North Carolina Newspapers

Oevoted to the Interest of Those Who 1< W Till the Soil A f CONDUCTED BY J. M DIAIY 1 WASTING LIGHTWOOD. Many economical farmers are very extravagant in their destruction and waste of lightwood. They burn it (or light instead of using a lamp. They use It in the cook stove when no stove wood has been prepared and In the fireplace in the place of better wood. In new grounds It is burnt with logs and brush. As a result of this waste and destruction of light wood In the past it is now impossi ble to get it on some farms and it is very scarcc on others. Heally light wood Is not suitable except for kind ling. It makes too much soot and be sides it does not make a steady fire. It keeps you too hot or too cold. But in passing around about all to be seen at many woodyards are a few pieces of lightwood. Many have burnt It until it Is con sidered a necessity. It may be neces sary under the hand-to-mouth system which so many have as to the wood supply, (ireen wood or wet wood re quires lightwood but why cannot the wood be cut far enough ahead that It may season before being used. Why cannot there be a woodhouse or shel ter for the Btovewood. Another reason why so many use so much lightwood Is because it is a little easier to get than other wood. Some farm hands and tenants and farm owners have a way of going all over the farm to get the best lightwood just to burn it when it is so badly needed for fence posts and such things. A load of lightwood worth probably two dol lars for posts will be used for fuel in less than a week. Light wood enough to furnish the town or city man for a year for kindling will be used by the farmer In four to six days. If some farmers could live one winter In town it would open their eyes on the wood question. Now that so much wire fence is coming Into use It Is very Important to save whatever will make good posts. Any man who has a surplus of llghtwood could make money by cut ting it Into small kindling and send ing it in packages to the cities. Save the lightwood. BUYING GUANO. The time is here when fnrmers will begin to place their orders for guano. This is an Important part of the business of the farm. It is impor tant to buy guano at right prices and also to buy right grades so as to get a balanced ration for the crops. To this last point many farmers give no thought whatever. The horce re quires water, grain and roughage Suppose you give him all water or all grain or all roughage he does not thrive. If you give him two of these essentials and leave off the other he will not thrive. He needs them all and another Important thing to re member Is that he needs them in right proportions. - on't give him three buckets of water, four years of corn and only one bundle of fodder for a day. He needs balanced ra tions so he may have plenty of the three essential. Just bo with the crops. They need phosphoric acid, ammonia and potash and these es sentials should coine in proper pro portions. The eight-two-two guano bought by so many farmers in the past is not a balanced ration for crops. It is lacking in ammonia and potash two very important Ingredients. Some time ago a leaclirn manufacturer of ?uano told us he thought it ought to be against a State law to make any" guano running less than 8-3-3. We have all along advised that no low grade guano should be used. Heavy yields do not come from lowgrade guanos. They do not furnish a bal anced ration for crops and are Just as heavy to haul and distribute as the better grades. The plant food in low grade guanos cost more per pound than in high grades. Nothing hut analysis counts in guanos. Don't ask the name of what you buy. The name will not make you an ear of corn or a pound of cotton. The two best grades for the lands of this sec tion are 8-3-2 which costs twenty-five to twenty-six dollars per ton and ar 8-4-4 grade which costs twenty-nine to thirty dollars per ton. For a far mer to say that he likes an 8-2-2 gu ano as well as a higher grade is about equal to saying that eight bush els wheat, two bushels corn and two of oats are worth aa much as eight tiitfbeU wheat three bu.he^s corn and tbrte bushels oat* ITCH cured in 30 minutes by Wool ford's Sanitary Lotion. Never falls. Sold by Hood Bros., Druggists. Ten Reasons Why You Must Rotate Your Crops. I Crop rotation moans diversifica tion with the following resulting ben efits: (a) A complete failure and the loss of an entire season's work is rendered less likely to occur because it is rare that all crops fail the same year. (b) It enables the farnu/r to sup ply food for bis family and feed his live stock and thereby lessen the 1 rost of running the farm. II. Crop rotation makes It possible to utilize labor to the best advantage hy giving It constant employment, thus serving as a partial solution of the labor problem. III. Different crops having different root systems feed to a greater or less extent on different portions or strata of the soil. For Instance, cow peas, red clover and alfalfa send their roots down deep into the sub soil and bring