Newspapers / The Smithfield Herald (Smithfield, … / July 2, 1909, edition 1 / Page 6
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r Our Farm Department \ Devoted to the Interest of Those Who W Till the Soil m ? CONDUCTED BY J. M BfATY 1 i- 1?-j & DON'T SELL COTTON UNTIL IT 18 GINNED. Considerable effort is being made at this time to induce farmers to sell this year's cotton crop now for ten cents. The panic we have gone through and the Jow price of cot ton last season will cause some to engage their cotton. Before making any contract it will be we' to remem ber that In most cases where cot ton was sold ahead for several years past, except last year the loss fell on the farmer, the price being near ly all along about ten cents. It Is true that we do not know what the price of cotton will be this fall, but we think we have heard and seen enough to advise the farmers not to engage for ten cents. All admit that it hurts the market to sell too fast even In the fall but some of that cannot be helped as debts must be paid. If selling rapidly in the fall hurts, what must be the effect of selling now? It looks like saying that no mat ter how bad the crop conditions nor how short the crop the farmers do not want but ten cents per pound. It is true there is some risk about almost everything but wo think it well enough to have as much cer tainty as possible in our affairs. Our advice is I" go ahead and get as large a yield as possible from the acreage in cotton but do not sell any until It is ginned and ready for sale. We may be mistaken but indications now are for a good price for cotton next fall and winter. POTASH FOR POTATOES. Usually where farmers raise only a few potatoes to use at home they do not give them any speeial atten tention as to the manure used. In sections where they are grown to ship to the markets the trucker would not think of using a guano under his potatoes which would suit his neighbor who perhaps plants only corn and cotton. The growers of both Irish and sweet potatoes use a special mixture of guano. A for mula used in one trucking section where we are acquainted runs seven per cent, phosphoric acid, five per cent nitrogen and eight per cent potash. They have learned the im portance of potash in growing po tatoes. Every farmer can not get this guano but it is easy ta> supply the potash to the potatoes. Our plan is to add an extra quantity of potash in mixing the guano for po tatoes. If your guano is ready mixed then you can sow some kainit or muriate of potash in the potato patch to give the additional potash needed. RESTORING WASHED AWAY NI TROGEN. W<' like the practice of giving croi's a second application of ferti lizers. We consider this important, not only because it scatters the fertilizers around better bo the roots can get it, but because on account of the looseness of most our soils and the very heavy rains we have, much of the fertilizers put out early in spring are partly washed away. A ?econd application of fertilizers is more necessary a year like this when there has been several heavy rains than In years when the rainfall is lighter. Nitrogen washes out worse than other parts of the ferti lisers. If you have reason to believe that the rains have done you damage In this respect we advise that you make a second application of high grade guano or of nitrate of soda. If your land bore a good crop of peas last year the money spent for guano would perhaps pay better than for soda. Whatever is to be done for the present crop should be done at once. Get Rid of the Stumps. One of the great needs of the South, especially In the piney woods section. Is the stuuip-puller. A fat lightwood stump will outlast two or three generations of men?that Is to say, grandfather, father and son, may each plow around the same old stump, summer after summer, while It remains there cumbering the' ground far more grievously than the unfruitful fig tree of the Biblical story. Unlike the barren fig tree, moreover, there Is absolutely no hope that any kind of attention will ever make it productive of anj/good what ever; consequently there Is no rea son why it should not be promptly put out of the way. As Mr. W. F. Marshall says, the utuinp is an "un desirable citizen," occupying the land and paying no rent, besides being a fruitful source of broken plows and broken commandments. Start the stump-puller to work. (Jo in with your neighbors and buy one together, and if you get through with it, you can sell it to other neighbors at a good price. With the stumps out of the way you not only get the use of much land now bringing In no returns, but you make it easier to use new ma chinery, substituting cheap horse power labor for expensive human hand labor. On a trip through I'itt County re cently we visited the farm of Mr. A. 0. Cox, near Wlntervllle, and found him an enthusiastic advocate of the stump-puller. He has a piece of laud as big as an ordinary garden plot covered with stumps he has pulled from his fields and hauled up. He im'.s up these with a small gasoline saw and sells the lightwood in town for a good price. In pulling the stumps he uses a medium-size puller, bringing dynamite to his aid in case of stumps being too large to be han dled otherwise. It is too late now to get rid of the stumps