The Cartersville express. (Cartersville, Ga.) 1875-18??, June 17, 1880, Image 1

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VOL. XXIII. NO. 23. The Cartersville Express, IlKtablftNlied Twenty Years. RATES AND TERMS. SUBSORIWION. One copy one year $1 50 one copy six monthH 75 One copy three month* 60 Payments invariably in Advance. ADVERTISING RATES. Advertisements will be inserted at the rates of One Dollar par inch lor the first insertion, and Fifty Cents lor each additional insertion. Address, S. A. CUNNINGHAM. NKWS AND NOTKS. Ripe peaches are being gathered at West Point, Ga. Nashville’s Centennial closed on the 29th ult. South Carolina has 20,000 colored Good Templars. Reports of the wheat crop in Tennesste are still gloomy. A population of 20,000 is claimed by Orange county, Fla. Fifteen new business houses are under contract in Troy, Ala. Eighty-two houses were built during the past year at Athens, Ga. There are seven or eight candidates for State Auditor in North Carolina. The population of Richmond, Va., is 80,- 000, of which only 46,000 are white. It is an indictable crime to kill a turkey buzzard or earion crow in Tennessee. Over 3,000 people visited Columbus, Tex as, during the fifth Volksfest at that place. Columbus claim!! to he the home of more tine horses than any other city in Georgia. The total loss of property in Alabama by fire during the month of March was $6,600. Clark Mills proposes to undertake an equestrian statue of General Joseph E Johnston. A man on the Peninsula railroad, in Florida, gathered 10,000 good oranges from one tree last fall. The farmers in many counties in Georgia have planted cotton more largely this year than ever before. In nearly all the Georgia towns mer chants are beginning to close their stores at 6 o’clock in the evening. Twenty-three new post routes are estab lished in Mississippi by an Act of Congress approved on ihe 3d inst. Farmers are harvesting wheat near Char lotte, N. C., and find the yield much better than they anticipated. The Edison telephone exchange in Paris now numbers over four hundred, and addi tions are being made daily. New Orleans papers state that from the present outlook, a magnificent crop of sugar will be harvested this season. At McKinney, Texas, Mrs. Mary McGar rah died at the age of eighty-three, leaving nearly four hundred descendants. The old collonial church at Halifax, N. C, is over a century old. In the church yard there is a tomb-itone erected in 1772. The next meeting of the General Assem bly of the Southern Presbyterian Church will be held at Covington in May, 1881. Throughout the South preparations are being made by ex-Confederates to hold re unions of old commands this summer. Planting Hax for the production of lin seed oil and lint is proposed to he tried near San Antonia, Texas, where Hax grows wild. Gold is found in fifty-six counties in Georgia, copper in thirteen, and silver in three, iron in fifty-three, ami diamonds in twenty-six. In some parts of Middle Tennessee the farmers have plowed up their wheat fields, having lost all hopes of a crop, and have planted vegetables. Stonewall Jackson’s widow and her daughter, Miss J "lia Jackson, will nnvail the Winchester, Va., monument to Stone wall Jackson the 9th inst. The chances for the Democratic nomina tion for governor of South Carolina appear to favor Got. Johnson Haygood. Gen. M. W. Gary is the contestant. The Covington (Gi.) Star thinks the gen eration of young negroes in that section are not worth the hundredth part of what their fathers and modi rs were. The Mississippi mills at Wesson have their 400 looms running eleven hours a day, and have orders ahead for the full ca pacity of the mills for the next three months. All the saw-mills along the S >uth and North Alabama railroad are kept busy sup plying orders for lumber. Large quanti ties of this lumber are shipped to Northern markets. Prof. Tice is of the opinion that about all of the so-called cyclones, which have prevailed to an unu-ual extent this season, are storms of electricity and entiiely inde pendent of wind. There is a movement on foot to estab lish a large cotton factory at Clarksville, Tenn., which will employ from 400 to 500 hands. The move is headed by men of means and business tact. The ladies of Tuscaloosa, Ala., will erect a marble slab over the grave of Miss Sal lie Swope, who did such excellent services to the sick and wounded in the hospitals and on the battlefield during the war. Puck quotes a colored philosopher as say ing, “twenty years ago niggers was wuf a thousand dollars a piece. Now dey would be deah at two dollars a dozen. It’s ’ston ishing how de race am runniu’ down.” The raising of Angora goats in Western Texas is increasing, and is alleged to he a profitable business. It is said the meat is much better than mutton, and each goat yields about two pounds of hair annually. In the Eastern markets iris worth now fif ty-five cents per pound. The “zoogroscope ” is a newly invented instrument for taking instantaneous photo graphs of moving objects, and