The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-07-10

a money making business, with stu
dents paying $500 year for train
ing and board while doing the work,
is one of the latest things out. What
a happy set all of us farmers would
be if farm hands would pay us $500
a year for showing them how. Most
of us could make it pay on that plan.
The artist, Whistler, said that he
loved his enemies, not for the reason
the Bible advises, but because they
kept him busy fighting for what he
believed to be right There is nothing
that SO stirS Il man of brains to action
as antagonism, and the man without
enemies is usually u man of little
force of character. Men who have
ideas and are not afraid to express
them, are certain to arouse anita
gonism, while the humGrum follower
in the general ruts goes through life
without awakening discussion or ac-
comprising anything of value. Some
of the men who are at times denoml-
mated crankS by the unprogreSSing
rut-travelers, are really the cranks
that turn the world. A man without
a hobby in his profession seldom ac-
complishes much for it. The farmer
with q speciality, to which he deVotes
his energies, will do more for the
general advancement than the farm
Ell without a hobby A hobby is
good thing if it is good and useful
one, and the hobby rider often leads
advance thought.
Secretary Wilson is quoted as saying
that 1--WE have hardly an argricultur-
al chemist in the world and that
most of the agricultural chemists
never did anything for agriculture
worth speaking about" This is said
to have occurred when the Secretary
Id lofa h..
posterous bulletin of the Bureau OF
Soils, which every agricultural chem
list in the world has been ridicullnS.
If this is the new brand of agricul-
tural chemistry which the Secretary
thinks is going to do something for
agriculture, we fear that he will be
mistaken. We certainly have some
agricultural chemists in this country
who have been of help to our agricul-
ture, and in Germany and in England
the improvement in agriculture is al
most wholly due to the great agricul-
tural chemists. They have taught
German farmers how to produce great
crops on the barren sandy plains of
North Germany, and in England the
work of the agricultural chemists at
Rothamsted has helped farmers, not
only in England, but all over the
world. When the soil surveyors of
the Department of Agriculture do
something for the benefit of agricul-
ture it will be time enough for the
Secretary to criticise the men all over
the world who really have been doing
something for many years. If the
Bureau of Soils has ever done any
thing whatever to aid American ag-
riculture, we have never been able to
discover it. If they are the only ag-
ricultural chemists, may Heaven help
the farmers.
The Michigan Agricultural College
sends us folder detailing a very at
tractive course in horticulture, which
it would be we'll for all these col
leges to adopt, for we know of at
least one where no horticultural in
struction is given, and we know of
graduates of agricultural colleges who
are teaching agriculture in other col
leges who admit that they know moth
ing about horticulture. We once met
a professor of agriculture who grad
uated at the Michigan College. who
admitted that he knew nothing of
systematic botany. We suppose that
ii is better there now. The point we
wish to make is that in any college of
agriculture there should be a we'll
rounded course in all the branches
allied to farming. Specializing in one
branch only, never makes we'll
rounded man.
PEANUTS ana Cotton.
The consumption of peanuts is rap
Idly on the increase. There were five
million bushels eaten last year. The
peanut crop has been the money crop
I'm Southeastern Virginia and North
eastern North Carolina. But this sec
ton is also adapted to the growth of
cotton, and the present and prospec-
tive price for cotton makes it more
profitable there than peanuts. Hence
there is an opening for peanut culture
in the sandy soils of South New Jer-
sey and in sections of Virginia not
suited to cotton, We believe that the
peanut, like the COW pea, can be
GROWN much further North in sandy
sdnds than it is now largely grown.
Therefore it will be of advantage to
experiment with these on soils suited
to the crop.
Japanese Paper.
One of the most interesting results
OF the explorations being made by
the Department of Agriculture is
shown in Mr.. Fairchlds report on
paper making and the bamboo culture
in Japan. The uses that the Japanese
make Of paper prepared from vegeta-
BILE tissues is remarkable Their
houses are wooden frames covered
with thin paper which keeps out the
cold and lets in the light Oiled pa
per is astonishingly cheap and dur
able. The Japanese farmer covers his
wagon load of tea with oiled paper
to protect it from rain, and the same
cover lasts for years perfectly imper-
vious to water and light as gossamer.
The coolies wear rain mantles of
oiled paper that cost Is cents and last
year or more. Sacks for tea are
made of paper and last for years.
Then they make a thick, leathery pa
per for tobacco pouches that are as
tough as leather and perfectly trans
parent. The Japanese make their pa
per from the inner bark of shrubs
and small trees, and we have evidently
much to learn from them about pa
per making. Some of their tough,
transparent paper would be just what
We need to take the place of glass in
greenhouses and frames. Bamboos
are the most useful plants they have,
for their buildings are made of the
stems and the Department will soon
Introduce here some of the more
hardy varieties, which endure a tenn
perature down to near zero, and can
be grown in large part of this
country.
Selecting The Lower Ear of Corn