Tho Progressive Parmer, November 13, 1900, 8 - ,. ,i n ,. I I CONCLUDED FROM PAGE 1." lover of ham, never gets such meat as ours, unless it is cured in the same way. There is but one way to have this first-class bacon, and that way is the one herein portrayed. Such ham as ours is worth its 18 and 20 cents per pound in the Buenos Ayres or London market. Our next and final step is to show how to preserve our bacon nice, good, and clean of the "skipper" through the summer and autumn. This will not detain us long. THE SMOKE HOUSE THE 4 'SKIPPER." The meat house or smoke house, as it is commonly called in Virginia, is usually a tall frame structure, 10x12 or 12x15 feet, ground plan, un derpinned solidly with brick set a foot or more into the ground, or with a double set of sills, the bottom set being buried into the soil. This mode of underpinning is designed to prevent thieves from digging under and into the house. Stout inch boards are used for the weatherboarding, and sometimes the studding are placed near enough to prevent a per son from getting through between them, another precaution for keep ing out thieves. The house is made tall to give more-room for the meat, and to have it further from the fire while smoking. The weatherboarding and the roof should be tight to prevent too free escape of smoke. No window and hut one door is necessary. The floor should.be of clay, packed firm, or of brick. There should be room for one or more platforms on which to pack meat, and there should be a salt barrel, a large tray in which to salt and a short,- handy ladder for reach ing the upper part of the room. A large basket for holding chips and a tub for water are necessary while the meat is being smoked. For the con venience of the housewife there ought to be also a large chopping block and a meat axe for cutting the meat into the required size for cook ing. Nothing not required in the care or handling of the meat should be allowed to cumber up the room and afford a harbor for rats, or pres ent material for a blaze in case a spark from the fire should snap out to a distance. The house should be kept neatly swept, and rats should not be allowed to make burrows under any thing in the room. Another important item in rela tion to the house, as it goes far to keep out the dermestes (parent of the "skipper") from the bacon, and that is, have the floor of the room made of stiff clay, firmly packed throughout. The "skipper" under goes one or two moultings while in the meat, and at last drops from the bacon on the floor, and if the soil is soft and yielding, buries itself into the ground, where it remains all winter, and comes out a perfect bee tle in spring. The hard floor will prevent its doing this, and compel it to seek a nesting place elsewhere. In case the floor of the smoke house is soft and yielding, it is well each winter before the meat is packed to salt, to have about two inches of the soil taken up and carried out to the field and fresh soil put in its place. Better still, make the floor hard with clay. Even this, however, will not prevent the larva of the bacon bug from finding a safe hiding place, and is only mentioned as an important preventive measure. With a hard floor to the room, and the room swept often, and by the use of plenty of black pepper on the meat, there ought to be very few bacon bugs present any one season, and consequently not enough "skip pers", in any of the meat to render it at all objectionable. Bacon keeps nowhere else so well as in the house where it is smoked, and if the bug does not get too numerous, it is decidedly better to let it remain there than to pack it way in close boxes, in oats, in bran, or in anything that has even been suggested. Bacon needs air and a cool, dry room to keep well in sum mer. The least degree of dampness is detrimental. Cloth or paper sacks exclude the air and injure the flavor. So long as the bug can be kept within bounds, let the meat hang in the house where it is cured. As many, however, will prefer to exclude the bug entirely, the follow ing device is offered as a safe, cheap and satisfactory preventive : After the meat is smoked, hang it all close together, or at least all the hams in the center of the house, and enclose it' all around with" a light frame, over which is stretched thin cotton cloth, and so let it hang all summer. This contrivance will pre vent the bug from getting at the meat to deposit its eggs, and it will at the same time admit the air. The bottom or one side of .the frame should be fixed on hinges for con venience in getting the bacon as wanted. As the bacon bug comes out in March or