Thursday, November 29, 1906.
PROGRESSIVE FARMER AND COTTON PLANT.
11
NEXT WEEK'S PAPER.
Three or four notable features for next week's
Progressive Farmer are already on hand. First,
Zach McGhee, the gifted Washington correspond
ent of the Columbia State, has interviewed the au
thorities at Washington, and is going to explain
just what all this talk about Denatured Alcohol
means, just what the Government regulations are,
and just to what extent our Carolina and Virginia
farmers may profit by this much-talked-of innova
tion. It will be an authoritative and helpful pa
per. Next we are going to try to help our farmer
readers by giving an article of practical advice
about the use of spoiled cottonseed great quant
ities having been damaged by the fall rains. Mr.
C. B. Williams, of the North Carolina Department
of Agriculture, will handle this topic.
Our Dr. Butler says the cotton boll weevil is
surely coming to North Carolina and South Caro
lina, and when it comes, it is going to waste hun
dreds of thousands of dollars annually, although
our farmers might prevent practically all loss by
beginning. now to get ready for their surely com
ing enemy. There is undoubtedly no question of
more vital interest to the man who makes cotton
than this, and Dr. Butler having just come from
the boll weevil district in Louisiana, and from
conferences with authorities in Texas and else
where, has something to say which should com
mand attention.
For our tobacco farmers also we have in hand a
feature of no small interest the story of how the
Kentucky tobacco growers have built up the most
successful tobacco farmers' organization in the
world.
And all the regular departments will be up to
the usual standard.
GETTING BETTER HORSES.
For practical money-value, there is nothing in
this number of The Progressive Farmer which can
rank ahead of Mr. Scott's article emphasizing
first, thet urgent need of better breeding
horses, and secondly, the no less urgent need for
caution in buying these horses. The plan on which
he is at work for Alamance County we regard as
the very best we have heard of, and we wish a
half-dozen wide-awake Progressive Farmer read
ers in each county would take up the matter and
organize similar companies all over the South. We
thank Mr. Scott for his suggestion of a Horse
Special for The Progressive Farmer we are al--ways
glad t have our subscribers indicate ways
of making the paper more useful and we hope
later to put the idea into effect. Meanwhile we
should like to havje a full discussion of the views
set forth by Mr. Scott and Mr. Harrow.
PEANUT GROWERS ORGANIZING.
Eleven counties in Virginia and North Caro
lina producing seven-eighths of the world's pea
nut crop, were represented Tuesday of last week
at a big peanut convention at Suffolk, Va., the
first ever held.
It was unanimously decided to have an exhibit
at the Jamestown Exposition under the direct
auspices of the new association, and a committee
to perfect arrangements was appointed.
Officers of the new organization .were elected as
follows: President, C. W. Mitchell, of Aulander,
N. C; vice-president, N. T. Ridley, of Newsome,
Va.; secretary, G. T. Stephenson, of Pendleton
N. C; treasurer, George W. Nurney, of Suffolk
Va.
A statistical committee, consisting of J. L. Bry
ant, of Newsome, Va.; W. H. Howell, of Severn
N. C.; J. A. Garriss, of Conway, N. C, and W. M
C!nbb. of Franklin, Va., was also named.
Growers, it is said, will demand five and a half
cents a pound for prime grades of peanuts of this
vear's croD.
It is the wish of The Progressive Farmer to give
mnre attention to the -peanut industry in tne iu
tnre. and we hope the officers of the new organiza
tion will make the freest possible use of our col
SUGGESTIONS FOR DECEMBER FARM
WORK.
Any crops that yet remain ungathered should
be gotten in at once. To remain in the fields long
er will result in deterioration. The early frosts
and the continued rains in October caused great
oss to our pea and cottonseed crops. It will be the
part of wisdom to save all the peas possible,
though many of them are unsound. Peas will be
scarce and high another year. The farmer who
has peas to plant and to sell will be fortunate indeed.
It is now too late to sow small grain, with any
degree of certainty of making a full crop, yet it
will pay to sow rye on the land on which we in
tend to make that increased yield of corn next
year; also for spring grazing. The roots of the
rye will literally fill the soil with millions of hun
gry mouths taking up the soluble fertility which
would leach out during the rainy spells of winter
and be lost if the land were left uncovered. The
rye will hold this fertility and give it to the corn
crop next spring and summer when it will be so
badly needed.
Rather than have no wheat at all, it may be
well even now to sow a piece of well prepared land
if this is done as quickly as possible. With a fa
vorable winter the results may be satisfactory. It
is now too late to sow winter oats. It will be bet
ter to prepare land intended for oats and sow in
spring oats in February or March, according to
location. The Burt oat and the Rust Proof are
both good spring oats, especially on good land.
We do not know the name of the oats that will
make a good crop on poor land. If any one does,
please advise us!
In localities where fall and winter plowing is
practiced, every nice day In December should find
the plow running some good two-horse chilled
plow or a disc plow, set to run just a little deeper
than ever before. After the holidays there may
not be much good weather that will admit of
plowing for some time. On heavy clay lands a
day's plowing now will be worth much more than
it will be next February or March.
.3
Now is the time to fix up the barn and stabler
Make them tight and warm for the stock. Stop
the leaks in the roofs. It requires less food to
"carry stock through the winter when they are
warm and dry than when left exposed to the
weather. This is important, for many reasons.
Save all the manure possible. Prepare an extra
quantity for that corn-field next spring. You must
feed the stock, so do not waste the manure. Fer
tilizers will be' higher next year than they are
this; besides, many people are going to buy more
than ever to put under cotton and possibly some
other crops. Get ahead of these people by saving
more farm manure than ever before to supple
ment your commercial fertilizer. The results will
justify the work required.
