THE INDUSTRIAL AND EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS OF OUR PEOPLE PARAMOUNT TO ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS OP STATE POLICY.
Vol. 16.
Raleigh, N. C, May 28, 1901.
No, 15
Agriculture.
WORK OF THE NATIONAL DEPARTMENT
OF AGRICULTURE.
Our Washington. Correspondent Describes
Some of Its Recent Movements.
Correspondence of The Progressive Farmer.
The Department of Agriculture is
now distributing tbroughout the
middle section of the country orange
seedlings obtained only by crossing
the hardy but worthless Japanese
orange with the tender but sweet
Florida product. These seedlings
are expected to thrive out of doors
as far knorth as this city. Experi
ments along the line indicated were
begun by the Department five years
ago. A citrus trifoliata, or the
Japanese orange, whioh is extensive
ly used for hedges, was selected as a
parent, and its buds were fertilized
with pollen from the sweet orange.
A double cross was made by fertiliz
ing the buds of a sweet orange tree
with pollen from Japanese orange.
The crossing of the Japanese and
sweet orange trees continues, and a
citrus trifoliata, now blooming in
the grounds of the Department of
Agriculture, has within the last two
or three days been impregnated with
sweet pollen, and the blossoms cov
ered with paper bags to prevent, fer
tilization with other pollen borne in
the wind or carried by insects.
The Yearbook for 1900 is almost
ready.
A farmers' bulletin treating of the
principal insect enemies of growing
wheat has been prepared by C. L.
Marlatt, First Assistant Entomolo
gist of the Department of Agricul
ture. Mr. Marlatt discusses the
chinch bng, Hessian fiy,wheat midge,'
wheat plant louse, straw worms,
bulb worms, army worms and saw
flies. There are numerous insects, ' '
he says, "the number running into
the hundreds, which feed on and in
jure growing wheat. Most of these
insects are of rare or chance occur
rence, and have no economic import
ance whatever, although the fact
that they are found on wheat often
leads the farmer to be curious about
them or unnecessarily arouses his
fears. The great proportion of the
losses to wheat fields which is charge
able to insects is due to the attacks
of less than a half a dozen species.
These, in the order to their import
ance, are the chinch bug, the Hes
sian fly, the wheat midge and the
grain plant louse. Of second-rate
importance are such insects as the
wheat straw worms, the wheat bulb
worm, army worms, cut worms and
various saw flies. Then there fol
lows a great horde of insects of minor
importance which need not be con
sidered in this connection. This is
leaving out of consideration the
locusts, or grasshoppers, including
the Rocky Mountain, or migratory
species, which occasionally injure
wheat, but such injury is unusual
and as a rule limited to migrations
of locusts from one section to an
other, which are of infrequent oc
currence nowadays, at least in the
principal winter wheat-growing re
gions, and have never been note
worthy except in the western dis
tricts." Mr. Marlatt recommends
clean culture and rotation of crops
as the best and simplest means of
preventing the increase of the pests.
The latest crop report of the Agri
cultural Department asserts that the
I i t sent acreage of wheat under cul
tivation with that sown last fall is
0 :i per cent. ; as compared with that
harvested last year it is 107.7 per
""pnt. The average condition of the
wheat was on May 1 94.1 ; of rye was
; of meadow grass, 92.8 ; and of
spring pasture, 91.5. About 57 per
f tnt. of the spring plowing had been
1 nn on May 1. Put in another
i nn, there were 28,267,000 acres of
v.-ir wheat under cultivation on
Mvy i, this being 2,015,000 acres, or
VT yr cent, less than the area sown
i-t full, but 2,032,000 acres, or 7.7
cent, in excess of the winter
v : at acreage harvested last year.
(,t the reduction, about one-half is
sported from Texas and California,
in the former State to the rav
of the wheat plant louse,and in
latter to the cutting, as is not
auwuul in that State, of a consider
hlu acreage of forage. E. G. S.
HARRY FARMER'S TALKS.
XXVIII.
Correspondence of The Progressive Farmer.
Here is a story told by a success
ful young farmer of Columbus coun
ty. He is too modest to have his
name published, but we will give his
words.
"Mr. S., how much corn do you
plant?"
Mr. S. "I plant about seven acres.
I do not know exactly how much I
make, but I have a plenty for my
own use and to sell."