April, it will be. necessary to get the meat smoked and enclosed under the canvas before the bug gets out of its winter quarters. A great many hams may be thus kept with perfect immunity from the bug as long as desirable, and will remain sweet and nice. And now to recapitulate : To have good bacon we must start with the pig and feed for musole and flesh, and not alone for fat. Spring pigs make the cheapest pork. Very large hogs are not the best for first-class bacon. Always cure pork with dry salt, never in brine. From four to six weeks is long enough to lay in salt. Smoke a bright gingerbread color with oak or hickory wood. To prevent the "skipper," smoke early and afterward enclose the meat around with thin cloth stretched on frames. The meat-house, if cool and dry, is the best place for keeping the bacon during summer and fall. The Poultry Yard. THE FARM POULTRY. Correspondence of The Progressive Farmer. Although many make a specialty of poultry, and devote their time ex clusively to the birds, I feel con vinced that the farm is the proper place for poultry raising, and that more can be accomplished in this way than on poultry places where nothing else is attempted. The lat ter is like putting all your eggs in one basket, while the former is like throwing a sheet anchor to the wind ward for a violent gale. Some day the poultry will fail us, and then if we are depending upon them exclu sively we become bankrupt. But the farmer who raises enough food for his own table, has a few pigs for market, a few cows for milk and but ter, and a horse to do general work, with hay and corn to feed him on, is not totally lost when a bad season for poultry comes. He can weather the storm, and if he owns his own farm he is not likely to abandon the work simply because one season has proved disastrous. More than this, the farm seems to be the natural place for the poultry because every crop we raise con tributes directly or indirectly to their support. You cannot rai.-e corn or hay for the cattle or horses without producing a largo amount of waste product which the hens alone can eat and profit thereby. The seeds of the grass, the waste of the corn field, and the broken heads of wheat and oats are all appreciated by the hens. The milk which the cows give also provide food for the poultry. The sour.vmilk or the butter milk mixed wit 'Dread crumbs and scraps from the table are excellent for the chick ens. The cows thus furnish distinct food for the poultry that would other wir e be wasted. Then again the orchard and the garden furnish illimitable supplies for the poultry, and mostly in the form of waste products ; that is, all tho waste parts of fruits and vege tables can be fed to the fowls in one form or another. I have yet to find anything from garden or orchard that cannot be fed profitably to the chickens either in the green natural form or cooked and mixed with other foods. Fruits and vegetables are sure to attract worms, bugs and in sects, all of which the poultry need and relish. None or very few of these things can be raised on the poultry farm that is distinct from a farm, and is intended for poultry alone. The farm is the place for the poultry, and one possessing such a plant is in a fair way to increase the profits on poultry much better than another who starts in with a poultry plant built primarily for this and no other purpose. Annie C. Webster. feeding. It is very doubtful, in my estinia mation, whether a better food for chicks as well as for older fowls could be found than whole wheat. And it is comparatively a cheap food, too, so long as we can get best quality at about seventy-five cents a bushel, and second grade at from fifty to sixty cents a bushel. Some times I have wheat almost an exclu sive ration for . young chicks for weeks at a time, besides what seeds, bugs, worms and green stuff they could pick up on a free range, and I have always been pleased with the returns. Chicks fed on whole wheat grow quite fast. This spring I have not had the wheat to feed, and my hens did only moderately well inlay ing. For a few weeks now I began feeding wheat again, both to the young and the older stock, and hardly had I begun this when the little chicks began making a much more rapid growth ; and how the hens do shell out the eggs ! A certain "Stock Food Co." writes a private letter, saying that "we have the best stock food on the mar ket, and are about to add a poultry food to our line, and, of course, it must be the best, also. Send us the formula for what you believe to be the best poultry food, and we will send, express prepaid, a pound pack age of our celebrated