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tHE INDUSTRIAL iND EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS OF OUR PEOPLE PARAMOUNT TO ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS OF STATE POLICY A. Vol. 15. RaleighV, N. C., September. 18, 1900. . r, rr-. j ;f). Mi' 0. 32 :' :.; a r : Agricui SOUTHESK AGBICULTUiiAI, . FSOBLEilS. j'provements Needed to Make Farming. in yorth Carolina and Other . Southern States f Prosperous Address of Hon. Jas. 'Wilson, yational Secretary of ' Agriculture, to Southern Commissioners of Agriculture, Baleigh, N. C, Aug, 28, 1900. . Today I am a North Carolina man, advising you to bring your farms to the very highest i condition of pro action, so that -to as -great -an ex tent as possible i you can- feed your own people. You may - rest assured the great Northwest will find mar kets for all its surplus I have looked carefully into, the agricultural-productions of North Carolina reported by .your statisticians in 1899. : You raised in that year 31,953, 16S bushels of corn. Tho Department of -Agriculture is co-operating with scien tists outside with regard to the im provement of corn: - You raised 3,495,593 bushels of wheat, and the Department of, Agriculture has. now agents in northern! Russia seeking wheats that are rust proof, rich in gluten, etc;, while the Division of Vegetable Physiology and-Pathology is cross breeding wheats in order to ret new varieties from which jto select something which will bo bene ficial to the people of trie country, I notice that you produce, in consider able quantities, oats', rye, buckwheat, hay, etc. You can extend tho pro duction of all these, things you . can improve the quality arid yield of all these things. If you produced 195, 7S9 bales of hay in 1899, you"' can grow grasses from which hay is made, indicating that you can ex tend the production of domestic ani mals as far as you see fit. You pro duced 63,629,170 pounds' of tobacco in 1S9G (the year of your latest' re port). The Department of Agricul ture has tobacco under, careful con sideration. We are Inquiring where the flavor comes from and liowr tliat information may be made profitable to the people of the country. bu produced 6,000,000 bushels of Sweet potatoes in 18991,- and I have1 this to say to you regarding that crop,' "that we are sending" trial' shipments tb various parts of the world to ascer tain whether the people 'in ! foreign countries can be taught the Value of sweet potatoes,' so that 'we can find a market for you over there. The total value of your corn crop in 1899 was $53,020,220. : ' ' : ' ' ' LIVE STOCK. " ' I find by inquiry into the produc tion of domestic animals that North Carolina must be well adapted to all of them. January 1, ,1900, the De partment of Agriculture estimates that you had l'l8,164 -horses, 120,512 mules, 243,29&' dairy cows, 3 274,843 other cattle, 235,260 sheep and 1,369, 703 hogs, with a total value of $27, 763,774. Your capacity : to produce domestic animals of course depends entirely upori the condition of your soil and the standard of , your agri cultural management. : MAINTAINING SOIL FERTILITY. Of the reports " received by your Labor Commissioner in 1898, 67 per cent, say that the fertility of the land is well maintained, while 33 per cent, report ' that it is not. Mjy' re marks today axe for Ihe J benefit !bf the 33 per cent. i'"fincL from the same source your ' Labor Conimls- sioner that the industry the eastern ' section ' of1 youi fctate is the sawinsr ana aressmg lumber, which" is only" exceeded 'in me entire State by the manufacture ott m and tobacco. 1 The time has co come when the condition of our for ests requires careful inquiry. 'The destruction is decidedly greater thari the growth. 'The sections lying; airing tbe headwaters of your streams are Qo;v being considered "by the Depart ment of Agriculture ! in '"conformity ith authority from Congress, m aer mat tnose waters, to which Jon look for power m turning your s, may not be dried up dried up through the utter destruc tion of the r woods 'here the streams' rise '. lr ' l ' . 