The Tupelo journal., 1914-01-09
DWERS|F|CAT|ON ON
SOUTHERN FARMS
Forage Crops Fully as important
as Cotton and Corn.
PROFITABLE AS WINTER FEED
Every Farmer Should Make Growing
Of Fodder a Big Part Of His Farm
Operations, Selecting Piece Of
Land for Purpose.
(By G.. H. ALFORD.)

Y
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,
3 however, many plants that will pro-
Z 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
portance 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 Is inches
and cultivate often, and you will raise
a great quantity and find that the crop
Z is very profitable for winter feeding.
For the earliest spring feed, SOW
oats, rye or wheat in the fall. Sow
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.
September 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-
plate per acre. Sow from 15 to 20
pounds of seed per acre. The yield
of hay on thoroughly prepared fertile
soil is about n and one-half tons
! per acre. The corn crop planted on
this clover stubble will never fail you.
: AS high as 20 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, BOW 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
tom of hay per acre on fertile soil.
and these hays are milk and fat pro
ducing feeds.
Hairy ystcn and wheat OF oats are
also fine for grazing and hay. More
land is being seeded each year to
this mixture. and the farmers all like
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 Septem-
Der %. October 29 seven Poland
China pigs weighing in total 276
Spounds were put on the oats and
given no feed during the winter. On
February II the pigs weighed a total
of 568 pounds, or an average gain of
81 pound per pig per day for ITO
days. From October 20 to January l
@45 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-
duce as much pork when used as a hog
pasture as the same acre planted to