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THE INDUSTRIAL AND EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS OP OUR PEOPLE PARAMOUNT TO ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS OF STATE POLICY. Vol. 16. Raleigh, N. C, December 10, 1901. No. 44 Agriculture. HAUET f AKMKE'S TA i LIV. Oorr"P,n'1n of Th rogrw . " Aimncr. Mr. D L G-rn'a ar' a of Nov 5lh was calculated to p some of us to thinking al rg new aes. When we notice the ditTrr between THE CASH AND TIIE v- EDIT 8Y8TEM8 we ought to ntudy oat s ome plan to avoid baying so muoh on time. This has been the ruia of our ootton grow ers in the S ath Some one is ready to Hay that it makes the merohants rioh. Thi- is a mi-oake. They have to pay high for their goods and there is always more or 1 los. Mtny farmers net more off their farms than many country merohants make who seem to do a large bu-iness. If you want to see how many make money at this business, just notice and se the number that fail. If five p-?r cent succeed, ninety-five per ent. wid fail So that the num ber is too small for any one to base any hopes of making wealth that way. It not only ruins the mer chants who engage in the business, but it ill rum seventy-five per cent, of the farmers. Mmy farmers throw away more on the r farms than some merchant require to live on. When you count the cost of what you use when you make it at home, it will not appear very large, but just try to buy it on 6 to 8 months time and see what it would amount to. Lat us itemize a few articles and compare THE DIJTJiRENCE IN PRICE and then we can draw our own con elusions : Cash. Meat 09 Corn 75 Lard 10 Floor 4 50 Soap 03 Lye 08 Mat -he 10 Coffee 10 8u,'ar ! 06 Guano 19 00 Clothing 2.50 Notions 1 00 Credit 12 1 25 15 6.50 05 10 12 15 08 25 U0 5 00 3 00 And many other things in propor tion. Now we figure on these prices and find that we pay about forty per cent Now if we buy to the amount of $140 and only make cotton enough to pay 106, we are in debt 134, and must either sell our corn or some thing else to pay the debt or get the merchant to carrj it over to next year, which is f reqaently done. Sup pose we do tuis for three years ; then we must give a mortgage on our land. After this comes the sale ot our home, and t en we become rent ers or move away ti work at sme thing else for a living. Now if we are compelled to have help, it is far BETTER TO BORROW MONEY and pay tne nteiet taan to buy goods at high prices on crop time When you borrow money you should be very careful how you buy. Do not buy any more than you can po iibly help. In some parts of Georgia the farmers borrow money at eight per cent, per annum to buy fertili zers and sauplies. The banks fur nish the monev, but do not lend directly the farmer, but have son e of the directors to take the farmers' notes seourtd by mortgage and de posit these in thebnks as collateral. The f.-rircrs pay the cost of exuout ing the papers, whioh never exceeds one dollar, and often not more than fifty cents, it is said that the frm ers who follow this plan are very prosperous. If changing the Hws of the State will ho p farmer-, then let us have the change. Whi'e farmers are in trouble on account of short crops, it is a go d time to do some hard think ing and prepare for the future. Harry Farmer. Columbus Co., N. C. We have received from Messrs. Latham, Alexander & Co , Bankers r.nd C tton Commission Merchant, ifl and 18 Wall street, Nw York, a copy of their "Cotton Movement and Fluctuations, 1896 to 1901." Tnis boiklet is issued in most attractive style, and contains muoh matter of value to thesa interested in cotton statistics. THE SHUTS AND THE BUSTS. Correspondence of The Progressive Farmer. AraonK the higher groups of fungi are the smuts and rnsts. These are of importance to every farmer. No fungi; s can manufacture starch out of carbonic acid gts and water, but must live on the plant, or subtnce, whi ih would develop the growth and maturity of the plant upon which it grows. THE SMUTS. Smuts are a urell-known group of fungi. Every one is familiar with the smuts of corn, wheat and oats Their appearance on corn are great distortel kernels, many times as large hs the ordinary ones, r o mosed of smut threads and a blacks mass of smut spores. Other kinds are found upon wheat and oats. Generally the smut spores develop themselves in the seed areas of the plants, and substitute for the seed their own fruit bodies. Hence, the smut fruit b dy of the corn takes the enlarged corn kernel and the stinking smuts