i3IS PAGE DEVOTED TO FARMING, LJG Jl.il: d .i 3
:;:.iobuction,. horticulture and truck fal:lm-ig
r ,
lie Press and
the Farmer
On the editorial page of this issue
appear two editorials, one from The
Asheville Citizen and one from The
Ashevillc Times, both stating their
opinions regarding what The Press is
trying to do .to help the farming in
dustry in Macon county. With the
assistance of the county agent, (Whose
notes, by the way, will not appear this
week as he is on a trip to purchase
dairy cows), The Press hopes to ac
comjdish much in the way of getting
new ideas before the farmers. But
to make this feature of this paper
a complete success we must have the
co-operation of the farmers them
selves. As stated elsewhere there
are any number of successful farmers
in the county whose examples are not
being followed for the simple reason
that others do not know what these
successful farmers are doing. One
farmer is an expert hog raiser, another
grows better potatoes than his neigh
bor, still another has made a success
in the dairy business, and so on in
definitely. If each farmer who has
made a success in any line of agri
culture would send his experiences to
The Press, it would be a great help
to other farmers in the county. You
need ;not be a writer to send .in the
fartc ' Tfi fnrte nrr what we want
and the story can be written to. place
these facts before the public.
Our country correspondents are also
requested to include in their items any
.matters that are of interest to the
farmers. Some man buys - a tractor,
another purchases a riding cultivator,
Mrs. Smith or " Jones - uses an incu
bator, a farmer builds a concrete
'potato house. Such items are of . in
tense' interest, and we shall be glad
, for the correspondents to include such
1. . t .1. -i . A I -
Jltins aiviiv, Willi liiysc iimi die jmiu;
personal. Ihcfc are also other ways
that the farmers may help the editor
to, make an interesting paper for the
'.rural population. In this .connection
the following article written by, Prof.
'John H. Casey, head of the community
iniifii1 Jem nmrlr . at flip T Tflivprcitv nf
jui nautili n u v . v- j w
Oklahoma, is recruited from Country
Newspaper Advertising:
A am VUI IV pill V t ..M . miMvy . , M . ...... -
would be surprised to see how -glad
a newspaper editor is to get reai local
farm news. .There would be a great
deal more of it published if there
were more of it furnished Town
news is so much caster to get. The
folks in town sec the editor every
day, as John H. Miillcr, who owns
and operates a half dozen weeklies
in Illinois, points out. Town folks
drop in and chat.
The more progressive farmers can
help .the editor, and so help other
farmers of the community, by also
dropping in to chat, by stopping at the
newspaper office to tell the editor
about exceptional crop yields, ship
ments of livestock to market, methods
that have proven profitable, and the
like.
If the local paper has, a correspon
dent in each rural neighborhood, farmer-read
qrs should get acquainted and
co-operate with her it's" usually a
woman in getting published the .im
portant news of the community. If
there is no correspondent, probably
some farmer, "or one of his family,
could have the job for the asking.
Other ways the farmer-reader can
help the editor help the community to
progress agriculturally are: To have
farm sale bills printed at the local
newspaper office; to pay up his sub
scription promptlywhen due; and to
interest" neighbors," who ; borrow-the
paperrtcr-subscribe for themselvesi It
doesn't .cost much, about 3 cents a
week in most localities. The local
editor may look lean, and like a poor
feeder, but he can't live on air alone.
Farmer-readers should not be too
hard on the local editor. If he does
n't have all the news of the immediate
neighborhood, perhaps it's partly the
neighborhood's fault. The editor prob
ably means well. And anyway, there
are the ads full of store news. There
are the legals or, official notices that
keep everyone informed about the
county and township and school dis
trict affairs. There's probably lots of
the more important news well display
ed on the front page, maybe a good
serial story by, some well-known auth
or, and we'll hope there's an editorial
column for there are so many things
in every community that need editorial
attention.
:About the only person who can't
get his money's worth out of his home
newspaper be it ever so- humble is
a blind man ; and .he usually hasa
wife, or friend, whose duty it becomes
to read him the local news.
A Pay Day
Twice a Month
For the Farmer
Dear Editor: One of the worst
troubles with the Macon 'county farm
ers in the past was only having a
pay day for a few weeks in-the fall,
then having to wait - till the next
fall for another.
That is all changing slowly, but
should change, faster. The remedy
is dairy cows and chickens. That
gives us a pay day twice a month
for cream and oftcner for eggs. Our
county ought to furnish all the cream
our creamery could handle. But it
is a lot better to have cream shipped
into the county1 than for us to ship
to' some other county or state.
We only have two cows. We do
not know the pedagrcc of one. The
other is half Jersey anH half Guern
sey. Since the first day of April,
1927, to January 1, 1928, we have
sold $95 worth of cream and raised
two male calves that we sold for
$10 each. The crearrf was hand skimmed.-
We have fed - milk - to - pigs
and chickens 1 nearly - every- day- bc-
sides the-family used all the milk they
wanted. We made some butter, but
only part of the family use it as the
others do not like butter.
