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M DANVERS Jim
~ CONCLUSION.
I mb. told that I ought to write some
tkijjn>- u, the way of a conclusion to this
anatamt i the Danvers jewels, as if the
<u>A vf the last chapter were not con
eSsroas .enough. Charles, who has just
wad jl, says especially that his character
tftjam'f what he calls “an elegant finish,”
awi that a slight indication of
B jawing and lovely heiress in connec
tSsM with himself would give pleasure
tv the thoughtful reader. But Ido not
rweaat "t the last moment to depart from
t±r exact truth and dabble in fiction
jtsst x* make n suitable conclusion.
IF I timst sprite* something more I
loeg that it will lie kept in mind
thafc if further details concerning the
■aHsery are now added against my own
jpd&zncnt they will rest on Charles’ au
tibentiL, net mine, as anything I after
wwt heard was only through Charles,
whose information I never consider reli
a'aW the least degree.
fk was not till th-ee months later that
I saw him again, on a wet April after
okma. i was still living in London with
J arv* when he came to see me, having
jrw* returned from a long tour abroad
wait Ralph.
Sw fleorge, he said, was quite well
■qpHt, hut the coolness between himself
sad m* father had dropped almost to
Cmarag point since it had come to light
thu hr had been innocent after all. His
Extiwr con Id not forgive his son for pnt-
Haag him in the wrong.
*~I weJdom disappoint him in matters
frf tkri kind,” he said. “Indeed, I may
ussy I have, as a rule, surpassed his ex
ywetatuma. and I must be careful never
faß ahort of them in this way again.
Dost ah! Miss Middleton, I am sure yon
wiH agree with me how difficult it is to
pwsrrff an even course without relax
ing x little at times. ”
“My olear Mr. Charles,” said Jane,
ttaraxag at him over her knitting, but
not v/mte taking him in the manner he
ialnded, “you are young yet; but don’t
hr dmsvn hearted. I am sure by your
£k*e Shat as you grow older these devia
which you so properly regret will
§pww fewer and fewer until as life goes
•* will gradually cease altogether.”
“-Inwnmder it not improbable myself,"
ni>l Charles, with a faint smile, and he
elhwjid the conversation. I really chu
ck# pal down here all that he proceeded
tv say in the most cold blooded manner
cofc.uTning Carr and Aurelia, or, as he
wuuli call them, Mr. and Mrs. Brown,
Ivc* Sinclair, alias Tibbits. I for one
)**,'£ believe a word of it, and I don’t see
bw bm could have found it all out, as
fn* he had, through the police and
pv.pbfc eff that kind. I don’t consider it
t* Al nil respectable consorting with the
police in that way; but then Charles
ww**- was respectable, as I told Jane af
•erhf left, arousing excited feelings on
(k*r pant which made me regret having
mnatnaned it.
Ajnsuardingto him, Carr, who had never
her * or heard of since the day after
r'n\* unMdent, wa? a professional thief
wflba had probably gone to in India
wsri teSfaxpress design of obtaining pos
■vs&ewi* of 'Sir John’s jewels, which had
tafi- wnj the time of his death, been safe
ly *fW)d away in a bank in Calcutta,
lie and his wife usually worked together;
b£ * this occasion she had, by means
2lr (engaging manners and youthful
appearance, struck up an acquaintance
ah***£ irith Lady Magy Cunningham.
wTr,3St-wil3 be remembered, had jewels
rf ''iiaossderable value, with a view to
those jewels.
IRaJpfc she had use<i as her tool, and
•xgvgMl herself to him in the expecta
t/o* that on her return to England she
naught, by means of her intimacy with
ti* family, have an opportunity of tak
izst kW-m, Lady Mary having left them.
abroad, with her banker in Lon
d v The opportunity came while she
W'asaS Stoke Moreton. but in the mean
whlfc Icar John’s priceless legacy had
arrived, having eluded her husband's
vigrlawre. (That certainly was true.