for this year's crop; but this Is a mighty good thing to keep lu mind every time you have to plow around one of these unprofitable ob structions this summer. Every time your plow hits one and every time you have to get out of the way of one of these stubborn beggars in or der to keep from its unprofitable sides, you should promptly resolve to get rid of It before another crop Is planted. Speak to your neighbor about this mutter and start a crusade against stumps. Getting rid of the stumps will add to the beauty of the South ern landscape and the profits of Southern farming, and to the moral staudir.g of the men who do the plow ing.?The Progressive Farmer. Prosperity In the South. The financial condition In the Soutt Is excellent, and all Indications are of the most favorable character. The crops last year were good, and the prospects for 1909 are exceedingly en couraging. An exchange says that taking seven of the principal South ern crops as a standard of comparlsoi It appears that the South gained near ly $100,00,000 in 1908 as contrasted with 1907, last year's crops being worth so much more than those of 1907. The value of the corn crop rose from $405,485,000 in 1907 to $547,054,000 in 1908, wheat from $58. 903,000 to $67,935,000. hay declined frot^ $66,787,000 to $611,649,000, tobac co from $55,353,000 to $55,256,561, oats increased front $25,922,000 to 33.976 000, Irish potatoes from 20, 529,000 to 23,663.000 and rye from 1,129.000 to 1,159,000, the totals for the two years being 694.108.000 and $789,613,561, respectively. It is stated by the same authority that the cotton crop, with its seed, is worth probably at least $700,000,000 more, while the rice harvest is placed at $17,771,281, the sugar cane yield is appraiser at $34,000,000, making the grand aggregate for the ten Southern crops not less $1,542,000,000. This total must be increased by the poul try and dairy products, by garden, truck and other agricultural crops, which, it is estimated, add perhaps $1,000,000,000 to the wealth of the South. With these facts and figures In view. It Is assumed that the pres ent year will be attended with much prosperity, and that trade in the va rious Southern states will be much larger than for some years ;ast.? Merchant and Manufacturer ?_ A wise man and a fool together know more than a wise man alone. ?Italian. Robbing a Baby. It I* not considered good form to rob a baby, yet 't in doi.e must wac- 1 tonly every day. There it no ques tion but what your son, born day be fore yesterday, is the most remark able example of humanity progeny that ever happened. Only this morn inx he sat up in bed and said?well, ] never mind what he said. It is | more important to inquire what he would say if he should sit up in bed and look you straight in the eye fif ty years from today. Why all this concern about the infant, who today has so many luxuries? Hut let us see how he Is being robbed of bis heritage. According to Mr. James J. Hill, ' fifty years from now we shall not ' have, by millions of bushels, wheat enough to supply bread for us to eat, let alone having any to export. This statement may not interest your newly-born son, but it may fifty years from today. We have a daily waste of a million dollars by preven table fires, some of which destroy hundreds of acres of timber that your boy thirty years hence will need when building and furnishing his house. Two million dollars a day Is the tribute paid to ravages of insects, and one million and a half is daily lost by soil erosion, all of which comes out of your boy's pocket, or will by the time be is old enough to j have a pocket. You might say that there is a plen tiful supply of sea food and that a fish diet is more wholesome than meat, but unless Congress appropri ates more money for the Department of Fisheries and is more watchful to prevent piracy among the finney tribe, the only kind of a lobster and crab your boy will see fifty years from now will be the preserved ones in the museums. There was a time when the great coastal plantations of Virginia and the Carollnas got much of their wealth from the sea, the t great seines scooping in countless mil lions of shad and herring. One seine alone In the Potomac River la re ported to have taken 126,000 shad in one season. Not long ago the year's catch fell to 3,000 shad, which is less than used to be taken at one haul by the seine. The shameless ness of the Western Salmon Fishe ries is fit to go hand in hand in,' gen eral unholines8 with the American Lumbering operation. Last year the salmon hatcheries on some streams could not get any eggs for their hatcheries. This means that each such stream is going barren, barren forever, because salmon return only to the stream which bore them. Your baby will pay for all this in due time. What are you doing for him on your own farm? You chuck him un der the chin, swell with pride when vou say "My son, my heir!" and then go out and practice a system of farming that will impoverish the soil to the extent that it will not produce enough wheat to supply him with bread fifty years from now. The Na tional Conservation Commission say in their report: "Niether the in crease in acreage nor the yield per acre has kept pace with our increase in population." This statement is nothing