Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1892-03-27
yALUABLE rEEDs For Hoes.

!
AS the result of an effort put forth by the
Fort Worth GAzETTE 10 get our farmers en-
the right track for raising more hogs ard
cheaper ones, many farmers here viii 5egln
| this spring with a renewed energy in that
business. Believing that many will not De
! able TO do much more this season than get
| start in the new hog-feed crops proposed,
! and also that many others will wait for the
seed to become more plentiful and cheaper,
/ have concluded to say a few words
! through your paper relative to the planting
/ of sorghum and alfalfa as hog feeds. OF
| course, all our people know what sorghum
/ is, and it is probable that most of them IN
| derstand the species of clover known as
| alfalfa or lucerne.
Sorghum has made itself favorite with
all who have tried it as stock feed, but
don't think its value as a hog feed,
specially, is so generally underst God.
4 have planted it five or six years for my
hogs, and have found it the best hog feed
am acquainted with, all things considered,
| for it requires less land and labor to pro-
duce q given amount of feed than any
other cultivated crop. Hogs relish it and
keep healthy and growing on it. They re-
| quire but little other feed when fed on
sorghum. plant an acre or so near my
pens drilling it in rows about twenty
inches apart, making three paintings of
the ground-March, May and July. BY
I0uS planning secure SOOd. Juicy 1ttu 1Or
my hogs about six months of the year. l
begin feeding on the first planting when it
is a foot or so high, which is usually from
middle to last of April. Hogs relish it at
that age. and do nearly as well on it as
when ii is ripe With lot OF i've acres
set to alfalfa for fall and early spring
pasture, and a few acres in sorghum, hogs
may be raised at comparatively little eX-
pense.
Iregard alfalfa as one of the best paying
crops farmer could put on ten acres of
land. 1t is certainly a splendid success in
this portion of Texas, making a most
luxurious pasture for all stock, and an
especially fine grazing pasture for growing
hogs. find that the hogs deyour it greedily,
and its rapid growth keeps them well sup
Piled 1 have never yet known of any
crop that would furnish more green feed to
the acre. 1t beats any of the grasses,
furnishing an abundance of green feed
when nothing else is green. If stock is
kept off for a couple of months it will grow
a good hay crop Of the finest quality of hay
hay fully. equal to any grown in the
Eastern states.
Both of these crops are entirely hardy,
requiring but little rain TO make heavy
yields and they are crops that may be ever
relied on. 1 think if persons desiring to
raise hogs would try these crops they
would be highly pleased with the results.
of them this year if he would. All needed
is to take hold now. The seed could be
easily secured at a small cost. March is
the best time for seeding alfalfa. ITO mid
die of April would do.-ED. Six quarts of
seed to the acre will, believe, aim ost in
sure good stand, though some favor so
much as peck. 1 would prefer seeding on
clean land and giving the crop the full bene-
fit of all the growth it can make the first
year.
Hogs may be raised cheaply with these
crops and little corn. And mi! When
we get a start in artichokes, chufas, pea
nuts, etc, won't we have clear sailing for
the hog industry in Texas
1 will come again with something addi-
tional on sorghum. The half in its favor
has not yet been said ]. A. B.
Dublin, Tex.
Such letters from practical farmers are
always of special interest to Texas agri-
culturists.i general, for they tell of what has
been done, and, of course, of what may be
done again.