The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-02-15
CASSAVA AND
 VELVET BEANS
The Great Twin Crops for Alabama
 Farmers.

N4S A DSxAANS The Great Twin Crops for Alabama Farmers.
 My old AlabaUa farmer friends are now discussin9 am6ng themselves the most profitable crops to plant. and would hke to suggest that Cassava and velvet beans be planted this year without fail 1T only in an experimental way. What you want up there is cheap and plenty or feeo' More of 1t can be grown on a given area in cassaya and beans at less expense than from any other crops. But you ask. wail they grow in my section and on my sou Certainly, they will grow anywhere in the South, and trust that no Alabama farm CT will let this year pass without giving them a trial for it will be money in your pocket
 The cassava is planted four by four feet in cheek as soon as danger of cold is past, four inches deep, and requires about the same cultivation as corn II Is ready for use by the following oc- tober. It thrives best on sandy or po- rous soil and requires very little ferti- izer. It has wonderful drouth res1st- ing powers, far surpassing corn In this respect. 1t makes stout bushy plant and attains a height of three to nve feet. The root is the valuable part and they grow in a cluster from one to three feet long and two to four inches in dia- meter. somewhat resembling sweet po- tato in appearance and consistency. They are very rich in starch which gives them their value as a feed crop. A fine quality of starch Is easily made from the root as well as delicious buildings and other dishes.
 The yield is simply wonderful, rang ing from eight to fifteen tons per, acre, with an average of ten tons on land that will not produce over twenty bushels Of corn have dug single hills that weighed forty pounds and know of one that weighed seventy-one pounds, but the av- craze is ten pounds. One great advantage about cassaVa is the fact that 1t wall keep in the ground an indefinite time without injury and can be dug fresh as wanted. I am now feeding roots two years old. It is greatly relished by stock Of all kinds. I feed my mules on cas- sava and velvet beans exclusively from October until July at an expense of only e260 per head @ month. while doing the hardest kind of work and no one ever saw fAtter and better looking mules. It Is one of the finest feeds in the world for SA 500 head of steers a year solely on val vet beans and cassava and the steak Is bought in the market in preference to Western beef. turn my hogs in and let them harvest the crop themselves and the way they grow and lay on flesh is wonderful. estimate an acre of cassava to fatten and make q 900 pounds of bacon and lard and for feeding all stock I con- sider an acre of cassava equal to nine acres of corn I will have my old cold storage and slaughter plant equipped by next winter when I expect to make 50000 pounds of bacon and lard and to dress over 100000 pounds of beef All of which will be fattened on cassava and beans on my own farms.
 The Florida Experiment Station proved that the cost per pound in gain of live weight of hogs fattened on cassava was only one and one-fourth cents per pound, whereas the average cost with corn in the great Western grain States is over 8 cents per pound.
 The same station fattened 15 head of cattle on one acre of velvet beans and three-quarters of an acre of cassava in SC days. making e net profit over the cost of the steers of $7.M per head or over S10O on the product of two acres that had not cost S20 to make. There seems to be some thing unusual in these feeds when com- bined that causes all animals to lay or | flesh in @ hurry.
 The high price Of all meat products of. fers the farmers of Alabama a most prof. itable line of farming. for there is noth ing that pays like fatteuing cattle for tho market on velvet beans and cassava. In, deed. there is scarcely farm in Alabama but what can grow enough of these crop. | at very little additional expense to fat ten a dozen steers and 20 to 30 hogs ovel | and above the usual number fattenef | Moneyed men have invested more thaI | one million dollars in the South during the past 12 months in the stock business on account of the great profit to be mad. in feeding beans and cassava. woult quit farming in 30 days if it was not fol the bean and cassava. And the farmer of Alabama are letting good dollars gt by when they fail to look into this mat ter
 Now on the velvet bean am something | of "crank" as many of you know.
 was lhe first one to discover their wonder full value as fertilizer and stock foo( | and call attention to them, and I talk a special pride in telling my old Alabama friends to plant them and quit making the fertilizer trust richer. The vast sum | spent annually for commercial fertilizer caused me to make a close study for year | of plants that would enrichen the soi | without the use of so much fertilize | every year. I considered the cow pea tn, | thing until tested the bean, but expert ence has proved 1t 50 per cent more val uable both as a stock food and fertilizer Once its grand qualities become full, known, 1t will be worth @ million dollar a year to Alabama in the saving of com mercial fertilizer and increased yield O | crops. Their effect in building up ok wornout cotton fields has been so trul! remarkable that the beans have beel most aptly called the 'poor mans ferti lizer." When they become more gener ally planted the fertilizer companies vii have to so out of business. The Louisi ana Station found that an acre of tn
 beans contained 191 pounds of nitrogen 24S pounds of potash and fl pounds o
 phosphoric acid, worth when turned un
 der $40 an acre. Our Alabama Statto
 planted an old wornout hillside field i
 beans at Auburn which were turned un
 der in the fall and the land planted t
 oats. plot of crabgrass and weed
 alongside was similarly planted fin oat
 at the same time to test the beans. Whe
 harvested the oats on the bean plot yield
 ed 34 bushels per acre and on the othe
 only 8 bushels per acre. The straw fror
 the bean plot weighed just five times a
 much as that from the other. Corn on a
 adjoining plot where beans had bee
 planted gave an increase of 12 bushel
 per acre or S1 per cent over the test plo
 alongside. A crop of sorghum hay follow ipO tha haanS ahomo1 frorooSa nf