The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1902-06-03

| eXaCGLN ike COuO4b4OAASg NONC4OPS
i strawberry vine, which on a spring
night, some truant lad tramples be.
meath his feet and robs of its luscious
fruit. The why of these wide diver
gences is not yet explained, but it IS
the plain expression of what is Known
as the law of hereditary tendency, "r
that like produces like. This is the
basic principle upon which rests what
has been accomplished in the improve
ment of our domestic plants. Already
great improvement has been made IN
! the way of developing and increasing
the yield of many OF our crops, u
much is vet to be done. A noted ex-
perimenter several years ago began
work to increase the yield of wheat,
and by a process of selection alone,
under exactly the same conditions, he
has in three years increased the yielI
two bushels per acre. This same care
if applied to our whole wheat crop,
would. at no extra expense, increase
the yield, at this rate, 100000 0
bushels.
ANIMAL PRODUCTION
But the question of animal produc-
ton is today n of North CarOl;nas
greatest questions. Practically all OF
our pork, and a large amounc Of OF"
Eeef and dairy products come from
the North and West. We make no
cheese at home. We get from other
States more than a million pounds of
butter yearly. In the face too of the
fact that the average modern COW pro-
daces at least three hundred pounds of
butter per year, the average North
Carolina animal produces only 40
pounds: with the modern beef, animal
producing 1900 pounds of beef in two
years, the average North Carolina ami
NAL produces only seven hundred in
Eve years, and this too at as great a
cost for keeping per year as is eX-
pended upon their better bred rivals.
If there be philosophy on these ques-
tons, is it not clear hat it should be
put where it will bear fruit? What
would it mean if knowledge of the
best methods of breeding, feeding, Ear
ing for live stock, and disposirg of
their products were widely distributed
among our farming people instead of
being the property of a lew scientists
AID Investigators! Let US see what it
has meant TO other States
WHAT COULD BE DONE FOR DAIYING
A notable illustration is the develop
ment of Wisconsin in this respect. In
1892 there was not a single agricul-
tural student in her State college. In
that same year there were only six
creameries in the whole State, and~the
dairy output of the State vas only
100000. To induce young men to
go into the creamery business, the col
lege opened a twelve weeks course in
agriculture and dairying to train them
for the work. The first year only
twelve men availed themselves of the
opportunity. The next year the num-
Der rose to thirty. Last year, just
nine years after the establishment of
the course, five hundred students at
tended. During the nine years twelve
hundred students had taken the course
in dairying, and instead of six cream
cries in Wisconsin, there are now 500,
each one managed by a Wisconsin
dairy school student, and the dairy
| output instead of being worth eight
million dollars, now brings that State
thirty-two million. In addition, the
dairy industry has added millions of
dollars to the fertility of the land.
The spending of $4,000 on a dairy
school adds each year to the States
wealth $4,000, 900. This too in face
of the fact that Wisconsin is not one
fourth as we'll suited to the dairy in
dustry as is North Carolina.
WHAT SHOULD BE DONE IN NORTH
CAROLINA
Now in view of these facts, the
question arises, what can be done
practically to develop these three sides
of agriculture?
Ny answer is that our State must
disseminate agricultural knowledge,
plans of work, and methods of cultiva-
ton, just as Germany disseminates
knowledge of manufacturing. To
reach the masses we must send well
equipped men into every county, not
only to tell young farmers what to do,