davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1915-01-31

area of land when siage is the basis of
the ration.
I. There is less waste in feeding silage
than in feeding fodder. Good silage prop
erly fed is all consumed.
s. Silage is very palatable
8. Silage, like other succulent feeds, has
beneficial effect upon the digestive or
gans.
TO- Silage is the cheapest and best form
in which a succulent feed can be pro-
vided for winter use.
H. Slage can be used for supplement-
ing pasture more economically than can
soiling crops, because it requires less
labor, and silaAe Is more paiatable.
IL Converting the corn crop into silage
cleans the land and leaves it ready for
another crop.
There is no best silo generally speak
ing. The best silo for us is the one which
can be constructed on the farm at the
lowest cost and pay us the greatest
profit. The best silo for depends en-
trely upon our location and our condi-
lions.
A pit slo bank sio may be the
best. They are adapted to many sections.
Regions which are passing through the
pioneer stage of their development, where
the cost of material, labor and transpor-
tation is high, need not be without silo.
Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado farmers
have constructed more than 1000 pit silos
| in the past two years. In Montana, the
| Dakotas and other northern states where
| the winters are severe, the pit silo is in
general use. 1t not only gives perfect
satisfaction, but it is the best silo for
these cold regions.
/ Many people condemn this type of sila,
| but experience and investigation prove
that 1t has many advantages.
| Where the conditions are right, whether
| it be in the humid regions of the corn
| belt or in the seni-arid or dry sections,
the pit silo if properly constructed will
give good satisfaction.
| A number of them are in use in Wis
consin, Iowa, Mississippi and other states
| One of these slos can be constructed
| for $40 to $50.
| Pit sflos are not suitable for localities
where the ground water is near the sur
| face They are nothing more than 2
large cistern dug in the ground 20 or 3
| feet deep and cemented three-qrarters o.
an inch to one inch think and equipped
| with a derrick or other hosting appara
tus for taking out the silage; sometimes
a block and tackle and a horse are uset
! or a hand windlass.
| A carrier may be constructed so as II
distribute the silage along the feed rack'
instead of dumping it in one place. Ther'
is no question but what the pit silo viii
come into general use in a great man.
localities in both semi-arid and humid
regions.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1915-01-31

an average 81 bushels per acre on the
10 grain farms 3S bushels per acre. Oats
on the stock farms 80 bushels per acre;
on the 10 grain farms, 80 bushels per
acre: clover produced on the 10 stock
farms % tons per acre, and on the 10
grain farms, IL tons per acre.
Live stock farming Is not only the
most profitable but the most interesting
method of farming. When the boys on
the farm become interested in live stock
they stay on the farm in place of going
to the town.
1t isn't such a big job to build up the
worn-out farms, If legume crops are
grown, and fed to live stock and the ma
nure put back on the land-but it must
be remembered that the soil has not
been given a square deal in the south
for many years. and it will take time and
intelligence to build it up and bring it
back to it's original fertility.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1915-01-31

which Will in few years and with but
little expenditure, become exceedingly
productive and valuable. Not only
ourselves, but our children and our
ohildrens children must obtain live
lihood from the soil which we now Gull
tivate. They cannot become wealthy by
rapid increase in the value of land as
has been the case of the well TO do
farmer of the present day. In the old
country, in the production of crops
there are three parties to every Il ans
action. In this country there are but
two-the landlord and the tenant. In
the old country there is the third
which is the soil The state has no
control over the soil in this country.
One of the great problems in this eoun-
try is the consideration of the soil.
Why is 1t today that farms have been
destituted in Palestine? The people
have farmed them. passed on and left
them. The conditions have now devel-
oped that the people must go back IL
them.
From the earliest history of man.
soil conditions and promises of wealth
from the soil have largely influenced
his movements upon the earth.
The tides of immigration that shook
Europe in the middle ages We're in
stigated by people searching for bet
ter lands.
Like movements were those when the
Alleghenies We're crossed and the new
lands of the west were settld. But this
is the last tide of immigration bent on
the conquest of the soil that viii re-
ceive its reward. Man must view tn
landscape Ger" and see the "stony
points" and poor FARMS" which he
may now have the joy of rebuilding
the result of his wastefulness and care
lessness.
Don't Buy Farm Products; Grow Them
The south is a wonderful country
to be able to support her people as
she does and yet send away millions
of dollars every year to the northern
states for products which can be and
should be grown at home.
The fault is not with the land; IL
is not because the south cannot grow
these products, but because the peo-
pie are practicing a one-crop system OF
farming-the growing of cotton from
year to year. Many years ago there was
no industry so profitable as cottor
growing. The people learned to grow
cotton and to do 1T well. They neg
lected to grow other crops, believing
that the profits received from the grow
ing of cotton could well be used tt
purchase away from home the thing:
| they needed This method has PROVED
| to be disastrous one.
| When the butter, eggs. pork, cheese
beef and other imported products were
consumed, both money and products
We're gone. A one-crop system viii
ruin any country. 1t means poor sol
and poor people.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1915-01-31