'i ' ( J ' . ' Cl ,hf OF nUMUS ON SQILS ANDf ITS AK; GERS. ' .The Southern States have a mucli Javier rainfall than the Northern example, the average ur State of North Caro- rainfall in your 1 I : :s I ima is 53 inches annuallv. while in Iowa it is 30,1 inches.' Yet the South ern , States , suffer much more from drought than, do . the States of the Mississippi Valley. The . cause is found in the conditions of the soil in the two- localities; In- the -newer portions of our country, where there is sufficient rainfall to grow crops, and where there, is a deep soil full of ihumus, much less rainfall r will ma ture crops. r.;. The" Southern , States have been under -cultivation for a long time, but humus is becoming scarco in the soil. Humus is decayed vegetation.- When ; the ( soil is well stored with it,- it is : able ; to retain moisture.; Continual cultivation oxidizes or burns out the humus and leaves the soil incapable of retaining moisture.- The. -heavy rainfall of the South; give3 you large streams, much-; larger than .are .found in por tions, of the country where the rain fall is less. The plant food formed in your soil : from ; 'Humus' that may exist there is washed out much more rapialy into your streams than if the soil were well stored with, organic matter. If the waters of your great streams r were " analyzed" when they are flowing thick with soil, it would be found ;hat the plant food is flow ing away from the land. Putting the soil. in such condition as tore tain these things until the plant can use therii is an absolute necessity. A drought where rainfall is heavy is f ollovyedlby diffejrent corisequences from a drought where rainfall is light. In the latter' condition the nitrates and other plant food remain in , the soil ; in the former they have .been washed- away Drought on an exhausted soi where, the humus has been , washedlout,: soorche3 ( while it lasts,; leaving the soil no better from arrested, growth tbut j drought, on a soU:full of humus arrests growth for the time; being, while the plaint food remains ready for use as (soon ;as moisture is supplied to liquify rthe nitrajtes and minerals and c prepare them for, the use of the plant. r,0 I . In 1894 we.. had a drought, inJLpwa of such severity as -practically to der stroy.the corn crop. , In 1895? as soon as the moisture -carhCt . our crops were thq heavieSjt in , the .history, of the. State,, showing conclusively that thQ effect of the drought,in 1894. was merely to. lock, up the plant food and Jet . in, ; re.main, until the following year. During several months of the winter, the soil, was , frozen, solid, when no loss of plant food could take place. ..It is different with you in the South.. Your soil does not freeze up in the winter, wlile you have rains that wash out the plant food, . GROW GRASSES, ir . . ! . We find it necessary in theNorth, in order to maintain the fertility of our soils, to rotate crops, so that grazing crops shall t occupy the ground at leasfcne-thixd of ; the time. We get our. greatest crops from plowing up our pastures ?;r think it is entirely practicable for: Southern cultivators to replace the humus in their, soil by growings grasses, and legumes, bet cause there. is a great demandrat' the present :time, andr probably ; always will be,t for firsfc-elass ihorses, cattle; sheep and ther grazing animals, and the Southern cultivatorfistfamed for his: excellence as flock-master: .The -cotton: crop o the South-has been suffering on acoountf drought and on account of j heavy rains., i will not at- the present fttime discuss thedatter; condition.-; iThere are of course, methods bv which the bad effects iOf i heavy i rains -on bottom lands can be avoided, that are i no doubtrwpll known ; to f intelligent culh tiyators-, in the . South. Ji greater problem is the i loss, of crops .from drought .and tho-.necessity of adopt ing systems of management that Will prepare the soil io: resist tb as grfeat an'Uxtent1 P9ss;b'e the effect' of long-continued droughts. Soils that have i had their I humus or: decaying plaht 'food biridized and burnt out by 'perpqf Tia "cultivation, wjnen ;pt into, cultivated -crops like cottpn. or corn are much more subject to losses than soils that are full of plant roots tiqVbie wi.".ybur flight hilly ilamls f to that enable them to retain moisture. I think jit wod he , entirely jprac. dfimbl tho amount of cotton grown b ::putting: the: lands -IrJto 'grazirl pastures orr even into meadow condi tion, where the cr