Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1911-09-01
GOOD FORAGE CROPS
Question Is Easy One to Solve on
Southern Farm.
Each Year Piece Of Land Should Be
Selected for This Purpose-Im-
portant as Corn, Cotton, To
bacco and Grain.
By C. c. MOORE. Charlotte. N. CO

by Z. Z. MOORE, Charlotte, N. CD
The question of forage on a south
eTn farm is easy solved. Almost every
vegetable plant can be used for for
age. There are, however, certain
plants that will produce forage in
abundance.
To have forage plentifully, every
farmer should make the growing Of it
one Of his crops. Each year a piece
OF land should be selected especially
for this purpose. 1t is as important
as corn, cotton, tobacco or grain
crops, but it is nevertheless the most
neglected crop.
AT this season of the year the turnip
crop should be considered, as it is Of
great value. We prepare our turnip
land to a fine condition.; manur
heavy, plant in drills three feet apart;
when the leaf is as large as a dime,
hin to Is inches; cultivate often. We
raise great quantities and find the
crop profitable for winter feeding.
For the earliest spring feed we SOW
rye in August. Two bushels per acre
on well prepared land literally ma
nured usually produces feed by the
fifteenth Of March. Rye makes a fair
ly good hay if cut when in the boot.
Crimson clover is the most valuable
winter crop we plant. We find Sep
TENDER and October the best months
for seeding; and to be assured of a
good, big crop we SOW on a perfect
seed bed, using lots Of manure, and
If the land is at all thin we drill in
200 pounds of acid phosphate per
acre; from 10 to 20 pounds of seed
is sown to each acre. The yield Of
hay from good preparation is about
one and a half tons per acre. The
corn planted on this clover stubble
has never failed US. We have grown
ID tons to the acre Of silage corn aft
er crimson clOver.
For a great yield of hay we SOW one
bushe of wheat and 15 pounds Of
crimson clover per acre. The crop is
cut when the clover is in full bloom.
1t is quite easy to make two IONS Of
hay per acre, and 1t is a milk and
fat producing feed.
Hairy vetch and wheat Is also fine
for green feeding Of hay. We are
seeding more land each year to this
mixture, and are convinced that 1t is
a crop mixture all our farmers will
like.
Another good mixture is wheat, oats,
y and barley. If this is sown in
August on fairly good land it may be
grazed all the dry days from Novem-
Der 1 to March 1; then, If stock be
kept off, a good lot Of hay may be
harvested in June.
Spring-sown oats, If cut when in
bloom, make a capital hay-more val
liable as hay han if threshed for the
grain.
There is hardly an end to the sum
mer crops we can grow for making
forage. Every farmer may select such
as he likes. In our own case, for a
green fee from July 1 to November
l we AVE not found n plant that
produces more to the acre or that
gives better results from feeding than
mOlasses cane. Every animal we have
on the farm Is fed green sorghum from
the time it is four feet high, about
the first of July on to frost; then
what is left Is cut and put into a silo
for winter feed. We have never had a
death from animals eating sorghum.
We feed sparingly at first, always aft
er a full feed Of dry forage. We have
about fifteen acres planted to sor-
ghum and will feed the entire crop to
our farm stock.
Every farmer who keeps ten head