The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1913-08-21

milH that cnma8 MI thu wzT huz
New York By stssmahf1-
THERE'S nothing Iikz asiEinx ques,
siuns. even if yun DON'T always a.
the right answerH. said Something
shnur milk and tha dimGulry aC sst
ting . suodL Juicy Dises q ssenk
snd . MAN who Knows promptly IN:
11rmzd ma that Jl1Rida w1s rssIl1
q dna cattle cnnntry. nd u laugh
bskzusa every eBw I had saan lnslad
Hks thG seffssme 6any lirtls runa
used to see jumping ever the moon
IN csrtzin hoax az biassed msM.
sxy-
hut this aau WIS vsFy much ia
ssrnsse. In prunt af his assertion
he spoka at Denmark, the soiF of
which wa thought At one time ta
be tho pnor 10 produces anything,
but which, solely through its 1--we
stack, has become one ct the richest
countries in the world
Plenty Of food for thought In
that. Yet few people have cuusid.
cred it, for the superstition seems to
have been that the small size ut
Florida cattle is cansed by the eli
mate. There's not much. IL any
thing, In that. The simple. reason
is that they DO not get enough to
eat. The climate does enable them
to range in the open all the year
round From the middle ct March
until Late in the fall there ia usual
ly An abundance OF good, nativs
graaass to keep them in guod gruw-
ing cnndiricn. through the winter
there ID mighty little Ths high
pine forage ID hard and scarce. %
the cattla @ fsr fnod and shelter
Into thu low hnmmocks and cane
bra1ss. There srs practically M
fences, and often when the spstag
grasses dzst begin - show the cat
tie are 70 wens-- and amactated that
they are net only unable 10 recover.
but are unahIs 70 reach god pss-
tlrs. During . hard wfnter thsu-
a1ds Of them perish while the
young animals that maAass u pull
through are sfunted for lifa.
The same thing happened IN the
West and Southwest under tAA 6fd
Ezaga conditions: the Ts1ze long
horn = slmese . ssssturs Ct the
post Soouar Or later cattle Of that
uDs win not b found In Florida.
TAs epsa ranges are contracting.
while during the last ten years the
number Of native cattle In the State
has mere than doubled.
New this ID Why 1t looks to ne -
though the Florida farmers are ever
looking some safe and easy noney:
In . slaughter test the average
dressed weight OF twenty head Of
native cattle three years old and
over Vas $50 lbs. They were mature
a. to st1s and In good condition. be-
lag killed in September. In another
test a lot Of cows were hre,. to
native bull. TIE calves were
dropped in the spring Of 1909.
When they were weaned tie latter
part OF October these calves aver
aged a9s pounds Per head. At one
year old they averaged All pounds,
which il heavier than tie average
range cattle at three years OF age.
When two and half years old they
averaged 72s pounds each. Tie
pasture WAS similar TO the 4
ordinary p.aewoods pasture. But (
surirs the winter they were given /
he run Of . velvet bean and Ja2a-
,ese cane salt; which is to say that
hey were given 70 better care. 20 |
'ettsr feed, than the average farm
e can supply with ease.
VIA. a Ian rot too fond az hfs
ase can DO with these Florida soils /
) marvellous. The sane sandy Ioa u
hat grows solid acre OF maiden
air fern With the aid % fertilizer
rows . cypress tree thirty feet in
circumference without any. know
: for I've sesa it. Although these
ills Will not grow alfalfa proEtahIy
hey will grow q greater number Of
,e finest lesuEes and other winter /,
,rage crops at less cost than any
her part Of this country. And the
innate allows the cattle TO fora-s
le most Of these In the open. 80
lat the labor Of harvesting and Of
ortnz II saved the farmer. to SAP 7
,thing Of the cost OF the more ex-
.nsive raeds and barns.
Mention these things 20 the Flor
. farmer and he viii mort At yea.
ExpeFineat Station talk" e
'uvb. How sssce The tiek!- Il