Newspapers / The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, … / Feb. 11, 1902, 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
THE INDUSTRIAL AND EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS OP OUR PEOPLE PARAMOUNT TO ALL CI1ER G0ISID2RATI0I3 C? STATE POLICY. Vol. 16. Raleigh, IT. C, February 11, 1902. No. 52 1 aoi Agriculture. JXBTILIZEBS FOB COTTON AND COBff; FEBIILIZING VALUE OF COT ION SEED HEAL. Correspondence of The Progressive Farmer. In reply to the inquiry of a Pro gressive Farmer reader regarding the mixing of acid phosphate, kainlt, and cotton seed meal, I suggest the following formulas as ones that have given and will give good results on cotton and corn. for corn : Acid phosphate 14 875 lbs Cotton seed meal 950 Kainit 175 2,0001b The?e materials should be put down in alternate layers on a clean floor or in a box made for the pur- pose and thoroughly mixed with hoes and shovel. The lumps should, of course, be well broken and it would be well to put the material through an ordinary pand screen after mix- ing. The above mixture for corn will oontain: available phosphoric acid 7 3 per cent.; potash 18 per cent. : ammonii 3 8 per cent. ; 150 to 300 pounds per acre in the drill, just before planting, will gUe good re salts on corn. FOR COTTON : Acid phosphite 900 lbs 5?init eed me,il Snn Kainit 300 2,010 This mixture will oontain : avail able phopphorio acid 7 3 per cent. ; potash 2.5 per cent. ; ammonia 3 2 per cent. The usual application for ootton is 400 pounds per aore in the drill, just before planting. Some use a lees qaantity and a consider able number of farmers use 500 to 600 pounds per acre with good re sults. SEE THE JANUARY BULLETIN. The January Bulletin of the De- partment, which will be ready for distribution in a few days, contains & number of other formulas using different materials for making home mixtures for cotton and corn. The bulletin referred to oontains a report of our ex:erimental work with fer tilizers for the year 1901 and the formulas given have been made up after considering the results of our ovrn and all other available and re liable experimental data relating to these crops. The Bulletin also con- tains several formulas for making composts with d'fferent materials, as "well as the methods for putting down, mixing, and oaring for the ccmpo&t. ABOUT COTTOS SEED MEAL. As cotton eeed meal is one of the naost valuable and largely used ma terial in the 8 'ate, as well as in the South, for furnishing nitrogen (or wamonia) in fertilizers, it may be of interest to make a brief statement concerning this material at this time: Good cotton seed meal contains bout 7 per cent, of nitrogen or 140 pounds in a ton. Expressed in terms ciariim nia, there is ia meal about nt) pr cent , ab ut 170 pounds of immnnia in a ton. This season cot- ton eed meal is not so good as it was i8tTear aDd the average per cent age of ammonia will not be far from S per cQnt. There is also in meal about 3 per cent, of phosphoric aoid, v.hich about 2 percent is avail able t laboratory fertilizer method, and ab out 2 per cent, of potash, 1 Pr cent, of whioh is soluble in water. TIME REQUIRED IN DECOMPOSING. Before o tton seed meal or any Gtfcer organic materials can feed P-a-nts they must first rot or decom P' fe in the soil. By this prooessthe itn gen in them is changed to titrates similar to nitrate of soda, fcd it it in this form that the greater Portion, if not all, of the nitrogen in tte P"il and in fertilizers enter nlants aad feed them. Cotton seed meal, tJieil, as well r nthpr nrHtiin rnntn. Half) fni-niul,! : i 1 e as fertilizers in proportion to tbeir content of nitrogen and the rapidity with whioh they decay in the soil, or rather the rate of decay ill determine the quickness of the action of the particular material. With short season, quick growing crops, quickness of action is an im portant consideration, but with crops occupying the land during the greater portion or all of the growing season, as is the case with ootton and oorn, it is better to have a fertilizer that will become available more slowly so as to feed the plant until maturity. Cotton seed meal decays fairly ran- idly and will la8t for a considerable length of time, and it is not nearly go available as suluhate of ammonia and nitrate of soda. Statements similar to the above, regarding the value and aoUon of the various fertilizer materials fur nishing ammonia,phosphorio acid and potash in fertilizers, have been pre- pared and