The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1913-09-01

have noted with much interest The
Journals editorials on alfalfa growing
In Florida and the references from
other papers, and 1t occurs to me that
I may be able to give some informa-
ton on the hay question that would
be OF interest to your readers.
Since the appearance Of alfalfa hay
on the market some years ago I have
been. Investigating it's merits In q silent
way and find its feed value about on a
par with that of cowpsa hay and Like
the pea Ray. IT isn't safe to feed to
horses or mules, as 1t Is too loosening
ON their bowels and upsets their d.
gestion. when fed regularly and on full
ration. Like the pea hay again, 1t
sheds most Of It's leaves in harvesting.
True. 1T is more easily cured than pea
vines and Is perennial but it is not
adapted to all our southern soils as Is
the cowpea. and will not make any
thing like the yield on thin soils. ]
have made i've crops OF cowpeas ON
the same land in one season and as
soil improvers, the cowpeas velvet bean
and soy bean and beggarweed are all
equal to If not better than alfalfa.
And since it is to feed the horse and
mule that ell these millions are being
sent away annually for hay, and you
propose to keep 1t at home by raising
the hay at home, why waste time with
a crop that is no better than every
farmer already has and knows how to
grow, while alfalfa is not well adapted
to our soil and must be lined and
practically pampered to get to succeed
on any of our soils.
1 do not wish to be understood as
knocking alfalfa, for 1t is a great thing
anr has worked wonders In the north
and west and I saw great fields of 1t
being harvested in July. But I learn
cd that ton per acre is q fair cutting
and 1t takes extremely rich land to
make the big Yields we hear about.
Now that the forage question and
stock raising is being agitated 50 fully
by the papers Of our state and the
south, and the farmers and stockmen
are beginning to take more interest in
the forage question, I feel that little
of my own experience in that line
would not be anniss, IL you will pardon
the intrusion. / want to tell you about
a better forage plant than any of those
above mentioned, and I Will begin at
the last by saying that we now have
a three-ton cutting ready to come off
and last year took 20 tons from six
acres at one IlIHS, IFOiH yOuHS pldAIS
set two years before. And / expect to
get another cutting this fall
xudzu is the plant I refer to and it
is not only making good on our farm
but many others in Florida and other
states. and 1t is not only the equal Of
alfalfa in every way but far superior
to 1t in many respects. First, it is
perfectly adapted to the south and
many tests have proven that it will
grow on practically any kind of soil
that is or can be drained, from the bar
rem red clay hills of Georgia to the
pure white sand within thirty feet of
salt water and three feet above low
tide, and that too without fertilizer of
any kind. / will not say that it will
not pay to fertilize kudzu or that it
will not need it after a time, If the
crops are constantly removed, but in
the ten years that we have grown it
we have never used a pound of fer,
tiIizer of any kind, except in small
experiment, and I am quite sure that
It did not pay. And I have seen it