has been found to he valuable in showing the va rious positions of running horses, athletes, etc. A shower of meteoric dust, containing fragments of metalic iron together with organic particles, visited Batania, Sicily, recently, to the amazement and astonish ment of the inhabitants of that region. Two hundred thousand years is a long time, but, according to Prof. Mudge, man has been on the earth fully that length of time. His calculations ar? based upon the rate at which the delta of the Mississippi is deposited. Clark Mills, the sculptor, has been pre sented by the Tennessee Historical Society with a beautiful gold-headed cane made of hickory-wood from the “Hermitage.” This is the first testimonial ever given to any one by this society. Recent discoveries have developed the fact that the ancient races of Chaldeans and Babylonians made a practical use of the moon, in the keeping up of a system of regular observations, which showed that the changes in the weather was due to lunar influences. Scientists, from close observations, are of the opinion that pines and other needle leaved trees have a stronger attraction for watery vapor than other trees, and that those containing resinous matter absorb much more water, and exhale it more rapidly than other species. In a few days a deputation of gentlemen from Mexico is expected to arrive at San Antonia, Texas, to petition for the hand of Miss Birdie Ord, daughter of General E. O. C. Ord, in marriage with General Trevino, commanding the Mexican Federal forces in the States of Nueva, Leon, and Canhulla. Two of the trustees of the State of Ver mont Univer-ity have offered slsoin prizes to boys not over seventeen years of age for the best crops of potatoes and corn on one eighth of an acre. A similar practice in other of our States would doubtless prove of much benefit to our agricultural inter ests. With a view to the protection of the birds of the country, the French Government has taken action, and has enacted laws prohibit ing the killing of others than birds of pas sage, and those only under ceriain limita tion. The law is much more st.iiugent than the so called game laws in this countiy, and is strictly enforced against all offenders, no matter how trivial the violation. Cabbage Pests. —The Kansas Time* would make each plant* unpalatable to the grub in the following manner: “In the spring procure some fresh burned lime, let it become air slacked, and mix it with an equal quantity of soot. In planting, the holes ate made with a trowel in the usual way; each plant is dropptd into its place and an inch of soil put over the roots, a good watering given first. then a moderate handful of soot and lime mixture thrown into each hole and the remaining soil tilled itt. Kqual parts of soot and fine garden soil mixed with water to the consistency of thin mortar, with the plants dipped into the mixttire up to the base of the leaves pre vious to planting, is also advised as a pre vent vef to clubbing. Wood ashes mixed with water pound into the hole has been tried with success. For cabbage worms Professor Rdey recommends hot water judiciously applied from a watering put. This must he done with caution, and there fore is liable in careless hands to do more harm than good. Professor Riley also ad vises for the same purpose applying repeat edly a solution of w hale oil soap and water, in proportion of one pound of soap to six gallons of water. Pieces of board raised an inch above the surface of the ground af ford an opportunity of examining and de stroying once or twice each week the trans forming lar\ under them. For the grub it is also recommended to loosen the earth close to the roots and pour into the depres sion a gill of a solution of soft soup and water; one part of the former to twelve of the latter. This needs to be done two or three times # during the season.” You will always find a successful farmer on the alert for facts that have a hearing on his pursuits. It doesn’t make much differ ence how or where he picks them up, but he is determined to know ell that is new, and profits by it. This kind of a farrrnr is more than a mere laborer —he reads and converses with men of intelligence. He studies, thinks before going into any new enterprise. He pursues the same course as any other successful man. He seeks to buy the best, and in the cheapest market, man ages to sell in the highest, and very seldom fails to get the best prices. This farmer looks ahead, and by aid of his current in formation knows when to sell or hold his property. CARTERSVILLE, GA., THURSDAY, JUNE 17, 1880. Rotation of Crops. The standard of Agriculture, as a science, should be raised as high as that of medicine or Law. And young men should he frowned down as charlatans or quacks, if they should attempt to become the owners of farms without first qualifying themselves in accord with a standard, which should be raised to a reasonable average ; and then ’’efuse to associate, professionally, (in the Grange) with all who would exhibit so much carelessness and ignorance