X stock food. To the one sending the best formula we will give $5 in gold." I have not much use for these various patented preparations sold in one to ten iound packages' at a high rate. There is nothing mysterious about stock feed ing. It will be very hard to find a better single food for poultry than good whole wheat, with occasional changes to oats, corn or other grains. We have to supply certain elements in certain proportions, in order to supply perfect nutrition. The pat ented "poultry foods" are not prop erly foods, but belong to the cate gory of condition powders. I am not spending much money for them. T. Greiner, in Farm and Fireside. Live Stock. PURE BRED AND GRADED STOCK. Correspondence of The Progressive Farmer. While there maybe a difference of opinion as to whether the average farmer should raise pure bred stock, I do not believe any intelligent ower of stock has any doubt about sticking at least to good graded ani mals. There are cases where it would hardly pay a farmer to stick exclusively to pure bred stock. I doubt if in the majority of cases it would prove profitable. But by con stantly grading up the herd or flock by the use of pure sires we come as near pure bred animals as the condi tions in most cases warrant. This is a policy that no one can neglect or contradict. If a man sticks to it he is bound to have stock that will in nearly every respect meet the de mands of the day. There are those who believe that the average farmer should raise only pure bred stock, and thvy fortify their position with arguments that are xretty strong. For instance pure bred cattle will sell higher in nearly every market, and even the beef that comes from pure bred cattle commands an extra premium. This of itself is a strong argument for the pure blooded animals. But there is avast difference between scrubs and pure bred stock, and usually the ! comparisons of prices are made be tween these two extremes. A well graded herd of cattle v ill sell nearly as well in any market as the pure blood, and when the beef is offered for sale a good deal of it will pass as thai from pure bred cattle. There is of course all the difference in the world between different graded herds. One man will consider that he is grading ux his herd if he in troduces a full-blooded sire once in every two or three years, while an other will mean by graded stock tht which has been raised directly from pure bred sires. The breeding to such sires must be constant and not occasional and spasmodic. If this is done there is little reason for any to imagine that there is anything of the scrub in tho cattle, sheep or swine. The tendency of course is to start in all right, and after a few years of successful grading to fali back into old ways. When the ani mals have reached a point where they seem as good as any in the market, it is very natural to think that you can fall back upon some second rate sire for a season, and thus save a little money. But this backward step is always fatal, and may do more harm in one year than can be rectified in four years of care ful grading again. E. P. Smith. Men can be cured privately and pos itively at home of all weakness and disease. Write for new free book. Dr. J. N. Hathaway, 22 AC South Broad St., Atlanta, Ga. Tho cf Feed Hisy bo rrcsUr reduced bv doine rocr wb frlndm?, espacimliyjf yea uae a ST1R KTtu mill wiih the ikon iwcep). It vr chokes. Grinds ar corn, dry. 'Ik A rptrm. Grinds al) kioda of i, rly or mind. W auks 2P) CHANGING MARKET DEMANDS. Correspondence of The Progressive Farmer. One of the most difficult things the farmer and breeder of cattle has to face is the changing demand of mar kets. Buyers are constantly chang ing their demands, and one class of animals will be popular a few seasons and then another will come into fashion. In order to make the busi ness successful the producter must keep abreast of the times and even anticipate these marked changes. This, I say, is difficult, and something that often tries the patience and courage severely. Nevertheless it is something that we must grasp and solve. Probably the live stock market changes in its wants fully as much as any branch of farming, and the. changes are so constant and imper ceptible that it is all the more diffi cult to keep up with them. If it was definitely announced that such and such changes, no matter how radical, would take place next season we 'would be much better able to adapt our work to them. But no such announcement can be made, and it is only the sharp, wide-awake man who sees the coming change early and changes his business ac cordingly. When the heavy, lard making