Newspapers / The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, … / April 16, 1901, edition 1 / Page 1
Part of The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
i ill -v, J"f THE INDUSTRIAL AND EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS OF OUR PEOPLE PARAMOUNT TO ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS OF STATE POLICY. Vol. 16. Raleigh, N. C, April 16, 1901. No. 9 .1 I I t S" Agriculture, THE SMALL FARMER. ScEe of the Difficulties That Bei et Him; Also gone Pointers on the Road to Success. lWri(nmJeuceofThe Progressive Farmer. The writer is a small farmer, and knows from many years of hard ex-perifiK-0 the trials and trouble of tte small ihrmtr. With poor land and but little capital, and a family to support, he starts out burdened with lears and many misgivings. U around him are examples ot failures of long standing whole famines giving up the struggle in despair of ever doing any better, geliiUa out) and niovins; to sorn-3 mill or factory. He sees on every hand wrecks and dilapidated farm build ings, neglected orchards and run down fields. He hears the old false hood, that "farming dont pay," re peated over and over until ho is hick at heart. He calls to mind that nearly everything he plants is sub ject to the early and late frosts ; that dry weather or destructive floods threaten him all along the way ; that his wheat may be destroyed by the fiy, rust, smut or the chinch bug ; that his orchard miy be invaded by gome scale or blight or bug and ruined, his hogs die of cholera, his sheep be killed by somebody's be loved dog, and a thousand and one other ills face him and follow him m evtry step and tuin he makes. Notwithstanding all of these per plexing conditions, the small farmer may tight his way through all ot these duujulties and find serene peace and plenty smiling on field and flock, on h'-ra and home. Ho a- can this be done? Cult irate Out Jew acres. Pio-v deep and put in fine order avery loot of land intended for uny crop If the land is rolling and in clined to wash, terrace or hillside ditch so as to sureiy control the sur face water and thereby keep soil, manure and crop on the field where it belongs. Don't get in a hurry and slight this foundation work at any point. When every thing is in good shape, the season, the condition of the soil, t-elect seed, etc , ready at hand, begin to plant and stick to it regardless of the moon until a first class job is finished, uever forgetting for a single day any crop you may plant, whether it be c rn, wheat, cotton, tobacco or any other crop. Go und look it over and study its need; cultivate shallow and otten; feed it with affectionate care and at tention from planting to harvest. Put a few acres in cotton if you must, but be sure you make a bale and a half to the acre; this may pay, but less will not. h.-nd every energy to make big yields to the acre. Ten or fifteen v..,. uiaeis oi uuiii ivj tut. u.Ks kj " pay, but irom fiity to seventy five wid. More than double of this lut ter number of bushels have been ai ;u per acre time ami again. Tuu corn crop is a very important ol- ,n the struggle the poor muii i u i-.mg to get on a better footing. lh: liu.t have an abundance of corn t;..'rur round. It is the be-t und ipt.-.-t iced he eau rai&o aua ni .4s be a sure standby in emer us it will feed and sustain al v v i tamg on the p ace. "Study tuc iii p. ant and mako mucli ot it nt d und possibilities, as no man ver found out yet wliut it can i:.-!cis another very important i small 1 aimer can raise to advantage and profit tue gt-..t hi- . pot., to. Tiny are so easii. n, always good lor home ise U!. - t uur.tdv sell tor good prices tue : round. Northern grown pota t - are now selling in my neigh ur-i- lor one dollar and a quarter P i- ;u diei. W hat a bonanza lor tuiaiers, if they would only U .r:i uoiv to raise tnem and keep tii--.u in good condition! Alvery ' lutii riu North Carolina, it tr.aKt;- no dilie;ene whether he lives in t:.o middle, eastern or western part of tlie State, ought to plant as "i my potatoes tms spring as he can do justice by, and when fully ma tured dig and store away in some dark, cool place, and then prepare, I right away, the same land or some other suitable place for the second crop to be planted about the first of August. Cultivate this late crop with special reference to saving all f the moisture possible, as dry weather is the only serious drawback in mak ing this crorj. Just before cold weather ets in dig and bank up in hills right out in the field where grown. Then dig a trench around the hill, so as to keep surface water from the potatoes and they will keep plump and nice until late spring. We must have an