North Carolina Newspapers

:7fae;JProgressiY0: Farmer, Juy 1, 1C02 DO 22 .v-4 Published Weekly at Raleigh, N.C. . - CIAS CISC I. FtC .,.....X6'i' . V. .. t4Fi SmJmm Haiaiw. . SUBSCRIPTION: Single subscription, 1 year. . . . . .$1.00 Single subscription, 6 months. .4. .50 Rine-lft subscrintion. 3 months 25 "The Industrial and Educational Interests of our People Paramount to all other considerations of btate Jfoi icy,' i3 the motto of The Progressive Farmer, and upon, this . platform it thall rise or fall. Serving no master, ruled by no faction, circumscribed by mo selfish or narrow policy, its aim will be to foster and promote the best interests of the whole people ot tne State. It will be true to the instincts, traditions and history of the Anglo Saxon race. On all matters relating ineciallv to the great interests it rep resents, it will speak swith no uncer tain voice, but will fearlessly the right defend and impartially the wrong con demn." From Col. Polk's Salutatory, February 10, 1880. i5a sure to give both old and new addresses In draerinff cnange or poeiomce. Wnen sending your renewal, be sure to give . - . 1 M A fiacuy me name on woei uu puswjuioo vu Thi Pkookkssivk Farxib la the Official Organ of the North Carolina Farmers Htate Alliance.- A THOUGHT FOB THE WEEK. A fundamental mistake is to call Tehemence and rigidity strength. A man is not strong who takes convul sion fits; though six men cannot hold him then. NHe that can walk under the heaviest weight without stagger ing, he is the strong man. We need forever,especially in these loud-shriek ing days, to remind ourselves of that. The man who cannot hold his peace, till the time come for speaking and actinsr. is no right man. From Car ole's "The Hero as Man of Letters." The State press has of late given considerable attention to the state ment in Lawson's History that there was a volcanic explosion in the Gor don's Mountain region in Anson County 109 years ago. Lawson and Pro. Collier Cobb, the well-known geologist of the State University, dif fer considerably in this matter 19,- 099,891 years, to be exact. Prof. Cobb tells us that there has been no volcano in the region named in the last 20,000,- C00 years. The action of Governor Ayoock in the Salisbury lynching matter has di rected attention to the anti-lynching law of this State. Many of our most intelligent citizens were not before aware of the existence of such a law. It was put on our statute books "in 1893, and is,in part, as follows : "Every person who shall conspire to break or enter any jail or ' other place of con finement of prisoners charged with erime or under sentence for the pur pose of killing or otherwise injuring any prisoner confined therein; and every person who engages in breaking or entering any such jail or other place of confinement of such prisoners with intent to kill or injure any pris oner, shall be guilty of a felony, and upon conviction thereof or upon a plea of guilty, shall be fined by the court having jurisdiction of the of fence not less than five hundred dol lars and imprisoned in the State prison or the county jail not less than two nor mora than fifteen years." 1 So instructive to many of our read ers and so remarkably interesting to all are the articles on "Old Times in the South" now appearing in our col umns that, with the hope of inducing others to contribute, we have decided to extend the time limit for articles at least one month and offer yet anoth er prize. As the matter now stands therefore The competition will remain open it least until August 1st, until later unless seven or more letters are re ceived in July. In addition to the copy of "The Old Plantation," heretofore offered as a yrize, a c&py of "Sketches of Old Vir ginia," by A. G. Bradley, is now also offered. The writer of the most in teresting letter by a woman will get ene of these books; the writer of the most interesting man's letter will get the other. Only one or two men have jet entered the competition. The looks are very interesting, cloth Vmnd, printed on good paper with ?ear type, and both treat of "old times in the South." Slavery days, Civil War times, the Reconstruction periods-write us your memories of any of these, and enter ,he competition. A DECADE OJ FAEZIIHG