less than a formal notice that the people of this country must adopt better agricultural methods or suffer the prodigal's fate. It is up to you to do your individual part by selecting better seed, by a more per fect rotation, by increasing humus content, by maintaining the supply of potash, phosphoric acid and nitrogen. It is absolutely Impossible to do the last named by using barn yard ma nures Hlone. Commercial fertilizers must be resorted to, purchased In ail intelligent manner and used at tbe proper season. Your weak straw, your colored and poorly flavored fruit is a warning that your potash supply is practically exhausted, and you need to replenish your fields by buy* lug more in the form of muriate or sulphate of potash. When the leaves are pale green and the Btraw short, your soil is hungry for nitrogen; therefore, if you have no green crop to turn under, you should pay the nitrate or some other, agency a call. Just now there is much talk of the "ye-llow peril," anti-Japanese leg islation, etc., but unless there is a check put on this wholesale robbery of timber, mineral and especially soil fertility, your son will see China- i like conditions here In America. Again agreeing with you that your j son, born day before yesterday, is I the most remarkable infant that ev , er happened, let me ask the ques tion: "What is he going to eat if j you continue this extravagant ex penditure of his inheritance?"?D. I. Duncan, in Indiana Farmer. A Night Rider's Raid. The worst night riders are calo mel. croton oil or aloes pills. They raid your bed to rob you of rest. Not so with Or. King's New Life Pills. They never distress or incon- 1 venicnce, but always cleanse the svs- I t< m, curing Colds. Headache, Con stipation, Malaria, 2.r>c at HOOD ' BROS., Druggists. I i Farming Condition*. Secretary James Wilson in a re cent newspaper Interview expressed \ his belief that farm proitucts would | remain high for some time, and the principal reason Is scarcity of labor. The farmers car.not cultivate all their i land successfully because of lack c. i competent help. They must limit < the breadths of land in wheat, corn, i etc., to their ability to tend, gather and market the crops produced. Mr. Wilson says: "There Is much truth in the state ment that as a class farmers have en- i Joyed marked prosperity for some years, but it has been at the expense ot hard tedious work. Sixteen hours a day has been the keynote to their success. They have earned their pros perity. Many of them are now pre paring to enjoy it. As a result there Is a change going on which is inter esting. We are rapidly passing into a period of tenant farming. "The successful farmers, advanced in age, well to do so far as worldly goods are concerned, finding that the ( labor problem is a serions one, not to be solved at this time, are moving into the cities following their own laborers. Thfy leave the farms to put behind them the sixteen hours a day work and enjoy the frult3 of their labor in retirement in pleasant sur roundings In the cities." He then speaks of the tendency to ward tenant farming, cutting up of large farms and renting to tenants, who unable to pay the high price aski d for farm lands can yet pay< rent and make a comfortable living. While prices of products remain high they prosper, but as a rule they are not able to stock the farms, and the fer tility runs down. The leases to these tenant farmers ought 'o require that they shall keep a certain number of head of stock on the land, even if they have to pay rental for it as they j do for the land. "Care must be taken," Mr. Wilson says, "that our lands are not exhaus ted. Too much commercial fertilizer it used in the country now. When our work along the line of eradica- , ting the cattle "tick" in the South is , crowned with success, as it will be, large pastures will be seen in that section, filled with cattle, and 1I1A people will profit in the saving uporr commercial fertiliters."?Indiana Far mer. Wild Cattle. Northern California and Oregon have long been noted for wild horses. But it is now wild cattle there that are something of a nuisance. Through the Forestry Service at Washington comes the information that in the i Shasta National Forest of California wild cattle have become a nuisance. | These animals are the descendant!* of domestic cattle, but having run with out restraint for several generations have become as wild as deer. Stock- j men will not apply for ranges Infest ed by these cattle since tame cattle soon adopt the habits of their wild relatives and become equally as un manageable. It is impossible to gath er young stock in the fall which have run with these animals even for a season. The majority of the stockmen desire to shoot them but certain mountain dwellers claim them and shoot an occasional one for winter beef. The forest officers will in conjunction with the stockmen interested inves tigate the matter this summer and decide upon some plan of ridding the ranges of this pest.?Indiana Farmer. I Use Hay Caps. An eastern farmer, who has used hay caps for several years says he has saved the cost of the caps in a 1 ?ingle season, while they are good I for a number of years, if properly i ] handled. He use? heavy unbleached i cotton cloth 4."