orchard of care fully selected truit trees. The varie ties set out, the preparation of the land, the after care and cultivation, are all important factors in having a thritty, paying orchard. If these re quirements are not fully met, we need not look to the orchard for either pleasure or profit. We must also have a good cow or two and a lew pigs ; they will demand our loving care every day in the year. The very best of cows and the finest pigs obtainable, if turned out on the public or put into poor pastures to make a living for them selves will surely fail to bring in any profit to the owner. There is not one farmer in a thou sand, big or little, who makes and saves feed enough to do full justice by all of his stock. The more leed, the more stock ; the more stock, the more manure ; the more manure, tue better the crops; and as the circle widen- and grows, the man himself looks better and everything about him takes on a brighter and more thrifty appearance. Of course, we do not expect to get vastly rich all of a sudden, by such small farm work, but we do contend that the great majority of the smiall farmers in North Carolina can, by proper management, grow comfortably fat and independent. Tnere are many other things that must be done along with the tore goin ; these will be considered in some future articles. J. Edom Smith. GREAT VALUE OF LEGUMES. GorreHpondenoeorTlie Progressive Farmer. Perhaps no discovery has been made during the century jut closed which is ot more important e to farm ers genorally than the fact that leguminous plants, (oeas, beans, lupines and the clovers,) not only draw the most important and expen sive parts of their food from the at mosphere, but have the power to store away the nitrogen so gathered, into the soil in which they are grow ing, through small nodules on their roots, so that instead of impoverish ing the soil of its fertility, as do most otlier plant-", they leave it actually richer in the most costly element of piint food. Thus the great yroblem of quickly and cheaply restoring the lost lertihty to old and worn out soils has been practica.ly solved. Insteud of pui chafing a costly fer tiiier, r ch in nirmgen, it is now found to iKi only necessary to apply a cheaper grade, can taming p. ta-di, lime, and ph sphorio acid, on which ouu bo grown a heavy crop of cow p as, or c over, which will complete the biianced ration by c ollectiugana storing the more costly element, nirrogeii, after which grass und vraiu crops viilm ikm. he ivy growth. Oidiuary urass and giain crops are very exhausting upon the soli, as Tiioy draw therefrom their entire food supply, while the legumes add to the soil the most valuaol- and costly element, thus leaving it richer instead of poorer. Like some men, theyletve the earth better for h iv ing lived upon it. At the same ti'ne the leguminous plants mako better hay and grazing than grass plants. Hie her huge of the legumtsism re succulent, more digestible and richer than that ot grass. Legumes will grow and thrive upon soil too poor, or deficient in elements required, to produce or support a stand ot grass, and will yield a heavier crop than most eras-es. Nothing but custom and prejudice favors the continued growing of grasses in meadow and pastureto exclusion of cow peas and clover. Isaac F. Tillinghast. Wyoming Co., Pa. HARRY FARMER'S TALKS. XXII. Correspondence of The Progressive Farmer. "Is it too wet to plow?" is the question often asked after a rain. We want to push our work and are anxious to be in the field The high places around the home do not st em to be wet, there is some water in the holes about the yard, and we are at our wits' ends to kn iw what to do Where the land is high and rolling or is sandy with a porous subsoil, the water sinks very rapidly and the soil is in a condition to plow, but if the land is flat and with a clayey subsoil only 6 to 12 inches from sur face, it takes a good while for the soil to dry enough to plow without injury. To overcome these difficul ties drain the land as well as you can, then get a rain gauge and place it in an open place so that it will catch what rain falls and no more. A tin can such as are used for oys ters, tomatoes, etc , will do ; or, still better, get a glass jar, (such as are used for peaches, cherries, etc , when put up in brandy,) and you can measure the depth and note the eff ct each rain has on the soil and in a short time tell exactly how wet the soil is. Our soil is made too wet by 1 inches of rain in 24 hours. One half inch rain is a very good season. Three inches falling inside of as many hours will make a freshet here unless it has been very dry. We ought to have said that land broken very deep