PE00BESS III EOBXH CB0LIKA. At least once every ten years the farmers of the State should take their bearings and endeavor to learn in what direction they are croing and with what speed they 'are traveling For this purpose there is hardly any tbincr of Greater interest than the o census statistics on farming condi tions. We do not know tnereiore mat we can employ our editorial columns to better advantage this week than by giving a review and summary 01 the census bulletin on "North Caro lina Agriculture" which has just come from the press. It ought to be of in terest to every farmer; but some peo ple don't like figures, and our apology to this class is that it will certainly be ten years before we inflict on them another statistical summary of the State's farming interests. This one we have prepare1 with considerahle care, endeavoring to present in it all striking and noteworthy Qw lw fcrfVpTuma the more facts that were gathered by the""census numerators and set forth in this bul letin of 13 large pages. A GOOD SHOWING MADE The number of farms in this State, according to the bulletin, is 224,637, with an average value of $866.54, the total value being $194,655,920. Of this amount 27 per cent represents the value of farm buildings and 73 per cent the value of "land and improve- ments other than buildings." The far- mers of the State also own $9,072,500 worth of farm implements and $30,- 000,000 worth of live stock. That JNorth fjarolma tanning is not going backward is made evident by a statement at the outset that in 1899 (the census having been taken in June, 1900, crop statistics are for the previous year) the total value of our farm products was 78.4 per cent greater than that reported for 1889. After making due allowance for the part of the increase due to a more de tailed enumeration in 1900," we still regard this reported growth from $50,- 070,530 in 1889 to $S9,309,638 in 1889, as a really 1 remarkable showing one that should encourage all interested in North Carolina agriculture. FARMS GETTING SMALLER. rvt- mm lhe number 01 larms now, as we have said, is 224,637 25 per cent more than ten years ago and almost exactly four times as many as fifty years ago. The average size of the farm is now 101.3 acres, compared with 127 acres a decade ago, 142 acres in 1880, 212 in 1890. 316 in I860 and 368 in 1850. The average size of the farm, it will be 1 11 1 seen, is erraduaiiy decreasing: ten years hence it will be considerably less than 100 acres. The value of the farm property of the State is 7.9 greater than ten years ago. PERCENTAGE OF TENANT FARMERS INCREASING The number of farms operated by owners has increased during the last decade, but the relative increase in number of farms operated by tenants has been so great that while the num ber of land owning farmers has grown from 117,469 to 131,629, the latter number now represents only 5S.6 per cent of the farms of the State while the 117,000 in 1890 represented 65.9 per cent of the farms then in opera tion. In 1900 8.9 per cent of the farms were operated by cash tenants, 32.5 per cent by share tenants, 58.6 per cent by owners; In 1890, the per centages were: cash tenants, 5.9 per cent, share tenants 28.2 per cent, own ers 65.9 per cent. In the last twenty years the number of cash tenants has more than doubled, the number of share tenants has increased 65 per cent, and the number of land-owniner farmers 25.5 per cent. TIIREE WHITE FARMERS TO ONE COLORED The bulletin gives the number of white farmers as 169,773, negro 53,- 996, Indian 868. In this connection. the following paragraph from the bul letin is of interest: "Of the farmers of the State, 75.6 per cent are op erated by white farmers and 24.4 per cent by colored farmers. Of the white farmers 66.6 per cent own all or a part of the farm they operate, and 33.4 per cent operate farms owned by others. For colored farmers, the corre- snondiner nercpntneps nrp ft nnrl AS ft Of the colored fanners, 98.4 per cenV are negroes, of whom nearly one-third own all or a part of their farms, and the remainder are Indians, more than three-fourths of whom are owners." Negroes operate one-fourth of the farms, but less than one-eighth of the acreage and farm property. The aver age size of the farms owned by