FARM PRACTICES
Number 8
inston Budget Nears
Tax Rate Recommended in Face
Basing the tax revenue oh a
$1.1* rate which is 40 cents lower
than last year’s $1.25 rate an
estimated total tax collection
•t $355,137 is included under an
ticipated revenues. Itoe gross
tax collection lor the past year
was $290,526.30. -
Other sources of revenue In
chunks Include: {Priv
ilege licenses $18,000, parking
meters. $30,000, Recorder’s Court
$24,000, cemeteryiots and fees
white, $1,600 colored, auto and
bicycle license $4,500, water and
sewer taps $24,000, beer tax
(paid to city by state) $16,060,
Continued on Page Five
Proposing to Spend it This Way
The City of Kinston is really
reaching up Into the “city”
class, at least so far as budgets
are concerned. The 1953-64
tentative budget which has
been prepared by City Manager
Bill Heard and the various de
partment heads of the city
government comes within a few
thousand dollars of hitting the
two million buck mark. And
hippily Heard and his aides also
«an point to an anticipated
revenue that is ample to cover
this burgeoning budget.
s-An estimated $1,996,339.36 is
the figure that aldermen are
nwp toying with and will give
final consideration to at the
July meeting next Monday
night. This represents a boost
of $296,624.04 over the 1992-53
budget which stood at $1,739,
715.32. •: ,
City Manager Heard .has in
cluded with this tentative bud
get now in the hands of the
mayor and aldermen an expla
nation for each asked for ap
propriation and reasons for the
increase, if any, that the vari
ous departments wish.
The allocation to the mayor
and the board la upped from
$10,000 to $16,000. Largely ex
plained in the salary boosts
granted to the six by the 1953
(Assembly. This also
by the council last year's
$23,000 figure is upped to $27,
752 whjch permits increases of
$500 for Christmas lighting
($1,500 to $2,000), the National
Guard allocation moves up from
$800 to $1,200 which Includes
funds for a second Guard unit
for Kinston. Funds for Grain
ger High School Band director
are cut from $3,100 to $1,000
since the school budget Is Includ
ing a larger share of this ex
pense this year. The City School
Trfcant Officer allocation Is
boosted from $2,100 to $2,300.
City Manager Heard recom
mends the fun increase by the
Public library from last year’s
$7A» up' to $13,102. Larger
quarters} a full-time- librarian
need of more personnel arid
more books are the main rea
sons behind this’ big boost. ’
Hie $1,000 airport commission
allocation of last year & omit
ted for 1053-54.
under the heading of person
al benefits and pensions sup
» decrease from $72,
*39-86 to $59,635.96 is recom
mended. Another $11,500 for the
state retirement fund plus $1 -
MO for insurance. An item of
$25,000 for contingent salary in
creases is omitted from this pro
posed budget.
For the Municipal Stadium a
boost from $6,062.50 to $8,000 is
made which includes salary in
creases of $1,400 and Increases
in water, electricity and insur
ance for this department.
For the eity hall Heard asks
mdiinting new exhaust fans
aimed at making the court
room a little more bearable in
hot weather.
For the city manager’s office
a boost of $581 is asked to cov
er pay raise granted last year,
lie city finance office altar
_ .... jfi includes $4,472
pay Increases, $300 for repairs,
postage $200 and addition to the
office of $4,000. A decrease from
$4,200 to $750 is made in this
department for new equipment.
The city mapping project allo
Oontinued on Page 5
ea co nave siariea irom faulty
wiring. Considerable damagb
was done to the house by the
fire, water and smoke. (Pola
roid Onle-Minute Photo by Jack
Rider.)
Farm Management, or Lack of It, Is Still Eastern Carolina’s Biggest Problem
equipment,
ist bide the
loony to its
to the de
*r*Oa who
'.A
a
Since Eastern Carolina, with
the rest of the Nation, climbed
out of the extreme pits of the
1930’s depression great forward
strides have been taken in the
principal business of our area:
Farming.
The SCIENCE of farming has
been forced to move
forward because of new
diseases and new demands
by the consumer. This almost
unbelievable advance along the
scientific frontiers of Eastern
Carolina farming has been too
general, too great and too i wide
ly known to dwell on at great
lengths. Devleopment of dis
ease resistant strains of tobacco
has been the single biggest
scientific contribution to this
area, but there have been many
others that may, in the long
run, be of equal signifance.
Among these is soil analysis, soil
conservation, pasture seeding
and control, dozens of phases of
improved production and mar
keting of livestock and poultry,
farm architecture from the par
lor to the pig pfen and other less
obvious improvements.
Along with the leap forward
in agricultural science ha,ve also
come amazing advances in farm
mechanization. Today the mule
is fast disappearing from the
Eastern Carolina farm and the
tractor reigns supreme.
But as farm science and mech
anization moved ahead it became
increasingly important that a
third’ phase of business Also
come to the farm: 'Management.
Today the efforts 'of most men
and women who are ‘ in the
“professional’; end of farming;
the county agents, home agents,
soil conservationists, PMA‘ Com
miteemen jmd ,ebdc farm com
mittees are aiming most of their
heavy artillery at this remaining
weakness on the average East
ern Carolina farm.
Admittedly, farm manage
ment of today is superior to
that of 20 years ago, but it still
does not compare to what it was
prior to the War Between the
States and what it is today in
other areas; such as Lancaster
County, Pennsylvania, to name
an outstanding example of the
very finest combination of
of management, machinery and
science.
Intelligent and continuous
farm management have always
been vitally important to the
farmer apd to the nation as a
whole, but today, with the shift
in the population of the nation
AWAY from the farm, manage
ment has become increasingly
Important. When 15 per cent of
the people of the nation -lived
in towns and lived off the sur
plus produced by the 85 per
cent of the people who tilled
the soil the importance of a
stable farm economy was far
less than it is today when less
than 15 per cent of the people
till the soil and feed, clothes
and house—to a certain extent,
the 85 per cent which classes
itself urban or rural-not-farm.
An amazingly large percentage
of Eastern Carolina’s farmers
know nothing of the individual
soil characteristics of their va
rious plots of land. They nev
er take th£ time or small trou
ble to use ther scientific ad
vances in this particular sphere.
On down the line this class,
which is the majority, knows
little and cares less about using
these proven stepping stones to
a more profitable production and
a more secure future.
One glaring and physical evi
dence of the LACK of farm
management that anyone may
see in a few minutes ride
through the countryside is the
expensive machinery that is left
in the field after field to rust
and to rot “in between use.”
Transplanters, discs, bottom
plows, harrowls, cultivators—in
short all of the machinery that
costs so much and helps so
much on the farm may be found
depreciating far too rapidly out
in the weather.
And although many farmers
do have shelters for this expen
sive equipment there are few
shelters that can be classed as
adequate and even in the best
the farmer usually just parks
the mud and dust encrusted
piece of equipment until it is to
be used next time and then a
day or more must be spent in
scraping mud and rust off. The
very simple and easy applica
tion of a little used oil from
the farm car or truck wduld be
far less expensive in time and
money. &
Accurate farm figures on pro
duction by year, by individual
field, by fertilizer use are not
kept by 10 per cent of Eastern
Carolina’s farmers.
Accurate figures on marketing
by year, by crop, by market and
by , variety are missing on an
even a larger percentage of lo
cal "farms, probably due to in
creasing interest in recent years
to the “income tax man,” who
might,want to look at such fig
ures.
Production cost figures are
missing too. True, the average
farmer knows how much he
Continued on Page 8