Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1915-01-29
the LAY Of the LAND.
D. Mssnss ]. ssiistA b ss-Pesyuas.


The Texas ranchman, with his scant
heritage and his scant living, wonders
why Louisiana is not the greatest cattle
producing country in the world"
DIR. n. ID. Barrow, Texas farm editor
Of national repute, gave that message
from the Lone Star State to the Louis
lana cattlemen in convention at Alex
andria. And he presented good and suf-
ficient reasons for the faith that was in
him.
Louisiana, he said, is not beginning to
live up to her possibilities in crop pro-
dnction. Nowhere is there more variety
of vases. No land has more native le-
gumes. Add the imported plants and
the question is useless as to the adapti-
bility of the State to live stock. She can
grow anything grown anywhere, and then
more. Her climate is genial, her soil un-
surpassed. When it comes TO ability to
produce feedstuffs, nature marked Louis
lana for her own. Her fields are green
and fertile twelve months year, and she
has all the other requisites in equally law
ish proportion.
Wisconsin, twenty-five years ago, inn
poverished her land by all wheat crop
ping. In desperation she turned to live
stock for her salvation. At the start che
had to buy her feed for her stock, and
Louisiana did not scruple to part with
her cotton seed meal in order to provide
protein for Wisconsin. Cattle brought
the latter gold, she enriched her acres,
and to-day she boasts the most produc-
tive land though her soil is poor. Louis
lana soil is rich beyond compare, and
cattle success is easier here.
Louisiana has wasted her time on small,
hardy animals that became nuisance.
Her fields have peen subjugated, but they
are none the les's fit for live stock. Texas
has worked hard to establish the indus
try, and has learned much. Her cattle
men know that the scrub costs as much
to raise as the thoroughbred, and as a
consequence the long-horn COW is curl
osity there. The blooded animal yields
two profits, in better feeding and better
breeding. The Texan has found out that
Baby Beef is the cheapest and most prof
table fat he can put on an animal, he
protects his herd during the winter, he is
building silos, and is carrying his stock
through the winter at gain. He has the
greatest faith in the industry, and looks
with envious eyes upon the natural ad-
vantages possessed by Louisiana.
The future for this State never looked
brighter. But this is the age of intensity,
and Louisiana must learn intensive farm
ing. Her farmers must exercise intelli-
gence and properly develop the cattle in
dustry. She has never really raised cat
tie. She did acquire some breeding stock
and then let it raise itself. One of the
great stumbling blocks is the heirloom
from the old Spanish importers, the cat
tie tick. There must be a determined
movement to eradicate it. 1t is the most
expensive luxury she ever INDUCED in,
even il she did at one time think that it
was essential. Science has taught her bet
ter. Charlton is the only other obstacle,
and that is not insurmountable. She
must form the habit of giving heed to
science, and it will save and bring her
millions.
DIR. Barrow emphasized the increase in
soil productivity as one OF the most vital
benefits of the cattle industry. Louisiana
has robbed her soil of its humus by the
long adherence to the single crop. Cattle
will restore the humus and save the plant
food so that more cattle may be fed. The
simple process constitutes an endless chain
OF prosperity. The grass that now sells
for half cent may he multiplied four
times in volume and value and still leave
the manure to maintain to build further
prosperity upon. Louisiana is blessed in
her opportunity, and when she accepts it
she will take her place not only as lead
er in live stock, but in all the crops che
plants. She paid for her cotton and her
sugar and her other single crops instead
OF being paid for them, for she impover-
ished her soil in raising them. Cattle will
provide her with the most important crop,
a crop that will increase her ability to
produce more cotton and more crops.
Soil fertility is her fortune, and it lie her
duty and her policy to make the most OF
it.
DIR. Darrow's talk was not very long,
but it holds enough concentrated hope
and wisdom to serve as the seed for a
peerless harvest for many seasons of splen-
did endeavor and rich reward.