v j
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THE INDUSTRIAL AND ErCCATIONAL INTERESTS OF OUR PEOPLE PARAMOUNT TO ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIOKS OF STATE POLICY.
Vol. 15.
vfV
Raleigh, N. C, June 5,' 1900.
Ho. 17.
Asricult re.
THE "WILD GAELIC
NION.
Prof. McCarthy "Writes a Val XPajer on
t Common Nor tb. Carolina "Wvl ftst.
Correspondence of The Progressive Farmer.
One of tho worst pests known to
agriculture is rapidly spreading in
North Carolina wherever wheat is
orown. This is the wild garlic or
onion Allium, vineate. Like the
garden onion Allium cepa, this is a
European plant. It has been intro
duced and spread chiefly as an im
purity in wheat seed. The sepds of
the wild onion or garlio are also found
in samples of badly cleaned clover
seed. It is more commonly a weed
in moist pastures and meadows where
it usually grows in clumps. It spreads
slowly but surely, however, and soon
overruns tho field.
Tho wild garlic is a very hardy
plant. With us its main growth is
made late in fall and early in spring.
It is one of the first plants to shoot
in spring. In the absence of other
o-reen food cattlo greedily eat this
weed, though at other times they
avoid it. The weed gives to the
inilk, butter and cheese of cows such
a disgusting odor that few people
with ordinary noses can be induced
to touch such foods. , The worst part
of it is that a dairyman who may
have a fine herd of cows and take
great pains to keep his dairy house
and vessels clean may by the unsus
pected contamination of the milk by
garlic disgust his best customers and
get a reputation for filthy practices,
ruining his business beyond repair.
The plant itself resembles the gar
den onion, but is smaller. It has
cylindrical, hollow leaves which
bear at the tips first a small umbel
or bunch of flesh-colored flowers
and then a bunch of bulblots like the
"top onions" or 4 -top sets" of the
garden onion. The plant also propa
gates by offsets from the bulbous
base and in some places, but rarely,
by true black seeds. Tho plant
thrives best on land free from lime.
It is therefore most troublesome on
the Atlantic slope east of the Alle
ghany range.
The bulblets produced at the tips
of the leaves are the chief means of
spreading the pest. These are about
the same size and shape as wheat
seeds and ripen about the same time
as winter wheat. It is next to im
possible to separate tho bulblets
from the grain. When wheat mixed
with garlic bulblets is ground into
flour, the flower has the sickening
odor of the garlic plant and becomes
practically unsalable.- Moreover the
bulblets gum up the rollers of the
mill and so penetrate the stones of
buhr mills tliat these have to be
dressed down with chisels to get rid
of it. The weed is therefore a terror
to flour mill men.
But the chief damage is done to
dairymen. It also taints the flesh of
grazing animals. The flesh of a steer
or sheep taken from a garlic-infested
pasture and killed at once will have
such a foul odor that the carcass is
liable to be condemned and sent to
the offal tank. If, however, such
animals are yarded for three or four
days before killing and fed other
food, the garlio odor will all evapo
rate and cannot be detected in the
flesh.
With garlic-tainted milk, cheese
and butter the case is different. Milk
absorbs odors very readily and holds
them with tenacity. Dairy cattle
running on garlio-infested pastures
should be brought to the barn yard
at least two hours before milking
time. They should be milked either
in the open air or in a draught and
tha milk removed as soon as possible
from proximity to the cows. Further
more the milk should be eerated
while still warm by pouring from a
height from one pail into another.
If the odor of garlio still clings to it,
the milk must be heated for 10 or 15
minutes to 155 degrees Fahrenheit.
This is a very ticklish process. Noth
ing short of 155 degrees F. will drive
off the odor, yet anything much
jove that temperature will give the
equally objectionable taste of boiled
milk. A good dairy thermometer
"U8t be used. Tho safest way is to
lJUce the milk in a deep open can
and place this can in a larger kettle
of boiling water.
There are many chemical "pre
servatives" and "deodorizers"
offered to dairymen, but where these
are not frauds they are dangerous.
The least dangerous of them is nitrate
of potash a good thing to let alone.
