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4 The Progressive Parmer, Juno 26, 1900. t i: Published Weekly at Raleigh, N. C. Mrs, L. L. Polk, - - Proprietor Clarence H. Poe, - - Editor. Benjamin . Irby, j Corresponding Frank E.Emery, ( Editors. J. W. Denmark, Business Manager. SUBSCRIPTION Single Subscription One Year . $1.00 Six Months... . .50 tt Three Months, r m 44 'The Industrial an,d Education a.l Interests of our .People Para MOUNT TO ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS op State Policy, is the motto of The Progressive Farmer, and upon this platform it shall rise or fall. Serving no master, ruled. Dy no iaction, 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 6peak with no uncertain voice, but will fearlessly the right ueiend ana Impartially the wrong condemn. From Col. Polk's Salutatory, eo 10, 1886. RENEWALS Tlie date opposite your name on your paper, or wrapper, shows to what time your subscription is paid. Thus 1 Jan. '00, show that navment has been received up 10 A. - Jan. 1, 1900; 1 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, can be changed. If not properly changed within two weeks after money is sent notify us. DISCONTINUANCES Responsible subscrib ers will continue to receive this Journal until the publishers are notified by letter to discon tinue, when all arrearages must be paid. If you do not wish the journal continued for another year after your subscription has expired, you should then notify us to discontinue it. Address all buslnessrcorrespondence to and make money orders payable to "The Progres sive Farmer, Raleigh, N.C.," and not to any individual connected with the paper. Be sure to give both old and new addresses in ordering change of postoffice. The Progressive Farmer is the Official Organ of the North Carolina Farmers' State Alliance. When sending your renewal, be sure to give exactly the name on label and postoffice to which the copy ot paper you receive is sent. Editorial. EDITORIAL NOTES. The cotton outlook in Mississippi, Texas, Arkansas and Alabama is said to be unfavorable and cotton prices have risen steadily for several days. The Progressive Farmer regrets to learn that Prof. Gerald McCarthy has resigned as State Entomologist and Botanist. "We hope that as ca pable a man will be his successor. Mr. W. W. Bryan succees Mr. C. Ed. Taylor as editor of the Southport Standard and promises to maintain this paper's " independent and con servative character," which we have admired. We are no less sincere because so tardy in congratulating our contem porary, the Biblical Recorder, upon its recent increase in circulation. "We would be glad to see it reach the ten-thousand mark. The North Carolina State Board of Agriculture has received notice that it has been awarded a premium on its apple exhibit at the Paris Expo sition. North Carolina apples are fast acquiring world-wide fame. There were two somewhat serious typographical errors in our last issue. In our legislative proceedings the phrase "Mr. McNeill, qf Buncombe," was used once instead of "Mr. Mc Neill, of Brunswick." The tonnage tax to June 1 was placed at '34, 193.04, instead of $16, 195.04. Some interesting fertilizer figures, carefully compiled for this paper, are given this week. We note with pleasure that cost of fertilizer in spection by Our Department of Ag- j riculture during the year ending J June 15, was only $6,132.33 against $15,794.77 for the preceding year. Such economy deserves commenda tion. Charity and Children, commenting upon the egging of Mr. H. F. Sea well at Shelby recently, correctly sizes up the perpetrators in this style: "Of course it was the work of the baser element, and wise men there as well as elsewhere must greatly deplore it. This egg business is a favorite resort of craven cowards who, if any half dozen of them were to meet the man they insulted in the road, would try to outrun their own shadows." "We do not take any stock in the reports of the partisan press that Mr. C. B. Aycock is making incen diary speeches or that Mr. S. B. Adams is engaging in ungentlemanly conduct. By those in whom we have more confidence we are assured that both are Christian gentlemen. Be sides, we have heard political speeches by both and found them in tone, spirit and force much above the average. Wallace's Farmer, of Db.s Moine9, Iowa, an authority on livt? stock matters, says of the Grout bill: " One the arguments brought moist prominently forward against the measure is the supposed effect it will have upen the price of beef cattle. As a matter of fact, it is very doubt ful if the slightest effect on these prices will be noticed. The greater part of the fat used in oleomargarine is cheap lard and refuse which can not be used in any other way." And it has been conclusively shown that the destruction of the oleo industry could not effect the price of cotton one cent per pound. Now what ex cuse can the rjro-oleo Congressmen give for their course? Bro. Parker's address to tobacco growers makes good reading. To bacco growers should