up mineral plant foods ?phosphoraus and potassium?to be put Into the top soil when the crops are turned under or fed to live stock and the stable manure returned to the land. Moreover, deep-rooted plants when grown on the land pierce innumer able holes in the subsoil and there by serve as an excellent and cheap ' method of subsoiling. IV. iMiirii iu tiujjo i aivc uuiri iiil j/m portions and quantities of the plant foods, nitrogen, phosphorus, and po tassium, from the soil for their use while growing. No soil Is richer or more produc tive than Is Indicated by the avail able supply of the plant food exist ing in the smallest quantity. In oth er words, it matters not how great a supply there may be of any two, if the other Is deficient, a maximum crop Is impossible. V. Lands repeatedly put in crops that receive no cultivation after seeding are apt to become weedy or foul. VI. The rotation of crops renders pos sible the keeping of more live stock, and thereby prevents the sale of plant food or soil fertility. VII. Crop rotation lessens the proba bility and extent of damage by in sects and disease. VIII. Clean cultured crops tend to de plete the supply of. humus in the soil; therefore a proper crop rotation which tends to add humus to the soil is a most Important factor in) soil] fer tility or soil improvement; for there is no other need of our soils that Is so great or essential as the need of more humus. IX. One kind of plant growing on a soil year after year often produces in that soil conditions determental to the best growth of that kind of plant. X. Crop rotation lessens the washing and leaching of the plant foods from the soil and thereby largely removes our greatest cause of soil exhaustion. ?The Progressive Farmer. Personal experience with a tube of ManZan Pile Remedy will convince you It is immediate relief for all forms of Piles. Guaranteed. 50c. Sold by Hood Bros. Self-Imposed Taxes. Farmers are wont to complain bit terly of the amount of tales which they are required to pay, and which not only seem to be on the Increase, but will continue to be. A tax Is a definite thing, so many dollars and cents which must be paid promptly at stated times, and If not paid will bear Interest and will be collected no mat ter what happens. We apprehend, however, that the heaviest taxes we pay are not taxes In money, but taxes that are entirely avoidable If the far mer Is so minded. We do not grumble about the mon ey we lose If we do not know about It. The art of the statesman is to tax people without their knowledge, and many farmers even surpass the legislature In their skill In taxing themselves and paying it willingly and cheerfully, "unbeknownst" to themselves. For example, do we ever figure on the tazes we pay on our machinery much of it high priced by allowing it to stand out through the . rains and hot suns of summer, the snowr. and freezing of winter, when It might all be avoided by building a machine and tool abed ai a cost of about the taxes for the first year or | two at moat? Manufacturer* Bay ; that the mower and reaper built to j last at least ten years Is usually worthless In three or four on the av- ; erase western farm. Do the farmers realize how much | mlttlng weeds to go to seed on the . pastures, meadows, and stubble In i which clover has been sown? They { do not feel this ?ax because weeds do j not bother them on going to seed, j and being quite accustomed to per- ( mining their pastures to grow up with weeds, they do not realize the loss they are incurring. In our travels over the country we find many stubble fields, some sown to clover and others unsown, grow ing up with cockleburs. A boy, a mower, and team would have gone over these stubble fields at the rate of ten or twelve acres a day, prevent ing the cockleburs from seeding, clip ping back the young clover and thickening the stand by 25 to 30 per cent. The weeds tax the farmer by dividing the land with the clover, and by getting good and ready to give us additional labor In the corn field when the proper rotation period comes around. Men will pay this tax amounting to a dollar or two an acre, j whereas they would protest, possibly go into a law suit, if this same tax was levied on them by the assessor. We have spoken often of the tax that the farmer pays in keeping poor cows. Tills tax often amounts to two or three dollars per cow per annum, that being what the cow comes short of paying In milk for the feed she consumes. Yet we pay this willingly, because we do not know that we are paying it. rpv. _ ? iV-i *? m iuo iux mat ine iarmer pays lor I'fd roads amounts In the cours ? of the year to two or three times the amount of the road tax actually lev ied. This latter in many districts is wasted and might as well not be levied or paid at all, so foolish are I some supervisors. In fact we think we would not be making too broad an assertion if we should say that the ordinary township taxes are very largely thrown away by bad manage ment, while we in turn tax ourselves on bad roads. We pay the tax by bumping