as to al low their farms to become so much ex hausted that the average of their crops would fall far below a reasonable standard. To buy a farm for SIO,OOO, and to culti vate it in a way that it will yield SI,OOO each year for ten years, and then become of no value, is no farming at all; it is worse than quackery. The general principles of agriculture should be su fticiently well understood by any one, who controls a farm, to enable him to keep the land from failin'' below a reasonable average, and at the same time yield a fair dividend. “ Guess work is well enough when it hits,” but we find that in agriculture it does not “ hit ” often enough. For the purpose of instituting a judi cious rotation of erops'some knowledge of the science of agriculture is necessary. In the first place, if we desire to know what the essential elements of plant food are, we must ascertain what plants are composed of. The science of chemistry teaches us the exact nature of the elements of which plants are composed, and of their propor tions. It teaches us that a portion of the elements of plant food are ready for use ; and that certain periods of time and nat ural conditions are required to prepare other portions. Chemistry teaches us, also, that if we expect to avail ourselves of those other portions, a proper rotation of crops must he arranged. Some plants contain a very large pro portion of potash. The amount of this substance will nearly equal all of the other substances in the ash of potatoes and a few other plants and root crops. Again, their are other crops that contain a less amount of potash, but a very much larger percent age of phosphoric acid. And the relation will hold good with regard to many other elements. To illustrate some of the principles hinted at above, we might suppose that we had a certain number of acres of land, of aver age feitility. We conclude to (ry wheat as a crop. Finding it very profitable, we con tinue to sow wheat each year, on the same land. The tir-t one or two years, and in some localities a longer period, will show hut lit tle falling oft'in average yield. But in due time we will find the yield steadily decreas ing, If we arrange a four or fi e year’s rotation ol ciops, by raising crops requir ing hut a smail percentage of the elements essential for wheat, it will he found that the four or five years of time, has been sufficient to reduce from an insoluble, and other natural conditions, the necessary ele ments, to produce a natural crop ol wheat again. Professor Johnson’s Agricultural Chem ist ry, page 493, says, “ two practical rules are suggested by the fact that different plants require different substances to abound in a soil in which they shall he capable of flourishing. 1. “ To grow alternately as many differ ent classes or families of plants as possible, repeating each class at the greatest conve nient distance of time. 2. To repeat the same species of plants at the greatest convenient distance of time.” The shortest rotation, without the use of artificial manure, is to plow clover sod for corn, and follow with small grain for the second year. Reseeding with clover on the smal^grain will not often he required, or very little clov r seed he needed. In the fall, after the small grain is cut, the clover will afford a good grazing for a time. In the summer of third year the first crop of clover should he cut for hay ; the second or seed crop should remain on the land, and plowed under to feed the next crop of coin ; and to seed the land again after small grain is sowed on the corn stubble. —J. L-, in Patron’s Guide. Destroying' Weeds. Every once in a while we read that the way to destroy obnoxious weeds is to haul loads of earth and cover the places where the weeds grow, a half foot or so deep. Sometimes these instructions are varied so as to read rubbish instead of earth, and tlien ai;ain rubbish is defined as straw, cornstalks, or even brush. Now we have no doubt in the world that can be de stroyed in that way. We know that weeds have to feed on air, and all that sort of thing, and that if they are smothered they can’t breathe, ami if they cannot breathe they die. All this is so plain to the thick est skull that one may feel perfectly safe in recommending it as something that will surely do. And yet we would like to know how many who receommend it have ever done so, or seen the plan tried by others. We very much doubt whether it was ever done .Some one may have noticed that under a brush-heap everything was killed, and that after remaining a year, the brush heap’s removal would show the spot bare of all vegetation. If the recommendation ever had any ground at all it was surely this. Our remedy for noxious weeds is thor ough cultivation. If% piece of ground is full of briers, miik-weed, couch-grass, Sodom-apples, C'amtda-ihisties, sorrel, toad flax, or other miserable stuff that so often tries the mettle of our good farmers, let them put the ground in corn for a c. u pie .of years or so, keeping the cultivation going continually, and especially going in