of who it and oats fill the hull of the grain with a mass of smut spores. HOW WHEAT SMUT SPREADS If the hull of the wheat grain is broken while threshing or handling in any way, the smut spores are liberated and fall upon the ends of otter uninfected kernels. There they are caught and held by the lit tie hairs on the germinal end ; and when the wheat is sown and geroti nated the smut spores germinate also and their delicate threads grow in the tissues of the wheat plant keep ing pace with the host as it grows higher and higher into the air. When the wheat flowers and the fruit begins to appear the smut fila ments begin to divide themselves into spore cells so that finally they are filled with thousands of smut spores. This process may then con tinue from one year to another. HOW IT IS PREVENTED. On account of the habits of the smut, it is a disease of the grain which may te eradicated by soakmg the wheat in bluetone water or by soaking for five minutes in water of 132 degrees Fahrenheit. By such means the spores of the smut are killed, but on aooount of the thick hull of the wheat kernel it is not in jured. Another fungus ery injuri ous to the wheat olant is RUST The wheat rust is a very remarkable tungus from its singular oustom of changing its habitation from one plant to another. Not only does it change its plnce f abode, but it changes its form and structure as a ell, so hat it is imposfible to tell it after it has migrated to one of the other plants upon which it has ao qaired the habit of developing it-elf, except by those who have given it careful study. There are three kinds of rust that grow on wheat The spring rust, the red or "summer" rust, and blaok or "autumn rutt The spores of the spring rust grow nn barberry leaves, and heie spores are formed which are carried by the winds to the wheat fields Rust is, by far, the most destruc tive or all wheat d'seases and it is apparent that such a diFOif-e ffers difficulties to the economic farmer desirous of protecting his orop, far more than those of the smut. There fore the best plan toerdi"ate wheat rut is by the development of so Oil ed "rust proof" varieties While smut i-4 the easiest of wheat disease to oontrol, rust is the m st d fficult. J C Beavers. A. & M. College, West Raleigh, N. C. Tn the new apiculture, the leng'h of the bees' t- ngues is of imp st ance The longer the tongae the greater is the honey gathering capacity, and a new French appa ratos, the glassometer, is designed to aid the apiarist who, by judicious (election, seeks to develop a long tongued, race The apparatus is simply a glass vessel for syrup, with a lid having numerous periorauons, and a floating scale to show the heierht of the liquid when the bees just reach it through the hole. It is estimated that tne ordinary Dee can draw sweets from a depth of a Quarter of an inoh, and that selec tion can increase the rangn a twenty fifth of an inch. E. R. Chad bourn. COTrON SAI8INO AGAINST tobacco. i Facts and Figures Given to 8how Which is th Beit Paying ( rop for the Farm r. The relative merit of the ootton and tobacoj culture is an interesting question just now, as it has been for some years in soma sections Cot ton has long been regarded as king, but tobacco is making inroads in the king's territory. For instance in Wilson, Wayne and Lenoir counties, whirh are in the oott'-nbelt, ltrge numbers of farmers have in the lat few years turned their attention to tobaooo and in Goldsboro, Kinston and Wilson market places for the weed have sprung up an 1 large quan tities of the product are sold there. In a letter published a few days ago Mr. C. A. Bray, a tobaooonist of Greensboro, makes some compara t ve figures which are given here with as worth considering. Mr Bray quotes government ntatistios. asiejently issued, which siow the following facs : The average yield of o tton per acre for the past ten years is 200 pounds for the whole United State-. The highest estimate we have tern for the year 19ol is 190 pounds per acre This State is far relow tne average as a o tton p'Oduring State From the statistics and the most re liable information we are able to get the average yield of cotton in North Carolina for the year 1901 will be. 141 pounds per aore, whioh at 7 cent, the price paid for the option in question, though the price in Charlotte was only 7 3-10 rents on that day e above average of 141 pounds at 7 cents wuld yield the farmer the enormous sum of $10 per aore. The average yield of tobaooo per acre is 525 pounds for the State of North