along the worst part of the winter over roads frozen till they are like rocks and rough places have to be worn down by the wheels of pass ing vehicles. We tax ourselves by being obliged to keep our grain in the bin when the market is loudly calling for it. We tax ourselves in the addi tional wear and tear of wagons when the roads are as hard as rocks and again when the wagons are hub-deep in mud. We pay all this willingly be cause we do not know it. Another tax we pay foolishly and ignorantly is in the waste of about 25 to 50 per cent of the value of the manure on the farm by not getting it out on the land in time. The?:e are a few of the unnecessary taxes we pay, the result largely of our own ignorance and carelessness, and, sometimes, we admit, for want of means. The heaviest tax any man ever pays is the tax on ignorance. This is not levied by the assessor nor collected by the county treasurer, and taxes they levy on themselves by per but none the less, where the farmer Is kept poor and lives a hard life, it is for the most part due to lack of knowledge of the elementary princi ples and approved practices of agri culture. Until we are putting our high pric ed machines under cover, until we are keeping weeds from going to seed on the farm, until we are get ting the manure out without waste, until we are by co-operative efforts securing better roads, let us not com plain of the taxes levied by the as sessor. They are a mighty small part of the taxes which the average farmer pays; and the less he knows about (arming and the less skill he has in his operations, the heavier is this unseen and unknown tax.? Wallaces' Farmer. Want to Mix Your Guano? If you want to mix your guano at home it can be done in a wagon body or better on a smooth floor. A stan dard formula is as follows: Sixteen per cent, acid phosphate 1.000 pounds Cotton seed meal 600 pounds Kanlt 400 pounds Total 2.000 pounds. This will analize 8 per cent acid phosphate, 2.48 per cent ammonia and 2.48 potash. If you want to in crease the ammonia and potash add sixty pounds nitrate of soda and forty pounds of muriate of potash. Washington Once Gave Up to three doctors; was kept in bed for five weeks. Blood poison from a spider's bite caused large, deep sores to cover his leg. The doctors failed, then "Bucklen's Arnica Salve completely cured me," writes John Washington, of Bosqueville. Tex. For eczema, boils, burns and piles its su preme. 25c. at Hood Bros. COTTER-UNDERWOOD CO. have some good mules to sell. The Broader Agricultural Questions. Th? chief end of the farmer is not to raise bushnN and tons of grain and live 3tf > nor does It include mer.-ly t??nv< r ing these Into dollars to the best advantage. The educa tion of his < liildren with a view to fitting them for the business or pro fession for which nature has evident ly intended them is a matter worthy the study of every farm paper wor thy of the name. The man who mekef a failure in the proper education of bis children will find out at its close that his life has been a failure, no matter how much land he owns nor how many thousands he leaves, them as an inheritance. The man is more than the farm, and his children are worth more than the dollars he may leave. If his children do not have proper views of life, and have not de veloped characters that fit them for good citizenship, the dollars that he leaves them as the result of all his planning and toil will prove a curse rather than a blessing. Then there is another side to farm life: The characters that the child- j ren develop will depend very much I on their social life, on their relati- ' ons with other young people, on their relations to the church. It is not ! our province, nor is it the province I of any farm paper, to discuss religi- ' ous doctrines, or, if you please, re ligious dogmas. It is its province to discuss ethics; what is right, what is wrong. He has an interest, how ever, in the social life of the com munity; and it is to his interest that the churches, to whatever de- I nomination they may belong use their influence to develop manhood by an improved social life and thus make the people with whom they come in contact better, whatever may be their religious convictions. i nere is aiiomer quesuuii 10 wuiuii the agricultural press might well turn its attention, and that is the sanita tion of the farm. We have been deeply impressed in our recent trav els with the fact that a very con siderable per cent of the disease* that carry off thousands every year, and bury in the earth untold mill ions of money value in the shape of human flesh, could be eliminated on the farm by proper sanitation. The sanitation on the farms in some sec tions of our great country is sim ply awful and should be intoler able for a day or even an hour. In other sections there is less that de serves criticism; but we do not know of any sections where the sanitation on the farms is as a rule what it should be. An open privy is simply an abomi nation. a fruitful and unsuspected cause of disease. Take, for example, typhoid fever, which