the earliest parts of the season, and the tough est character among these weeds will fail to stand the ordeal. If the hand-hoe can he spared to go in among the hills of corn oc casionally, where the teeth of the harrow cannot reach, or to cut off here and there one which the harrow may miss, a bad case may be cured in a season. But, if this can not be done, a couple of successive years a sharp-tooth cultivator among a corn-crop will generally do the business for the worst case that ever was. Let any one who has a weedy field before him resolve, another season, to put the whole tract in corn and keep clean, and he will soon give up all the common ideas of smothering out with deep layers of earth, cutting up in the full of the moon, putting salt upon their tops, or the many other rec ommendations started in the interest, it is believed, of laziness, hut which really calls lor more trouble and hard work than a thorough and systematic cleaning, such as we have indicated, does. Green Manuring. Many persons have an idea that it is necessary to burn plants in order to procure potash. They also think vegetable matter must pass through the digestive organs of animals, in order to be of value as manure. The truth is. fire does nothing towards the production of potash or any mineral salt. It simply destroys the vegetable, leaving the mineral substance free. No kind of vegetable matter is as valuable for manure after it has passed through an animal as it was before. In trutli the most valuable sub-tance it contained went, while in the animal, to repair wastes in the body, to build up new tissues, or to form milk. The inferior portions of the food, unsuited to these purposes, were voided as dung. The coarse portions of the food that were void ed were probably benefited by passing through the digestive organs of the animal, as they were softened and put in a condi tion to be more readily decomposed. The most rational method of increasing the fertility of soils is to plow under the crops that grew upon it. A person may argue that there is no gain of fertilizing mailer by this practice, since nothing is re turned to the soil, except what caiue from it. Such however is not the case. Plants do not exist upon the surface soil alone. A large portion of the hulk and weight of plants is derived from the air. Another portion comes from the soil far below where the blow reaches. Lime and potash are obtained in this way, while carbon and nitrogen are taken up from the air. The leaves of plants are the great feeder and they draw nothing from the soil. The roots that enter the subsoil, and those of many plants do, take nothing from the soil that stimulates the growth of the majority of food plants. By burying plants that ob tain their growth chiefly from the air and subsoil, the fertility of land may he very greatly increased. By the use of different plants it is difficult to determine how abun dantly soil may be made to produce. Green plants decay very quickly when they ate buried, especially if they are turned under before their stalks become hard. The sap in them insures their speedy dtcay, and also helps decompose other substances in the soil. By plowing them under before they are ripe there wfll he no trouble with the seeds. There is al ways advantage in plowing un *er vegeta tion when it is covered with dew, as it will decay much quicker. Green manuring has been recommended for restoring fertility to soils that no longer produce crops worth the trouble of har vesting. It is obvious that such soils will not produce much to turn under. Very poor soils must receive a base of some stumulating manure like hog dung or blood fertilizer before they will produce a crop worth turning under. Rye is one of the best crops to raise for plowing under. It is inferior to red clover, hut much more cheaply produced. Peas are good, and so is buckwheat, if it is buried before the grain matures. —Ex. How the Oherokees Make tt Raix “Speaking of rain-makers among our peo ple and the Creeks.” says th-- Cherokee Advocate, “ they had them in all the tribes. Many years ago we were returning home from a journey, and at the ford of the Illi nois river, seven miles from town, we found a large gathering of Creek Indians, those that then lived below Park Hill. They were in a gay attire. Sme of our people were present, who informed us that they had gathered for the purpose of “making it rain.” We halted to see what next. Two elderly men retired a short distance, and they appeared to be mumbling prayers, we presume conjuring is the name for it, but after some time a fire was made on the bank, when these two conjurers gave an Older and a voting man plunged into the river ; the river was very deep, and when he came up he had a blue catfish in his hand, which was taken by one of the two old men and thrown into the fire. There was profound stillness while the fish was being consumed. There was more mumb ling and othet strange ceremonies going on when we resumed our journey. It rained that night.” Georgia Farm Notes. A good wholesome