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'Hl TK A """"" THE INDUSTRIAL AND EDUCATIONAL IKTEREST8 OF OUR PEOPLE PARAHOUHT TO ALL (mm COHSIDmflOrS 07 STATE POLICY. Vol. 17 Raleigh, N. 0., March 25, 1902. No. 7 Ag fculture. AS UJ: JE TBUCK FAB2L Cld 1 ierDid With an Eighth of fist 50 .a Acre i a aeni .Buggy opnng. nareindenc - The Progressive Farmer. Xtera is Exhibition at the Char leston Exposition a largo pioture in fattr colors of the peas grown last ar by Mr. Lewis Grady, of Kinston, V C. The pioture is the property of Jv0 Department o! Agrioulture of Carolina and was made from i pict seraph taken whie the peas rein the garden. fr. Cindy is an old Confederate ier and for many years has 0ced a fruit and confectionery iiand a half block from the court toae on Qae3n Street, the principal jsain.'ss street in Kinston. Last jear he put in his spare moments raisitg peas and beans in his garden QirrV.th nf an aore in area. He 01 nu cijui" - laid cff the rows four feet apart, used one ck of the Hyco fertilizer on ordinary gray loam, and on January 221 planted the Melting Sugar, Mar row Fat and Champion of England peas. The tool used to cultivate the peas was an old piece of a buggy ipring bent into shape and bolted to xlze helve. Tie peas grew to a height of eight cr ten feet, and some of the Mar tcv Fat variety to a height of fif tea feet. People from far and near case to eee Mr. Grady's pea crop. I it and it was well worth a long tip to eee. After supplying his family of five and giving away quite i quantity, he sold 30 worth of peas. On the same piece of land on June 2d he planted some Ford's Mammoth Podded Lima Beans and seme Shot well's , Improved Thick Pole Lima Beans. The former have pods seven toftiS.fnohes long with six beans to the pod ; the latter are snorter rore compact and have six beans to the pod. This bean crop Mr. Grady readily sold for $35. How is that for an old wounded Confederate soldier with a few spare minutes each day, a bent buggy spring, one sack of fertilizer and an eighth of an acre of ground? Mr. Grady this year has about one acre of land ttiked with 1,650 posts with slats nailed on them and his peas are pushing upward with amaz ing rapidity. B. W. Spilman. PSEVINIISG OAT SMUT. Correspondence of The Progressive Farmer. It lies within the power of every tamer to prevent much of the dam ag? suffered by his crops through the Yearly inroads of plant disease Ott smut is the one that demands pw:c!ar attention just now. Verjfew farmers realize just how ci damage they suffer yearly fezh this pest. The smut dwarfs of the affected plants so that tiey usually escape the eye of the feer ks he surveys his field : and -at may appear to him to be merely bssci one or two per cent, is in reality very rarely less than eight Percent., and very frequently runs spint j the thirties and forties. This k an Solute loss, as it costs as -ch ia the way of land, seed, till &?e hLd harvesting to raise these autt'-'i stalks as it does to raise full Pain. Th smut is caused by a. fungus n at invades tne tipsue 01 wo vorjr j utib pMlIl b. Afc IS 1U bi-lD DOCU hen Kjwn. The seed may be Seated so as to kill the tungus with--t hirm to the oat and the crop be CGrre.:, ndingly benefited, j treat seed for smut place the en n barn floor and thoroughly v.i u a solution made by mixing CceP',"n(l of formalin with 45 to 50 2IIct i;f water. Formalin may be bht at the drug store at from 75 tJ&jf.-its per quart, and the wet i t io oats may be readily ao J:r-'t '.;-h d either by a spray pump ,jT 5" throwing the solution on and -n.jveling the heap over till eirv saturated. Then coyer tv& " with blankets and allow it toptv .i 10 or 12 hours. Tj-".-ed maybe dried with lime & n aa running through the fanning Ul v ill remOVR PTtrR HniA 1 ARvi n c - caujr lur WQ Qrill. le cost is lees than 12 cents per aore for the treatment,labor included, and the gain ranges from 6 to 40 per cent, of the value of the crop. The stinking smut of wheat may be prevented in the same way, also the barley smut. Corn smut cannot, nor oan the loose smut of wheat. Do not use blue stone on oats, as it injures them. F. L. Stevens, Professor of Biology, N. C. A. & M. College. Am often talking Progressive Farmer to our tillers of the soil in this section. The truth is we have not come up to the mark in growing crops as cheap as may be done. When we learn to grow our field crops at a less oost by bringing them up to a higher state of porfeation on a cheaper basis, then we may find more to follow. Show your skill in the thoroughbred stock, preparation and care of suoh thing as you pre tend to