THB PROGRESSIVE FARM
Thursday, December V
10
1909.
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ROGRESSXVE
or
" Ycm Can Tall by a Man's farm Whether He Reads It or Not."
PctHsfesd 7c:!dy by tto Apfeclterd PntSsEnj Co.
ifmfcr A Editorial and Business Management of
CLARENCE H. FOE
DR. TAIT BUTLER. ASSOOULT Editob AMD ILAJTASIX.
PBO. w. f. mjlssey.
E. E. MILLER,
JOHN a PEARSON, -a
F. KOONOE. - -
AssoaiATi Editor.
- llAJTAGuro Editor.
SSOBXTABT-TBSAaUBIB.
Fiild RiPMsmrrATrvm.
FISHER SPECIAL AGENCY, EA8TXSW RXFBXSXHTATIVXS,
160 Nwn St. New York City.
Entered aa second class matter at the poatofflee at Raleigh,
N. C under the Aet ol Conaxeaa of March 8, 1878.1
We Guarantee Our Advertisers.
WE wUl positively make good the loaa aaatalned by any
subscriber aa a reanlt ol fraudulent misrepresentations
made In our columns on the part of any advertiser who
proves to be a deliberate awlndler. Thia doea not mean that
we will try to adjust trifling dlaputea between reliable busi
ness houses and their patrons, but In any oaae of actually
fraudulent dealing, we will make good to the subscriber aa
we have lust la (floated. The condition of this guarantee la
that the claim for loss shall be reported to us within one
month after the advertisement appears in our paper, and
that the subecrtber must aay when writing each advertiser:
'1 am writing you aa an advertiser In The Progressive Far
mer, whleh guarantees the reliability of ail advertisers that
tt carries."
Average Weekly Circulation First Half 1909, 44,520.
Be a Man and Take Your Medicine.
J interests of the South, The Progressive
J XI A. J A. T- it..!
t anner is very mucn moruneu io near mtxx.
some farmers who sold their cotton last spring
for fall delivery are trying to break their contracts
and sell the pledged product to other parties at
higher prices. Such conduct is nothing less than
disgraceful thievery, and no farmer deserves the
respect of his fellows, nor can have the respect of
himself, who is guilty of it. If you pledged your
cotton at a lower price than it is now selling at, in
Heaven's name, take your medicine like a man, for
the honor of yourself and the honor of farmers as
a class.
Do We Wish Lower Prices for Farm
Products?
UR EXCHANGES contain numerous refer
ences to the so-called meat and other
dealers and speculators for raising the prices of
farm products. Throughout all is a tone of re
gret at the high prices of meal, flour, corn, etc.
This view of the prices of farm prices is in. sym
pathy with the consumers, and we infer that in
the opinion of the editors these high prices for
farm products are a great calamity. To one know
ing that 80 to 90 per cent of our peropleare farm
ers and that the farmer is the only producer of
meat, flour, corn, etc., this bewailing of the high
price of these products appears peculiar at least,
if not ridiculous.
Truly, is it not remarkable that the farmer
should complain of the high prices of the products
which he grows? While nearly one-half our land
is planted in corn, we complain of the high price
of corn; we produce some meat and could produce
more at one-third the price it is selling for, but
still we complain of the high price of pork. We
have even heard farmers bewailing most bitterly
the J high price of cowpea seed. The cowpea is
paricularly a Southern crop, is one of our great
soil-improvers and hay crops, and still our farm
ers are, heard to complain of the price of cow-
peas.
It is a fact, however, that while nearly all farm
products are now bringing top prices we are In
jured instead of benefited thereby; because al-
i n.iiaM rf all
though farmers, we are buyers, not scu0, -farm
products except cotton.
While the farmers of other sections are rejoic
ing at and growing rieh on the high prices of meat
and other farm products, we are complaining and
blaming the trusts and every other imaginable
person except the right one ourselves. The ab
surdity of the farmer complaining of the high
price of farm products must be apparent to any
one. If meat, corn and flour are too high, why
don't we produce them? Farming is our business,
and if we can not produce these farm products for
less than the present selling prices, then those
prices are not too high. With all farm products
bringing maximum prices, this ought to be a sea
son of rejoicing instead of mourning, and it will
be when we realize the ridiculous position we are
putting ourselves in by not growing those crops to
sell which are so high as to call forth our special
attention. If these prices are too high, why stop
at growing merely enough for our own use. Why
not grow some to sell and reap the benefits of the
unusually high prices? If we will not avail our
selves of this rare opportunity, let us at least
cease making ourselves ridiculous by the spectacle
of farmers complaining of the high prices of farm
products.
This Week and Next.
m
HERE ARE A NUMBER of features in this
issue which we do not think you can afford
to miss. Professor Massey's "Farm Work
for December" will claim first attention from
many readers; and his suggestions as to the things
to do right now are well worn heeding. Over on
page b will oe round a list or Twelve Things to
Do This Month"; and we believe that every one of
them is worth doing, too.
