The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1904-02-23

see that the question of cattle grow
ing in the south is receiving considerable
attention of late This is a movement in
the right direction and should have every
possible encouragement This. however,
Is no new movement, for cattle have
been grown in the south for years. Yet
the industry so far is only in its infancy,
SO far as the capabilities of the country
concerned. Most of the cattle growing
heretofore has been from compulsion
just enough energy being expended to
produce what milk cows or work oxen
that might be needed. But now we are
passing this experimental stage to a large
degree. for the later experiments of few
enterprising farmers have proven that
as good beef as can be produced anywhere
is produced in the south; and. further.
beef can be more cheaply produced in the
south than in any other section of the
United States.
Travelling again the last week with the
Hon. John Hamilton. who is at the head
of the farmers institute work of the
United States, and whose office is with
the department of agriculture at Wash
ington, D. c., and in conversation with
him on this subject he said that last fall
he made trip down into the south-Geor-
gia and Florida. He said that while
south he had visited the fair held at Ma
| con- Ca, and said that he was surprised
to see what fine cattle were on exhibition
at this fair. Then, too, he said that many
farms all through these two states had
fine cattle enough to prove that the south
was an ideal cattle country.
l saw and wrote this from my trip to
| the Florida state fair more than ono wear
| ago.
VIII Mean Prosperity.
When the south has her fields stocked
with cattle. sheep. hogs. goats, mules.
horses and poultry, then her, day of real
prosperity will have begun. 1t is only
through and by this stock industry that
the waste lands. the poor worn out lands
of the south, can ever be built up, re-
| claimed. and made to prosper and bloom
like garden. But this work has to
come slowly. It takes time, money,
brains, thought. energy and above all de-
termination.
First must come pastures on which the
cattle can feed. These pastures can only
come by restoring to the soil the hnmus.
the plant food which we have taken and
been taking from the soil for years This
plant food can only be restored by the
use of legames. by the system of rotation
of crops, for our supply of barnyard man
ure is too seant and commercial fertiliz-
ers are too high. Besides commercial fer
| tilizers have little value where there is
no humus In the soil.
Fields Can Be Reclaimed.
But with a gradual slide from the one
crop idea to stock growing in the south
| field after field may be reclaimed, until
we have thousands of acres of fine pas
lures all over the south, where now only
gullies and broken, WORKOUT soil is to be
| seen. The COW pea is to be one of the
greatest factors in retaining the wasted
and worn lands. IT must be the pioneer
| in this work of retaining soils and in
building up the waste places. and In re-
storing back to the soil the food necessary
to make other plants grow. There are
many other valuable 1egarmes, of course,
but the COW pea has proven the best of all
for this foundation.
Building Up Poor Soils.
| To grow cattle at a profit one must
! have an abundance of forage, and the
sources from which these forage plants
are to come must be studied and pro-
vided for ahead I have gone over this
matter often and attempted to show our
readers how to secure pastures on which
cattle may be raised, and raised at a
profit. Goats and sheep can and should
be raised on all our timbered rough
land. These should precede the cattle
| industry to a certain extent Where
| goats and sheep are used to clean out
the underbrush the droppings from them
enrich hte soil and prepare it for grasses
Why, out here in the Ozark country goats
are grown for this purpose, and after they