Keep these facts in mind (From Uni
ted States bulletin 37s)
The tick is blood sucking parasite
which fattens at the expense of the
infested animal.
The milch COW infested with the
tick gives at least 10 per cent less
milk by reason of it's parasites.
The tick Injuries the hides so they
sell for one-half cent per pound less
than similar hides not so affected
Every year in every tick infested
county the loss of cattle from this lest
would more than pay for the eradica-
ton of the tick.
The tick causes an insanitary and
unwholesome condition of the animals
infected. Their products are unfit for
human consumption.
You cannot fatten cattle and Iced
the ticks upon them. The south needs
more and better cattle.
More home-produced beef, pork and
mutton.
More barnyard manure.
More pastures, more green covei
crops, more clover, vetch, cowpeas. vel.
vet beans and alfalfa.
More feed pens filled with cattle Il
consume the feeds raised. These thing.
mean better soil, larger yields.
! If all the cattle on a farm, be i
large or small, are regularly dipped
once every two weeks for a period O.
| few months, in a properly prepared
arsenicaf solution, all of the ticks will
| be eradicated
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1915-01-31

grain sacks. and do likewise,

mostly as high priced commercial
fertilizers,
1t is either commercial fertilizers or
else there must be more clover and al
falfa more stock. better care of ma
nure and a more systematic rotation
of crops. There is no escape from these
facts-which shall 1t be?
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1915-01-31
Diyersify-Grow Live Stock

Dversification and live stock mean
success in spite of the boil weevil. To
succeed in a boil weevil district we
must have cattle, hogs and chickens,
grow corn, cowpeas, velvet beans,
clover. alfalfa and lespedeza.
If one crop fails we will have an
other to depend upon, but if we grow
cotton alone and the boil weevile takes
1t, our entire years work is gone. Di-
versification and live stock mean the
building up of the soil and as the Soil
improves, profits increase. Diversifica-
ton means that we have more land in
pasture. Pastures prevent soil from
washing. In the north pastures are
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1915-01-31
CROP NEXT MONTH Will SHOW that


maintained to keep the soil from
washing during the heavy spring rains.
The people in the south allow the fields
to stand from year to year, exposed to
the weather.
One of the things that discourages
the northern farmer from going south
Is the dilapidated condition OF many
of the farm buildings. 1t is not an UNI
common thing for a northern man to
go south TO invest money and come
back and say: II like the country, the
people, the climate and the soll-big
crops are grown, but many of the farm
buildings are shacks rather than
homes He does not stop to consider
that this is no fault OF the soil
Live stock and diversification will
keep people on the farms. A man will
put up better buildings if he lives on
his farm than he will if it is occupied
by a tenant. Diversification and live
stock mean raise what you feed and
feed what you raise on your own
farm" When you grow your crops and
ship them away you are shipping the
fertility of the soil-minng it, making
1t poor.
BY having live stock there will be
returned to the land in the form of
manure IS to SIS per cent of the soil
fertility taken out by the crops.
Humus, one of the things most need
ed in the south, can be placed in the
soil by diversifying the crops and do
ing mixed farming Live stock means
more manure on the farm and less
commercial fertilizer.
The south pays out millions of dol
l@rs for commercial fertilizers every
car
Live on the farm. Build a home have
good schools, good roads and product
i've soil. Don't just have a "plece of
land or '.farm"-have home on the
land and make it worth living In.
A SilO on Every Farm
A silo is one of the most essential
things on the farm. You may think you
can't afford silo, but you can't afford
to be without one. A sio should be
part of the permanent improvements on
every farm. There is no doubt as to its
advantages. 1t is essential for the eco
nomical feeding of live stock. and especi
ally for the profitable production of beef
and milk. The results of hundreds of
feeding experiments conducted in the past
10 years with silage as a part of the
ration give proof of its great value to
the farmer.
T. e. Woodward of the dairy division
in United States (Farmers' Bulletin 500,
furnishes II good reasons why every
farmer Should have a silo. Every one of
them touches some spot of vital inn
portance.
Twelve SilO Reasons
l. More feed can be stored in a given
space in the form of silage than in the
form of fodder or hay.
2. There is smaller loss of food ma
terial when a crop is made into silage,
than when cured fodder or hay.
5. Corn silage is a better feed than corn
fodder.
A. An acre of corn can be placed in the
slo at less cost than the same area can
be huslxed and shredded.
5. Crops can be put in the silo during
weather that could not be utilized in MAX
ing hay or curing fodder.
6. More stock can be kept on a given
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1915-01-31
Humus Essential to Good Soil

