The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1906-01-06
FARMER AND PLANTER.
GROWING FEEDING sTUFFs.
ALI Roughage For Feedins Live
stock Should BE Produced On
the FeedersS Farm.

Economy in raising live stock de-
mands the production of all rough
ness" or roughage materials on the
farm. BY roughness. or roughage. Of
course. you understand bulky food.
like hay, grass. clover, slower, etc. 1t
is possible to purchase all roughage,
and yet make financial success Of
growing farm animals, but this GER
tainly is not the surest way to succeed.
Every farm should raise all it's feed
stuff. In deciding what forage and
grain crops to grow we should decide
upon:
/. The crops hest suited to our soil
and climate.
2. The crops best suited to our line
Of business.
8. The crops that will give us most
protein.
4. The crops that produce the most
8. The crops that will keep our soil
In best condition.
/. Crops Best Suited to Our Soil
and Climate.-Farm crops, as every
child of the farm knows, are not equal
ly adapted to all soils and climates.
Cotton can not be produced where the
climate is cool and the seasons short.
Timothy and blue grass are most pro-
ductive on cool, limestone soils. Cow
peas demand warm, dry soils. But in
spite of climate limitations, nature has
been generous in the wide variety Of
forage she has given us.
Our aim should he to make the best
use of what we have, to improve by
selection and care those species best
adapted to our soil and climate, and
by better methods of growing and cur
ing to secure greatest yields at least
possible cost.
2. Crops Best Suited to Our Line
of Business.--A farmer necessarily be-
comes specialist. He gathers those
kind of live stock about him which
he likes best and which he finds most
profitable He should. in carrying on
his business, do the same with crops.
The successful railroad manager de-
termines by practical experience what
to run a day, what coal Is most eco
nomical for his engines, what schedules
best suit the needs of his road, what
trains pay him best. These and thou
sand and one other matters are set
tied by the special needs Of his road.
Ought the man who wants to make
his farm pay be less prudent and less
ar-siehted? Ought he not to know his
farm as the railroad manager knows
his road? Should not his past failures
aud past triumphs decide his future?
If he be dairy farmer, ought he not
by practical tests to settle for himself
not only what crops are most at home
on his land, but also what crops in his
circumstances yield him the largest re-
turns in milk and butter? If swine
raising be his business, how long ought
he to gness what crop on his land
yields him the greatest amount of hog
food? Should colt be fed on one
kind of forage when the land that pro-
duced that forage would produce twice
as much equally good forage Of an
other kind? All these questions the
prudent farmer should answer prompt
" and in the light of wise experiments.
8. Crops That Will Give Us Much
Protein.-It is the farmers business
to grow all the grass and forage that
his farm animals need. He ought never
to be Obliged to purchase bale of
forage. Moreover, he should grow
mainly those crops that are rich in
protein materials, such for example as
cowpeas. alfalfa ard clover. II these
kinds of crops are produced on the
farm, there will be little need of buy
ing cotton seed meal. corn and bran
for feeding purposes. - ~
4. Crops That Produce the Most
We often call a crop crop without
considering how much it yields. This
is a mistake. We ought to grow. when
we have choice of two, the one that
Is best and most productive. Corn, for
instance, yields at least twice the
quantity of feeding material an acre
that timothy does.
S. Crops That Will Keep Our Soil
In Best Condition.-A good farmer
should always be thinking of improv-
ing his SOIL He wants his land to
support him and to maintain his chill
dren after he is dead.
Since cowreas, clover and alfalfa
add atmospheric nitrogen to the soil.
and at the same time are the best
feeding material, 1t follows that these
cropc chouldl hold an imnortant Mace
in every system of crop rotation. BY
proper rotating, by proper terracing,
and by proper drainage, land may be
made to retain its fertility for genera
tions.-C. w. Burkett, in Progressive
Farmer.