The legs and coats of cows running
on a garlic pasture are apt to be re
dolent of the odor. This gets into
the hands and clothes of the milkers
and so into the milk. Therefore in
milking such cows tho attendants
should be careful to avoid touching
the sides of the animals and also, too,
to prevent the cows breathing upon
upon tho milker or milk vessels. By
allowing the cows to stand in the
barn yard for an hour or two before
milking time a good deal of the odor
on the cow's coat will have been dis
sipated. nOW TO GET RID OF WILD GARLIO.
Garlio is one of the most difficult
of all weeds to subdue when once it
has obtained a foot-hold. It has
three different means of propagating
itself. It makes its chief growth at
a season when the ground is bare of
other vegetation and finally its odor
is so disagreeable that scarcely any
animal, bird, insect or fungus will
attack it. It must sherefore be
fought by hard work. Where the
pest gets into a park or lawn it can
be eradicated by digging it out root
by root or by poisoning each indi
vidual plant with a teaspoonful of
crude carbolic acid. This process
costs from $10 to $25 per aero.
Pasture lands badly infested should
be plowed up, heavily limed not
less than 1000 pounds of stone lime
per acre should be used and planted
to some cleanly cultivated crop, such
as potatoes, cotton, tobacco or corn.
In the fall seed the land to crimson
clover. Cut this in the spring be
fore the garlic comes into flower and
plant again in a hoed crop followed
by clover. It will take from three
to 5 years to kill out tho garlic. Un
til tho garlic is got rid of no small
grain should be sown on such land.
Persons purchasing young fruit
trees, especially apples and pears,
should examine carefully the soil
clinging 'to the roots. This often
contains the bulbs pf garlic. The
straw used for packing such stock
may contain bulbs or bulblets of gar
lic. It should be burned. Baled
hay often acts as a carrier of this
pest. Gerald McCarthy,
Botanist, N. C. Department of Ag
riculture. COTTON GE0WEES ORGANIZING.
Two weeks ago The Progressive
Farmer referred to the great meet
ing of Georgia cotton growers at
Macon, May 12th. At a meeting, a
few days ago, of the executive and
business committees appointed by
this convention the President was
authorized to proceed by correspond
ence with officials in other States, to
secure the organization of the entire
cotton belt by the middle of August.
Other States will be asked to unite
with Georgia in the movement and
establish a central bureau which will
exercise a general superintendence
over all tho different State bureaus.
A committee of five members of the
executive committee with President
Jordan as Chairman, was appointed
to confer with the Georgia Bankers
Association, which meets at Lithia
Springs, Juno 13th, to. secure the
formulation of a plan on the part of
the State banks for meeting the de
mand of the producers next season
in regard to loans on cotton in stor
age. The movement of the cotton
growers to perfect a plan by which
the cotton crop of the South can be
marketed during a longer period of
time, thereby forcing a better price
for the raw material before, the
staple leaves the farmers' hands, is
creating great enthusiasm through
out Georgia and other portions of
the cotton belt.
It will be remembered that a North
Carolina Cotton Growers' Associa
tion was formed in this city, during
the last State Fair. Major W. A.
Graham was elected President.
One of the best and most economi
cal forms of farm insurance is to
keep chimneys, flues, fireplaces, etc.,
in a safe condition.
THE CANNING INDUSTRY.
Our Rowan county Alliancemen
are much interested in this subject,
as was evidenced by Bro. R. I
Brown's report of the last quarterly
meeting recently published in The
Progressive Farmer. In fact, not
only Rowan Alliancemen, but Alli
ancemen everywhere, and not only
Alliancemen, but the most intelli
gent farmers throughout the State,
and especially our Eastern truckers,
are interested in the canning indus
try. This season's excellent fruit
crop makes the subject of more than
ordinary interest. Some valuable
suggestions are contributed to the
June Southern Farm Magazine by
Mr. S. M. Sindall, of Baltimore so
valuable that wo publish his entire
letter herewith and commend it to
our readers :
The eating of good, sound canned
fruits and vegetables at the seasons
when these articles cannot be ob
tamed in their so-called fresh state,
instead of so much meat and other
forms of gross food, is attended by
nothing but the most beneficial re
sults. The people recognize this
fact, and they put this convictions
into practice, as is shown by the fact
that the consumption of this class of
diet has doubled during the past
decade. The great demand for this
kind of food, both at home and
abroad a demand which is con
stantly and rapidly increasing has
called into existence hundreds of
canning factories, scattered through
out the land. Manufacturers of ma
chinery and others are being plied
with all sorts of inquiries relative to
the canning industry. The whole
trend of affairs indicates a wide
spread and almost universal interest
in this industry, especially in the
South. It is but natural for the
South to take a lively interest in it,
since that section has natural advan
tages of soil and climate which other
parts of our country do not possess.