"Do you make as muoh as your
father did?"
Mr. S. "Yes, and more. He used
to plow one horse and never made
corn, potatoes, etc., to last till spring.
He planted just as much as the horse
could plow over in two weeks. We
boys (there were three or four of us)
used to follow the plow with our
hoes. Everything had to be worked
with the weed hoe. The land for
corn was plowed into a bed by run
ning about five furrows ; then the
bed was split open and the corn
dropped and covered with our foot
or hoe. The next thing done was to
plow out the middles and follow with
the hoes. The corn was left this
way for three or four weeks, then
one furrow thrown on each side of
the corn and followed again with the
hoes. In about three weeks every
other middle was plowed and peas
planted, if we wanted any to feed
sheep or cattle during the winter.
The corn was left in this condition
for two or three weeks again, and
the other middle plowed and then
we hilled it with the hoes. We made
from three to ten bushels per acre
nothing like enough to pay for the
hoe work.
"Our potatoes had to be planted in
rows made by first plowing the
ground into beds and then finished
with hoes. The beds had to be made
perfectly smooth and as free from
trash as the mound over a grave. We
did not have potatoes later than
Christmas.
"We planted cotton and used some
fertilizer. We planted by hand and
the cotton seed scattered in a furrow
and covered with a drag. We had a
time to chop that cotton ! The
plants were scattered on the row in
a space from 4 to 10 inches wide.
Chopping was done about like it is
now ; that is, we blocked it out and
put some dirt to it with a hoe, as we
had no cotton plow. The next work
ing it had to be 'flat wed' and we
small boys had to thin ahead of the
hoes. Of course we had to hill it
up. Everything had to have its hill
ing. We made from 300 to 1,500
pounds of seed cotton to the acre. If
cotton had to be made like it was
then, there would not be any over
production. "I make more corn and cotton
than we did then and three times as
many potatoes on less land. My
father was regarded as a good farmer.
I sow oats and follow them with
peas. I rotate corn and peas one
year and cotton the next. My crops
are increasing a little every year. I
do not make as much as I would if I
worked more and used more fertili
zer. My fertilizer bill is not much
larger than my father's. I cultivate
less than half the land he did."
Here is something for the young
farmer to think about. Mr. S. works
less land than his father. The aver
age young farmer of to-day wants to
spread out too much. You can't
build up a luge tarm in a day or a
year any easier than Rome was built,
and if you ever suoceed you must
take a little at a time and work it
well. We have "often bitten off more
than we could chew," which gave us
trouble later on.
Harry Farmer.
Columbus Co., N. C.
THE YEARBOOK FOR 1900.
The Yearbook of the U. S. Depart
ment of Agriculture for 1900 is now
in press and will soon be issued.
In addition to the Report of the
Secretary and the Appendix, this
volume contains thirty-one articles,
five more than last year. While
the Yearbook for 1900 is not specially
devoted to a review of the work of
the several Divisions, it is distinct
ively representative of the work of
the department. With one exception,
every article wa s prepared by an em
ployee of the department, and each
division of original work is repre
sented by one or more articles.
Every article, except those prepared
in the division of publications, cov
ers some important line of work car
ried on in the bureau, division, or
office from which it emanated. The
two articles prepared in the division
of publications, while not relating
directly to the work of the depart
ment or to practical agrieulture,will,
it is believed, be found of great in
terest to American agriculturists.
As provided by law, the first part
consists of the report of the Secre
tary of Agriculture.
The articles which comprise the
second part of the volume are as fol
lows : "Smyrna Fig Culture in the
United States'' by L. O. Howard;
"Amplication of Weather Fore
casts," by Alfred J. Henry; "Agri
cultural Education in France," by C.
B. Smith ; "Commercial Plant Intro
duction," by Jared G. Smith ; "s or
est Extension in the Middle West,"
by William L. Hall ; "The World's
Exhibit of Leaf Tobacco at the Paris
Exposition of 1900," by Marcus L.
Floyd; "Influence of Rye on the
Price of Wheat," by Edward T.
Peters; "Mountain Roads," by
James W. Abbott; "Fungous Dis
eases of Forest Trees," by Hermann
von Schrenk; "Rabies: Its Cause,
Frequency and Treatment," by D.
