* Farm Department Dc otcd fo Ibe Interest* of Ttio*# Laiatfed in Adricnltnrnl Pnr»nit*. Conducted by J■ M. Beaty WHY PULVERIZE THE 80IL, It Is well to know the reason for things In farming; it makes us more careful In doing them. They tall us to pulverize the ground thoroughly. We ask why? There are several rea sons, one is that it will hold more moisture when in that condition and thus put the plant food in best con dition to be taken up by the roots. Knowing this fact we will be careful to obey the rule. In the chapter on preparing the soil, in a Manual of Practical Farm ing just issued by the MacMillan Company, the author, Mr. John Mc Lennan says: “It is an established fact that all plant food, in order to become available for the use of plants, must be held in solution; the finer the soil particles the more wa ter they will retain, and consequent ly the more plant food will be held in solution and rendered available *. Now there is a good reason for pul verization, and we are ready to prac tice it. So in other things we are told to do. Scientific farming comes to our aid in this w-ay, it shows the why as well as the how of doing things.—Indiana Farmer. AGAINST AND FOR THE STOCK j LAW. I have never written a line tor any newspaper in my life, but after reading all the articles about the stock-law in recent issues, I feel it my duty to let you know my senti ments on this question. According to your instructions in farming one cannot utilize the farm 1 crops to the best advantage without j having the farm fenced so stock can harvest many of the crops without \ the use of high-priced labor. This I \ am sure is right. Then the stock-law will cause 1 farmers to have to fence both farm and pasture which will be a great burden and expense, and most, poor farmers will not be able to do tills even if they have the land. And if a man thinks it pays best to keep his stock up, wihy not do so without tiie law? There can be no reason, as 1 can see, only the law will cause a ma jority of the people to have very lit tle or no stock at all, and then the man that is able to have stock can get a better price for them. In this county there is about 85 per cent of the land in the woods. Lots of it swamps, marshes, etc., i which affords a good range for stock, and 1 am sure that a big majority of the country people are in favor of \ the free-range and are benefited by I it. For the people in the eastern j part of North Carolina to have stock law voted on them would be the greatest injustice and draw back to the majority of them that could pos sibly come upon them. As partly proof of what I have said and against the assertion that some have made, that there is almost as much stock and far better in the stock-law territory than there is in the lree-range; I will say, that we people in the free-range sell hun dreds of dollars worth of livestock as well as dress every year to the peo ple from Piitt County, where they have the stock-law, and often get as i much for them per live-weight as we ; can get in our home market dressed. ; And they come here after them. Now, if they can raise plenty of < stock why do they come 50 or 60 miles with mules and wagon and pay such prices?—C. U. LATHAM, line- f town N. C. j editorial COMMENT. Mr. Latham states the case for the ' free-range as strongly as anyone we have seen writing on it; but he takes an entirely too narrow view to form conclusions of value. The facts re main as we have stated them before: The cattle tick cannot be eradicated while cattle run at large; hog cholera and other contagious diseases cannot eb controlled; the perpetuation of thedr kind by scrub sires cannot be prevented. Nor has any free-range section yet developed a livestock in dustry of Importance or adopted a soil-building system of agriculture. We know that some communities have found trouble in adapting them selves to the stock-law'; but nowhere that it has been fairly tried would the people be willing to go back to the free-range. The free-range is, in short, a relic of an outgrown sys tem of agriculture, and, back of all is the fact that simple justice ruarids that every man care of his own jjv them loose LOTS OF WATER NEEDED BY CROPS. The interesting fact that ninety thousand pounds of water are needed to grow