The Lakeland evening telegram., 1914-01-21
FORAGE CROPS
IN FLORIDA
BeegarWeed

Beggarweed
Ne are now completing TIE cir. Il
of this series of articles on fora q
crops IN Florida. 1t started as the
outcome Of letter from CORE
spondcnt to the Grower on Beggar
weed, giving us the benefit of his ex-
periences with this crop, concludin
his letter with the suggestion tnat
we should publish all the material
possible relative to the growing of
cowpeas. velvet beans and besgar-
weed, thereby letting the farmers of
the north and west know what GOOD
forage crops can be grown here.
The suggestion took root but ex-
panded considerably, for not only
have we dealt with cowpcas and vel
vet beans hut have tried to demon
strate the great value and possihili-
ties in Florida of a large number
OF other forage crops.
II the reader Will cast his eve back
over these articles he NAV be
amazed at the large list of suitable
foraSe crops which may be raised in
fiolda thron"hout the whole year.
and it Will slow concusiyelv to any
student of the matter the enormous
advantages the state possesses over
any other in the Union in relation
to the Industry of stock raising, both
beef cattle and hogs, as well as
dairy farming.
But the list SO far as my own ex-
periences and knowledge are con-
cerned is about exhausted so. r
state, we are now completing the
circle. We branched out from the
letter on beggarweed into a consil
erably wide radius considering MANY
other forage crops, but return
round to the ORIGINAL starting point, |
that of beggarweed
Dogearwced is a "Crackcr 1t is
a genuine cracker of northern Flor
ida and Southern Georgia In other
words 1t is native to those dis (
tricts. 1t is often known as Florida
clover and hotanically it is called !
fcsmodum. It logume, that is
4 nitrogen @athcicr from the ar. fy- I
ln- this element in the soil. and
renee q soil rcnoyator of very con,
siderable Importance.
1t is an annual but is so prolific
u seed that once it is introduced it
will reproduce itself as a volunteer
crop in all cultivated fields after
'rops are laid by. In this way beg
garwccd will produce annually a
full crop of the best of hay with no
,nrther care or outlay of expense be-
'ond that of harvesting. 1t has
strong upright branching growth
'caching a heichth of from six to
Eight feet, The seeds are small
'elloWish and flattened, approximate
ng red clover in weight, the LEGAL
'ushel in Florida being G. pounds,
Thn GOOD &c c1 IN ,,,,n ! ,,,,r
md should only be sown when the
'round is thoroughly warm and
moist. The best time to SOW con-
is just after summer rains
lave commenced, early in June Be-
ore sowing, the ground should be
thoroughly cultivated in order to
lestroy all weed growth. Sow broad
ast at the rate of from ten to
welve pounds per acre. The thick
II the stand the better will be the
Iuality of hay. Crowdng prevents
branching out which would cause
he stems to become coarse and
woody, rendering it very unsuitable
or hay. Care should be taken when
owing not to bury the seed too
leep; in fact it is best to barely Gov
r the seed if planted at the time
In sowing new land down to beg
.arweed it is claimed to be a dis
inct advantage to use seed with the
lulls attached as 'the pods, because
# the adhcring dust carry the nee
ssary bacterial incubation with
hem;" otherwise clean seed is pre-
cradle because of a more uniform
AS hay crop it succeeds best on
and containing considerable
of moisture, but it will grow
n high dry lands though for hcr
he yield will not be as areat. Two
rops of hay can be cut during the {
some claiming that even a
bird crop can be obtained. The
irst utting should be made just as
he plants begin to bloom, when
hey are about three to four feet
Ugh, and subsequent cuttings at
bout the same stage of growth. Af-
er the last cutting the crop can be
narrowed in, but the stubble hould