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1 I!' 3). f 4.1 1m i if i fl ;TT THE INDUSTRIAL AND EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS OF OUR PEOPLE PARAMOUNT TO ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS OF STATE POLICY. V . 16. r Raleigh, N. C, November 12, 1901. No. 40 Agriculture EOUGHAOE FEED FOR-HORSES t-v1-sn,nidence of The Progressive Fanner.--" VWro wo to ask what feed should be piven to farm horses and road gt r-rs, the reply would invariably be, Ti notrtv hay and corn and oats." So universal is this practice, it has be come considered almost the only rale. B it while such a ration is good, it dos not necessarily follow that it is the only one to feed. If one cares nothing for the expense and cost of food, all well and good. The ma jority of the farming class, however, must consider the financial side and the feed ns? of all farm animals so as to produce the best results through least cost of food. We have paid much attention to cattle feeding and sheep' and sine feeding, but most of us are inclined to hold on to the proverbial timthy-oorn-oata ration for h'-rsfs. Are there substitutes for timothy hay f r feeding farm horses? At present prices we have several rough age feeds that may be used in place of timothy, among the many are the following important ones: Corn stover, cow pea hay, and clover hay. The first named is an universal crop in America, and of it I want to gpeak. Few of U9 realize the feed ing imDortance of this crop. In the - South and West we waste corn stover. In the Eist we raise only enough for the silo. What are the results? We &re obliged to feed a high prioed food stuff in form of timothy, that has had a commercial value during the" nast two years of $20 a ton throughout the E istern and South ern States. Now, if the reader will follow me 1 will mention the results of an ex periment conduoted by the writer while connected with the NewHamp shire Experiment Station. The ex periments with feeding horses ex tended through a period of two whole years and during the whole time all feed was weighed each horse, as well as the water consumed. The horse were weighed twice each week so as to have the whole facts complete. We long reoognized the high value of corn stover as a food for all kinds of cattle, but gave it no attenti m as a horse food To com pare its value with high quality timothy hay, a part of the 1899 corn crop A-as cut and dried in the field, and after being husked the stover was taken to the barn and stored. The stover wa then run through the ensilage cutter and taken to the hore barn, where it was fed in com parison to timothy. The experiment lasted from January 26th until April 9;h. Four horses were used: one wa" fed timothy, corn and oats ; a second horse, corn stover, corn and oats ; a third, timothy, corn and bran ; inl a fourti corn stover, corn and bran. Thus we compared the hay and t iver when fed with two differ ent grain ration. And in both oases the orn stover proved of equal value to tinothy hay and was furnished at but a fourth the cost. When we consider the relative Vdiu- of timothy hay and corn !to-.vr, commercially, we will realize thy how imnortant that the latter be utilized whenever it is available. -".r p-rnw frnm thrfifi ti five tons Of (I of hay 7 matter in form of the corn per acre, but scarcely a couple per acre in form of timothy nves a double reason for a x tended ue of the corn plant. vifl city fellow py twenty dol r ton for ti-uothy hay if he ttr ii. ut let the farmer grow plenty ' . tnd then by use of the cut shredder prepare the stover r-o feed, which he can use there is no excessive hard find ho will feed the farm at an expense equivalent to J ) over half as muoh as when y is used. r'ord to the wise is enough." Charles W. Bdrkett. Experiment Station. if X, j. bu inanity commands us to pass "7 :njuries ; policy, to let them pass fcy :s -Franklin. HARRY FARMER'S TALKS. Ii Oon-Aflponrtenceof The Progressive Farmer. Wanted : a man There are about 1,000 townships in North Carolina, and each township needs a man, or ten men would be better. We saw in a recent article in The Progressive Farmer the statement that there are about 5,000 young men who commence farming in North Carolina eaoh year, whioh gives to eaoh to unship an average of five young farmers. Suppose eaoh one of these were well trained In farm work, and had in addition to this training from one to four year's schooling in some good agricultural sohool, like the A. and M. College, of this State. What would be the re suits? Words oould but faintly tell their importance. Wherever you find one up to-date farmer in any oommunity, you will see his neighbors will first condemn his work, then note his success, adopt his methods, and finally praise him for his enterprise. There is an opening in eaoh township for suoh a man and our people in the depths of their hearts are constantly crying, Give us a man. We have all the diamonds in the rough that we need, but they need polishing o that they will re fleet their light in every direction to attraot the attention of all around them. These young farmers need to read not less than three good agri cultural journals like The Progress ive Farmer and many others . We are an imitative peopleand all we need is to be shown improved methods and it will not require muoh persuasion to make us imitate Mr. Enterprise. But here is our weak point, it is getting these young men to strike out on these new or im proved ways. It takes a horse to lead, any mule can follow. Here is where we need the man. A young man in a neighborhood by his enterprise would get all the young men in a literary sooiety and diaouss questions relating to his work and then stimulate all aronnd him. It would lead to the purohas ing of a school library. It