go to work for their organization. See what can be done. If ninety per cent, of the growers will organize there is no doubt under the sun that all the cap ital needed to push any enterprise agreed upon can be secured. The growers will then be masters of the situation and capitalists everywhere will be anxious to furnish money and share in the profits. We have confidence in the good people of Kentucky, who have con ducted themselves with calmness and rrrrul sense during a most trying period, and believe that if ex-Gov ernor Taylor were to return and de mand an investigation of the charges against him in connection with the Goebel murder that he would have a perfectly fair trial. Running off to Indiana and seeking the protection of the Governor of that State (who has refused to honor a requisition for him), appears cowardly and has greatly lowered him in our estima tion. The Progressive Farmer has had reports of scarcity of farm hands from Wake, Northampton, Caswell, Guilford, Person, Mecklenburg, Montgomery and Warren counties. The condition evidently exists throughout the State, due to the em igration of nesrroes to towns and the North and of whites to our cotton factories. We are not yet disxosed to consider the condition unfor tunate, however, for as a result farmers are beginning to invest in labor saving machinery, and will find, we predict, that in forcing them to do this, scarcity of labor is a blessing in dissruise One of the planks in the Progress ive Farmer's State platform is : "Lower priced school books." See that your candidate for the legisla ture gets on this plank. We notice that the Goldsboro Argus is with us in this matter. "That the book concerns are growing rich at the ex pense of those who are barely able to keep their children in the schools three months in the year, no one can deny," is the way it puts it. Bro. Johnson, of Charity iind Children, we believe, is authority for the state ment that with proper effort on the part of the last legislature, prices could have been reduced twenty per cent. Pledge your legislative ;mdi dates to make this "x)roP-r effort" next time. The Durham Herald reports that j in Oxford one night last week a dude negro was shot and killed for making himself offensive and pushing a w hite woman 'that happened to be in his way off the side-walk a few hours before. , The negro deserved severe punishment for his insolence and the white men of the town should have seen that he was properly pun ishedbut he did not deserve death, and th6se that shot him should be dealt with. The deed should have called forth an old-time Ku-klux thrashing and warning, but to kill the negro was an inexcusable and criminal act. We hope that the re port is incorrect. The sacredness of human life, . regardless of race or condition, is everywhere a test of civilization. George W. Vanderbilt is to erect an $80,000 dairy upon his famous Biltmore farms. Ground has already been broken for the foundation of the buildings and the werk will be pushed to completion in five months. Meanwhile there is and will be after Mr. Vanderbilt's becomes a success room for hundreds of smaller dairies m all parts of the State. For two. years or more the Progressive Farmer and its staff have been endeavoring to impress upon readers the advant ages of dairying in this State. Per haps Mr. Vanderbilt's new move will attract attention to this profitable but little developed industry. It is not a fact pleasant to relate, yet none the less true that in the year ending June 30th, 1899, 110,224 pounds of butter were shipped into this State and much larger quantities into Vir ginia and South Carolina. THIS WEEK'S PAPEE. A paper as timely as it is valuable has the place of honor this week Prof. J. M. Johnson's suggestion as to the best manner of bridging over the season, of poor pastures. Prof. Johnson is doing good work in the Experiment Station and A. & M. College and his newspaper articles The Progressive Farmer has had the pleasure of printing several from his pen are thoroughly practical We hope to hear from him of tener in the future. Prof. Massey's arti cle deserves a careful reading and "The Brickbat crop" should put many farmers to thinking. We hope to have many more letters such as those from our Mecklenburg and Northampton correspondents. Far mers write for your paper. The let ters from Messrs. Chambers and Westerfelt, on page 8 are no less in structive and suggestive. We hope that our lady readers will find the recipes for canning and preserving on page 5 useful. Our General Correspondence col umns evidence the fact that our readers are still interested in the Constitutional Amendment. Four well-written letters two opposing and two favoring the measure are given this week. In our Tobacco Department we publish the address of Secretary Parker. Comment elsewhere. SELECT YOUR BEST MEN. Secretary Parker is wisely urging upon Alliancemen the necessity of electing their best men as sub. offi cers. From a letter received from him, unavoidably crowded out of this issue, we