Polk County news-gazette. (Benton, Tenn.) 190?-191?, 1913-10-30
DIVERSIFICATION ON
SOUTHERN FARMS
Forage Crops Fully as important
as Cotton and Corn.
PROFITABLE AS WINTER FEED
Every Farmer Should Make Growing
Of Fodder Big Part Of His Farm
Operations. Selecting Piece Of
Land for Purpose.
lR~ G H ALFORnl

The question of forage crops is not
a difficult problem for southern farm
ers. Almost every farm crop grown
can be used for forage. There are,
however, many plants that will pro
duce forage in abundance.
Every farmer should make the grow
ing of forage an important part of his
farm operations. Each year a large
piece of land should be selected espe-
cially for the growing of forage crops.
Forage crops are of fully as much I'M
pcrtance as cotton and corn, but they
are usually neglected crops.
The turnip crop should be consid-
cred of great value. Prepare the land
thoroughly. manure heavy, plant in
drills three feet apart. when the leaf
is as large as a dime, thin to 10 inches
and cultivate often, and you will raise
a great quantity and find that the crop
is very profitable for winter feeding.
For the earliest spring feed, SOW
oats, rye or wheat in the fall. So"
two bushels per acre on fertile soil
literally MANFRED and well prepared
These crops usually produce feed by
the first of March and furnish good
hay if cut in the dough stage.
Crimson, white, burr and red clovers
are valuable winter crops to plant
Sentember and October are the best
months for seeding, and to be sure
Of a big crop plant on fertile soil and
a perfect seed bed, using plenty OF
manure and 200 pounds of acid phos-
phate per acre Sow from 10 to 20
hounds of seed per acre. The yield
of hay on thoroughly prepared fertile
soil is about one and one-half tons
per acre. The corn crop planted on
This clover stubble will never fail you.
As high as 90 tons of silage corn is
often grown On clover sod.
Alfalfa excels every other crop in
yield per acre, in feeding value. and
as a soil enricher, when grown on
land TO which it is we'll adapted.
For a large yield of hay, SOW one
bushel of wheat or oats and Is pounds
crimson or red clover per acre. The
crops are cut when the clover is in
full bloom. 1t is easy to make two
tons of hay per acre on fertile soil,
and these hays are milk and fat pro-
ducing feeds.
D. Hairy vetch and wheat or oats are
also fine for grazing and hay. More
land is being seeded each year, to
this mixture, and the farmers all Ike
it.
Fall or spring sown oats furnish
grazing and make a capital hay when
cut in the dough stage. At Baton
Rouge. La, two and one-half acres
were planted in oats at the expert
ment station for grazing on sSeptem-
Der 2S. October 20 seven Poland
China pigs weighing in total 276
pounds were put on the oats and
given no feed during the winter. On
February II the pigs weighed total
of 56S pounds, or an average gain or
81 pound per pig per day for 10
days. From October 29 to January l
Is head of sheep were pastured on
this same plat.
Rape will produce more green for
age in the south during the winter
months than any other one plant or
combination of plants that can be
grown. 1t has been demonstrated by
the experiment station that an acre Of
GOOD rich land sown to rape will pro-
luce as much pork when used as hog
pasture as the same acre planted 10