The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-02-15

and soon cover the ground with mass of vines waist deep. The old leaves drop off and new ones keep coming on and have seen the ground SIX inches deep In fallen leaves while none could be missed from the vines.
 The bean Is very rich in protein. being equal to cotton seed meal in feeding value, while the wines are rich in carbo- hydrates and supply the ro0ghage, and with cassava, make an ideal feed The beans grow in pods in large clusters and can be picked twice as fast as COW peas. They are in a thick hull and wtu hang on the vines three months after ripe without rotting, a big advantage over COW peas. and can be fed on byt stock all winter. The hay from the vines Is very nutritious and yields twice as much as peaA
 The greatest drawback the velvet bean in Alabama is the long time required for rtpening and consequent uncertainty of seed, making 1t necessary to procure seed from Florida nearly every year. Be uev1ng 1t was possible to acclimate the bean to the more northern States and shorten the growing per4o4 so they would ripen the seed before frost, four years ago had friend in Ohio conduct some experiments along this line under my directions. The results were more than gratifying. A few of the seed were ripened and when planted the next season grew off much more rapidly than the Florida grown seed planted along side as a test and they easily matured seed before frost. These seed were planted in Indiana, Missouri and Michigan the year following and ripened the seed in every instance while practically none of the Florida grown seed planted beside them ripened before frost This proved oon- clusively that they had been acchznated. These northern grown seed planted along side native grown seed on my farm here and they matured a full month ahead of the native seed. so am plant ing northern grown seed exclusively now, having gained a month thereby I con- sider this discovery worth a great deal to my old Alabama friends for by plant ing these northern grown seed they can raise their own seed every year and not have to depend on Florida and save this expense.
 The velvet bean has done so much for me in building up a poor wornout farm and furnishes such a large amount Of fer tfaizer and feed. when l realize that thousands of farmers in Alabama are barely making a living on their wornout cotton farms. consider 1t my duty to call their attention to the bean and help
 
 l secured about all of the northern grown bean seed for my own use. but | have been sending out a lot of small | packages to my friends in Alabama, but the seed cost s per bushel and can not | afford to give away the seed and pay | the postage too. I would advise every | farmer to plant the acclima&ed seed in Alabama instead of the Florida grown so they can make their own seed. l am | willing to let them have my surplus seed and to those who will forward 25 cents | for postage I will forward a large bag of these northern grown seed. However, express Is cheaper and until supply is exhausted, l will send enough cassava seed and velvet bean seed to start an acre for $1 prepaid to leading and represen- tative farmers If they will agree to dis tribute a portion of their Seed the first year among their neighbors to get them | started.
 | Now I am not trying to sell seed and | am not in the seed business but a plain | farmer who Is anxious to see his fellow | farmers make all they can out of their farms and quit buying so much commer- cial fertilizer.
 1 will explain more about the cultivation of cassava and beans in future articles 1 While very busy farmer I will answer | inquiries as far as my time will permit
 but stamped envelope should be enclosed Kline O. Yarn, | Fairview Farm Fort Meade Fla