The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1903-08-04

MOT SuOuIU you 1OISCG CWO AOUoO AN
can afford any needed improvements or enlarge
ments, make them. When we compare the prices
of cotton and tobacco and wheat with prices a
decade ago, it is plain that we ought to have more
beautiful and more serviceable- country homes IN
1908 than we had in 1898. Make the building as
nearly as possible what it ought to be and then
see that the interior is properly decorated. Sub
~stantial, serviceable furniture, some easy chairs
to rest in, some worthy pictures to hang on the
walls, and some musical Observation-Disclosures
things no farm home should be without. 1t chill
dren are taught to love good music, good pic
lures and good literature, they will be much more
likely to love the good in manners and morals.
Next, get all the labor-saving machinery you
can use proftably. We North Carolinians have to
compete with machinery-using people, and we
shall have to use more of it ourselves. A writer
in the Worlds Work says it would take all the
farmers in the United States. four months in
the year merely to shell the corn crop if it had to
be sheIled by hand. as it once did. The scarcity
of labor in North Carolina has now become so
pronounced that the use of better implements and
machinery is imperative. Get the catalogs of
all the prominent manufacturers of farm machin-
cry and make your selections. Plows, drills,
planters, cultivators, mowers, reapers, harrOws,
ETC., mean the saving of many an extra days labor
by hired hands, and if your farm is so small that
you cannot afford to buy alone, ego shares" with
your nearest neighbor for the more costly ma
chinery. Our people must learn the value of CO.
operation-the proftableness as well as the virtue
of bearing one another's burdens.
And while planning for machinery to Tighten
your own tasks, don't fail to see what can be done
to make your wife's lot easier. A better stove
might make the cooking much less trying this hot
weather; a more modern sewing machine might
count for much; and, if there are a sufficient
number of COWS, a cream separator should super
sede the old-fashioned dairy methods.
There are one or two other matters we had ex-
pected to mention, but to include them in this let
ter would make it too lengthy. Besides, we have
probably said more already than you wish to hear,
for very few people care to have people suggest
ways of spending money. But bear in mind that
we have been speaking of purchases that should
be charged, not to your expense account, but to
your investment account. And very profitable in
~vestments we believe most of them would prove
to be. If, for example, you pay $40 extra for an
improved cultivator, and it lasts five years and
saves you the labor of a 5O-cent hand five days in
each year, then it will have paid for itself and
the interest on its cost, and a good profit besides.
One other suggestion, and we close. Arrange
for a vacation for yourself and each member Of
your family some time within the next month.
The vacation habit, within proper bounds, will
add years to your life and life to your years. CAL
work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" and the
same principle holds good after Jack grows up.
Go away and see how other people live and farm.
and we guarantee that you will get enough valua-
bic new ideas to compensate you for the outlay.
The best program ever printed for a State