The progressive farmer., 1903-07-28
THE NORTH CAROLINA FARMERS CoNVEN-
TON.

at the A. & M. College, West Raleigh, Tuesday
Wednesday and Thursday of last week, was SO
thoroughly successful as to guarantee the perma-
nency of the movement ~Hencetorth we shah
have such a convention every year with contln-
ualIy increasing power for good. The program
of this session attractive and helpIul; Che
attendance was good, both in quantity and quail
ty; and the accommodations arranged were cheap
and satisfactory From all over middle North
Carolina farmers came, a considerable numDer
were here from the tidewater region, and few
from the mountains. Quite a number brought
other members of their families with them;
Orange County farmer with his three daughters
made the ffty-mile trip in a wagon. DIR. Winston
says that there will be fully 500 farmers from
distance at next years session, and there ought
to be an even larger number.
A word of comment on some of the speeches
may be worth while.
Tuesdays session opened with an address by
Gen Matthew W. Ransom, who had been invited
to preside over the meeting Gen. Ransom has
been farming since his retirement from the Sen
ate and is making money than at any other
time in his life; his cotton crop alone last year
was sold for $68,OOO. We think however, that
Gen. Ransom's speech was much overrated by our
Raleigh dailes; it is opinion that some of the
men at the Convention who till their farms with
their own hands could have equalled the effort
of the ex-senator. But Gen. Ransom is getting
old now-he is 7F-and has doubtless lost
thing of his wonted power
Governor Aycock's address of welcome was in
his best vein. He alluded kindly to Dr. Walter
III. Pages address comparing Iowa and North
Carolina, but insisted that the comparison was
unfair to our State in that the vast difference in
soil fertility was not considered. But in spite of
this handicap, said the Governor, with the energy
and the education for which Dr. Page was plead
ing l believe that we shall eventually equal the
Iowans. Il believe this because [ know the char
acter of the North Carolina people, They made
the best soldiers in the world, and the fact that
the of State can die bravely and nobly is
good only as an indication of the fact that they
can live bravely and nobly. 1t is for us in the
tasks of peace to prove ourselves worthy sons of
the fathers whose glory in war was unequalled"
"The Cowpea for Soil Improvement and Hay
and Grazing" was Prof Massey's subject, but he
has discussed this matter so often at Farmers
Institutes and in the public prints that it is un-
necessary for to give outline of his re-
marks. In introducing the Professor, Dr. Win
ston said, humOrously, that some farmers in the
North and West have come to the conclusion that
the cowpea invented by Prof Massey!
DIR. H. I. Webber, of the Bureau of Plant In
dustry, United States Department of Agriculture
another of Tuesdays speakers, talking
interestingly of the work and publications of the
Department. Later DR.. Webber discussed the
improvement of cotton by seed selection This
is highly important subject, and every cotton
grower who not so fortunate as to hear DR..
Webber should send at once for free copy of
the United States Department of Agriculture's
yearbook for 1902" and read his article in that
volume. DR.. Webber strongly condemns the reclz-
less practice of taking cottonseed for planting
from the general product of the gin. and shows