The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-11-23
Why Does Not the south Grow More
Hny.


Hay.
We have been studying the statistics
of the United States Department of
Agriculture, and they show some very
interesting figures, says Prof. Massey
in Practical Farmer. The average yield
Of hay per acre in the state of Iowa,
which is one of the best hay and stock
states, was 1873 tons per acre, for ten
years. The average yield of hay during
the same time in North Carolina was
1.46 tons per acre. During the same
time the average value per acre of hay
in North Carolina was $15.14, while the
average value per acre in Iowa was
$731. And yet Iowa deVotes thirty
times the area to hay that North Caro-
lima does, and the towns and cities in
North Carolina are largely supplied
with Western hay. The difference in the
yield of hay in North Carolina and
Iowa Is not due to the land in North
Carolina being richer than that of
Iowa, for it is not so rich. But 1t is
due to the greater rainfall and the
longer season, which permits the grow
ing of more crops on the same land.
Hay sells in North Carolina at a high
er price by far than in Iowa, and if
the farmers of Iowa can afford to grow
millions of tons Of hay while North
Carolina grows a hundred or 1000 tons,
while the hay in Iowa is worth less
than half per acre what ii is in North
Carolina, 1t is evident that the farm
ers in North Carolina are losing an
advantage which their climate gives
them. The average value of the cotton
crop in North Carolina is not greater
than the average value of the hay crop
per acre, while the production of the
crop costs far more than the produce
ton of hay. Then, too, North Caro-
lima can produce immensely more of
protein yielding hay than Iowa can,
and hence of a higher feeding value
Iowa is one of the greatest stock feed
ing states in the whole country, while
North Carolina is one of the smallest
in this industry though she can pro-
duCe more hay and hay of a higher
feeding value than Iowa. For instance
we grew the past season nearly two
tons per acre OF hay from wheat and
hairy vetCh, and on the same land later
in the season had two tons per acre Of
COW pea hay, making four tons of hay
of a high protein content, and higher
feeding value than hay grown in Iowa.
We use North Carolina as an example
of the low production of hay and have
compared the state with one with the
highest production to show that the
South can grow hay to better advan-
tage than the West, for the same con-
ditiOns that make hay profitable in
North Carolina exist in the other Cot
ton states. 1t is also worthy of note
that the crops from which the hay of
the highest feeding value can be made
are the crops that will tend more to
the development of the productiveness
of the land in the staple crop of cot
ton, and it is evident that the pro-
duction of cotton could be greatly in
creased per acre by the growing and
feeding of legume hay and the use of
the resulting manure With the mar
kets of the South supplied with West
ern beef and Western hay the farmers
go on making an average of about OBS
of a bale of cotton per acre, when
by the growing of legume hay and
feeding it in a good rotation of crops
it should be easy on any good cotton
land to make a bale to a bale and a
half per acre.