will hold more water than that which is plowed shallow Complaints of scarcity of laborers is being made now and will be heard more and more as the season ad vances. The wise farmer will p!an to do more of his work with horse power. There are peop'e who think so much of their horse that they will actually do the work themselves to prevent the horse from doing ir, let the horse stand in the stall and let their wives and children go out in the woods and carry the cook wood a long distance. The women do it gladly sometimes in order to have a pretty horse, not thinking how it will affect their own appearance. Of course, such instances are not com inon. Harry Farmer is very anxious to try to get this false sense of cruelty to animals out of our people. He does not believe in being cruel to human beings or the brute creation either. Man has been given domin ion over the whole creation, and a chance to use it for his advancement and he will not be doing his duty if he does not do it. It is not wrong to sit on a plow and have an umbrella stretched over you and the horses doing the work. At night when a man comes in who has plowed this way can he sit up and read or go to the postotliee after his mail and do vari ous little jobs and lie down and sleep without having his legs or feet pain ing him so that he feels tired next morning. People sometimes follow a plow all day and at night are more fatigued than the horse. If our Southern farmers ever succeed, they will have to use more horse power und do less work with their hands. Kep the surface of the land well stirred where you exieot to plant potatoes (sweet). It will keep .he grass down and save moisture. Harry Farmer. Columbus Co., N. C. Let us lay aside all prejudice, plow and cultivate in the best way. I ask all that live in the dry belt tosu'isoil one aicre of upiund do not turn the clay on t p cultivate upon a level, and see how you like it B. F. White, Alamance Co., N. C. All that the farmer raises has a true market value. The best paying market is often the home market that is, full supplies for all the con sumers that are at home. This is the first market that should be well supplied. Buying and selling shou:d he carelnlly considered. In a poor farming country no grain should be sold for money, but all should be disposed of in the form of flsh of some kind and then let the refuse go back to the land. R. R. Moore, Guilford Co , N. C. A NEW AGRICULTURAL YEARBOOK. The Agricultural Department of the University of Tennessee has re cently issued a second agricultural yearbook devoted entirely to sub ject of interest to the farmer and fruit grower. About a year ago an agricultural handbook appeared in the Record series and its success warranted the University in devot ing one issue a year to agriculture. The present yearbook i a copious ly illustrated Damphlet of eighty three pages and the pictures are well chosen and helpful to the reader. In the initial article President Dab ney discusses education as related to production from the standpoint of the political economist. This is fol lowed by an article on "The Progress of Agricaltural Education by Prof. Soule, in which is embraced a str ing plea for the teaching of agriculture in the public school. Other matter bearing on education relates to the short course in agriculture now in progress at the University. Prof. S mle contributes interesting articles on Horse Breeding, The Sanitary Production of Milk, Computation ot Rations, Management of Ensilage Crops on the University Farm, The New Dairy Hall, and the Permanent Agricultural Exhibit, a perusal of which cannot but be beneficial and useful to the farmer. Prof. Mooers discusses fertilizers lor Tennessee, and Prof. Keffer writes on pruning the grape and peach and on under planting in orchards. After a careful examination of the volume it would seem that no South ern farmer should be without this useful addition to his fund of agri cultaral knowledge, and especially so in view of the fact that the year book can be obtained free of cost on application to Prof. Andrew M. S mle, Department of Agriculture, University of Tennessee, Knoxville. THE VALUE OF COTTON SEED. Here are some facts regarding this subject which will surprise most Progressive Farmer readers. But however surpising, they are true : "Cotton is not only king among the Southern export crops, but the cotton seed is a commodity of great and growing importance. Cotton seed was once a waste product that around every gin became a nuisance. There was no known use to which the huge fermenting piles could be nut. A crop of 12,010,000 bales will furnish 6,000,000 tons of seed, one fourth of which will be required, by present