grow. R. R. Moore, Guil ford Co., N. C. HOME-MIXED FEETILIZEKS. Mr. J. B. Oliver, of Wayne County, an occasional contributor to The Pro gressive Farmer, reports in the cur rent issue of the Practical Farmer the following interesting experience with home-mixed fertilizers : I have been mixing my fertilizers at home for 20 years or more. My first attempt on this line was mixing my cottonseed and stable manure with aoid phosphate and kainit, using 200 pounds acid and 100 pounds kainit per acre, and mixing all the cottonseed and stable manure I had to spare with this amount per aore. This gave me the best results of any fertilizer I ever used, but was costly to mix and handle. About 12 years ago I commenced exohanging my cottonpeed for cottonseed meal. I run a custom gin and buy up seed cotton and cottonseed enough to procure an ample supply of cotton seed meal. My formula for cotton and corn is 150 pounds cottonseed meal, 200 pounds 14 per cent, acid, and 25 pounds muriate of potash. I use an 8-foot pquare tight box, dump these amounts into it and mix thor oughly with shovels. I use 400 to 800 pounds per acre of this for cot ton and 200 to 300 pounds per aore for corn. This will run about 3 to 3 per cent, ammonia, 8 to 9 phos phorio acid and 4 per cent, potash, and costs at present prices of mate rials, about $20 per ton. A mixed fertilizsr that will analyze the same cannot be bought for less than $25 per ton. For oats I use 100 pounds cottonseed meal, 200 pounds aoid ; 100 pounds kainit, or 25 pounds muriate of potash ; this for one aore For Irish potatoes, 7C0 pounds cot tonseed meal, 200 pounds nitrate of soda, 700 pounds acid phosphate, 400 pounds sulphate of potash ; use 1,200 to 1,500 pounds per aore. For straw berries, 30Q pounds cottonseed meal, 800 pounds aoid phosphate, 400 pounds sulphute of potash ; use 1,600 pounds per aore, applying 800 pounds late in August or September and 800 pounds in December or January, burning off and applying by side of plants. The foregoing are the formulas I have found to pay best on my soil. For cotton, if the land is in good con dition and following any crop that leaves plenty of vegetable matter in the soil, less cottonseed meal oan be used. If the land is bare of vege table matter more cottonseed meal can be used with profit. Somo tiuies when cottonseed meal is lacking I substitute fih scrap for it, but do not think I get as good results from it as from the cottonseed meal. I doubt very much if it pays to mix nitrata of soda in any fertilizer un less it is used as a top dressing. Last yoar I left out the nitrate of soda in my potato manure and applied it alongside of the plants after they were up, and had better results than if applied at planting. I am fully convinced after many years of ex perimenting, that I can get muoh better results from mixing my own ertilizers, and at much less oost, than by purchasing them ready mixed. I must say that your paper is con- - 2 1 V. v si-v-t ova 8tantiy improving ouu tuan done a great work for North Caro- ina. W. B. Koaman, ueauior vxj., N. C. EAISIKG SUMATRA TOBACCO UNDER COVEB. The Experiments of the Connecticut Experi ment Station Described by Director Jen kins A Bepcrt of Special Interest Because of Tests Soon to be Made in North Carolina. A bulletin on the growing of to baood under shade is of interest at this time. It has not as yet been conclusively demonstrated that to bacco can be raised profitably under shade. It is known that a few of the most careful growers in New Eng land have produced some of the finest tobacoo ever grown, but it has not us yet been sold, nor will it be, until cold weather is past. The 50 acres raised last summer will in it self be largely an experiment in the working up by manufacturers. The leaf is very thin, delicate to handle, is affected by cold weather, but for the highest grade cigar is just the thing. The tobacoo raised last year is of suoh extra quality it is esti mated that 1,000 acres will be cov ered with oheeseoloth this year. An increase of acreage from 50 to 1,000 acres in one year, where it is esti mated capital of $1,000 per aore must be available, or $1,000,000, shows business enterprise not exceeded in any line of trade. In 1901, the Connecticut Experi ment Station undertook to determine whether wrapper-leaf of the Sumatra type, and which would compare favorably with the imported artiole, could be raised in Connecticut, by other methods than those commonly employed. The object of the experi ments was to raise a larger crop of Sumatra than was raised in the previous year, to learn more defi nitely both the extra