Decaying vegetable matter forms mold
or humus. The mineral elements may be
said to give body to the soil, but hu-
mus gives 1t life" Humus makes soil
dark colored and mellow. 1t not only adds
nitrogen and other plant foods but i'm
proves the physical condition of the soil
and makes it congenial for plants. Helps
retain the moisture, evens up the soil
temperature, makes soil loose and warm,
let's in the air. provides a home for bac-
terra, prevents washing baking and
packing; hastens the termination OF seed
and hastens plant growth In the spring.
Soil that is without humus is without
life Every. fertile soil is inhabited by
countless organisms Of bacteria. Humus
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1915-01-31
The Cattle Tick Must Go

The dipping vat will rid the south of
the cattle tick. Profitable cattle business
is eliminated from the country infested
with cattle tick. The cattle tick reduces
the price of cattle; prevents the shipment
of stock to good markets. prevents bring
ing in good stock for breeding purposes,
or for feeding purposes.
You can't afford to feed the cattle tick,
The tick means death to the dairy bust
ness as well. Ticks cost the south mil
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1915-01-31

lions of dollars, not only in the loss of
cattle, but in keeping the cattle men
out of the south and killing the industry
The class of cattle raised in the south
is below the standard. No one can af-
ford to pay high price for blooded
stock to take into a tick-infested COM
munity.
To be prosperous the south must have
live stock. Get rid of the cattle tick.
The dipping vat will do it.
What Tick Eradication Means
The eradication of the cattle tick in
the south means the awakening of a
new industry. 1t means an immense
market for the producers of cattle
The tick has been the main cause of
the lack of interest in cattle raising,
because 1t made necessary the estab-
fishing of an ocean to ocean quaran-
tine line, separating the cattle grown
in the south from the best markets in
the United States.
Deprive any commodity, grown or
manufactured. from the best markets
of the world, no matter what they may
be. cotton, corn, or cattle, and the
result will he failure. Such it has been,
most unfortunately, with cattle in the
quarantined area
The determination of the tick means
the revolutionizing of the live stock
industry of the south.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1915-01-31
Plant Food in the Soil

A ton of average soil contains but
a few pounds of actual fertility; that
is plant food material which Is avaii-
able or ever can become available for
the use of crops. The remainder is
simply waste material and cannot be
used by plants as food
When this fertility has once been
exhausted. remember that 1t Is gone
forever and will not return except as
1t is purchased in one form or another
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1915-01-31

not furnish the protein necessary. Six
months later the pigs were killed
Those in Lot No. averaged 1876 pounds
each. Those in Lot No. l averaged only
IS pounds.
The corn produced an average daily
gain of IA pound, or. it required liza
pounds corn for each pound gained
The corn and alfalfa produced an aver
age daily gain of 10 pound, or, it re-
quired 597 pounds corn and II pound hay
for each pound gained.
You understand that if this experiment
had been conducted with grown hogs, the
difference would not have been SO great
because the grown hogs would have used
more of the carbohydrates of the corn
to lay on fat but the young pigs could
add only a small amount of fat until they
had grown a frame on which to put It.
The bones of the "corn-alfalfa' lot of
pigs were double the size of those of the
lot fed on corn alone and stood break
ing strain of 1870 pounds as gainst go
pounds for the lot fed on corn alone.
Corn is deficient in protein and has an
abundance of starch and sugar. Neither
alfalfa nor corn when fed alone will give
the best results but a combination of
the two makes one of the profitable ra-
tons for hogs This experiment shows
the need of protein for growing animals.
Can't Grow Pigs on Corn Alone
Several lots of pigs, five pigs in each
lot, were used in a three-year experiment
in Alabama in which shows the advant-
ages of the soybean pasture and corn
as a ration for pigs in comparison with
a ration of corn alone. Some of the pigs
We're fed on corn alone. and others on
soybean pasture with about one-fourth
of a corn ration per day, or one good
ear of corn per 100 pounds of live weight
Where the ration of corn alone was fed
in dry lots, the pigs made an average
daily gain of only 81 of a pound each.
Where one ear of corn was fed in addi-
ton to the soybean pasture, each pig
made an average gain of Ito pounds per
dav. The cost of 100 pounds of pork,
with one ear of corn per day and soy
bean pasture was S2.59. Where corn was
fed the cost was $1.6l per hundred
pounds.
When soybean pasture was added to
the corn ration, the corn brought S4.o3
per bushel, while corn fed alone brought
only "a cents a bushel.
This is only one of many experiments
which prove these results to be true
There was a time when paid little at
tention to stock feeding. We fed what
ever was the handiest, with no regard
to cost or profit. Animals are like peo-
ple-they must receive a ration of bal
anced feeds, containing the proteins, fats,
and other elements, essential to physical
growth. Quick growth at small cost
means large profits.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1915-01-31
Live Stock Farming

