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THE INDUSTRIAL AND EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS OP OUR PEOPLE PARAMOUNT TO ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS OF STATE POLICY.
Volume XVIII.
RALEIGH, N.C., TUESDAY, APRIL 7, 1903.
Number 9.
AGRICULTURE
HARRY FARMER'S TALKS.
CXIII.
Editor of The Progressive Farmer:
Docs it pay to let hogs run inthe
woods? Is it not better to have a
small pasture? We heard a farmer
say that he had two sows and pigs.
He shut one up in a small lot and
put the others in the woods. He fed
each one the same amount of feed.
When he commenced fattening them,
the ones; which he had kept up were
33 1-3 per cent larger than the oth
ers, ami the same difference was
found at killing time. It is a ques
tion that we have not fully decided,
lut we have come to the conclusion
that it is a losing business to let hogs
run at large unless they have swamps
t run in. Ticks, redbugs and other
insects do a vast amount of damage
to hujrs in the summer, especially if
the weather is dry.
Here are some mistakes we have
made that are hard to remedy. We
five ihem to the public so that Oth
frs may not do likewise. It is not
l'leasant to tell our mistakes, but
mo times it will do more good than
tell of our successes.
!un we began farming we tried
1,1 irt-nd our labor over too much
hni'l "biting off more than we could
In w. Wo can look back now and
thU more plainly.
mistake was cutting ditches
with 1 U or crooks in them to suit
-'mo small plot of land. This
-hurt rows on one side of the
Wo did the same thing in put-
T!1! up wire fences.
Miit!M)infr wjro fences calg to
,nil'd a mi-take we made in putting
Id.i.-k wire in a fence with gal-j-:miz.-d
wire. In a few years the
'hv- vire will rust out and give
" iit our money was scarce
a'l w.- w, r,. trying to save the black
Ulr' - '"it ir was "penny wise and
l'illd fnolUl,"
Aiiuth,.,. mi-take was in not using
"r'' r"u 1 in our rotation, which
' 1;tVi saved us a large amount
ai,i 'ut for nitrogen. While we
' " rn and peas one year and
uTt,;n tl,o n. xt and saw our land im-
'V" Slnwly, if we had f0llowed
arVTn anl 1K'aS With atS and peaS
then cotton we could have saved
labor0 lum,lreJs of dollars with less
Wo
Kf'a the farms (not farms de-
(T tit
iriv v
voted entirely to poultry) to give
their plans. It will be very helpful
to beginners and learn older people
how to succeed. Tell what kind of
fowls you like best; time you set the
hens; number of eggs you want them
to have; how old you let the biddies
get before you feed them; the kind
of feed given first and later after the
biddies get some size; tell whether
you let the hens carry them as long
as they wish, or whether you wean
them. And when they get sick and
die so fast that it looks like you are
going. to lose all, what remedy have
you had the most success with? How
long do you keep your hens, two,
three or four years?
HARRY FARMER.
10,630,945 500-POUND BALES.
First Annual Statement of the Cotton
Crop Made Up from Ginners' Reports
North Carolina's Yield, 568,884.
Washington, April 1. The Census
Bureau to-day made public the first
annual statement of cotton produc
tion under the permanent organiza
tion of that bureau. The statement
is made by Wm. M. Steuartchief,
statistician of manufactures. Nit
places the cotton production at 10,
630,945bales of 500 pounds each.
The total crop, including linters, was
11,285,105 commercial bales. The dif
ference in the figures in commercial
bales and 500-pound bales is due to
the fact that some of the commercial
bales are round bales, which contain
only 255 pounds or little more than
half the weight of the square bales.
The explanation is made that the
figures are the result of personal vis
its on the part of Census Office
agents to 32,753 ginneries. The
canvas extended until March 28, but
at that time there was not much gin
ning of cotton. The production by
States in commercial bales is given
as follows: Alabama, 1,011,325; Ar
kansas, 999,029; Florida, 67,287;
Georgia, 1,599,199; Indian Territory,
409,591; Kansas, 45; Kentucky,
1,308; Louisiana, 911,953; Mississip
pi, 1,451,620; Missouri, 49,552;
North Carolina, 568,884; Oklahoma,
218,390; South Carolina, 948,200;
Tennessee, 328,019; Texas, 2,587,299;
Virginia, 16,575.