wasteful methods for plant ing, which leaves 4,500,000 tons for manufacturers' uses. The product of a ton of seed varies, the average being '37 gallons of oil, 725 pounds of oil meal or cake, 820 pounds of hulls and 180 pounds of linters. These products, at present price-, are worth about $.'4 for the products of a ton of seeds. But there is no necessity f r using 1,500,100 tons for planting. This would give 155 pounds per acre to 25,01 0,0t0 acres. Of carefully se!ected"seed, properly prepared and planted, one-fourth that amount is ample. This would leave for manu facturing purposes more than 5,00, 000 tons of seed, worth when manu factured, at least $132,C00,0u0. The oil alone would bring more than $.0, 000,000 the equivalent of 20 000,000 bushels of corn, or half that amount of wheat exported. A noted statis tician stated a few years ago that if Yankee frmers could grow cotton in the North they would become rich raising it for the seed alone, and of this wonderful commodity the South iias a practical monopoly. All at tempts to break this monopoly have failed. It is the grandest source ot wealth ever possessed by any agri cultural country. All that is neces sary is to handle it judiciously, pro duce no more of it than the world must have, utilize the seed to the best advantage and the treasures of earth are at the Southern farmers' feet." Be careful of one thing. Do not get into fields too quickly after the showers. Stirring the s:il when wet will do much harm. Dust, not mud, i what you want. Run around your corn and cotton with the one horse subsoil plow. It will pay you well. J. B. Hunnicutt. VALUABLE FARM BOOKS. Bearing upon this important sub jeot we give the following editorial from a recent issue of Column's Rural World. Any book mentioned in this article will be furnished by Thhe Progressive Farmer upon re ceipt of price : A reader of the Rural World asks : "What do you think is the best work on farming and stock raising ; what is the cost and who are the pub lishers?" This comes to us, in one form or another, very often, and we have to answer that there is no one book covering so broad a field that we. can conscientiously recommend as a text-book to one who wants to get information covering the field. When one stops and considers what is included in the word farming he will soon come to understand that it includes too much to be put between two covers, and he does not have to study the subject a great while until he concludes that not one book but many are required if one expects to get from such sources information of much worth regarding farming. Take, for instance, the subject of soils. It will be readily conceded that this is a basic subject. All farming operations begin with the soil. But stop for a moment, brother farmer, even you who have been working with soils every year dur ing the last half century, and tell how much you know of that sub stance from whish you have pro duced your corn, clover, wheat, oats, fruits, flax and other crop, some of which you have worked into beef, milk, butter, pork, wool, horse power, flowers and physical and mental energy. You know there are many differ ent kinds of soils and perhaps you have a half dozen or more on your own farm of a quarter section ; and in the years you have been handling those different soils you have learned so much about them as to what crops are best on the different ones, and how each should be handled for best results that if you attempted to put in writing all you know about them for the guidance of a man to whom you were selling the farm and who had little knowledge of farming, you would cover a good many sheets of pa'rer. And et were you t : ex amine yourself carefully you would readily admit that what you did not know about the soils of your own farm would amount to far more than what you did know. And the knowl edge you do not have could have been turned to very useful account if it had been possessed. And thus it appears that there is much to learn about soils, far too much to be condensed into a chapter in a book that attempts to cover the whole subject of farming. The subject of soils calls for a book all by itself, and such a one is available. It is entitled The Soil, was written by F. H. King, Professor of Agricultural Physics in the University of Wis consin, and is published by the Mac Millan Company, at the price of 75 cents. This book tells how soils were made ; nature, functions, origin and wasting of soils, texture, compo sition and kinds of soils, and a vast ileal more that every farmer ought to know, and which but few do. But thi- is only one of many im portant divisions of tlie subject of farming, and you begin to see that it will