Impressive Accomplishments of Bertie Teen, 1945

By Frank Jeter, Extension Editor, N.C. State College, as published in the Greensboro Patriot, November 29, 1945

Last Saturday, I was invited by Miss Hannah Ruth Spruill, assistant home agent in Bertie County to attend a 4-H achievement day held in the agricultural building in Windsor, honoring the work done by the young people of that county during the past year. It was a great occasion. The boys and girls with many of their parents were on hand.

Then Miss Spruill awarded gold medals and citations to the county champions. As she did so, she requested each one to tell briefly about the work done in winning his particular championship. Their recital left one almost breathless and, to explain what I mean, let me comment on the story told by Sophia Perry, president of the county organization and a member of the Colerain Club.

This slight slip of a girl told in a matter of fact way how she had taken over the house, because her mother was not so well during the summer. She also carried on six different club projects during the year. “I made 15 garments,” she said. She sewed some for her married sister and a nephew. Many of the clothes which she made for herself were from her sister’s old clothes or from feed bags.

The sister is married, has a young baby, and her husband is now overseas. She has been back at the old home for the past year. Sophia took some of the clothes which she had made and entered them in the county dress contest where she won first prize. She also fixed up a bedroom for her sister and the baby. There was no closet in the room so Sophia made one. She also reworked the old furniture in the room, made curtains, a dresser strip, and a bedspread to match in a color scheme of rose and aqua.

Worked in the Field

“Then, as she told it, “I helped put in tobacco for six days a week all through the curing season. My sister, father and I dug all of our peanuts, and I have an acre of cotton. We had an acre of land that no one needed so I planted it to cotton and we have already picked it, doing the work each afternoon when I came home from school. I used the money I made working in tobacco to pay my expenses to the Camp Millstone 4-H leaders’ school.

“I canned all the excess food we had in our garden, during the work most of the time at lunch and at night. I also helped a neighbor to do her canning. I canned 295 quarts myself and 105 quarts with help.

“My sister was at home and so did most of the cooking since she had to be there with the baby, but I fixed the desserts, and cooked on Sundays and on days that I was not working in the field.

“My parents are building a new house, and I have helped them to make the plans so that we shall have more closets and the rooms will be more convenient for them when they get older.”

Aside from all this, Miss Perry did such good work in home management, clothing, food preparation, room improvement, food preservation and family relationships that she was awarded a gold medal and citations by Miss Spruill. She is president of the Bertie County 4-H. Federation and a leader among the young people of her community.

Jewel and June Jernigan, the Early girls, Jacqueline Pierce, Ernestine Pritchard and others also won acclaim for their fine work. Health champions were crowned as a feature of the day’s program and Miss Spruill said the day was just the beginning of an annual occasion which is going to mean much to Bertie County in the future.

Miss Virginia Patrick, home agent, gave a few introductory words and then led the group singing. Dewey Phelps, Aulander Club, led a pledge to the flag; Joyce Ann Miller, Riverside Club, led in reciting the 4-H pledge; Jerry Phelps, vice president of Merry Hill Club, made an address of welcome, and Jacqueline Pierce of Colerain Club called the roll of 4-H Clubs in the county.

Certificates were awarded by Ernest Morgan, principal of the Aulander School, who has assisted the farm agent, ‘General’ B.E. Grant, in handling 4-H Club work with the young people in the county this summer.

Beaufort County Farmers Vote Unanimously for Freezer Locker Plant, 1945

By Frank Jeter, Extension Editor, N.C. State College, Raleigh, as published in the Greensboro Patriot, Nov. 22, 1945

In eastern Carolina, at Washington, farmers of Beaufort County met with the city folks there the other night to make plans for a freezer locker plant. The 75 farmers present voted unanimously to have such a plant and, out of the numbers attending, 65 signed up for lockers. 

Farmers of the county will get first choice for 60 per cent of the 630 lockers to be provided in the new plant and this, they say, will give them facilities for curing and storing 125,000 pounds of pork at one time. They also say that having such a plant at Washington will enable them to kill meat at any season of the year rather than having to wait for the cold weather of winter. Dan Brady, meat specialist, tells me that at least 200 of these freezer locker plants will be in operation in the state in the next few years.

