The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1905-08-26
FARMER AND PLANTER.
FARMING FOR GRASS.
The Growing of Hay ~ . Money
Crop Feasible with Judicious
Use of Fertilixers.

OF all the nay and good deal OF the
grain on the farm is commonly the
best plan, provided some profit can be
made from the feeding. But if a man
feeds lot of cattle all winter and
gets only the. market value of the feed
used he haG far better sell the hay
and buy fertilizers to take the place
of the manure.
But says one: The manure left by
the cattle will make a good profit on
the feeding" With only the manure
left 10 pay for winters laborious
work in feeding cattle, on which much
additional labor must be used to get it
on the field, the farmer will find that
he gets very little for his time and
labor. firmly believe that the feed
ing of live stock and the growing of
the best forage to feed to them is the
very foundation stone of good farm
ing as a rule. But | would not farm
or feed merely for the fun of the
thing, though | do not know an cccu-
patton like better, but l would farm
for the profit that can be made, and If
! found that / was so situated that
could make more money growing and
selling hay, | would not hesitate to
sell hay any more than TO sell any
other crops that may be grown on the
farm.
And there are many places, particu-
larly in the south, where the growing
of hay as a money crop could be made
more profitable than the growing of
cotton. A large southern farmer tells
in one of the farm papers of his expe-
rience in growing cotton and alfalfa.
He sold, if / remember Alright, about
81, 900 worth of cotton at a cost Of
production and harvesting of over
1000, and on another field of really
thinner soil he grew and sold over
$4,000 worth of alfalfa hay at a cost
of about $1,000. He came to the con-
clusion naturally that hay-making paid
better in Louisiana than cotton-grow-
ing.
But it is not in the south alone that
profit has been found in hay as
money crop. No cropping experiments
ever made in this country have at
tracted more attention than the grass
growing experiments of Mr.. George NJ.
Clark, of Higganum, Conn. Mr.. Clark
thinks great deal of the thorough
preparation of the soil for the grass
crop. He therefore lays great stress
on the many times he goes over the
laid before sowing the seed, so as to
make the seed-bed as fine as possible.
There is no doubt that this thorough
preparation of the soil is a very i'm
portant matter, particularly on heavy
clay loan. which is naturally the
best for gra: S.
We have lead great deal of what
Mr.. Clark has written in regard to his
wonderful crop of grass, and we have
come to the conclusion that, while his
method of preparing the soil Is all
right and contributes to his success,
there is much more due to the liberal
way in which he fertilizes the land
and top-dresses the grass with COM
mercial fertilizers. Without this lib
eral fertilization l hardly think that
he could have produced the crops
which he has, and, in fact, believe that
more credit is due to the liberal fer
tilization than even to the complete
preparation of the soil before sowing.
Mr.. Clark has recently contributed to
the agricultural press a statement in
regard to his fertilization of the grass.
He says:
Last year made special effort to
make three crops upon a quarter-acre
section of NY grass field, section
that has been intensely cultivated for
years before seeding. For the first
crop put on at the rate of $50 pounds
per acre of the spring dressing made
from one-third bone, One-third muri-
ate of potash and ons-third nitrate of
soda; for the second crop, $50 pounds;
third crop, % pounds of the same
spring dressing, making in all at the
pound per acre. The total
weight of the three crops from this
quarter-acre section this year (1903)
was 6,401 pounds, or at the rate OF
25,644 pounds per acre, ard total
growth of over nine feet. This quar-.
ter-acre section, at SIG per ton, pro-
duced hay at the rate of 1886 net profit
per acre. The general average of my
field for Is years has given a net profit
of over $50 per acre; hence l say we
can, if We will, make money in grass
culture. The cost of the fertilizer ap-
piled to this quarter-acre section was
less than 81 per ton. The first
IF May this spring (1904) l found
double the growth that there was on
the general field where had put on the
fertilizer in my usual way; for that
reason, thus far. l have put no fer
tilizer upon that quarter-acre section
this year"
Mr.. Clark further says that On this
land the first of June the grass was
two feet tall and thick. and could be
drawn up straight TO the height of 80
inches. AS | have said. the intense
cultivation of the soil doubtless helped
greatly. but this special quarter-acre
that was fertilized as heavily as a
truck farmer would fertilize for cab
bage crop, showed the effect of the
heavy feeding over the land where lib
eral fertilizing has been done for years,
but less heavily than on this piece. But
further. it shows that there is large
residual result this season from last