hogs were in active demand a few years ago they brought better prices than the lighter and leaner weights. Then there was a change. The public wanted lean hogs, and those who first changed their breed ing and fattening methods to meet this new demand made the most money. Bacon hogs are the fashion today, and the breeder must devote himself to producing tho finest there is to be obtained. Canadians have long made a specialty of bacon hogs, and they have for years secured the cream of the trade. Our sheep have undergone similar changes. At one time it was fine wool sheep, then wool and mutton sheep that payed. Finally we turned to all mutton sheep, and then to the breeds that would yield the best spring lambs. Just now there is an indication that medium grade wools will be in special demand, and it may be that this will mean another change. These changes in the mar kets can be traced through the whole history of other live stock poultry, horses and cattle. We need to be on the alert and see which way the mar kets are moving. When they drift in one direction it is wise to prepare for it and look out for a new demand that will decide the profit and loss for many a breeder. W. E. Edwards. Contentment is happiness. A quiet mind makes one richer than a crown. Thomas Nelson Page. Horse Owners Should UsQ G02IBATTIr'S The Great French Veterinary Remedy. A SAFE, SPEEDY AUD nieiTivc mine Prepared by J. E. Gombanlt Sur geon to the French Stud SUPERSEDES ALL CAUTERY OR FIRING Impossible to produce any scar or blemish. The safest best Blister over used. Takes the ilace ot'aH liniments for mild or severe action. Removes e!l Bunches or Blemishes from Horses or Cattle. As a HUMAN REMEDY for Rheumatism. Sprains, Sore Throat, Etc., it is invaluable. WE GUABAI3TEE &ffix$$2SS!8& produce more actual results than a whole bottle of any liniment or spavin core mixture ever made. Every bottle of Caustic Balsam sold is Warran ted to give satisfaction. Price $ 1 .50 per bottle. Sold by d rucstrists. or sent by express, charges paid, with full directions for its use. Send for descriptive circulars, testimonials, etc. Address THE LA WTiENCE-WILLIAMS CO., Cleveland. Ohio ITEM'S ggy.y.s.g.'WM. -'-J.i" .'"; "'jyyy ITtus Priceless Secret of SnceeM with Pool try Is tally tokl in oar Mew Poultry Book which ia rent X.k.JItm aa a rreznmm with our t'ooiwy lopr s too to ii oenta. AOdrea, vr. X to, umtosmue, Job. 200-Egg Incubator for SI2.00 Perfect in construction and action. Hatches every fertile egfr. w rue ror catalogue to-day. fatu. n. ol AnL, yuincy. III. E LAMBS FOR SALE. -o- I have a few half-bred Merino ram lambs for sale, also one half-bred Dorset Horned ram lamb. These lambs are from registered sires of the finest strains in America and would give highly improved sheep if bred to native ewes. J. M. TEMPLETON, CAEY, N. C. n7 n A & Crown byu ir J- p Aroostook Co . AA a. i ri eT. liii -"' Purity Guaranteed t .-.J Hen r.v? ElwellG Co.VW GO ELL1700D 58MOI ii Ellwood Standard Style. AM ECI CAN STEEL t WIRE Star Iq. I, $25.00; : Ho. 2, ffiMlHHfflffi, J V ''i4 If I arnwi. r.i . j : i m .-- jggr- WRITE FOIt CIRCULARS. o SECOND-HARD DICCIG ADD TIES I ftices oa Application PSTn flSTO 500 bushels Virginia winter oats at i ess OLlU UAlui 'TfIAN' SEEDSMEN'S PRICES T. B. PAI-KER, STATE BUSINESS AGENT, HILLSBORO, N. C. Grape Vines Descriptive and Price List free. Currants, Gooseberries and other Small Km it Plants. Extra quality. Warranted true. T. S. HUBBARD CO., PREDONIA, N. Y. 1 Gan Sell Your Farm or country property no matter where located. Send description and selling price, and . learn my success ful plan. W. M. Ostrander, 1215 Filbert St., Phila.,Pa. no fJOriEY Until you haw seen and tested our watch. We sell at Factory Price at One-Half and ln than what von have to cay elsewhere. Our watches axe fitted with the unequalled im. 17 Jeweled 8peelal Limited, or ? jewel V Walfham or Elgin Hoement, known ?SStv the world over as the best, and - WARRANTED 20 YEARS $k$'?r-XT .3 engraving, extra 14 karat gold $AW&SP7i W&& 4 PlSe: good eponfh for a railroad Case is huntine.solid gold pattern your address watch C. O. D. full examma- expert and if tisfactory and offprprl far such jT a price pay 15.75 and express charg es, otherwise not one cen rnct S J. 00 ehuin for next 30 days with every v.atch. State If Ladies or Ger.ts watch is wanted. Write at once as wo may not advertise this watch at this pne again. Catalogue free. Excslsior Watch Co.. 318 Central Bank Eldg., Clacago. HUNT'S CONSUMPTION AND BRONCHITIS CURE. Cures when all else fails. Write for testimonials Yvhich prove the truth of this statement. This