Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1913-11-19
Why the South Ought to be a
Livestock Country.

sLOck COuHtIS lol VIC loiAO"lnG
reasons:
l. Its long growing season, which
makes the growing Of two forage
crops year practicable, enabling it
to produce forage cheaply.
9. It has a large number of
legumes suited to the different sea-
sons of the year and adapted to
varying soil conditions, and the
legumes are our cheapest and best
livestock feeds.
8. Our soils are deficient in nj
trogen and humus, and the grow
ing of legumes is the best means of
supplying these deficiencies; but to
obtain the most benefit from a
legume crop after it is grown, must
be fed on the farm and the manure
returned to the land which grew
the crops.
4. Our lands are lower in price,
but by means of our longer grazing
and growing season they will pro-
duce as much feed per acre in a
yesr as the higher-priced lands of
other sections, which means we can
produce feeds at a lower cost.
S. Because there is no natural or
climatic or other condition which
offers any serious obstacle to live
stock raising except the cattle ticks,
and they may be easily eradicated
as proved by the rapidity with
which infested territory is being
cleaned.
Why has the South never devel-
oped successful livestock indus
try? The reasons are many, but
none of them is of such nature as
to justify the conclusion that the
country is not suitable for the
growing of livestock.
Probably the three most impor-
tant reasons why the South does
not produce more livestock are:
Cotton, the Negro, and the large
number of gentlemen farmers who
do not live on their farms, but do
farming on large scale.
Cotton is splendid crop; lends
itself better than any other crop
known to a one-crop system of
farming, is better adapted to Negro
character and labor, and is suited to
the extensive" farming ideas of
the nonresident, or city farmer.
In short, the South has not large
ly developed livestock industry
because conditions have not been
suited to the develment of livestock
men. The South ought to be a
livestock country, because:
(D A crop of cowpeas, soy beans,
peanuts, or lespedeza (all legumes)
may be grown the same season af-
teE.2n 'oat crop is harvested. There
lsno better feed than oats, and
oowpeas and lespedeza are the equal
Of red clover as hay producert;
while peanuts and soy beans will
produce as much feed (concentrate-)
IS any, crop grown here or else
where.
(2) A soil made rich by the grow
ing of legumes and livestock farm
ing will make as much corn or 81
lage per acre as in the Corn Belt,
and the same season produce crop
Of crimson clover equal in feeding
value to- a crop OF red clover.
(3) Our climatic conditions make
US cotton-producing country. One
of the by-products of the cotton
crop is cottonseei meal, the cheap
est protein feed known. The South
produces 45o,OoO,o00 bushels of
cottonseed annually, which pound
for pound is superior to corn in
feeding value. If the South could
not have produced cotton she would
have grown livestock just as other
sections have turned to livestock,
where one-crop systems depleted
their soils and forced them to do 80.
The South must grow livestock,
because while it is possible to build
up soil fertility without feeding
it ,s not generally done,
and cannot be done as economically
az by feeding the legumes, which
must be grown to build up the fer
tility, to raise good live stock.
The need of the South is for men
who will study livestock raising as
a part of their general farming sys-
tenn, for there is no reason why the
South cannot or does not grow
livestock more profitably than any
other section, except that we have
not the men with either the inclina-
tion or information to do 80.
TNLo., 20 n ronarol ha1iaf tho +