published in the January (1900) Balletin of the Department, This Balletin will be furnished to all farmers who apply for it. B. w. Kilgore, State Chemist. Wake Co., N. C. Muoh more tobacco will be planted in Wake county than in many years past. Not afev farmers are thor- pughly siok and tired of cotton, as well they may be. F. A. Olds. HEW METHOD OF TB EATING C01T0N 8EED. The latest invention is one treat- ing ootton seed, used in the oil mills, wnich Promises to revolutionize that industry, concerning which we dip the following from the Chronicle : Augusta "By the process now employed it is stated that the ootton seed pass through six meohanioal processes (1) a machine for cleaning seed of sand ; (2) maohine for removing bolls, pieces of wood, etc. ; (3) magnetic machine for removing iron, nails, eto. ; (4) a delinting machine; (5) hulling machine ; (6) reel for separat- ing mats from the hulls. "Instead of these six maohines the new process fcimply dumps the seeds, ja8t as they come from the gin, into a vat containing onenroai!, ana in twenty minuted it is olaimea the hull will pop open and the denuded ker nels fall to the bottom of the vat while the hulls float on the top of the solution. If the kernels are to be shipped a distance to an oil mill they are dried first, but if this first process ia at the oil mill then the kernels are passed immediately from the vat to the crushing rolls and it ia claimed there is a saving of 50 per cent, in the cost ot producing crude oil. The refining process is no more expensive, and it is claimed that the finest olive oil on the market oan be duplicated from the produot. Another great saving is in the shipment of the denuded seed to cot ton oil mills. The weight is reduced one half and the bulk two-thirds The hulls that rise to the top of the vat are in shape for paper stook and worth from $20 to $40 per ton, show mer a gain of from y to tlo over present practices of treating ootton seed to the point of cooking the meal for extracting the oil. "This process for which applica tion of patent has been made is said to bo in snnnpusfnl oneration in Wbshington City, and can be worked at any ginnery, amount already saving the large mentioned to the owner of the seed. The saving un der this process will permit the pay ment of several aoiiars a ton more to the farmers for ootton seed and it is claimed by the owners of the new nrocess that it means a revolution in the business and millions of dol lars to the ootton farmers of the South. It ia proposed to organize and work it independent of the trust and Standard Oil Company and give the farmers a chance to enjoy the profits. We are informed that at the next term of our Superior Court the judge presiding will be asked to charge the grand jury in regard to cultivating crops in fields not having a lawful fence. Suoh a charge would be of muoh interest to many farmers in the Rioh Square section, and as many as can well do bo would be present and hear what the judge may have to say on the subject. Roanoke Chowan Times. A WOBD OF CAUTION TO TOBACCO GB0W- EBS. ''The Only Profit Comes by Small Cropi Well Cultivated aid Nicely Handled." , Correspondence of The Progressive Farmer. From what I oan hear and what I see through the press", there will be a rush from ootton to tobaooo this year. I want to warn the tobaooo grower of the danger there is in planting a large crop this year. What I shall say is based principally on MY OWN EXPERIENCE. My first crop of tobaooo was raised in 1884. I live in the western por tion of Wake, in a splendid bright tobacco belt. In 183-4 a brother and myself planted a small crop aud realized about 1225 per acre, with no exoense exceDt a small fertilizer bill. We used 300 pounds fertilizer per acre then. In connection with this fer tilizer we used some horse stable manure. In 1835 we hired a 12-year-old boy and planted a little larger orop and realized $200 per acre with no ex pense exoept the hire of the boy for about five months and a few days in housing, and our fertilizer we used that year 400 pounds per aore. I was the first to plant in this sec tion. I was very muoh elated over my success in these two years, and oommenced buying more fi and planting larger crops ; I fertilizers thought surely I would soon get rich. My neighbors became enthused and barns began going up in every direc tion. In 1886 I bought more fertilizers and planted more tobaooo and made a miseraoie iaiiure naraiy enougn clear to pay my fertilizer bill. Since