The jewels were safe enough as long as
I h anything to do with them.) Her
BTjshand, who followed them, saw that
hi- t mm suspected and threw the game
into hands, devoting himself entire
ly tpeltinghis own innocence beyond’
** thtaohi, in which, with Ralph’s assist
irane, be succeeded.
see now,” continued Charles, “why
abr spall her tea when Carr arrived. She
wj* taken by surprise on seeing hi in
oritor xhe room, having had probably no
him ttkai he was the friend whom you
hi*! telegraphed for. I suspect, too,
that -same evening after the ball, when
■hv and Carr went together to find the
bn* ii was to have a last word to en
able teem to play into each other’s
loosis, being aware, if I remember
rights, that father had gone to bed in
mmtfmnj with the key of the safe, and
Chat consequently the jewels might be
Ldk within easier reach than usual.
&>.* ‘ls-abt she weighed the matter in her
mam mind, and decided to give up
ah teunght of Lady Mary’s jewels, and
to smsbxe those which were ten times
tewxr alne. She could not have taken
'tifkA -without drawing suspicion upon
ivTSfeS- Luke a wise woman she left the
msttSear, and went in for the larger prize:
a S*sa3ever one would have tried for
bfctfli asnl have failed. She failed, it is
feme, 'aj as oversight. She could never
kasn* noticed that the piece of paper
vars jjjsed round the crescent was peculiar
fa arary way, or she would not have left
ik the table among the others. She
termed it off well when Evelyn recog
nis'd it, and made the most of her time.
Ste icas within an ace of success, but
Cake was against her. And Carr lost no
tj.me-'Athej, for that matter, for I have
sxxc£ ftmnd out that the telegram she
■art is as to Birmingham, where he was
no dkmbt hiding, bidding him meet
her i® London earlier than had been
arnsfiged. Of course he set off for tiie
wvsb* of the accident directly he heard
it. Raving received no further com-
KHEokaiion from her. We only arrived
tea. minutes before him. For my part I
adacired her more than I ever did be
fogs when the truth about her came out.
£ iiooraderedjier to be_ a pink-and-white
ndnenily, without an idea beyond a neat
adjustment of pearl powder, and then
found that she possessed brains enough
to outwit two minds of no mean caliber,
namely, yours, Middleton, and my own.
Evelyn was the only person who had the
slightest suspicion of her, and that hard
ly amounted to more than an instinct,
for she owned that she had no reason to
show for it."
“I wonder Lady Mary was so com
pletely taken in by her to start with," I
said.
“I don't,” replied Charles. “I have
even heard of elderly men being taken
in by young ones. Besides, smpicious
people are always liable to distrust their
own nearest relatives, especially their
prepossessing and then lay
themselves open to be taken in by entire
strangers. She wanted to get Ralph
married, and she took a fancy to this
girl, who was laying herself out to be
taken a fancy to. In short she trusted
to her own judgment, and it failed
her, as usual. I wrote very kindly
to her from abroad, telling her how sin
cerely I sympathized with her in her
distress at finding how entirely her
judgment had been ut fault; how la
mentably she had been deceived from
first to last, and how much trouble she
had been the innocent means of bring
ing on the family. I have had no reply.
Dear Aunt Mary! That reminds me
that she is in London now, and I think a
call from me and a personal expression
of sympathy might give her pleasure."
And he rose to take his leave.
I had let Charles go without contradict
ing a word he had said, because, unfort
unately, I was not in a position to do so.
As I have said before, I am not given to
suspecting a friend, even though appear
ances may la? against him, and I still be
lieved in Carr’s innocence, though I must
o that I was sorry that he never an
swered any of the numerous letters I
wrote to him, or ever came to see me in
London, as I had particularly asked him
to do. Of course I did not believe that
lie was married to Aurelia, for it was
only on the word of a stranger and a po
lice? inspector, while I knew from his own
lips that he was engaged to a country wo
rn: i of his own. However, be that how it
may, my own rooted conviction at the
time, which has remained unshaken ever
since, is that in some way he became
aware that he was unjustly suspected,
and being, like all Americans, of a sensi
five nature, he retired to his native land.
Anyhow, I have never seen or beard any
thing of him since. I am aware that Jane
holds a different opinion, but then
Charles had prejudiced her against him,
so much so that it has ended by becom
ing a subject on which we do not con
verse together.
I saw Charles again a few months
later, on a sultry night in July. I was
h aving town the next day to be present
at Ralph’s wedding, and Jane and I were
talking it over toward 10 o’clock—the
first cool time in the day—when he
walked in. He looked pale and jaded as
he sat down wearily by us at the open
window and stroked the cat, which was
taking the air on the sill. He said that
he felt the heat, and he certainly looked
very much knocked up. I do not feel
heat myself, I am glad to say.