dog law is much needed in Colquitt county, as the hounds are plying their sheep-killing propensities. Irwin county is infested by a band of stock thieves, who, it is said, has stolen since April last, about 15,000 head of sheep and between one hundred and fifty and two hundred head of cattle, in one particular section of the county. The caterpillar has made its appearance in Lumpkin. Millions of little green grass hoppers are also eating up young cotton, and anew species of hug is doing sad havoc to the young plants. Anew cotton mill is to he built at once at Cecil ran, on the Macon and Brunswick railroad. The Georgia rice crop is quite tine this year. The rains have given it a good start, and the finest crop ever made is expected this season. Rice is becoming one of the most important grain crops of South Georgia. Crops throughout the State are usually fine, but exceedingly grassy. Mr. D. J. Mathis, of Dupont, has planted 3,000 tobacco plants, and proposes to test that section for tobacco culture. Mr. J. H. Parnell, of West point, has the largest peach farm in the United States. He haß already began his shipments to northern cities. He shipped four crates to New York and other northern cities on the 31st of May. We are sorry to state that he will only make about one-fifth of a crop, owing, we presume, to the unfavorable spring. Mr. Parnell is a brother to the great Irish statesman, but has been a resi dent of West Point for many years. Wm. Wilson, an eccentric old Georgian of Newton county, recently died, leaving his estate worth SIO,OOO to lvis former slaves. "Mr. Saiu. Gardner of Monroe county, boasts of an onion that measures fifteen inches in circumference. It is the white variety. Another Plan for Rotation of Crops. One great obstacle to keeping up the fer tility of the soil is the cultivation of the same plant continuously on the same soil for a number of years, or by a rotation which practically is of little benefit because of a want of judgment or a knowledge of what crops are required in a proper rotation or system of tillage. In some of the North ern States wheat mainly, has been the crop which, cultivated continuously or nearly so for years, has impoverished the soil, the center of its production moving gradually westward from the Atlantic States until it is now west of the great lakes. In Virginia and other States tobacco cultivated for years on the-same lands has rendered them bar ren, and further south cotton has played the same role. Nature resents violations of her laws, sooner or later, and for thus im poverishing the soil at last impoverishes the occupant. An interesting paper referring to this primordial law appeared many years ago from the pen of a French savan, and as attention has recently becu called to it by Prof. Steile, of Alabama, we give some points which are at once interesting and suggestive. “1 was in 1825 that Dureau de la Malle called the attention of scientific people to phenomenon of natural rotation in unculti vated plants. From long observation of what takes place in woods and pasture lands, he establishes the fact that an alter nation of growth, as he called it, occurs as a natural phenomenon, the grasses getting the upper hand atone time and the legumes at another, so that in the course of thirty years he was a witness of five or six alter nations. “In woodlands, as is well known, a simi lar phenomenon is observable. The writer just referred to relates how, after the fell ing of timber in forests of a particular dis trict of Fiance, broom, foxglove, heath, birch trees and aspen sprang up, replacing the oaks, the beech and the ash, felled by the woodman. After thirty years the birch and the poplars were felled in their turn. Still very few original possessors of the soil, the oaks, etc., made their appearance ; the ground was stili occupied with young biich and poplar. It is not till after the repetition of the coppicing—after an inter val of ninety years—that the oaks and beech reconquer their original position. They retain it for a time, and then the struggle begins again. “Our farm operations are merely an insig nificant imitation of nature’s work in the woods. If nature demands a rotation in the growths of her forests, then she also de mands as much for our crops, and when we decline to accede to these demands we are endeavoring to drive Our wo*-k directly against nature, which means working great ly to our disadvantage all the time. It is like pulling a boat up stream against the current of a rapid river, when it would serve our purpose equally as well to go down.” Tobacco, from Western North Carolina is scarcely ever injured by the horn worm. This crop has been grown there but a few years, and the worms have ,not yet learned to claim it. North Carolina is taking an active inter est in fish culture. All the leading streams in that state are now being stocked with the best varieties of fish. S. A. CUNNINGHAM. The largest yield of cotton on record was made bv Mr. T. C. Warther, of Washington county, Georgia, in 1873. He was compet