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THE INDUSTRIAL AND EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS OP OUR PEOPLE PARAMOUNT TO ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS OF STATE POLICY.
Volume XVII.
RALEIGH, N. C, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1902.
Number 32.
i
AGRICULTURE
Harry Farmer's Talks.
LXXXVIII.
Editor of The Progressive Farmer:
Unless there is a change cotton
raising in this section has reached
its limit. Strawberries in the spring
and tobacco later in the summer will
utilize all the available labor so that
no more can be spared on the cotton
crop. A machine to pick it in the
fall seems to be the only means to
increase it, and so far all efforts in
that direction have failed.
RUST IN COTTON.
A great deal of cotton has the
bi k rust this year. Where no
kainit wa3 used the crop will only
be about one-half. On our farm wo
always use kainit. It seems to be the
only sure remedy. On black lands
! snuff-colored sandy soils, where
x f'tCCTjrsSj kainit should be used
at the rate of 200 to JOO pounds an
acre. We were told that kainit used
on land early in the spring would
prevent the blue louse from injuring
the young cotton and corn. This is
one pesf that we have not been able
to overcome. Some years they begin
on the young plants of corn and cot
ton early and suck the sap of the
roots, so that the plant will not grow
in spite of manure and good cultiva
tion. They leave as soon as warm
weather sets in, say about the middle
of June in this section.
MAKE YOUR HENS PAY.
Feed the hens good and prepare
them for winter. Do not feed too
much corn. If you can get them to
moult soon there will be but little
trouble about eggs. The price of
7 eggs has been good all the year, and
it is reasonable to expect good prices
until next summer. Watch out for
that lazy condition which some hens
will get into just as soon as the
weather gets a little cool. They will
gather under the barn or some other
building and stay there all day ex
cepting when you open the barn door
i1
or icall them to their feed. You can
present this by giving them no feed
. at jail excepting a little at night.
Heps are generally excessively fat
that do this. Heavy feeds of corn
will bring about this condition, corn
beling more harmful in this way than
amy other feed.
nOW TO GET THE LAWS YOU WANT.
4EI0W will the people get such laws
as) they want ? Here is our plan :
Wnen the candidates are nominated
for both branches of the Legislature,
ask them if they favor certain meas
ures. If they are good honest men,
they will not be afraid or ashamed
to give their views on the stump. We
regard them as nothing but servants
with sense enough to do what is best.
A great many ..farmers do not want
the stock law and some do want it.
Do not wait until after the election
to know what your law-maker candi
dates think about it, but learn be
forehand so you can vote according
ly "Whatsoever ye shall ask it will
be given you."
HARRY FARMER.
Columbus Co., N. C.
North Carolina Crop Report for Sep
tember. What is the present condition of
cotton? 79. What is tho present
condition of corn? 84. What is the
present condition of tobacco? 85.
What is the present codition of
peas? 82. What -is the present con
dition of swet potatoes? 81. What
is the present condition of late Irish
potatoes? 75. What is the present
condition of peanuts? 85. What is
the present condition of sorghum?
83. What is the condition of late
cabbage? 72. What is the present
condition of apples? 61. What is
the present condition of peaches?
CO. What is the present condition of
grapes? 87.
The foregoing is the North Caro
lina crop report for September as
given out by Commissioner of Agri
culture Patterson September 20th,
the report being based on the re
ports from crop correspondents in
all parts of the State with an aver
age date of about Sept. 15th. A full
average crop would be represented by
100, half crop by 50, etc.
Yesterday Charles F. Cates of Al
amance County sold a car load of
pickles and kraut, of his own make,
to a firm in this city. Cates is a
young farmer. He received between
$300 and $400 for his pickles. Dur
ham Cor. Ist.
See that your cotton is picked
clean. It may be cheaper to pay
a good picker 50 cents a hundred
than to pay 30 cents a hundred to a
picker who leaves a tuft hanging in
ten per cent of his bolls.
Mr. Allen K. Smith, president of
he Bank of Smithfield, says that
Johnston County has a magnificent
crop of tobacco, and that he has
never seen a better one in the county.
." . .
Strawberry Culture Fall Planting.
