The Progressive Farmer from Winston-Salem, North Carolina • 1

THE INDUSTRIAL AHD EDUCATIONAL IEfEEESTS OUR PEOPLE PAEAHOUE? TO ALL 0IHE2 (TWTP STATE EOHCY. Vol. 17. Raleigh, H. 0., April 29, 1902.

Ho. 12 Agricif ire. STsiNO CUBAN A'r SUMATBAN TO-BACCOS IN EAST jxperimenti to be Xad Renoir and Edgecombe Co H. The Kinston Fre Sess is considerably interested in -'aisiog of the bigb. priced its seotion, md in its las issue publishes a let-terfrom State Cljemist Kilgore regarding the subjeot.

The larger part of the latter, we think, will in-terest Progressive Farmer readers, and we publish it in full herewith c. Department of Agriculture, Raleigh, April 11, 1902. Editor The Free Press, Kinston, N. Dear Sir Your favor of the 8th, in regard to the mcvement to investigate the suitability of our soil and climate to the growth of Sumatra tobaoo is received. From the work that haa been done in the examination of the soils of the State and from the oharaoter of tobaooo whioh has been grown by a few individuals in the State, we feel that "our conditions are favorable to the growth of this type of tobacoo.

The State Department of Agrioul-fcre has obtained, through the Tutted States Department of Agri-cclfcre, seed of both Sumatran and tobaooos and have furnished tiese to a limited number of tobaooo powers, mainly in the eastern part of the State for test. The Depart ment has also put out a bed of Cuban tobaooo on its test farm in Edge combe County, and will grow there this season four or five acres of Cuban tobacco, in an experimental way. This tobacoo will be grown according to instructions furnished by experts in the growth of Cuban tobacoo by the first of July we hope to have one or two experts to take Ciarge of the experiment and the growing and cure and ferment the crop. In this way we hope to get definite information as to the suitability of the soil and climate of Eastern North Carolina for this tobacoo. It is proposed to continue the work with tobacco another year, and in faot, until the conditions for growing these tetter types of tobacco are worked out, or else it is shown that they are not adapted to our soil Should our experiments in Edgeoombe County prove successful lean see no reason why the section wound Kinston should not also be veil adapted to this tobaooo, as there are types of soil in the two sections entirely alike.

We know this from a careful examination of your soils, well as those in Edgecombe County. We are not yet fully assured of tie alignment of experts to assist ia this work this season. If the agricultural bill before Congress gets reasonable support for the work, help will be given up, otherwise we will likely not be able to obtain it until another year. When the ex part help is given we shall be glad to do anything that we can to assist the farmers of your section in this mat ter, and I think arrangements can made for an expert to visit Kin 8ton and give instructions with reference to this tobscco. I think it rather late this season for your section to do anything, as tobacoo beds bave been out for some time.

I have as r.Hll quantity of Cuban and Sumatra tobaooo seed left over from the supply furnished us from Wash ington and 1 send these to you for such ue as you may see fit to make of them. I am also sending you a copy of the New England Tobacoo Urov.t-r, whioh is speoially devoted the growth of Sumatra tobacoo in 'onnecticut Vnlley. I am also writing Prof. Whitnoy, Chief of the B-reu of Soils, of the United States department of Agriculture, to send yos his recent publications on to-Wcr You can obtain a special balietin on this subjeot by writing to the Director of the Conneotiout Experiment Station at New Haven. If we can be of further service to yn in this or any other connection we shall be glad to have you call Crt Very truly yours, B.

W. Kilgore, State Chemist and Direotor. MOORE COUNTY FARM NOTES. Alio Some Sustentions at to Corn Culture. Correspondence of The Progressive Farmer.

As you request short articles from the various sections of the country, I know of no good reason why I may not acoommodate you from this one. crop conditions and acreage. The wheat and oats not killed by the winter freezes are growing nicely now, also the early sown spring oats are looking well. Corn plariting is all the go as this is written and every fellow seems to have gotten in a hurry. Some I fear have become a little too smart and plowed ther land wet, and will thereby have more sun-dried bricks by the harvest than oorn.

Suoh is strange yet true, but they wont take The Progressive Farmer and learn better, as well as many other valuable lessons. The oo ton acreage to be planted soon will be about equal to that of last year. Just here I want to say a few things about planting corn. Not about the preparation of the land, for every intelligent reader of The Progressive Farmer has been fully advised along that line. Why is it most farmers use so little common sense in planting oorn? They as a rule have more of that commodity than of corn, oats or wheat, yet it is the first thing they lay by.