“I am going abroad to-morrow,” he
said, after a few remarks on other sub
jects. “It is not merely a question of
deasnre, though I shall Ire glad to be out
>f London, but I have of late become an
object of such increasing interest to
hose who possess my autograph that 1
lave decided on taking change of air for
i time.”
“Do you mean to say you are not go
ug down to Stoke Moreton for Ralph’s
wedding?" I exclaimed. “I thought we
hould hav9 traveled together, as we
nice did six months ago."
“I can’t go," said Charles, almost
harply. “I have told Ralph so.”
“I am sure he will be very much dis
appointed, and Evelyn, too, and the
vedding being from her uncle’s house,
ts she has no home of her own, will
nake your absence all the more
narked.”
“It must be marked then, but the
•oung people will survive it, and Aunt
Mary will be thankful. She has not
poken to me since I made that little call
lpon her in the spring. When I pass
her carriage in the Row she looks the
ither way.”
“I am glad Ralph has consoled him
self,” I said. “A good and charming
woman like Evelyn and a nice steady
fellow like Ralph are bound to be happy
.ogether.”
“Yes,” said Charles, “I suppose they
ire. She deserves to be happy. She al
ways liked Ralph, and he is a good fel
low. The model young men make all
the running nowadays. In novels the
tood woman always marries the &ape
jrace, but it does not seem to be the case
in real life.”
“Anyhow, not in this instance,” I re
marked cheerfully.
“No, not in this instance, as you so
justly observe,” he replied, with a pass
ing gleam of amusement in his restless,
tired eyes. “And now,” producing a
small x>acket, “as I am not going myself
l want to give my wedding present to
the bride into your charge. Perhaps you
will take it down to-morrow and give it
into her own hands with my best
wishes.”
“Might we see it first?” said Jane, with
all a woman's curiosity, evidently scent
ing a jewel case from afar.
Charles unwrapped a small morocco
case and, touching a spring, showed the
diamond crescent, beautifully reset and
polished, blazing on its red satin couch.
“Ralph said 1 should have it, and he
sent it me some time since,” he .said,
turning it in his hand; “but it seems a
pity to fritter i* away in paying bills,
and,” in a lower tone, “1 should like to
give it to Evelyn. I hear she has re
fused to wear any of Sir John’s jewels
on her wedding day, but perhaps if yon (
were to ask her—she and I are old friends j
—she might make an exception in favor (
of the crescent,”
And she did.
THE END.
CASTOniA,
aare the y) The * in!l You Havß Alwa ' ,s Boogftl
ADVICE TO FARMERS
COM WISSIONKK <>. B. STEVENS’
SPEECH AT RALEIGH KULL
OK GOOD POINTS.
HOW TO ACHIEVE SUCCESS
Planter Must B<-a Ooo<i Business Jinn.
Improved Condition of the Southern
Karate#—Cotton Mill Industry.
It is a pleasant feature of this, onr
second annual gathering, that we meet
in this historic city, named in honor of
Raleigh, tJue gallant gentleman whose
attempts at colonization on Wokokon
and R >anoke islands blazed the way for
the first permanent English settlement
at Jamestown. His name, and those of
Cavendish, Greenville and Drake, are
closely interwoven with the early his
tory of North Carolina, whose shores
were made romantic by the birth of
Virginia Dare, first child of Eugli-.h pa
rentage born on freedom’s soil. At Alla
manoe sons of the old North State
poured out the first blood that was shed
in resistance to unjust taxation, and
from Mecklenburg county went forth
that ringing defiance to tyranny—the
forerunner of the grand declaration
which proclaimed the birth of the great
republic. On every page of American
history the name of North Carolina
shines with undimned luster, and the
fame of her hardy sous will never be
forgotten so long as men remember
King’s Mountain, Yorktown, Gettys
burg and Appomattox. The spirit of
enterprise, too, is abroad in the old
North State, and she walks proudly in
the van of southern industrial progress,
which, in the last few years, has made
such rapid strides. In each an illustri
ous state, and under such favorable aus
pioes, we have come with ioy to share
the hospitality of your generous sons
and lovely daughters.