Back again across the state, community action for the good of future farming is seen in a resolution passed by the Rutherford County Board of Commissioners authorizing the board to accept funds to establish a Rutherford County Farm Youth Foundation. This is similar to action taken in Edgecombe County and Polk County by which funds have been secured to aid young people on the farm to go into the purebred dairy cattle business or any other kind of 4-H Club work.

Richmond County Farmers Report Success, November 1948

Written by F.H. Jeter, Extension Editor, N.C. State College, Raleigh, as published in the Charlotte Observer, Nov. 29, 1948

In Richmond County, sound farm planning has been followed this season.

For instance, back in late September and early October, it appeared that few men would get to seed acres to alfalfa, grazing crops and permanent pastures as they had planned. It had been dry for some time, and it appeared that the dry weather would linger on indefinitely. But these men got their land in shape, they bought their seed mixtures and stood by for the season to come. And as it always does, the rains finally came.

They had good seasons during the first week in October. Farm Agent N.L. Hendrix says you never saw anyone anywhere get busy so quickly. They began to put seeds in the ground on the next Monday—it’s mostly sandy in Richmond—and by the end of that week, most of the growers were boasting of the fine stands that they had. Not only did the alfalfa come up promptly but the pasture grasses, the Italian rye grass and the other grazing crops also jumped into a full stand one week after seeding.

These Richmond County farmers have become greatly interested in growing alfalfa for hay. Some of the new seeders this fall have been J.M. Frazier, F.L. Stutts, W.R. Land Jr., A.L. Leviner, A.E. Crump, B.F. Stutts, A.H. McCall, Arthur Richardson, and T.C. Andrews. Those who had the alfalfa growing on their farms this past summer mostly made five cuttings, despite the dry weather of mid-summer. The quality of the hay was excellent, and the acre yields were good. Last fall, 35,982 pounds of Italian rye grass or enough seed to plant 1,000 acres were purchased in Richmond and the amount has jumped above that this fall.

Some excellent permanent pastures also have been planted by W.R. Land Jr., G.W. Hill, J.C. Broadway, Dewey Thompson, Clarence Parsons, H.A. Parker, S.G. Anderson, H.V. Chandler, W.C. Hollingsworth, M.M. Hill, Sam Bowman, J. Gus Covington, T.H. Cloninger, and R.L. Bennett.

Charles Auman seems to hold the record in corn production for Richmond County this year. Wednesday, October 20, 15 of Charles’ neighbors gathered to harvest and weigh the corn from one acre and a net of 8,010 pounds was weighed. County 70 pounds to the bushel, this is a yield of 114.5 bushels. However, 70 pounds of the corn was shelled and then weighed, producing 60 pounds of actual grain. At this rate, Charles actually produced 112.5 bushels on his acre. Dr. Emerson Collins visited the acre about three weeks before the corn was gathered and he estimated form ear counts that Charles would produce 121.6 bushels an acre. Pretty accurate! Richmond corn growers suffered from the dry weather of the summer and so far few constants have reached the 100-bushel mark. Most of them have been at 90. The 4-H Club members have been especially disappointed this year.

J.M. McKenzie Jr. of Rockingham appears to be the champion cotton grower of the county so far. Mr. McKenzie picked 94 bales from 70 acres in September and says he would get at least seven more. He harvested nine bales from his five-acre plot at the first picking. This 70 acres of cotton land is going in winter peas as fast as Mr. McKenzie gets his cotton cleaned out. Three gins in the county are cooperating in the cotton stapling work and quite a few men have placed their staple under the government loan. There are two bonded warehouses in Rockingham cooperating to store the cotton and the Richmond County Bank has been financing all loans. Some of the growers said they secured $7.70 a bale above the spot prices by taking the loans on their early cotton.

Scotland County Farm Report, November 1948

Written by F.H. Jeter, Extension Editor, N.C. State College, Raleigh, as published in the Charlotte Observer, Nov. 29, 1948

Scotland County has one of the oldest and most efficient farm organizations in the state. It is the Scotland County Farmers Club and it has met regularly once a month for many years. One of its feature meetings is the annual ladies night when the men bring their wives and everyone enjoys a wonderful social hour. But the club gives careful study to all of the problems affecting agriculture in Scotland County. It invites the leading experts in their fields to come to the county, visit about with the farm agent, and then address the club that night on some pertinent subject. There is a discussion period thereafter and the results have been every good.

