The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1912-09-20
MORE VETCH TO BE PLANTED BY
FARMERS.

Carolina this season than has eyer been
planted before. Particularly in the
Piedmont section is the subject being
agitated. The results last year were
greater than was expected, and several
farmers reported yield from two to
three tons of cured hay per acre. 1t
has been demonstrated that vetch i'm
proves the lands more rapidly than
does cowpeas, and it ear be grown dur
ing the winter months and harvested in
time for a crop of corn, cowpeas or
sometimes cotton. The agents of the
farm demonstration work are pushing
vetch growing with all the power at
their command. Mr.. w. H. Barton,
district agent, states that he expects
to have 1000 fields planted by
his demonstrators. In Newberry coun-
ty alone it is estimated that so, 200
pounds of seed will be sown this year,
while in the lower part of the State
there will be more fields planted than
ever.
Recently The Progressive Farmer
published an article by A. D. Hudson
of Newberry, giving his experience.
Mr.. Hudson plants approximately one
third of his farm in vetch every year.
The Improvement in the fertility of the
land and the increased growth of crops,
following vetch has been very marked.
Some of the very best cotton on his
farm is land in which vetch was grown,
but on which no ammonia has been
used for this years crop. Mr.. Hud-
sons article is as follows:
RESULTS OF WORK.
Last summer Mr.. Poe requested me
to write him the results of my work with
hairy vetch, especially what my yield Of
seed was per acre. | promised him that
| would do so, but upon thinking the
matter over | concluded that the results
were so very gratifying that it might
be well to wait another year for fear
that successive crops might prove dis
appointing. And it is well that | did,
for results this year from the grain
end of it was exceedingly disappoint-
ing, but the yield of hay was tremep-
dous.
Last year | threshed the hay from
seven acres and secured $500 pounds
of seed or 500 pounds per acre. This
year my yield was less than 200 pounds
and the quantity not so good. Last
year, though, my yield of hay was
about ! Ia to / liz tons to the acre
1.-THE season was very dry while this
year on the same quantity of land it
ran at least a ton better. The growth
was so rank in places that it came over
my horses back. l had a few shocks
of corn that were left until spring, as
we did not care to damage the grain by
running the wagon over it and these
shocks were completely hidden by the
vetch.
"As to sowing the grain, my results
are not in accord with those of most
writer's. In seeding on good land |
would use the same quantity of oats or
wheat that | would use if l did not in
tend putting in the vetch and would
then add 25 pounds to 40 pounds of
vetch seed. My experience has been
that a light seeding of oats would not
support the vetch and it would fall
down and cause you to lose a large por-
ton of you crop. have yet to find the
kind of land that will not grow vetch
successfully always, provided you mo
culate for it. | have been growing
vetch for a number of years, but never
take in a new field without inoculating
before sowing. The best form Of mo
culation is from soil where the vetch
has been grown. | have made COM
plete failures without incubation on
fields adjacent to the ones that had been
growing vetch. The soil a be put
down by hand or in the fertilizer part
of a grain distributor. have used a
distributor running one time to cotton
rows and secured sufficient inoculetion
to i~noculate a 8 l-2-foot rG&. / have
a friend that put. out his soil, seed and
everything through the fertilizer part
of his grain drill, but | have at
tempted this. | never SOW vetch after
October 2, and never use any but the
hairy.
T~HREE-YEAR ROTATION. .
"We are running a three-year rota-
ton, the farm being divided into three
great fields, the rotation being cotton,
corn, oats and vetch followed by peas.
This year is the first that cotton has
come since the rotation begun. We
cut out nitrogen entirely upon go per
cent. Of our cotton, only using it where
the soil was badly worn. The cotton is
growing off fine and is now tapping in
four-foot rows. There are fields ada
cent where the owner has simply run
all cotton that will not average one.
third the size and he has used a com.
plete fertilizer. With another round
of the rotation | will cut out all nitro
gen on my corn. ! have found it more
profitable to grow vetch and oats thar
cottop and at tha saroa time tho i'm.