Our report of the great meeting of Soutnern
agricultural workers at Jackson, Miss., shows
plainly the trend of the best agricultural-though
in the South. Especially notable are the resolu
tions presented by a committee of which our own
Dr. Butler was chairman, and adopted by the
meeting. The boll weevil is advancing steadily,
and it is only a matter of a comparatively short
time until it will be all over the cotton country. To
have both boll weevils and cattle ticks means a
hard row to hoe; therefore, since we know how to
get rid of the tick, let every State in Progressive
Farmer territory exterminate it before the weevil
gets here. It can be done; and this reminds us
that In an early issue we are going to publish a
symposium showing just what has been done along
this line In every State in all our territory.
There is an interesting discussion of the tenant
system on pages 4 and 5, which adds new weight
to our contention that the thing for every aspir
ing man to do is to buy at least a small piece of
land.
Don't neglect Mr. Conover's warning against
the creamery promoter sharps: if they show up in
your neighborhood, invite them to move on. Neith
er can you afford to miss the list of "Agricultural
Books Worth Reading," nor the listron page 8, of
hardy vines that can be planted now.
Next week our "$500 More a Year" article will
tell how to care for the manure something .that
most farmers certainly need to know. The third
article in our reading course on fertilizers will
treat of soil formation; Mr. French will make a
strong plea for more and better pastures; there
will be another article on drainage, this time
from Mr. J. M. Jones, of Alabama, arid the usual
amount of timely suggestion and information.
Every few days we have calls or letters from
young men who have trained themselves as boek
keeps or stenographers and want positions. The
young men who are trained in agriculture, how
ever, do not need apply for positions; the places
are seeking them.
Help Stop Forest Fires.
nraHE RECENT DROUTH has resulted in
enormous damage to our timber resources
by forest fires. We have by no means de
veloped as yet a public sentiment against negu,
gence with fire in the woods such as we ought to
have, and must have. Our timber supply, iarge
trees and young undergrowth, are just as mueh
of the farmer's wealth as: his houses, bams, and
wheat-stacks, and a man is just as blamable to let
fire destroy one as the other In this connection
a helpful suggestion is made by the Richmond
Times-Dispatch which we take pleasure in pass
ing on:
"A reader of The Times-Dispatch in this
city, Mr. S. T. Beveridge, writes to us to sug
gest that Virginia farmers should prohibit
hunting on their land until the drought is
broken. Mr. Beveridge thinks that if thsir
attention Is once called to the matter, true
sportsmen will stay at home until the danger
is passed. We hope, and we believe, that he
is entirely right. Guns are a real menace in
the woods at times like these. The most
careful hunter brings peril with him. In
other States, because of this plain fact, the
Governor is authorized to close the hunting
season by proclamation in seasons of prolong
ed drought. Virginia will have a law like
this some day, but at present,' she must rely
upon the common sense of her land-owners and
sportsmen. No farmer should give shooting
privileges to anybody till the woods are soak
ed by a good rain, and no hunter should
make himself a public danger-spot by trying
, to get them."
A few weeks ago we advised our farmers to
hold their cotton for better prices. That advice
has been justified and thousands of farmers have
doubtless profited by it. Now with cotton at 145
and 15 cents, we are not inclined to take the re-
sponsibility of urging farmers to hold their whole
crop longer. Certainly every farmer now should
sell enough to pay his debts and get thoroughly
square with the world during December "Whea
you have sold enough for this, you may then de
cide for yeurself as to the wisdom of speculating
on a further adraa.ee.
In all sections of the South the boys' corn elubs
are provlmg one of the greatest educational agen
oies ever devised and one of the greatest aids to
better farming yet thought of. We heard the oth
er day of a fourteen-year-old boy who made 98
bushels of corn on an acre of land, while a
neighbor farmer in an adjoining field cleared at
the same time made on 10 bushels. See your
County Superintendent and put your county in
the forefront of the Boys' Corn Club movement.
For the illustration on our first page this week,
as well as the one last week, credit is due the
Missouri College of Agriculture.
A Thought for the Week.
r
HAT MEANS the social and industrial evo
lution of our people? It is that we are
preparing to intemret the needs of the
new times in Virginia and in the South. Our
work of to-day is a time of preparation to save
our country in the next great crisis. . . . . We
must take the life and the work of the people into
the school, and must carry the teaching and in
fluence of the sehool into the life of the people.
The chief objection to the old sckool was that it
educated too many young people out of the coun
try. Our present common schools have a worse
influence in this way because they are more nar
rowing, and fit primarily for nothing but peorly
paid commercial positions. We have thousands
of industrially untrained boys going into tfce r"
dinary commercial callings and no scientifie fann
ers or engineers, and thousands of younff rls
eager to earn the pitiful pittance of a saleswoman,
while none can be found fer well-paid manufactur
ing positions. Dr. Charles W. Dabney, at Virginia
Educational Conference, November 13, lW-