“Around the State” in the April 1955 issue of Extension Farm-News
CLAY COUNTY
An old worn-out piece of land and some pine trees don’t
sound like much. But add a few live-wire Boy Scout troops and you’ve got something
else. Clay County Agent R.G. Vick says that Jimmy Hilton of Murphy bought an
abandoned farm not long ago and decided to plant it in pine trees. Hilton made
an agreement with county Scout leaders for the boys to set pines each Saturday.
This way the land is put into production and the Boy Scouts earn money to buy
their camping supplies.
NASH COUNTY
This isn’t a tall tale; it’s a story of no tails at all!
Nash County Assistant Agent John W. Stallings says that Philip Shearin of
Whitakers, Route 2, saw his litter of small pigs attacked by a flock of
buzzards the other day. By the time Shearin came to the rescue, the buzzards
had clipped off the pigs’ tails. They must grow some real buzzards in Nash
County!
BLOWING ROCK
Benny Robinson, member of the Blowing Rock Senior 4-H Club,
wondered if maybe an ostrich hadn’t strolled into his hen house the other day.
When he went to gather the eggs, he found one egg that measured nine inches
lengthwise and seven inches around the middle. He cracked the shell of the oversized
egg and found a normal-sized egg with a hard shell inside. Between the outer
and inner shell were normal yolk and white.
NORTHAMPTON COUNTY
Doyle Taylor of the Jackson community of Northampton County
thinks that any farmer who produces hogs without the help of Ladino clover is
missing the boat. Taylor’s 1953 corn crop was a bad flop and his hogs did not
receive any grain at all from May to October in 1954. Yet by grazing them he
sold boars for breeding purposes that were in such good condition that people
refused to believe they did not have a liberal supply of corn.
ALEXANDER COUNTY
There’s no substitute for native ingenuity, and Royd Bowman
of Granite Falls, Route 1, showed plenty recently when he constructed a 40 by
96 laying house, according to Alexander County Agent Grover C. Dobbins. Bowman
purchased all of the rough lumber and he and his family did the carpenter work.
The actual cash outlay for the big building was only $1,200. Dobbins terms
Bowman’s economy feat as amazing.
DAVIDSON COUNTY
The Short Course in Modern Farming held recently at State
College wasn’t quite short enough for Mrs. Donald Boger of Davidson County.
When her hubby returned from Raleigh where he had received intensive training
in modern farming methods, Mrs. Boger presented him with a brand new son.
CATAWBA COUNTY
Howard Wilson of the Mt. View section of Catawba County has
proof that there’s no substitute for plenty of ordinary drinking water, when it
comes to growing out livestock. Assistant County Agent Frank A. Harris says
that Wilson and a neighbor bought pigs from the same litter, self-fed them on
the same mixture of feed. The only difference was that Wilson provided his pigs
with fresh water 24 hours a day and the neighbor carried water once or twice a
day. Wilson’s hogs reached market weight of 230 pounds in 5 ½ months; the
neighbor’s , seven months to reach the same weight.
MARSHALL
It used to be that a farmer just took it for granted that he
would lose one or two pigs from a litter by mashing or freezing. Not any more.
Farmers are beginning to realize that they can save every one of their pigs.
For instance, Vick Griffin of Marshall, Route 4, had a sow to farrow 14 pigs
recently during a bitter cold spell. He saved all of them simply by running an
electric cord to his farrowing house, and hanging an infrared heat bulb over
the sow and pigs, keeping them warm and dry.
RUTHERFORD COUNTY
Here’s the reverse of carpet bagging. Rutherford County
Assistant Agent W.G. Toomey says that a transplanted Yankee, Bob Hunter,
formerly of Pennsylvania, came to that county and brought with him ideas that
are being borrowed by his Rebel neighbors. Hunter has reclaimed a large number
of acres of cotton land and neglected bottoms, has initiated soil building
practices that have transformed worthless hillsides into profitable pasture and
cropland, and has built silos. At present he is constructing a large pond that
he hopes will help insure grazing for his Holstein herd.
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