The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-06-09

y
ceeding to some extent. Therefore it
is with pleasure that / read the letter
from Mr.. Frizzell in the Farmer and
Mechanic of May Sth and the many let
ters that come to me direct from the
farmers of the State who say these let
ters are helping them. This is the sole
object for which. they are written, aside
from an earnest desire to make the
Farmer and Mechanic more interesting
to the people in the country. For the
better a man farms / believe the better
man he will be as he learns what a
bountiful provision the Creator has
made for man If he will but use it
Alright | am also glad to know that
Mr. FrizZell succeeded in curing the
pea hay all right by the method | have
so long advised In fact there is no hay
crop more easily cured than the COW pea
hay, and yet all over the south there is
great outcry about it being so hard to
cure pea vines. There is really no crop
grown for hay which is more easily
cured if done right. Now as to the
question you ask, whether peas will
beat clover in the mountain country or
Jackson county. 1t is rather hard fol
me to answer. Where clover does well
it is hard to beat, and if | was farming
up in Jackson county / believe that
would put my main dependence on
clover, and stand by to help it out with
peas by planting peas among the corn
or by growing big lots of peas for fat
tening hogs in the fall. Then too when
you fai Ito get a stand of clover as you
will at times, the pea comes in very
handy But in your elevated section
you are not in the best pea section, and
\, ufnX
fiourishes. Therefore | would say that
in your place 1 would stick to the
clover. though in all the wide country
east of the Blue Ridge l would not wor-
ny about clover at all, for there the
peas will beat it. l am glad that YOU
have written in the way you have, for
/ like to hear from men who are think
ing for themselves and at the same
time are anxious to learn more from
others Men of that character make
the best farmers and not mere copyists
of other mems plans, which may or may
not suit their conditions.
/ am also glad to know that you are
interested in apple culture, for you are
in the best apple country of the United
States in my opinion and when the
people there get proper knowledge OF
commercial methods of orcharding and
grow the varieties the market wants
and learns to handle them in business
like way there are fortunes in apples
in the mountain country of North Caro-
lima The best market for apples from
your section, handled and packed as the
Northern growers handle theirs, Will be
to the South of you. The Seaboard
cities of the Standardization, Savan-
nah and Jacksonville are all now main
ly supplied from Northern apples, and
though the freight rates in the South
are unreasonably high you still have
the advantage of distance over the
North. There will be wonderful de-
Velopment in this line in our mountain
country when our railroads learn that
their interests and the growers are
identical. Within the past ten years
there has been great boom In apple
culture in the mountains of Virginia,
not only because they grow good apples,
but because they have learned how to
handle them and how to care for the
trees. but manly because of the liber-
atty of the Chesapeake and Ohio rail-
road on which a reduction of freight
rates has enabled the growers to ship
their apples to Europe successfully
Now, from every foot of the Blue Ridge
the grower in Virginia can send Il barren
of apples to Liverpool for about the
same price our roads charge to bring
them from Mt. Airy to Raleigh. With
the growth of apple culture on COM
mercial scale in our mountain country
there will certainly come better freight
rates for it is only where there are
large quantities to ship that the rail-
roads can afford to meet the growers
half way The southern coast market
is practically unlimited, and should nat
urally look to your mountains for their
fruit, and will do so when they find
that they can get apples of superior
quality there handled as the fruit
should be handled. The careless prac-
tees of the past and present will have
to be abandoned if the apple business
is to grow in the mountain country of
western North Carolina The Buff and
the old red Limbertwig will have to
be abandoned and the Winesap, York
Imperial, Paragon and other varieties
of known excellence put in their places.
Orchards must be cultivated and cared
for, and when the crop is made, the
fruit must be gathered by hand and not
shaken on the ground and then loaded
in the body of sprlngless wagon to
haul over mountain roads and sold TO
the stores, but properly packed IN par
rels with fruit of one sort in barrel
and of one quality too, and headed up
and shipped as the northern apples are.
When our people learn these things and
practice them there will be a demand
for the western North Carolina apple.
Now when we go to a grocer in Raleigh
in winter and ask about apples, he says:
II have some fine northern apples for
such a price, but here are some noun
tain apples you can have for about half
the money" And few people take them
at half the price of the northern fruit.
And 1t is the fault of the growers and
not of the apples. The favorable soil and
climate of our mountain country pro-
duce good apples in spite of the greatest
neglect and ignorance. The late George
e. Boggs, of Haywood, who was en-
deavoring to grow apples in an intelli-
gent way, took his fruit to New York
and carried off the premiums at Madi-
son Square Gardens in competition
with the whole United States If that
can be done in western North Carolina
by intelligent effort, there is no telling
what may be done when the farmers
in that region wake up to the capabiIi-
finc Of fhai,, country tho ap,,la n,,t