Seemingly they have only one object in view, and that one is to get the corn in the ground and then prooeed (as their daddies did fifty years ago) to run off their rows nbout four feet apart with hills planted about the same distanoe in rows on the poor and the better alike, regardless of fertility. Certainly they do not think, for they must know that each and every plot of land has its capaoity and contains a certain amount of plant food. Then if his acre's oapacity is to pro duce only ten bushels what is the sense in planting on it nearly or quite three thousand hills or enough to produce nearly thirty bushels shelled corn? Every farmer knows that a hundred earsof good corn will make a bushel of shelled corn. He also knows that every stalk properly planted, fertilized and cultivated will produce a good ear of corn. Then why not plant the number of hills that equals the fertility of the land? If its capacity is only ten bushels, why plant more than a thousand hills? Where is the sensible man who would pen up and undertake to fatten thirty head of hogs when he had only the means of getting food suffioient to fatten ten of them? And yet the man who plants three thousand hills of corn on an acre of land whose plant food is only sufficient to produce ten bushels of corn is practicing identically the same folly.

CHANGE YOUR SYSTEM. I want to ask those of you who are guilty of this common error to change your mode just a little, not radically. Lay off your rows as usual four feet apart, but plant only every other row in corn four feet apart in the row and you will then have a little more than enough hills on the acre than is necessary to produce the ten bushels of corn. At a proper time plant cow peas or soy bsans in rows left unplanted in oorn. By this arrangement you will not only be the more apt to get your ten bushels of corn, but in addition thereto a orop more valuable than the corn, and the land greatly improved.

Just a little advioe now to TnE farmers' boys D-m't lparn your daddies too much, as 1 did mine. He was an old fogy farmer, you know, and praoticed very much the same mode as I have advised. When I was a boy, I promised myself that as toon as I became manager of the farm, I would learn the old gent how to make corn, wheat, oats, etc, as I verily believed he was wasting land and labor by his mode of thinly seeding his land. So after getting in command I proceeded the first opportunity to teach the promised lesson. First by taking the best piece of land on the farm and laying it off in rows about three feet apart and planting the corn about the same distance apart in rows.

Well, the corn came up and looked nioely for awhile until the land began to get dry and hot, then its color ohanged and its growth stopped it wilted and 1 wilted. I had to go to Dad for advioe, but got no consolation there. He said it was too late, it was ruined. I had done it in planting there was twice as much corn on the land as ought to be. He knew it from the start, but would not tell me, for he wanted to impress upon me an important truth and he did it, and that truth was to plant no more hills of oorn on an aore than was plant food for their full support.

The oapacity of the land referred to was about twenty-five bushels per aore. I made not exoeeding three bushels of good oorn per acre, but had in addition a small lot of very short corn. The lot being small, the lesson I learned was not no oostly after all. So, boys, be careful how you learn your dads lessons. H.

C. Moore Co N. C. PROMINENT AGRICULTURISTS TO ADDRESS TEE EAST TENNESSEE FARMERS' CONVENTION. Correspondence of The Progressive Fanner.

An interesting programme is being prepared for the East Tennessee Farmers Convention whioh meets in Knoxville on May 21, 22 and 23. The entire programme will be published in a week or two, but we mention here some of the most prominent men who will address the Convention. Ex Governor W. D. Hoard is one of the most prominent figures in the dairy world.

Having developed the dairy business from the side and given muoh thought and study to the scientific side as well, he delivers a most entertaining and valuable address. One of our most interesting speakers will be Hon. T. Terry, of Hudson, O. Mr.

Terry took a worn-out and impoverished farm and by mix ing brains and brawn has made it a valuable piece of property. Our great problem was his and as he has solved it chiefly through the medium of plowingunder green orops what he may have to say along this line will be of unusual interest. Col. J. B.

Killebrew, of Nashville, has agreed to prepare a paper on "The Agricultural Resources of Tennessee," and the facts and figures that he will present will not only be helpful to our farmers, but will en able us to place before the general public reliable information oonoern-ing the present status of Tennessee agriculture and the correct lines along whioh it should be developed. Hon, James Wilson, the present Secretary of Agriculture, has consented to attend the Convention and deliver an address on "The Appalachian Park, '''a subject of vital interest to the farmers of East Ten nessee in view of the recent floods whioh have wrought such devastation in the mountainous sections of the State. His other address "The Commercial Side of Farming is sure to be a treat in vie of the great demand for our agricoltura products in foreign markets. Not the least interesting of our speakers will be Mr. Jarfies P.

Kerr, who will address the Conventiun on the subjeot of poultry raising. Mr Kerr has charge of the poultry de partment of the famous Biltmore Farms of Mr. George Vanderbilt, at Asheville, N. C. Mr.

Kerr is thor oughly praotioal and his address will be replete with valuable information for poultry raisers. Besides the gentlemen mentioned, a number of the most progressive farmers of Tennessee will talk before the Convention on suoh topios as The Construction of Silos, Feeding Ensilage to Cows and Steers, Raising Beef Cattle, the Breeding and Man agement Jof Haokney Horses, Apple Culture in Tennessee, eto. Everything points to this being the largest and most successful meeting in the history of the Convention and no farmer can afford to miss the opportunities it affords. Andrew M. Soule.

