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Vol. 5. No. 37.
CHARLOTTE, N. C., JULY 8, 1911
One Dollar a Year
HELP TH
AN WHO’S DOWN
One of the Best Investments, Says Barrett, is
Helping the Man's Who’s Down, Whether
or Not He’s a Member.
To the Officers and Members of the Farmers’
Union:
If more men had helped each other over
rough places since the world began, civiliza
tion ana* Christianity would be much farther
advanced than it is today.
The obligation to help the man who is down
and out is one of the most sacred—and it isn’t
confined to your fellow-member in the Farm
ers’ Union. In the first place you don’t know
when you may be in the same fix yourself, and
in need of assistance. In the second, by help
ing to put a man on his feet you’re saving
yourself the expense'of having to feea* him or
his family. So the proposition cuts from the
business as well as the philanthropic end.
In this country of quick changes, the man
you give a lift today may tomorrow be in posi
tion to help you or the organization. So it’s
good policy, as well as a plain matter of duty.
I don’t think I ever saw a man so far gone
in meanness that I wouldn’t try my best-to
give him even a little ray of lift. The man or
the woman is cast out by society with the cry
of “unclean, unclean,” is the man and the
woman who most need help.
You are not going to soil your hands by
picking people up out of the mire. You’re
much more likely to soil your soul, and lose
some good opportunities in life by failing to
q'o it. \
One of the most beautiful features about
some of the secret orders is that they never
desert a member, no matter how far he has
strayed from the pathway. That ought to be
the motto of every member of the Farmers’
Union, from the biggest leaders down to the
newest joiners.
We have a good deal of that spirit now in
the organization. The more we encourage it,
the more we enhance the prestige of the order,
and live up to the principles upon which it is
founded.
CHARLES S. BARRETT.
Union City, Ga., July 6th, 1911.
Importamit to the Farmers ©f the Stat^
Many sections of the State are passing
through the most severe drought they have
ever experienced at this season of the year.
Many of us, as we review the farm opera
tions of the past three months, see where we
have made many costly mistakes. We also
see where we hit the “bull’s-eye,”^© to speak
and scored a success. We have illustrations
and demonstrations, or opportunities for ob
serving on the farms of others, the causes of
these successes and mistakes. We should make
careful note of these and they will serve us in
good stead in the }'ears to come. It would
be a day well spent to take a day of? at this
season and drive over the country and observe
the crops on the different fields and farms
along the way, make inquiry as to date and
depth of breaking, subsequent preparation,
date of planting, and method of cultivation,
and previous crops grown, noting carefullly
the physical and mechanical condition of each
field. In this way we can get interesting mat
ter for discussion at Union meetings. Alliance
meetings. Farmers’ Clubs, picnics and social
gatherings. It is thus that we can learn and
teach some most valuable lessons in soil and
crop management, and thereby make our mis
takes contributory to onr future success.
But the past, with all that it teaches, is be-
iiind us; the immediate future engages our
attention; the harvest is not yet; the critical
period is just before us, and we should try to
s-void making further mistalces. In the begin-
of the season our minds and thoughts
''^ere engaged principally with the problem
of proper fertilization( in most instances,
methods of preparation and planting received
secondary consideration. Many of us did not
reckon with the problem of moisture, but just
took it for granted that it would be forthcom
ing, and therein we find the cause of some of
our most costly mistakes.
Moisture fs the most important factor in
the production of crops, and methods by which
water may be stored in the subsoil and con
served for future use by the crops should re
ceive our most careful consideration early in
the season.
The planting season in many sections open
ed with less water in the subsoil than ever be
fore, and the rainfall in most places since
April ist is below the average for this period
by several inches. As a result, the soil is un
usually dry, and the soil water unusuaaly low
for this season of the year. And, as already
stated, we are just entering the critical period
in the growth of the crop—the stage of
growth at which most moisture is .required to
bring to good fruitage and maturity.
With a normal rainfall the remainder of
the growing season it will require our utmost
skill to produce'a fair crop in many sections.
We will have to conserve every particle of
moisture possible, and herein we need to be
resourceful and perform the work in the most
efficient manner. The only thing to do is to
cultivate. Cultivate shallow, cultivate fre
quently. Avoid open furrozvs. The man who
takes a shovel plow, or solid sweep and opens
a ditch on each side of the row, as some are
now doing, is guilty of murder—the destruc
tion of plant life. Heelscrapes, cotton sweeps,
harrows and cultivators, set to run shallow,
*not over one or two inches deep, are good im
plements to use in making a dust mulch. Lay
aside the Dixie and shovel plow and thereby
save the crop. Make all possible haste to stir
the soil after a shower. Under present con
ditions it is imperative that we do this; if we
do not, and a crust is allowed to form and re
main for a few days the soil actually becomes
dryer than if no rain had fallen, and the crop
suffers most severely.
We should keep the cultivation going even
if no rain falls to form a crust. In some in
stances it may be better to run a drag or a
light roller constructed for the purpose to
break the crust or compact the soil where too
open and loose. Go over the crop every week
or ten days; if allowed to lie too long, injury
will be done by cultivation.
It behooves us as farmers to study the situ
ation, to stand by our crops, seek advice from
each other and try not to let our crops suffer
through any mistake of ours.
There is another thing that should not es
cape our attention—the scarcity and high price
of hay. Many farmers are now paying $30
to $35 cash per ton, and $35 to $40 on time for
timothy hay. The drought has cut short the
hay crop in the North and West, and hay is
going: to be scarce and high next winter and
t3'-'***&
spring
(Continued on page 3.)
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