The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1903-08-14

Alfalfa.
We want DO bring 90 thp notice OF
Southern farmers what is being done
10 one Southern State Louisiaum in
The production OF alfalfa and what o
source Of profit Sc IS found 10 DE. In
that state considerable number OF
cotton planters have FOR several years
grown The crop cXpggimentaliy, and
within the past two or three years
have become so satisfied of it profit
ghleness that they are now growing 70
| largely for market one of these gem
! Element, Mr. W. j.. Foster, who has
| fouI hundred acres planted, says: ct
seems to me that this queen OF ell
hay ana forage plants is loo little uu-
/ dorstool, otherwise there would rot
BE q tom of hay shipped into Louisiana.
On the contrary, there would be thou
sands OF tons shipped ont Of the State
mt better profit than is made ON cot
ton, even at present high prices. 1
am not chemist Oh bOtanist enough TO
say ON what lands I'm the state it viii
grow probably. but believe that with
proper nursing ii can be made to grow
anywhere in the State l have seen lt
grown luxurlously on the poor ana
worn hill land Of the Experiment sta
ton i'm North Louisiana. but much time
and expense was required. On The
river lands between Baton Rouge ana
| New Orleans fl seems to thrive well.
aad on the Red River it seems TO be
perfectly at home. / may say that
use It rs a profit crop on our low, stiff
red lands that will not produce profit
ably any other crop. Its value rs Il
feed for horses mules, cows and hogs
is unequaled by any other food. Hogs
wig make splendid growth on it and
fatten readily without any other feed
! and that, too. with twenty or twenty
five 20 the acre, where it grows well.
! Again, it is n fine fertilizer crop. Your
! land is improving each year it grows
on it, and when you wish TO get rid
Of it (Which will he never unless you
| want to plant it somewhere else) it is
! as easily killed rs oats or corn.
I am free to say that if alfalfa hay
is worth as many dollars per ton as
cotton is worth cents per pound,
| would prefer TO raise the alfalfa. On
our soils, with ordinary seasons for
! growing and harvesting. we get three
! to five cuttings. averaging from one
half to ion of cured hay per cutting,
and bringing in our market a Shreyc-
port from IS to SO per ton. The cost
Of handling varies. of course, with the
seasons. 1t costs just as mae. to cut
and rake Ono-half ton per acre rs it
does to cut and rake ton per acre.
From my experience, and my alfalfa
account it costs an average of S1.25 TO
81 per ton to put in shape for the
market An intelligent negro rear our
! plantation, who works twenty mules
raising cotton, told ne he had sold
$500 worth Of surplus hay per year
off twenty acres. For the last two
years off sixty acres he has sold enough
to very nearly make his cotton crop
clear. think a very conservative es-
innate would be SIS to $50 per acre net
per year, not counting the pasturage
in fall, winter and spring. My adv
to every one who works land would
be to plant a small patch of alfalfa
for trial. If he succeeded with it he
would have the most valuable crop
that grows; if he failed it would be the
most laudablc failure he ever made.
In 1900 my Overseer made with wage
hands 253 bales of cotton costing in
money outlay $500 and bringing Oil
the market S10,575. In 1901 the same
man with the same labor, on poorer
land, harvested 1100 tons Of alfalfa,
selling in carload lots for SO per ton,
or total valuation OF $1G,500, with n
money outlay for labor and machinery
repairs OF $500. In. one case it re-
CURED about forty-ivc per cent. OF
HE gross value OF the cotton to get
ii ready for the market, in the other it
required only ten per cent Of the
gross value OF Tho alfalfa to put it On
tho market"
With such testimony as this from n
Southern grower in favor of the crop
there should he no hesitancy or the
part of all Southern farmers in making
IN effort to secure a stand Of alfalfa
Southern Planter
Tlan with Velvet Daaus.
In growing velvet beans If is adyiS-