& : '
December is the hog killing month in many sec
tions, as it should be. Hogs should be fat enough
to slaughter before the very cold weather sets in.
It is always better to kill hogs in medium cold
weather than to wait until cold freezing weather.
Hogs intended to be killed should not be fed for
twenty-four hours before killing. They will butch
er much better for not having been fed.
A friend, by the way, recently gave us a new
idea about heating water for scalding hogs tha
is nninne and commends itself. He said: Take a
piece of iron pipe some 10 or 12 feet long and
about two inches in diameter. Bore a hole a few
inches above the bottom of the barrel in which
you intend to scald the hogs, plug up one end of
the pipe, and fasten the other end in the hole near
the bottom of the barrel. Put the necessary
quantity of water in the barrel which will fill the
pipe also. Make a fire some few feet from the
barrel and let this pipe pass through the fire. The
steam generated in the pipe will soon heat the wa
ter in the barrel sufficiently hot to scald hogs.
Use a thermometer so as to not get the water
too hot. For grown hogs, a temperature of about
175 degrees will be hot enough, while pigs will
not require water so hot. A cheap thermometer,
such as is used in a tobacco barn, will answer
With the pipe for heating the water and a ther
mometer for keeping it at the right temperature,
hog killing should not be a hard job.
We cannot refrain from making one other sug
gestion, and that Is: be sure to clean the heads
and feet well. Many men just give the feet a
twist and the nose a kick or stamp with the foot
and expect the women to do the rest. It ia so
much easier to clean them well when you are
at it.
J
We prefer to kill one day and cut up and salt
the next day. Use plenty of salt; it is much cheap
er than pork. Salt well and put away in a box
or dark place where flies cannot reach it. Mr.
Troutman's recent articles in The Progressiva
Farmer have so nearly covered the ground that
we will make but few suggestions as to curing the .
meat, making sausage, etc. The meat should lie in
salt from four to five weeks, and then be smokea
slowly, without heating, until the job is thorough
ly done. Tastes differ as to the degree to which
it should be smoked. If for family use, then
smoke the way you like best. If for market, study
the wishes of your customers and smoke accord
ingly. As to sausage, we suggest that you weigh
all meat and also the seasoning. Then all your
sausage will be seasoned alike. Two pounds of
salt to one hundred pounds of meat is about right
and other seasoning to taste. Tastes differ in this
respect. For instance, some want a good deal of
sage while others want none. Some want sausage
so hot with pepper as to remind the average per
son of the Jap's attack on Port Arthur, while oth
ers want only a trace. Suit your household or
your customers in this respect; weigh the quantity
of each ingredient and there will be no further
guessing as to quantity. Mix the seasoning well
with the meat before grinding; then the grinding
will mix still further better than is possible in
any other way.
Have you arranged to plant that orchard we re
ferred to last month? If not, do not delay longer.
Be sure to plant out enough trees to supply you
with fruit in abundance throughout the entire
fruit season which should be practically all the
year.
Now is a good time to set out the strawberry
plants. Set out at least 1,000 plants for an or
dinary family. Have them of three or four varie
ties, early, medium and late. Do not reserve all
vr.ni hpat land for o.otton. but take a-Dart of it
for your fruit trees, vines, etc.
Again, have you arranged for putting out cab
bage lants as was suggested in last month's "Sug
gestions?" Now is the time to set them out if
you are to have early cabbage next spring. Manure
the land heavily. Do not be stingy with it. Use
also commercial fertilizers liberally principally
acid phosphate and potash, about equal parts of
kainit and acid phosphate at the rate of 1,000
pounds per acre in the rows. Run the rows three
feet apart, sow the fertilizer, and ridge up with
two furrows. Set the cabbage plants on the south
side of the ridge and near the bottom oi tne riage.
. . m ' m . l . A.
Set them deep, clear up tne leaves, so tne stems
will not be exposed to the cold weather. This
deep setting is important. The ridge will protect,
the plants from the cold North winds. Other sug
gestions in regard to cultivation will be made
later. Set at least 500 plants for a family of or
dinary size. Charleston Wakefield will probably
be the best variety to plant out. Plants can be
bought at reasonable prices, and are advertised
in The Progressive Farmer.
The yield of corn for 1906 in almost every
State is better than usual. North Carolina, for In
stance, is credited with an average yield of fif
teen bushels per acre against a ten year average
of thirteen bushels. South Carolina has not done
quite so well, while Virginia and Tennessee aver
age about twenty-five bushels per acre. Let us
see if the corn crop in the Carolinas next year
cannot be put at a much higher average than for
1906. This will be easy if we will give more at
tention to the corn crop than we are now doing.
Regin to plan for an increased yield for next year.
tv, it, Hcnortmcnt pnnHnfltpd hv our Secretary -Treasurer.
Mr. T. H. Parker, and Agricultural Editor Butler, is now a
permanent feature of The Progressive Farmer, an artle'e in
th last number of each, month, giving "Suggestions" for the
A THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK.
You would compliment a, coxcomb doing a good
act, but you would not praise an angel. . The sil
ence that accepts merit as the most natural thing
in the world is the highest applause. Such souls,
when they -appear, are the Imperial Guard of Vir
tue, the perpetual reserve, the dictators of for
tune. One needs not praise their courage, they
are the heart and soul of nature. Ralph Waldo
Emerson.
umns. -
month following.