Our last annual meeting was held in
New Orleans, the greatest cotton port
and the fourth grain market in the world
—the commercial metropolis of fair Lou
isiana, who leads her southern sisters in
the production of sugar cane and rice.
At that meeting we spoke of the condi
tion of bankruptcy and demoralization
into whioh the farmers of the south have
been aimlessly drifting for years, and I
urged you, the commissioners of the cot
ton growing states, to call upon your
people to change their methods of farm
ing. We stated also that the work of
reformation “bad begun, and that the
people of the cotton states were in better
oouditiou than in former years; that
they had lived more on home supplies;
had been to Ipsa exjiense in making their
crops, and had received much better
prices for thgir products, had reduced
their debts and were more hopeful for
the future. It was stated, moreover,
that the crop of 1899 and 1890 was going
to cost more to market it than did the
crop of 1898-1899, and it was urged that
we sound a note of warning by tolliug
our farmers to make small bills; buy for
cash, if possible; plant largely of food
crops, and reduce the acreage in cotton
even below that of last year. We also
said that, if we would again curtail the
use of fertilizers aud the acreage iu cot
ton, and prbduce only 8,000,000 bales
next season, we might expect not less
thau 9 cents a pound for our cotton.
With pleasure was noted the great re
vival of manufacturing interests in the
south. The necessity was urged of
teaching our children in the schools the
elementary principles of agriculture—
facts that have been ascertained by prac
tical tests at efficiently conducted ex
perimental stations.
The improved condition of southern
farmers, reported at our last meeting,
continues with some additional better
ment. This is especially true of the
farmers of Georgia, who have harvested
more wheat this year than in any year
siuoe 1865; more, it is claimed, than iu
any other three years since the civil war.
More attention, too, has been paid to
raising supplies of meat, and many a
smokehouse, filled with ham, bacon and
sausage from hogs fed and slaughtered
at home proclaims the southern farmer’s
growing independence of the packing
houses of the west. orchards
of Georgia have this year been a very
helpful factor in that state. Although
tbe orop, as a whole, did not prove as
remunerative as early indications prom
ised, yet the money which it put into
circulation was of great benefit during
the dull seasoa. It paid mauy thou
sands of dollars to laborers employed in
gathering, packing, canning aud ship
ping the fruit. The total number of
carloads shipped this season from Geor
gia will not be far short of 2,500.
One tiding that makes the outlook bet
ter still is the certainty of another short
cotton crop, which promises even better
profits during the coming season. There
seems to be good reason for the hope
that the all-cotton craze of 1898 will not
again seize the farmers of the south,
who, from sad experience, should know
that the thing of greatest importance is
to raise, first of ail, food supplies, and
cultivate their cotton within a profitable
limit. Our export aud import trade for
the year closing June 30, 1900, was the
hugest ever known. This is due mainly
to the increase in exports of manu
factured goods for the domestic pro
ducts. breadstuffs, provisions, cotton and
mineral oils exported, the value of
which was $765,361,798, while above
hat of the previous 12 months, is below
that of 1897 and 1898, when our export
of domestic products amounted to $807,-
811.381. In that year we exported the
prodigious total of $324,706,060 of bread
stuffs, a figure which we have not
reached since. In the matter of ootto*
exports, however, there has been a de
cided improvement; and it contains a
valuable hint to the south, for during
the past 12 months we received $241,-
6 : d, 165 for our cotton, or $32,053,321
more than for the previous year, al
though we shipped over 2,000,000 bales
less. The farmers got more for a short
crop thau they would have received for
a large one, and it is needless to point
out that the cost of harvesting, market
ing and shipping the crop was materially
reduced. This is on the right line. Our
people should always so manage as to
have the balance of trade in onr favor.
The wonderful progress made by the
south in cotton manufacturing still con
tinues. According to figures collected
by the Boston Textile World, the north
had in 1890 exactly 12,721,341 spindles,
while the south had 1,828,982. Now
the north has 15,242,554 spindles,
while the south has 5,815,429. The in
crease in the south for the last decade
is, therefore, 217 per cent, and for the
north 19.8 per cent. South Carolina
comes third in the Union, after Massa
chusetts and Rhode Island, with 1,794,-
657 spindles; North Carolina is fourth,
with 1,429,540 spindles; New Hampshire
fifth, with 1,343,923, and Georgia sixth,
with 1,218,504.