whites is 116.6;.. those owned by negroes,-are leSs than half as large, the average U'no. Kft 4 aptm. The acreaere of farms is as follows: U202 fa g of lesg than 3 acre3: u, 323 farmg .0f from 3 to 9 acres;: 20,659 from 10 to 19 acres; 59,913 from to 49 acres; 55,028 from 50 to 99; 44,- 052 frdm 100 to 174; 17,012 from 175 to 259; 11,224 from 260 to 499; 3,275 from 500 to 999; 949 of 1000 acres and over, these averaging 1888 acres. acreage of vabious CROPS. Tn, n. nffi w ar,A grain" as the principal source of in come of 44,648farms(we expect the hay member of the partnership is here given a little more prominence than it deserves) ; live stock as the chief source of income of 23,607 farms; to bacco of 22,626; cotton, 48,896. The hay and grain farms average 97.8 acres; stock farms, 116 acres; tobacco 94, cotton 87. So of the total acreage of the State hay and grain farms lead with 19.2 per cent, cotton follows with 18-7 stock farms 12.1, vegetables 1.3, fruit, w tobacco 9.4, while 37.6 per cent are classed as miscellaneous. This paragraph giving a summary of live stock conditions we take from the bulletin: "The total value of all live stock on farms, June 1, 1900, was $30,106,173, of which amount 29.2 per cent represents the value of. horses; 28.8 per cen,t, that of mules; 14.7 per cent, that of dairy cows; 10.8 per cent, that of other neat cattle; 8.3 per cent, that of swine; 4.8 per cent, that of poultry; and 3.4 .per cent, that of all i;VP eopk " FARMING LOSSES IN THE CIVIL WAR Very interesting is the table show ing the number of domestic animals for each decade since 1850. The ter rible devastation of the Civil "War is pictured here in the marked decrease in the number of cattle, horses, sheep and swine in the decade between 1860 and 1870 an all round decrease of more tnan one-tnird, we believe. (Jilules ana asses, However, .snowed a decrease of less than 2 per cent; they couldn't be eaten and were not in de mand in the cavalry.) In that decade, too, the acreage of improved farm lands decreased from 6,500,000 to 5,250,000, and the total decrease in value of farm property decreased from $180,000,000 to about $80,000,000. LIVE STOCK STATISTICS But let us get back to stock condi tions. This table is hardly less pain ful to consider than that showing the ruin, wrought by war. For though the State is admirably adapted to stqck- raising, irom lslH) to llHX) we made practically no progress in this branch of farming. True the number of dairy cows increased from 223,000 to 233,- 000 (it was 232,000 in 1880), but the number of other neat cattle shows a decrease from 407,000 in 1890 to 391, 000 in 1900. And while Samuel Archer and other Progressive Farmer corre- sopndents have sought to emphasize the importance of sheep raising, the statistics show that in the decade" cov ered by the census figures the number -of sheep shrunk nearly half de clining from 402,247 in 1890 to 208,812 in 1900. Mules and asses increased 36 per cent ; horses, 21 per cent ; swine 4 per cent. It is noteworthy that the negroes use more mules than horses, the whites more horses than mules. On cotton farms the number of mules exceeds that of horses; of all other kinds of farms, the reverse is true. A comparison with the census of 1850 shows that we have five times as many mules and asses; less than 10 per cent more horses ; about 5 per cent more dairy cattle, and one-sixth less of oth- c neat cattle; only about one-third as many sheep, and about two-thirds as many swine. ' POULTRY RAISING AND DAIRYING The stock table, however, is not wholly discouraging. The poultry and ampton, Hertford, Martin, and Edge dairy exhibits are the brightest fea- combe, ranking in the order named, tures. We produced in 1899 62 ner "Tli cent more miiK (gam, urVib,Vb gal- Ions) than in 1889. We made 28.8 per cent more butter. As the increase in number of dairy cattle was not nearly so large, these figures indicate that the grade of cattle was very consider ably improved. Then our production of eggs in 1899 (17,000,000 dozen) was, a time and a half as large as in 1881 The poultry and eggs raised in 189 were worth $4,500,000, three-fifths of this rePresentinS poultry, two-fifths VALUE OF DIFFERENT CROPS. Perhaps it will surprise some to learn that our corn