The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1900-07-03
Agriculture
THE GREAT NEED OF tn oUTH.

You must be the Judges regarding
the wisdom of the remarks that /
am going to make in your presence
for few moments. would quit
raising wheat. would not send
bushel of grain outside of Tennessee
as you are not getting enough to
Justify your growing it. There are
much more inviting fields in other
directions. Tt is very rare that we
get such prices for fine saddle horses
as they are willing to pay now. The
whole world want horses. The peO-
ple of the United States can produce
horses cheaper than other people,
and your Southern gentleman can
train them better than any one else.
The world will let you make your
own prices, and fine horses of that
kind that they call Irish horses go
from the United States to Ireland
and then are sold to the British for
anv price you ask, and I would ad-
wise you to turn your energies in
that direction rather than to the
growing of s or 40 bushels of wheat
per acre and which is taking the
very life out of your soil.
Another thing that would advise
you to turn your attention to is cat
tie and sheep raising. I have never
seen as many natural conditions
combined together to make para
disc of this industry as here in Ten
uessee. Up in Iowa when I am at
home we have to feed our animals
half of the year and sometimes more.
We have to put up feed enough dur
ing the summer to feed them during
six long months. You have a mild
climate, innumerable springs, and
woods to shelter them, but now the
question comes about, what shall
they eat? This is the problem you
have been discussing this afternoon
forage for animals, etc. Why do
you not grow clover now? Lawes
and Gilbert ascertained that they
can grow wheat on the same piece of
ground every year for fifty years,
with gradual decreasing yield, but
they could not grow clover more
than a few years, because the clover
polluted the ground. I would put
fertility back in Tennessee soils so
that clover would grow if I wanted
it to.
agree with you regarding the
value of COW peas, because in eX-
perimenting once at the Iowa Elk
pertinent Station to ascertain what
succession of food crops could have,
50 that the COW would have some
thing green to eat, found that dur
ing the month of August l had to
send to Alabama for the Southern
COW pea. They would not ripen in
Iowa. The Northern COW pea would
not have gotten ripe and left me in
the lurch. These things are being
exDerimented with here. You Will
get ideas that are worth something,
because they are tried in your own
soil, on your own animals and under
the auspices of your own University.
Now with regard to growing corn.
By all means grow it. You can silo
it or you can let it alone, just as you
see fit. By putting corn in the silO
gou have it in moist condition for
the dairy COW and you cannot sue
cessfuIly feed dairy COWS on dry feed
they must have it moist. You gen
tlemen do not need to believe in
~ilage if you do not want to. There
may be something about Southern
conditions in shocking corn that Il
have never observed. When I put
up corn fodder, I put IA hills in the
shock and cure it green. Sometimes
there would be a little mold on 1t,
but the COWS never objected to it on
that account. I do not think you
could do that where the pea vines
grow up the corn stalk. You would
have too great a mass of green mat
ter.
With regard to plowing under.
Suppose before plowing under you
allow the dairy COW or sheep to eat
1t and then plow under the manure.
Vegetable matter or humus is a ne
cessity because it enables the soil to
retain moisture. Now suppose your
SOIL will not grow a crop of anything,
and you have a lot of sheep and cat
Tie you are preparing for market