The Progress., 1894-02-24

cellent article from the pen Of Mr..
W. L. Foster with his reply to many
queries put to him verbally and
2 lerwise.
Mr.. ". /. Fostec ~ oDs Of ony
most enterprislng> Progressive and
3 lceessful young planters, aud VIVA,
he says can be relied on Il, the re-
suit of practical, personal test AMI
Janumy IG, 1874
For TIE PROGRESS.
How many carloads Of hay are
shipped ~ Shreveport evey year?
| don'J know. but ! DO know that
several br, kers look like they are
IN liking 20 pat of their meat and
bread out of it, and a good many Of
our merchants make it a II aaium
through which to c1rcnlate, q part at
least, Of their money. Think Of pay
ing 81 per ton by the carload for
Arkansas sedge-gras iriedAnd haind!
Who buys this hay? The greatest
part o. it is nndoubredly bouput by
the planters on Rcd rieel3, and by
them fed to mules; which are kept
busy six raOnths Of the year killing
grass that would make far better
hay than that they are forced 10 eat
All sat least almost alI-of us are
agreed that we ought to raise our
own corn--but very few Of us seem
to have even soberly Thought of
raising our own hay. Why? Can't
spare the land, Is too valuable to
put anything on but cotton.
S me who read this, vii. laugh at
tbs hurlesque on the value Of cotton,
bu~;heir actions speak for them.
Ask ten men Oh Rel river what is
the crop best adapte36p the land, and
consequently most profitable, and
nine Of them, ate they are through
plying yonr ignorance, will say
cotton of course Now, I'm young
in years, b,1 Eve given ten years Of
close study to Red river farming
and in the stiff red lands too aud I
am Utmost persuaded that taken by
and large cotton is abont the least
protitable@f the staple crops that c n
be grown on it-except corn. RANK
heresy, I'm talking, but | believe it.
There is large percentage Of every
plaLtatiou on Red river that won't
pay expenses in cotton one year in
fve and yet they are socked int
cotton year after year. This same
land, if drained and put in peas, oats,
millet or alfalfa, will produce lots Of
feed. | believe it is possible for us
n'tead Of picking our very best land
for corn and then putting all the
balance in cotton, to put our very
best in corn, and less of it, all the
other good land in cotton, and then
use this hitherto Improbable land to
make the bulk of our feed in oa.s,
millet, peas and alfalfa, as stated
bove-Gthns making all our land
productive of profit.
| | am not undertaking to teach any
body anything, or spring anything
new, simply to freshen up Their
memories on what they have read OF
heard before A few illustrations
may De pardOned.
October rs, 1892, on land that
wouldn't average bale OF cotton to
less than three acres, | planted fifteen
acres in Red clover and Orchard
grass mixed, and ten acres of several
other grasses for experiment. All
during the Spring and Summer
pastured on the twenty-five acres ten
to fifteen cows, about 125 hogs and
shoats all the time and twenty to
thirty mules at night and on Sun
days, and then got fine cutting of
hay, that Mr. Levi Cooper pronounced
better than most any hay that
comes to this market. And there is
now fine pasture of it, on which
our stock is turned when the ground
is not too soft.
Again on Feb, 1893, / planted
four acres of alfalfa near our lot, on
land that will average aboat one-half
bale of cotton per acre. On May "a,
3 months and 20 days from the time
the seed went in the ground--I cut il
3 feet high; again it was cut on June