oost of raising a crop under shade and also the yield of tobacoo, and to test both the con venience and the effeot on quality of cutting and hanging the plantn in the usual way instead of picking or priming the leaves and curing them apart from the stalk. The experi ments indicate it is not likely that the growing of Sumatra type of leaf in Connecticut can be made a com plete success without some years of experience and intelligent experi ment. The frame-work already standing, built in 1900, was extended so as to cover an aore of land. In this ex tension the 4x4-inoh uprights sup porting the frame were set 11 feet 10 inohes apart in the row, the rows of posts themselves being 13 feet apart. The posts in eaoh row were fastened together by 2x4-inoh scant ling, nailed flat on tops of the posts, and each post was fastened to the posts opposite to it in adjoining rows by 2x4-inoh scantling nailed on the sides of the posts, with the edge of the scantling flush with their tops Scantling 2x5 inohes and 20 feet long were also nailed to the outer rows of posts, close to the ground, on the outside. At one end of the shaded field was an 8 -foot doorway, closed with oheeseoloth, through whioh teams could enter. Wire was tightly drawn over this frame lengthwise and also crosswise of the structure, midway between each row of uprights. This served as a further support to the cheese oloth cover. The oheeseoloth was 142 inohes wide, four one-yard breadths being sewed together, and covering the space between the trans verse rows of posts, whioh had been set 11 feet 10 inches . apart. The oheeseoloth was fastened to the frame by lath wherever the oloth came in contact with the frame. The land was manured in the fall of 1900 with New York stable manure, 10 tons to the acre, and fertilized after plowing in the spring of 1901 with 500 pounds of dry -fish sora 400 pounds of "vegetable ashes," and 1800 pounds of cottonseed meal. Four different strains of Sumatra tobaooo seed were tested in 1901, the main body of the orop, however, be ing from seed whioh was grown on the same land in 1900. The seed for the 1900 crop was, produced in Florida from seed whioh oame from the island of Sumatra. The plants were set under shade, in rows 3 feet apart, the plants 11 inohes apart in the row, or about 11,290 plants to the acre. About 3 weeks before harvesting, the whole was topped by outting off the flower stem crop close to the upper leaf of the main st&lks. It is not at all easy for one of lim ited experience to determine when the leaf is ready to pick. The signs of ripeness can be in general de scribed, but not detected certainly without long experienoe. The leaf is likely to be lighter green than the unripe, it shows a yellowish cast on the tip and the edges near the tip, and small spots of darker green ap pear on its surface. The whole plant at this time takes on a yellowish green shade. A part of the tobacco, from 7,800 square feet or a little less than one fifth of an acre, was picked or primed from the stalks in the field, and hung on strings Three primings were made, about seven leaves at each priming, and all were made within three or four days, beginning August 28. Four fifths of the orop was harvested on the stalk three or four days later. To do this, eaoh stalk was cut in two and hung on hook lath, the tops with ten hooks, the bottoms with eight hooks to the lath, the usual way. The oost of picking the leaves, bringing them to the barn and hang ing them after stringing, is proba bly hardly greater than that of cut ting, spading, teaming and hanging the plants harvested in the usual way. Where there is a considerable acreage of tobaoco and the harvest ing lasts over a period of five or six weeks, two lots of tobacoo can be cured in the same barn, the first harvesting being cured and taken down by the time the last harvest ing is ready to go in. When the primed leaves ara cured the string can be out at eaoh end, wound around the bufets, thus making a hand of it, and put in bundles, or the leaves oan be drawn from the string and bundled loose. The extra oost of growing, har vesting and curing Sumatra wrapper leaf under shade : Cost per acre of lumber $252 35, cost per aore of wire 0.96, cost per aore of construction $36; total $299.31. Assuming that the frame will last for five years, there should be oharged to eaoh crop one-fifth of this sum, or $59.86. Lath for fastening the cloth $13.17, cost of oheeseoloth $162 94, labor of put ting on oloth $12 45, repairs $12, twine for stringing leaves $5 66, stringing the picked leaves $49.60, extra lath for stringing $27 50, of