op is taken "off by the mower,-or by green manuring. :' The methods by which fertilizers are applied to Southern soils require consideration and careful analvsis. Where nitrogen, potash, phosphoric acid and other efements of plant food are applied as commercial fertilizers they are much more emphatically at the mercy of heavy rains than where they are apxlied ' Otherwise. Where the fertilizer is' .applied in the shape of barnyard manure or green ma nure or grazing, it cannot be Washed -u-J- ' . '" C' ' uub uy rams as reaaiiy as wnere it is applied as superphosphates. I have observed in many places ridges made across the facerof hillsides to prevent the soil from : flowing away during heavy rains. The recourse is doubt less wise,-' but the seeding-ddwn ' of the hillsides' to grasses' and legumes suitable to the1 latitude ' would be much more effectual in arresting the flow of soil towards vour streams. An old hillside', cultivated again and again for many years, with:its humus gone, would grow a good crop, f ho doubt,j if sufficient commerdial fer tilizer were applied. ' The operation would be entirely successful if it did not rain'too rnuch ? but the nitirate is subject' to being washed away into the sandy arid gravelly subsoil arid taken beyond the reach of the plant. This will occur much7 more certainly in the old cultivated field tlikn: iri a newly-broken up pasture field;5 ' ' - i METHODS OF; TILLAGE. V - It is necessary to continue the cul tivatiori of crops during a drought longer than wo are in the habit of doing; It is customary with most of us to give the land so much cultiva tion:and then day the crOp'by. 'If the crop; has shaded the ground to protect it - from the' rays of the sun so-that ; evaporation .'will not take pjace followed iby the cracking . of the soilwhioh is the-result of erapot ration,. then .the cultivation, might be stoppedr But if ;the ground is bare, then . cultivation', -shbuld 1 continue, and a dust mulch bo maintained until the crop-does jhado the sail. I re member -planting ; cropjs of several kinds in a dry year at: the Iowa Ex periment Station after -a twoinch rain the . las t of i June. The, j crops were turnips and a cabbage ; for cow feedi planted: for. the1 purpose of as certaining :the effect of rthev volatile acids of those roots on theilavor :of butter. ; Sweet corn and tomatoes were planted: for the.college kitchen. I was entirely sl ware that :without cultivation the soil would lose all-its moisture inside lof ten days and the crops must perish ff or want of . it. I set about . maintaining a dust mulch of. .perhaps two and a half f inches and,; ; in ordet to maintain it, culti vated twice a week until rain came which was only softer seven weeks' drought. I. succeeded in ,my object and good crop.were.the result. That kind; .of -'cultivation, is much: more necessary in the ; South than . i ttis -in the '. ,North, becausej you - have a warmer, sun i and ? generally lighter soils.- i .: !t : . i j ; r v ! We -have been importing fine table grapes from Europe; lately: and send ing themitlewn to . your ( State; : Our nomologist visited z them lately: and f ound . them suffering f romrdrought; The mulching t process is precisely what .they ncedp either by j applica tion 0f a mulch rto the $ oil or by con tinualultivation that will niaintaiii a dust mulch.- o :. . it t ' - -n-.' r;:i'i ,jfoRE LIVE feT(CKfNEDEb; 3 t,r :The, improvement" of ! Southdrii soils brings into considertio'ri the moriey crops -that dan 5be 'gr owri f r&m thehi outside' if cott'6n.' ' hereis a great demand aBroa'd for first-das horses; "arid .'for (such 3 horse's5 as 'are mbre 'common lo the South thalf' to j ariy 'part of the "Urn ted States. 