Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1913-07-23

Substance of an address before the
Alabama Live Stock association, AT
Montgomery, January, 1911, by R. E.
Lambert, Darlington, Ala.
The very foundation of successful
agriculture is wrapped up in this sui
ject. Had Alabama farmers given this
the attention it merited forty or even
ten years ago, we would have a faf
more prosperous country today 1t is
impossible to have too much good graz
ing for the benefit of the land, the
stock and pocketbook. Legumes and
grass is the one rotation that never
runs too long. 1t is impossible to
farm successfully without fertility and
no system for restoring or increasing
the fertility of the farm has yet been
found that is better than grazing and
feeding live stock. Where ever stock
farming is general there is to be founi
good houses, good farms and a pros
porous type of manhood The pasture
is the foundation stone of the whole
thing. 1t is possible in every section
of Alabama to have good grazing ten
to eleven months in the year, but in
the BLACK Belt" or lime land section
the pasturage is more nutritious ana
naturally better adapted to the grow
ing of the best type of farm animals
Few people seem to realize the inn
portance or appreciate the possibili-
ties of improving our pastures. "A
carpet of green Qegume) over every
firm in winter" is not only a practi>
cal possibility but a necessity, if we
are to increase the fertility to a
marked extent and raise good stock at
low cost. Not only should the ber-
muda, paspalum dilatatum and carpet
gram, pastures be covered with le-
gumes while dormant, but hay fields
and cultivated lands as we'll. The
added grazing the first season alone
would well repay the extra expense
of sowing the legumes, but there is
also the green carpet to prevent the
teaching and washing of the soil and
| the much needed vegetable matter,
rotting roots and nitrogen to mellow
the soil and stimulate the comins
grasses and crops. Does it look reas-
enable that a man would fail to work
d paying gold mine, or draw on big
bank account if he had it? Yet that
is exactly what the farmer and STOCK
man does who fails to utilize to the
fullest extent winter legumes. To this
phase of my business as stock man,
l have given more attention than any
other, and l regard it as my greatest
asset today What if one should Sc
cure the best horses, cattle, hogs or
sheep that money could buy and had
made little provision for pasturagc
! forage or grain, would not failure be
! the inevitable result? Secure the feed
and the getting of the stock will be
easy Do not get the cart before the
| horse. There are several legumCy
that can be utilized more or less ia
winter. Alfalfa. white and red Glow
er, on lime soil and crimson clover in
some sections; then there is the lit
tie Carolina clover that comes on all
soils, and gives quite lot of grazing
in the very early spring. But the to
stand-bys" on which you can bank
year after year, on every acre of the
farm in the cotton states are Southern
bur clover and Augusta vetch-some
soils are best adapted to one; some to
the other. 1t is difficult to get a good
stand of bur clover on light, sandy
land-soils that pack some are best
clay, gravelly and prairia soils are
fine. There is no better way to helo
. CALLED place than to SOW bur Glove
and sprinkle some coarst manure over
it.
Hairy and Oregon vetches will pro-
duce more hay than the Augusta, but
it is much harder to get them to re-
seed themselves, and for that reason