The wheat crop in Chatham is
unusually forward and promising,
and the green wmeat fields are lovely
to behold. If nothing now unfore
seen happens, the farmers of Chat
ham will be blessed with an abundant
wheat crop and a bountiful harvest.
Chatham Record.
Sweet Potatoes, Watermelons and Clay
Peas.
Editor of The Progressive Farmer;
Now I want to talk sweet potatoes
to you. Two years ago a very ener
getic man bought land joining mine,
and he wanted to know if the soil
was good for potatoes. I told him I
had made forty bushels on one-eighth
of an acre. He went to figuring and
said that was three hundred and
twenty bushels to the acre and he
would plant two acres and make six
hundred and forty .bushels and sell
them for three hundred and twenty
dollars. Now, you want to know how
he came out. Well, he made about
forty bushels of very faulty potatoes,
and he was mad and swore that sweet
potatoes and Blake Johnson would
not do to depend on.
The reason he failed was because
he half-plowed, half-fertilized, and
poorly worked Tiis potatoes. I
broadcast manure at the rate of six
teen loads to the acre and break and
ridge and ridge again, and then scat
ter guano with" a high per cent of
potash at: the rate of three -hundred
pounds to the acre ' in the middles,
and run a long plow through to mix
with the dirt, then make the ridges
011 that and then knock the top off.
I see that my slips are set late in the
evening with a little water under
them and dry dirt on top of ground,
see that they are straight as a line,
so that I can run a harrow close to
them, and never allow a crust to
form on the ground. Try a small
patch this way, and see what you
can do.
Another thing I would like for you
to do is to select a good piece of
ground that does not get hard, and
have you a fine watermelon patch.
Don't put too much manure in the
hills, and thoroughly mix the dirt
with it, and keep the bugs off them
by putting a little well-slacked lime
or tobacco dust on the young plants,
and you must be quick for the bugs
may have them ruined before you
know it. Work them well when the
vines are dry, and you will have nice,
big, red-hearted melons for your
family, and a few dollars worth to
sell just when you need a little money
so bad.
Now, buy you a few bushels of
clay peas while they are cheap, and
have them ready. I will tell you
later how you can make and save
some of the best hay you ever had.
If you have failed with peavine hay,
it was your fault ; . I can set you
right.
BLAKE JOHNSON.
Gaston Co., N C.
Report of North Carolina Experiments
With Cotton and Corn.
The February Bulletin of the
State Department of Agriculture,
which is now being sent out, con
tains, in addition to registration, of
fertilizers and fertilizer analyses, a
report of the results of tests of a
large number , of varieties of cotton
and corn on the Edgecombe and
Red Springs Test Farms of the De
partment of Agriculture. Quite a
number of the varieties of these
crops have now been under experi
mentation for three years, which
gives added interest and value to the
results for three years. This shows
results for thre years. This shows
the varieties which have given the
highest yields in the three years'
test. Experiments are also included
with different width rows and dis
tances in the rows of planting cot
ton and eorn.
Farmers who do not get the Bui
letin regularly should send their
names to the Department of Agri
culture, Raleigh, for it, as it is pub
lished for their benefit. When
writing, ask for this February num
ber, as the information given should
be of value to all growers of the two
great crops mentioned.
Tobaccj.
The last week in April or the first
'week in May has heretofore been
about as early as most farmers could
get their tobacco plants ready to
set; and in fact it seemed early
enough to insure a healthy and vig
orous growth of the plant. This
year the plants are from two to three
weeks earlier than usual, and we fear
that some of our tobacco growers will
get in too much of a hurry and "set
out" too soon, and we now caution
them not to do so. Don't shove
your plants too much, and you had
better let them get a little old 011
the bed than run the risk of a failure
with your crop. by setting too soon.'
You can keep your plants back by
rolling the cover off when the weath
er will allow. Sometimes during
early April we have a very cold snap
and a little crust of a freeze, and if
your plants should be set and such
weather come on them, they might
be ruined; but this is not the worst
danger; some tobacco planters of
long experience told us the other day
that if" set too soon it might take
what is known to tobacco growers as
the "hard stalk," and then "button
out" too low and be almost worth
less. Be careful. Clinton Democrat.