St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1916-07-29
,ieze always the best in sight.

sieze always the best in sight.
In 1898 indigo was the chief crol
of this section Of the country, selling
at seventy-five cents per pound, but
cotton made its appearance among
the farmers and at four dollars pc.
hundred (no gins at that time being
thought OF was considered more re
munerative, and it slowly increaed
until the gin was invented, and Their
it became the great crop of the South
overshaddowing all others to sucl
an extent that one-crop system be
came baneful, and 1t is now recog-
nized fact that diversity is the far
mers' slogan that should be sounded
all over the Southern land; it is the
'shibboleth' that will open the door
to prosperity, but selections for di,
versifled crops should be seriously
/. onsidered. The soil an dclimate
are factors that should not be over
looked; the adaptability to Southern
cultivation would be another consid-
Grafton, and now, after eight years
actual observation, after a careful
examination into its merits, We un-
hesitatingly recommend soy beans
as one crop that should occupy
prominent place on every farm in the
State of Louisiana.
It is practically a companion to
cotton; its similarity in culture Is
its first recommendation, and We
trust that it will not be long before
it is known as one OF Louisiana,s
great staple crops.
The introduction Of anything new
is sometimes attended by slow
growth. Sugar cane. for instance,
was first introduced .by the Jesuit
Fathers into Louisiana in 1851, ane
no real development toook place un-
til fifty years after, and to-day 1t Is
grand among our agricultural inter
ests.
Rice, too, slowly travelled along as
a small adjunct to our other pro-
ducts until Southwest Louisiana
forced it into our first lines.
Thus we see that it took the inven-
ton of the gin to place cotton upon its
proper pedestal; the crushing rollers
of the mill was the first key to unlock
the doors of the worlds great storage
OF sweetness; and irrigation placed
rice as one of the great products OF
Louisiana's soil, but all these devel-
opments took time and study, but
in Recommending soy beans no such
delays are necessary for besides the
great feeding qualities Of this pro-
duct the cotton seed oil mills, with
only few small changes, are ready
to convert 1t into oil and meal.
- ~ fnr
have already begun to crush the soy
beans, have this season crushed over
hundred thousand bushels, maxim
2,4OO tons of meal and $4,000 gal.
Ions Of oil.
The average extraction from a tor
of como seed is about 500 pounds Of
meal, 500 pounds of hulls, IS to 40
gallons of oil and 80 pounds Of lin
tiers. From soy beans 1000 to loo
pounds of meal are procured. and B
to 40 gallons Of oil made. The ave-
from one-eighth to one-quarter ton
whereas, the beans yield from Is tc
so bushels per ;cr The cottOr
stalk is valueless as feed and ex-
pensive to get rid of, while the SOY
bean vine yields about one ton per
acre Of feed that is equal to wheat
bran or alfalfa. Cotton takes from
the soil while beans add to its fer
tility.
II we stop a moment and think
cotton seed, the despised product
which the ingenuity of man was
strenuously used to get rid Of, when
we think of the envied looks OF many
owners OF gins when they found
neighbor had located upon a runnin,
stream and had the double satisfa'
tion of possessing cheap motive pow
er and at the same time gotten rid
of q great nuisance by dumping thu
seed into the stream below, to-day
one Of the South's great assets is that
once obnoxius product that has de.
veloped into commercial impor-
tance that ranks high indeed.
Strawberries, too, that have beer
only one of our garden Injuries ir
the past to-day brings to Louisiana
several millions of dollars, and tn.
accomplishment of this great devel
opment was produced BY cooperation
among the farmers and railroads,