one bushel of wheat, is brought out in an article in a recent Journal of Geography, published at the University of Wisconsin. To pro duce one pound of clover, 576 pounds of water are needed. Rainfall is measured in inches and it has been estimated that an inch of rainfall over an acre of land weighs about 227,000 pounds. If all this rainfall could be so stored Jn the soil as to be available for crops, an inch of rair fall would produce two and a half bushels of wheat per acre. However, by no known system of tillage can all the rainfall be conserved for plant production. Since the water that is stored in the ground is lost by evaporation much more quickly when surface of the soil is wet, one of the ways to conserve water in portions of the country where dry fanning must be practiced is by forming a protective mulch, or thin layer of diy soil over the surface. This dry layer prevents the deeper soil water from reaching the surface, by destroying the capil lary movement of soil water.—Indi ana Farmer. FACTS ABOUT BIRDS AND IN SECTS. The follow!ng interesting and start ling information concerning the ha bits of birds is taken rom Shield's Magazine. Is it worth while to try to save our wild animals or birds? Shall we leave some of them for the next genera tion? Or shall we continue our short sighted policy and wipe them off the earth? If we are to try to save some of them we must curtail the privi leges of the sportsman to a mini mum. We must shorten the open sea sons. We must make closed seasons of several years for certain kinds of game. We must reduce bag lim its. We must absolutely stop the sale of game of all kinds, everywhere and at all times. We must prohibit the use of all unfair weapons and appliances in bunting, when hunting is allowed. We must prohibit spring shooting. We must prohibit unnat uralized foreigners from hunting at any time. We must provide federal protection for migratory birds. We must provide game refuges in all the states. is it worth while to try to save our forests, our shade trees, our fruit trees? If so, we must stop the killing of insect-eating birds. The gypsy moth, the brown tail moth, the leopard moth, the elm tree beetle and the tent rerplllar have killed millions ;t trees in the past few years, and da., iiicy .u -* imperilling every tree hi the continent! The only way to a era t hese insects is to stop the silling of insect-eating birds and let hem increase to their normal num bers. Careful scientists tell us that f all insect-eating birds were destroy ed, the whole continent would with n three years become absolutely un it habitable by reason of ttie myraids it insects that would spring up and ievour every living thing. Ninety per cent of the normal bird life of this country has already been iestroyeji, and the other lb per cent will go in the next five years unless lrastic measures are employed to stoj :he slaughter. The farmers and fruit growers of this country are losing /.er $1,000,000,000 a year by reason >f the ravages of insecets. Here are a few items in this appal ing expense account; The cotton growers of Texas are losing $40,000, >00, to $,>0,000,000 a year by rea son of the ravages of the boll weevil; tnd all because the quail and the trairie chicken, the natural enemies )f that bug, have been practically ex terminated in that great State. The wheat growers of the United States ire losing over $100,000,000 a year by eason of the ravages ot the chinch mg. Because the quail, the natural memy of that bug, has been almost sxterminated. The farmers of the Middle and Ivastern States are paying out $115, 000,000 a year for Paris green to put on their potato vines. Because the Acme Furniture And Coffin House Urdertakers and Funeral Directors One of the Nic^f HearsesJ in Eastc (^aro}ina Phone No, 2821 Pine Level, :: North Carolina ; quail, the natural enemy of that bug, 1 has been killed off. Each of the great apple producing States are paying $1,000,000 to $3, 000,000 a year for spraying apple tree to keep down the codling-moth. Be cause the woodpeckers, the sap-suck iers, thee robins, the bluejays, the blue-birds, the orioles, the tanagers and other birds that formerly prey ed on that insect have been killed off. A quail killed in a cotton field in Texas had in his craw