E. Salmon; "The Scale Insect and
Mite Enemies of Citrus Trees," by
C. L. Marlatt ; "How Birds Affect
the Orchard," by F. E. L. Beal;
"SomePoisonous Plants of the North
ern Stock Ranges," by V. K. Ches
nut ; "Hot Waves : Conditions Which
Produce Them and Their Effect on
Agriculture," by Alvin T. Burrows ;
"The Value of Potatoes as Food, "by
C. F. Langworth ; "The Selection of
Materials for Macadam Roads," by
.Logan Waller Page ; "Practical
Forestry in the Southern Appalach
ians," by Overton W. Price ; "Com
mercial Pear Culture," by M. B.
Waite ; "Objects and Methods of In
vestigating Certain Physical Proper
ties of Soils," by Lyman J. Briggs ;
"The Food of Nesting Birds," by
Sylvester D. Judd ; "Development
of the Trucking Interests," by F. S.
Earle ; "The Date Palm and Its Cul
ture," by Walter T. Swingle ; "Prac
tical Irrigation," by C. T. Johnson
and J. D. Stannard ; "Free Delivery
of Rural Mails," by Charles H.
Greathouse; "Successful Wheat
Growing in Semiarid Districts," by
Mark Alfred Carleton; "Testing
Commercial Varieties of Vege
tables," by W. W. Tracy, Jr. ; "The
Use and Abuse of Food Preserva
tives," by W. D. Bigelow; "The In
fluence of Refrigeration on the Fruit
Industry," by William A. Taylor;
"Our Native Pasture Plants," by F.
Lamscn-Scribner ; "Dairy Products
at the Paris Exposition of 1900," by
Henry E. Alvord ; and "William
Saunders," by the Editor.
The Appendix contains the direct
ory of the department, the directory
of colleges and experiment stations,
lists of. state officials in charge of
agriculture, secretaries of State agri
cultural societies, officers of various
agricultural and kindred associa
tions, statistics of farm crops, and
other information of interest to the
farmer.
A new feature of the Appendix is
the publication of requirements for
admission to the agricultural depart
ment of the land-grant colleges, and
the cost of attendance. The Year
book is a volume of 888 page3, and is
illustrated with a frontispiece, 87
plates, of which nine are colored, and
88 text figures. The regular edition
is 500,000 copies, of which 470,000
are by law reserved for the exclusive
use of Senators, Representatives,
and Delegates in Congress. Pro
gressive Farmer readers desiring
copies should apply immediatelv to
their Congressmen. The Yearbook
is free to all applicants while the
supply lasts.
The small quota allotted to the de
partment is not sufficient to supply
even its regular correspondents and
co-workers, hence, it is necessary
that application for copies be ad
dressed to Congressmen.
VALUE OF COTTON SEED TO THE FARMER.
The results of two years' feeding
experiments with milch cows to de
termine the value of cotton seed to
the farmer are reported in a bulletin
of the Mississippi Station, of which
the following is a summary :
The facts as demonstrated are : (1)
A pound of cotton seed has a greater
value for feeding cattle than a pound
of corn ; (2) a pound of cotton seed
meal has a feeding value about equal
to 2 pounds of corn ; (3) that at least
85 per cent, of the fertilizing ingred
ients in the feeds is excreted by the
animals fed, and may be recovered
in the manure ; (4) that nearly half
of the fertilizing ingredients exoreted
is found in the urine ; (5) that both
cotton seed and cotton seed meal
may constitute a very 'important
part of the grain feed of cattle with
out injury to their health ; (6) that
cotton seed and cotton seed meal,
when fed to dairy cows in proper
quantity and properly combined
with other feeds, do not injure the
quality of either milk or butter.
With corn at 40 cents per bushel
(about the average price in this
State) a ton of cotton seed is worth
$16.70 as a feed, for either beef cattle
or dairy cattle. At present prices
for fertilizers nitrogen costs about
12 cents per pound and phosphoric
acid and potash each 5 cents per
pound. Allowing these prices for
the same ingredients in manure, we
have $9.09 as a fertilizing value of
the manure for each ton of seed fed,
making for a farmer a total value
per ton of $25.79. Farmers sell their
seed for $4 to $6 per ton. Some of
them sell for $2 per ton.