be necessary to recommend the best books rather than the best book. In addition to the book on soils mentioned we would like to recommend one entitled The Fertil ity of the Land, by I. P. Roberts, Director of the College of Agricul ture, Cornell University, and pub lished by the MaoMillun Company. Price $1. Other books are published by this company in this same Rural Science series. Among which may be mentioned The Principles of Fruit Growing, by Pi of. L. H. Bailey ; Principles of Breeding of Animals, by W. H. Brewer, and Feeding of Animals, by W. H. Jor dan. A work which we must recom mend to all who have animals to feed is Feeds and Feeding, by W. A. Henry of the University of VViscon sin, Madison, Wis., and published by the author. Price $2. STONE SILOS. Correspondence of The Progressive Farmer. Wherever possible, and that is whenever stones are abundant, I would advise the construction of stone in place of stave silos. The reasons for this are numerous, but the most important is that of dura bility. A well built stone silo is practically indestructible provided one is willing to keep it in fair re pair each year. The wooden silo must begin to decay before a great many years in spite of all the labor put on it to preserve the wood, and just as soon as the decay begins trouble follows. That is, air is let in at different places and the ensilage is spoilt in spots. Of course a good plank stave silo well built and well preserved will last a good many years, an 1 it will pay any one to construct such a building. If stones are plentiful, however, it will be more economy to build the etona silo, and make it circular in form to prevent waste and make it more con venient to fill and empty. One fourteen to sixteen feet in diameter and twenty two to thirty feet deep, running a few feet below ground, will make a good size. The inside of the silo should be well plastered so that no air can get through the walls at any time This inside plastering will have to be re newed more than anything else, and wherever the cement between the stones in the wall has loosened any, more will have to be put in. The annual repairing should consist of this, With a little mortar ready be forehand it is an easy matter to go around the silo every summer and repair all weak places before the en silage is put in. Every part of the wall should be kept impervious to the air, and upon this will depend to a large extent the success of the work. Another important point is that the silo must be cleaned thor oughly each year before the new crop is put in. If the ensilage is taken out and the inside walls are not thoroughly cleaned, decay and fermentation will begin at different points. Corrupt matter will adhere to the walls or lodge in little crevices, and this will form the foundation for expensive fermentation later. The germs of decay placed in the silo before it is filled cause the de struction of more ensilage than any other thing. Many a farmer who has failed with his silo could trace the trouble back to this lack of cleanliness. It is very rnuoh like failing to clean out the dairy uten sils after each milking. If we fail to do this trouble is bound to come. With the walls perfectly air tight and free from all taint of previous filling, the chances are all in favor of preserving successfully the yettr's crop of ensilage. C. T. White. GOOD PRICES FOR BERRIES. The last isue of the Mt. Olive Ad vertiser, published in the heart of the berry region, contains these timely points for growers : 4'Present conditions assure very good, if not fancy prices, for North Carolina berries, and it behooves our growers to be on the alert when dis posing of their fruit in order to re ceive its true worth. We caution the shippers to be care ful about selling to buyers, lest they accept the 'Buyers Bait" and not the market price. It is a well known fact that last year one buyer made a net profit of $1,200 on four car loads of berries. Does it take many such arguments to convince growers that they must exercise care axd judg ment? We know of a local bnyer who did not invest one cent of his own money, who made $600 in about two weeks can you imagine what the man who put up the money made? It is the buyer's privilege to make money out of the grower if he can do so it is the duty of the grower to get every cent, possible out of his crop, but when a buyer makes a clear profit of om dollar per crate out of the grower, it is evident that the latter is having his leg pulled to no small extent. Mt. Olive (N. C.) Advertiser. 4 ! 6 V. -J : i J! i 1
The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
April 16, 1901, edition 1
1
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75