'The road : Horse1 thb carriage horse, the gaited liorse1, are kl iri demand. ' We sold elO'rreslastyeSr, aird retr ceived $7,B12to56 ,fprjhem? ".The de; mand will be continuous, and thei' " j, -j . ;',ri ;i 4; ,n ' Southerh'States can well give atten T - i j i-c-n J .i'O T. - tioh to the production of such. horses as arec needed in otner coiiritries. it would be wise for .us to produce wThat the merchant wants and not what we think he should Duy, The prm- cipal basis of the horse is pasture. and while the grasses arid legurries I am speaking of are filling the South ern soil with humus, they Can be grazed by the brood mare that will produce high-selling' horses. We sold 396.977 cattle in 1900 and received $30,628,768.for them. In addition to this we sold many cattle -products. We can produce such cattle meats as are wanted in foreign countries,' and bring the best prices there, cheaper than they can be produced elsewhere ; and while the humus is being put back into the wornout- fields of the South, the dairy cow. and feeding steer can turn the grasses" into money , j .'"''I EARLY SPRING LAMBS. ' : . i ;The same can be said of sheep; The Southern States can just as" well fur nish the1 northern' markets with early spring: lamb as they can fwih early vegetables and - fruits ; i and while grasses - and 3 legumes are re placing the: humus in the Southern soils high-selling sheep can be graz ing there - pretty- much the year round, z . i i z r on ! ' - BACON VS. LARD HOGS. - ? ., . , The bacon hog is; a peculiarity of the South,- and has . been for many years. The;' finest r bacon ; han;s of which we have any knowledge have been produced in the i South and fare produced, there now. The bacon hog is a product - of , nitrogenous feeding of grazing, of -pasturing in the woodsy eto., It- consumes -thev by products of the dairy and sells for one-third more t money, than is : re ceived for the , lard- hog. ' The South perhaps could not compete success; fully with . the Northern -States-ia the production ;pf the lard hog, but the South can: compete successfully in the production of fine bacon hams. . f VALUEiOP COTTON SEED.' : i When we consider the: production of meats and dairy products we find it necessary to have at hand an aHvandaric e of - nl tr6eriou3 1 grains. Last year's cotton crop amounted to nine million1 bales. " The cotton' seed that 1 grew' ' when the ' ( lint 1 grew amounted to 4;50D,00o tonsl This' is ah amount of 'first-class nitr dgerioris food- stuff so vast that it is difficult to 'grasp 'the' idea of r it. J "We might make" some comparison . ' If tHe-'Sg 6, 977 head of cattle we shipped abroad last year to foreign Couritxre, bring ing back to ush, return of over thirty million dollars,- had all been finished with cbttbn seed meal, aridhulls; they1 would have 'used only a small percent, of the cottori seed meal of the South. It has been demonstrated by actual trial and careful experi inent that cotton seed meal stands at the head of all nitrogenous by-products. It is rriore effective than corn, or bran or flax meal or "by any other by-product of the' rnills The fertil ity' of Southern -fields ' can be recbv'- ered by growing grasses fand feeding them to grazing cattle, with cottori seed ! meal "as a grain ration. ' The Southern farmer should 1 nbt permit a'single pound 'of this food 'to gorariy where else 'in the world: ' Northern people who have abundance Of cheap c6rh find itJ profitable to feed it. ' People1' iri foreign CburitriesV'who make meats and dairy products ' to ceVrripete fiwith ours; iri' the x world's markets find it profitable to feed; it: But it is1 -just as wise fSr the Southi erfi ' producer 1 tcf utilize 1 his J cottori se8d rrri'eLi at f horiie! as ft is tb build factories i5o work' up the' fiber bf the 1 RAPE GROWING . ' ' ' 5 r ' ThesTrpeHor flavor' 'arid higrioual? ity of the 'choice VarieHSies rbf ''EurrW pfean tafblegraes hare lbn'i!empteb! fruit growers Sfcb undertake their pro-1 auctiori iri the eastern United iStatesV Expeririients' alBri'g this'' line ' h'avef been'7 cbkducfed at vairibu's Jilaces from time to time since 'the days of the earliest settlers." These experi ments have-alriiost v invariably re sulted in failure and the death of the yines,within a. f ew ;years after plant-, ' ing,- yhe, exact causes of failure are not clearly .understood,.. c In some re gions the principal , cause was . un doubtedly , by phylloxera, r a minute .insect, which doe3 'its Nvprt injury tcv the root of the vine, m others. hq tailtir e ' was ' p robajaly V 'due , to the, severitv of the winters, and.m still .others ther that the was the prevalence o ungo usms- e is now reasop. to. Deiieve principal cause of failure. eases,- such' as black Totv arid mildew, which damage bbth foiiage and fruit,' and which if left unchecked ulti mately cause the death of Hhe vine. The discovery that i