County Agent E.O. McMahan says the club has been in the vanguard of every good farming movement. The organization has promoted the five-acre cotton contest and the three-acre corn contest for years. In fact, the Scotland County five-acre cotton antedates the state contest by several years. Seldom do less than 80 men attend a meeting; and, at times, there have been between 300 and 400 when the members have invited all the local farmers to be their guests for some special meeting. I had the pleasure of being down there not so long ago when the members entertained their sons at a father and son banquet. This was one of the best meetings of the year.

How the club sponsors some particular movement was shown at a meeting held in late September when pastures were the subject for discussion. As a result of this one discussion, 11 of Scotland’s best farmers agreed to conduct a pasture demonstration with Ladino clover and fescue. Quite a few other men present said they are interested in pastures and would try to get them seeded this winter. There are likewise 57 farms on which the five-acre cotton contest is being conducted this year, and these are showing final yields of two bales an acre or better.

Incidentally, the first bale of cotton for Scotland County this season was ginned on August 11 when C.L. Jones and his tenant, James Ware, carried 1,440 pounds of seed cotton to the gin operated by W.L. Biggs and Son of Johns. The ginned bale weighed 500 pounds and was sold to Mr. Biggs for 35 cents a pound. Mr. Jones is cooperating in the Scotland County one-variety plan and planted the pedigree 100 wilt resistant variety. His first bale had a staple length of 1 1/16^th inch, and graded middling. All the cotton growers certainly made good use of the ideal harvesting weather this fall and have housed one of their best quality crops. Most of the staple lengths have run from 1 1/32th to 1 1/16th inch and most of the farmers have been taking advantage of the free sampling and stapling service. They also have stored their cotton under the government loan plan and have made money on the deal. Of course, many others said they just couldn’t be bothered with the loan idea and sold on the “spot” market at a loss.

Other Crops In Scotland County

The cotton growers began to dust their cotton in June and did a better job of insect control this year than ever before. Most of them used the Benzene Hexachloride with DDT and sulphur and applied the dust with six- to eight-row tractor machines. Excellent results were secured. They were fortunate in that F.F. Bondy from the Federal Boll Weevil Research Station near Florence, S.C., came over and showed them exactly how weevil control work should be carried on.

Mr. McMahan says Scotland farmers produced an excellent cucumber crop in the early summer, although the price was a little low. The cantaloupe crop was short, due to reduced plantings, but the demand was good and the growers sold to truck buyers who came out to the farms and picked up the cantaloupes without trouble or expense to the growers.

Quite a bit of attention is being given to swine production in Scotland this year. Most of the growers are cross-breeding with purebred animals to produce feeder pigs for the market. A good corn crop and more pastures help to make this swine growing project a success.

Catawba County Farmers Say They Lead State in Acreage to Alfalfa, 1945

Written by F.H. Jeter, Extension Editor, N.C. State College, Raleigh, as published in the Wilmington Star, Nov. 26, 1945

Farmers in Catawba County believe that their county leads the state in the acreage to alfalfa. Last winter, a preliminary report by the Federal Census showed the county to have 950 acres. But local farmers say that this could not have included the 300 acres seeded in the fall of 1944. Seed dealers in the county say they sold 8,293 pounds of seed that fall and that this did not include other seed secured from outside of the county. They know, therefore, that at least 300 acres of alfalfa were planted in the fall of 1944.

Farm Agent Earle Brintnall says that this past fall about 30,000 pounds of seed were bought and the growers would have bought more if they could have located the seed. This is enough, however, to plant from 1,100 to 1,200 acres of alfalfa at the rate of 25 pounds of seed to the acre, the usual rate of sowing.

To add up the acreage, therefore, it would show something like this: 950 acres of old seedlings in the county; 300 acres seeded in the fall of 1944, and 1,100 acres seeded this past fall, which makes a total 3,350 acres for the county. That is enough to produce 7,500 tons of alfalfa hay annually.