If The Textile World is correct in its
figures, then South Carolina stands first
among the southern states in the num
ber of spindles; North Carolina, which
we know is first in the number of mills,
stands second in the number of spindles;
while Georgia is the third cotton manu
facturing state of the south, uules the
product of her mills exceeds in value
that of either of her Carolina sisters,
which was the case in 1890. But what
should especially please every member
of this convention is the fact that the
whole south is marching on to the goal
of industrial independence. For the sea
son of 1899 and 1900 the south, for the
first time in its history, fixed the price of
cotton. If the growth of the cotton mill
industry in the south continues at its
present rapid rate, with the consequent
increased consumption by the southern
mills, we may confidently expect that
the south will henceforth be able to fix
the price of her own great staple. There
is, as yet, no sign of a-check in this de
velopment, which, even in the time of
business depression, was marvellous. Of
course I am most familiar with my own
state. There the growth of the cotton
industry since the beginning of the pres
ent year is beyond all precedent.
Twenty or more new mills are now in
process of construction. One f them is
the great cotton factory at Gainesville,
Ga., which, when fully equipped, will
represent an investment of 11,000,000.
The possibilities of the soil and cli
mate of the south are such that ours
ought to be the richest section of the
Union. Considering the overwhelming
disasters that were the outcome of the
great civil war, and the difficulties that
have beset our people since its close, the
farmers of the south have done well.
For their long and heroic struggle of 35
years, and for the difficulties which
they have overcome they deserve all
praise. But the success of some up-to
date southern farmers, where the best
methods have been employed, has been
hardly less phenomenal. This is a day
of progress on all lines. The farmer
connot afford to be behind the manu
facturer. Old methods must give way
to better and newer ones. When some
enterprising farmer proves that soil of a
certain kind can be made to produce 40,
50 and over 60 bushels of wheat to the
acre, and with a largely increased profit,
after deducting the necessary expense
of bringing his land up to such a state of
productiveness, no other farmer with as
good soil should be satisfied to pursue
old methods, or be content with a yield
or from 10 to 15 bushels 4;o the acre.
Let us hope for active, vigorous, persist
ent competition on this line among all
the farmers of the south. A friendly
rivalry will do much to increase our ag
ricultural products, and build up the
wealth of our section. In nearly all
sections of the Cotton States the greater
proportion of-the beef and butter con
sumed in our t*wns oomes from the
north and west. So long as this is the
case, there will be an urgent call for
improvement.
In view of the fact that the per capita
production of the farmers of the south
is only $177, while in New England it is
$317, and in the west $519, we venture
the suggestion that there must be some
thing in our system which needs im
provement. Might not some changes in
our farming methods bring about the
raising of more grain and grasses, more
vegetables and fruit, more and better
beef cattle, more milk, butter and
cheese, more pigs and sheep, more ready
money in the pockets of our farmers,
more prosperity to the agricultural
classes; hence more plenty, contentment
and happiness among all classes of our
population?
Active, continuous, intellgent super
vision of all the labor on the farm is
necessary to success. Every farmer
should keep an account with his land,
charging it up with all that it costs him,
and giving it csedit for all that it pays.
The same business methods which make
the successful merchant or manufactu
rer, will make the successful farmer.
No bank stock or railroad shares, etfcy,
state or government bonds, will pay
snob heavy interest on the investment
as a well managed farm. One of the
great needs of the day is the formation
in every county of a farmers’ institute
or club, in which may be discussed the
best methods of agriculture, the latest
and best machinery for labor-saving,
and other things of interest and profit
to the farmers. Industrial education is
as necessary to the farmer as to the me
chanic. Nature studies should form a
prominent part of the cirriculums of our
public schools. From the kindegarten
to the university, the pupil should be
taught to know something of nature’s
ways, and in special schools the fanner
should prepare for his profession, just as
the physician, the lawyer, the preacher
or the mechanic does for his. This is a
day of machinery, the proper handling
of which demands education. Nowhere
does machiuerv pay better than on the
farm, provided it be wisely bought and
judiciously managed.