the remains of 127 cotton boll weevils. Another kill ed in a potato field in Pennsylvania had in his craw the remains of 101 potato bugs. Another kill in a Kan j sas wheat field had in its craw the | remains of over 1,200 chinch bugs. The Bob White has been known to eat 135 different kinds of insects. Many of them the most injurious we have; the potato beetle—which few other birds eat—cucumber beetle, cut worm, army worm, wire worm, cinch bug, co*ton boll worm, and cotton bol weevil. A few years ago there were millions of quails all over the South ern, Middle and Eastern States. To day they are almost extinct every where. A j*air of Bob Whites in domestication have produced 100 eggs in a season. Five hens laid an av erage of 65 eggs apiece. To hold the insects in check and to destroy the weed seeds we need to have our gar dens, fields, pastures and roadsides literally alive with these useful birds. —Indiana Farmer. NOTICE. On the 15th day of May, 1913, I will offer for sale at the highest bid der for cash, at the late residence of Haywood Sullivan the following personal property: 8 or 10 head of goats, some meat, some corn, and farming utensils, in cluding cart and etc. One wash pot two tubs. MILLIE SULLIVAN, Administratrix. I Report of the Condition of THE CLAYTON BANKING CO. at Clayton, N, C. at the close of business April 4th, 191 a. Resources Dollars Loans and discounts 164,873.46 Overdrafts secured and un secured 3,180.29 Hanking Houses, Furniture and Fixtures 4,141.47 Due from banks and Hankers 58,091.38 Cash items 143.85 Gold coin 2,285.00 Silver coin, Including ail minor coin currency 1.156.10 National bank notes and other U. S. notes 6,902.00 Total 240,772.55 Liabilities Dollars Capital stock paid in 10,000.00 Surplus fund 15,000.00 Undivided profits, less current expenses, taxes paid 4,296.49 Dividends unpaid 69.70 Time Certificates of deposit 80,577.77 Deposits subject to check 129,239.82 Cashier's checks outstanding 1,198.77 Accrued interest due depositors 400.00 Total 240,772.55 State of North Carolina, County of Johnston, ss: I, C. M. Thomas, cashier of the above-named bank, do solemnly sweat that the above statement is true to the best of my knowledge and belief. C. M. THOMAS, Cashier. Subscribed and sworn to before me, tliis 11th, day of April 1913. JOHN T. TALTON, Notary Public. CORRECT—Attest: D. H. McGULLERS, W. A. BARNES, ASHLEY HORNE. Directors. SALE OF MORTGAGE LAND. Under and by virtue of a certain deed of trust executed by John W. Exum to Zeb Snipes, on Feburary 24 1913, and recorded in Book I No. 12, page 584, in the Registry of Johnston County, North Carolina, the conditions contained in said deed having been broken, the undersigned trustee, will on Friday the 9th day of May, 1913, it 12 o’clock, noon, sell in front of :he Court House door, in Siiithfield, N’ortli Carolina, to the highest bid ler for cash, all the land conveyed therein, described as follows: Situate in Beulah township, adjoining the lands of R. B. Boswell, Jasper Weaver, and others; beginning- y,t a stake in R. B. Bosw^li'g- field, and runs thence south^'jasper Weavers < orner, thenar continuing south with said Ja^r-tj. weaver’s line to a stake “V-favin Raines line, to the John Balance line, thence up the run of Buffaloe Swamp as sai; s.> amp mean ders to a lightwood stake, thence W with R. B. Boswell’s line to the be ginning, containing forty acres, more or less. Place of Sale: Smithfield, N. C. Terms of Sale: Cash. This March 8th, 1913. ZEB SNIPES, Trustee. Ptou and Allred, Attorneys. It is not only lightni proof but fire-pro storm-proof, too. CORTRIGHT METAL SHINGLES last as long as the building and never need repairs. Just the thing for town or country building tneet every condition of comfort, beauty and security. S. B. JOHNSON. Here is the For Sale by SMITHFIELD, N. C. Phelps Distributor Here is wh ir you want First, because i- p (s your Fertilizer in a broad space; second, because it puts it re.pilar fr-m !00 to 15'if1 pounds o .li'.’u.- thud because H na • « i t a* 1 ;t,eas you want for corn, cotton, tooacoo and other crops; fourth, because it will distribute se;ond application and split ;he middle at same time; fifth Lee test \atest ca&logue before you purchase* Hib Naur Hue Sewing Mate Co.. Orange. Hn.