would show the young that there was some thing more in farming than making a little meat and bread for the "old 'oman an' the young uns," and cotton and "terbaoker" enough to buy some ooffee and a little whiskey to get drunk on and calico enough to dress the "gals" a little. Old hedge rows would melt away. Fine stock would drive out the sorubs that often oost more than double their value. The plow boy was sought so much was so hard to find in the late winter or early spring because following a mule all day long plow ing a narrow strip of land at each furrow is not a very desirable job Mount a sulky plow or cutaway har row with two or four horses and plow nearly as muoh in one day as the old turn plow would in a week It would leave the plowman in a con ditio'n to attend to any meeting or business after the day's work was done, instead of bing oompelled to lie down to rest his weary limbs so that he could work on the morrow. The boy would delight to drive the mower and cut eight or ten acres of hay in a day, while if he has to use that old grass blade, he will long to be an engineer or follow something that will give some chanca to think and use his higher powers instead of being a machine himself. These are some of the things that we longt-) see changed Some old fosries cry out that it will cost too much to get these improved tools Here are 50 aores of land to plow every year 50 days work for the average horse and plow. A good cuta way plow can be had for $25 or $30 whioh will last five to ten years and with two to four horses do the work in ten days or less and only one plow man. Do you see the point? Make .your own calculation. We cannot keep our boys on the farm and grind them down at hard toil all the time. Then let us work to get as many of these young, trained farmers as we can, for it will pay us a hundred fold in years to come. Harry Farmer. Columbus Co., N. C. I FARMING IN DUPLIN COUNTY. Correspondence of The Progressive Farmer I live in the northeast oorner of Duplin county, seven miles southeast from Mt. Olive. Oar seotion, as well us many others of our State, has suffered very muoh this year from rain. We fought ''General Gretm" all. summer and whipped him this fall by making good hay of him There has been much hay saved in our seotion this year, and it is well that it is so, for nearly all fodder1 was practically ruined by rain. Corn is about one fourth of a crop in this seotion ; ootton is no better ; while tobaooi was one-third of a crop, and brought fair prices. Corn is being sold at 70 oents per bushel The boll worm made its appearance in our cotton this season for the first time. It enters the boll at its base, or near it, and literally riddles the inside of it. I believe most farmers lay by ootton too soon, as I experi men ted some this year, and where I left it clean I get 40 per oent. more ootton than where I didn't. Sweet potatoes will make a fair crop. Some are being dug. Many of our farmers have given up their crops to the landlords, and quit farming ; some going to saw mills, and others to the towns, while many aim to hire out next season to larger farmers. Oar dear old State went a long time without calamities, but it has had its portion this year. Did it ever occur to yon, dear reader, that God sent these things on us for a purpose? You remember that last year our people were ready to kill eaoh other over politics, so perhaps these calamities were sent to remind us. As this has been an off year in politios our people are more friendly than they were last year. As 1902 will be campaign year, let us say and c o nothing that would hurt the feelings of our neighbor, remember ing he has the same rights as we. Randall H. Fussell. Duplin Co., N. C. SOME NOTES FROM THE EAST. Correspondence of The Progressive Farmer. A few words from this section may not be unfavorably received by your readers. Our crops, in Lenoir county, have not turned out as well as we should like. But I must say that, long ago, we had given up the hope for even two-thirds of an average harvest, especially for cotton. But the good prices received for tobacco, sold in the warehouses here in Kinston, have had a tendenoy to buoy up the spirits of our farmers and to make amends, somewhat, for shortage in the ootton. It is wonderful and very gratifying to our Lenoir farm ers and also to many who reside in neighboring counties, to see how well the prices for tobacco have held up on the Kinston market even for very inferior grades. HAY. It was, for many years, the talk that hay could not be raised to any considerable extent anywhere in Eastern North Carolina. But it has never been true. It is true that not many farmers made an effort to cul tivate this crop or to save the native grass that grew without cultivation. But, for several years past, we have frequently seen magnificent loads of splendid native hay ooming into our town. Ten times as much oould easily be produced with little effort. One of our physicians, who is also a farmer, makes a very large crop of mixed crab grass and oow pea vines, on his place near town. The crab grass requiring no seeding, the ground is well plowed in the spring and the peas broadcasted that's all. The yield is enormous in weight and exoaedingly nutritious. Abundance of hay can be made in Eastern North Carolina. the progressive farmer an educa tor. The more I read this paper, the better I like it. Every week, it comes loaded with solid, substantial, intellectual food. You get the news that is worth reading, with no dirt n it. It is most essentially a clean paper. All the contributors seem to be serious men. Their agricultural articles are full of information- written in excellent English and un usually luioid, so that one of ordi nary education can readily and olearly understand