> inches wide, and cut ! In squares. This cloth may be made I, water proof and durable by dipping ' > It into good raw linseed oil, or paint- "? ing it with a mixture of three pints of this oil with one ounce sugar of i lead and four ounces white resin; ! heat together in an iron kettle and , apply hot with a wide brush. The caps are held in place by pins a foot! long passed thru loops in the cor- ) ners of the cloth, into the shock of I oats or hay. ! j Among the advantages of the hay 1 caps are that they allow you to cut i without reference to the Weather, and I sav. the i mp in K"od condition, no ( ' matter how long the rains continue. | One farmer testifies that bis hay. pro j tected by the raps, was worth on i the average one or two dollars a ton l more than his neighbor's hay thit . was not capped. Others say that I they often pay more than thi ir cost I in one season, by the increased value j of the protecte hay over wflat it 1 would haxe been worth if left td take l the rain.?Indiana Farmer. 1 The one plain duty of every man { Is to face the future as he faces the ' present, regardless of what it may j have In store for him. and turning to- I ward the right, as he sees the light, i ?o play his part manfully as anion? J men.?Theodore Roosevelt. | 4 Supremacy of Corn. Much of the acreage lost to wheat will be planted In corn, which for the last few years has been a very profi table crop. The outlook now Is for ? big corn crop, and this would prac Li ally offset any loss in wheat. Core n >t only furnishes a large amount ?f freight to the railroads, tut is transformed into pork and other pro ducts. and Is our most important and staple of crops. Last year we raised 1,66'J,000,000 busheds of corn, valued at $1,616,000,000, whereas the wheat crop, amounting to 665,000,000 bushelt was valued at only $617,000,000. Our cotton crop was valued at $700,000,000 and hay at $635,000,004; so that the supremacy of corn is far beyond ques tion. Should the country be favored with another big crop of corn, which the prospective general Increase in acreage suggests we may feel reas onably sure of another year of agri cultural prosperity, the importance , of which can hardly be estimated.? Selected. Pickled Sweet Peppers. Use while green; cut off the caps of the pods, scrape out the seeds and leave shells in salted water for an | hour. Chop cabbage very fine, and , to every quart add one large onion, one tablespoon full of salt, teaspoon ful of ground pepper, two tablespoon fuls of white mustard seed, table spoonful each of ground cloves and cinnamon and one cupful of sugar. Mix these thoroughly. Drain the pep pers, then stuff with the mixture and wrap with thread to hold them in place. Place in a stone jar, cover with strong vinegar, and let stand a few weeks, when they will be ready for use.?Exchange. HERE IS RELIEF FOR WOMEN. If you have pains in the back, Urinary, Bladder or Kidney trouble, and want a certain, pleasant herb relief from Woman's ills, try Mother Gray s "AUSTRALIAN-LEAF." It is a safe, reliable regulator, and re lieves all Female Weaknesses, In- , eluding inflammation and ulcerations. Mother Gray's Australian-Leaf is ' sold by Druggists or sent by mail for 50 cents. Sample sent FREE. Address The Mother Gray Co., Le Roy, N. Y.' Want to do Your Work We do all kinds of wood and Blacksmith work. Repair Carts, Wagons, Buggies, etc , New work made to orde>\ Steel plow sweeps for sale. For sale also a full line of bolt? aDy Mze and length and other cartj and wagon material for repairs We have a weil equipped shop Give us a call. - ? w. T. & J. H. Holland K-n)y, N. C. Building Material We manufacture and selJ Hough and Dressed Lumber Shingles, Brackets, Porcb Trimmings and turi.ed work. Heavy Turning a Specialty, Come ana see our Material/ Four Oaks LumberCo* Andes' Great Remedies at Hood's Drug Storey Smithfield, N. C. ? f ? Headquarters % X x | For | X Heavy and Staple Groceries, a X General Merchandise, High X J Grade Fertilizers, Buggies ? V an*/ Wagons, Furniture, X Coffins *and Caskets. . x Q Compare oar prices before y?a bay A r Cotter-Underwood Co., x J Smithfield. N. C. # _ _ _ FOR 1 If. YKARS boye h??? haan nr?|'W*d far MLLEGt and for LIFE, and Wti b?*n trained BINGHAM *? he MkN at THE BINGHAM SCHOOL. I?*~iiy locate on Aehavill* _ ^ . . _ _ . Plateau Onrmniration MILITARY for dwell s*. control and earriafe Koyaaxpellad S V/ H O O L 'mm <>th?r achoola not repaired. A VICIOUS hoy ml bom* ?i eoon at diecuvarad. . 1Q1. Hazing aicluded by pledge of honor Limited to | 30 Ratea reaaonaMe ' 1 WJ iaiU idrtrwi COL. R. BIJVOlAH. Supt . R. F. D . Bex IS, ASHCFILIB, W. C. | It Looks Now ? ' that the growing cotton crop will not be 05 JS4 more than an average one. That would J0 5 mean a good price for this crop. r? ? So Much of % y The fertil'zers put in dunne the sprinp hav? n g! beei. wash-d away hy the heavy rains, I think it gl A wise t na* a s ;onrt application jA y In this Connection ^ 3 I vr:sb to vtatetomiy friends and customers tha? SI W 1 btTC a food Much of >o<ta and Top Dressing w 2 ? h-ind W 2 W . M. SANDERS, I ^ SWTHFIELD. N. C.. June 23rd. 1909
The Smithfield Herald (Smithfield, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
July 2, 1909, edition 1
6
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