In a similar way we find the feed
ing value of a ton of cotton seed meal
to be $28.56, and the manure to be
worth $19.13 for every ton of meal
consumed, making a total value of
$47.69 that a farmer might derive
i
2QT ton by first feeding the meal to
cattle and applying the manure to
his land.
The cotton crop for the South in
1897-98 was 11,200,000 bales and 5,
600,000 tons of seed, having a com
bined feeding and fertilizing value
of $144,424,000. At $5 per ton the
seed would have brought $28,000,
000. The farmers of the
cotton belt lost $116,424,000 on this
one crop.
The present disposition of the cot
ton seed crop secures to the farmer
a very small part of its real value,
and must of necessity give place to a
practice that will secure to the farmer
the maximum benefit which he may
derive from this product.
The time will come when the
Southern farmer will realize that
the fertilizing value in cotton seed
must stay on the farm to maintain
its fertility and productiveness.
He will not always regard the mat
ter of hauling as of no consequence
as something which he can do
without cost. If the best disposition
of cotton seed is finally demonstrated
to be to extract the oil for human
food and other commercial purposes,
and let the meal and hulls go back
to the farms to serve both as feed
and fertilizer, then most likely there
will be a small oil mill at each gin
nery and oil and lint will be the only
products of the cotton crop sent to
the market.
The Southern farmer, however,
need not wait for oil mills. He may
get the full value of his cotton seed
by a judicious system of feeding, ac
companied by the most careful sav
ing and proper use of the manure.
A great many breeders do not
have a water run for the ducks,
sometimes because the plants being
located without water it is too muoh
expense to make the change. Other
things being equal, a water run con
duces to a higher fertility in eggs
and a hardier race of birds. G. H.
Pollard, Bristol Co., Mass.
The fertility of the soil is very
much like one's bank account : when
the withdrawals are continuous and
without any deposits, it becomes
simply a matter of time when our
checks will return to us dishonored.
On the other hand, when the depos
its exceed the withdrawals, said
bank account is continually growing
larger. G. H. Turner, Burgess,
Miss.
Horticulture.
PEACH TREE BORER.
A Description of Its Appearance How to
Prevent Its Ravages.
Correspondence of The Progressive Farmer.
One of its subscribers writes to
The Progressive Farmer as follows :
"Will you please tell me what is
the matter with my peach trees?
They are dying, and upon examina
tion we find from one to two large
white worms, 1 to 1 inches in
length, at the roots of the trees, just
beneath the surface of the soil. Is
the above-described pest the cause of
the trouble? If so, please give
remedy."
The letter gives a good description
of the work of the peach borer,
(Sannina exitiosa), which we may do
well to consider for a few moments,
as it is the cause of much loss to
peach growers.
The adult of the borer is a moth,
which, with wings spread, measures
about an inch across. The female is
steel blue in color, with a yellow
band around the middle of the body,
while the male is grayish in color,
and laoks the yellow band. The
moths fly during the day, and may
be seen in the orchards during warm
days, afternoons especially, in the
summer. The hind wings are trans
parent in the female, and both pairs
of wings are transparent in the male,
thus giving the moths a close re
semblance to wasps. The female is
considerably larger than the male.
The eggs are laid on the bark near
the surface of the ground, and when
the worms hatch, they enter the
bark at the surface, and feed be
tween the rough bark and the wood.
The worms mature and transform to
moths in the spring in this State,
(according to growers who have been
in this State longer than the writer).
The full-grown caterpillar spins a
cocoon of silk, that is covered with
bits of chips of eaten bark, and this
stage of its existence is passed at the
base of the tree, usually surrounded
by gum that has exuded from the
tree as a result of its injuries.
This is one of the few pests from
which spraying gives no relief. The
most common method of fighting the
pest is to dig the worms out by hand
with a knife in the spring. The dirt
should be removed from the base of
the trees in the fall, and the worm
ing should be done not later than the
first of April, so as to get it done be
fore the worms leave the tree to
transform. This point in the opera
tion is very important and must not
be neglected. After worming a tree,
sprinkle a handful of lime at the
base of the tree, and replace the dirt,
hilling it up a little around the base.
This operation must be repeated
each year, though after one or two
years, the worms will not be so
abundant as when the operation is
done for the first time in an orchard.
Though this requires considerable
labor, the result more than pays, as
is testified by the fact that the best
growers find it to their advantage to
follow this method year after year.