ing for a premium offered by the State Ag ricultural Society, and gathered from one acre 6,891 pounds of seed cotton, yielding 2,096 pounds lint, or a little over four bales of 500 pounds each. We shall be much obliged to any sub scriber, receiving this paper, who has been annoyed by not receiving his paper regular ly, if he or she will promptly advise us of the fact, giving us at the same time his or her full address, so that if the irregularity is due to any incorrectness in our list we may have an immediate opportunity of correcting it. With a printed list, a name once right is always right. —Spring returns of the winter wheat area confirm those of December, and indicate an addition of one-eighth to the breadth of last season’s harvesting. So the Department of Agriculture decides. At this rate a fair yield, even less than last year, places the United States at least fifty per cent ahead of France, the next largest producer of wheat in the world. Ten years ago the mean product of both nations was substan tially the same. Some statements have re cently been current making Russia the champion wheat producer. It is a great mistake. Russia surpasses the world in the growing of rye, producing much more than we do of wheat, and at least three bushels of the former to one of the latter. Our wheat area is probably double that of France. “Land Poor.” —ln an account recently published of one of the numerous candi dates for President, a very expressive phrase was used as descriptive of his pecuniary condition. Tt was said that he had always been “land poor.” It meant that he had always kept himself short of ready money by constantly investing his income as fast ;is he received it. There are a great many people in this country who are land poor. They own more land than they can afford to. Probably one-half of the farmers of the United States to-day would be better off if they were to sell half the land they own and employ the proceeds as a working capi tol on the remainder. Higher aud more profitable cultivation would be the result, and the individual and the country would both be made the richer. Still it is better to be land poor than to be entirely poor.” Catoosa Springs. —This celebrated sum mer resort will be opened on the Ist of June, and will be kept open until the last of October. Catoosa is so well known to Georgians that it would be useless to point out its excellencies. With its fifty distinct springs of healing water, it furnishes a reiu dy for all the ailments of human nature. Any combination of waters can be speedily made to meet any complicated case, so that none need dispair. The amusements will be ample to meet the most extravagant demands of the pleas ure seeker. The hotel arrangements are all first-class, and the tab.e will be replete to the satisfying of every appetite. Colonel .Tames W. Burch, the manager, understands his mission thoroughly, and will keep everything up to the best style. Excursion tickets from Atlanta to the springs and return, and one week’s board, $10; two weeks, sl7; and $1 per day for every additional day spent at the springs. HOW TO ATTRACT IMMIGRATION. The New Orleans Times has an excellent editorial on the subject of the best means to attract immigration to Louisiana and other Southern States. The Times advo cates the formation of immigration com panies. Morgan’s read is opening to settle ment a large area of territory which has hitherto been quite shut out from the world. The parishes traversed Joy the Houston road are admirably adapted to the needs of the very best class of immigrants, and. if the proper policy is pursued, West ern Louisiana will, within the next few years, very largely increase in population. The chief obstacle to immigration, says the Times, is to be found in the fact that the greater portion of the land in the western parishes is held by large proprietors who are willing to sell in block at quite reason able prices, but who refuse to divide their holdings. It maintains that immigration companies should he formed. Large tracts of land should be bought, subdivided, im proved and sold on favorable terms to im migrants. This scheme does not depend on benevolence for its success ; it appeals to the only instinct in human nature on which, in business transactions, it is safe to rely— the love of gain. The large land holder would gain by selling in block the lands which, in general, he has not sufficient means to cultivate; the immigrant would gain by finding a home, for which he could easily pay out of his earnings; the immi gration company would gain by taking ad vantage of the ample margin which nects sarily exists between wholesale and retail transactions. The Times says it must be evident to the most casual observer that the Southern system of agriculture is undrgo ing a momentous change. With slavery have passed away the conditions which made the old princely style of farming not only possible, but profitable as well. All who consider the future of the South must regard the change as fortunate, in the high est degree.