It has thousands ef acres of kind,
sandy, loamy soil, free of stones,
plenty of bright sunshine and but
little frost and snows, and, in fact,
almost all the desiderata and almost
none of the drawbacks. What can
it not do, when we see what wonder
ful results have been accomplished
by Maryland, the pioneer and leader
of this business.
The best solution of the problem,
44 What are you to do with worn-out
cotton lands of the South?" is to
plant them in fruits and vegetables.
If these plantations are well located
with respect to transportation facili
ties a good part of this raw material
may be sent to Northern markets,
and when prices become too low to
afford a good margin to ship in this
way the remaining crop may be put
into cans. If there is a lack of trans
portation f aciliiies for marketing the
earlier part of the crop in the raw
state, then the whole may be canned.
It would undoubtedly be a wise
thing for the farmers of the various
trucking districts to unite and estab
lish canning factories. With such
an outlet for their raw product, in
case the market should go down,
especially in the case of the more
perishable fruits and vegetables,
they would feel secure in planting a
large crop, and would not be at the
meroy of the vegetable commission
merchants and manipulators. With
plenty of good, cheap raw material
at hand and a little capital, what is
easier or more profitable for the
farmers of the South than to start
canning factories?
Now, I do not wish to be under
stood as saying that any farmer who
understands how to raise fruits and
vegetables can rush, into the canning
business and make a success of it,
but I do say that it requires less cap
ital, in proportion to the amount of
business to be done, than any other
business I know of, and thatganyone
of ordinary intelligence and good,
sound business capacity can go into
it with a very great chance of suc
cess. The help consists mostly of
women and children. The building
may be.of the most primitive kind
a mere frame shelter for men and
machinery. -
Machinery with a capacity of
2,000 three-pound cans per day can
be purchased for $75 ; capacity of
o,000 three-pound cans per day, $125 ;
4,000 three-pound can capacity per
day, $175 ; 10,000 three-pound can
capacity per day, $250.
The kettles of this machinery can
be set in brickwork for fire, under,
or can be attached to a steam boiler
if preferred ; either way does the
same good work. Perhaps the great
est obstacle the beginner has had to
contend against heretofore has been
the . dogged persistence with which
the knowing ones have struggled to
keep all knowledge of their myste
rious art from the vulgar eyes of
thoso who see and learn. Besides
this, there has been, until recently,
no literature or printed information
on the subject, and those seeking
the desired information had to pick
it up here and there as best aa they
could, and often from unreliable
sources. It is no longer a mysterious
art, a 4 'dark secret," but a simple,
practical business venture, with a
'very little 4 4 venture" in it. Anyone
who will can easily find out what
.there is of mystery in it, and he will
be surprised to learn how very plain
and matter-of-fact it is. I will be
glad to give any further information
in reference to this industry that I
can.
A plan has been adopted by the
Grower's Association to control the
California raisin crop for the next
three years. The plan adopted in
volves the formation of a commer
cial packers' company to handle the
iaisin crop, including' the seeding of
aisins, coupled with an agreement
;hat they, as an organization, would
)urchase and pay for the entire crop
yJan. 15 of each year. Prices of
raisins are to be forced by the grow
ers' association.
BUILDING AND FILLING SILOS.
C rrespondence of The Progressive Farmer.
. We are glad to see these old rules
revived by Secretary McKean, of the
Maine Board of Agriculture, and are
glad to publish them in The Pro
gressive Farmer for the benefit of
wide-awako farmers interested in
the silo.
