Newspapers / The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, … / Sept. 9, 1902, edition 1 / Page 1
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ti if ! 1 J : f it I V - - en - kL v y ' ' ( "v-" ! "x - r 4sv To) " u0 THE INDUSTRIAL AND EDUCATIONAL. INTERESTS OF OUR PEOPLE PARAMOUNT TO ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS OF STATE POLICY. Volume XVII. RALEIGH, N. C, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 1902. Number 31, AGRICULTURE HOW ONE MAN HAS IMPROVED A WORN-OUT FARM. In Twelve Years the Present Owner has Made it Pay for Itself and He has In creased Production Sixfold. Correspondence of The Progressive Farmer. In response to the invitation in your issue of July 22 for a discussion of the subject, "How to Improve a Worn-out Farm," I will give the re sult of an experiment in"" that line that has come under my observation. About twelve years ago, when "Pe;r leg" Williams was hauling negroes from Eastern North Carolina to the Mississippi Delta by the carload, an old "sandhill" farm, worn out in the truest sense of the word, found it self without a tenant. This farm con tained about 120 acres, thirty of which were woodland. Of the clear ed land, there were about thirty acres of what is known as pocoson, most of which had been turned out and allowed to grow up in broomsedge, bushes and running briars till two strong mules could scarcely pull a one-horse Dixie plow in it. The rest of this pocoson land had been plant ed in rice for several years and had gotten so it would not grow anything else. So only sixty acres were left upon which anything could' be made to grow, and some of this was very light sandy soil covered with sassa f ras bushes, the other being of a san dy loam. To improve such a farm would seem a task almost impossible of ac complishment. Nevertheless, within these twelve years it has been made "to pay for itself" by its present owner, and has been improved till it produce six or eight times as much as when he took it in hand. The method followed was careful preparation of the soil for planting, careful cultivation of crops, with systematic rotation of the same when possible, no one crop being planted on the sar :e field more than two years j i in succea . ion. This farm is in the trucking sec tion and considarble truck has been planted, but of late years only straw berries and asparagus have been grown. The cowpea has been planted after all small grain and always in tho corn, either on top of the rows, be tween the hills of corn, or in the middle of the rows when made wide enough, or both when seed are plentiful. This season's production of this farm will be between $2,000 and $2, 500. The following is a summary of crops grown, number of acres plant ed and value of produce (prices esti mated at what they will probably be at the timewhen produce is ready for market) : Twelve acres in wheat and oats followed half by peas broadcast for hay, half by peas and peanuts in drill for seed and hogs, total value esti mated at $350 ; 3 Ms acres in strawber ries, $750; 1 acre in sweet potatoes, $60;' 25 acres in asparagus, $85; 1 acre in watermelons, $55; 20 acres in cotton (lint and seed), $700; 35 acres in corn (grain and fodder), $400. Total, $2,400. (Note. Twelve acres of the corn was on reclaimed pocoson land. Lime was used on this to counteract acidity or sourness.) Tobacco and cantaloupes will prob ably be planted next season ai:d a still further diversification of "crops inaugurated. ROBT. S. TAYLOR. Duplin Co.. N. C. Cotton Crop and Prices. It is at this writing (August 28), too early to estimate the cotton crop for 1902 with any degree of accura cy. Tho next twenty days may great ly change the situation. But the crop is sufficiently advanced to settle a few things. There will not be a very large crop. No "bumper crop" is now possible. In many places the cotton has stopped growing and is opening rap idly from two to three weeks earlier than the normal time. This always means a short crop, when these con ditions prevail. Other large areas have bloomed to the top. The weed is only moderately well-developed anywhere, except a few forward spots. Over large areas it is very small. Numerous insect3 and di seases are doing damage in various localities. On the other hand, the supply of American cotton on hand is very short. But for the premature open ing of the present crop, many facto ries would have been compelled to shut down. All the cotton we can make this season will be needed to supply (the worlds demand for the next twelve months. This should cause the price to be good. And it will have this effect if our farmers do not rush their cotton into market. 