There are two systems that the farmer
may follow-that in which all the products
from the farm are sold: the other, that
in which the farm crops are largely fed
to live stock and the soil fertility main
tanned by the return of the manures, and
by the rotation of crops. On farms
where live stock is kept, the land is
much more productive than on farms
where exclusive grain farming is followed.
Where the crop is sold on the market
all of the plant contained in the crop
removed is lost to the soil. Where all
crops are sold. practice Familiarity
known as mining the sol,'' the result
is, without fail. the impoverishment of
the soil This practice will result in de-
stroyng the humus. The continued use
of commercial fertilizer without pastures
without rotation of crops, and without
manures will just as certainly result in
an impoverished soil. Commercial fertil-
izers do not add humus to the soil.
Live stock is the basis of permanent
and profitable agriculture.
An investigation carried on in the state
of Iowa by the Iowa Beef Producers as
ISOLATION, covering a period of five years
on 30 different Iowa farms in nine diff
ferent counties show the following:
Corn, on the 10 stock farms produced on
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1915-01-31
Robbing the Soil

One of the most valuable assets of a
farm is the manure produced upon it.
1t represents fertility which has been
drawn from the soil by crops and must
be returned to it if productiveness is
to be maintained. 1t not only adds to
the store of plant food in the soil by
returning large per cent of the nitro
gen. phosphorus and potash removed
by crops, but it also renders the native
plant food of the soil more available.
1t adds humus to the soil. improves
it's physical condition. makes 1t warm
err and enables it to receive and retain
more moisture.
No substitute at present known is
capable of completely filling the place
of farm manure. Notwithstanding its
great value, there is probably no ma
terial on the farm in which SO great
and needless waste occurs. 1t is u
common sight in almost any section
to see stables and feed lots situated
upon the bank of stream or ditch
where the most valuable portion OF the
manure will pass into the stream.
The United States department of ag-
riculture estimated the number of cat
tie in the United States on January /.
1910, at 100000 sheep. 57.216 900;
swine, 47,7S2.000. If we assume that
(Centinued sA Page sevenl
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1915-01-31

is essential to the development of these
organisms. Bacteria contribute to the
breaking down of the soil particles and to
the decay of organic and vegetable mat
ter and in doing so aid in the formation
of plant food. The soil is not a mere
inert mass, but a realm of intense life
Sol, which is hard and lacking in humus
does not provide a suitable home for
these bacteria These facts make 1t clear
that 1t is necessary to have humus in
the soil to make it grow profitable crops.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1915-01-31

'oiteA6 70 va WIG DOosh
The south has many advantages as an
agricultural and live stock country.
First. there is a ready market, with
high prices for beef, dairy aud poultry
products and grains.
Second, land is cheap.
Third, the climate is mild.
Fourth, the south has longer grow
ing season--two and sometimes three
crops can he grown on the same soil in
the same year.
Fifth, the south is naturally adapted
to the growing of a great variety of for
age crops. corn and other grains.
Sixth, beef can be produced at a less
cost than in the northern states
No part of the country has greater
opportunities than the south. The eli
mate is all that can be desired for the
production of crops, and pasturing of
live stock is possible almost the year
around. In the north the farmer can
pasture only from five to seven months
in the year. In the south the rainfall is
abundant. and everywhere there are
streams and springs which are of great
benefit to the stockman
At present land is cheap and it takes
little capital to buy farm Labor, too,
| is cheaper than in the north. The people
| of the south are awakening to the neces-
| sity of diversified farming-the planting
=
raising of live stock.
| The cattle tick, the enemy of diversified
| farming, is fast being eradicated. The
| land that is now selling for $40, SIS and
| $40 per acre, will sell for $50 and 800
| per acre under a better system of farm
/ ing. Corn and leguminous crops. pastures
and stock will bring this about. When
| ever you find corn and clover and live
stock, you will find high priced land ana
prosperous, growing communities. The
| south will produce more corn to the acre
=, than the most fertile lands of the corn
| belt in the north. Nowhere in the United
| States are there greater opportunities for
| the farmer than in the cotton belt states.
| Alfalfa Balances the Corn Ration
| At weaving time several filters of pigs
were separated into two lots Lot No.
| was fed on corn alone, no grass or other
| feed of any kind. Lot No. 2 was fed on
corn and alfalfa pasture for 50 days, then
i the pasture being exhausted, they were
put in dry lot and fed on corn and al
| falfa hay.
These pigs were at an age when it was
necessary for them to have protein &c
build up their bone and muscle-the frame
work of their bodies-and corn alone die
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1915-01-31
Grain Farming

burning, the nitrogen and humus are
lost.