University of Tennossee, Knox ville. FARMING PROGRESS IN CRAVEN COUNTY Corn Shredders, Cream Good Stock, and Cow Feai all Becoming Popular. Correspondence of The Progressive Farmer. The farmers of our oounty are turning their attention more to rais ing corn field peas than formerly, and this is a good indication of substantial progress Our soils will all grow better when covered with pea vines, and some of us try to have a large part of our farms covered eaoh year by this great renovator of Southern soils. Dairying is receiving more atten-tion in our oounty than formerly, There are two or three cream separators in the oounty and a probability of more.

Fewer but better cattle is the indication, and these better cattle, better fed with a correspondingly greater profit whether for milk, cream, butter or beef. The shredder has also come to our oounty and we think that in a few short years the oorn stalks that have been so muoh in the farmer's way heretofore, will be baled np and put in his forage house for the farm stock. Corn is so soarce with a few of our farmers that oottonseed meal has been substituted for it for horses as well as cattle and thus far we have heard of no unfavorable results. The worst thing the farmer has to oontend with in this county is bad roads. Considered financially, educationally, sooially or morally, we see nothing just now that is a greater hindrance to progress, except, perhaps, the iniquitous liquor traffic D.

L. Craven Co N. C. 1 The weather is fine and the farmers are at work in dead earnest, getting ready to plant big oorn orops, and cotton and peanuts for the money drops. We plant no tobaooo in Gates.

Corn is worth 65 oents a bushel. The hog crop is fair Riddiok Hofler, Gates N. C. THE LOCUST FLAOOE. Correspondence of The Progressive Farmer.

The press dispatches and contributed artioles in the newspapers stating that this country is going to be visited by a- plague of the seventeen year loousts and that in oonse quenoe muoh damage will be done, borders on sensationalism, something unfortunately sought after by a great many papers. The truth of the matter is, as Dr. Howard, the Entomologist of the Department of Agrioulture states, that the "locust plague is being exaggerated beyond all reason. Of course the shrill ories and disoordant notes of the oioadas will be heard on every hand, but at the very greatest, they will be present for only about five weeks, from the middle of May until possibly the first of July. A fear amounting to almost a panio seems to be present among some farmers and orohardists that these loausts or cicada as they are properly named, will oause such damage that hv -vegetable and fruit yield will be very slight this year and in oonse-qaenoe a still higher scale of prices will result.

A study of the female cicada who is the cause of what damage is done, will show that in de positing her eggs she only selects such twigs as she can easily gouge out, in order to lay her eggs. It is only these small twigs, whioh the orohardlst would doubtless out away, himself, that are rendered useless and break off with a heavy gost of wind. Many farmers S8em to confound the oioada with the grasshopper or real locust and thus ly at the door of the former, all the cause of the destruction made by the latter insect. As stated by the Department of Agriculture, the cicada is not migratory and generally makes for small trees and shrubs, where it will stay until it falls to the ground dead. Guy E.

Mitchell. Washington, D. C. Wheat and spring oats are looking well for the baokward spring. The farmers are working with a vim, though.

Sad to say, so far as we have learned, most of the crop will be cotton in our seotion. D. F. Anson Co N. C.

Horticulture. THE STRAWBERRY WiSEVIL. What it is and How to Avoid Its Onslaughts. Correspondence of The Progressive Farmer. The first oomplaint of injury by the strawberry weevil (Anthonomus signatus) has just been received.

The letter, whioh comes from Duplin County, says "I send you some bugs whioh I find in my strawberries, and some blooms whioh they have killed. They are completely killing my berries as they go. Please give me the name of the bug, its origin, and a speedy remedy, Write me by mail and also publish in The Pro gressive Farmer." It is commonly thought by many that the or others occupying offioial positions, create more stir and exoitement over their work than the case really justifies, but the above letter speaks for itself as to the great damage whioh our in seot foes may infliot, and it may also be said that strawberries are not subjeot to so many insect enemies as other crops Right here let us make the point whioh we have tried to impress in almost every artiole which we have written for publication, namely, that in fighting inseots the greatest point is to be ready, and begin the fight early, before the crop is ruined. We are so prone to look only at the problem of the one day in whioh we live and pay no attention to what lies ahead. The most effeotive means of escaping injury by the strawberry weevil is in the selection of varieties, and thus it must really be taken into consideration before the plants are ordered irom the original grower.

Remedies applied after the weevil appear have never proved very effeotive, though doubtless better than nothing. The weevil is a very small brownish beetle of rather hard consistence, and the head is furnished with a stout beak with tiny jaws at the end. With this it punctures the bud or freshly opened flower, and in the hole thus made, the egg is deposited. The beetle then gnaws the stem of the flower so that it wilts and oan make no further growth. The egg hatches into a small whitish grub whioh feeds on the pollen in the bud.