When Earle found out that ll this seed had been sold in the county, he set out to find from whence it had come. He found that only 145 pounds of the seed had come from the Argentine. This source, as most growers know, is not satisfactory because the seed from down there are not adapted to North Carolina conditions. This means, then, that Catawba dealers are alert to the needs of their people, and are trying to follow the recommendations of the county agents and extension agronomists. About 8,000 pounds of the seed came from the Pecos Valley of Texas. This is a valley drained by the Pecos River, which traverses the southwestern part of the Lone Star State and empties into the Rio Grande on the Texas-Mexico border. This seed is probably all right if it is not from plants that were grown under irrigation. Mr. Brintnall was not able to get exact information on this but said the alfalfa has come up to a good stand and it looks as if it might be suitable to that section of the state.

The great bulk of the seed, used in Catawba this past fall, was from alfalfa grown in Kansas and Oklahoma and is well adapted to conditions in North Carolina.

Ten years ago when Earle Brintnall became farm agent in Catawba, there was practically no alfalfa being grown there. The folks were not pushing their livestock and dairy business as they should, and it took lots of hard work, much talking and boosting to get the crop started again. A few men here and there began to try out the crop and those who once tried it began to expand their acreages. Small plots were seeded in various parts of the county to test out the best means of preparing the land; how to cultivate it to keep it on the land over a period of years; and how to fertilize, harvest and cure the hay.

It has been definitely proven now that there is a place for the legume in Catawba and one of the fieldmen for a large milk processing plant in Statesville said there is more alfalfa to be seen along the road from Newton to the border of the county near Banoak than in any other county in this state.

Recently, some of the extension agronomists were up there to check the hybrid seed corn plots and to get results from the different hybrids being tested this year. They said they had never seen so much alfalfa and they were particularly impressed with the way in which the growers had prepared their seed beds. One of the agronomists remarked, “We will have to tell some of our experiment station folks to come up here where they really grow alfalfa and find out how it is done.”

On a trip over the county last week, I saw stands that had been on the land for seven to eight years. This means that the crop was put in correctly to start with, that it had been fertilized and harvested as it should be. The year the growers cut their first hay on about April 15 which was unusually early and was due of course to the warm period in March causing the alfalfa to grow so fast that it had to be cut. Most farmers in Catawba have cut their alfalfa five times this season and the fields are not hurt for facing the winder cold because I saw growth that would average at least six inches high on most of the fields. The crop seems to like those old red hills up there and thrives perhaps better than it does on the more open soils of the eastern section.

But the land has to be well prepared, well fertilized, and well planted with well inoculated adapted seed. One of the prettiest fields in the county is a patch of 7 ½ acres belonging to Arthur Little just west of old St. Paul’s Church. Seldom does one find a more uniform or a more healthy appearing field in this state.

Laurinburg Lions Club Dinner Meeting, 1949

Published in 1949…the newspaper clipping doesn’t have a label, so I don’t know the name of the newspaper or the exact date of the publication.

More than 150 Lions and Lionesses filled Laurinburg’s Atkinson street recreation center Tuesday evening for an evening of entertainment and good food. The occasion was the annual ladies’ night of the Laurinburg Lions Club. Dr. Frank Jeter of the North Carolina Agricultural Extension Service was the principal speaker. Donald McQueen had charge of the arrangements and Club President Nelson P. Liles was master of ceremonies.

Not in a long time had any local group been treated to such an unusual display of Southern oratory as was expounded Tuesday evening. Attorney Jennings King started things off with a stirring and descriptive compliment to the virtues of Laurinburg and Scotland County womanhood. And Mrs. George McLeod was equally as eloquent in her toast to the Lions and response to Mr. King’s remarks.

When Dr. Jeter took the floor after another lengthy and moving introduction by friend K.J. Shaw, he said in effect that he felt something at a loss for words having to follow such fine performers. However, he soon proved that he was every bit equal to the occasion as he kept his listeners in rolls of laughter through a good portion of his talk. It is said that Dr. Jeter is in great demand as an after dinner speaker and the Lions and their Lionesses found out why Tuesday night.

While Dr. Jeter proved a past master at story telling and joking, he brought out his point for the evening strongly and professionally. He told something of the major accomplishments of North Carolina in the fields of industry and economics, and especially agriculture. He stated that North Carolina ranks third in the nation in the market value of its farm products. And that we are now at a turning point into a great scientific agricultural era. Dr. Jeter stated that this state has long set the agricultural pace in the South. In the years just ahead, North Carolina will be offering stronger completion to the mid-western and far western states in most every product they grow.