which 40 per cent, is charged to the crop $11 ; total $326 68. The actual extra outlay of the first year for shading and harvesting was $33.63 per acre. These figures show very olosely the actual extra cost of rais ing and curing an acre of shaded Samatra tobaoco, although other ex perimenters have spent very consid erably less The chief economies are in getting out the needed posts from the owner's wood lot, in setting them further apart and in using farm labor putting up the frame, when other work is not pressing. E. H. Jenkins, Connecticut Experiment Station. ' Mount Airy Ne-s: Wheat is im proving rapidly and the outlook is growing brighter for a fair sizsd orop in some sections. We get this information from some of the farm ers who tell us that the late snow saved the wheat crop. Mr. Whitener's letter in The Pro gressive Farmer reminds me of my own experienoe. In 1882, when I be gan plowing, the plows used to turn land were the old fashioned steel twisters. Then my father bought a two-horse cast plow ; we thought it a grand improvement We sowed wheat by hand, plowed or harrowed it in, and cut with scythe and cradle. Then came the chilled .plows and the drill. Now I am living on one third of the same land and make more grain on it than we made on all of it. I use diso plows and disc harrow and diso drill and out wheat with reaper and binder. The farming has greatly improved in this period of time, though some use old-fashioned tools yet and only scratch deep enough so that the hot sun and heavy rains get the benefit of it rather than the crop. R. L Wagner, Burke Co., N. C. Horticulture. AN INTERESTING PAPER ON PEACH LEAF CUBL. Also Some Notes Begarding Two Other Pa pers by A. & M. Students. Correspondence of The Progressive Farmer. At the last meeting of the A. & M College Biological Club, many topics of interest were presented by differ ent speakers. The three prinoipa papers on the programme are out lined below. The first was by Mr. Foster, who showed some young tomato plants that were badly inf eoted by damping off. This is a disease caused by tungus known to soienop as appj thium. Its oontrol is diffioult in any other manner than by diminishing dampness of the air, and heightening the general vitality of the plant. The seoond paper was by Mr. Bui look, who made an interesting talk on "Seed Distribution," showing specimens to illustrate how different seeds take advantage of the wind and animals to travel to distant places to spread their race. The third paper was by Mr. Coit, "PEACH LEAP CURL! ITS NATURE AND TREATMENT.' Peach leaf ourl or, as it is some times called, leaf blister, is a disease whioh affects the leaves, flowers, shoots and fruit of the peaoh tree. Its action is most severe in the spring of the year, shortly after the leafing of the trees, and the greatest injuries are caused in wet seasons and humid looalities. The leaves become enlarged, thiokened, much ourled and distorted. The healthy green color changes to s sickly ap pearance and the leaves soon fall The young fruit ceases to grow wilts and also falls. If the oondi tions of the atmosphere are rignt, a second growth of leaves will come out, but the terminal growth gener ally dies. In severe attacks young trees are frequently killed. This disease is confined to the peaoh and its near of kin, as it crosses on the almond and several varieties of neotarines. The distribution of peaoh leaf curl in the United States extends from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. ' A very conservative estimate of the loss occasioned by peaoh leaf ourl in the United States places the fig ures at the average of $10.95 per acre for the acreage reported as sufferine from the disease. The an nual loss to the United States is esti mated at $3,000,000 or more. A FUNGOUS DISEASE The direot cause of the peaoh leaf ourl is a parasitio fungus (JExoascus Deformaus). Many growers were long of the opinion that the curl was caused by certain humid conditions of the soil and atmosphere. It is now acknowledged, however, to be due to this fungus ; and it has been Droved that if we oan oontrol the growth of the fungus, we can con trol the disease. In faot, the oontrol of this fungus has been found to be praotical, simple, and inexpensive. For a long time it was thought that the spread of Exoascus Deformans was occasioned by perennial myce lium whioh wintered over in the tissues of the twigs and branch ea. This, to a certain extent is true, but late investigations have proved that the spread of this disease is almost wholly caused by spores whioh win ter on the outside of the twigs, around