The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1900-01-09
NOTES OF THE FARM
Bv w. F. MASSEY, Of A. & M. College


en- Thou and Do Likewise.-l visited
. gentleman last week, and was enter
7oinad at his hospitable home, who IS
setting an example to the farmers OF the
Stale. He is making money
fast on a farm where a nelSh-
bor told me his Wifes father could
hardly make food for his FANNY but
1o1ay the farm is about as rich as most
tanners Gardens. The reason was ap-
narent when saw his barnyard crowded
with vell-fed cattle, and when he toid
mo that he had bought and fed TINS year
six hundred head of heeyes tor the
}ntchprs And this was not IN the grass
,ountry of the mountains, where people
7,afuraIly look 10 stock for part OF their
means OF earning a livelihood, but II was
in th,. flat sandy and sWampy lands OF
eastern North Carolina. This enterprls-
;a,r farmer j. n model for those IN any
,4rr of the State "Secst thou man
Iiligent in business he shall stand be
fore kings. he shall not stand before
mean men The man of whom L write
j. active in all sorts of business enter
priSeS. and is binding up the little rall-
road station where he is located into
a prosperous town. He runs flourish
inc store has 4 large interest in an oil
and crate factory. This last he needs
himself. for in addition to his cattle
feeding he is raising truck winter and
summer for the northern market. Acre
after acre. of heavily manured land was
covered by frames, protected by canvass
ana he was shipping daily hundreds OF
barrels OF lettuce At highly prohtable
,}.icqs 70 the north and will be shipping
it ill next April, for as fast as the
Christmas crop is cut out new plants are
set under the canvass, and host OF
hands are steady employed IN the care
Of the frames That area in frames Will
bring more clear profit than the Wnoie
farm gave several times over. y little
way from the lettuce beds | saw Sc
rics Of long piles of earth that looked like
Notifications. and was told that he had
buried there ] 800 barrels of Irish po-
tatoeS, raised from seed of the early
crop. which he viii dispose of for seed
all over the South for the spring plant
ing for lie is 4 business man and adj
vertises what he has Near by there
were 13 acres already set IN cabbage
plants for the spring shipment next
April. Elsewhere on the large farm
saw that the farm crops We're not neg
leeied, and was told that in this season
Of poor cotton crops he made 4 bale and
quarter per acre.
This man is clear out of old ruts and
is farming profitably, and on land that
was formerly as poor as any. 1t was Il
source of great pleasure in me too. to be
told that what | had written on the
market garden business had started the
work there several years ago, for the
growers in that neighbOrh0Od have long
been members of my correspondence
school. What q power would the farm
CTS of eastern North Carolina exert ii
all We're farming as well, The future
for the feeding and raising Of cattle is
unlimited and the demand will steadily
increase. The man OF whom | have writ
zen could Dc vastly better if he could
get 4 better class Of cattle for feeding.
for all | saw there We're merely the
common scrub stock that roam the reedy
Swamps Of the east, and are not the best
OF feeders. With its great natural pro
duction of native grasses on the reclaim
cd swamp lands. its unlimited capacity
for the production of corn and COW
peas everywhere point TO the fact that
stock raising and feeding can be nEtdc
the most profitable of pursuits. This tax
tn in connection with the great capacity
Of the warm soils for the production Of
early vegetables for which the abund-
ant manure for the feeding Will furnish
the most valuable of plant food. point
the course that cultivation should take
in the East
Right in this same neghborhood of
which | write, another farmer Is making
q diary business. and is making gilt
edged article of butter He has fine
Jersey cattle and is making he told
me, an average Of one Ond half pounds
per day Of excellent butter which he
f.1,.
through, without any peddling. But his
butter Is put up in the best manner in
square blocks, and neatly wrapped in
WaNcd paper. and is Of uniform quality.
Every day one may see here in Raleigh
men gong from store to store with an
old TIN can. covered with an old rag, and
asking merchant after merchant if they
want butter and not q man takes the
trouble 10 look at the stuff he calls but
Ter IN that old tin. They tell him they
do not need any butter. Not that they
would not eagerly buy at a fair price
real butter, but they know what he has
without looking, and the farmer goes
along III his ignorance and abuses the
town as a place where Il man cannot sell
butter. and he sees no chance to make
anything by dairying. That class Of
men are the ones who never read an ag-
fIcnlturai paper, never have their names
entered for the Station bulletins. never
ask the Station for information and in
alI probability raise Il bale of cotton on
I"uf or live acres. To them there is
10 money in farming. and if perchance
me may look enough after the future
"l 'htf boys to send them to the Agri
cultural College, they say at once that
lheE DO not want them to take the az
flc'li'u 'ural course. but want them to study
something that will take them away from
the farm. and into the great army that
are struggling for 4 living in me-