The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1915-05-18
GRANVILLE'S THREE GRACES
THE TEST FARM THE FARM DEMONSTRATOR AND THE I'M
PROVED SCHOOL HOUSE
By BION H. BUTLER
BY BION III. BUTLER

the oats field out beyond the barns. j,
Let him stand there about fifteen min |
utes, and allow the situation to fix it
self right firmly on his memory. Then |
you can let him go home and you
can rest sure he will have a pretty !
fair idea of Granville county" !
l do not have the remoteSt idea Of
whether North Carolina wants to en-
bark in raising alfalfa in considerable
quantity or not. But if anybody wants
to know whether alfalfa will grow in
North Carolina that question can be
settled by visit to the field at the
orphanage. l don't know whether
North Carolina will ever go into the
business of making oats on a large
scale. But as far as making oats is
concerned the field at the orphanage
l think is the best field of oats l ever
saw, and l have seen several. 1t is
not yet a harvested crop and may
meet with trouble before it reaches
the barn, but at the present stage the
crop reporter would call it good
prospect.
Fields Would Make Fine Exhibit.
However it is not the best crop that
| counts. 1t is the possibility of pro-
| ducing good average crops. Gran
vile has these three fields because Of
a few fundamental conditions that tell
| the story. Soil conditions, climate
conditions and moisture conditions
make crops. Here they are. If Capt.
| Parrish and Col. Pogue could bring
these three fields down and exhibit
them in the fall at the State Fair and
! invite the world in to see, North Caro-
lima W. aid not need to offer much else
in the way Of argument as to it's abil-
ity to make oats, alfalfa, and vetch
This is where that big word SUI
pererogatiOn come into the story. Some
, times us old chaps from the farm go
into town on court week and we hear
the lawyers as they look wise at the
/ jurors and smite the plans of their
thing like that supererogation business
has happened. It has happened up
, here where these three remarkable
fields are at present to be seen. Take
, any of us jays from the farm and lei
5 US ride just once across the Granville
r line and fall in with the thick growth
| of harwood foliage on the hills and
{ valleys and it is entirely super-etc., tc
say anything about the ability Of this
t ground to make things besides tobacco
( and corn. Where you see a big oai
, tree that you can hide house behind
and dOgwoOds clustering SO thick tha
| the blossoms suggest another Apri
8 snow storm a farmer does not have tt
s examine any more witnesses to satisfy
9 him that anything is nonsuited tina
0 says crops cannot be grown of th'
r highest quality and greatest quantity
The man who cannot stand at tn
d county line and see without going
Y step farther than the farm poSsibili
{ ties OF Granville county are beyon,
n his ability to comprehend has n
= business to buy a farm any place, 70
n he does not have enough farm instinc
i to make a farmer of him. One tim
Q an old darky discussing the weathe
q said that when it was dark all aroun,
Il and a pouin' down in de middle h
Q looked on it as a sure sign of rair
e That may not be the way the weathe
II bureau works out the daily reports, bu
l. that sign works out just as often a
a the bureaus predictions. You let tn
le farmer get one glimpse of norther
e. North Carolina and he will tell you j
n minute whether things will gro'
n or not.
Promising Agricultural Section.
So we are working the superoroga
J. ton business until it is time to Sc
,e off Of that subject. The man wh
le can not tell by the time he has tra>
it eled from the county line to Oxfor
n that he is III a most promising agr
ID cultural section could not tell whe
ye he landed at the cataract at Niagar
!" Falls whether he had discovered
q water power. 1t is not really nece:
IN sary to go out to the orphanage an
ee see the oats and the alfalfa, or to tn
I'd test farm to see the vetch to kno
n. the agricultural possibilities. Or
ye glimpse and that thing is disposed
st Just as the fellow who stepped in frol
to of the locomotive to satisfy himself