Another good method of fighting
the pest is by covering the trunk of
the tree from below the surface to a
height of about 15 inches above the
ground, with a coating of tar. If
this be done in connection with the
worming and the use of the lime as
already suggested, the injury from
the borer will be reduced to a mini
mum. Franklin Sherman, Jr.
Entomologist Dep't of Agriculture,
Raleigh, N. C.
INTENSIVE ORCHARD CULTIVATION.
Correspondence of The Progressive Fanner.
There is more need of intensive
methods of orchard cultivation than
ever, for if there is anything that
modern experience teaches it is that
fine fruit raised in abundance pays
exceedingly well, while ordinary
fruit either in small quantity or in
abundance, hardly returns profit
enough to represent interest on the
investment. A great many people
go into orcharding with the idea
that they know it all ; but after they
have tried it for a few years they
drop it as unprofitable, or wisely
learn that they knew next to noth
ing about the industry.
There is located near me an orchard
which pays the owner a handsome
income. It occupies fifty acres of
land that has been brought to the
highest state of fertility through
persistent work for ten years. Every
acre of that land is capable of making
any fruit tree or vine produce their
best. Through careful selective
methods the owner has obtained the
trees and vines which he oonsiders
do the best in his locality, and the
fruit of which has a high market
value. Every variety produces the
finest fruits grapes, peas, apples,
peaches and small fruits. Every
modern scientific method of culture,
protection and stimulation of the
plants and trees has been experi
mented with, and after careful tests
those found satisfactory adopted.
This orchard never fails to produce
excellent fruit. So constantly does
this happen year after year that the
man's reputation for the finest fruit
shipments has extended to all mar
kets within a hundred miles. There
are off seasons when the fruit is
poorer than in other years, and when
the crop is small ; but during years
when others cannot sell their fruits
because of poor quality and glutted
markets, this neighbor of mine has
orders for his products at satisfac
tory prices. Indeed, the commission
men seek him out and try to induce
him to sell ; but he has learned to
value his products at their true
worth, and no speculator can hope to
come and buy him out unless the
cash is handed over first. For five
yoars now he has averaged from ten
to twenty per cent, more for his
fancy fruits than the average mar
ket price paid.
His secret is not a difficult' one. He
has made intensive culture his aim
in life, and he has developed his
orchard to its utmost limit. In his
early efforts he found his trees yield
ing poor fruit. Time and again he
was deceived by the recommenda
tion of others in regard to varieties
of vines and trees, and he had to out
out poor and inferior varieties. This
severe method in time helped, for it
enabled him to establish a fine
orchard of trees and plants that he
personally knew all about. It is the"
old story of man learning for him
self but persisting through failure
and discouragement, always having
faith in the future. He believed
some day he would make the busi
ness pay. To-day he does, and he is
such a master of the whole industry
that he is sure of his income.
S. W. Chambers.
STRAWBERRY GROWING.
Some Points From a Virginia Grower's Ex
perience.
Mr. J. Clifton Wheat, of Winches
ter, Va., writes the Practical Farmer
a readable letter which we reproduce
herewith Says Mr. Wheat :
Of the newer varieties of straw
berries I have tested the following
on a light soil : Excelsior, an extra
early berry of large size and fine
quality ; the best of the very early
sorts which I have tested; plants
vigorous. Brandywine, the best all
round berry I have ; mid season to
late and lots of berries of the finest
quality. A strong grower and plant
maker. Clyde : mid season and of
the largest type ; perfect shape and
color of extra quality and a strong
grower. Haverland : wonderfully
productive ; fruit large and color
good, but a poor shipper ; plant a
good clean grower. Bismarck has
not done well with me ; Aroma : very
late and a good medium size berry.
Howell : one of the best very large
kerries. Plants clean and vigorous,
and heavy bearers. Nick Ohmer :
an all season berry of the largest
size and finest quality ; plants strong
and stocky. Wm. Belt : large berries
of good color and a good sort ; plants
clean and healthy. Were I limited
to five varieties, I would seleot Ex
celsior, Brandywine, Clyde, Nick
Ohmer and Howell, as they run
from very early to extremely late,
and are fine for the best fancy trade
whether for a nearby market or for
shipping.
I much prefer the hill system of
setting as while there may not be so
many berries, they are larger, firmer,
better colored and sell more readily
CONTINUED ON PACTS 8.