if not already here, when the marketable qualities should be recog nized and the unquestioned demand which they would meet when the public became aware of their merit as a table delicacy, provided for." These italics are ours, but we have friends of exicurean tastes who bear out the idea in recommending these rodents. "The Belgian hare is said to have originated in Belgium," etc. Prob ably a variety of the European hare (Lepus timidus) therefore not dis tinct from the English hare, but differing in varietal points from the breeding in the hands of fanciers. "The English standard for weight is about eight pounds, which could, in this more favorable climate, be made more, say nine pounds, with out sacrificing other valuable points." "They are hardy, and few are born that luill not with ordinary care and attention be reared to ma turity. They are usually prolific, producing from six to ten young at a litter, and vrill breed from six to eight times a year. They will live in woods or warrens when turned down for breeding at six or eight months old, if some pro tection is given them from the in clemencies of our seasons ; thus in two or three generations they be come acclimated and require no further attention. For those who breed for profit there are two courses open ; one is to keep all the stock un til fit for exhibition, or for sale at I t fancy figures ; the other is to market i at from four to six months of age. J In either case the methods are so similar as to require no special ex planations. The doe has vis ited the buck and is placed in the hutch where she is to rear her pros pective family, which is expected in thirty duys from her visit to the buck." "In two or three weeks the young will be moving about the hutch ; from now until they are weaned is the critical time in their existence. With the food and care recommended they will prosxer. When about two months old they should be taken from the doe and allowed to run on the rabbitry floor ; the doe being started for another family. All diseases of the rabbit are caused by improper housing, care or feed ing, and the cure is affected in nearly every case without the administra tion of drugs." Now a word of comment on these assertions. j The first statement about "stock ! in hands of breeders" is not so reas- ! suring to the fears of the agricul- ! turist as it might be, but we have ! other evidence that the fecunditv of ! hares is generally overstated. See'! in notes above that thirty days of j gestation are followed, accidents ex- 1 cepted, by about sixty days of suck- f ling for each family. This points to j three months and four litters per j year under favorable conditions, i Loss of young, failure to breed, loses time. Hence not over four litters can be counted on by the careful, active fancier. If other evidence as to climate is true (and we believe it correct), Belgian hares may become acclima tized in two or three generations. But must we not also believe that while our fancier who provides the .ouuinay je ,,; to keep his does breeding the' round when a few have escupeu will find food conditions le: and the inclemency of our w" destructive to the late-born so three litters at most can bo con' on when they do escape, wk? lieve it is perfectly natural that th should escape, and when thev that the species will survive Th it will become a question of much more rapid their increase v be over destructive agencies as t whether they become an exp, nuisance. There are many common weeds our fields which were once cultivated house plants. Most of the.se are na tives of Europe. They have become naturalized to our harm. The hous sparrow " (Passerdoniestieus) C0Tn monly known as English sparrow i, an ever-present, expensive, an troublesome example of bird ininor tation. No hare can drive out na tive hares to the hurtful extent tha our native birds have been driven away by this sparrow, however They can only displace native species and be more troublesome than the native because of their having been in domestication and acquired thp habit of living close to men. These animals are looked upon as a dangerous introduction. It doe not necessarily follow that because the Boh ian hare is not of the same species as the so-called Australian rabbit that it cannot become danger ous to agricultural, horticultural and forestry interests if it is turned loose and thrives in freedom in America. The assurances of fanciers as to hardiness and prolificacy aro assurances, less positive of course, that they can maintain themselves in freedom in our climate. If thev have not done so yet, in the North, it would only be necessary for them to be started in and overrun the South and to spread Northward when better acclimated. It was not only New South Wales and Australia which suffered from the rabbit pest (Lepus cuniculus). Dr. C. Hart Merrion, Chief of Divis ion of Ornithology and Mammalogy, reprinted in Report of tho U. S. De partment of Agriculture, 1886, a re port of Consul-General Morgan in Consular Reports for December of that year showing some effects of the imported rabbits in Australia and New Zealand. In one year Tic toria appropriated 10,000 pounds, New South Wales 74,000 pounds, and South Australia 30,000 pounds, amounting to $57,000 to suppress rabbits. In Victoria 20,000,000 acres were infested and 4,000,000 skins were ex ported in 1883. In 1881 over 500,000 acres of sheep runs were abandoned in New Zealand on account of rah bits and the estimated annual lo-s from them in exports was set at 500,000. It was estimated that more than 180,000,000 rabbits were killed there in three years. We have native rabbits and hares enough for all common purposes. The common American ban; (Lepus Americanus) is eaten when captured from the wild state. Suppose this hare were as carefully cultivated as its European congener, would it not become as dainty a dish for an epi cure? But this animal is very de structive to the agriculturist over the whole territory in which they are found. We will not enumerate cases ot damages, We will, however, sug gest if anyone wishes to acquire great riches from rabbit farming, he snare a few native specimens and learn to handle them as common stock. Thew will cost less than the fancy imported animals, and we would like to have a report on com parative table merit of Americanus with Belgian hare after the former has been stall-fed for two or three generations. If he is a benefactor to his race "that makes two blades of grass grow where only one grew only one grew before," what shall we say of the man who can prove L. Americanas the equal of the Belgian aristocrat and bring cheaper meat to the farmer's family and the factory hordes of the future? Why may we not as well make an effort to cultivate this little animal, and turn his destructive gnawing to better use and make the cultivated part of the species pay enough to partly offset the annual damages done to crops and fruit trees by those still in the natural state? Every source of wholesome cheap food should be investigated and tin present question of raising hares may grow into one of the industries of the coming century. F. E.