Dr. Jeter pointed out that we have a rich heritage in this state from the standpoint of citizenry as well as from farming. And that Scotland County was a strong part of the web that makes up our great state. He stated that scientific soil tests and experiment shave proved that anything that can possibly be grown in our great country can profitably be produced from the soil of the Old North State. He went on to say that North Carolina farmers are progressive and forward-looking, and that he wouldn’t hesitate to predict that we would in the not-so-distant future surpass or at least equal the agricultural achievements of all the great states of the Union.

During his entire speech, Dr. Jeter mentioned our controversial Governor Scott but one time. He referred to him as our “progressive Governor Scott, Good bless him,” which was taken in more ways that one by his audience.

Special Guests

Among the other special guests who enjoyed the occasion with the Lions were Dr. and Mrs. S.H. Fulton, Dr. and Mrs. J.B. Turner, Mr. and Mrs. Paul Livingston, Mr. and Mrs. Jack Gaw, Mrs. Frank Jeter, Mr. and Mrs. A.D. Stuart, District Governor, and Mrs. Jeff Wilson of Biscoe; Mr. and Mrs. Dewey Edwards of Fayetteville; Mr. and Mrs. R.B. Deaton of Ellerby and Dr. Hugh Mauldin of Spencer.

The menu for the evening, which featured roast turkey, also carried a fruit cup, cranberry sauce, dressing and giblet gravy, candied yams, buttered peas, stuffed celery, pickles, olive, hot rolls, coffee and topped off with ice cream and cake. R.D. Sanders made the invocation.

Officers of the Laurinburg club are N.P. Liles, president; Dr. J.J. Richardson, Charles Barrett and Emmitt Gill, vice presidents; Mack Guest, secretary; Roger Clemmons, treasurer; Yates Gamble, tail twister; Thurmond Willis, lion tamer. Bill Evans is immediate past president.

Home Demonstration Club Winners Named, 1949

From the Lillington News, Nov. 10, 1949

Frank Jeter, extension editor at State College, was the speaker at the annual Home Demonstration Club Achievement Day held last Friday at LaFayette School. Other features on the program include the presentation of prizes and awards, and a dress revue. Fifteen clubs displayed exhibits in the gym, with the Turlington Club taking first place and Angier second. The Friendly Club was third. The Chalybeate Club won the award for being the outstanding club of the year. Mrs. L.B. Smith is the club president.

In the dress revue there were six types of dresses shown. Winners were selected in each group. The winners were Mrs. Harland Adams of Angier, a house dress; Mrs. Howard Height, Buie’s Creek, best dress; Mrs. E.D. McDonald of the Ephesus Club, a feed sack dress; Mrs. W.L. Johnson, Barbecue, remodeled dress; Mrs. Lynn Senter, Kipling, apron; Mrs. Leroy Matthews, Chalybeate Springs, sports dress.

Dressmakers received prizes donated by Lillington merchants.

Judges for the exhibits and the dress revue were Miss Julia Alexander, Lee County home agent; Miss Goldie Knowles, assistant Johnston County home agent; and Mrs. C.I. Thompson, Dunn home economics teacher.

Mrs. W.R. Langdon of Coats, Route 1, who is completing a two-year term as county councils president, presided at the program. Miss Bessie Withers of the Leaflet Club read the devotional. Music was furnished by Mrs. Alton Harrington of Olivia, who played two piano solos and by Mrs. W.B. Lasater and Mrs. John Duncan Shaw, who sang a duet. They were accompanied at the piano by Mrs. Angus Shaw.

The Chalybeate, Kipling and Christian Light clubs served as hostesses to the event. Mrs. Frank Motley extended the welcome and Miss Buie Long of the Friendly Club responded. Mrs. S.R. McKay, county librarian, awarded certificates to the women who had read books from the approved list. There were 34 state certificates, 30 county awards and 7 advanced certificates. The Mt. Pisgah Club received an award for having the highest number of members receiving certificates. Mrs. Rex Johnson and Mrs. N.W. Maness were given special recognition for having attended Farm and Home Week for four years.