The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1899-09-05
z AR M AFFAIRS
SHALL WE CHANGE OUR PRES.
ENT MODE OF FARMINGa-

S
North Carolina,
The following paper, prepared by
Mr. W. A. Thigpen, appeared ecently
in the Tarboro, N. O., Southerner.
Says Mr.. Thigpen:
This ia subject which interests
every home throughout our country.
The question would ask is, what is
your mode of farming7 Are you try
ing to cultivate cotton, tobacco, pea
nuts, or truck crops to that extent you
cannot raise all your corn, meat, cat
tie, horses and mules necessary to keep
up the farm from year to year7 The
first thing which suggests itself to me
is that there is a great opening for
| beef, either to sell at home or fatten
for shipping purposes, also in running
dairy Eor butter, and raising calves
from skim milk warmed By giving
this your attention you improve your
farm with the best and most lasting
manure, and you have a channel to
turn your surplus grain and hay into
cash at handsome profit. would
advise every farmer to own from ten
to twenty five COWS, which will yearly
turn out calf each that will sell, il
carefully attended to, at one year old
from twelve to sevente en- dollars at a
very small expense.
To all persOUs gro wing cattle urge
the necessity of a silo. They can be
satisfactorily made, most any capacity,
and will keep your corn, soja beans
cut up or any crop you may raise for
feed all during the winter, and no feed
is necessary to be bought. Cows should
have good stable the year through,
but can be pastured in spring and sum
mer, but should be driven up at night.
/ have the manure from twenty five
head well attended to, worth every
cent it cost to feed, giving profit of
increase, and all the butter, which was
nearly one pound each to the COW
while milking It is also of first i'm
portance you should make large crops
crops of corn and raise as many hogs
as possible.
The hog business can be made very
much more profitable by sowing from
ten to twenty-five acres in rye in pas
ture about September for spring graz
ing. After lne they can be run on
oats and crab grass until middle of
August, when they should be put on
black peas and kept on different fields
of peas until peanuts are ready. Then
they can be gotten ready for the fat
tening pen, to be finished up on corn
either boiled or soaked. If every
farmer would carry out this plan he
could find it much cheaper than the
old way Of keeping hogs in woods
and feeding on corn alone, also find it
quite an income he will derive from
hams and lard he can sell the year
through and have none to buy.
1t will be necessary on small farms
to devote thirty acres to these hog
crops; on large farms seventy five
acres will not be too much to rotate
and improve in this way.
After you have succeeded in stock
ing your farm with good breeds of
cattle and hogs, and have laid off
enough corn and pea crops then make
up your mind whether you wish to
raise cotton, tobacco, peanuts or truck.
[f cotton, plant small acreage, manure
heavily with compost and in addition
use mixture of kaiuit, acid and cotton
seed meal from 500 to 800 pounds to
the acre. II cultivated by hired labor,
never have your rows under four feet
wide, and good distance apart in row;
but if you have tenants you might use
from 400 to 500 pounds to the acre of
cotton, and in addition to cotton, plant
peanuts, tobacco and corn. This makes
variety Of crops, which strikes me as
being better than the old one crop plan.
You will find it necessary TO keep extra
team for the different extra crops, but
have found it to pay better than farm
ing a certain number Of team of jus9
90 many acres Of COttOn. I by no
means recommend to the cO5bon grower
to give up cotton, the tobacco man TO
give up tobacco, or the peanut raiser
to give up peanuts, but the time has
come in which it is necessary to make
these crops a surplus. You must raise
all your home supplies To recapitu
late: take an average farm five or six
team, we should have ten COWS, raise
5000 pounds of meat, seventy five
acres in corn and make 300 barrels or
more ian average crop), have at least
thirty acres in peanuts, one half of
which tn r1n hogs on. als0 nIans meas