The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-04-24

high prices of farm products which
now prevail Some say this II the
worlds greatest Invitation and call to
the soila but the farmers all along the
route are beginning to realize that the
only way to reap the profits common
surate with other Industries Ia to get
onto the scientific methods OF cuisiva-
tion.
1t Is this yearning 70 get the best
from the ground that brings the
throngs out to hear Captain Hobson
and his ccterie of experts. At no time
and to NO speakers have the local far
mers paid more attention than to the
are given by DR.. Rofnmei. Mr.. Save1y.
Mr.. Brody. Mr.. Dow and the others.
For at most. in the short time aiastted
the lecturers an outline. lust fash
OF Inspiration, Is all that can be brought
forth.
Probably the single thing that has
impressed the hearers most Is the I'm
portance OF farming the year round.
This, OF course, does not mean that the
tenant or the land owner Is bound to
keep busy twelve months in the year
but that he should keep his land busy.
During the winter months, unlike many
soils of the West, Alabama can without
doubt produce green crops OF great
value. and on lands that now lie pitt
tuhly Iutt. ny nOL put = htSt thcP
of sofa beans. vetch. cowpeas or clo-
yer for the winter months for forage?
That is the question that Prof. ID. T.
Gray. Of the Alabama Polytechnic In
stftute, asks to lay his predicate for
that grand enterprise of hog raising,
and with especial reference to sofa
beans for the feed. It is really edify-
ing to listen to the earnestness with
which this young professor begs the
Alabama farmers to get busy on pork
raising. The subject. unless chaper-
oned by so forceful q speaker and ex-
pert as Professor Gray. has only a
passing interest for the farmers of this
State. As proof of this fact, one has
only to remember or hear for the first
bama. with all her vast opportunities
on this score. has to import some 90
per cent. OF all the pork her people con-
sumo annually. -tssf. f--
1t is interesting to note with what
ridicule Professor Gray scorns the ex-
elusive use of corn as a hog feed. With
impressive figures, gained by three
years experiment at the Auburn sta
ton. the lecturer points out how corn
IL a losing proposition as a single I'M
mixed food for pigs. You cannot feed
them on corn at 10 cents a bushei and
make money. He declared that prob
ably pork raising had not been dis
couraged more by any other one thing
than trying to raise hogs on corn. and
maybe that imported from the West.
Feed for Hogs.
To contrast with the result Of ex-
elusive corn feeding. the speaker has
results OF raising hogs on other crops
to mix, with corn. Among these Were
cited peanuts. sofa beans and rape.
And he also let's the hogs do the work.
With fine derision he cut out sorghum
n n n a.,af and fn <-fnCh hiQ
point predicted that IL Il were not for
the fence the animals would run from
sorghum field instead of towards 1t.
But those sofa beans. those green fields
Of rape and peanuts furnish most ex-
cellent forage for the beasts and they
are happy to get at Il. With such In
gradients, mixed with corn at any
reasonable price, Scent pork can be
raised. :.
Southeast Alabama" Professor Gray
went on to say, .is getting rich fast
of raising hogs Why. they grow pea
nuts by the acres and acres down there
and they do not some Of them know
ing hogs on this crop. They are ship
ping them by the carloads through Mo-
bile, Pensacola and other towns. Yes,
you may laugh at the wiregrass coun-
try no longer because ! do not know
of a section OF the State that is produc-
ing more farm wealth than these peo-
ple.'
And these experts actually had ng-
ures to prove what they said. They
went on to add that the fertility of the
soil for purely agricultural purposes
Is increased by the grazing OF animals
thereon. The proof of scent pork on
Alabama feed comes with considerable
force when attention was called by the
speaker to the fact that the expert
ments were conducted on the poor soil
Of Auburn's vicinity.
why" said Prof. Gray, "I heard of
one fellow who paid visit to Auburn
to look at the farming possibilities
there. He said it was the frst time he
could say that he was on neither land
nor sea-" All of which will be par
doned by Lee County landowners, when
1t Is known the remarks were used for
patriotic purposes.
So, IL these big and profitable things
can be done with success at Auburn,
why can they not be copied with even
greater results In the richer soils of
Alabama? 1t is a question the speak
ers PROFOUND perpetually when talking
to the one-idea farmers of the State.
Dr.. Rommel repeated today his re-
quest that at least one farmer in each
county set an example by building a
silo. ] noticed at Jasper the other
day. when this eminent animal hus-
bandman referred to the silo In the
most matter-of-fact way, farmer on