is absolutely pre ventable with even ordinary care, and yet which prevails to a greater ex tent in the country than in the city, and is due both in city and country to a polluted water supply. The rea son that it prevails in the city at all is because of imperfect plumbing, or neglect to properly dispose of sew age. The same is true in many sec tions of malaria, which is carried by flies, and which with proper drainage and proper screening of the houses, and keeping the manure out of the barn yards could be eliminated in a very few years. .Again, consump tion could be reduced to the mini mum by so simple a matter as prop er ventilation of farm houses, and es pecially of sleeping rooms.?Wallace's Farmer. The Secret of Long Life. A French scientist has discovered one secret of long life. His method deals with the blood. But long ago millions of Americans had proved Electric Bitters prolongs life and makes it worth living. It purifies, enriches and vitalizes the blood, re builds wasted nerve cells, imparts life and tone to the entire system. Its a godsend to weak, sick and de bilitated people. "Kidney trouble had blighted my life for months," writes W. M. Sherman, of Cushing, Me., "but Electric Bitters cured me en tirely." Only 50c. at Hood Bros. Cotton Se^d Meal Makes Best Fer tilizer. Foreign countries have become very much alarmed over the disap pearance of their nitrate deposits. In Chile the statesmen and business men have become very active in their efforts to preserve the natural de posits of nitrate which are becoming exhausted. This is also true in Peru, where her former large deposits of guano are being depleted. American farmers are very fortu nate in having an unlimited supply of nitrogen In the shape of cotton seed meal. So long as they plant cotton they not only have a bounti ful supply of nitrogen, but the best that can be secured for fertilizing purposes.?The Cotton Seed. A pill in time that will save nine Is Rings Little Liver Pill. For bllll ousniss, sick headache constipation. They do Dot gripe. Price 25c. Sold by Hood Bros. Cotton Production In India. From official information sent out by the Government of British India, which is the second largest cotton producing country in the world, we find that the total acreage planted to cotton in British India in the ye.>.r 1908 amounted to 18,670,000 acres. The total yield of the crop in 400-pounJ bales is estimated at 3. t>41,000 bales, or 2,912,800 bafc-s of 500-ppunds weight. Reckoned on the same basis of { weight as American bales we find that it requires an average of six acres of land in India to produce 50? pounds of lint cotton. The farmers of India have been growing cotton ! for the last two thousand years, and 1 if It now requires six acres of their land to produce a bale of their short staple, cheap cotton, India is not , likely to ever become an active or , dangerous competitor against this , country in the production of the flee cy staple. What is true of India is also true of Egypt and the other old ( countries where cotton has been growing so long, if America ever has competition to any extent in cotton growing by foreign countries it will have to develop in new territories, which will naturally make the pro- 1 cess a slow one. The South holds the monopoly on raw cotton today, and she will still be holding it at | the close of the twentieth century. The important thing to do is for Southern farmers to so intelligently s manage the production and market ing of this great crop as to torn- , inand from its sale each year a fair ^ and just profit on their investment of labor and capital.?The Cotton j Journal. < What to do With The Corn Stalks. !, There are certain questions that ( come up regularly every year. One , of these is, what to do with the corn . stalks when the field is to be re- , planted to corn. The first letter re- ( ceived this year on this subject came j from southern Iowa, and reads as fol- j lows: ( "I want to put in corn again this ( year on land that was in corn last ( year. Now will it be the best for the ( crop to rake the stalks an<J burn . them or cut them with a sharp disk j and plow them under?" I We hope readers will preserve this , article, as we will probably refer to it in future issues. Which of the ( methods above should be adopted de- j pends on circumstances known only , to the farmer himself, and we can, . therefore, only outline the principles that should govern. Where land is somewhat worn and needs humus, and where there are) no ' noxious insects which pass the win- ! ter in the corn stalks, we would cut , these stalks with the corn cutter and 1 plow them under. Why? Because these corn stalks furnish very con siderable humus material in addition to a very considerable amount of pot ash. We would especially advisel tBis method on peaty lands, where potash is known to be greatly deficient and | where the supply contained in the corn stalks is therefore badly needed. Where the land is not worn and is not badly in need of humus, and | where insect pests such as chinch