The Monroe journal. [volume] (Monroe, N.C.) 189?-1965, 1916-12-15
THE LIVESTOCK ROUTE TO RICH
LAND

-
of Our Poor Land Problem, says
MIR. Shook. and Backs Up His
Statement With the Evidence.
The chemists tell US than on an
average about so per cent of the fer
tilizing elements in our feedstuffs is
voided in the manure Of our farm ami
mails. Such being the case. il is very
evident that as much as possible of
our cottonseed meal and other fertil-
izing materials that can be used as
feedstufis should first be fed TO some
kind OF livestock before being applied
TO the land. as this enables us TO reap
a double profit-one on the feed and
one on the manure.
There is nothing quite so eonyinc-
ing as actual facts and figures when
we begin TO talk about farm practices.
so I'm going TO relate some of our
experiences in this method OF soil
building here on Cotton Valley Farm,
In the fall of 1914 4 cattle dealer
in the western part OF the state ship
ped us two carloads OF steers TO feed
for him-he 10 frvrieh = q cattle and
feed and We I Sc al le labor and
get the marVra We need of ten
acres in the 1iesi p, of our cot
ton field ard led these steers out
there in the open whs.c the manure
would be applied d.tsctly to the
land. On the sandy SOILS OF the Coas-
tai Plain section this has been prov
ed the best method &C fattening cat
tie. from every standpoint.
These cattle were fed 1875 days and
made the very satisfactory gain OF
261 pounds per mead during that
4 time. This ten acre vas planted to
corn in 1915 AMI de so bushels
.per acre. The oaN fertilizer used
was top6reSsing OF so pounds OF
nitrate of s9dn per acre. should say
20 bushels g.. corn per acre would
have been 2 good crCp for that land
had no manure been applied. This
year 1915 we planted that land to
cotton and made easily one bale per
acre.
On another part Of our farm We
have a 25-aere field that is rather
poor We have grown soy beans,
oats and rape on this land for the
past two years and pastured these
crops with hogs. cattle and sheep
This year we planted this field TO
corn and used 2S5 pounds of com
mercial fertilizer and top-dressing
/, of go pounds per acre OF nitrate soda
The corn has not been harvested as
this is written, but the indications
are that it will yield so bushels per
acre.
Last year we fattened large num-
Der OF hogs. and when we took them
off peanuts and soy beans to put in
| the feed lot to finish we fenced off
six acres OF poor, sandy land in our
low ground" and finished three car
lapd to corn this year and applied no
fertilizer at all. II is the best corn
on the farm and will make probably
60 bushels per acre. And the point
| wish especially to emphasize is that
this increase in yield should be con
sidered second profit on the feed.
as 1t is due entirely to the manure
left on the land by the animals. No
! more feed was fed than would have
been necessary under other condi-
tions of fattening. and no manure
was lost as would probably been the
case had they been fed in small lots
around the barn; nor was there any
labor required to haul it out
Legumes and livestock, Livestock
and legumes, That's the solution to
our soil and fertilizer problems. and
hot 70 a.nt.p
want to have driven home to us. II
we only realized what a difference il
makes when we begin to balance our
books at the end of the year, think
all of us would probably try to feed
some kind of livestock every winter
''for the lands sake" even II We
made little OF no profit on the actual
feeding.
Tarboro. n. c. l.. w. SHOOK.