We have read Maj. Alvord's sound
article in the report of the Maine
Board of Agriculture and believe if
he were to re-write it now he would
have little' to revise. Secretary Mc
Kean has done well to start this ar
ticle out on a new and larger 4 sphere
of usefulness." We. believe, as he
shows he does by this publication,
that it is better when something has
been well said and sufficiently boiled
down to repeat it, with credit, rather
than try to re-tell the story and put
a different name to it. F. E. E.
The well-built silo, properly filled
with corn or other fodder at the
right stage of growth, affords a food
for stock which in my judgment can
not be equalled by any other method.
These are certain facts relative to
the silo that have been so well estab
lished that they need no further
proof, and I believe Major Alvord
formulated them very fully in some
rules which he laid down in a lecture
delivered in 1884.
1. Silos may be made of any of the
various building materials, and some
very crudely and cheaply constructed
have been found to do good service.
2. Silos may be above ground, or
underground, or partly both ; they
should be water-tight and air-tight,
and preferably frost-proof, although
the latter point is not essential.
3. The situation, form and con
struction of the silo, and the ar
rangement for filling, covering and
emptying, should be largely gov
erned by local conditions.
4. Several small silos, preferably
connecting, are better than one large
one, and the depth should be con
siderably greater than the length,
width or diameter.
5. Silos may be filled slowly cr
quickly, in all weathers, and heavily
weighted or not weighted at all ; the
silage produced will vary in condi
tion and quality, but these variations
in management do not very, mate
rially affect the result.
6. Any plant or vegetable product
good for cattle food when green or
fresh may bo preserved as silage in
an edible and succulent condition
throughout the year or for several
years.
7. As a rule, all horses, mules, cat
tlo and sheep, swine and poultry are
fond of silage, if its material is such
as is ever eaten by them. Most farm
animals prefer it to the best forage,
and often prefer it to good roots.
8. The best time to cut any plant
to make good silage is when the
plant approaches maturity, and is
beginning to decrease in its percent
age of water content.
9. The cost of preserving a green
crop as silage does not materially
differ from curing the same crop by
drying, . in a suitable season ; but
crops can be ensiloed and preserved
in seasons when they would be lost
if drying was attempted.
10. An acre of corn as silage will
weigh four times as much as the
same crop dried as fodder.
11. An acre of corn which is field
cured, stored in the most compact
manner possible, will occupy a space
eight . to ten times as great as if in
the form of silage.
12. In feeding, the best results fol
low a modarate ration of silage rather
than its entire substitution for dry,
coarse fodder.
13. Silage, and especially good corn
silage, when compared with dry corn
fodder or other feeding stuff, pro
duces results so satisfactory as to
surprise the chemist, and which
chemistry cannot explain.
14. A silo or two well built, but
not too large or too expensive, are
convenient and economical, on most
farms, to save crops which at times
might otherwise be lost, if not to
preserve some crops especially grown I
for silage. ,
Silage is to be preferred ' to roots,
for all stock, sheep only excepted,
and costs on our average farms not
more than sixty per cent, as much as
roots. The time for putting corn in
the silo is correctly stated in Rule, 8,
and I would be inclined to let . the
growing process go as far as possible
without danger of the silage busi
ness. I do not believe in the addi
tion of water while filling, except in
cases where the fodder is very badly
dried by being frosted The economy
of space is a very important factor.
Silage should never be used as an ex
clusive ration, but may b used for
at least one-half of the coarse food,
affording a material saving in hay.
In sweet corn growing districts for
the purpose of preserving the fodder
and the wastes from the factories,
the silo is indispensable.
The results obtained from feeding
ensilage as compared with dry fodder
have been surprising to many. We
are all willing to accept the teach
ings of the chemist that the value of
any fodder depends upon the amount
of digestible dry matter it contains.
We are also ready to conclude with
him that the putting of any article
into a silo cannot add to its food
values. Still, every farmer who has
fed ensilage and intelligently ob
served results is willing to affirm that
there is a value to it that the chem
ist does not find. This conclusion
has also been reached by nearly, if
not quite, all oi tno experiment sta
tions where exhaustive feeding trials
have been made.