Carolina in the year 1901, the worst tobacco year we have hod sin e 1889 The average price paid on this market for the month of No vember has been 18 88 per hundred pounds, und e are getting the uoor est tobacco, as the farmers do not care to handle their go d tobaooo this dry weather. At this average, an acre of tobaooo will bring the farm r $46 62, whioh is $36 02 or 340 per cent, better than ootton. Then, speaking for his seotion of the State, Mr. Bray says: "This is a very poor cotton seotion, and will V erefore fall below tie average yield of the State, while we are in the heart of the best tobaojo growing eotion and can produce far above the State's average yield per aoie on this staple. Furthermore, the average price on this market will be higher from now cn, as is the oustom of the farmer to market their poorest tobaooo first, whioh is especially true this year, for they do not want to break up their good to bacco trying to handle it this dry weather. Cotton at $10.60 per acre, tobaooo at $46 62 ier acre. Whioh will you raise? It d es not take a S demon to decide this question. "If ootton is more profitable to the grower than tobaooo, why did farm ers in the very heart of the ootton belt in North and South Carolina abandon it and turn their attention to tobaooo and that at a time when tobacco was the lowest it has been for forty years?" These statements of facts are sub mitted fur the consideration of Post reader in this and other he tins of the State. Mr. Bray makes the mat ter very plain from his viewpoint, 3 .A. 1 .1 V. - 4 la etHU lb VMIUIU PCCUl biiuo ID ID i""r easily controverted While the farmers are working out and settling their part of the problem, would it not be well for the business men of Raleigh to seriously consider the matter of re establishing a tobaooo market in this city ? Raleigh Post. R anoke News: In talking with farmers in various parts of Halifax county we find that while the cotton crop is short that the peanut orop is still shorter. Mr. Paul Garrett, who makes the best of wines, and who is also cne of the largest growers of peanuts in the county, says that he planted twice as many acres this year as he did last year, and that he did not make as many peanuts on the double acreage as he gathered last year. Live Stock. THE LIVE STCCK INDUSTRY IN THE SOUTH. Correspondence of The ProsreKKlve Farmer. Recognizing then the close rela tion existing between crop produc tion and animal husbandry, what line of live stok shall we take up? It seems to me that any line would wove successful Here they are : dairy husbandry, sheep husbandry, beef raising, swine and mules. One or more of thee can be followed. The raising of hogs gos hand in hand with either heef oi butter prodaotin. The raising of shep for wool end mutton, always brings good profits for the owner if properly handled. Our conditions are ideal for hot house lam's. We are receiving from the North from $25,000 to $50, 000 worth of butter each year. The -ame is true of beef, mutton and p rk No OPPORTUNITY FOR THE LIVE STOCK IN 1USTRY here in the South, you say? I an swer this is the best section in the Union for the production of these materials. The North is unable to compete with us if we really set about to gr4fp the opportunities be fre us. We sell our ootton seed meal to Northern farmers, who in turn feed it to dairy cows and make batter to return to tjs. They get the rioh fertility in the meal, worth we will say from $15 to $20 eaoh ton, in manure, and we get back th4r bat ter, with forty eight cents' orth of fertility for each ton. No wonder our soils are becoming depleted ! Let us feed this food at home to our own stock and keep the fertility on our own farms and we will ship the baVter. because we can make it cheaper, for we have the meal and cow peas and clover and corn ensil age right at our doors. Our South em-grown food stuffs will make just as good beef as anything that ran be produced in Iowa, Kansas, or Illinois, if we but build up our herds And then LOOK AT MULES. What profit one can make in them ! R cently we were obliged to pur ohase a pair of inu'e for our C dlege. We s-jtnt some little time time in getting what we wanted We did the best we could and paid $375. The man who raised those mules made good money, I am sure. The ease that corn stover and cow peas can be raised, solve the whole problem, if one but sets about it. At the prices quoted thf re is a clear profit of $100 for eaoh mule raised. I could take up muoh spaoe in sug gesting p sdbilities in live stock