Editor of The Progressive Farmer:
A thing that is worth doing is
worth doing well, says the old ad
age. Of all things this applies to
,the fall setting of strawberry plants.
One who plants in the fall almost
always does so with a view to get
ting a crop of berries the next
spring. To insure this happy result
the conditions must be right. For
while the strawberry plant likes cool
weather and even cold weather short
of the coldest, it cannot grow when
tho ground is actually frozen. There
fore we must aid it to make all pos
sible growth before heavy freezing
sets in, and to extend its root growth
(the foliage is apt to be killed down
by frosts) in the mild intervals be
tween cold spells of winter.
The three prerequisites to this end
are: good plants, good planting and
good soil. The well-grown, well
rooted plant has already much of the
size .necessary to enable it to sus
tain a good crop of fruit. Besides
it has the vitality which will enable
it to grow much faster in proportion
to its size than a small, weak plant.
Properly set, the plant grows faster
than if it had not been transplanted
at all.
I will begin with the soil. It is, of
course, better to have a rich soil to
begin with, one in which the fertiliz
ing properties have become thor
oughly incorporated with the soil, a
part of the soil itself. Plants are
easier to live and quicker to grow
off on such land than when a great
deal manure of any kind is applied
just before planting.
Not all, probably. not the majority
of growers, are fortunate enough to
have such land available for straw
berries. Therefore, I will give the'
best plan to follow where poor or or
dinary land has to be used for this
purpose. Cotton-seed meal is by long
odds the best and safest manure for
young plants, especially in fall, when
heat and drought sometimes follows
planting. Being of vegetable origin
it does not fire or burn, even when
coming in contact with the roots, like
mineral or animal fertilizers. Then
it is quick enough and yet not so
soluble as to be quickly lost unless
at once appropriated.
I break the land well in Septem
ber, and harrow well with disk har
row, if cloddy .or turfy. In October
or November I prepare it for plant
ing, by running off rows three fet
apart. In these are sown cotton-seed
meal at the rate of 500 to 700 pounds
an acre. This is as much as it is
usually safe to apply in the drill. Mix
the cotton-seed meal with the soil
by running a small harrow (or lack
ing that, a plow) down the drill.
Then list on this with a furrow from
each side. Knock this list down pret
ty low with hoes or a drag, and you
are ready to plant.
An endless number of implements
are used by different people to open
the hole to se't plants: spades, trow
els, hoes, poles, etc. A thoroughly
effective implement may be economi
cally made of a piece of inch plank
four feet long and four inches broad.
Most of the board should be trimmed
down to lighten it and form a han
dle. Six inches or more of one end
must be left spade-shape and sharp
ened at the tip. If the land is stony
or rough several inches of this end
should be shod with iron, especially
if much planting is to be done. A
planter made of oak or any hard
wood plank or sapling will usually
last to set several acres without
ironing. V
Armed with this implement a man
can walk .upright and open the hole
fast and well. In these broad holes
the plants should be set, spreading
the roots out as much fan-shape as
practicable, and the dirt pressed
firmly around "the roots, care being
taken that the hole is well filled with
from the bottom up.
To grow off at once, the plants
must not be set too deep, while if
set too shallow they will be apt to
die. The right depth is that which
covers and hides all the roots after
the dirt is packed down around them.
If stable manure is to be used a
good way is to apply it evenly around -and
between the plants as a top
dressing in November or later. Lit
tle if any of its properties are lost
by Exposure in cold weather. In-,
stead they are washed into the soil
within reach of the plant roots, -which
appropriates them at once.
Thus used they also answer a good
purpose as a mulch to lessen the
heaving and lifting effects of heavy
freezes.
Above I have given the directions
for field 'planting on a more or less
large scale. In a garden bed when
intensive culture can be given to ob
tain big results, the plants can be
set much closer, say fifteen inches
apart in the rows, the rows fifteen
inches apart, with a two-foot walk
way between each three rows. In
this mode of planting the cotton
seed meal should be applied broad
cast arid well chopped in. Manure
can be applied as a top dressing as in
field culture.
O. W. BLACKNALL.
Vance Co., N. C.
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