The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1910-09-03
PERMANENT PASTURES FOR THE
SOUTH.
ton OF Economical Soil Building
and General Prosperity-Why Do
We Expect Grass to Grow Under
Conditions Where Other Crops
Would Not?
BY A. L. French.

| considering pastures as business
| crop at all but simply as a conven-
ience--a place to turn the COW, a
place where the horses can roll and
rest Sundays. Now, If there is one
| aim I have In writing these articles
on pastures it Is to bring out the
| fact that pastures can be made
money crop" in the South. taking
rank with our other great money
crops. And grass should be given
more consideration by the soil-loving
farmer of the South than any other
crop.
You say that is pretty strong
statement. I realize fully how strong
a statement it is. But. my friends.
soil building is. next to education.
the greatest need of our time here
In the South. The writer Is firmly
convinced that the great army of
soil builders until they become live
stock breeders and feeders. You say,
How about legumes and commercial
fertilizers?" ] doubt not soil build
the use of these agencies. but the
trouble is. not more than one in ten
of our farmers will continue TO use
the legumes year after year-unless
some use other than fertilizer can be
made of the plants-because Of the
cost of seed and use of land. With
first class live stock on the farm the
farmer can make money corp" OF
his legumes selling the feed value
to his animals and retaining the
plant irOd and humus values to build
up his soil. BY this means he gets
his soil improvement out of his leg
umes for less than nothing, as the
food value of the legume hay is
generally twice the cost of growing
the crop.
Now to get back to the point: Live
stock production is absolutely de-
pendent as yet on pastures. Pasture
Is the cheapest stock feed, by far
that we have at our command today
as the cost of harvesting is next to
nothing. So, If the rejuvenation of
the great mass of the soils of the
South is the second greatest prob
lem before us farmers today, If this
soil building must come through a
much more general use of live stock,
and If this live stock business is de-
pendent on pastures, we must con-
cede pastures to be at the bottom
of the gerat soil building revolution
that Is coming to our land. Hence
as crop the pasture must rank first
| among them all in the mind of the
| farmer who loves his soil and is de-
termined to deal fairly with this gift.
l want you to think seriously OH
this matter, my friends, and the more
you ponder with the truth you will
be impressed with the truth Of what
] have told you.
We love our country, are jealous
Tor her. We don't want her TO rank
second to anybody's country. and her
progress is U am sure you will all
concede this when you have studied
the matter as some men have
studied it hampered to an unmeas-
urable degree from the lack-which
Is almost universal-of good soil
binding, soil-building and economical
stock-feeding pastures. And these
pastures. as l have said In a pre-
Nlous paper, are obtainable and
practical over almost the entire area
OF the South. We simply have to
adopt the pasture plants ADAPTED TO
each section and give the pasture
good honest treatment such as we
would render to any other highly
priced crop.
Keep your pasture clean as YOU
do your corn fields when you are
surviving ] am going to tell tale on
| North Carolina farmers that they will
De ashamed 10 have me tell, | am
sure because II is the honest truth.
rode last week over 500 miles
through the best part Of the State
and from :he car window saw
thousands of acres OF good corn
helds clean as n whistle. Cotton
and tobacco crops were clean. but
not clean pasture did I sec along
the entire route. You wouldn't at
tempt to grow corn or cotton in n
brush lot, my people why will you