them. The man with the scissors, who presides over the Selection department of the paper, has rare gifts in his speoia line. It is the paper specially needed in the home of every farmer ; and I cannot understand why it has not a very large circulation. If a man read this paper and no other, he would be a wide-awake, up to-date man of intelligence and information. May The Progressive Farmer oon tinue to prosper and inorease in its subscription list till there is not a county in the State where the best farmers in it are not subscribers. The number for October 29th is one of special interest. Arachel. Lenoir Co., N. C. FACTS ABOUT THE CORN PLANT WORTH KNOWING. Prof. B. W. Kilgore, State Chemist and Director of the North Carolina Experiment Station, gives us the following facts in regard to the corn plant : . Taking the oorn plant as a who'e, 46 per oent. of the whole is in the ear, inducing the grain and oob only, and 54 per cent, is in the stalks, blade and husks. Of the born stover there is 60 par cent, stalk, 30 per oent. blades and 10 per cent, shucks, or husk. There is more digestible nuriment in the ear than in the stover, but they are nearer together than most farmers imagine. Of the digestible matter in the oorn plant 51 per cent, is in the ear and 49 per cent, is in the stover. It is easy to see, then, that those who fail to make the beat use of the stover are losing a very large per centage of the feeding value of the oorn plant, and when this is reduced, by shred ding, into a condition in which it oan be consumed, there is an immense addition to the feeding value of the oorn crop. And yet all over the great oorn growing seotions of the Central West what an immense waste of cattle food annually ocours from the stalks left in the field, whioh oontain nearly one half of the digestible part of the corn plant Shredding will go far towards oor reoting this. Cat down oorn stover is hard stuff to keep, but the shred ded stover is easily kept in staoks or ricks when shelter is scarce. Prof. W. F. Massey. NORTH CAROLINA FARM NOTES. Sheriff Page, of Wake oounty, an observant farmer, says much hay is being saved, and that ho is informed by dealers in farm maohinery, etc., that they have sold more mowers this year than in ten years past Most of the buyers are using the ma chines to cut hay in their neighbor hoods Ex. Danbury Reporter: Corn and wheat are both quoted at eighty cents per bushel in Danbury. The large herd of Angora goats whioh were reoently placed at the Vade Me cum Springs are reported to be dying from eating ivy. Mr. John H. Sparks, the o wner of the goats, will in the near future move them down on the large traot of mountain land which he has purohased a short distanoe west of here. Sampson Democrat : That the oot ton crop in Sampson is the shortest we have had in years, there oan be no doubt, and the most conservative business men say that it cannot ex ceed one fourth of last year's yield, and that it is the shortest, by far, in their recollection. This is abund antly proven by the amount of work done by the gins, as well as the re ports given by the farmers them selves and the quantity being mar ket ad, etc. A gentleman in Wilkes county sold his crop of apples on the trees for $550. This looks like a consider able price for an apple crop, but there is no reason why fruit crops just as profitable should not be raised in this oounty. At any rate, experiment has never proven that it can't be done and until the effort is made and found to be a failure, it is as reasonable to suppose it can be done here as well as elsewhere. Oar farmers should try it, anyway. Lumberton Bobesonian. A FLAN FOR THE EOYS. How Those on the Farm Can Make Some Money. III. By A. H. Craig, Mufew nago, Wis , In Farm ers' vo Ce.J By the way, boys, I forgot to tell you the best way to set out straw berry plants. Not one farmer in fifty doss it this way, so I will sug gest the plan and ask you to adopt it. You are aware that good plant have roots six inohes long ; now to insure good results those roots should be set deep in the ground. You might take a spade and pres into the earth for a hole, but I would pre fer to make a long paddle-shaped in strument out of a four-inch board. The paddle end should be hewn with an axe to an edge and the top rounded a little to clasp with the hand. Now take a mallet, or some heavy ham mer, and commence to make holes on your row. Drive down the re quired six inohes, rook your paddle back and. fourth two or three times so as to make a good opening, then gently pull it out and make other holes about fifteen inohes apart When one row of holes is made set the plants before oommenoing on another. In setting be sure and get the roots down and the dirt pressed against them. A good way to press the dirt is to take a pointed stick and push into the earth and give a quiok pry motion towards the plant nd the work is done. Smooth with your hand and go on with the others. I will explain why you should do this instead of scratching out some dirt with your fingers and putting the plant in it. First, the roots are down in their natural position. Sec ond, in case of dry weather they are not so easily dried up. ' Third, they grow faster and throw out runners sooner. This last spring I set out three rows across my garden (eight rods) and this tall you can hardly find a missing plaoe, and yet the drought ruined many plants, gar dens and fields everywhere. With out this deep setting three fourths would surely have died. Now I am going to tell you of a little dream I had the other night. I dreamed your father made fun of the idea that you oould lay up $50 from your berries and still have all the family oould use. The ouriosity of the dream is that it hits pretty close and contains a good deal of truth. Bat, boys, that