Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-09-28
ALFALFA's RICH BROTHER.

ALFALFA's RICH BROTHER.
A Favored Region Where They Fatten
Stock on Field Peas.
Seven years ago, a farmer in the
San Luis Valley, Col, read in an agri-
cultural bulletin that he picked up by
chance, that sowing field peas on land
the fertility of which had been sap
ped by frequent grain crops was a
good way to replenish the soil. He
followed the directions about planting
them in one big wheat field, but he
was busy when the vines were green
and they were not ploughed under as
they should have been. Instead, when
he got around to 1t they had grown
to full size and were covered with ripe
peas.
The farmer scratched his head about
1t and decided that the only way to
avoid having a forest Of peavines the
next year was to turn sheep into the
field and let them feast The sheep
took to the new fodder and the peas
with relish, and in short time the
farmer found them ready for market.
He took the hint, and from that ac-
cidental discovery has grown a new
industry that is more profitable than
even alfalfa growing in the west. Cat
tie were tried on the peas and they
liked them as we'll as the sheep. Hogs
were equally pleased.
Peas being rich in protein very soon
spoil under hot and damp conditions
and the need Of dry climate and
cool weather, met only by the Colo
RADIO table lands in the high attitudes,
Is giving the farmers Of the favored
region q monopoly Of new forage
that is extremely profitable. BY Its
use. the Colorado farmer can produce
his beef, mutton or pork at one-third
the cost of fattening stock In the corn
belt, and when he gets to market he
finds that he gets even better prices
than for stock fed on corn. The west
ern packers pay a premium Of a dol
lar a hundred for pea fed hogs 'er
the corn fed, while pea fed lambs md
pea fed beef top the market at all
times.
A rush to take up the limited amount
Of land available for this kind OF pas
ture followed the discovery, and it now
brings as much as 800 an acre. In
five years it is predicted the land will
be worth 5000 an acre.
On the Colorado plateaus 1t is spring
all summer, so far as the mercury
keeps the record, and an amazing
amount Of the forage plant is raised
on an acre. The sunshine keeps away
the mould, and the vines instead OF
growing black cure into a sweet nay.
The result is that the farmer has on
his field in the fall an equivalent IN
feed value Of fifty or more bushels OF
corn to the acre and two or three tons
Of hay. The stock Is turned into the
field in the fall and there Is no har-
vesting necessary.
The field pea belongs to that class
of plants that enrich the soil by with
drawing from the air the nitrogenous
element necessary to growing farm
products and store 1t In the roots.
Each year that peas are planted makes
the field richer, and two years Of pea
growing will almost entirely restore
depleted field.
The success Of the new discovery
has led the scientists Of the state
agricultural college to take up the
question of scientific culture, and by
careful selection it is expected to in
crease the yield to from Is to LOU
bushels of shelled peas to the acre.
This means that two or three t mes as
many hogs can be pastured on an acre
as in any Of the big hog growing
states Of the middle west
Experiments have proved that a
bushel Of peas will put on as much
pork as a bushel and third OF corn.
It is easier and cheaper to raise fifty
bushels Of peas with the proper soil
and climate than forty Dushels OF corh
in the corn states Of Iowa, Nebraska
and Illinois.
The Colorado field pea is much like
the garden variety, and is not the cow
pea of warm climates. 1t Is planted
by broadcasting and ploughing under
or by drilling into stubble fields with
out ploughing. The vines keep on
blossoming and the blossoms set into
peas late into the fall. The cattle and
sheep take the first turn at the ripen-
ed crop, and after them the hogs,
which still know how to root In Colo
RADIO, and get all the peas that are left
on the ground.
The field pea is regarded by the
Colorado farmer as rich brother to
alfalfa, and is all the more valuable
because it grows in the higher alti-
tudes, where alfalfa will not.-New
York Sun.
a.