crop ismore val uable than our cotton crop, but such is the case. In 1899, we produced, in round numbers, $17,000,000 worth of corn, and' $15,500,000 worth of cotton, If, however, we include- the value 'of. the cottonseed,- $2,290,000, we have I vfirv ViaatIv 18.000.000 to ; the I credit of Kimr Cotton, which puts him head. Our 1899 tobacco was worth $8,000,000; hay 'and forage, $4,200,- 000; sweet potatoes, $5J,uou,uou; wneat, $3,400,000; oats, $1,000,000; peanuts, $1,800,000; miscellaneous vegetables, $3,000,000; orchard fruits, $1,000,000; forest products, $4',900,000 The editor of the bulletin comments on the fig- ures as follows: v. ' 1 ... "Of the total value of crops in 1899, cotton, including seed, - constituted 26.2 ' per cent ; corn, 25.2 per cent ; other cereals, including rice, 7.0 per cent; vegetables, including potatoes, sweet potatoes and onions, 8.9 per cent; forest products, 7.2 per Cent; fruits and nuts, 3.0"per cent; hay and forage, 6.2 per cent; and all other products, 16.3 per cent. The acreage devoted to corn constituted 47.1 per cent ofthe total area in crops and yielded 25.2 per cent of the total re ceipts, while cotton, occupying but 17.5 per cent of the total acreage, yielded 26.2 per cent of the total re ceipts." " ' Except oats and rye, we are raising more of all the cereals than ten years ago. The corn acreage has increased in nearly every county. The Yadkin River Valley grows nearly one-third of our wheat. The acreage in rice nearly doubled between 1890 and 1900. Though grown in 45 counties, three fourths of this crop -i3 raised in seven "Sound counties" Beaufort', Bruns wick, Camden, Hyde, Pasquotank, Per quimans and Tyrrell. 100,000 COTTON FARMERS Inx 1899 we raised 35 per cent more cotton than in 1889, though the in crease in acreage was only 12 per cent. Let us hoPe tMt this indites better farming. The bulletin has this to say as to the cotton production : "In 1899, 105,766 farmers devoted to the cultivation of cotton a total area of 1,007,020 acres, or 12.1 per cent of th& total improved farm land, and an average of 9.5 acres per farm report ing. The total production was 216, 506,930 pounds, an average of 215 pounds per acre and 114 pounds per capita. The counties reporting the greatest area under cotton are Meck lenburg, Robeson, Wake, Union, John ston, Anson, Halifax, Wayne, OTeve land and Edgecombe, ranking in' the cder named, and reporting in the ag- errefirate 42.6 per cent of the total acreage." WE ARE GROWING MORE FRUIT. It is encouraging to see that we are planting more fruit trees. We have a time and a half as many apple and cherry trees as ten years ago, a third more peach trees, and three times as many plums, prunes and pears. We have twice as many apple as peach trees. As to the standing of the counties, the bulletin speaks as follows: "Most of the fruit trees are reported from the western part of the State, Guil ford ranking among the leading coun1 ties in all varieties. Moore, Burke, and Guilford counties reported about one-eighth of the peach trees, and Wilkes, Buncombe, Surry, Guilford, and Haywood reported about one sixth of the apple, trees." Halifax County produces one-fourth of our figs. Three-fourths of our strawber ries are raised in the four adjoining counties-of Duplin, Pender, Sampson and Wayne. Our sweet potato acreage was slightly smaller in 1899 than in 1889. PEANUT INDUSTRY GROWING. The peanut industry is getting be- yond peanut proportions. In the cen- sus decade the acreage increased four- fold and production sevenfold. There are now nearly 20,000 peanut farmers "" AW'UW "1" 1 Art AAA ri-.a U lwo-thirds of the acreage is in the counties of Bertie, Halifax, North- has increased at least tenfold since 1889 in each of these counties, while Bertie County shows a gain from 528 acres to 14,499 acres, or about twenty se vdnf old." TOBACCO FARMING MAKES GIANT STRIDES There are 50,000 North Carolina to bacco farmers, and 200,000 acres planted to the weed. In 1899 these produced 127,500,000 pounds, average ing 6.3 cents in value, or a total value of $8,038,691. Tobacco farming made giant strides in the decade between 1890 and 1900. The acreage more than doubled -and the iricrease in produc tion was 250 per cent. This much larger increase