raising. But it is not needed. We should bear in mind, however, that grain cro s exhaust the soil, but the soil can be maintained through the growing of leguminous forage crops, and feeding these and grains to live stook. We urge the reading farmer to bear this point well in mind : The greatest profit results from feeding these grains and forage croj s to animals, rather than selling them direot. A ton of cow pe hay may be sold for $10 or $12 per ton, yet if this ton of oow pea hay were sold through the cow, the result would be two or three times the commercial value of the hav BRANCHES OF STOCK RAISING. To oring this question of live stock properly before the reader, we will consider it under the following heads : 1. The management o! dairy stook. 2. The management of beef cab tie. 3. The management of swine. 4 The management of sheep. 5 P .ssibilities in raising mules. The matter of first importanoe is the question of breeding stook for the production of profitable animals. We can see by the following that our dairy stock is not what it should be. In another article the writer showed by an actual case of a oow consum ing about $40 of corn ensilage, corn stover, hay and grain and from that she made $156 worth of, butter. I would like to know of any ootton ma chine worth $75, clearing its owner in every sense a profit like that ; a maohine taking $50 of raw materiel and making that into a finished product valued at three times what it was before, and then returning to its owner a refuse w rth nearly the value of the raw material at the be ginning. NEW YORK VS. NORTH CAROLINA FOR DAIRYING. But we in the South are not doing this. Our dairy cattle are not mat ing any profit for their owners These machines are worthless. It costs to keep them going the full amount obtained by the sale of the product they make. To prove my noint. I will tut th rpsniu fPnm the United States Census. In l90, ITorth Carolina had 223,- 416 muoh oows whioh uroduced 468.. 630,652 pounds of milk, or an aver age ior each oow of 2,097 pounds. The same year the State of New York, with a million acres less in farms, had 1,440 230 milk oows whioh produced 5 443,296,540 pounds of milk, or an average for eaoh milk oow oi o'nv pounas. vvitpoui mas X -. TTT!.. . . ing any comparisons for acreage, or sections of the country, or kinds of feed, the oows of our S ate produced but half the quantity of milk as thoe of New York. The average oow of North Carolina with her 2,079 ponnds of miik produced $62 37 from a commercial standpoint ; the average oow of New York with her 3,779 pounds of milk produced milk worth $113 37, a difference of $51 in favor of the New York cow, as a manufacturing maohine. Tnis is not a matter of guess work. It is not a matter of a few cows, but the actual facts dealing with every milch oow in these two States. We look to New York as a great, wealthy, and prosperous State ; she is so be cause tbe farmers, through EDUCATION AND SKILL AND SCIENCE are making their herds and flocks superior to other States. Let us get to work. Here in the South God's own blest land, with dairy foods in abundanoe, an a climate and en- viroments unsurpassed by any other State, we should develop and breed up our herds, so as not to have oows with a small yearly yield of 2,079 pounds, but twice that amount. Let us see then in a future article how we can get more productive dairy oows. Charles W. Burkett. N. C. Experiment Station. CUHIHG HAMS AND 8H0ULDEES. Oorrespondence of The Progressive Farmer. I have a request from a farmer's wife to please send a good Kentucky recipe for curing hams and shoulders, as they are famous for their excel lence. I send a "blue grass" farmer's method who is noted for his delight ful hams and sweet bacon. As we all know how verv different harrs taste in different home, it is well to tike note of the uooS3ful ones. He says: "I have found the use of pondered borax on meat the very best way to keep skippers and other inseots from it. When the meat is taken up to be dried, I wash it in cle in water and as hot as I can bear it, and while damp sprinkle powdered borax all over the flesh side of every piece, and I need fear no farther from inseots, although my hams and shoulders hang in the smoke house till cured without even a sack on them. 4 'If the summer is very dry, I re- wash and put more borax on in July and August. The taste ot the meat is not injured. I have used this for years ;itis inexpensive and preserves the meat from taint. Eaoh ham may be tied up in a canvass or paper bag, or they may be left hanging in a cool, dry place, and will be found in ex- oellent condition." I When wanted for use, the meat is sweet andjuioy. Shoulders may be treated in the same way. Mrs. S. H. Scott Co., Ky. The Wisconsin station has been carrying cn an exnustive test to ce- termine the effect of salt in butter upon tne water content. urieny their conclusions are that unsalted l butter while ha vine the aDDearance of being dry really contains ab iut three per cent more water than that salted. In the butter that was worked twice, the diff erence w as e v en greater. 