There is a much more general use of
farm machinery in the west tlian in the
south. This ought not so to be. A farmer
can no more afford to be behind the age
than can a man engaged in any other
business. In the physical as well as in
the spiritual world growth is life, stag
nation is deatn. The old methods will
no longer do. If southern farmers know
not the methods by whioh their breth
ren of the north and west grow prosper
ous and rich, then must they learn. If
capitalists from the outside should come
into any large section of the south and
buy up our lands and rent them to our
people, those sections would be in the
condition of Ireland. To you, Southern
Commissioners of Agriculture, I appeal.
Let us urge the farmers of our respective
states to work upon strict business prin
ciples, to live within their means, to
shun debt as the open door to rain, and
to feel that it is their duty to their fam
ilies, to their country and to their God
to improve the opportunities given them.
The farmer serves his generation best
who brings his land to the highest state
of fertility and productiveness, and will
be praised accordingly as he makes it
yield 30, 60 or 100 fold. Let us impress
upon them, also, the important truth
that variety of products means increase
of wealth. In the great cotton belt, es
pecially, do they need to be warned
against putting all their trust in one
crop and neglecting others. If we were
called upon to point out the state whose
lands command the highest prices, we
would put onr finger on those whose ag
ricultural products and occupations are
the most varied; where stock farms,
dairies and creameries abound; where
all the grains and grasses give food
to man and beast; whose market gar
dens, truck farms and orchards supply
the great cities of our country with veg
etables and fruit. Those states in which
lands sell at lowest figures are the ones
in which King Cotton, with despotic
sway, throttles all other crops and in
dustries. And yet when the farmer
raises his own food supplies of every
kind, and plants his cotton on a
well calculated basis of supply and de
mand, it is the greatest money crop in
the world, a gift of God, which, right
ly managed, will make its people rich,
and bless the land that gave it birth. So,
whatever onr greatest crop be—sugar
cane, rice or tobacco—let us add thereto
all the cereals and grasses, the raising
of the best breeds of stock, that our
horses and mules may be strong to la
bor, our cattle such as yield the best
beef and milk; our other farm animals,
sheep, goats, swine and poultry in good
condition, to supply the varied wants of
man. Then, with dairies to supply the
richest milk, and creamories to turn it
into butter and cheese, we of the south
shall nave the greatest farming country
in the world.
Progress must be the watchword of
the farmers of the ?o ith, and progress
consists in finding out the best methods
and adopting them. Let the farmer
diligently give attention, and what he
has learned for himself let him teach
his children at home, and then send
them to school, where that education
can be continued and enlarged. No
other profession brings man into suoh
close communion with nature, aud
through nature man can best look up to
nature’s God and hoid communion with
the source .of all light and life.
General Phil Cook, one of the most
gallant of the heroic men who, in the
times that tried men’s souls, so nobly
illustrated Georgia on the sacred soil of
the Old Dominion —a man who had been
farmer, lawyer, soldier, representative
in congress and secretary of state of
Georgia—when asked what line erf busi
ness required the greatest exercise of
intelligence, unhesitatingly replied:
“That of the farmer.” Cicero, the
great Roman orator, senator and far
mer, considered agriculture the noblest
occupation of man. Indeed, the first bus
iness to which the Creator Himself ap
pointed man, was farming: “And the
Lord God took the man and put him
into the garden of Eden to dress and to
keep it.
A high calling is ours, farmers of the
south Our land, the fairest that e’er
the sun shone upon, with beautiful di
versity of mountain and valley, hill and
dale, watered by noble streams, with
uplands cooled by mountain zephyrs,
and coastal plains, tempered by breezes
from the Atlantic and the gulf, is great
in her developed resources, greater in
her possibilities of soil, climate and
varied productions, but greatest of all in
her people of heroic mould, so 1
defend the right ~ 89
wnn who.
ever difficulties beset their path; u
abiding, conservative and
to a degree not often seen in these tU*
of social unrest and gloomv
In onr rural population is the best W
of the south.
Finally, let ns so train and educate
onr boys and girls that they may IOVel OVe
the old homestead and be attracted to
the farm, with its snowy cotton and the
golden grain; its meadows filled with
well-bred, well-kept stock; its orchards
laden with luscious fruit, its streams so
guided and directed by a master hand
as to irrigate, when necessary, each
thirsty piece of ground; its farm impl*.
ments of the best make, and kept in the
best condition; everything about the
place indicating thrift, prosperity and
refinement.