20th of October, cotton would bring 12 cents, . . Why should any farmer sell before that time ? Surely you can live that long without your cotton money. If you owe debts, your creditors can af ford to wait that long. Your credit is not injured by holding the cotton. It will be good while you have the cotton, and it will be better as the price advances. The more you get for your cotton the more debts you can pay. Then why be in a hurry to sell? Why not hold and get that for yours? Why should cotton drop suddenly down from 9 to 7Mi cents ? The cot ton goods have not dropped in price that way. It is speculation pure and simple, They, the speculators, think you will be silly enough to sell at that figure and they will buy it as cheap as you will sell. The time has come when you can have something to say about the price of cotton. ' Sell slow and you will get more for it. Dr. J. B. Hun nicutt, in Southern Cultivator. Raising Pork Cheaply. A Wake County farmer, sending a new subscription to The Progressive Farmer, writes: "I should like to tell your readers of -iny plan for hog-raising; since I have tried it I have bought no meat but have sold some every year. I have' about one hundred mulberry tree in a'two-acr let. About Nov ember 1st I sow it in rye for the pigs to graze on in the spring, and.it is excellent for this purpose. The mul bb'rrie come on about the middle of May and last till the last of July. At that time the hogs are fat, and your work is to hold what they have gain ed. If you let them go back, it is all loss. I have a field of rye to keep them on till I get something better. I hope this will help some reader of The Progressive Farmer." A mere extension of the present school term with the present course of study will not meet the needs of the children. The lines of develop ment in the South must be both agri cultural and mechanical. Our peo ple must bring a trained brain and a trained hand1 to the daily labor. Ed ucation should be a means not of es caping labor, but of making it more effective. Exchange. Fools learn nothinsr from wise k x " men, but wise men learn much from fools.-Lavater. Harry Farmer's Talks. ; LXXXVI. Correspondence of The Progressive Farmer. We are glad to note the success on farmers are having with tobacco this year. The sales at the warehouse at Whiteville are large and the farmers go away with smiles on their faces. Tobacco is paying three times the profit that cotton does. . GROWING TOBACCO. There are large areas all over the eastern part of North Carolina that will produce fine tobacco. But it must be borne in mind that to do well with tobacco requires experience in curing it. Our farmers tried it a few years ago and lost money, be cause they knew nothing about man aging the barn. The tobacco land should have cow peas planted between the hills of tobacco about the time the crop is laid by so that they can take the land as soon as leaves are stripped off. We would dig lip the. tobacco stalks so that they would not draw on the land. By this plan the land would improve, at the same timev yielding two crops a year. The heavy application of commercial fertilizer would make a nice crop of peas. SEND THE CHILDREN TO SCHOOL. We must remind our farmers that the crop of children should be got ten in shape to attend the schools which will soon open. Make all need- ed preparation in time so that the cultivation will not be interrupted by other work. We know it is hard some times to keep them in school when labor is scarce and there is so much work to do, but we owe tliem an education and we should not fail to meet this sacred obligation. It ti .1 - i t may maKe the ditrerence between freedom and slavery in years to come. SOW OATS. It is not too soon to sow oats. The Winter Gray or Turf oat should be sown early. Wo are surprised that farmers do not sow more of them. They will stand he cold equal to wheat and will out yield any other kind. The straw is not so coarse as the rast proof and spring oat thu3 stock eat.it better. If you sow them early it will only require about three fourths the seed per acre as other kinds. Tho seed will cost a-Utile more than the old' varieties but yuu will save in the quantity required to - the acre whicn really makes them heapor. A bushel and a half give more oat3 than two bushels of other kinds. They can be had of some of " The Progressive Farmer's advertisers. The D. L. Gore Co., of Wilmington, can supply them. , ; V ! v ! I U I, -) 3 J 1 - t f 1 T V 1 ( . 1 ) If no cotton was sold before the i HAERYFABMEF ft a i
The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Sept. 9, 1902, edition 1
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