The faot that it lives on the pollen and not the bud itself is most important. In this situation the grub remains till grown, and about midsummer it transforms to the beetle. The faot that the grub lives on the pollen of the flower indicates that only those varieties will be attaoked which produoe pollen, and this is the case. By the seleotion of pistillate varieties, therefore, we get plants that are not subjeot to attack, or at least the attacks will not be serious. The catalogues of dealers in strawberry plants usually indicate whether a variety is staminate or pistillate by a letter orp, as the case may be.

Those marked are the staminate (pollen-bearing) varieties, and hence subjeot to injury by weevil. As it is necessary to have some staminate plants in order to fertilize the others, every fourth, or fifth row may be staminate. Without exercising this precaution in the selection of plants, one is taking his own risk of injury by the weevil. Probably the Sharpies is the worst affected of all varieties, and in some localities in Maryland and Delaware, growers have entirely given up the culture of this variety, on this very aooount. But what concerns our Duplin County grower at the present moment is the protection of this year's crop.

For this, we know of nothing better than to give a liberal sprinkling of dry tobaoco dust until the young berries are past injurv, or till the weevil has run its course. Franklin Sherman, Jr. Entomologist Dep't of Agriculture, Raleigh, N. C. Farmers are right muoh behind.

Nearly all are busy planting C3rn. There will be more Seeded this year in this section than usual. Several are planting oorn where they had ootton last year. There will be more peanuts planted and less cotton. Fall oats and wheat are almost a failure.

Li. Barnes, Halifax N. C. CULTIVATED ORCHARDS. Correspondence of The Progressive Farmer.

There is little question irrthemind of any intelligent farmer about 'the value of orchard cultivation up to the bearing period, but not all agreft that it should extend beyond. Nevertheless, there is nothing worse for an orohard than a bare soil left to take care of itself. Weeds will invariably appear in suoh a soil, and these will do considerable harm in robbing the land of the richness whioh the trees need. There must be some counter balancing method. Of the many experiments made with orohards that have been treated with and without cultivation after the trees began to produce, the great majority showed a deoided improvement in favor of those whioh have been cultivated.

This, however, does not mean any more than mere surface cultivation, and for that matter not muoh more than a surface scratching of the ground in the spring sufficient to make grass or grain seed catoh. There is no better plant fertilizer than good rye turned under or allowed to deoay -in' the field. Every crop of this that we can raise and return to the soil should increase the fertility, so that the young and old trees will make a new growth. The plowing of the surf ace in the spring need not interfere with the roots of the trees. Indeed, special oare should be taken to avoid any suoh oontingenoy.

The soil oan easily be stirred to a sufficient depth to make the seeds grow without touching the roots. If these latter run very olose to the surfaoe, the plow or cultivator should not be run up near the trees but as a rule this stirring of the top soil every year tends to make the roots of the trees seek a lower level, and in orohards that have been cultivated from the beginning little trouble will be experienced with the surfaoe roots. Sow from one to two bushels of rye to the aore, so that the ground will be oovered before winter. This will help to proteot the roots of the trees from the severe oold, and the following spring when turned under the rye will add rich fertility to the soil. The advantage of a high crop of rye in the orchard in the fall in those States where the winter freezing is apt to injure fruit trees cannot be overestimated.

The tall rye proves a most effectual blanket to the tree roots and trunks, and few trees are injured from freezing when treated in this way. The thiok rye is really warmer and superior to a ooveringj of snow. When feed is scarce the temptation to cut the rye in the orohard is great, but do not yield to it. No orohard oan thrive whioh is systematically robbed of its fertility. 8.

W. Chambers. Prof. Milton Whitney, Chief of the Bureau of Soils of the Department of Agrioulture, has returned from his trip to Hartford, and tells the Washington correspondent of The Progressive Farmer that he is delighted with the situation he found there in regard to the growing of Sumatra tobacoo under shade. He says the tobacoo is, in many instances, the equal of the imported wrapper, and that which has been stored for six months shows the same improvement as the imported article.

Cigars whioh have been packed and allowed to cure have the same gloss and finish and the color is evidently permanent. Prof. Whitney prediots a most flattering future for the industry. THOSE "MOTH TRAPS." The "moth catcher" traps which have recently been fraudulently advertised to snpplant spraing in orohards, are meeting with condemnation from many quarters. They cannot be depended upon to catch the codling moth and other orchard pests whioh are now best treated with sprays of arsenical poisons.

Careful teats of the "moth catoher" show that a large percentage of the inseots caught are beneficial insects whioh would kill many more obnoxious inseots than the trap catches Geo. C. Butz, Horticulturist, Pennsylvania Experiment Station..