Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1901-11-13
SOW GRAIN FOR HAY.
Tho Corn Crop Is Short and Next Spring all
Kinds OF Cattle Food will be In Demand.

inc Corn crop IS SNORT an0 Nex spring all
Kinds OF Cattle Food will be In Demand.
1t is always wise to look ahead and
provide against future necessities.
Sometimes this is difficult to do, be-
cause we need definite information.
just at this time we can see at least
one great need of the near future.
The protracted and severe dry
spell in the corn growing region of
the Northwest threatens to produce
the enormous shortage of S00,000,000
bushels of corn. The same cause
has also cut short the hay crop in the
same proportion. This means that
corn and hay will both be scarce and
high. 1t also means that all the
usual products from corn and hay
| will be likewise affected. This will
be true not only in the immediate
sections where the dro lght has pre-
vailed, but the entire countr.- Iill
feel the effect of this last tremendous
shortage in the great food producing
section.
"The prudent man foorseeth the
evil and hideth himself" The pru-
dent farmer, foreseeing this evil, will
as far as possible provide himself
against the consequences which are
sure to be developed. With every
thing for man and beast to eat scarce
and high during the coming winter
and spring, what should the prudent
farmer do The answer is plain.
Wheat has recently attracted con-
siderable attention in some sections
as hay crop. If cut just as it
reaches the dough stage it is easily
cured. The hay is as good as can
be produced from any other crop.
In fact many claim that 1t is better
than any other hay. 1t contains
both grain and forage and is found
to take the place of corn and fodder.
Horses and mules fed upon this hay
work just as we'll as when fed upon
the usual rations of corn or oats and
hay or fodder. 1t is claimed that
they will improve in flesh and mus
Gle. If these claims are true, and
numerous experiments Indicate that
they are true, then the farmers duty
is plain.
Wheat has many points in it's
favor. The plant is hardy and stands
the winter with little risk of damage
from cold. I comes in early when
most needed. 1t yields heavy crops.
1t is worth about twice as much for
hay as if grown for bread-that is,
the straw whom cut and cured for
hay is worth as much as the grain.
1t can be fed as forage just as it is
cut, or it can be easily cured and
baled and shipped, and finds ready
market at good price.
Hence our farmers should SOW
large areas of wheat TO be used for
hay next spring, when all kinds of
cattle food will be in demand. 1t is
choice food for dairy COWS and for
beef cattle.
Winter oats are also desirable for
the same purposes. The oats are a
little more liable to be injured by
winter freezing otherwise they arc
very profitable. BY drilling oats
and leaving them in burrows about
two inches deep and not filled they
withstand the freezes much better.
A new plan is to mix hairy vctch,
or English vctch, with the oats and
wheat. They grow well together
and make perfect ration. Tho
vetchcs will do well if sown singly,
but they grow so tall and slender
that they need supporting. The
wheat or oats furnish their support
and do not in the least interfere with
the growth of the vctches. The
value of vctch for pasture and now
ing is just beginning to dawn on our
farmers.
We do not intend by urging the
above to at all diminish the area de-
voted to other winter crops. Tur-
nips, cabbage, barley, rye, alfalfa,
clover and every winter grower
should be looked after.
] Mcn and cattle will call for these