The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-04-20

prove Our Farms AS to Stop This
Leak and Produce as Much or
More of the So-called Money Crops
As we Are Now Growing
The State Department of Agriculture
in the institute work this summer will
impress upon the farmers of the State
the Importance and necessity of grow
ing crops and making products in this
State that are now imported from
other States, thereby forming a heavy
drain on North Cardinals wealth, inn
peding the progress of agriculture
and keeping thousands of farmers
impoverished
Mr.. j. I. Burgess, ~agrOnOmiSt OF
the North Carolina Department of
Agriculture, formerly with the Bureau
Of Soils, United States Department Of
Agriculture, stated yesterday that he
Will soon prepare statistics showing
the immensely Of this great leak, col
Letting them principally from the
large cities Of the State, indicating the
amount of crops and farm products
shipped into these cities from other
States that ought to be produced and
made in this State.
Mr.. T. 3. Parker. Demonstrate OF
the State Department of Agriculture.
and Director of North Carolina Farm
81 LII SiCo III AllIo
SUBJECT yesterday said:
L regard the News and Observers
editorial, entitled, Drain on the state
as an exceedingly timely article. This
tremendous drain, taking annually
millions of dollars from the State of
North Carolina for crops and products
which can be grown and made in this
State, is calculated to keep us practi-
cally a poor people. BY making
rational changes in our system OF
farming We car SO improve our lands
as to stop this immense leak, and, at
the same time. produce as much or
more of the sO-called money crops,
namely. cotton, tobacco, truck crops,
as we are now growing. BY making
these, changes in farming our lands
will become more productive than they
now are; but these changes do not
consist Of simply clean culture crops,
but of Investigation that will permit
of the growing of more grain, grass
and clover crops. BY growing these
crops the farmer will add vegetable
matter or humus-making material to
the lands, thus filling them with plant
food, and also, in the hill sections.
largely preventing the great drain, a
loss it is impossible to estimate in this
State. in soil %washings, or erosions.
THE attention of the farmers OF
the State needs to be called to this
heavy drain upon our resources, and
w z III SoiiH Jazz 'iAo >NA
feel sure~that these changes in our
farming methods will take place.
The illustration of what is going
into Burlington really does not give US
a true idea of the enormity OF this
drain. Burlington is in a county that
practices diversified farming more
largely than many counties of the
State. and when we go east and strike
towns like Raleigh, Fayetteville,
Goldsboro. Rocky Mount, Wilson and
many other towns in those sections we
| would find a great deal more of the
things mentioned as going into Bur
ington. go into those towns, showing
that this drain is much greater than
the illustration of Burlington would
Indicate.
4 should be glad if the News and
Observer and all the papers in the
State will take w this subject and
impress upon our farmers the import
ance of growing upon their own farms
the crops that they need for home con-
sumption, both in country and IN
| towns. 1t will mean millions in money
| saved to North Carolina annually