The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-01-11

to be converted on the farm into meat
or dairy products. This is the true
line on which farmers should seek to de-
velop their resources, as it will not only
result in continued improvement of the
fertility of the farm. The one difficulty
which largely oonfronts Southern farm
ers is the labor question. Thousands of
colored hands have left the country dis
tricts, and found employment in the large
cities and towns, and on the railroads,
and this exodus of labor is going to
continue so long as trade continues good.
The only way to meet it is to turn large
areas of arabic land into permanent grass
and meadows and to make use largely in
the working of the arabic land and of
the meadows. of the labor saving ma
chinery which has been invented and
put on the market at such reasonable
prices With this machinery hands can
be dispensed with and better work done
and crops be made ard saved at less cost
than ever in the past. Another means
of saving cost must be found in the pro-
duction of larger crops on the same area
of land. This Will be found easy when
the crops are largely converted into meat
and dairy products on the farm, result
ing in larger production of home made
manure, which is the best and cheapest
fertilizer which a farmer can use, and
which, if supplemented where needed
with commercial fertilizer, will easily re-
suit in doubling our present crops with
out adding one acre to the land under
cultivation. The cost of making and
saving a crop of 40 bushels of wheat, or
of 80 bushels of corn to the acre, VIII
be found to be very little mDre than
than that of making and saving our
resent meagre crops of IL or Is bushels
of wheat and Is to rs bushels of corn
to the acre The secret of this increaA
ed production to the acre will be found
in better preparation of the land before
planting, and in the use of farm-yard
manure and the leguminous crops to sup
ply humus to the soil. The profitable
conversion of these crops into money lies
in the use of better bred live stock,
which will manure in :. 6..6 &c &c. &c
which will mature in half the time re-
quired by the present scrub stock, and
which will make meat and dair products
alwas commanding the top figure on the
market. In this issue We have brought
together a large mass of information as
to these better bred animals with pic
lures of tpical specimens of the breeds
We bespeak for this matter the careful
stud of our readers. 1t means thousands
of dollars in the ockets of Southern farm
ers and a complete change in the APP
pearance of thousands of acres of land.
The work that can be done on the
land during the present month is usually
small, as it is the one month in the year
when, if We are to have any winter we
are pretty certain to get it; yet in the
ma jority of years there are days even in
this month when blowing can be done and
the clearing up of land intended to be
cropped can make progress, if only labor
can be secured. The New Years holiday
however, largely prevents any reliance
being placed on the hands till towards
the close of the month 1t is we'll, there
fore, not to attempt much beyond sec
ng that abundant supplies of feed are
kept on hand at the barn convenient for
feeding, so that if any hard weather
should set in there will be no fear of
the stock suffering If the weather be
mild and the land dry enough, blowing
should be done, so as to lessen work
later in the spring. Let this work be
done thoroughly. Plow deep, and where
possible and the subsoil is 2 rood clay
one, subsoil as we'll. In blowing land
deep SO as to add depth to the soil, do
not turn the furrow slice completely
over, but leave it on edge, so that the
new soil may be mixed with the old soil
in working. New soil brought from the
bottom of the furroW will not produce
large crops until thoroughly aerated and
disintegrated by the action of the wealth
er, and this takes time; hence, this deep
blowing should not be done late III the
spring. The mixinz of the old and new
soil tends to hasten the fitting of the soil
for crop production, and hence the i'm
porance of so blowing as to admit OF
this. The value of subsoiling where the
subsoil is a good one, is not half appre-
ciated as it ought to be. 1t breaks loose
the hard-pan nearly always to be found
where shallow blowing has been the rule
for year, and renders this permeable by
the rainfall where the water is stored
for the use of the crop in the summer.
1t makes largely available inert plant
food in the shape of phOsphoric acid and
potash, which is always present IN the
soil in more or less abundance, and only
requires the action Of the atmosphere,
water and humic acid supplied from de-
caying vegetable matter to become
available for the necessities of the crop.
Our own experience has convinced us
that in every case except where the SUBJ
soil is sandy or leachy, subsoiling may
be done with profit.
Whenever the land is dry enough to
haul on, get out farm-yard manure and
top-dress wheat, oats or grass land, or
apply it on the land newly plowed and
which is to be put in crop in the spring
The mineral fertilizers, acid phosphate
and potash, may be applied along with
the manure on the plOwed land without
fear of loss, and then the whole can be
.Lnrl.nd - .an..t hcI - tnI: 81.