The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1900-02-20
NOTES OF THE FARM.
By w. F. MASSEY, OF A. & M College.


merter stay on the farm. As one plain
farmer of the better sort told me a few
days ago, when he was visiting the Col
lege and looking through all our work
with Il great deal of pleasure, the
trouble is that the farmers do not know
what you are doing here. | tried 4 few
days $50 to get some Of my nelShbors TO
unite with me in sending for the bulle-
tins and having our names all listed for
the Department and the Station bullc-
tins too, and one man told me that those
fellows at Raleigh cannot learn me any
thing about farming, for l was raised
on a farm, and know all about farming.
And yet / knew that very man took five
acres Of land to raise a bale Of cotton,
and could not be made to believe that
be could learn To Improve his land by
study and reading It is for the pur-
pose of combating all this dense ignor-
ance that the Government is spending
thousands Of dollars in the College and
Station. and the most ditncult problem.
that cCnfronts those who are trying to
help the farmer, and who are devotins
their lives to this one work, is to get
some men TO take the help that is offered
them. When we hold 4 farmers insti-
tute for their benefit the only men who
attend are the Intelligent farmers who
are already studying how to improve.
The men who take five acres to make Il
bale of cotton will not attend. for they
know all about f2rming.' And | see
them going by our college daily with one
little mule TO wagon with about %
cents worth OF pine wood on it. They
have spent time in cutting that wood
and then spend a day in travelling t,
town to sell it, and in all prohay;iiesy
they take home the value Of the Woou
in bale of cotton seed hulIs 10 feed the
mule on. If our friend at s'iiflate ard
others Of the many who write to me
that they read and like the letters III
your paper want 10 do some real I'll 5
>ionary work let them Try II rraca men
Of this class. Gc1 III n 10 take III, pa
per and read it not onj~ for is religious
value i'll their lives. but that they too
may be helped by the letters | am :rying
TO write with one eye slrgla 70 he. he!n
| may he able To give - the farmers ct
North Carolina. And If the Department.
has Il Farmers Institute III yoGr neigh
bOrhood. attend yours alf Of course, bdt
Go not stop at that; find all the five acre
to-a- bale men you can, and do ali You
can to get them out 10 The uceetinc. Nc
matter If YOU are not III Il cotton Gron-
ing section the sam class of men trc
IN al sections, tGe men 'Wh3 know It
all The writer "f This hats beprn en-
gazed in the cultivation OF lltt soil III
various states. in different scii,, and cit
mates and all sorts OF crops. He has
made agriculture a life study for the
IaSt forty years. and tho more he cuti-
Yates and the more he studies. tl.e more
he realizes that he does tot vt know ali
about it, and probably never viii, nor
will any other man. Hut ". are .earn-
ing year after year more than We knew
last year or the year before, aud that is
the whole reason 20, The Experiment sta,
tons, that men may have time &3d
means for study.
Right by the Roadside, whar4 me Know
it all men pass with their little iacs ~
wood daily | have Il frame six feet wide
and about 100 feet long, planted in let
tuce. This frame IS covered with glass
sashes that originally cost about $50 ana
have been i'll use for ten years ard .r,
good for ten years more with care 'i7bat
one crop of lettuce which the,- poor fc-
lows pass in full view of daily and al
which they look with ~or. Of pity IL
Iii" man vino p0ttcrs over suCn tritIe>
when he might sell fifty cents worth nf
wood q day with the help Of Il mule. VII
bring at the rate Of $1,000 per acre. an.;
the demand for winter lettuce, has never
yet been fully met. The space Of *
feet hy lcO will bring more money :hin
any ten acres these poor fellows oWel@
over all summer | passed >eyeca, Of
these little wood haulcrS yesterday whtr,
| WAS taking Il box of forced tomatoes To
the express office The box weighed 10
rounds and brought $1,000 and was q
single mornings picking, or rather parr
Of II, from space under glass of l3x6O
feet, and that space. has been producing
tomatoes since Christmas and will con
tinuo fer some time yet. Of course not
every one can go TO growing frame let
tHce or forcing tomatoes III winter. but
what / want 10 impress is the fact that
We can by concentration of effort get
mere money out Of 4 small area than by
spreading our energies all over the face.
Of the country for small profit Instead
Of everlasting figuring on so many acre,
10 tie mule. our farmers have got 10 go
To figuring on how many dollars they can
make an acre II land produce / have
some more letters | intended to answer
but | have already oycrrHn. my space
add must defer them until next week.
Gotten Mill Notes.