The Bulletin. -13 



FARMERS' STATE CONVENTION ADDRESSES. 



On the following pages will be fonnd a few of the addresses deliv- 

 ered at the Farmers' Convention, or Eound-np Institute, held at Ral- 

 eigh, August 28-30. It is regretted that many among the best ad- 

 dresses are unavoidably omitted from this publication: 



PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS, FARMERS' STATE 

 CONVENTION, 1907. 



By ASHLEY HORNE, Clayton, N. C. 



Ladies and Gentlemen :— The State Departmeut of Agriculture is the 

 farmers' institution. It has provided the means for working up and advertis- 

 ing this Couvention, and for bringing to it outside spealcers. The worii of this 

 institution has grown manyfold in volume and usefulness during the past few 



years. 



That we may all be more familiar with its efforts in behalf of the agricul- 

 tural, horticultural, live-stock, and other interests of the State, and be in a 

 position to take advantage of what it is doing by calling on it for assistance 

 when needed, and making suggestions of other things which it might do for 

 our benefit, I direct your attention to a brief statement of its main lines of 

 work, feeling that this will be interesting and useful to the members of the 

 Convention. 



Fertiliser Control. — It has become practically a uniform custom in all the 

 States where commercial fertilizers are employed for the States to exercise 

 a control over the trade. North Carolina was one of the first States to take 

 up the inspection and analysis of fertilizers, to see that its farmers^ were 

 not imposed upon, the fertilizer control in the State now being in its thirtieth 

 year. Fraud was frequent in the early days of the control, as instanced by 

 the selling of common salt for nitrate of soda and potash salts, together with 

 other adulterants. This has now disappeared, and the fertilizers which the 

 farmers purchase are, as a rule, what they are guaranteed to be, and our 

 better manufacturers are anxious to have their goods comply with all re- 

 quirements and to give the best possible results on the crops on which they 

 are used. It is difficult to estimate the amount of saving to the farmers of 

 the State which has resulted from the control of the fertilizer trade, amount- 

 ing in round numbers to .$10,000,000 annually, by the Department. In addition 

 to this, the advice which has been given farmers with reference to the use of 

 fertilizers, has added largely to their saving in the cost of fertilizers. 

 and to prospective crops. The analyses of fertilizers are published 

 in the Bulletin of the Department, so that the farmers can see just the char- 

 acter of goods which they have used; and, in addition, a large number of 

 analyses are annually made for farmers of the State of mixed fertilizers or of 

 formulas which they mix themselves. 



FEEDING-STUFF INSPECTION. 



Concentrated feeding-stuffs for our live-stock are as much subject to adul- 

 teration as commercial fertilizers. Before the passage of the feeding-stuff 

 law in 1008 they were adulterated with materials having but little feeding 

 value, such as cliaff of the grains, oat hulls, peanut hulls, com bran, screenings- 

 corn-cobs, mill sweepings, cotton-seed hulls, etc. The extent to which our 

 farmers and feeders were imposed upon prior to the operation of this law 

 is shown by the fact that in one year over one hundred carloads of low-grade 

 and worthless feeds were seized and condemned by the Department, among 