bugs are suspected of wintering in the stalks or when the corn is af fected with mold, then we would cut and burn them. There will be no loss of potash by this method, nor very much loss of nitrogen, and the ; loss in either case would be more . than offset by diminishing insect pests and corn mold. I In parts of the Missouri valley, where the rainfall is lighter than in the Mississippi valley proper, corn stalks turned under are likely to In- ' terfere with tne capillary movement of water in a dry time the following season, and we would prefer to cut and burn them. In either case we would disk the corn stalk ground before plowing, with the object of leaving it, form- , ing a loose dirt mulch on top, then turning it under for the purpose of conserving moisture and preventing cold formation. It is important, how- j ever, if corn stalks are cut, that they be turned under so deep that they will not interfere with working the corn. If not, It would be better to cut and burn them. In seeding corn stalk land to spring grain we would use the stalk cutter and allow the cuttings to remain on the surface as a mulch.?Wallaces' Farmer. * Needed The Year Around. You needn't suffer with sick head ache, Indigestion, constipation, or any other trouble arising from disordered 1 stomach, liver or bowels. Dr. Cald well's Syrup Pepsin will cure you and keep you well. It is a wonderful laxative and regulator. It is safe and pleasant to take and should be in every American household. Tens of thousands already use it. It is ab solutely guaranteed to do what is claimed and if you want to try It be fore buying, send your address for a free sample bottle to Pepsin Syrup Co., 119 Caldwell Bldg., Monticello, 111. It is sold by Hood Bros, at 60c and $1 a bottle. I FEEBLE OLD LADY Has Strength Restored By Vinol Mrs. Michael Bloom of LewlstoWfl, Pa., who Is 80 years of age, says: "For a long time I have been so feeble that I have had to be wheeled around la an invalid's chair. I had no strength and took cold at the slightest provoca tion, which invariably settled on my lungs, and a cough would result My son learned of the cod liver prep aration called Vinol, and procured a bottle for me. It built up my strength rapidly, and after taking three bottles I am able to do most of my work, and I can walk a quarter of a mile easily. Every aged or weak person who re quires strength should try Vinol. I am delighted with what It has done for me." As a body bolder and strength crea tor for old people, delicate children, weak, run-down persons, and after sickness, Vinol is unexcelled. If It fails to give satisfaction we will re turn your money. Sold by HOOD BROS., Smithfield, N. C. CAN'T BE SEPARATED Some Smithfield People Have Learn ed How to Get Rid of Both. Backache and kidney ache are twin brothers. You can't separate them. And you can't get rid of the back' iche until you cure the kidney ache. If the kidneys are well and strong, ;he rest of the system is pretty sure o be in vigorous health. Doan's Kidney Pills make strong, lealthy kidneys. mra. w. l,. sillier, smitnneia, JN, 2., says: "I used Doan's Kidney Pills and know them to be an ideal ?emedy for any trouble arising from iisordered kidneys. For some time [ was bothered a great deal by back iche and dull pains through my loins. [ was also caused additional annoy ince by the irregular passage of the cidney secretions. Having Doan's Sidney Pills recommended, I decid ed to try them and at once procured i box. They proved beneficial in ev 5ry way, quickly relieving the back iche and correcting the kidney dif ficulty. I feel much better since tak ng Doan's Kidney Pills and have no lesitatlon in advising other kidney sufferers to give them a trial." For sale by all dealers. Price 50 :ents. Foster-Milburn Co., Buffalo, VeW,York, sole agents for the United States. Remember the name?Doan's ?and take no other. NOTICE. To Whom it may concern: Applica tion will be made to the General As sembly of North Carolina, now in ses sion, for the amendment of the char ter of the Town of Four Oaks and 'or the extension of the corporate limits of said town. This January 8, 1909. J. W. HOLLOWELL, Mayor, J. W. SANDERS B. B. ADAMS A. B. ADAMS, Committee Are You Going to Build If you are going to build and need anything in the way of building material I think I can suit you. :: Flooring, Ceiling, Weatherboarding, Mouldings, Mantels, Window and Doo Frames and ShiDgles. Agent for both Paroid and Neponset Roofing. Call to see me. John I.Barnes Clayton. N. C. Plant Wood's Seeds Tor The Garden & Farm. Thirty years in business, with a steadily increasing trade every year?until we have to-day one of the largest businesses in seeds in this country?is the best of evidence as to Iht Superior Quality 1 of Wood's Seeds. ( We are headquarters for Grass and Clover Seeds. Seed Potatoes. Seed Oats, Cow Peas. Soja Beans and &11 Farm Seeds. Wood's Descriptive Catalog the most useful and valuable of Garden and Farm seed Catalogs mailed free on request. T. W. WOOD & SONS, Seedsmen, . Richmond, Va. ? >c