in yield than in acreage Ts another indication of better farming." Here is the Cen3us Oflice statement as to tobaccorproduction: "The average yield per acre in 1899 was 628 pounds, against 375 pounds in 1889,- and 472 pounds in 1879. Of the 86 .counties reporting the cultivation of tobacco in 1899, the county having the largest acreage was Rockingham, with 16,882 acres; Pitt County report ed the largest production, 10,733,010 pounds, and was closely followed bj Rockingham, Nash, Wilson, Stokes, Granville, Franklin, Caswell, Greene, and Person counties m the order named. The 12 leading counties of the State contained 61.3 per cent of the entire acreage in tobacco and con- tributed 63.0 per cent of the total pro- duction." , fifty PER cent increase IN FERTi LIZER CONSUMPTION. There is a steady increase in quan- tity of fertiliser used., We now buy a time and a half as much as ten years ago. The Census figures show - an 1899 PVT.PTidit.nrP. for this nurnose T , A " , $4,4fy,U3U, an average oi per iarm, rannW from $80 in Scotland Countv through an average of $30 for the cen tral district to an average of only $1 for some western counties. For veg- etables farms the average was $43: for tobacco farms, $42 ; for dairy farms, $15; for florists' establishments, $11; for hay and grain farms, $11; for su gar farms, $9 ; for live-stock farms, $7; and for rice farms, $5. CONCLUSIONS, The figures indicate reasonable agri 'cultural prosperity, though the dis parity, between increase in total value of farm products and that of farm property is very marked.- - uvau6 , v, "uw - is just as steadily increasing. v Stock raising made slow progress 1 .1 i i mi 1 !. snowing Dareiy nan as many aa 1889. uairymg and poultry raising, nowever, maoe encouraging reports. There are three white farmers to one colored, and the negro's farm is less than half as large as that of the white man. Less than 1000 farms contain more than 1000 acres. mi . . n JLne cotton acreage is almost ex actly double that of tobacco, the ratio being 18.7 to 9.4. The total values of the two crop show a like proportions $15,696,000 to $8,038,000. The tobacco, fruit, peanut and rice industries made really remarkable growth in the decade covered by the census reports. This, we take it, m- dicates a tendency toward crop diver- smcation. ,i . . .iv" All in all, the report is encouraging, but we hope that we shall make a bet ter showing in the live stock column next time. MEETING OF T'E PRESS ASSOCIATION. The North Carolina Press Associa tion held its thirtieth annual session in Hendersonville last week. The at tendance was large. A number of very interesting addresses were de livered, the oration of Mr. Clyde K. Hoey being especially good. A car riage drive to Mt. Hebron Wednes day afternoon was greatly enjoyed. Hendersonville is a beautiful town, a delightful health resort, and is steadily growing in population and popularity. Its citizens did all in their power for the comfort and pleasure of the editors. The banquet at the Hotel Wheeler Thursday night was a fitting close to -this delightful session. The following ofiicers were chosen for the ensuing year: , President W. F. Marshall, of . the Gastonia Gazette. First Vice-President M. L. Ship- man, 01 tne Hendersonville lustler. Second Vice-President J:; O. At kinson, of the Christian Sun. Third-Vice - President J. J. Far- ris, of the High Point Enterprise. Secretary 'and Treasurer J. B. Sherrill, of the Concord Times. Historian C. H. Poe, of The Pro gressive Jbarmer. e Orator Archibald Johnson, of Charity and Children. Poet J. It. Swann, of the Madison County Eccoru. hiXecutive Committee H. A. Lon don. Thad R. Manniner. X .T. Fattis. U7 - - y R. A. Deal, H. B. Varner. " The conferees on the isthmian ca nal bill last week reached a complete and unanimous agreement this after noon in favor of accepting the Senate amendment, which contemplates the building of the Panama Canal i the President can secure a clear title to hat route. It is believed that both Houses will speedily ratify this action. Senator Morgan says, "We must have the canal : ithe question of route is of during tne aecaae. xne sneep stans- dom of speech. The repressive poli tics are astonishing, the 1899 report cies Gf other governments, judged