make this extract that de mands immediate attention. We commend it to the consideration of all that have the good of the Order at heart : " The time is rapidly approaching when the most important meetings of the year for both sub and county Alliances will be held. These meet ings are especially important from the fact that they are the meetings at which the officers for the ensuing year are selected, and consequently largely determine the influence of the Alliance for the next twelve months. It behooves every Alliance man to attend these meetings, and use his influence to have the best and most progressive members elected as their representatives. "The Alliance, as other organiza tions, will be judged by its represent atives, its officers ; and its influence for good will be extended or ham pered in proiiortion to the judgment exercised in their selection. The Al liance has been undergoing-a crucial test, and it has required the good judgment of its members to keep it clear of the rocks and dangers that have threatened it. I am glad to say that there is light ahead. A few more long pulls and strong pulls, with all pulling together with a determina tion to build on the declaration of purposes, and all will be well." COTTON AND TOBACCO ACREAGE. The increase in cotton acreage in this State is not as great as was re ported in the June crop bulletin pub lished in The Progressive Farmer last week. Commissioner Patterson says the increase is not more than ten, not eighteen, per cent. He ex plains : " The report for Juno placing it at IS per cent, was given out without my knowledge, and was based on the returns made to this office without consideration of the locality from which they came. For, instance, some counties put the acreage at 200 that is double what it was last year some at 150, others at 425. Now these were all put along in the col umn and regularly added up and av eraged, when the report of 18 per cent, increa&e was made. "Investigation, has shown, how ever, that nearly all the heavy in creases come from counties that last year raised very small crops of cot ton. The total acreage in the State will not be more than 10 per cent, over that of last." Conflicting reports reach us as to tobacco acreage. The State Agricul tural Department puts the decrease in this State at 12 per cent. ; Secretary Parker, of the Tobacco Association, says 25, while the Warrenton Record says 12 p6r cent, is "away off ;" that "there certainly is not 50 per cent, of last year's crop planted around here." There is certainly a very material decrease. To keep posted, read The Progres sive Farmer. THE BEST USE OF STUBBLE LAND. It doesn't pay to let the land from which you have just harvested wheat er oats lie unproductive till next spring not unproductive, either, for it will certainly be growing a crop of noxious weeds with a heavy crop of weed seed, which means extra ex nd much annovance with ' the next crop planted on this land. Far better use can be made of your stubble Jand. If your pastures are poor and a va riety of soiling crops needed, read Prof. Johnson's article on page 1 and adopt the suggestions there made grow enough peas, millet and sor ghum to tide over the season of short pastures. But perhaps your pastures are good ; or, it maybe, so good you need but one soiling crop, not a variety ; again, you may not desire an ex haustive crop like millet or sorghum, depleting soil fertility. For any of these conditions the Progressive Far mer has but one answer: grow cow PEAS. Wheat and oats draw heavily on the fertilizing elements in the soil, and should be followed by a legumi nous crop. Furthermore, the pea crop,if cured, will be worth just about double what the oat crop was worth, and will leave the land in very much better condition in every way after the peas are cut. The cow pea is the best crop for feed and the cheapest fertilizer we can use. To sum up: instead of leaving stubble land idle, make provision against short pastures, planting some millets or sorghum to give variety of soiling crops where needed, and put all other stubble land in cow peas. This crop, requiring less labor than almost any other crop, will 1. Crowd out many weed pests that would grow on un tilled land. 2. Restore much of the fertility withdrawn from the soil by wheat or oats. 3. Make an forage crop unsur passed by many requiring heavy fer tilizing aud three times as much labor as the cow pea. No better use can be made of stub ble land. NORTH CAROLINA FARMING. Crops in Hyde, according to the Washington Progress, are the finest that they have been at this season of the year for many years and the people are in high spirits. The wheat crop in the Dakotas, Minnesota, and other northwestern States is very short and flour has re cently advanced 35 cents per barrel. But this fact has no terrors for farmers that have their share of the great wheat crop just harvested in this State. Corresponding Editor Emery writes us from Asheville : "There have been copious rains in the last few days in all the section