The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-08-24

be ranked as a stock producing State
among the first in the land.
The cattle industry though secondary
in value to that in horses and mules is
destined to become a leading agricul-
tural industry, ranking in public opinion
and in fact with the staple crops: cot
ton. corn and tobacco. Up TO compara-
lively recently cattle have been scarcely
a catch crop suffered to live, starye or
die on the scant heritage remaining on
the open range through the winter.
Since owners have learned i'll the stock
law counties that il pays to raise food
for fodder and that cattle can come
through the winter in as good condition
as they entered ii there has been q
steady increase i'm the numbers and
values Of cattle, auguring well for the
future This Improvement of the last
two decades has been very marked over
the western half Of the State. Cattle
raisers say that in no western or north
ern State can cattle be raised more
cheaply than here. Green forage can
be provided throughout nine months OF
the year; silos bridge the remainder, or
If desired six months. Add to the forage
crops necessarily raised for rotation and
cover crops the fact that the best fertl-
lizer of them all, the COW pea, IS often
advantageously used only when fed to
cattle and that the rouhgage necessary
to sustain cattle is now practically vast
ed results in ideal conditions for cattle
production. This State annually pays
about 81. 5000 for chemical fertilizers,
but the best planters are rapidly learn
ing to supplant them in part by the COW
pea and cattle manure. While 1T IS
probable that the fertilizer bill will
steadily increase it is also probable
that other natural means of increasing
fertility will increase in much more
rapid ratio. This means that COW peas
are going to be raised in regular rota-
ton and that cattle are going to increase
in ten fold ratio to consume the peas
and the corn, and give back their fer
filthy to the earth The loss of manure
in the woods has been the great mis-
fake of the past. The near future OF
the industry does not lie in the dairy,
but in beef animals, for which there
will always be n demand and which are
more easily cared for. The present In
dnstrial activity and growth of our
cities stimulates a healthy Increase OF
dairy herds and the fact that a large
share of the butter ana cheese con
sumed is imported will soon be met by
home production, but dairy methods are
exact, require skill from the production
of the forage to the finished product, and
more or less time must be taken to
adapt ourselves to- the new industry
before we can entirely compete with
dairying in States where it has been a
business for generations. That this
State can and does produce the finest
in the world is am accomplished fact
Three mountain counties, Ashe, ALE
ghany, and Watauga, and to a lesser de.
gree those of the southern tier, furnish
a portion of the stock which the Vir
vinia valley sells as export cattle for the
English market at the highest notch OF
market prices as their own. To satisfy
this trade the cattle must weigh from
fifteen hundred to seventeen hundred
pounds and be of the best. They com
pete in quality with the English stall
feds. No Thoroughbred dairy cattle
command a higher price than those
from Biltmore and no cattle thrive bet
ter than the dairy cattle OF our stock
law counties. Altogether the cattle i'm
dustry has developed along lines OF
least resistance without any cooperative
stimulus. With iudicious guidance there
is no plantation in this State where cat
tie may not be proftably increased. The
steadily contracting free range area OF
the west is advancing the prices of beef
and this State can raise cattle on fenced
farms where green crops grow nine