that time I have experienced several Tears with about the same results. I have known of several instanoea where good farmers on good tobacco land did not realize enough from orop to pay for fertiliz3rs thtt grew it. Prices on low grades of tobacco of crop of 1901 were as high or higher than I ever knew before. The reason is verr clear: an unusually short crop, trorn which we ougnt to learn a lesson. I want to emphasize the danger of planting big crops of to baooo and give just a few of the many reasons why it is so dangerous WHY LARGE CROPS ARE DANGEROUS. in the first place, the demand is not hard to suiply. A very small area will supply a numoer ot peo pie. I remember when a farmer oouid raise enougn in tne tence cor ners of the lane to supply hi whole family. It has, of all crops I know, thenar- rowest hannel through which to go to reaoh success. A little too muoh rain or too dry. or wind storm, or hail, or frost, or flea beetle, or damp, foggy weather: all damage it and some of them completely ruin it I believe if we oould get the statistics we would find more farmers have been completely broken up by raising tobacco than by raising ootton, in proportion to the number engaged in the culture of each: THE ONLY PROFIT IN TOBACCO. According to my experience, the only clear money there is in tobaooo I. . i . a ; a. n I 18 in em" crops wen puimvuibu aim nicely nandied. I think no one should plant more than 8,000 plants or two acres, to the horse. Raise plenty to eat at home and some to spare. By so doing the farmer will find himself always on the safe side. I want to say to my brother small farmer : D not envy your neighbor who plants largely of tobaooo. He mav for a time make his thousands, but before long he will ero under and you will still be swimming. I want to say here to beginners in the oulture of tobaooo, Do not be led astray by the sunny tales of new be ginners in new sections. I see but little in the papers from old planters in old sections. A. T. Olive. Wake Co., N. C. Farmers say laborers are asking more for work than usual and they are therefore slower to make arrange- ments. Very little work has been done on the farms for this year's crop. Scotland Neck Cor. Post. i BUBXE COUNTY FABM NOTES. Correspondence of The Progressive Farmer. Enolosedfind $2, for which give me credit on my subscription. It would be hard for me to be without The Progressive Farmer now as I have been a subscriber for 13 years. You have 83 many good farm writers. The disoussion of terraoing was good, and I will make a trial of it soon. Shall try both level and fall ing plans. Level terracing I believe will do on slightly deolined land, but steep land should have some fall. We have had a very bad winter this year, hence, there is but very little farm work done, notably plow ing. Wheat is making very little show for the next crop. There is complaint among some that the roots of late sowed wheat are dead, caused by the repeated freezing of the soil. Corn and wheat are getting high in prioe. Corn is $1 per bushel and soarce ; in f aot, everything is high. Tho lumber men are buy taking down our beautiful forest timber. The Southern Railroad is doing work straightening and leveling its track about Morganton. These de mands for labor, with the State in stitutions added, make farm hands hard to get, and very high wages are wanted. The farmers are generally in good shape with good prices for their sur plus, but that is smaller than usual for our Burke farmersshortage be ing caused by the rains and freshets of last year. The industrious laborer can get work when wanted while we have a class that seems to want nothing but strong drink and loafing. R. C. Whitener. Burke Co., N. C. SILK CULTUBE IN NORTH CABOLINA. Correspondence of The Progressive Farmer. The recent publioatiou in the Bul letin or an artioie on silk culture in North Carolina has already borne fruit. Several requests have been received from persons at a distance for oopies of the bulletin, one coming from the State of Miohigan, and one from a company in New York which possesses ample capital and which purposes to establish silk farms and silk mills in some of the Southern States, where suitable land can be had at a reasonable price, and where convenient power may be available when needed. If North Carolina oan secure the looation of this com pany it means the opening of a new and very important industry for the State. Letters reoeived at the Department of Agriculture from this company deoUte