. During the past year from January
1, 1927 to January 1, 1928, we have
had from 15 to30 hens at different
times. We raised about 95 chickens
large enough to sell. We kept about
35 pullets that are just beginning to
lay. We sold and eat most of the
others. We got, during the year,
193 dozen and 3 eggs. ,
I have not written this as a record
braker, either for cows or hens, for
I know it can be beat, but only
shows that 'there is a profit in either,
one or both. ,
Yours for better farming,
I). J. MOSES,
ROTARY LUNCHEON
At its weekly meeting ' Wednesday
the Rotary Club of Franklin had as
itsguests -Revs R. F. MockLandJ
A. Flanagan.; Both-made-interesting
talks which were thoroughly appreci
ated by those present.
Forest Fires Costly
To Voodlot Owners
Raleigh, N. C, Jan. The landowner
who does light burning of his timber
land during the months of January
and February to provide grazing for
his livestock . later ...in the season . is
following a costly, practice.
"This plan is all. wrong," says R.
W. Gracber, extensionforester at
State college. "The benefits frofn
preventing grass and forest fires arc
ten times greater than the cost. Trees
and cr6ps do not thrive without hu
mus and this .humus is , neccsary to
hold moisture in the soil and to furn
ish food 'for bacteria which make
fertility. Where land is burned over
frequently, the 'loss of humus and
plant food amounts to about one inch
per acre in ten years. One inch of
humus from one acre of land weighs
from ten to telve tons and has a
greater value than commercial ferti
lizer. The man who burns such valu
able humus does not even- get credit
for giving i away."
Mr. Graebcr : states also that un
burncd land produces from', two to
six times more feed in a single season
than jQburnedpyer lands. Rough
pastures and woods hold their mois
ture while the burned lands do not.
The burned over lands suffer more
from drought and the . run-off water
carries away the' valuable ,top soil.
Each fire lessens the growing - power
of the land. "
Burning ' the woods', also prevents
the natural seeding and the growth
of baby trees, states Mr. Graeber.
Most of the trees, which do start arc
6oon killed and the ones which survive
rarely ever make normal growth. ' It
is estimated that the absence of thrifty
young pines in some of the - eastern
sections of . North Carolina is a loss
many times as great as the residents
of these sections would have paid, in
taxes during the past 25 years.
The prevention -of forest "fires , is a
community problem in which -every
class of citizens should join in solving
and the-owner - of , the- land i should be
the most concerned, says 'the' special
ist, --v.. , ,. .
A
I A
MADE POULTRY PA
DESPITE HARD L
Raleigh, N. C, Jan. Success uW
branch or iarming is not ahvaj1
easy as telling about it, and espci
is this true with' poultry reporf
rour-11 ,cub boy of Caldwell co
Ralph H.j Hartley, of Hudso
Caldwell county, is how rated, as
of the best poultry club membc
North Carolina. He : holds sc
"firsts" in his list of accomnlishmL
He was first to join any, ..FV,
club in the county; the first t(
poultry work; the first to
wheat club; the first to join a
try club and the first to begin
club work. He . is also the
presidents ' of an organized club
the county.
But all this "came about gradus
Ralph became a poultry club merp
in 1924 atterhirmother had giy
six barred ijock hetis dunnr.'
vious .year. He bought
chicks whichShe raised
other chicks hatched, frcj
hens, The family movik
oi -MW so Kaipn soici ally
for $45 VV;"';:; ;,V
wnen ne Dcgan pouru
1924, he first bought .100
white leghorn chicks, ' sta
Hendricks,'county.:.a5cni:,iCMn
23 -pullets -and -20 xockerels from .ih i
bunch and sold the cockerels. f III
went into 1925 with the 23 hens "anL
uue man: uiru uut inai ycitr uc nri "'"V
lots of hard luck and failed to mllr
a profit. In 1926, be made a net ;
profit of $46.36 from a flock of 55
leghorns but when he began his poul
try year for 1927, he found that be
had to build brooder houses, buy art
incubator, build an incubator house
and construct a laying house for h;:3
flock. . " ' '" " " :
-. He did all this and finally made !a
profit of $371.15 for ' his labor during
the year. . Ralph received : assistance
from' both Mr. Hendricks ui. Allen
G. Oliver,,, poultry speciali
tfrt hnmp vrrvum rrai in .V1"-
feed . rations arid he ' is no
along- his poultry -work-on M
able basis,; togctherT ."with! : his"oth.
rlnh nroWts ' . .
U m
TO THE . MEM
( The management of your federation recently sent a letter, with
stamped envelope enclosed to every stockholder ' in the ; Macon County
Farmers Federation. This letter requested a reply. .
; Several have replied, but others have not.
W
CO-OPERATION
"rziPauseumoment-thinlc-andthen-GGO
YUUK lederatibn a success. L
' v ' ' ' . : v "!.V':.!:;'- !
from every ovner of these stores.
elp-to malcj!
P Jr,: , .. 'J5.'''. sJL i
V
nr
UWL
E. S. HUNNICUTT, General Manager ,