B. Walker McKeai.
I like your paper better than ever.
The agricultural department is more
practical than that of any other
paper I see. D. M. Arrowood, Gas
ton Co., N. C.
North Carolina Baptist: If you
don't live there you have no concep
tion of the magnitude of tho berry
interest in Eastern North Carolina.
The season just closing has witnessed
the greatest shipping ever done, The
crop shipped has amounted to more
than eleven million quarts and these
have sold at an average of ten cents
per quart. This means more than
one million dollars from this one
crop in less than a month. Thus
from a very narrow strip along tho
railroad there is received 1-10 as
much from tho strawberry crop la a
month's time as from the entira cst
ton crop of the State.
Give your stable plenty cf air and
light.
Poultry and Bees.
THE GROT7ING CHI
3.
Correspondence of The Progressive Fantyjr.
The success one has with" young
chickens in spring generally makes
beginners think that anyoED can
raise them at this season of tho ytsar,
but unless favorable weather and
good fortune attends tho efforts the
beginner is very apt to lose one here
and there. A great many console
themselves with the idea that this
loss is small, and on the whole does
not count. It be, however, that
these few losses may represent all
the differenco between success and
failure. They would havo been the
profits of the year's work, but with
them dead and lost the receipts do
not much more than cover the actual
expenses. Consequently somo will
say, chickens lib not pay. They fail
to see that if they had been careful
enough to save the dead ones that
they would have been just so many
more dollars ahead, and their mar
gin of profits would havo been that
much larger.
How can we prevent diseases
among chickens that seem to bo born
to inherit all the complaints known
to the poultry man? That is not
fair question, because chickens are
not born with such hereditary dis
positions to become sick all the time.
It is the unsanitary surrounding
and the poor start in life thoy are
given that causes the trouble. Their
systems are in a weakened condition
from the first, and they naturally
take cold easily and other diseases
follow. Give them plenty of irood
food of the right kind ; good yards,
free from unnecessary dampness and
!bad odor, and let them havo plenty
of sun and shade. The growing
chickens, to be healthy in the Bjjring,
need 'sun part of the day, and shade
during the rest of the timo. We
must supply the shade artificially if
trees and bushes are not growing in
the yard. Sun and shade in equal
proportions contribute to their hap
piness and growth, and they also
combine to ward off diseases by mak
ing their surroundings clean, sweet
and sanitary.
Aitnte C. WEUBTjea.
.
The best esteemed of all flesh food
v
is the duck, says the Western IturaJL,
and yet there are a hundred chickens
marketed to one duck. It may be
that most people have not had an
opportunity of experiensing tho su
perb delectation of roast duck, or
consider the diet too high-toned for
Ordinary mortals and calculated to
make .them forget matters that bind
them to earth and forego tho ordi
nary duties and privileges of human
ity. Be this as it may, there is far
less duck consumed than there ought
to be, if the dressed carcasses were
more numerous in market stalls, or
the undressed on the farms. Ducks
are easily grown, eat enormously,
rgrow rapidly and sell readily. Why
not grow more of them?
....
FIUST LESSONS IN XXZS CHJELTJEE.
Every farmer should keep becs for
honey, for amusement, for instruo-
ftion, to cross-fertilize his fruito. Host
farmers pay little or no attention to
tho bees. They do not understand
their value nor the importance pi
keeping a few hives on every farm
if for nothing else than fertilizing
the flowers, says Wallace's Former.
First, tjse nothing but movable
hives. This is essential to success,
"The old-fashioned bee gums and box
hives are better than nothing, as the
bees will manage to do tho farmer
same good if let alone, but if you pay
any attention to your bees at all use
some form of hive with movable
combs. The Langs troth, tho hive in
common use, is about as good any.
Buy a movable comb hive from ecme
of your neighbors, then havo the
frames in all your Mves mado exact
ly tho same 'size so that any frame
will fit any hive. This is tho first
pecnt.
The second is to get Italian begs
If you have black bees get an Italian
queen from some of your neighbors.
Why Italian? Because they arc
larger than tho common black bees :
COXTCtrED ON PAGS .