hQ &e of me pre8ident and others to visit North Carolina, andnrhRn othr Snnthern Stat &t q q fQr h& Q'f examining land8' and mill 8ite8, for nhaaTnUntinnnitinna - ' . observing olimatio oonditions,adapta bility of the land for growing mul berry trees, and to seoure such other information as they may de sire with reference to establishing their business. It is desirable to have descriptions of lands whioh are for sale, and upon which the Chinese mulberry thrives. The owners of such lands are re . quested to me with tne Udpartment descriptions, including the present condition of land and buildings, dia tanoe from railroad, accessibility to water power, how muoh oleared and uncleared land, whether any Chinese or wmte muioerry trees are now growing upon the land, price, eto. rn tviu nnnr.or.Hnn tVio nanrtmnt desires to secure the names of per- sons in the State who have had per- sonal experience in growing 8uk worms, and who might desire to pro- Hnn r.w Bilk for the new oomnanv. Please send descriptions of proper lies for sale and names of silk grow rs to the undersigned, care of the Department of Agriculture, Raleigh, C. Gerald McCarthy, Botanist and Biologist Roanoke-Chowan Times : The cot- ton acreage, in all probability, will be greatly reduced in the Rioh Square section this year. Scarcity of labor is the chief cause for this. The high price of food products will also cause a reduction in ootton acreage. Horticulture. EABLY GRAFTING. Correspondence of The Progressive Farmer. Many an apparently worthless fruit tree can be converted into a profitable and satisfactory bearer by grafting some kind on it,, and if the work is done properly and early enough the old stock will prove to be a valuable possession. There are many orchards where grafting should be followed regularly every a tree and it has reached maturity without giving satisfaction, it is the height of folly to let it continue an other sason. Do not out it down, but simply graft some new kind of fruit on it that will pay. Time and again one is led to plant new varie ties of fruit trees on the reoommen dations of friends or agricultural journals, and then for one reason or another disappointment follows. The trees do not thrive well in the soil or olimate, the fruit is not market able or insect enemies attack it every year so as to destroy its fruit. The only way to handle suoh a problem is to out off its leading shoots and graft some old standard variety on it. When I read of disgusted farm- ers cutting down their fruit trees be- cause they have been disapoointed in their bearing, I am constrained to believe they must be amateurs at the business. Why, the full grown stock in any orohard is worth half the battle. We spend ten, fifteen and twenty years in bringing this stook to a size which will make it bear well, and then somebody outs it down through ignoranoe. In grafting we have an art that makes fruit growing a steady and reliable industry. We need to study make it a work whose results we oan foretell. Take the old wild apple winter and summer. These two stook along the field hedges. Graft articles are easily grown and both some good marketable variety to it, grow well on rich light land. It is and in a few years we convert a dead often with manuring that farmers loss into a profit of several dollars a trouble comes ; they put on enough year. The oost is mere nothing. In to start the plant and then it fails grafting, however, it should be made for want of food later on. The best certain that the scions have oome plan where the land is poor and re from trees, and that they are what quires muoh manure, is to put on they should be. Nurserymen now top and then work in from the top graft indoors in winter and they later on, as the carrot and bean are prepare grafts ready for the farmer's late growers and require muoh food.. immediate use. These grafts are prepared and kept in bundles in sand in a cool cellar until spring, and then they are put out as soon as spring weather permits. But there is no reason why every farmer should not obtain his own grafts direct from his own trees, or from some neighbor's orohard. A simple method of exchange of grafts in this wa WOUiQ DO OI mnai weni. ue eaoh one give to the other scions from their best trees, and in this way the experince of one will be of help to another. Grafting is really one of the oldest and simplest ways of in. creasing trees, and of producing an abundance of excellent fruit on short notice. The time to graft