The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1898-05-25
AGRICULTURAL.
What Is Better than COrnf

Certain greatly interested parties
would be glad to have the farmers be-
lieve that there is something better
than corn for them to grow, but though
we have been looking and watching and
waiting for years for plant to make its
advent which is better for the farmers
than corn we have not yet got track of
it. Sacaline2 You have heard of it
probably, read the wonderful adver-
tisements of the thing. Why, they
fairly exhausted language in praising
up the plant, and now what does Prof.
Brooks of the Massachusetts Agricul-
tural College do but come forward and
declare in plain English in the Home
stead that it is absolutely ,oorthleSSl 1t
was going to do such wonders, to thrive
on any kind of soil, yield immense
crops of the most valuable and highly
nutritious forage, and 10 and behold
the whole thing was fraud. There
was not word of truth in one of the
statements. Now the lesson is obvious
the next time you see such puff of
a new plant, remember Sacalinel Ii
you have money to spend for new
things, try for an improved seed corn.
We are pretty sure there will not
until the millennium be better plant
for Vermont farmers to grow than corn.
There are few plants which contain
more nitrogen, there are some which
store up nitrogen in the soil and thus
enrich it, but not one of these will take
the place of corn.
There is just one plant, the Soy or
Sofa bean which can be commended to
our farmers in the north as being
worthy of extended trial. 1t will grow
and we think some varieties will
ripen seed in Vermont, and it is very
rich in nitrogen, in fact there is no
vegetable product listed in the tables
of analysis so rich in protein as sofa
bean meal excepting peanut meal and
cotton seed meal. The hay of the sofa
bean is rather richer than clover, and
as it is an annual, it has some advan-
tages over clover. In fact it is more
than possible that the sofa bean
is destined to become to the north
what crimson clover is to the
central and the cow pea to the south
ern states. The bean will grow on
any good soil and should be planted
about like corn, perhaps little thick
err.
But after all, is it better than corn?
We do not think so. To mix with
corn in the silo it has large place to
fill. AS is we'll known, corn needs to
be balanced with some feed containing
much protein. The sofa bean is just
the thing for this; it can be cut into
the silo with the corn and thus make
"balanced ensilage." 1t might be well
to make up sort of improved "Robert-
son MIXTURE" adding sunfower heads
to the corn and bean mixture. Would
MT it be nice if New England farmers
could grow their own protein! 1t would
save those big feed bills, would lower
the fertilizer bills and thus make the
farmer far more independent. The
plants which are 30 rich in protein get
it from the air mostly, 30 by growing
them you are dipping out of natures
great reservoir of nitrogen to feed your
stock and enrich your farm. Red
clover is the good old standby, but it is
tritle too slow for these days; it is
far better to have an annual than a
biennial nitrogen gatherer. Crimson
clover and cow peas are not well adapt
ed to Vermont, but sofa beans are,
and we advise their growth by every
Vermont farmer. Begin this year by
planting small plot, but bear in mind
that the woodchucks are just crazy
after them, 80 don't plant them where
those vermin abide.