wonderful remedy is prex?ared by Rev. George E. Hunt, Lexington, N. C. Priee, 50? per bottle. For sale by all druggists. FARMS Bought, Sold and Leased. :: TENANTS WANTED :: Mm Real Estate Co., ' fToTT Really Now 4r4 4,4 Aren't -2 issuos of such a Jour- 4lr nl TUP lRn('PPftITVT,' f FARMER worth ONE DOLLAR A X of any man's money? :: :: :: 4 IT'S NO USE 10 CRY ;ut agratnet Trust" and keep patronizing them. Better buy Pate Wire not made by a Trust. L. B. fcOBE&TsoN, Receiver, PACK WOVEN WII1K KSCKtO., ADRIAN, MICH. WE AC3NTS At every postoffice in North Car olina, South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee and other States to solicit subscriptions, privately or at public meetings, in season and out of season. Work for Premiums or for Cash Commission. Agent must himself be a subscriber. If in terested, write for terms. Ad dress : The Progressive Farmer, Raleigh, N. C. NATIONAL FARMERS' ALLIANCE. President J.C.Wilborn.Old Point, S. C. Vice-President--P. H. -Rahilley, Lake City, Minn. " Secretary-Treasurer A. B. Welch, Victor, N. Y. LECTURERS. J. P. Sossamon, Charlotte, N. C. J. C. Hanley, St. Paul, Minn. t t'JiKi! I..- M'JtCfVV if net 60 dajst Send (tVi7J.i. ft vi-V.jM'-w'.iVDresKJens. opeciai .'t Vyj yKSK- VJrTM and we will sand B&UKiSSHJes with privilesra of WJV'tV 'on- Call in any wire races. Sis rtylea, all heights, for every fpn purpose on rarm9.Banches,0rehardV,4 Strong, Humane, Cheap, DaraMet FULLY GUARANTEED. W TT tl I -1 i n. iiortviijr uaivuiju uoec tieei wires r have agents everywhere. ELLw'nnn FENCES are easy to get, easy to pay for easy to put up. If you cannot find n CO.. Chloaso or New v- . 'vir. n 5 Pea Hiillep Guaranteed Capacity; Binhels per Hour No. I, .13 tj ii, Ho. 1 20 ti !, h 1 75 !! ;!t, $35.00; : No. 3, $125.00. No Smoke TTonsn. SmnV. KRAUSERS' LIQUID EXTRACT OF SMOKE Made from hickory wood. Gives delicioos fUvo'r Cheaper, cleaner than old way. 8f-nd f or Hr cular. E. Krunser & Bro., .Milton, p a Fertile Soil is no more necessary to the Farmer tian k -n.uci user. Good Seed In the Advertiser's vocabulary means Properly Prepared Advertisments. A Good Planfer pnts the seed where It will grow; PtO erly Selected Mediums place your ais among people interested in your goods. Careful Cultivation on the part of the Farmer Is necessary if he is to reap a good crop. The same careful cultivation of inquiries by an intelligent "Follow-up Sy&tom" will often develop a crop of orders that would otherwise never have reached maturity. We are pleased at all times to discuss advertising matters with you. Ma.Kir Advertising Company 2 GO Monroe Street 1 CLUB RATES. Nowadays papers are so cheap that nearly everybody can afford to take two or more. We have arranged a list of some of the best in the land and can furnish them in connection with The Progressive Farmer at a lower price than you can secure; them sing ly. Here is the list, The price in the parenthesis is the regular sub scription price of the paper and the other figures are what we charge for the paper with The Progressive Farmer both one year. Renewals fcr the other xipers cannot be taken at the club rates, but ull new subscrib ers can. You can renew for onr pi per and get the club rates : The Progressive Farjikk alone... Twire-u-Week Detroit Free l'ress (Family). (I . '- Weekly Frncticai' Farmt'r (Fs: rm ) (!') J,'J Thriee-aWeek New York World ,,,,,, (New?) ' Arlantii Weekly Constitution (Fain- ily) .". (!") h Louisville twice-a-week Courier Jour nal (News) (x) Twice-a -Month Home 'and Farm ,.,,,, il'artrn (J 1 Semi Monthly Farm and l'irc:-ide (Farm) (.V) i. Monthly Woman's Home CoiMpan- (g ion (Magazine) m 0 Weekly Farmers' Voice (Farm; l-" Monthly American Queen (Wo- ... jj) man's work and Fashions) Weekly Hoard's Dairyman (Dairy- , ing) We shall be glad to quote you clnj prices with any paper you &0SlT?' you want any other agricultural p per write us. If you want the lan tic Monthly, Scribner's, Met '.art . or any other magazine, let us w If you wish the Youth's Cbmp on! Ladies' Home Journal, Saturn Evening Post or any other stamuu home periodical ask us for pn If you want any daily payers religious publications or any oi sort of periodical send us f01i'et We can stive you money, rjeitij we get your order in connection your renewal or not. wn dence invited. , rr Note. In forwarding su'jaonfy tions to other publication, J-v act as the agent of the snb6T3b and after we have paid over scription our responsibility Failure to receive magazine ori change of address, etc., s reported directly to the Vv not to us. rrhe Fro- Address all orders to gressive Fanner, Kaleigfi. to WW a r t