The Huttig news., 1911-10-28
LESPEDtZA IN COTTON FIELDS.
louisiana Farmer Declares This Crop Has
 Saved Him From Bankrapey.

association, held at Monroe. La, a number of interesting papers on various phases of the growing of lespedeza or Japan clover were read by the Louisiana growers.
 Of particular interest to Arkan- sas planters is a paper on Trans forming a Cotton Farm Into Lespe- deza Fields by A. L. Smith of Sterlington, La.
 MT. Smiths paper in part follows:
 II have been given as subject Transforming a Cotton Farm Into Lespedeza Fields. l can only speak to this subject from a practi- cal standpoint, as my information has been gained by experience on my own farm.
 In the fall of 1907 the weevil made it's appearance in my parish. l think would be safe in asserting that 80 per cent of our lands were seeded to cotton that year.
 This reduction, added to that caused by the migrating of the labor, gave us larger area of land heretofore planted to cotton, to be utilized in some other way. The question arose as to what should be done with it. What crop could we could put upon it that would pay9 A crop, requiring but few laborers, to pay taxes. on the land and get nothing from it, would not do; to allow it to be sapped of it's fertility by growing weeds would not do. While Investigating this subject and trying to learn all pos sible about the weeviI. made a trip from Monroe to Nachitoches. by way of Shreveport. l passed through one of the finest farming sections of the South, and it made my head ache to see magnificent cotton plantations, thoroughly equipped lying idle, all of it's ten ants gone. weeds and saplings growing on land as fertile as any in the South. came back home discouraged and blue, but deter mined to utilize my land in some way. l finally decided that my best way out was by planting my surplus lands in oats, followed by lespedeza This brings me square ly to subject, and will endeavor to tell you how changed a cotton farm to lespedeza fields. In my way of doing it is not the right way we are here to seek better one.
 T broke my lands flat with l6- inch blows, pulled by three heavy mules. in September and October Where the land rough or in sod followed the blows with disc har- rows, thoroughly cutting and pull verizino the sod. This was fol lowed with the smoothing har- row. After getting the land in thorough tilth with the harrow, passed good drag over it, endear- bring to get it as smooth and level as possible. The drag was fol- lowed by good drill, planting two bushels of Louisiana rust-prooi oats to the acre.
 Kindly permit here little di- gression.
 For the past so years l have been planting in Ouachita parish During that time some oats have been planted in the parish every year, and it has been the custom of the planters to send to Texas Georgia Missouri and Kansas fol seed oats. personally bought mine in Texas, and was frequently disappointed in results. It oc- cured to me that Louisiana, grow ing everything to perfection, ough' to grow as good seed oats as any other state. 1 sent to a planter il the southern portion of the state secured 30 bushels of rust-proo oats. and since then have grown or my plantation as good oats as have ever seen anywhere. lh' "