the newly formed buds. Before this was disoovered, there was no way to combat the disease, exoapt by pruning off the infected branohes and destroying them. Bat since we now snow that in the ma jority of cases infection is caused by spores, we may at once take advan tage of the spray pump and 'at very little expense almost wholly elimi nate this disease from our orohards. Badly infested branches usually die during the year, while in a few oases they may support "a living my celium through the winter whioh may infect the opening buds in spring. Most aiseasea orancnes are easily deteoted by the eye and may be removed by pruning off the dis eased parts a few internodes below the swelling. In almost all cases infection occurs just as the buds open in the spring from the spores whioh have wintered on the branohes around the buds. On aooount of this faot, as has just been stated, we are enabled to pre scribe a treatment. TREATMENT. The curl was first successfully treated in California during the period from 1880 to 1885, the success depending upon the application of fungicides to the dormant trees. The disease was not successfully treated in Europe for ten years after its pre vention in the United States.' The treatment oonsists in spraying the trees while yet in the dormant oondition before the buds open in spring. At first sulphur and other sprays were used, but lately copper sprays are found to be muoh the best. Of the various copper sprays Bordeaux mixture in the proportion of five pounds of oopper sulphate (A SO4) to five pounds of lime in forty five gallons of water has been foundto give the best results. By treating peach leaf curl in this way, from 95 to 98 per cent, of the spring foliage may easily be saved. ' According to experiments made at Santa Anna, California, Bordeaux mixture when applied to the dor mant tree inoreased the weight and starch-producing power of the leaves, and the sprayed trees showed a great gain over the unsprayed in the num ber and quality of the fruit buds they produoed The gain in the number of fruits per buds was over 100Nper cent, in some cases. The lower limbs of sprayed trees showed marked gain over those of unsprayed ones as compared with the upper limbs in both the number of fruit buds and lateral shoots pro duced. The average value of the fruit per tree in rows treated with the most effective Bordeaux mixture ranged as high as $6.20 above that per tree in the adjoining untreated rows, or the equivalent of a net gain of $427 80 per cent, where trees are planted 25x25 feet. Over 1,000 per cent, net gain in the fruit has re sulted in the use of some of the most effeotive sprays. DIRECTIONS FOR SPRAYING. The trees should be sprayed eaoh season, as experiments prove that treatment one season will not pre vent the disease from appearing the following year. The proper time to apply sprays for the prevention of curl is in dry calm weather, and in the middle of the day, about three weeks before tho trees blossom in spring. Some of the very choicest varieties, as the Elberta and Lovell are seri ously affected, and it has been dem onstrated that a single winter treat ment will prevent the disease on even these varieties. It may thus be fairly claimed that the spraying methods recommended will save to the peaoh industry some of its finest varieties, as well as re sult in the saving of' foliage and crops already spoken of. J. E. Miller, Cor. Seo'y. A. & M College, West Raleigh, N. C. Good butter oannot be made by pouring hot water into the churn to get the right temperature. This makes the butter puff and pale. The cream should be warmed before it goes to the churn by placing the vessel containing it in another vessel of warm water and stirring until the proper temperature is secured. Farm and Ranch. KENTUCKY TOBACCO GEO WEES OBONIZX Tobaooo growers in Kentucky are attempting to organize an associa tion to handle and market the prod uct of their farms. Kentucky to bacoo is used largely in the manu facture of plug and twist ; and con solidation in this branch of the trade has approached almost to the point of monopoly. The Kentucky tobacoo growers, feeling the pressure of owered prices, now propose to meet combination with combination. Philadelphia Reoord. The first "creamery' in the United States was built in 1861 at Wallkill, Orange county, New York. This establishment utilized the milk from 375 cows daily. Hi H I . . .. . )
The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, N.C.)
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March 25, 1902, edition 1
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