through which we have been. From Raleigh to Char lotte and Asheville crops are looking thrifty but cotton is late. Haying of the later cultivated grasses is now in order for the coming week in the mountains." , From every section of the State comes news of unusually fine wheat crops which the heavy rains before the end of the harvesting and housing leriod, however, damaged some. The Roanoke-Chowan Times re ports a good oat crop also except of rust-proof varieties killed by last winter's freezes, in its sections -oats much damaged by smut, however. The Statesvilllo Landmark says the Iredell wheat croj is immense, some plact it at 75,000 bushels. The best farmers of Cabarrus say that there has been but one year since the civil war that equals this 1900 for a wheat crop, and that wa'J 1882. In our last issue we gave an item from a High Point newspaper corres pondent saying that Guilford farm ers are buying much farm machin ery. Webster's Weekly of Reidsville has made the same encouraging dis covery regarding Rockingham farm ers. From its issue of the 14th we get this item : "An encouraging sign of substantial progress is the quantity of agricultural machinery the farm ers are buying. They are using drills, sulky plows, disc harrows, mowers, binders, etc,, in their work i. e., the wide-awake ones are and are thus saving money. It has been no uncommon sight the past week or two to see a farmer driving out of town seated on a reaper and binder. Intelligent farm ers are at last aroused to the impor tance of utilizing the facilities which inventive genius has placed at their disposal for multiplying the effective ness of labor." And the Weekly might have added that there' is no better sign of agricultural progress. GOOD PRICES FOR ANGORA tfOATS. At a sale of Angora goats at Kan sas City last week a buck sold for $200, fifteen does brought $15 each arri mo rlnfis $7.50 each. Next fall there will be a great show and sale at Kansas City of the pure breds in the great herds of the country. In terest is manifested on account of the fact that this will be the first of its kind that has ever beon held m this country. The pure breds are kept in but three other countries in the world, which are Turkey, Persia and South Africa, where the most famous herd outside of the domains rf fVm snit.qn is owned by Cecil Rhodes at Cape Colony. Great interest is now being taken in Angoras. It is little wonder, too. since the mohair, which is the goat fleece, sells for from ten or twelve to forty cents per pound, ac cording to the fineness of the staple. The degree of fineness depends on the erade of the goat. The highest cj " price is for mohair from pure goats, the lowest, from first or second crosses, i. e., half and three-fourths blood. Taken with this the fine table quality of meat and the fact that the goats are pasture cleaners pref errin the shrubs and coarse plants not relished by cattle or sheep, they are exceedinglv desirable animals to breed. F. E. E. THE BELGIAN HARE FRAUD. Our readers will remember the letter of a few weeks ago on the Bel gian hare. We have since the pub lication of that article seen several from widely various sources sup porting our position on the subject. "We print one below which takes more advanced groundthan any other we remember to have seen. The Northwestern Hide and Fur Company, a substantial and respon sible concern of Minneapolis an nounces that the whole business is a fraud which it is the duty of the press to expose. Under date of May 17 the firm sends out the following letter :! "Dear Sir : We have received an immense numoer or inquiries to know what we are paying for 'Bel- gian nares sums, xnousanas 01 farmers throughout the country are being humbugged by being induced to go into the Belgian hare business and the press has been imposed upon by the shrewd manipulators of this scheme. They say that immense fortunes are easily made by raising the hares for market. They inform the press that the skins are worth from 50c. to $2 each, and that tl: e meat finds ready' sale in all the leading markets of our country at 20c. per pound. There is no demand what ever for the skins, and there is no regular market in any of the cities of the country. In a small way they may be sold, but there is a large number nowr raised, which is proven by the numerous inquiries we have as to what we . will give for their skins, and asking us where they can find sale for the meat, with or with out being dressed. There is no pres ent market for them in New York, Philadelphia, Boston or San Francis co. There was one humbug firm, Woodmayor & Co., of San Francisco, that advertised last winter to buy their skins. This was apart of their fake scheme, for we wrote to them twice, asking them what they paid for skins and we got no reply. We wrote to the publishers who had their advertisements in their jour nals. They wrote us that they had never received any pay for their ad vertisement and they now believed as we did, that they were a fraud and took out their advertisements. The