by secondary importance," ; ; . The Thinkers. i A FREE P&ES8. The newspapers, with all j taints, are among the most - aids to the vigilance which is . of the liberty that is protected b i courts. Who believes that the d v the prosecuting ofiicers, or the udga would enforce the laws and TAo- , I private persons as well as thev An if the eye of the reporter and the f ' of the editor were not at the daily J1) vice of every voter? The occasi pettifogging of attorneys is a ne j sary evil, incidental to the conap I - tive power by which the legal prof J sum upuuius anu xesis me law &n'J rx a loresight gi "u "umuuu miormed by pre, fDl isiness. xex snarp practise i, J" m chf k by the fear that it of lDi' reported. Tn "Rno-1 and: in t.hp rmo-n -e t x uameg Il there was not a word the (V - zftte aboutt .tf trial and acqioittal of tn 8evfJ- D1SPS wno nad dared to tcU the kmg that he was not above ft. wasu' 18 Dexier to toW the worst newspaper m the TTniw States than to have a censorship 0f the press. We hae to take some ris and our people prefer the risks oi freedom of speech. They who abuse i by foolish declarations lose much of what influence! they have by the in difference or ridicule with which our people are accustomed to treat absurd ities; and those who publish criminal suggestions are more easily watched and caught in their earlier career tney would oe n our government re- " quired mem to oe more secret. In- deed the people of the United Stats. do not know how to do without W 1 --.ww m their effects, are not alluring. more open and fearIess Wfl . the better way for trying to give to every human being his share of truth and right, as well as his just portion of punishment. We can not escape suffering of some kind, and we are learning that no tests are too severe for the ages in their development of the highest types of human character. Until individual life shall not need to fear exposure, publicity will be the dreaded weapon of public order as well as of private revenge. And it 19 im possible to foretell when publicity will not need to be subject at least to the restrictions of our existing or future law. Challes E. Grinnell, in the At lantis Monthly, TflE POLITICAL BALANCE-WHEEL It is becoming quite common for s certain class of writers to advise far mers to stay at home, attend to their farming and leave politics alone. This agrees so perfectly with the selfish in terests of an uncertain class of politi cians that the inference is f airly de ducible that such advice to farmers is inspired by them. It will be a sad day for this country when farmers cease to take an interest in the political af fairs of the State or Nation, and as sign politics to the politicians. An en gine of high power and great speed must have a heavy balance-wheel w equalize the motion, overcome dead centers, and deliver the power in a steady, controlled current. Profession al politicians, like a wild horse har nessed to a road-cart, are liable to run away, kick off the dash-board and tear the thing to pieces, and in doing so injure innocent passers-by. Farm ers, as" a class, constitute the balance- wheel of the political "machine' & read so much about, and the only team that is perfectly safe anywhere and at all times. There is no other really important class of citizens who really .t want good government. Every otner business wants special favors at the hands of our law-makers; want some advantage over producers; some means by which they can levy tribute on others. Farmers are just as selns1 as others for they are made of the same sort of dust, but as their inter ests are best served by just laws that afford no special advantages to any body, they favor such law3. As tneu interests are as great, or greater, than thev have, w say the least, as much right to demand home government in their interests a3 others have to demand partial and un just laws" for their especial benefit Farmers, should of course, attend to their farms; but as government is part of their business also they should attend to that, too. There is a large and influential pprtion of our popula tion who would be very glad if farm ers generally would cease to meff with politics, and turn the whole thi over to the pecuniary politicians-- Farm and Rancn.