The Prescott daily news., 1915-06-22
SOUTHERN HAY FOR
 SOUTHERN MARKETS
Varieties of Grasses and Legumes that Will Do We'll in the South and Obstacles in the Path
 of the Grower.

Washington, D. C., June 22.-Ac- cording to the most recent figures of the United States Department of Az riculture, 1,305,000 tons of hay val ued at $17,626,00O.00 are brought each year into the II Southern States. In other words, the South produces only four-ffths of the hay that it consumes and imports the other one-fifth. This is singular state of affairs for great agricul- tural section and the causes for it are analysed in new publication of 677. Ut is practicable" says this bulletin, 'for the farmers of the South to produce all the hay that they need on their own farms" For the city markets, however, southern hays find it difficult to compete with timothy, clover, or alfalfa, none of which have done well in the cotton belt except in limited areas. Another obstacle is the liklihood of rainy weather interfering with the curing of the crop.
 These two obstacles, however, do not alter the fact that, with suitable soil conditions, growing hay in the South for market should be a prof.
 table production. The heavy clay 'uplands and the sandy soils along the  cost are not well suited for this pur- pose, and the Department of Agri- |culture considers it doubtful whether 1t is advisable to attempt to produce market hay on them. On the other hand, bottom or alluyial land, if sui hciently drained, admirably adapted for hay production, and if there is good market for hay in the vicinity will probably give as great a profit in this way as in any other
 Granting that the soil is suitable, another factor to be taken into con sideration is the amount of land at
 ones disposal. To produce market hay economically requires q special equipment the expense of which is
 so considerable that it is doubtful whether a farmer is justified in in- curing it unless he expects to have 20 acres or more of hay to cut each year. This equipment includes q mower, rake, tedder, wagon with frame, horse fork, pitchfork, and a hay press. The press, of course, is not absolutely necessary and, unless the farmer has 30 tons or more to bale, it will probably be more econo- mical for him to pay for the baling than to purchase the press. A com mon method of overcoming this diff Ilculty is for one farmer in a com munity to purchase a press and to make a business of baling hay for the others.
 Among the grasses and legumes that make good market hays in the South are lespedeza in the lower Mississippi Valley; Johnson grass over most of the cotton belt; Bermu- da grass on the rich bottom lands; the Arlington mixture (orchard grass, tall oat grass, and alsille) on the heavy uplands. Sudan grass is also showing much promise. In con- sidering the relative merits of these market hays, it must be remember ed that each market is likely to have its own requiremens which do not al- ways correspond to feeding values There is also the question of preju- dice to be taken into consideration.
 This is particularly true of John son grass which has suffered greatly on the market from it's bad reputa- tion as a weed. It is indeed doubtful whether for this reason it should ever be sown on land not already oc- cupied by it. Its merits in other res poets, however, have been thorough ly demonstrated and on land already covered by it, it may be cut with pro- fit Cor market hay. It is especially satisfactory for horses in the city, many livery men considering 1t prac- tically as good as timothy for this purpose.
 Bermuda grass is also well known throughout the cotton region. AL though used primarily for summer pasturage, it grows tall enough on rich soil to cut for hay, and may be moved 2 or 8 times a season, yield ing an average of about 1 ton per