The De Soto County news. [volume] (Arcadia, Fla.) 1898-1924, 1905-10-27

SHOULD HEED
TAKE ADVANTAGE
OF NATURES AID
LESSON FROM COLORADO
WORTHY OF PRACTICE

Tampa Times: The people Of this
country have so long been accustomed
to consider corn indispensable to the
production Of hogs that It comes as a
surprise to find there are other kindsof
feed which are not only cheaper but
actually better. Colorado may beered.
tied with making and chnchinp tho
discovery. 1t came through the fact
that corn cannot be raised profitably
In that State in competition with other
crops better adapted to the high alti-
1ude and limited rainfall. o., irrigated
lands the small grain and alfalfa crons
were so much more valuable that the
people could not afford to raise the
corn. But they needed meat TO eat.
and they hesitated to pay the prices
Tor imported meat cured elsewhere.
1t was found that alfalfa pastured hogs
grew faster and finer than any other.
that English peas finished them to the
best perfection, that sugar beets made
g hard, firm, finely favored flesh. SUI
perlor to that produced by finishing
with corn. Incomparatively the finest
lambs on the Chicago market for the
past three years have been shipped
there from the pea fields OF Colorado.
sugar beets tops and pulp are eaten
yoraciously by all kinds Of stock, and
1t is learned by actual experiment that
they give finish and flavor to the
meat that cannot be excelled, IL at all
aqualled by any other feed.
Now, while all this is of special in
terest and profit to the farmers of Col
orado, it confirms the fact already
learned in Florida that cattle and hogs
may be produced Of Just as fine quality
without the use Of corn. Like Colo
RADIO, but for wholly different reasons.
corn cannot be produced profitably in
competition with other crops, and our
people have been very largely buying
their meats from abroad, half the cos.
thereof being absorbed in the item of
transportation. As the Times has been
for years endeavoring to convince an
unbelieving people, hogs and cattle
can be raised Of as good quality on the
feeds which we can produce cheaply az
can be raised anywhere.
There is one specially remarkable
difference between the people of Colo
RADIO and the people Of Florida. 1t is
too easy to live in Florida. Things
grow the year round in this southern
section OF the State, and there is hard
ly day in the year when the Florida
housewife may not go into the garden
or truck patch or the hen roost and
bring into the house everything to eat
that is needed for the day Not so in
Colorado. There are six or seven
months in which the housewife must
contine her search for food to the cell
lar, in which. must have been stored
an adequate supply for the lean months
OF winter. The barns must be filed
with supplies for the stock to carry
them over the season. Under this spur
the Colorado farmer works during his
brief summer with the most active in
dustry, nothing that can be eaten by
his family or his stock escapes his eye.
and it all goes into his cellar or his
barn or his stack
II the Florida farme were pricked
10y the same spur Of necessity he would
accomplish the same or better results.
He can put on the market every day in
the year every fat hog, COW, sheen
and fowl that he can produce. His
market is at home. lie has only to
raise the stuff. He can get from his
farm score OF kinds OF the best feed.
velvet beans, sweet potatoes, cassava.
millet, chufas, peanuts, turuips, beets
and other vegetables that have only to
be fed to fourfooted creatures to make
them thrifty and fat and their owner
rich. Some Of them are doing the wise
and proper thing, aud the wonder is
why do not they all?