by-grafting on phylloxera-resistant American stocks the ravages of thaLt insect can be pre vented,1 has reriidved one elerrient Of doubt' from 'the problem. Whether by' thorough arid 'systematic spray ing with f ungicides the troublesoriie diseases rriaV be kept in dpntrol at a cost sufficiently low to warrant the effort; is now the ct of a co- operative test in the vineyard of 'Dr. B. Von Herff , near ' Southern Pines, under the;; direction :of thej Division of Pomology. At the same time all 'varieties likely to be found valuable, either bescarise'of the superibr qual ity of their fruit' br their resistance to disease, are' being" introduced f or testing. " ! About 150 such" varieties are ; no w under test arid riibr e " have been ordered for planting the cbirii. irig season. 1 ' rA bbrit 1 f orty varieties 'grafted bri'! Niagar stocks 'are Iri fruit this year arid but for the intense "i heat arid drouth ' which prevailed at the rriost critical period of the season it is bblieved that the possibity of pr6ductibn bf choice' fruit of several sorts would "have been' derrionsf rated! this season. ' : ' s (' 1 '; :It is ' 'not considered ' "probable that theSe Varieties, " if ; successful, will supplant i thd standard riative' Sorts j like Delaware arid ; Niagara now so largely' grown - iri North Caroliria!, but rather that they Will satisfy a' demand for f rjiit of superior quality in the large city- markets at higher prices "arid iri 'this way make greater diversification of fruit crops pbssible. Trie climatic' conditions' existing iri the sand ! hill region of North Caro lina arid South Carolina are believed to bd mbre fa'vorable( to these grapes than rno3tJ other' sec tibns arid it isf br this yaspji Jkhat the experiment 'was located1 rih: - ther f prmeV 1 1 -'Stated ' A similar test is being ' made in Florida, arid 'a few'isrriallI plaritirigs in other States.? cx: is . '.: --::r-e. hbkE 1 MARKET FdR ' lsM ' PRbbuCTSV 3Thb! ' Southern tai;es are 'turning their0 ' attention to : mariactriririgi Raw materials of arijf ' kinds are sb aburidarit "that it rriust oe profitaDle tb mariuf kcttire tliemSvhere they are1 f 6urid: The field the f brest,J arid th& mi he furnish ' such material iii ver grea ahrifidarice' A large per cent, of 0 Southern workers will in future, devote their lives to inanuf actuVing'. There will be a'libme demand' created for food ' for those who work in the factories and 'shops: The farmer will find a home market, which is the best of all .markets j grains, meats, dairy . products, fruits, etc., will be produced much (more profitably in the South in the future, than in the past. The grass plant will be found the rehdiest arid mbSt vahiablb' agent for maintaining, the fertility of , he soil, and , the cheapest - basis of. all farm -products. , Recognizing .this, the Departmentpf AgricjAtjare is giving special attention and studytp the introduction of suitable : grasses fom aft. parts p , tlie Old rforld into 1 th several JStata, of the Unien. The last . session, jof -Congress increased yery-j considerably .our, appropriation fpr the stu4j?(pf grasses, .enabling us o enr. in tp - co-pperation with the experiment- stations tof -the , States and with individual .farmers of . an inciuiringj turn, .of -mind. The .yastf cattje ranges of the West haye .been pyerstocked. The grasses have been destroyed- and many , . States west , p the - Mississippi . rier maintain v less than fifty, per pent, of, the cattle here: tof pre found, there. f -There is.not,,up 'to this time, any indication, pf a chance in the processes ,tha.t arede- 'strpymg. the grasses of. the ranges? This.3 one, pf the. reasons why meats are. higher and, will continue iiigner5 Beef arid, mutton can be produced on the farms eatipf the Missouri river y and will bp so produced. .