The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1891-05-19

| The best use to make, II 1t Is known. is
TO trlrn it under for corn or cotton
| Crimson clover is a good plant to use
in connection with Gov peas in bring
ling UP poor land, but don't expect i'm
possibilities of it, and especially don't
expect to see it tall enough to cut in
November. FARMER.
| SOME EXPERIENCE WITH FORAGE CROPS.
In reply to your solicitation for my
experience in growing forage in Flor
ida, I have to say that l have tried
right smart" in the six years that l
have made Florida my home, and, as a
result of those numerous trials, have
arrived at some quite definite cOrclu-
sions which will shape my efforts in
| that direction until I can learn some
better way to raise feed for a little live
stock" which [ am determined to have
about me while I live in the country,
whether as farmer, horticulturist, me
chanic, or simply a day laborer. Yes,
I will have my COWS and hens and have
good honest milk and cream for my
oatmeal, rice, graham, cracked wheat,
grits, cornmeal mush, ETC., etc. But
as to the ."razorback" O. even the
more comedy Berkshire, Chesterwhite
or Byield, why, let those keep them
who want to, and who will live large
ly on bacon. Isimply won't eat it and
know that 1 am better off for it; health
Ter, stronger, clearer minded excuse
seeming egotism) and have a better
showing for promotion in the angelic
spheres to which we all are Fastening.
But to my subject. Ihave tried most
Of the forage crops talked or written
about during the last five OF six years.
Millets, Kaffir corn, teosinte, -four
corn, rice, various grasses, cowpeas,
sweet potatoes, ~cassava, etc, etc, and
have settled down to a few things.
Texas bluegrass is decidedly no good
with me, and after repeated trials and
removals to various soils and locations
I write IN. g." after it, and Let it
alone.
Kafir corn has done we'll and is a
OIL OUo C1Op IL III WIN GU S1CCI1C Illu
properly cured; but I find pearl or
cattail millet better, and think really
the best soiling crop for summer use as
green feed. Flour corn is good and
does we'll and makes abundance of good
fodder and the best roasting ears for
green corn of any except the regular
sugar OF sweet corn, and is much less
subject to the ravages of that pest, the
bud worm, so destructive to sweet
corn.
But I find nothing, or no grass, that
| think it profitable to devote landTtO
as a continuous and only crop, as we
were accustomed to in the North for
meadows. But here comes in the claw
of compensation" and we can make
good hay and plenty of it from crab
grass, the best hay grass [ have yet
found, and produce other remuneratiVe
crops upon the same land. Then comes
in the much abused but really excel
lent Bermuda grass, the great, if not
the only real pasture grass adapted to
our soil and climate. l got tired of
hearing the foolish and childish cutlery
about Bermuda grass being such a
pest" and "dO you ever expect to get
rid Of it, and all such f~OOlishness. [
have had it about my house, areal well
sOdded yard, nearly ever since I had
a yard in Florida and would not be
without it, and now have an acre or
more planted out for a real pasture. |
will risk its taking possession of the
place. l am also trying Para grass,
but am not as favorably impressed with
1T thus far as many there seem to be.
1t has serious objections to nv mind,
in IfC habits of OrOvu+I Io+L Fo,, q
meadow and a pasture grass. But |
am giving it a good chance and will
not be hasty in cOndemning it.
o comes the great crop for winter
feed, cassava. l am feeding my third
crop; began with a little and have in
creased yearly as I became acquainted
with It's feeding value and it's immense
prOdUctlveness. 1t requires less work
than most crops, and the yield is sim
ply enormous and almost incredible.
Though [ would not risk nv reputa-
ton for veracity upon the statements
OF some writers that fifty and even
seventy-fve tons Of edible root to the
acre are practicable, it is good enough
and big enough to say that a yield of
twenty or twenty-five tons is practic-
able without extra culture or fertility,
just good, fair, honest feed and care.
Now, to sum up my conclusions:
L. l will have milk and eggs and
hence COWS and chickens, and feed for
them.
2. Bermuda grass, the main reliance
for a pasture or grazing grass for all
stock,
3: For summer use, soiling, to cut
and feed green, pearl millet; and it
pays to have the ground rich and cul-
tlVate well and plant a less amount
and cUt often before akin Joints or