The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1904-06-21
A. & NJ. COLLEGE FARM.
An Attractive and Instructive Place
That Is Well Worth a VISTA
Good egro Man.
Especial Correspondence.)

SHc AdTIn Oh the Agricultural anu Me-
chanical College here Is an attractive
place. with all sorts of operations in
progress. and the ideas a visitor gets
OF experiments in cultivation. fertiI-
izing, n General treatment of crops
are Of value. Yet when the writer
the farm, in company with Mr. B. S.
Skinner who is in charge, and asked
him whether many farmers came to see
the Farm and make a study of the
methods in vogue there, his reply vas
that very few did so. He added that
he had known some to come for such
a purpose, but that most of them
thought they had so much of farming
that they wanted to see something else,
and perhaps also thought they would
not be able to take up any good ideas,
and make practical application of
What they would see there. One would
naturally think that a farmer would
be the very man to be eager TO catch
On TO improvements, which mean as
much TO him as TO any class of men in
the world. but it does not seem to be
so.
The first places visited were the barns
and stables, In which are the cattle.
One stable is devoted to the milk COWS.
while in another there have been until
recently cattle being fed for market.
The latter have been sold and brought
Acts. a pound on the hoof, which Mr..
SKINNER said was a paying price. In
the autumn a hundred cattle will be
bought, to be fed through the winter
and sold. The numbe sold this spring
was "a. There are 100 head of cattle now
on the farm, nearly all cows, the prefer
ence being Jerseys. A great deal a
crimson or annual clover has been fed
to the cattle. There were Is acres Of
the farm in this clover. and the sea-
son was so dry that it was not first
class. Looking from the college build
ing one sees a far-reaching sweep OF
the farm, which due west extends along
TO the southwark of the Seaboard Air
Line and Southern Railway, a distance
or n and three Quarter miles. There
are 100 acres in corn, 80 in oats. 20 in
wheat. $50 in cow-pease, besides other
minor crops. The wheat is being cut.
The heads are very small, and talking
about this the writer asked Mr.. Skinner
what was the matter with the wheat,
at least in this part of the state. dur
ing the past three or four years. e
ooes not seem to be good: the heads
are short. and there are only 2 grains
TO a mesh" instead of the three there
ought to be. Mr.. Skinner said he re-
ally did not know; that for some reason
some vital principle had left the soil
and that no n had eemed to find out
what this departed principle was. He
added that 80 years ago the cultivation
of wheat had to be abandoned in east
ern North Carolina. from which section
he came here, and now that the wheat
.hereabOut is. getting to be very inferior.
The sheriff of this county, who has
grown wheat all his life. spoke to me
about this very same thing, and said
he had particularly noticed it during
the past few years. Here is a chance
for the state chemist to distinguish
himself, by finding out wherein the land |
Is lacking, what wheat needs for it's
growth and development.
In the stables for the cattle, hard at
work, and on the farm were found the
who are spending the summer |
here. spending it profitably and pleas
antly. Good looking, stout fellows |
they are, and it was pleasant to have |
a hand shake with the whole outfit. |
There are J.. c.. Beavers of Chatham, |
J. T. Eaton, of Davie; A. B. Cromartie. |
Of Bladen:l P. H. Poindexter, of Yad-
kin; B. L. White, of Randolph; L. F.
koonce, Of Onslow. and Grover Cleve-
five were in the stables. while Koonce
was making things hum with a "a
ing machine in n of the wheat fields. |
a suit of overalls, with his head
topped by an immense straw hat, was
that sturdy agricuIturist Grover Cleve-
land Hardesty. He had been devoting |
the morning to a cornfeld and when
in a melon patch. These boys
get S25 a month fok their work. have
in the college, have a mess and
themselves. live we'll and are al
source of joy to every practical person
who sees them. If they could orry ~.
spire a lot of the pale-faced loafers
who hang around Raleigh and the
other towns, killing time (and incident
ally themselves,) they would be doing
q glorious bit of missionary work
When the autumn comes they will be
ready for their studies. The summer
will be full of profit for them.
Riding through the farm there could
be seen all the stages of the develop
Here. nearest the buildings, is
oldest part. with it's settled aspect, |
while further along in the newer ground
there is wheat. etc. and further still
in yet newer ground, cow-pease in al
most endless fields. AS soon as the
and is cleared it is put in ~cow-pease:
The newly purchased land was in
small pines. with an underground of
shrub oak n all sorts of little trees
with roots. The land was bought for
about SIS an acre and the timber was \
sold at about $40 an acre. Of which one |
may say half was profit, so that the
timber paid for the land and something
more. In his, $50 acres were cleared |
year before last and last year and now
this stretch is in pease. in three stages
of growth.
We drove through fifty acres Of en-
silage corn which early in the fall will
be cut, carried to the silos, which are
above ground at the stables and will
there be run through h cutting ma
chine and pass into those vast recep-
tacles of the winter food which the
cattle so dearly owe and which is so
valuable a maker Of milk and butter.
There will be planted after the 10th OF
July a much larger acreage in ensilage
corn, Mr.. Skinner being very careful in
the rotation Of crops. We passed by
his pasture for the hogs and at his call
up came IS Berkshires and Polan Chi
mas. Some of these were quite large.
When winte comes he will sell a lot
of the big fellows to persons who want
the latest meat they can obtain and