AS TO SHREDDING CORN.
Agricultural Department Makes Com.
prehensive Reply to an Inquirer.
Question. —Will yon please give' me
some information in regard to corn
shredding?
Questions and Answers.
Colonel'R. J. Redding, Director. Geor
gia Experiment Station, answered a sim
ilar question some time since as follows:
No. 1. In what .stage did you cut the
corn for the shredder ?
Annswer. About one week later than
the stage at which farmers usually “puJl
fodder. ’ ’
No. 2. How much can six hands cut
and shock in one day ?
Answer. Six hands can cut and shock
a given area of corn as quickly as they
oould pull the fodder and “take it up,”
and stack it and haul it to the barn. In
shocking it will be necessary to have a
sort of a rough frame or “shocker,” in
order to enable one person to reach the
top of the shock. Tnis “shocker” is
made by taking piece of 3x4 scantling 12
or 14 feet long, putting two legs in one
end-4 or 5 feet long, something like the
legs to a "saw-horse. ” The legs are put
in so that they can be taken out easily,
and about 3 feet from where the legs are
inserted, inch augor hole is bored
through the piece of timber, and a light
pin 4 feet long is loosely inserted to the
middle. This “shocker” is set up on its
feet, the pin inserted and the corn is laid
in bundles in the four angles thus
formed, enabling the man who shocks
and ties to stand upon it, and reach the
top of the shock to tie it. By withdraw
ing the loose pin and two legs, it can be
easily moved to the next shock
3rd. About how many stalks did you
put in a shock?
Answer. About 150 to 210, according
to size of stalks.
4th. What did yon use to tie the tops
together with ?
Answer. Common bagging twine,
such as is used in bailing ootton.
sth. How long did you let the shocks
of oorn remain in the field before haul
ing them up and shredding ?
Answer. Until fully dry. The time
will depend on the weather. Last year
it so happened there was no rain on the
shocks for Tour weeks, by which time
the corn was fully dry and ready for the
crib and the stalks dry enough for the
shredder. Care should be taken, how
ever, that the stalks be entirely dry,
otherwise the shredded stalks will not
keep well if put away in bulk.
6th. What per cent did the shredder
shuck clean as it snapped the ears off
the stalks?
Answer. We did not use the snapping
roll, but used the large feed roll. We
shucked out the corn from the shock,
leaving the shucks on the stalk.
7th. Did any of the ears of corn dam
age by cutting and shucking in the
the field?
Answer. No.
Rth. Were the ears of corn as heavy
as when left on the stalks the “old
way?”
Answer. We did not actually weigh
the ears and make a test to see if there
was any loss of weight of the ears of
corn in the shocks as compared with
ears allowed to dry on the stalks, but
from previous experiments I am pre
pared to say that the loss will be very
small, if any at all; and if the ears should
be lighter, the loss of weight iu the ear
will be compensated by increased weight
in stover, so that there is no loss.
9th. Did the stock eat the shredded
stalks with a relish ?
Answer. Yes—especially cattle.
10th. How much per acre do you
think is saved by cutting and shredding
the stalks against “pulling the fodder,”
and saving corn in the “old way?’
Answer. According to our estima
tion, based upon actual weighings, our
corn making as much as 30 to 40 bushels
to the acre, will be saved by shred
ding the corn stalks about *lO pounds for
each bushel of corn, and these 40 pounds
will be worth not less than $lO to sl2 per
ton, or about 20 cents for every bushel.
This does not include the shucks nor the
blades, but it is intended to include
simply the corn stalks that are usually
left in the field when fodder is stripped
off in the usual way.—Georgia Agri
cultural Department.
The Buncombe cabbage, of which
much is heard recently, is, according to
a Southern Cultivator correspondent,
one of the few old winter kinds of cab
bage that were to be found iu Georgia
from 50 to 75 years ago and is especially
adapted to the cotton states on accoun
of the many years of acclimatization.
Cattle growing will help in very many
ways. Fill your barns with food ami
your stalls with cattle. Tou ca nULI
make any mistake along here.
for,
tide
orif
yoi