The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-11-28

~creases may accoun for some OF IN.
mortgages.
About Our Live Stock.
The figures of the census as to the
stock upon the farms give some rea-
sons for the high prices of meats. Our
farm animals which go to the pack
ing house are not increasing in the
same ratio as u population. In other
words, there are more mouths to feed
and less meat to feed them.
Take the item of cattle outside the
dairies. There has beer a falling or
OF more than two million in the num-
Der of them within h past ten years.
and this means almost z per cent OF
the whole. There has been a decrease
in Il sheep, and. although l have not
the figures. the same is probably true
of the hogs. h cattle have increased
in value less than ten million dollars.
or less than ! per cent, in a decade,
an increase which by no means CORE
spends with the increase in the prices.
There has been also an increase in tho
value Of the sheep. and hat of our
swine has risen $166, 900. 900 during
the a ten years
The census has not yet completed its
tabulatiOn OF poultry figures, but am
told that those OF the 6 crop will
run high into the millions and that IN
value they may almost equal the
AoR 6APA1h ~ Wv ShS
orators found tina there were in round
numbers on the farms of the United
States $50, 000, 900 chickens, 1900. 900
turkeys, 10000 ducks and about
1000, 900 geese. and that the fowls
were worth, all told, something like
$4,000, 600. These figures might be
compared with those OF 1909, but the
nearly all the hens had their brOods
Of little ones running about them. and
when there were far more proper
tionately than there were in April OF
that year, the time at which this last
census was AIKEN.
Mr. Durand says that the same con-
sideration has to be observed as TO the
figures OF the two censuses relating to
hogs. The 1910 census was taken in
April. the 1900 censu In June, which,
considering that nearly all of the
soWs of the country have their filters
IT the spring, would give a far differ
ent result as to the hog crop had the
1910 census enumeration occurred " o
months later.
The Big Crops of the Nation.
The products OF our farms are best
gotten from the Agricultural Depart
ment. 1t k a census every year.
and it's average, therefore. represents
both the fat and the lean years. Secre-
tary Wilson has made q specially OF
1dIIA SdluCS, etH0, ANU oiiS ~ Ill
the money hat comes out of u soil
is so great that if it could be saved
and piled up it would in a few years
suffice to buy the whole world. He
figures that we have raised farm pro-
ducts worth $4,000. OO0, 900 in the
past twelve years and that we are now
getting in the neighborhood of So
000,0O0,0O0 a year out OF the soil. We
got just under that figure In 1910.
when the amount was $500, 600, 600
larger han for the year just past. At
that time the corn crop amounted to
three billion bushels and was worth
81, SOC, 900, 900. The cotton crop was
worth 500, 900, 0O0 and the hay over
SOC, 1000, 200. What hay will be worth
this year, the Lord only knows. It is
selling here at Washington for $50 a
ton.
The wheat Of 1910 was worth over
$500, 000, 900. the oats $3.50, 600. 900.
and the value of the potatoes ran into
the hundreds OF millions. AS to live
stock, that also brings in its hundreds
or millions per mum, and there are
a number Of other things that the
farmers sell each of which nets vast
amounts. Indeed, there seems to be
no n to the farmers receipts, and
the city jewellers are beginning to
wonder as to whether the prices of his
cannot be cut.
FRANK G. CARPENTER.