out- doors is in the spring, and just as the buds are about to burst and the sap to flow upward. j S. W. Chambers. I DEWBEBBIES AS A MONEY CB0P. The Laurinburg Exchange pub- shes the following communication The writer, whose home is in Camer on, N. C, seems to have been very successful in dewberry raising and his views are worth reading : If 3 ou will allow me space in your valuable paper, I will endeavor to el1 ?oaT farmers something of the Lucretia dewberry as a money crop. i mii, a mw, ,uur ivmwi depend mostly apon ootton for their muuo WIUU 10 BU variable in price (often sold for less than cost of production) it is a necessity that such as are uuitably located, that is in two or three miles of railroad, grow some other crop that they may feel reasonably sure of getting some money out of. for such a crop I would advise the dewberry. They grow well in suoh soil as you have ; they are a sure orop, not bothered by pests of any kind ; they are also an early berry, commencing to ripen about June 1st and ends about July 1st. They sell readily for about 7 I to 13 cents per quart. They are s good shipper ; when shipped in re frigerator cars they will reaoh as far north as Boston in good condition. I know this by aotual experience, hav ing shipped two cars there last June, and received an average of 10 to 11 cents per quart for same. Wo can ship by express as far as Nor folk, Richmond, Washington and Philadelphia and fruit will arrive in good condition if properly handled by express company. My crop net me one hundred and thirty one dol- lar8,p9r 0T la9year and was grown On land that wnnlrt nniasiMir hTTA made twenty bushels of corn per aore. I would not advise any one to go into it recklessly, but plant say five acres of good, well drained land and apply about six hundred pounds of high grade fertilizer per acre, and they ought to reasonably expect not less than one hundred crates of nice marketable fruit per acre, 32 quarts per orate. GROWING LIMA BEANS AND CABB0T8 Jorrespondence of The Progressive Farmer. The Lima bean has become quite popular, and muoh in demand on our market. We grow the white dwarf, a small bean that shells out about eight quarts to the bushel in hull. We have tried the large dwarf or bush bean ; they make a poor crop here,. but the small yield bountifully. Price opened last season at 12 cents per quart and then stood at 10 cents throughout the season till frost. The pole or running Lima is late in bear- ing and not so hardy as the small bush or. dwarf kinds. They are I somewhat tedious to shell while green, but when ripe and dry hull more readily. They will yield over a thousand quarts per acre and are a good table ben the year round. I The carrot is slightly in demand R. R. Moore.. Guilford Co., N. C. GROWING IBISH POTATOES KET. FOE HAS- This is a crop that oan be grown over the country generally. It is grown early in the South and will bring fancy prices if it is marketed early ; but if late it is hardly worth uarvo8mg. xc grown in the all it always brings a good price. In the North the crop sells cheap but they make a large yield, The crop grows better on a rioh loamy soil that is well drained and plowed deep. If stable manure is used it should be very thoroughly rotted and not put in contact with the potatoes. The manure causes black spots and a sorJaby skin. The potatoes grown with fresh manure are of good size but the quality is decidedly poor. It is better to grow them on II 1 A. A iana ina was weu manured the year oerore, or else use a good grade of fertilizer with them. For the best results for money in vested, plant on clover sod and f er tilire with phosphoric acid and potash. If ordinary land is used, thea apply a well balanced, complete fer tilizer, say one which oontains about 3 per cent, nitrogen, 7 per cent, pot ash and 7 per cent, phosphoric acid. mi a. a. . . Auo pubnb j crop is one mat grows quickly, and whatever is done must be done in a hurry. Fertilizer must act readily and any work needed . must 1)6 iven promptly. Land should be plowed deep in fall or winter. Open a deep furrow, say six inches. Put in the .fertilizer at the rate of four or five hundred pounds per acre in this furrow. Run a small plow in this furrow so that the fertilizer will not burn the do- tato. It is better to bed or ridge thes land some time before planting, and continued on page 8
The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Feb. 11, 1902, edition 1
1
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75