The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1886-12-22
TENNESSEE HOGS.

tIILr1 - rs Il
The Charlotte Chronicle of a few
days ago noticed the arrival of 80
fat hogs from Tennessee, to be
slaughtered to supply the demand for
fresh pork. This is no unusual thing
A very large percentage, practical
ly speaking, nearly all the pork
slaughtered by the Charlotte butch
ers m from a distance, chiefly
from Tennessee.
The Salisbury Watchman of last
week remarks that now it is exceed
ingly rare to see a Rowan farmer
bring a hog to market and that fresh
pork except in very small quantities
is hard to get. Before the war it
says it was no uncommon
sight to see numbers of country
wagons coming to town with
slaughtered hogs for sale. There is
not a town of any size in the State
that does not depend, to a greater
II less extent, for it's supply of fresh
pork on hogs brought from a dis
lance, while millions Of pounds of
Western meat are brought into the
State every year to supply, in the
great part, the wants of the farm
ers. With such facts before us is it
a wonder that sc many of our farm
ers are struggling with adversely
day after day and are going down
under the heavy load they have to
carry? ,.....t
North Carolina farmers should
not only raise every pound of pork
they require but also enough to sup
ply the demand Of the towns and
have4sonle left to ship to other
States. If Tennessee farmers can
raise hogs, ship to North Carolina
and sell at a profit, North Carolina
farmers ought to be able to supply
Ourhome markets at a profit. For hog
raising Tennessee has no advantage
over North Carolina, but her farmers
have not given themselves over to
cotton.and tobacco. They can e
money in something else. They do
not cultivate their cropso on borrowed
money nor sink themselves up to
their eyes In: debt for commercial
fertilizers. " North Carolina buys
not only hogs and meat from other
States but wheat and flour from
Western fields and mills, and horses
and mules. from Western farms
when she could and should raise her
own wheat, her own horses and her
own mules. Drove after drove of
horses and mules, especially the lat
ter, are driven every spring from
Tennessee and Kentucky into the
belt of North Carolina for
and generally they find ready
at prices that pay the drovers
we'll and at prices WHICH our cot
ton planters, with the figures at
which cotton has ranged for the
past few years, can ill afford to pay.
But they must have mules=to~ work
in the cotton fields and if; they dof
not raise them they must buy then.
They buy them, trust them to care-
less, heartless hirelings, who Work,
abuse, starve and wear them out,
and then buy more. This/process
on year after year. There is
not a cotton planter in North Caro-
lima who could not, if he would, raise
all the horses and mules fhe needed
at a much less cost than Ihe pays for
them and thus not only save that
much money for himself but keep
it at home, where it is needed. Sup
pose the money the farmers annu-
ally pay for meat, flour, horses and
mules was kept at home, hoy much
less complaint would there\be of
hard times and scarcity of money.
They can do all this if they would
and that they'd do not do it is evidence :
that there is a r loose, and a
very his-erew-n-the machinery
f. @
Z CONVICT LABOR ON OUR\