is a very moderate amount, and I will tell you why. This year I had four rows of strawberries across my garden and Mrs. C. said she would pick some for the neighbors and oall it pin money. Of course I got quite interested in her account and helped piok and run errands. The first pickings gave her ten cents per quart, but after that only six and eight cents. We filled the boxes full and got quite a run over store berries at five cents. I tell you it pays to put big berries in the bottom and fill the boxes up rounding. We gave away a great many boxes, ate saueerfuls three times a day, besides our winter's supply. Well, the pin money amounted to $21.19. In telling you about saueerfuls makes me think of a little incident that happened once. I had quite a quantity of celery, and in the fall took up a lot of the plants for stor ing in cellars. I visited a neighbor ing village aid sold them by the hundred. One lady said she would take three dozen. The amount was so small I said something about it and byway of trying to increase the order said I should put down eight hundred plants. The lady looked up into the wagon where I was standing and and said : "It makes a differ ence, Mister, whether you buy them or raise them.' It is just the same with your berries. If you buy them the good mother economizes by using those little, stingy sauce dishes, but if you raise them then comes the fat shortcakes for dinner and the saueerfuls for supper and breakfast. That picture alone ought to inspire any owner of a Jersey oow to have a strawberry bed. My ! boys, do you know of anything as good as a big dish full of ripe strawberries with plenty of cream and sugar? They can be duplicated only by one berry, and that is the Law ton blackberry. But if you have perfection in either you must keep the weeds oat. One thing more and then we will set-out some cabbage plants. In hoeing bring the runners of your strawberry plants into a row about two and a half feet wide. This will give you a guoi chance to muloh with straw for winter covering and raking between the rows for summer. We will now set out ten rows of your early cabbage It will take about 1,350 plants, as you will set them about 14 or 15 inohes apart. Take that stiok you made for press ing the dirt against the strawberry plants and make a hole for each cab bage. Give that same quiok pry movement and the plant is set. Now, this setting wants to be done just as early in the spring as possible. The plants will stand lots of frost. I have seen them buried in snow ana come out smiling. After they are set take a hoe and hoe them. - Why hoe them so quiokly ? Because when you were down on your knees you didn't have time to smoothe the dirt properly. In a week hoe again, and if any plants are missing reset. The more you keep the soil stirred the faster they grow. Remember, a week in advance of others means a double price for your market cab bages. If it rains stir the ground as soon as it is dry enough. Heavy rains paok the ground and if itoomes on dry the ground .gets hard and dries out faster. Top dust will actually keep moisture in and pre vent the terrible effects of the drought. I had a little experience of that last summer. My brother had a cabbage patch oontaining about 7,000 plants. Sickness in the family prevented him from setting them out and I volunteered to take charge of them myself. Well, you know how dry it was. A good many plants died, but I kept the ground cultivated and hoed. .They were se.t in rows three feet apart, so it was not much of a job to cultivate. 1'ney grew in spite of the terrible heat and drought. Gardens around Muk woDago, in fact everywhere, were shy of cabbage, so we had the whole market on early ones. Most of his sales were made at $5 per 100. The last were down to $2, but they were the sorubs. Now, raising early cabbages for market will depend upon three im portant particulars. First, are you located so you can get them to mai ket? Seoond, get early plants all set early. Third, do not let the weeds grow, whioh means keep cultivating and hoeing, so as to force an early maturity. Of course, your ground is rioh, for you made it extra nice by putting the manure on extra thick. The seoret of good gardening is a rioh soil and a good hoe with a willing hand to guide it. Let me tell you now to hoe. I learned of an Englishman when I was a boy, and to tell you the truth that English man was the only man I ever saw who knew how to hoe. Most people piok up the weeds and then set them out again by stepping on the moist earth. To hoe scientifically (now don't laugh, boys, when I say hoe scientifically, for it is just as muoh a profession to hoe good as to plow good or to do anything good) take a clean, bright, sharp hoe (always have your hoa clean), put one hand down half way, or a little more, on the handle, the other on the end, hold it stiff in the hands and draw the blade through the top of the ground about an inch deep. This cuts every weed off and the dirt slides over the hoe and itflooks as though a weed had not been disturbed, but you have done the whole business at one sweep, aud you take a step forward. Now, do you see the science.' One motion swept through the ground the dis tance of two feet, the ground was stirred and the weeds fixed for good. It will require practice, but when acquired will be a very useful art. It is a little hard on the arms when there is a crust, but it is so muoh faster and better than picking that you will not care. J ohn Redmond, in a recent Hrannh at Cork, said he would unite the world-wide Irish race for Ireland's freedom. ... v
The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, N.C.)
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Nov. 12, 1901, edition 1
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