-. ; I All the States east and south of the Alleghany Mountains will find, a gradual lessening of ,the severe ppm-. petition' tnat jias nereioiore exisiuu .between jtriir products and .those. of. he Mississippi YaUey.,..As. the pro ductions ..pf the . Great ; Valley turn westward ):nioret ana rmore to . una marlet3 in tne mountain , estates ithe ' Pacific coast, and in the on -I Orient, this competition, that has kept down the prices of farm prod ucts east . of ,the Alleghany, Moun tains, ever : since railroads - entered the Mississippi Valley, will he grad ually lessened : ( ' ' ;. '- ' ' ': So that We 5 find 'twb influences at work ,to help the farmers . bf ... trie Southern States. One is a better home market, and the other is lesa competition from tlie great Wesl. (The Southern farmer will' get all the assistance ,we pan possibly give hiin in ascertaining what rgrasses; and legumes1 are best suited to; grazing purposes and hay faking purpose. : DEPARTMENT WORK. . . ",f . . .The Division of Vegetable Physi ology and Pathology is condubtirig investigations in several of tho ,Southern StatesVlooking tP tho secrir ing of better eranges pineappleai, arid ether fruits through ; hybridiza tion. The a' diseases of ' cultivated grapes peculiar te tho S uth aro be ing: carefully studied.. Sysfemaho investigations aro being conducted regarding tho tobaccos .of-, the coun try. The cause of the aromas whibh' give to certain foreign -tobaccoa their pbculiar value,' has been1 discoVerej1 and . efforts are being. maSdo to put this discovery to practical use in tht production of- domestic to Daccoa.-' Systeiriatio investigations' are being, conducted along the line of producing our teas in theSbutliefntatcs. Ex perimental tea gardens harvo been " planted in cp-Pperaifen "with the ex periment stations of the Gulf States. The money paid tpf oreign countries -now running from eleven -million to " fpuuteen million - dollars annually!, can bp earned in- the South,; audi a class of labor that is now non-productive, set ot work. ; Very promia-1 ing 4 results are binghad in outh Carolina and Jthe federal poyerr ment'jhas appropriated money to as sist in, tese, investigations . ...r , . ,HEME GROWINGS I . . ; The, ..United States, imports rfrgm Italy and southern Russia nearly. millipn, dollars.' .worth pf t hemp per annum. This 13 a hi i ,graap nf j iri the manufacture bi. carpet warpsj '.Department f AgriQulture jp ; trying to' find out Why American hemp growers continue to, .produce three-cent hemp, when by a little more ' care ind expense ' they Corild produce this- ke'ven-cenfcheriip, for which there is 1 already a' market in the United 'States: Wd are asking the question alsb; "why )j does tho American hemp groWer content hirr self with a hemp which grows seyey eet high? .when eastern Asia ? grbws astrain pf hemp whicii is twice asi tall and produces nearly twice aa much fiber pdr acre'" And again wo are asking, why is it 'that the Bouttf ern States, instead s of buying- jute butts frdhi iridid'withMchHornakb cotton bagging and ri6b BabkS do not try the experiiherit bf making thesb . artidles 1 put bP home-grown ' fiber! There is u fair probability that witn these giant? Asiatic varieties bf hcmjS planted iri ther rich' alluvial' bdtto'in lands of the South Atlantic seaboard; withi deep ploughing arid aJ liberal application of cotton secd'hulls, euch ; heavy erops of huriip-can -bo 'pro duced that ib can cbe sold to the h&g ging manufacturers at 'a price that will compete with jute. And if hemp cannot be produced at:quite' tho pfico to compete ; with? jute it almost ccy tainlyx;an! be produced profitably fof use in the manufacture of r cottbn 3 i n: In preparing iand fpr whet? if tlo land is not riatprjall. underdained, it should be done .with tiles. Then it fehbuld'be plowed as soon after harvest a pbssibleV The 'plow snbultl De li olfowed1 by the harrow,' after .. .. . . , ft i ..i-r , which nothing more should be done uritil !about! two weeks before isow irig.7 Then harrow until the soil' is tribrouhly fine and' 'compacted, ; to the depth "of three or f four inches. As" there' is a longer period between 'sowing 'arid 'harvesting "wh8at thari1 almost- any: crbp, it-'i3 dviderit 'that' this work which is - all 'the t cullivao tion , the iCrop. receives sjiould boj done well " Wheat should always bp drilled wheri" p'bMble,' together witlr not Idss ;thari200 pounds g'bod corn-', mercial.fertllizeri n.;:IIi3 Greene Watauga. Co., liyU., - vo ? i-:'l , i for which our people, pay abpnt seven cents a pounci,' andjt.is used, chiefly ( i 'A
The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, N.C.)
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Sept. 18, 1900, edition 1
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