skins have no more value in this country than the common hare of like size. The fur is only used in this country for 'hatters' stock,' and the Belgian hare skins from foreign i - -l i -i -i -, uuumries can oe naa aressea ana dried for less than one-fourth what these humbugs clmm the skin is worth here. It is the rjoorest and cheapest of all furs, being so tender that there is no wear to it. We are greatly annoyed by farmers and oth ers asking us what skins are worth as fur. Will you kindly aid us in exposing this humbug business? There is one part of this there is no fake in ; that's the wonderful way they increase in numbers. We prophesy that in less than ten years, when those who have the animals now turn them loose or more of them come loose, they will multiply so fast that they will become a pest, as bad as the rabbits in Australia ; then the States will be called upon to pay a bounty to get rid of them. ' ' F. E. E. Our Question B0x i t - . Inquiries regarding any farmin a?ru competent and ext, ai ' '. v Htllltr . thorities. AUUreSS ail fliwrio, ''IH'Prl 'J give rarmer, taieign, N. C The word "forage" inlhV of ing " Soiling" crops, not crops, were spoken of. J USE OF LIME. Correspondence of The Progressive Farn Please tell me if lime sho' mixed with manure some time fore applying or applied direoti the soil? A eFCtlo Robeson Co., N. C. (Answer by Corresponding j; mi j.nis query was answered weeks ago. I Should CPrtn,i- some put any lime with the manure with anything else ; lime should l applied to the soil alone, as it has 6 tendency to liberate fertilizing ej & ments in the manure or the coinn !" heap. When put in the soil it practically no damage as ail the lft erated material is caught up by soil again before it can escape. OLEO IN THIS STATE. Correspondence of The Progressive Farmer As a butter-producer I have been much interested in your many arti cles in defence of the Grout bill and in opposition to the oleo industry Now I want to know if our State law can't deal with this fraud? Dairyman Wilson Co., N. C. (Answered by Corresponding Editor Emery.) North Carolina has a law to pre. vent adulteration and frauds which is violated every time a pound of oleomargarine is sold for butter, and we believe it is within the province of the State Department of Agricul ture to enforce' this law if there is or can be had a provision which will put in the hands of the Board of Agriculture- the funds with which to prosecute the infringements. There are no less than eight towns in the Eastern District wiierein at least fifteen firms, or individuals, are paying the United States Gov ernment four dollars a month for the privilege of retailing oleomar garine to their tellow citizens; and if one of them sell it for what it is, and not for butter, they are different from Northern dealers who have been investigated. FERTILIZERS. Correspondence of The Progressive Farmer, 1. Can you tell me how many brands of fertilizer are sold in this State? 2. How do sales this year compare with sales of last year and year before? 3. Am told that in many Western States no fertilizers whatever are used. Is this true? Row-an Co., N. C. A. M. H. 1 (Answered by Managing Editor.) 1. More than 800 brands are sold in North Carolina. 2. Up to June 1, since the begin ning of the current fiscal year, Dec. '1st, 1899, the Department of Agri culture had turned into the State Treasury the sum of $46,195.04 on account of collections for the sale of tonage tax tags. This tax being 20 cents per ton on fertilizers sold in the State, shows sales to the above date of 230,975.2 ton's. We have ex amined the State Treasurer's books and find tonnage tax receipts for six months from December 1, 189, to June 1, 1899 were $52,741.01, show ing number of tons sold (the tax per ton until June 15, 1899 was 25 cents instead of 20 as now) as 210,964. So 20,011.2 tons more were sold for six months ending June 1, 1900 than for six months ending June 1, 1 Sales for some years back have been as follows : 1899. .' , . . .240,487 tons. 1898.... 245,512 " 1897 ....214,372 " 1896. 187,438 14 1895 .114,208 " 1894 131,243 " 1893 145,487 " 3. It is true. For instance, Prof. Curtis, of the Iowa Station, says w not a single firm in the State o Iowa handles commercial fertilizers. t Replying to a recent inquiry for Maxwell, Iowa, he says,: "I do not know of any land in the vicinity ot Maxwell, la., that cannot oe maintained by good cultivation, a suitable mt.n.ti nn and the use clover or other leguminous crops, gether with live stock raising an the application of barnyard nianu, much more economically an(l e pT tively than by resorting to coning cial fertilizers. Commercial teru jd Pur' pose in many localities, but the 1 ditions of Iowa do not demand and their use in this State niVLt be econominal or profitable eX in very rare cases." 1 i .
The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, N.C.)
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June 26, 1900, edition 1
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