8 HEEF IH THE SOUTH. XXIII. "Soripp Lmb," Its Importance and Prepa ration for it Blooded Sams to be TJted and Have Lamls Cwmaence Coming Nov, 1st Feeding and Management of the Lambs Sheep Habit of arly Lambing Sheep Hnsband y Pr fltable in the Souih. Correspondence of The Progressive Farmer. What is termed spring lamb" where it is best known is admitted to be the most healthful and dainty dish of meat that is prepared front, any of our domestic animals, and for this reason I think the subjeot wur"y i i" rursner aisoussion. 1 I 4. 1 11 . f v am persuadf d in this also from the faf t thttt there is certainly no part of tbe nation so well adapted to the Pronon or mis meat as tne south, and particularly the Piedmont re gion and Gulf States. If the mode of operating the busi ness should once beoome familiar to the people, it would soon assume such importance as to materially change the agricultural sjstem of the To prepare a farm for this work, one should commence the first of August to plow ground and sow rye to the amount of one acre for every five ewes bred for early lambs. By first part of September sow as muoh more land to rye and winter oats ; both sowings pretty thiok. Then the first part of these months sow an acre of vetoh or rape for every 25 ewes and grow a bushel of beets, turnips or still better, of sweet pota toes for every ewe bred. An acre of Bermuda grass pasture saved and grown strongly by October first for every ten ewes will consti tute a most useful and very reliable food. One hundred and fifty pounds of cotton pe d meal for each ewe, (or better 150 ponnds of . wheat bran, oorn and ootton seed meal, equal parts mixed) will be sufficient grain feed. If it w a good growing fall and open winter. oerbaDS not more tnan ODO halr of this provision will be oon81-med hnt on the average, or in drouthy time. that muoh mav be needed ; and in the best of eeasons i(. oan hfi finnfmmfifi ntr,fir 8neeD or gtook In POwinff these lambs or in fat- teuing any sheeD for market on8 mu8tkeej in mind that it is unprofit able and really will not do to "run short of feed" for a week or even a day because the lambs or sheep must have all they will eat up olean all the time, every day. So far as the .ewes are conoerned, theyshould be in hand and prepara tions commenced in May by housing them every night and feeding some dry food that they will eat, and about one gill of corn or its equiva lent in ootton seed meal each even ing and increasing to half a pint by Jane lt until they are all served by the ram, whioh service should com mence first week in June so as to have lambs commence ooming No vember 1st. In this service extra blooded rams should be used and they should be 4,stood" as recom mended in previous chapter: one ram being sufficient for an hundred to an hundred and fifty ewes. Care must be had to keep the ewes in good thriving condition from this breed ing peri jd up to their lambing time and then give plenty of milk pro ducing food till the lambs are mar keted. About a week before lambing they 8hould adnali- onto the rve or otner ereen Da8$are. if thev have not been on it 8C aa to provide an abundanl flov7 of milk. u can be iaorea8ed and the oondltion kept np b nou,ina at nieht and fe.din ollow8. ghred the corn fodder and oufc tne p4a vinea or other nay yery a,n faA , outs v v bud oo JL feU taree Donnda of this "rbuehness" to eaoh QWQ of 100 pounds weight per day or one-quarter to one-half pound of ootton seed, oorn meal and wheat bran mixed equally, owing to amount of green pasture had and as to how heartily they eat. They should have all the dry feed thev will eat nn olear, besides all the ereen nHRfcn . , , W"A reguiarxy every aay, . being very careful not be irregular with the green food or in any other way have them scour. ; continued on page 8. p. "S9
The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Dec. 10, 1901, edition 1
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